Russia First Look [Peter]

[Abraxis]

Well, the Russian source with that info they gleaned from the "source code" was basically right. Seems like changes were made to Russia after that, but only slight ones (specifically with the Cossack).

Does this mean Persia is more likely to be in as a result as well?!?

I was just watching a gamespot interview and he mentioned there were meant to be 20 civs upon release. We have 19 including Aztec. Gorgo wouldn't make sense as a second leader is not a Civ. I have to think they have somehow cleverly hidden Persia from us this whole time...

 

[j51]

Peter's background is awesomely flavourful.

 

[Magil]

It looks like people here are divided between those who watched a lot of LP videos and those who didn't. First category is very impressed by both tile acquisition abilities

I've watched a lot of the videos. This is still the weakest Civ.

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

No matter what victory condition you go for Russia is a strong choice:

Religious: You get the most important district as a UD, half price and no slot taken. You can very well be the first to found a religion and all you cities can quickly have a holy district up and running. If you pick the desert and thundra pathernon you should have a rather easy victory. Later on you can work thundra for extra faith if you need to.

Culture: Extra land is very nice because you can build more resorts and more national parks and faith is needed for national parks.

Science: Extra tiles should mean you have the optimal productive cities to finish the space program quicker then the other civs. Extra production could mean a quicker space program.

Domination: More land should give you better opportunities for attack.

I've watched a lot of the videos. This is still the weakest Civ.

So have I and I do not agree that this is a weak civ

 

[Uberfrog]

I actually really like the Grand Embassy ability. For example can russia focus on science and don't care about culture generation in the beginning... it gets free land anyways. By trading it still gets culture and doesn't fall too far begind.

That land grabbing on city settling ability is nice for quick expansion and reservation of good spots - and probably annoying as hell with russia as your neighbour.

Exactly. Asking a question like "why do you get a boost for falling behind?" misses the point - you only need a boost if you've fallen behind. What Peter's ability allows you to do is focus on other things - don't forget that science and culture form two separate trees), and still not fall too far behind your neighbours. It also allows you to make the most of snowball science and culture civs like Arabia and Brazil.

The extra territory is huge. You're almost expanded to your second workable tile from the off. Very fitting for late game expansion and settling unexplored territory to grab resources.

Peter also looks very snazzy indeed.

 

[Babarigo]

Does somebody know if it's possible to build improvements and districts on tundra tiles ?

 

[Cerilis]

I find Faith-based russia to be confusing... Also the trade bonus too, honestly. When I think religious and/or trade empires, Russia doesn't really leap to the front of the crowd.

Cossack is business as usual and the extra territory on settle is really awesome - moreso in civ6 than in civ5. The rest of the bonuses seem way off though. I don't even mind the catch-up mechanic behind the Trade bonus... I just don't get why russia has a trade bonus in general.

For their infrastructure I would have gone with something science or production oriented.

Well the trade bonus is peter's ability.
I think it's useful when you were focusing on religion/great persons early (with your UD) to keep close to your neighbours, with science and culture.

Also, Pedro will hate Peter.

 

[MarcoFurio]

I was honestly hoping those bonuses would be just rumored. I think this is the weakest of the Civs. Why would I want a bonus that only helps me when I'm losing (and by seemingly paltry amounts)? Turning Tundra into plains is... okay, but plains is generally considered weaker than grassland in most recent Civ titles. Starting with extra tiles is nice, but I can't imagine the district bonus is going to be extremely relevant. Cossacks are solid units but not solid enough to carry. Gets a resounding "meh" from me.

Actually Russia is one of my favorites for playing higher difficulties levels.
I don't think I'll chose then for Prince or even King, but fom Emperor, Immortal or Deity Russia may be the best pick.

 

[Lights]

That demands the space and time to produce it, and works against city specialization. Surely not every city is going to have a good spot for a holy site. Just because it's half price doesn't mean it's always a good idea to build it.

Why wouldn't you when there's a pantheon that gives +1 faith for every adjacent tundra next to a holy site disctrict. And Russia UA turns Tundra into plains that give you faith.

 

[gunnergoz]

If you start near tundra as Russia and keep expanding along the tundra line, you will gobble up large chunks of the map pretty quickly. Those parts will end up having a lot of worthwhile tiles as the game proceeds and strategic resources are exposed. The Lavra plus the initial additional tiles together mean every city can benefit from a Lavra and border expansion will continue even as cultural expansion slows. I think too many people denigrating the Russian traits are still thinking in terms of earlier versions of civ. This is a powerful civ for the player who knows how to capitalize on it, dominating the northern/southern tiers of the map.

 

[Sansa_Stark]

I am really fascinated how so many people decided to ignore the fact that Russia's UI is probably the most important and also the earliest district in the game, which means that the ability to build it for half cost is amazing per se. Its unique ability just cannot be as strong as other UD's have, it is just a small (but definitely not worthless) bonus and its perfectly fine. Also, unique abilities need to be considered as a group and Russian UA seems pretty strong and is effective from turn 1. It seems to me that lot of you need some "wow" factor related to uniques, otherwise they are just "meh" for you.

As for the LUA, we need to wait for the exact numbers. It seams quite weak, but I'd say the intentionally don't say any specific numbers to leave them some room for balancing.

 

[Magil]

Why wouldn't you when there's a pantheon that gives +1 faith for every adjacent tundra next to a holy site disctrict. And Russia UA turns Tundra into plains that give you faith.

Surely you're not suggesting you'll found all of your cities in the Tundra?

 

[homan1983]

Russia could really focus on buying Great People with faith, which has synergy with Lavra, growing borders even more.

It's one bloody tile stealth, one bloody tile for one city for a great person. Come on now, I want to hear you for once say this is frikkin terrible.

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

I would like to know how the trade bonus work as there is a huge difference between getting a bonus if you lack a tech or civic or getting a bonus if you have less techs or civics.

Surely you're not suggesting you'll found all of your cities in the Tundra?

You just need to settle in reach of thundra so you can build the holy district in thundra.

 

[MistyRonin]

Leaks confirmed. So a really strong and wide Russia. It'll clearly become one of my favorite civs to play as.

 

[MACKA0ili]

So it looks like Russia is a pretty versatile civ this time around

Extra land grab will mean that playing wide with Russia is a given and that early game settler spam will be even better.

Lavra comes out as the earliest of the unique districts and will help defend against border expansion and religious victories.

Tundra tiles will allow a constant build up of faith for great people and an early pantheon which guarantees dance of the aurora for even more faith from lavras

Overall not the strongest civ we've seen especially with that underwhelming leader ability, but definitely able to ramp up with their territorial gains and eventual Cossack army. But, given how important the religious game is to the AI and the overall importance of having land for districts, I can see Russia being amazing for higher difficulties.

 

[bite]

I must say Russia is growing on me once you work through all the bonuses and how they interact

 

[stealth_nsk]

Surely you're not suggesting you'll found all of your cities in the Tundra?

I think having several cities with large Tundra zone is great idea for Russia.

Does somebody know if it's possible to build improvements and districts on tundra tiles ?

They have their own requirements. You surely can build all districts, but not all improvements.

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

If you look at the LP, getting tiles is not as obvious. I have seen prices reach near 200 gold mark and you do not seem to get many from culture.

So a free tile could be worth like 200 gold and that is just one benefit of the UD.

 

[Tinker]

It's one bloody tile stealth, one bloody tile for one city for a great person. Come on now, I want to hear you for once say this is frikkin terrible.

One bloody tile seems to usually mean a 150-300 gold you don't spend, considering how far the borders spread to start with. For how plentiful GP are in Civ 6 that's pretty good.

Also, can we assume that it will spread the borders beyond workable range? If so, it's really good for grabbing those extra luxuries or strategic resources easily.