Russia First Look [Peter]

[SammyKhalifa]

Well technically they are not done with revealing stuff, Firaxis is yet to reveal whatever is on the deluxe edition. Russia is probably one of the main candidates for multiple leaders down the road, so as much as I don't like Peter's UA, the rest of bonus could call for a very different playstyle under another leader.

However, if the leader bonus IS weak (I'm not saying it is, have no idea), it was likely done for balance--not leaving much room for good leader ability for a second leader, I imagine.

 

[Sagax]

Can't access the video now. Do we have any clarification on whether LUA still follows the +1 for 3 ratio from the leaks?

As for UD, my opinion still stands. It's an overkill and wasted opportunity when you have the Shoshone-level expansion as part of UA. Yes, streamers spend a lot of gold to buy tiles, but UA should be more than enough to save your money - it's not like the borders cease to expand naturally or something. The only solace for UD is its cheapness, but it's not something unique to Russia, it's the feature of unique districts in general. The moment another unique Holy Site is introduced in another civ, Lavra will lose all of its appeal.

 

[labrynianrebel]

What's with everyone freaking out that Russia has religion bonuses? Russia existed before Communism you know. Third Rome, Russian Orthodox Church, Self-viewed defender of Christianity, famous cathedrals, etc. etc.

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

The leader bonus is something that have to be tested before it can be labeled strong or weak.

 

[gunnergoz]

More I think about it, the more I think Russia is optimized (as others have pointed out) for building wide quickly, creating 5-7 population cities over a wide area normally ignored by others, beelining for a desired advanced tech and catching up on other techs and civics in the mid/late game with their trade UA. By then they'd own vast expanses of the map where many valuable strategic resources will be revealed (not to mention artifacts, goodie huts, etc.) Cap off the empire with 2 or 3 specialized cities (culture, science, production) and you're ready for the revolution comrade. A brilliant creation this civ.

 

[SpaceCommunist]

What's with everyone freaking out that Russia has religion bonuses? Russia existed before Communism you know. Third Rome, Russian Orthodox Church, Self-viewed defender of Christianity, famous cathedrals, etc. etc.

Russian science (Mendeleev), culture (Tolstoy, Chekhov, Stanislovski), and production (steel mills) were also prominent before October came, at least in the 19th century. None of that gets reflected, either (purchasing Great People doesn't count, a lot of Russian "great people" were more or less irreligious or at the very least didn't go to church that often).

 

[homan1983]

I have looked into how district cost work from the LP videos and it seems to me that district cost is mainly based on turn time like:

District cost = base cost + turn -1

There is definitely a district aspect to it as well (with city centre counting as a district). Robot is playing a Germany game right now and super exapnding, the costs of districts are huge compared to the beginning when it would be like 6 turns. This is before he built any/many districts.

 

[Big J Money]

If oil, aluminum or uranium have a bias for tundra, then that's going to be good for Russia.

 

[phryxolydian]

For all this passive-aggressive posturing here this doesn't make much sense - what else were you going to do here, NOT spend that Great Person? Good unique abilities come from bonuses on things you were going to do in the first place. Spending Great People and building a (now cheaper) Holy Site is exactly that. Now you effectively make gold/culture every time you spend a GP that you wouldn't otherwise. That's the strength of it.

Well, if that the case then I can think of much more interesting abilities than getting one random tile each time you spend a GP. How about adding +1g +1culure to all worked tiles for the next 20 turns sound? Or all culture districts in the empire getting a discount in production and +2 adjacency bonus to the ones already built for 20 turns? Hell, one does not need to have Disney's imagination to come up with more interesting bonuses than adding 1 tile to the city.

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

There is definitely a district aspect to it as well (with city centre counting as a district). Robot is playing a Germany game right now and super exapnding, the costs of districts are huge compared to the beginning when it would be like 6 turns. This is before he built any/many districts.

In his Germany game he can build a neighbourhood for 373 production at turn 239.

So 373-60 (base cost)-238 (turn cost) = 75 (unkown cost)

That district cost is based on turns can be seen very clearly in his spanish game, his first district cost over 100 production and he only had one city at that time.

 

[gunnergoz]

Well, if that the case then I can think of much more interesting abilities than getting one random tile each time you spend a GP. How about adding +1g +1culure to all worked tiles for the next 20 turns sound? Or all culture districts in the empire getting a discount in production and +2 adjacency bonus to the ones already built for 20 turns? Hell, one does not need to have Disney's imagination to come up with more interesting bonuses than adding 1 tile to the city.

True as far as it goes, but what if the civ designers goal was to emulate the historical, expansionist Russia of the Tsars more than the Soviet/post Soviet Russia we tend to fixate upon because it is so familiar in the West?

 

[Red Menace]

The strength of the unique district is that it requires 50% less production and doesn't count towards the district limit, as each unique district. So Russia will be one of the first to find a religion.

But dont ALL unique districts get that same bonus? it seems like they wanted to make a Russia faith oriented civ, which is cool but they couldve added yields for the GP you used like Production for an engineer, science for a scientist, ect. well Russia seems cool, and Peter looks great. but Im going to miss the Civ V cossacks, they were one of my favorite UUs.

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

All unique district cost half as much and do not count towards the limit but that is not the only advantages Lavra have.

Each time a great person spend a charge in a city that city get a extra tile which can be worth over 200 gold. A great person can have 3 charges so that could be worth an extra 600 gold.

 

[thecrazyscot]

Im going to miss the Civ V cossacks, they were one of my favorite UUs.

I would never have guessed

 

[Bad Wolf]

I think some are missing the point of the Lavra tile-buy. It's not the main bonus (the main bonus is an early, free half-cost religious district that doesn't count towards your district limit), it's just a little added flavour bonus that synergizes with their main bonus. It's not why you build a Lavra, but it's nice to have (though I agree it's underwhelming).

This civ seems more powerful than it's getting credit for. If they have a Tundra start-bias they're for-sure going to get an early religion, and tundra basically become plains that give you faith; they can bee-line for techs and rely on Peter's special ability to catch up in other areas; decent unique unit and good (early) unique district; and extra tiles on city-founding is an excellent bonus. Not the best I've seen so far but certainly not weak. I can't wait to see how they stack up in-game. Catherine was always a pain to deal with in V, I'm expecting nothing less of Peter.

re: science bonus, yes they were first to space, but I don't think America gets a science bonus either, and they were the first to the moon.

 

[ehecatzin]

More I think about it, the more I think Russia is optimized (as others have pointed out) for building wide quickly, creating 5-7 population cities over a wide area normally ignored by others, beelining for a desired advanced tech and catching up on other techs and civics in the mid/late game with their trade UA. By then they'd own vast expanses of the map where many valuable strategic resources will be revealed (not to mention artifacts, goodie huts, etc.) Cap off the empire with 2 or 3 specialized cities (culture, science, production) and you're ready for the revolution comrade. A brilliant creation this civ.

Yeah, it's starting to dawn on me that Russia will play a bit like tundra Rome, only with a whole bunch of other ways to build up your infraestructure, unlike Rome which gets it for free.

 

[Red Menace]

I would never have guessed

I know I look nothing like someone who likes Russia or destroying the weak (civ V cossack reference)

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

Free tiles are probably better in the long run then free momuments, Russia may be a better expansionist then Rome.

 

[DJ_Tanner]

I think the LUA has a LOT of potential. If it is applied as mentioned in the 'unofficial' leak where you get bonuses for those that have tech/policies you don't then it would allow Russia to focus on certain items, get them early and catch up when backtracking extremely easily. Even if not it allows you to focus on empire first building and expanding and grow into a powerhouse in the mid to late using catch-up bonuses.

All in all I think there is a lot of power here, but love to see civs that force the player to make significant changes their strategy that Civ VI does so much better than in pervious iterations where picking a civ had mild consequences on overall strategy.

 

[ExemplarVoss]

Bleh. The extra territory is good, the bonus to tundra is... still awful, since tundra tiles can't have a lot of improvements, like farms.
The rest... the faster production time is helpful for the religious district, but it does basically little else of note.

I get where they were going with the trade route bonuses (given Russia's lingering rep as the backwater of Europe), but for game purposes, this is pretty much a completely wasted trait except for the AI on lower difficulty levels.

Cossacks aren't terrible.

Basically Russia is fighting with Sumer for the rank of 'Civ I'm most disappointed by/least impressed with.'