- Made more eye appealing - added cool stuff to try - Added Russian Boom -Added Useful cars section I thought that I would create a strategy for the Russians because of the lack thereof. I would have to say that the Russians are one of the most underused civilizations in the game. They are quite different than the others because of their Block training (Training in groups) and a blockhouse to replace their barracks and their outpost; these can be quite confusing at first but used effectively they can turn the tide of a battle. The strategy that I about to tell you is by no means static and can be changed as you see fit. There are however cards and specific guidelines that should be followed no matter what sort of a game you are playing I will mark these with an *. Also This strategy is recommended for a player with a deck of about level 12. Russian units are among the weakest in the game and quite fragile unless handled properly. Focus fire and other micromanagement is necessary in the early game to preserve your quite fragile army. Here is an outline of units: The base of the Russian military is the strelet. People say they are the weakest unit in the game, but who says they have to be. There is a whole slew of upgrades available for these much misunderstood units (ok so they may look a little funny) you just have to know where to find them. Also they can be lethal against infantry with their 2x attack bonus as if being the CHEAPEST infantry unit in the game wasn’t enough. Stats: - Role: Anti-Infantry All of the upgrades at the advanced arsenal plus The strelet combat card and a veteran upgrade make them this: Hitpoints: 100 All for relatively cheap and only 2 cards (pwnage). However one must understand that strelets on their own well get owned. Cavalry rips through them like wet paper and cannons will mow them down like grass. It is necessary to mix in both cavalry and heavy infantry (Musketeers) to emerge victorious. And remember if you lose a ton of em don’t worry you’ve probably already got a hundred more well under construction; and if you don’t, hurry up already. Ok so in my opinion Halberdiers are pretty useless. However I will give in and say a few good things about them. These are pretty much your best bet at countering cavalry. They also are much better for pulling off a colonial age rush than are strelets. If you are including strelets in your colonial age rush mix these guys in to give them cover from cavalry. Later in the game use them to engage the enemy while the rest of your army dismantles buildings and kills settlers. In my opinion one of the best cavalry units in the game (sorry cuirassiers). They are cheap at 150 resources and only take up 1 population spot (which means you can get a LOT of them for you n00bs *Some of you belive that trample is pretty useless however I find it quite useful in a situation where they are going to die any ways. You'll take out a lot more troops than in normal attack mode. Think of it as self distruct. Under no circumstances should these guys engage military units. When the enemy is mucking up your base with his whole army send a few of these guys to their base, grantee you’ll do twice as much damage. When on the attack with these guys remember: DO NOT ENGAGE MILITARY (Think of them as playground bullies they only fight people smaller than them) and focus on settlers first. Happy raiding These guys kick butt but nobody ever uses them. Because of the royal guard upgrade these guys can be uber lethal in the face of all enemies. Also because they show up so early in the game it is a good idea to mix these in with a few infantry and go on a raid to complement the Russians lack of colonial age crushing power (sorry guys strelets don’t cut it). Have them wreck buildings and tear down towers while your main military engages the enemy. Just keep them guarded with some musketeers to keep the cavalry at bay. Now go forth and blow stuff up!!! (see below for a good grenadier rush) A lot of people ask what are some of the most useful cards as a russian player. They don't have a lot of outstanding cards so the trouble begins when you need to seperate the mediocre from the teribble. So in my opinion some of the best cards are as follows: - Reformist Tzar (Russian church upgrades are some of the best) Those are some of the best IMO any more that you think would be helpful go ahead and say. Here is the juicy stuff the stuff you’ve all been waiting for the all time most infamous BUILD ORDER!!!! Da da da DA Ok so I think I’m off my coffee high let me begin. Russians are heavily dependent on wood all throughout the game so it is a good idea to get some cards that will complement that weakness and if you have the quartermasters 500 wood as an option (lvl 10+) go for it. Another good idea is to get the sawmill card another higher level card but entirely worth it. Only under certain circumstances should you use resource shipment cards: - To get some settlers Other than that you’re good. Now ill list some cards that are a good idea to have: - 13 strelets Late game the huge stand off is inevitable you and you opponent have huge amounts of resources stockpiled the victor of the conflict will claim superiority so you MUST win. Here is how: - Build a million blockhouses and switch all of your villagers to food and wood as soon as the conflict commences spam strelets like there is no tomorrow. I MEAN SPAM as in every single upgrade for them and all the training speed boosts. You should be getting strelets as soon as you click the button. Just feed the battle with them you will be making them so fast that you will drown the enemy with sheer numbers. Just keep on making them and push into his base you will lose hundreds of strelets but you will eventually emerge victorious just remember to target stables first because if your opponent gets enough cavalry your screwed. If you have the resources it may be a good idea to spam a few musketeers in with your strelets. Also consider using the INSTA INF mentioned at the bottom of this guide to flood the enemy with your troops. So I got this Idea from ceres and I thank him for the ispiration. However I belive that the Russians are much better suited for this strategy (With a few changes) because of their diverse unit selection and ability to fend off early rushes easier. So I shall get to the meat of it: -Advanced arsenal: flint lock, military drummers, counter As you can see the Russians can be rather versatile when it comes to a fast fortress. Any comments or suggestions on the build order would be great I'm not 100% sure of it myself; more like 90% Many of you thought that I should include a good rush for the "rush ins" errrrrrm I mean Russians so I went about my way looking at some top gamers games and reviewing many strategy articles including TGE's (good work btw) and I melded a bunch of strategies together into a rush that can and will deal a crushing blow. before I begin I would like to credit a few people: -blue_ gaiden These are some of the main people I look at when I develop strategies so I'd just like to say thank you. On to the strategy..... - 4 cossacks - He is turtling: Go for map control and get to fortress so you can get cannons opris and cavalry archers. Turn this strategy into a boom Again thank you TGE as you can see some of this strategy bears resemblance to his strategy. However mixing more cossacks with some grens into the mix sending different units instead of dueling school and changing settler assignment makes this strategy all the more deadly. I will update this strategy and the last in the days to come. Cards: fencing school and dueling school Get these two cards along with standing infantry at the church and save up a lot of resources and one blockhouse. When the enemy attacks your blockhouse start producing infantry. with all of the cards stacked they take no time to make. Suddenly the enemy has to deal with a huge army that just appeared before their eyes. ITS AN INSTANT ARMY!! Try sneaking a settler into the back of their base to build a blockhouse. If it is built pump out infantry, instant army IN THEIR BASE!!!! This is actual instant infantry not any of that namby pamby 5 second infantry so dont say it cant be done. This takes a bit of practice to get used to; but when you have it down to an art it can be particularaly lethal. The objective is to put together multiple raiding parties that will be able to escape in a pinch and harass the enemy into submission. The three units you will want to be using are cavalry archers, cossaks and oprichinks. Cossacks will be your meat shield. cavalry archers will be your firepower and oprichincks will be your wrekking power. when you have a large force of the above units split them into multiple control groups. The number of groups is largeley dependant on your micro skill. Now here is where the fun begins. I hope you enjoyed this guide as much as I did making it (rofl) Have a good day. Any suggestions or things I missed please explain them and I will include them. [This message has been edited by Armagin (edited 01-05-2006 @ 10:31 AM).]
- Updated some unit stats
- Added cards to reccomended deck
- Fixed a few errors in the main strategy
- also added INSTA INF
- fixed spelling errors
- Added Russian MEGA RAID
- Added Grenadier Rush
- Updated Unit Outlines
- Stats
- Age Available: Colonial
- Hitpoints: 72
- Pop. Use: 1
- Pop. Limit: Unlimited
- Resists: 30% Ranged Damage
- Speed: 4.5
- Attacks Range: 8 Range Damage, Range 14, 2x Damage bonus vs. Infantry
- Hand: 4 Hand Damage, 2x Damage bonus vs. Infantry
- Siege: 7 Siege Damage, Range 6
Speed: 5.5
Attack: 11 2x vs. Infantry
When you have cannons as the Russians It is a really good idea to micro halberdiers to stick around them. Cannons are expensive and until later game when you can afford to loose one or two it is a REALLY good idea to guard them heavily. As usually the first units to respond to a cannon threat are cavalry microed to attack them; meet them head on with your halberdiers to send the cavalry to their doom.
- Unicorne Mortars (-50% cost and -50% train time)
- TEAM scout cavalry (good for raiding)
- TEAM dueling school / Fencing Shool
- Boyars (All unique units stronger)
- Advanced arsenal
- Cavalry combat
- Oprichink shipments
- To make your economy better
- Or to get all market upgrades
- I think those are all the same
- 5 Cossacks
- 4 Cossacks
- Advanced Mill
- Advanced Arsenal
- Sawmills
- Silos
- 2 (or 3) blockhouse wagons
- Reformist tsar
- (If your using hacks) Nuclear bomb
-Infantry rifling, paper cartridges
-Strelet combat card
-Pillage
-Boyars
-The Good Evil
-ceres629
- 5 cossacks
- 13 strelets
- 300 wood
- 300 food
- 700 gold (In case you need to go fortress)
Move 1 villager to one side of the map in the middle so He won't be discovered. have him chop wood or gather gold.
- He is rushing: Get counter units and build a blockhouse near any of your exposed settlers. Keep some military in your base but keep your other base well guarded. If he attacks your TC, he will have to face a small military and block houses while you can use your larger military and tear his base to the ground.
- He is building skirmishers or crossbow men: abandon this strategy and get some cossacks and play the game out
- He is booming: Don't worry you'll win
Have your raiding parties menuver into various positions around the enemy town outside their LOS. If the enemy makes a move to engage one raiding party have the others move into their town to cause some havoc. If any of your parties are engaged move them away unless you are POSITIVE you can win even if they bring reeinforcements. Just keep attacking; because your army is entirely mounted it will be difficult to engage.
One time I took out my enemy after almost 10 minutes of raiding even though he had a larger army than me. the key is to keep moving hit one building and run away. Or one of my favorites is to have one raiding party lure any response units away and immediatley move into the empty area with more raiding units.