FRANKS

Rising from the ashes of the Gauls came a people called the Franks. Throughout the Dark Ages their highly trained infantry fought and turned back Goths to the east and Moors to the west many a time while they built in power. As Feudalism expanded into France, it divided into many squabbling factions loosely held under one king, with elite horsemen called Knights spearheading their armies on impressive Frankish warhorses, leading the charge into battle.
The Franks of Age of Kings are also known for their impressive knights, though toned down from the original game with other civilisations receiving bloodlines to balance the addition of stronger camels and halberdiers.

--Frankish Bonuses--

Knights +2 line of sight

Castles cost 25% less

Knights +20% HP

Farm upgrades free

Knights +2 line of sight
Not the most widely acknowledged bonus, the Frankish longer line of sight bonus makes their knight line all the more a practical unit. Castle Age knights have only 2 tiles line of sight and because of this often fail to see threats like enemy town centers and castles before they encounter them. Frankish knights do not have this disadvantage, and therefore are superior raiders. It also makes their knights effective scouts to a lesser extent.

Castles cost 25% less
Possibly one of the best bonuses in the game, the Frankish player pays only 488 stone for his castle where every other player forks out 650. This makes Franks the widely acclaimed 'crushing' civilisation, with their terror-knights clearing the area and then builders placing a castle on critical resources. To some extent this has been weakened with the patch, which increases castle build time by 33%. Of course, fact remains the Franks still get 33% more castles for their money.

Knights +20% HP
In the castle age, this is the equivalent of free bloodlines; with an extra 20 HP. In later game, it provides Cavaliers with an extra 24 HP, and Paladins an extra 32. The value of this bonus is pretty obvious. They take more hits, they last longer; if only just.

Farm upgrades free
Small economic bonus, saves a little food and wood that gives you that extra vil or two through the early Feudal-early castle period. Not much to it, though Franks do miss two-man saw to complement this *small* farming advantage in later game.

--Frankish strengths--

Knights
Well this one didn't jump up and bite me on the nose. The Franks most obvious strength is their Knight line, almost to the point where some players eliminate other units completely. This is unwise. You should never focus your military on one unit, even if you back it up. An *army* is made up of an appropriate distribution of different units.

Infantry
Ever practical, the Frankish Champion lacks only the Squires upgrade. As a contrast, the cheapest ranged unit in the game in terms of gold cost, the Throwing Axeman is very easy to field to a fast production time and affordable cost; and serves as the practical accompaniment to Frankish Knights in fulfilling an anti-Halberd/Camel role. And of course, the advantage of being a ranged unit is phenomenal, even though these only have a low range. Throwing Axemen are also amazing at taking down buildings with great speed. Frankish pikes are nothing amazing.

Siege
Frankish siege is practical with both Bombard Cannons and Heavy Scorpions as well as the Siege Engineers upgrade. Heavy Scorpions make an ever effective counter to the Halberd flood on the Frankish player. Bombard Cannons make an alternative to using Knights to try and negate the horrors of defending Halberds when trying to annihilate Trebuchets. Combined with cheaper castles, this makes the Franks very good at aggressively holding ground.

--Frankish Weaknesses--

Archers
Frankish archer units are pitiful. No Thumb Ring, Ring Archer, Bracer or Arbalest upgrades leave them devoid of the most practical anti-infantry options. Their only practical alternative being their unique unit or expensive Hand Cannoneers, a unit of dubious value and costly to gain the power numbers provides.

Gold free 'trash' units
Affectionately named 'trash' units, Skirmishers, Halberds and Hussars are the practical late game options for the player lacking plentiful gold. Unfortunately, Franks are lacking in all three, neither Hussar nor bloodlines upgrade; a Teutonic Scout Cavalry can almost beat a Frankish Light Cavalry. Skirmishers lack 3 techs, and Franks lack the Halberd upgrade, which provides the extra 2 attack and 5 HP which really do count for a lot. Franks are a heavily gold reliant civilisation it seems.

--Through the ages--

Any player can play any team as they wish and as uniquely as they like, but here's a broad outline of Frankish strengths and tactics through the ages.

The Frankish Dark Age is no different from the ordinary, nor their Feudal Age; though the farming bonus allows them to shift from berries to farms more easily and with less fuss, as well as providing the wood for an extra farm in the time being, which counts a little A slightly greater focus on stone mining will benefit the Frankish player when he reaches the next age, though.

Upon reaching the Castle Age, the Franks instantly have the huge advantage afforded them by their cheaper castles; which comes in handy as a tool to begin demolishing remaining feudal structures in ones own town or begin the final assault on an enemy. The Frankish player is instantly queuing his stronger knights and doing routine villager harassment while choosing an appropriate location for a forward castle. With 7 villagers or so, he can raise a Castle on his enemy's economy in under a minute [with the patch changes to castle build time accounted for]. His roaming knights are working as a fierce deterrent to attackers, and while diverting the builders from his economy will set it back significantly, the castle will in all likelihood go up speedily and begin shooting enemy Town Centers and force his villagers into their protective refuge, and eventually evacuate. Dropping another castle or failing that, town center (within range of the first, preferably in order to make Murder Holes a low priority) can inflict further damage while protecting the first from unit attacks should you lose your knights. The Frank will also begin producing Throwing Axemen now, and while this is crippling his boom, it's dealing similar damage to his enemy. Franks are at their strongest militarily in the Castle Age, and so the Frank should do his best to wipe out his enemy now. The Frank should also if possible do his best to ensure a strong trade route before he is forced to advance to Imperial, because while not heavily food reliant thus not reliant too far on the success of his boom, the Frank does need a steady supply of gold. Already he should have retrieved those relics available to him.

Failing to wipe out his enemy by around forty minutes, the Frank will advance to the Imperial Age And instantly upgrade his Knights to Cavaliers and avail them of an extra 24 HP and 2 more attack. His Throwing Axemen excel at wiping out enemy military buildings when not occupied otherwise. Rather than waiting on the slow moving TA's all the time, the Cavalry takes advantage of its speed and ranges ahead of them, returning to take refuge behind the barrage of flying steel when they encounter enemy Halberds and/or Camels. Chemistry allows the Frank to avail himself of Hand Cannoneers and Bombard Cannons that can and will turn the tide against an enemy using heavy-military tactics on the Frank.

--Combined arms--
The Franks have some huge weaknesses in their tech tree. Striking at these weaknesses should be a high priority of enemy tactics, as is the game's nature. To prevent this you must cover their weaknesses at all costs. The best way to do this is by even more extensively accentuating their strengths. This reinforces my law of AoK: A unit is only as good as your ability to back it up.

Knight line
Unlike most civilisations who use cavalry as a reaction weapon, the Franks effective offensive capacity in other areas is limited and thus their main practical option is simply using Knights as their chief combat weapon. While Franks have access to Champions, their Paladins are more impressive, and their Throwing Axemen make not very good primary weapons, but rather work better when screened and have their targets busy with something else.

Throwing Axemen, Hand Cannoneers
Due to the Frankish reliance on cavalry, they are naturally also reliant on counters to the anti-Cavalry Halberds and to a lesser extent Camels. Throwing Axemen and Hand Cannoneers fulfill these roles. While the HC's are faster at dispatching Halberds, and indeed any other units, Throwing Axemen are cheaper and more effective in lower numbers, as well as being more accurate and available from the Castle Age. The obvious drawback to Throwing Axemen is the fact they are trained in Castles, doubtless minimised by their cheaper castles. Basically it boils down to the age old question of which one to use. It's a matter of personal choice, I suppose.

Trebuchets, Bombard Cannons
Only available to half the civilisations in the game, bombard cannons are invaluable. While more expensive and less enduring than trebuchets, which are also available to every player in the game; bombard cannons have numerous advantages over a trebuchet in practical use. First, cannons have the ability to nullify enemy siege weapons before they become a threat to Frankish units. It can also destroy trebuchets from the safety of defending units 13 tiles away. As well as this, a number of cannons can wipe out archers faster than mangonels, and archers being the natural counter to Throwing Axemen and Hand Cannons, it's wise to have one of these tag along.
And the reasoning for using trebuchets is a little obvious. I hope.

--Key technologies--

Cavalier [and Paladin] upgrade
You have to get this one the moment you get to Imperial; while it grants only a relatively smaller statistical power boost, the psychological effects of one seeing Frankish Cavaliers or indeed Paladins just a few minutes into Imperial is rather devastating. Even now Frankish Paladins are still terrifying than ordinary Paladins. Remember to always set your cavalry to scatter formation to make your numbers look physically larger.

Onager unit upgrade
Franks have the unfortunate weakness against Archers and Halberds. Onagers are the practical solution, and thinking ahead and upgrading and building *beforehand* will give one a large advantage when combating civilisations with a slight strength in the Archer area. Basically Onagers kill Archers, TA's kill Halberds and Paladins kill everything else. It's a pretty simple equation and while you might discredit the real value of the Onager, expensive to upgrade and build, you'd be surprised at how more effective you are against certain civilisations.

Elite Throwing Axeman unit upgrade, Bearded Axe
While costly, this gives the Throwing Axeman about a 15% power increase that is very useful. Bearded Axe is cheaper and adds a little range that theoretically makes TA's get in 20% more hits before the enemy engages.

--Summary--

Many people believe the Franks were shorted with the expansion pack, and while I'm inclined to agree they are still indeniably a powerful civilisation in their own right, excelling at Castle Age combat and castle dropping and making a valuable addition to every team.