Best Russian Leader in Game?

[Mon Mauler]

I'm starting a new game as the Russians tonight and was wondering which leader I should select: Peter, Catherine or Stalin. I've already won a Domination victory with Stalin, so I am leaning towards Peter or Catherine.

Regardless, I was wondering who you think is the best Russian leader (in the game) and why. Also, what type of victory would you pursue, and what is the strategy you would employ in order to achieve that victory, given the following preset conditions:

Prince
Fractal
Normal Map Size
Random Climate
Random Sea Level
Normal Speed
8 total leaders (Random)
All Victory Conditions
No Special Options

Who do you think I should play as?

 

[EweezE]

I played Catherine in CivIV Vanilla all the time. Cre/Fin with Cossacks was a wrap. She is still very good as Cre/Imp, but you will need to wage wars to take full advantage of imperialistic. Pick her and go for Domination. Your borders will spread quickly in your newly conquered cities due to Cre. And you will be popping GG's like crazy with her Imp trait during your wars. Not to mention that the Cossack will trample anyone's Cavalry. Russia is a good Civ to pick. I'm just bored of them from using Catherine too much in vanilla.

 

[Kiwi Tyrant]

Boris Yeltsin.
He's the best Russian leader 'cause he supported the volka industry and he dances funny....

 

[Gumbolt]

I wouldnt pick Catherine. Her looks are far too distracting to be taken seriously as a civ 4 leader.

I like to play each nation once before i go back to them again. For me the Russian UU is rather late anyway but still useful.

For me philosophical trait is always fun to play so go with Peter. If you can build pyramids and get representation your science will rocket with all the specialist you use in your cities. Theres also a great kick from building GP farms.

You'll probably go the domination route anyway but if you can design a city to produce great engineers you'll soon build a few cheap wonders too. Hopefully with coastal cities you will have lots of food resources too.

 

[NintendoTogepi]

Peter, with a Space Race victory.

Peter is by far the best Russian leader IMO.

 

[Fraulzar]

My vote is for catherine. The other two are good, but they synergy between imperalistic's fast settlers and creative quickly grabbing land and resources is tough to beat. Settle aggressively and contain one neighbor while targetting another for elimination = reliably effective foundation for victory.

 

[dwhee]

The Russians are my absolute favorite civ, mainly because I feel that all of their leaders have their perks. I often find myself in this dilemma.

Peter is generally my favorite, as philisophical and expansive seem to complement one another very well. Last time I played as Peter on Monarch I had had 4 golden ages by the end of the game, all double length due to the mausoleum. You just can't beat that.

Stalin is sometimes preferable for multiplayer games, and his traits are clearly geared toward a military/domination victory.

Catherine is an interesting leader, because she expands more quickly than almost anyone. Fast-expanding borders and quick settlers guarantee you an early lead, but I find the other 2 leaders more useful because their traits are focused on the late-game. Both the Russian Cossack and Research Lab come in the VERY late game, so I find it useful to focus on this period. Catherine is a good leader if you're afraid you won't make it to the late-game otherwise!

But since you're only playing on Prince, I'd recommend Peter. Get the Mausoleum, Taj Mahal, and tons of great people. My favorite strategy.

 

[killmeplease]

With Peter you can establish an SE, and cheap granaries good for whipping. Catherine's traits are not so good but they suppose more interesting play.

Catherine has one of the strongest AI by the way, she's always at the top of the score list.

 

[Quotey]

Catherine. REX to high heaven.

 

[Magma_Dragoon]

Peter can run a bad ass SE. I don't play Russia because I have an innate dislike of Russians. (stupid jerks!)

 

[Mon Mauler]

Thanks to everyone for fantastic suggestions. Of the civs that have multiple leaders, it seems like the Russian options may be the best in the game based on some of the comments here.

I like to play each nation once before i go back to them again.

That's exactly what I'm doing. I already played with all the civs (my first game with the Rus was a Domination Victory with Stalin). Now I'm going back through and playing a game with all of the leaders I missed my first time through.

I also agree with EWeezE when he talks about Catherine in Vanilla. Back then I used Financial as a crutch, and I loved the fast-expanding borders. Combined with the Cossacks, you could generally wrap up a Domination victory before Research Labs become available.

On the other hand, I kind of remember not having too much success with Peter in Vanilla and/or Warlords. Back then I wasn't too good at leveraging the benefits of Philosophical, specialists and GP. I've kind of gotten the hang of some of it since then; although, I still am a little unsure about setting up a viable SE. It sounds like playing as Peter might be an opportunity to experiment a little bit.

I think I'm going to go with Peter this time around and try to setup a SE. I'm still kind of unsure as to what victory type I'll aim for. With Philosophical a Culture victory could be quick if I can entice neighbors to give me a couple religions. But I usually go for Domination victories. I guess I'll just get started and see where the lay of the land takes me...

Thanks for all your comments...

 

[budweiser]

I'm playing a game on monarch as Cathy right now. I'm about 10 turns away from Cossacks. I already have 5 GG because I wiped out America and am slowly killing Byzantines. At this point, just about everytime I kill a decent sized stack of Byzantines, I get a GG. My army is small, but very talented. All my generals are in the field leading troops. Now that I have rifles, my troops just straight up assaulted a 100% culture Byzantine city and only lost 1 rifle.

When Cossacks finally arive, I am planning on taking out another full sized civ (arabs). Then I will go commie and make a space race win.

I think Cathy is probably best, but yes, i would say you do have to fight to make the best of the Imperial trait.

 

[PibbZ]

Peter is one hell of a tech'er, but i prefer to play vs Stalin and his huge armies. Dunno why, but it just feels right to be attacked by russians