Russia First Look [Peter]

[ehecatzin]

I mean, at the point you have Cossacks, I don't think there will be any room to expand anyways.

maybe not on your home continent, but there will surelly be a lot of unwanted tundra on other continents.

 

[jekke]

I suppose a lot will depend on how terrible tundra tiles are. Namely, how many tundra tiles will have deer, other resources, even forests. Bare tundra is what, 1 food only? With a forest a russian tundra tile will give like, 1 food 2 production 1 faith, seems not too bad if there is a couple of food-rich tiles near the city. Of course, if most of the tundra tiles will have nothing, it's a different story.

 

[Scaramanga]

The extra tile for the Great Person is when they get sent to Siberia right?

 

[ehecatzin]

I suppose a lot will depend on how terrible tundra tiles are. Namely, how many tundra tiles will have deer, other resources, even forests. Bare tundra is what, 1 food only? With a forest a russian tundra tile will give like, 1 food 2 production 1 faith, seems not too bad if there is a couple of food-rich tiles near the city. Of course, if most of the tundra tiles will have nothing, it a different story.

yeah bare tundra will be just barely enough to get by, but since you'll grab much more terrain as Russia, I think its garanteed you'll enough good tundra tiles to get things rolling.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

So who wants to guess Peter's Agenda?

I'm guessing he will like civs that are ahead in Techs and Civics and dislike civs who are behind.

That way he can ride on the appropriate coattails and prey on the weak.

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

I think he likes civs who have alot of tech and civcs and probably dislike primitive civs.

 

[CoconutTank]

Russia seems pretty cool.

Extra land grab on settling is pretty dang powerful, as the Shoshone have proven in Civ5.

Not sure why they explicitly mentioned that Cossacks could move after attacking, is that no longer a given for all cavalry?

Lavra's effect is a little small, but it doesn't seem difficult to get if you want it (outside of the opportunity cost of the time for moving a great person onto the Lavra first). Getting a free tile every time I bulb, or wonder rush, or build up my religion in Civ5 might've been a nice side bonus.

I think Russia's trade bonus needs to either have a better ratio, or just have a strong flat bonus if the recipient is ahead in science/culture at all. I think the general idea is that it allows Russia to focus on other areas of growth (and expansion) and still keep up by having other civs do the hard work for them, but +1 science/culture per 3 tech/policy that the recipient is ahead by is not a good ratio imo, particularly since it is an eventually self defeating ability.

 

[gunnergoz]

Russia is not only about Trundra, of course: there's nothing stopping the Russian player from founding cities outside of the Tundra line. In fact, those likely will be the specialist cities of the mid and late game. That early large city footprint will be something else to see in action, as it is with Shoshone in Civ V. I'd alternate founding cities on the tundra line and below it (in the temperate zone) as long as you can. My mind is going feverish with the possibilities on this one, even more than with Greece or Rome for a change.

 

[Mort_Q]

Russia is not only about Trundra, of course: there's nothing stopping the Russian player from founding cities outside of the Tundra line. In fact, those likely will be the specialist cities of the mid and late game. That early large city footprint will be something else to see in action, as it is with Shoshone in Civ V. I'd alternate founding cities on the tundra line and below it (in the temperate zone) as long as you can. My mind is going feverish with the possibilities on this one, even more than with Greece or Rome for a change.

You get enough hexes; no reason not to ride the transition line across the map.

 

[ehecatzin]

So who wants to guess Peter's Agenda?

I'm guessing he will like civs that are ahead in Techs and Civics and dislike civs who are behind.

That way he can ride on the appropriate coattails and prey on the weak.

That seems pretty spot on, Peter needs to mantain that commerce with some civs, and some targets to encroach on.

 

[gunnergoz]

While I could see Peter's agenda being focused on civs with more advanced tech and civics, it could also have a negative side, i.e. a tendency to grow angry with those who settle too close to his borders. From an AI motivation standpoint, both would work well.

 

[ehecatzin]

While I could see Peter's agenda being focused on civs with more advanced tech and civics, it could also have a negative side, i.e. a tendency to grow angry with those who settle too close to his borders. From an AI motivation standpoint, both would work well.

Yeah I could imagine Peter warning you not to settle close to him as soon as you meet him, only so he can forward settle you and tell you to go fish.

 

[isau]

This is the first civ I've been largely disappointed by. Sorry to be negative, but I am quite underwhelmed.

They've got the old Shoshone "extra territory when founding a city" ability. Ok, that one was good in Civ V and one of the main reasons to play Shoshone, so its fair to say it's strong here too.

The rest of it... almost seems like they ran out of time and said "What abilities are already coded that we could change values to and quickly assign to Russia?"

The Lavra is the exception, seeming to have been custom-coded, and it is terrible. The only thing going for it is the half-cost of building the district. But that's standard for all unique districts. This is the second game in a row where Russia got some kind of building/district that supposedly helps with grabbing tiles, and the second time in a row that building was fail. Starting to feel bad for them. Obviously it is better than nothing but I would hope the benefit of a district would be something more than half off its cost that all unique districts get, and Japan gets even without a unique district. This is overlooking the question of Russia having a religious district in the first place. Russia is a Faith civ this go-round and I am not sure how I feel about that.

Extra science from trade routes is about when my eyes glazed over entirely. Yes, it's an ability. Just a dull one. And it sounds like it stops working if Russia is the science or culture leader, leaving this ability highly questionable. Useful, perhaps, on higher difficulties as an almost literal difficulty-reducer. But also quite boring in its implementation. Really would have expected Peter to be a major player somehow in the Great People race for example. Or for Russia to excel at spying (why, indeed, are there so many Faith civs and only one that has anything to do with spies?)

Extra faith and production from Tundra tiles. Well, it's nice to see one civ do okay on Tundra, if not exactly amazing. Russia will be generating a lot of faith. This is basically the old overpowered Desert religion ability from Civ V applied to Tundra, and free. But it's also hard for me to feel inspired by it.

What would I have preferred to see? Well, I think there is a ton of unmined territory and it's a shame the final civ seems so dialed back in terms of inventiveness.

 

[BrokenBokken]

So I haven't read the entire topic, it was a bit long and I had an interesting idea. It's probably all ready covered. There are several dead end techs in the tech tree. If Russia's bonus is based on how many techs someone else has that they don't.... Russia could just skip them. No archers? Not a big deal if they can get to crossbow. Pikemen might be more risky. I know there are a good number of Civics that dead end as well.

Also, while the bonus from the unique district is a bit junk, having more holy sites should make buying more great people easier. You should be producing more faith than any other civ if you prioritize building the Lavra.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

From Reddit:

FXS_PeteMurrayProducer - Firaxis 446 points 3 hours ago

Peter the Great was almost seven feet tall, endlessly energetic, and endlessly curious. He wanted a modern country, an enormous land of many peoples ruled by a benevolent, absolute king. This is the Peter who leads Russia in Civ VI. Those sound like good things, but tragedy always arises from competing goods, as Ricoeur teaches us, and Peter’s Russia could be a case study in this.

Let’s start with some axioms: There is only so much land in Civ. Russia will get more of it from their bonuses as a result of simply playing the game. Some of this will be land you will plan to take, only to find it controlled by a Russian city.

Another axiom is: Some land is better than others. Tundra? Not usually something you want (unless St. Cuthbert of Eastern Orthodoxy is commissioning La Ventian stone heads on it). Russia can use Tundra. Russia will take the land you don’t want, and make it useful. Then Russia will grow. Russia is always growing. As they grow, if they start to fall behind in Science or Culture, Peter will send his traders to you. Peter is always listening for new ideas. You will drop a casual mention about how your Civ is looking into this “Machinery” thing, and then you will you look over at Peter, who is listening, staring at you with an unsettling intensity. “Go on,” he will say.

Peter the Great was almost seven feet tall. He was quick and clever, and ruled a Russia that was vast almost beyond comprehension. He is leading Russia in Civ VI. You have been warned.

So, Play Russia, suzurain La Venta, Colossal Heads all over the Tundra, win.

 

[Slayan]

This might now be my 3ed play through Civ

 

[DJ_Tanner]

I mean, at the point you have Cossacks, I don't think there will be any room to expand anyways.

That's your first mistake.

Peter will go where he pleases, uncharted land? Russia will take it. You don't like the land? Russia will take it. You like your land? Russia will take it.

 

[CaiusDrewart]

This is one of my least favorite Civ designs.

The Civ UA is just fine--not sure I would have given Russia a faith bonus myself, but the extra tiles and boost to tundra makes total sense. Russia will easily spread out over a big territory and can productively settle lands that other civs cannot. Cool.

The Cossack is OK, but a rather uninspired choice. We've already had the Cossack in Civ III, Civ IV, and Civ V, and there's a lot more to Russian military history than just Cossacks. Plus we already have a cavalry UU in the game. I'd have liked to see the T-34 or the Katyusha Rocket.

The Leader UA makes total sense from a flavor perspective, but is just completely laughable from a gameplay perspective. That's going to be such a piddling amount of science and culture that you might as well not have one.

I hate the choice of UI. The extra tiles part is both redundant (wasn't the Civ UA taking care of that?) and probably irrelevant (only 1 tile per great person?) Moreover, the unique holy site steers Russia firmly in a religious direction and that's not where I wanted this Civ to go at all. We've already got a boatload of religious civs. We have far fewer civs that are about science, industry, or great literature. I think any of those last three would have been much better choices for Russia's focus.

 

[drubell]

Russia feels rather pigeonholed with their bonuses than others civs, I feel. Without tundra you're delaying you're faith generation, which thus delays your Lavra bonuses. Without a neighbor more advanced than you, you don't receive the bonus to trade routes.

If the stars align to make all of your potential bonuses available to you, then it's a decent civ, but otherwise there just isn't much that I'm seeing that makes Russia that interesting.

Basically, I just think it's one of the least flexible civs I've seen yet.

 

[gunnergoz]

The design of Russia's traits almost makes me think a Russian, or a scholar of Russian history (or both) was behind it. It is spot on to their national characteristics, if those could be reduced to game terms.