pre-release info New Civ Game Guide: Russia

[Willie5000]

And that's the perfect place to stop IMO.

Eh, I prefer Civilization to be about all of history. 2050 was a perfect stopping point and I’m still not sure why they chose to cut it off at the 70’s or something.

 

[Cyon]

Cossacks. Yawn. Catherine. Yawn. Tundra terrain bonuses. Yawn.

Playing this civ at first glance is going to seem like a replay of Civ V and VI.

Extremely disappointing. With all the potential of the last two centuries of the Russian Empire, all they could do was go back to their tired old uniques and leaders?

Especially with the mass of 18th - 19th century Russian cultural icons, not having ANY unique civilian units is a major missed opportunity: Tolstoy, Turgenev, Tschaikovsky - and that's just the 'Ts'!

As for the BM-13 Guards Mortar (that's "Little Kate" or Katyusha, also known to the Germans as the 'Stalin Organ' or 'Lenin Organ') they nailed it, because it was an extremely inaccurate and relatively short-ranged weapon, but could also saturate a wide area and was always mounted on a vehicle, ranging from ZIS-5 medium trucks to T-40 and T-60 light tank chassis.

On the other hand, they could have given the same characteristics to the regular Russian artillery built around the M1902 76.2mm cannon and M1902/30 122mm howitzer, which relied in both world wars on mass fires with less emphasis on accuracy than saturation.

Also note that given the specific Modern Age placement of this civ, they could have been given a Unique Dive Bomber, the IL-2M3 Shturmovik, with at least as much recognition (at least among the gaming fraternity) as the Cossacks.

Russia really would have benefited from having a uniqe civilian unitin in the greek style of list of great persons.

I guess a few of them could be tricky though since they are both Ukrainian and Russian, like Nikolaj Gogol and Michail Bulgakov.

But still i think that could havevbeen solved.

So many writers, artists, scientists and engineers.

 

[chaosprophet]

Eh, I prefer Civilization to be about all of history. 2050 was a perfect stopping point and I’m still not sure why they chose to cut it off at the 70’s or something.

Probably because of how the ages system end up with having specific mechanics for each age made them think that was a good date to end the age, as things changes in lots of ways after that.

 

[Leucarum]

Eh, I prefer Civilization to be about all of history. 2050 was a perfect stopping point and I’m still not sure why they chose to cut it off at the 70’s or something.

The modern era has always been politically fraught for firaxis to include, and they always get push back for going into the near future (or fantasy TBH).

What I would accept/love is a mini sequel which adds Alpha Centauri in the guise of a 4th age.

 

[Bast]

It's odd that they've made Russia a combination of Tsarist Russia representations and USSR with the cultural and scientific attributes. If any civilization should've had Empire, it should've been this. They could've easily kept this to a Tsarist Russia representation. So I guess that kills the idea of a 4th age? But why French Empire then. So odd.

 

[The Fanatical]

Two Unique Military Units in one civilization! Tagma and Dromon, Hetairoi and Pezhetairoi, African War Elephant and Quadrireme, Dreki and Berserkr, Ocelotl and Cuauhtli (Cuauhocelotl, a combination of both Aztec warriors and Eagle warriors can also work if a Unique Civilian Unit needs to be added).

 

[Xandinho]

I was expecting a unique Great Writer for Russia, but we got two unique military units .
Maybe this opens up space for less militaristic cultures to get two unique civilian units.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

It's odd that they've made Russia a combination of Tsarist Russia representations and USSR with the cultural and scientific attributes. If any civilization should've had Empire, it should've been this. They could've easily kept this to a Tsarist Russia representation. So I guess that kills the idea of a 4th age? But why French Empire then. So odd.

Maybe they want to keep open the possibility of an Ancien Regime/Capetian France in Exploration?

I was expecting a unique Great Writer for Russia, but we got two unique military units .

I'm not sure if you can get writings (codices) outside of Antiquity, unfortunately. It's just Artifacts in Modern, as far as we know. Which is a shame because that would have fit perfectly with Catherine.

 

[Krikkit1]

I'm not arguing here, merely expressing a thought:

A hypothetical fourth Age would probably extend well into the near future, and so the three tiers could be roughly the Cold War, the Information era (the present), and the Near Future. In that kind of scenario, the Soviet Union would be only tier 1.

So would Mughals, Buganda, “French Empire”…only lasting for some of the period isn’t an objection to a civ.

 

[Zaarin]

Eh, I prefer Civilization to be about all of history. 2050 was a perfect stopping point and I’m still not sure why they chose to cut it off at the 70’s or something.

2050 isn't history. 2020 isn't history. 2010 or even 2000 are debatably history. I think a mid-20th century cutoff is perfectly reasonable.

African War Elephant and Quadrireme

I actually pondered this for my Phoenicia design, though I ultimately decided to go with a unique Settler that can embark early. I think a Unique Merchant would also be appropriate. The thing about war elephants is that they're really impressive...but not really that great tactically. The Phoenicians largely used them for shock and awe to impress their allies as much as intimidate their enemies.

 

[DogeEnricoDandolo]

If they add another age and put Soviet in the game, they can still reuse Katyusha as Soviet unique military unit and just add a civilian unit for Russia, that would be my guess. It is kinda weird that we see Katyusha now.

 

[DogeEnricoDandolo]

By the way, isn't the "Ageless" tag on the unique improvement another hint towards a 4th Age?

To be specific, a fourth age that comes after Modern and not sandwiched in between any of our existing ages.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Eh, I prefer Civilization to be about all of history. 2050 was a perfect stopping point

Wait, what is it that you know?

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

Introducing Modern Age civ, Russia!​

Imperial Russia was known for many things: its vast span across Europe and Asia, luxury and inequality, art and culture. Caught between the eternal question of Russia's role as part of Europe and the Russian dusha, or soul, the Romanov reign held at the center of its ideology a model of "enlightened absolutism." With orthodoxy, autocracy, and nationality at its core, Russia brought this rule to bear on populations from the Volga basin to eastern Siberia.

Attributes:
Cultural
Scientific

Unique Ability:
Prosveshchenie: Increased Culture on Urban Districts in Cities. Increased Science on Urban Districts in Cities on Tundra tiles.

Unique Infrastructure:
Obshchina: Unique Improvement. Ageless. Increased Food from adjacent Farms. Increased Culture if built on a Tundra tile. Does not remove Warehouse bonuses on a tile. Cannot be built adjacent to another Obshchina Unique Improvement.

Unique Civilian Unit:
None

Unique Military Unit:
Cossack: Unique Cavalry Unit; does not replace other Cavalry Units. Has increased Combat Strength in friendly territory.
Katyusha Rocket Launcher: Unique Artillery Unit. Has increased Movement, but decreased Combat Strength. Has the Splash keyword, dealing a small amount of damage to all enemy Units adjacent to the target tile when attacking.

Associated Wonder:
Hermitage: Culture Base. Increased Culture in Cities that have a Great Work slotted. Must be built on a Tundra tile.

Starting Biases:
Tundra
Furs


Check out the full game guide for more info & civic trees: https://civilization.2k.com/civ-vii/game-guide/civilizations/russia/

View attachment 714968

The only Civ that has TWO UUs and no UC.
Still it bugs me that Russia has Cossacks as replacements to regular cavalry. they ain't no organized the same way. Since Civ3 is a staple of this brand.
And this disregards the fact that Cossacks only comprised of roughtly half of Russian Imperial Cavalry strenghts, the other halfs are Nossacks--regular cavalry organized just like anybody else in Europe. be there Dragoons (Truly mobile infantry, and even elite guards are tagged with them) or simple cuirassiers.

And what class is Katyusha? Ranged or Siege? then again Katyushas were not a replacemnet of regular artillery IRL. only supplemented it.

And I saw T-34 in this game, did Russian Cossacks still call itself as such when riding it?

 

[Zaarin]

Still it bugs me that Russia has Cossacks as replacements to regular cavalry

They do not; Cossacks do not replace regular cavalry.

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

Russian Uniques:

Prosveshchenie	Ability	Просвещение "Enlightenment; Education"	Specifically, a tenet of the Russian enlightenment, espousing "piety, erudition, and commitment to the spread of learning." Generally, the Enlightenment movement as a whole.
Serfdom	Civic		A feudal system where unfree peasants were tied to the land. Serfdom was the dominant form of peasant-nobility relationship in Russia starting in the 17th century.
Table of Ranks	Civic		A formal list of positions and ranks in the government introduced by Peter the Great, and creating a sort of aristocratic bureaucracy.
Samoderzhaviye	Civic	самодержавие "Autocracy"	Often used in the phrase tsarskoye samoderzhaviye "Tsarist Autocracy" to refer to the form of absolute monarchy wielded by the Russian Tsars, who were seen as the embodiment of political and religious authority in the country.
Emancipation Reform	Tradition		Refers to the Emancipation Reform of 1861, by which Emperor Alexander II abolished serfdom.
Westernization	Tradition		Coupled with the theme of Modernization, Westernization is used to describe the processes put in place by Peter the Great to reform many of the cultural and political institutions of the Russian Empire and remake them on Western European models.
General Moroz	Tradition	Генерал Мороз "General Frost"	A personified reference to the harsh Russian winters, which serve as significant obstacles to invading forces, including those of Napoleon and Operation Barbarossa. Also known in English as "General Winter."
Obshchina	Infrastructure	община "municipality, community"	A type of peasant communally-owned village community

1. Samoderjaviye (did 'Zh-' prounouced with the same 'J' sounds as in modern Chinese?) is very much a Russian legacy. Democracy has never fully developed there, if there's any. Russian 'democracy' had never reaches the same level as what it is in Thailand today. let alone Japan, France, UK and the US of A.
What contributed to the Russian political legacy that 'democracy could not be grown in Russian soil'? if there's any exists, it was quite staggering.
Not sure if Russia only have one type of government just like Mexicans do?
2. In the end. With Russia lost Crimean War against combined British-French and Ottoman Alliance strenghts (a marginal defeat even). It once again found itself backwards compared to the two European Rivals (whom a generation ago fought wars on different sides), techonlogically and socially, as well as army. Crimean War was the first time Minie Rifles saw action (the beginning of 'All Riflemen Army' maybe?). And Socially (Serfdoms, did morale on Russian side being so low compared to the aformented Alliance? and should this contributed to serfdom as well?)
Then again. Late half of 19th Century is always portrayed as superiority of Constitutionalism over Absolute Monarchy, both portrayed in Qing Empire and Russia. the most obivious was the success of Meiji Restoration in Japan. which made them an Empire on its own right. and BOTH Qing and Russia lose the wars against Meiji Japan.
3. What made Russian 'Table of Ranks' more unique compared to anybody else?

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

They do not; Cossacks do not replace regular cavalry.

Are you sure that the two coexists ingame Russia? with 'Cossacks' being light chargers and Cuirassiers being Shock Cavalry.
In case of French, USA, and Mexico, their UUs are replacements. AFAIK.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Are you sure that the two coexists ingame Russia? with 'Cossacks' being light chargers and Cuirassiers being Shock Cavalry.
In case of French, USA, and Mexico, their UUs are replacements. AFAIK.

It says it quite plainly in the civ guide.

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

Maybe they want to keep open the possibility of an Ancien Regime/Capetian France in Exploration?

Why not just 'Medieval France'?

And your ideas? their UU being Infantry, Cavalry, Ships?

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

Cossacks. Yawn. Catherine. Yawn. Tundra terrain bonuses. Yawn.

Playing this civ at first glance is going to seem like a replay of Civ V and VI.

Extremely disappointing. With all the potential of the last two centuries of the Russian Empire, all they could do was go back to their tired old uniques and leaders?

Especially with the mass of 18th - 19th century Russian cultural icons, not having ANY unique civilian units is a major missed opportunity: Tolstoy, Turgenev, Tschaikovsky - and that's just the 'Ts'!

As for the BM-13 Guards Mortar (that's "Little Kate" or Katyusha, also known to the Germans as the 'Stalin Organ' or 'Lenin Organ') they nailed it, because it was an extremely inaccurate and relatively short-ranged weapon, but could also saturate a wide area and was always mounted on a vehicle, ranging from ZIS-5 medium trucks to T-40 and T-60 light tank chassis.

On the other hand, they could have given the same characteristics to the regular Russian artillery built around the M1902 76.2mm cannon and M1902/30 122mm howitzer, which relied in both world wars on mass fires with less emphasis on accuracy than saturation.

Also note that given the specific Modern Age placement of this civ, they could have been given a Unique Dive Bomber, the IL-2M3 Shturmovik, with at least as much recognition (at least among the gaming fraternity) as the Cossacks.

1. If Age III Russian Leaders shouldn't be either Pete or Kate. then who? A person who enacted a reform that ended Serfdoms?
2. There's better choices for Cossacks. if you don't approve one as a UU. Then they should get Dragoons. How did Peter I called his dragoons?
And their dragoons are better iterations than anybody else.
3. And why Tundra Terrain Bonii is bad? in Civ6 Canada explited more of it.
4. Their seat should also be St. Petersburg. Not Moscow (The ruling Romanov begun as Muscovites, then expanded southwards, and during Peter I, expanded North into Ingria, and Tsar Peter I built a new capitol there by the baltic shore of Ingria. so to easily contact with the World. Russian capitol only returned to Moscow after Bolshevik Revolutions.
5. The Reason BM13 'Lil Katy' exists is to provide mod potentials for modders. Nothing more.
since military unit evolutions ended at 1945 in this game. whoever wanted to make Contemporary Era Mod (and associated units--MLRS) should have a base material to do so.