Russian strategies?

Suppose the cost is 40 per tile, and output is 4.
+50% culture for tile buying means output is 6.
Half cost means cost per tile is 20.

So, you go from culture gain every 10 turns to culture gain every 3.33 turns.

Huge change, but not quite instant.
 
The strategy for Catherine seems pretty straightforward. Rapid scouting and settling of horse resources followed by city development making use of early production bonuses (and hope you get some iron) followed by the construction of a shock and awe army and early conquest. The +1 production bonuses per strategic resource should give Catherine enough of a boost to put her a bit ahead of other civs in terms of military capacity when she's ready to attack - maybe around turn 250 (it will take some time to get to the necessary techs, and build the infrastructure and army). Early conquest for Russia likely won't utilize the double production from strategic resources advantage because Catherine is unlikely to have the production/funds to put that many units in the field, anyway, although one possibility is to spam horsemen for the large tactical advantage they provide before civs have robust defensive positions set up.

I think the Russian advantages will thin considerably after the early part of the game, but then the game is won or lost at the beginning, anyway. Catherine should be up there with Alexander and Napoleon among the folks you don't really want as neighbors.
 
Not very well, since I'm in England and the game isn't unlocked yet. :)

I've played the demo twice through now, so I'll probably start the real game on Prince instead of Warlord.
 
So, I played as the Russians.

Here are my strategies:.

Russians are the expansionist civ (it was well identified by a poster earlier). Knowing the lay of the land is important.

So your build order is to build 2 scouts, and then whatever else. Grab all the goodie huts you can get and talk to all the city states you can talk to. Take note of all the nice resources around, especially luxury resources. DON"T FORGET! YOU GET +1 PROD on Strategic Resource tiles! Production is SHY in civ5, this is actually huge! SO GO GET 'EM!

So 1st policy to grab is the Liberty. You need to be cranking out the settlers.

1st tech to research, I recommend Animal Husbandry. You need to see where those horses are.

Don't be shy. Be a push-over. If there are some good spots to settle and its close to someone else, go for it.

Try and claim as many resources as you can, as fast as you can.

Capital build order:

1. Scout
2. Scout
3. Worker (if not at liberty) but switch to Settler (as soon as liberty is adopted)
4. Finish up that worker
5. Settler or Granary (depends on resources availability)
6. Settler or Granary (same as above)
7. Military

2nd city build order:
1. Monument or Granary (have not decided which is best) - I think Granary as it allows you to put in higher production tiles
2. Military
3. Worker
4. Monument

3rd city build order:
1. Granary (I have decided now that this is better than Monument)
2. Worker
3. Monument

4th city build order, and the rest:
1. Granary
2. Monument
3. Military
4. Military
5. Whatever

Social Tree:

Liberty tree as a priority, fill out until you get +1 prod in each city. You are going to be big, it helps.
Piety is also very good!

Tech Tree:

Animal Husbandry 1st, as I said. Then try and get the techs that allow you to exploit the luxury resources you have. You're big, so you need them. Top it off with currency for market and the +25% gold.

Military:

You're focusing on expansion so military may be lacking early on (albeit AI sucks, so you'll have nothing to worry about), however once you get the strategic resources you will crank out those resource-based units fast (I had 24 iron with only 2 iron deposits!)

City States:

Don't bother giving them gold! You need gold. If you want to befriend them, do missions only. Gold is yours!

Diplomacy:

Settle early to other civs borders to lock them in. AI will just ask you not to settle anymore. Agree to it, you got the resources anyways.
 
Let me add -- do NOT be afraid to spend your gold! In this game, you are going to acquire gold, which can be used to do a wide variety of things. I disagree with the poster before who said don't give gold to city-states, I say depends on your intended victory type but if you do want to give gold to city-states don't do much of it until you unlock Patronage so it doesn't decay as fast. If you don't care about city-states, you can ignore Patronage.

If you aren't spending gold on city-states (which you shouldn't be at first until Patronage, and only if it fits in with your victory plans), then use it liberally to buy units and/or buildings. Don't keep amassing it toward nothing.

Looking forward to hearing about your play on Friday!

Sam
 
I've started my playthrough here. Unfortunately, lost all the screenshots from my first session, so will have to write it up without pictures in a bit, before playing on.
 
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