Russian advice

[Kallum]

Hi

Instead of asking a question I'm now trying to give some advice about the russian campaign....

the first turns of the russian should be to unite al settlements till kiev(make it a priority to capture kiev in my game it's my richest city) but also don't forget to capture riga, vilnius and smolensk. for some reasons i never capture helsinki

in the meantime make an alliance with poland and hungary, you need to secure those borders untill you have the military power to conquer them (believe me the early russian army isn't capable of doing this)

for my early armies i rely heavily on mercenaries and spear and crossbow militias, a unit of kazaks is always welcome boyar and druzinha aswel


When I have secured my western front I just go capture all of modern day russia. when I have done this I'm usually able to make full stacks of druzinha and boyar sons. I prefer boyar sons for they can throw spears..

Once russia is secured, you have 2 options going south versus the Turks or going west vs the christian factions. i usually go to the west because if i go south i will have a gigantic front to fight against the mongols and the timurids.

If i go west i usually go to scandinavia and then to the south attacking the poles from 2 directions. I prefer poland above Hungary for poland has much less fronts to face than Hungary and thuss easier defendable

for mongol defence i build HA armies only to face them in the field and for city battles ballista towers is a must for you cant hold out without them..

Timurids is an other story to beat timurids in city defence you need atleast cannon towers and full stacks in the besieged city, I never face them in open field for I just can't beat them call me a bad tactician but I simply cant beat the timurids in open field. The mongols I can beat, every other faction I can beat timurids I can't those elephants just seem inmortall,

but now back to the situation at poland as I've said i prefer Poland above Hungary cause it's easier defendable. after Poland you can invade Hungary make sure you make an alliance with the byz(if they are still alive if not make an alliance with the other faction who's in control of greece, if this faction is Hungary then you have yourself some very rich provinces)

When this is done, you can go further into europe expanding into the HRE or you can go east and south expanding into the turks, egyptians and mongols/timurids by now you should have a steady income, some very good units (cossack musketeers, berdiche axemen and dvor cavalry just powns) so these factions shouldnt be a problem

hope you have fun when playing with the russians the begin situation is ugly but in my experience the end game is one of the most enjoyable games of al the factions

[dr_guerra]

Good stuff.

Just to add, I recommend turning most of your settlements into cities, especially in the middle of the map, only have a couple castles in the far west bordering Europe, to the most eastern ready for the mongols, and have Tbibsili or whatever it is in the mountains as a castle, ready for the Turks.

It's very important to move southwards to gain access to sea. I also like to marriage alliance with the Byzantines.

The Russians have the worst early level roster, so you should use spear militia and those axemen in mass, and back them up with competent cavalry.

They have a rough economy, so train up some merchants, make trade deals with everyone, once your merchants get about half finance, go down to Constantinople for some silk. A city like Moscow, in the middle of no where and not at risk, should have militia units only, and maximize it's financial capacity.

After I've consolidated all the rebel provinces, I like to provoke nearby factions of Denmark, Poland, Hungary, or the Turks.

The Russians have the best units to counter the Mongols, so don't fear them. Dismounted Dvor archers are the BEST against Mongols, and you can butcher massive numbers of them from afar with ease. Use some artillery as as well, and get on a nice defensible hill, or simply build a fort and force the Mongols to attack it. Use your best spear or pike troops, dismounted Dvors, and some quality heavy and light cavalry. Alan Light Cavalry mercenaries do the job perfectly for chasing enemies down.

[Kallum]

ty what yo say makes a lot of sense thank you for applying it to this thread

[Guderian's Duck]

When I start as Russia, I usually rush down to Kiev as soon as possible, stopping along the way to take Smolensk. It's important to get there quickly as the Hungarians can sometimes get uppity and try and claim it first. The Kiev black sea trade routes are exceptionally important to grab a hold of. Once you get there and take the city, make sure to exterminate the population otherwise you're going to be dealing with unhappy citizens for a very long time. I usually relocate my capital there as well.

Early on, get used to using the Militia units for many things. Your Spear and Archer militia units are basically there to hold the line and provide cover for your more expensive units to actually kill things. The Hungarians and Poles are coded to hate you. So prepare for war with them early on. You'll notice you don't have very good direct counters to their well armed and armored Knights. Your best counter are Boyar Sons. These guys can butcher any heavily armored unit with their javelins easily. Keep them handy. You'll want to get used to using Kazakhs and Boyar Sons. Russian forces are very mobile so use your mobility to keep your slower enemies off balance.

Due to the vast expanses of Russian territory, it's important to plan for a defense in depth. That means designating castles every few provinces to house a mobile reaction force of mostly Cavalry units (Kazahks, Boyar Sons, and Druzhina mix well with Spearmen and Spear Militia). Your cities only need some milita to hold the province. If you are attacked or see armies begin to enter your territory, send out your castle army to intercept them or try and break up any siege in progress. Your are most likely going to face enemies on all sides of your empire so your castle army is going to end up being shuttled around the empire as a fire brigade putting out fires. You'll build up a good core of experienced troops this way. Take note of rivers as well. Position troops at the crossings if you fear an attack soon. This works exceptionally well against the Mongols. When possible, begin producing many Dismounted Dvors. These guys are tough. They have excellent bows and are fierce in melee combat. Mounted Dvors are great too since you can use them to circle around an enemy softening them up with arrows and then charge in and clean up with their axes. Cossack troops are excellent for tying up enemy forces and chasing down retreating forces. Just use the skills you learned from your Kazakhs.

A few key points to remember:
-Vast expanses of territory means you need fast troops to battle the enemy
-Everyone hates you
-The Mongols are not invincible but you are NOT the Mongols (Don't fight like them)
-Dvors, Cossacks, and Cossack Musketeers are amazing
-Play Hungary, Poland, the Danes, and the Byzantines off eachother until you can deal with them (after you fight off the Mongols)
-You'll need to learn to do more with a lot less
-Trade agreements are your economies salvation

[RollingWave]

personally, they should fight like the Mongols.. against western europe factions anyway.

you either need to make a mad dash at Keiv or sail over to Scandavia off the bat. sadly in vinilla Scandanvia is only have 2 province.. though your roster set up simply plays out much better against the Danes / HRE / French /English / Scots etc.. then Pole / Hungary / Byz / Mongol / Turks

[Viking Prince]

Clandestino helped me out in this thread:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...ghlight=russia

If this is helpful you might give him +rep

[fritsje5]

Timurids is an other story to beat timurids in city defence you need atleast cannon towers and full stacks in the besieged city, I never face them in open field for I just can't beat them call me a bad tactician but I simply cant beat the timurids in open field. The mongols I can beat, every other faction I can beat timurids I can't those elephants just seem inmortall,

Use your Boyar sons to kill off the elephants, it works fairly easy, I tried this out with jinetes as well, and they have a hidden +6 bonus against elephants. When you have them in shooting circle, it becomes very hard for the elephants to hit you as while you won't miss one single shot at them because they are huge, trust me, they really ain't that hard

Nazdorowje...

(cheers in Russian)

[Kallum]

Use your Boyar sons to kill off the elephants, it works fairly easy, I tried this out with jinetes as well, and they have a hidden +6 bonus against elephants. When you have them in shooting circle, it becomes very hard for the elephants to hit you as while you won't miss one single shot at them because they are huge, trust me, they really ain't that hard

Nazdorowje...

(cheers in Russian)

I tried it out and it worked i finally have a field strategy against the Timurids + rep for u