Russian Strategy

[NewLifeDante]

I really enjoy playing as Russia; they will be my primary civ until they bring back the Mongols (hopefully ). I noticed in the 3 1/2 games I played with Russia, they have a large advantage on the Pangea map and the continents map in that they always start by Tundra. While this in itself is an advantage because of deer, Tundra is almost always near the top or bottom of a continent. This prevents Russia from being boxed in on both sides and let's you relax a little about being conquered in the beginning of the game to focus on expansion, Russia's key concept.

The key way I found to win with Russia is to be a somewhat early game conqueror of civilizations near you, and then back off for a while and build up your infrastructure. On a standard map, I typically like to conquer the two nearest civs near me and take their cities to fuel the expansion. Once this is done (turn 150 at latest, imo), I usually just let Russia sit back, build one or two other cities and then just build up your science or maybe culture (or both, if the difficulty is low ). Kreposts are pretty necessary in all cities in order to expand more quickly( 50 percent faster expansion is what it boils down to in my book) , though the bonus xp is nice as well. Overall, once you have a fairly large empire (probably 7-10 cities), you can start cranking out tons of production (thanks Siberian riches) for units in the mid-game and you ideally want to get Military Science in the Renaissance Era as quick as possible so you can build your Cossack horseman army. Now, I've seen complaints about the Cossacks being weak or underpowered, but I totally disagree. 25 strength is good for the time in the game, but they're power is increased by 50 percent when they are attacking damaged units o.o Though infantry will soon outshine them with their base 36 strength, I personally think that a fast conquering of cities in the midgame against an unexpected civ is awesome. Domination is typically the victory you're going for with Russia, although I assume science is a good possibility too (haven't tried yet). The quick expansion is almost a dead kill to a culture victory, and your diplomacy is lacking. Now, your Gunboat Diplomacy on the other hand......

Overall, these are my general tips:
1. Conquer 1-2 civs early game (before turn 150, though ideally 110-ish)
2. Build up infrastructure, making Kreposts necessary in all cities
3. Rush to Military Science for Cossacks
4. Build up a large Cossack/ Longswordman/ Trebuchet (Cannon) army
5. Conquer everyone else
6. Drink some Vodka and celebrate Glorious Mother Russia

Hope you all enjoy!

 

[Thyrwyn]

I am also currently playing a game as Russia, and I see nothing wrong with your plan. With careful selection of early city spots (near horses & iron), and chosen victims (same), Russia has quite the advantage from the Classical period through the Renaissance.

Double yield on iron & horses means that Russia can field an army of entirely swords, horses, and siege equipment. They should never need to build pikes. This effectively means that Russia should always have the better army in any match up. They will never build muskets (Longswords are better) and don't care if anyone else builds them, either. This advantage disappears once melee & siege units no longer require Iron, so strike while the iron is hot. . . so to speak.

Even against Rome's Legions and Ballistas, Russia wins, because (all things being equal) Russia will have twice as many Swordsmen and Catapults whereas Caesar will have to supplement his army with spears and Archers.

You just have to learn how to manage your conquests. . .

 

[LetMyPeopleGo]

Very nice indeed. I'll be playing Russia for the resource bonuses as yo explained, the best for military victory.

I may also try Arabia for the gold bonuses later on.

 

[tflst5]

I agree about Russia being a powerful civ. In fact i think they might be one (if not the) of the most powerful civs given a good horse start.

I've tried 100 turn starts with all of the civs (epic, marathon) so far and i found Russia to be the most powerful, quite significantly in fact. Its their special ability which grants extra hammers for each strategic resource. It is very powerful if you make hoarding strategic resources your early focus.

I did this in my last game. I started near 4 resources of horse (3 within 3 tiles of my capital). Immediately i was seeing the benefits of extra hammers. In my standard build that i've used with most civs - scout, worker, warrior, settler - i was able to actually fit in an early monument and still keep pace with where i was playing the other civs.

Compare this ability to other civs and i think you'll realize how powerful it is. For my capital i was receiving 3 extra hammers from the 3 horses. That raised me from 12 hammers to 15 for the city, a 25% improvement on everything i build. That gives me a better improvement on wonder building then Egypt and it works for buildings + units too. My early monument netted me 2 extra culture - matching what a French player would have early on. Not to mention the abundance of Horse that i could trade around to rivals and obtain more gold... allowing me to build Granaries in more places, Mills in more places, etc etc. The Kreposts in addition to the monuments in every city meant they popped new tiles a lot. All in all.. it is a circle of win for Russia.

Compared to my other playthroughs i found myself much more self sustained.. not reliant on city states for food or culture. Not reliant on hunting barbs to make gold to pay those city states. I could still do those things for certain, but my focus playing Russia was buying lots of land, grabbing all the strategic resources, and suffocating the AI with my expansions. I didn't have as much gold as i did playing other civs, but i didn't need it. In the future i might try w/o the monument and see what military force i can whip together. Sounds like they can do that as well.

Granted, everything in this strategy relies on getting a good horse start. A good iron start or no nearby strategic resources might make it still pretty powerful, but not dominating the way it was for me.

 

[NewLifeDante]

I find that my biggest adversary in most games is Rome because of their expansion flavor as well u_u If you start near Rome, you're gonna need to rush them as quick as possible. In early era, you're probably gonna be attacking with spearman in the forefront and Chariot Archers for ranged. Rome is your biggest enemy even more so than other military civs because the other military civs will more likely than not raze a city or puppet it with little defense. Rome is expansionist, so it will keep 90% of the cities it conquers. KILL ROME!

Although this strategy has not yet worked for me, I think that if you and Rome are on the same continent and you let them go for a while and give them opportunity to conquer other civs and then later on recapture them, you might be able to squeeze out a diplomatic victory by liberating 2+ civ capitals (as well as showering City-states w/ gold). Next time Rome spawns on the opposite side of the continent, I think I'm gonna try this. (Note: This strategy wouldn't work on the Archipalego map, and might be pretty tough on the Continents map)

 

[Martin Alvito]

Legions aren't all that dangerous if you hit them in the open with Horses and then run away like a coward. Find a hill between you and them, ideally station a Horse there to scout (so it can defend itself against Horse and run if necessary). Station the rest of your Horse three or more tiles away from the Legions, let them advance two tiles into the open, hit them and run. Get back inside your borders to heal, rinse, repeat. Net result: dead invading army.

You just have to plan ahead and prioritize Horseback Riding if Rome is nearby.