French vs Russia cons

[alistairpeter]

I've always exclusively used the French consulate opening as china, but seen some top players such as Tabben pull of the russian consulate opening. What are the pros and cons and in what MUs might you consider going russia cons instead?

[Rohbrot]

I've always exclusively used the French consulate opening as china, but seen some top players such as Tabben pull of the russian consulate opening. What are the pros and cons and in what MUs might you consider going russia cons instead?

bh in base is just great for fast ff builds and you can actually also hold rushes with bh-tc-mm pops and a unit shipment.

[alistairpeter]

But sacking 400 food and 100 export for it? doesn't it slow you down too much? I have seen it work successfully many times though so maybe not as bad as I think. I definitely notice a division among china players, some go french cons 100% of the time, it seems to be the more popular option.

[Garja]

BH is to make some units in age2. It is basically 200w instead of 400f.
You can also go nothern refugees and ger cons for the food trickle+cheaper batches.

[Rohbrot]

BH is to make some units in age2. It is basically 200w instead of 400f.
You can also go nothern refugees and ger cons for the food trickle+cheaper batches.

bh is actually 300w for china, 250 normal bh cost and 5+ pop space.

[Hazza54321]

weird logic , its +5 pop space for russia too?

[Garja]

If anything it enables the steppe+keshik army which can be very important in some MUs. But the main advantage is simply that you have rax ready and it saves 200w. China can't afford to chop 400w for both rax and village so they have to chose one and also send 700w first card which is sometimes not ideal.

[Rohbrot]

weird logic , its +5 pop space for russia too?

thats their civ bonus tho and no other civs except USA (cuz why not) has acess to it.

[alistairpeter]

In MUs where I feel I am going to face aggression, I opt not to age and play age 2 myself. Usually I would still go French cons in that scenario, and send one unit shipment followed by 700w or spam more unit shipments. I can also send 300export while on french and use that flexibly for 500w or 4 grens, and save 75 export switching to Brit cons aftrwards. Having the ability to send 7 steppe, 4 grens, and 9 pike adds up to a ton of siege.
My age 2 wonder is usually still Summer palace, but if I go German cons I combine it with porcelain tower, and I adore white pagoda in the right situations, although it feels more fun than viable most of the time.
In what MU would Russia be more optimal than this? Is having a blockhouse enough to scare away aggressors? for holding certain timings I try to time 9 pike with the 8 skirm, but sometimes this is easier said than done.
There are just so many different ways to play China, I doubt I am playing them optimally the majority of games.

[MaxMagous]

Russia cons bonus: -10f per vil and +10% vil production rate is often overlooked.

[harcha]

Russia cons bonus: -10f per vil and +10% vil production rate is often overlooked.

probably because people so often idle tc

[Rohbrot]

Russia cons bonus: -10f per vil and +10% vil production rate is often overlooked.

probably because people so often idle tc

ye, you idle very often when you get timing pushed in age2, but it doesnt matter when u hit age 3

[MaxMagous]

If you do anything other than 700c ff into intervention 5 meteors unit shipment unit shipment unit shipment {...} it does matter. These type of games exist below 3.5k elo (fun 1's for the most part)