Playing Russia is a real ballbuster.

[Gottberg]

Man, I thought I would play Russia and with all their manpower start crushing nations under my boot heel, but not so. First off my population is always fricking rioting or whining about something, even when their taxes are about nil, so in the end I have to divert troops to quelling insurrections. Second, there are some ballbuster nations to my South who insist on giving me fits by invading me every time I turn my head. I finally had enough with one nation and stomped the bejesus out of them, but the Ottoman Empire insists on making me a sad panda.

It's going to take me awhile to gather enough troops to take the Ottomans on, but I'm always suspecious of the Swedes in how they constantly go back and forth with the trade agreement. I really wouldn't put it past them to invade me, which is why I leave a stong army in the Northwest for just such a case.

My question is how do I deal with my angery population? Lowering taxes isn't the solution, and the same goes with destroying rabble rousing buildings as their are none. Do I force a revolution? If so, how? Just pull the troops out of the towns and increase taxes to the max?

By the way I'm playing using the Darthmod.

Regards...

[Jihada]

Dartnmod's great, I play the dmuc version Ottomans atm, that is hard. If you play ultimate commander version as Russia you get higher starting money. I use that first to improve the government buildings in each region. Make sure you have decent ministers,especially justice and treasury. Stay allied with Poland as a bulwark in the west as long as possible. Raise an army to take Crimea Khanate and also St Petersburg asap. If possible bribe Georgia for alliance. Get carbines for dragoons and the town militia in each region like Komi /Tatariya to keep order,some units have good policing ability.Get trade with the west when you have ports in Crimea and Ingria.Build a fleet on the Baltic as Sweden will try to block trade.Same on black sea although not so important. I enjoyed Russia on dmuc h/h 4 turns per year.
Research fire by rank asap then you 'll beat Ottomans and other southern factions easy.

[Steeltrap]

Also bear in mind some of your starting provinces are so worthless in $$ terms that you're better off simply exempting them from taxation rather than putting in a garrison to maintain order. The cost of the garrison each turn exceeds the revenue, so that's a bad decision to keep one.

Getting to a constitutional monarchy as soon as possible helps a lot, as it removes the industrialisation penalties. Your main provinces, Moscow and Kiev, can be valuable when you max the industries, so removing that penalty is a huge benefit.

There are some 'cheap' maintenance cost units that gain policing bonuses. Use them.

Don't underestimate the value of churches. They convert your pop to Orthodox (and religious unrest is a driver of dissent early on), eventually give happiness bonuses once your pop is majority Orth, and provide priests to help convert lands you conquer.

It's all about being smart with cost/benefit decisions. As Jihada said, the government buildings are also crucial as they increase your tax revenues while reducing dissent.

As I said earlier, don't assume you need to tax every province. Some won't grow their only villages if they're being taxed, so saving costs through tax exemption will also lead to new villages = new revenue sources.

Be creative with your thinking.

Hope some of this helps.

Cheers

[Jihada]

I didn't think of not taxing those regions but that is a good idea and will produce new buildings for churches earlier.I also built roads in every region early on.You do need to garrison Karelia and Don Voisko as they will be attacked

[Maximus Lazero]

Don't rely on sea trade, if you can. This saves the trouble of having to deal with the Ottoman navy blockading you.

[Gottberg]

Ok, excellent ideas, especially the no tax one. I'm not really into the whole sea part of the game which is why I mainly stick with Prussia and now Russia. It was the Ottoman Empire and Crimea Khanate that were/are giving me fits, but I have that figured out. With Prussia it seems like colleges can be built faster than in Russia, and that's another thing that slows me down.

Since I'm fairly new to this game I think I'll start over using your advice. One question though, is there a bloodless way to go to a constitutional monarchy ASAP?

[TheAussieDigger]

Since I'm fairly new to this game I think I'll start over using your advice. One question though, is there a bloodless way to go to a constitutional monarchy ASAP?

from an absolute monarchy first the lower classes need to revolt to make a republic
then to make a constitutional monarchy u need the republican nobility to revolt

[Lowes]

-rant-

By the way I'm playing using the Darthmod.

Regards...

Welcome to my opening 10 turns as the Knight's of St. John. I thought crushing the Barbary states would take less then 5 turns. It took 15 turns to get my funds and population under control in Tunis and Tripoli before I could finally smash the buggers, and of course, they're rading of my farms and mines didn't help my temperment.

[Astaroth]

Moved to Gameplay and Strategy Discussion.

[Jayzilla]

hmm, interesting: maybe russia will be my next 'global conquer' campaign after I'm done flooding the world with red countries.

[MastahCheef117]

I found it incredibly easy and fun, I took over nothern Persia, Georgia, Dagestan, Crimean Khanate, Finland and eastern Sweden, all of Northern Africa (save Ottoman Egypt), Spain, Portugal, France and Wurttemburg, all by 1765! (No cheats, I promise. Also, just a sidenote, my all-powerful conquering army commanded by Prince Reznov was assassinated in Tunisia by an Assassin in 1724, then replaced by a General Alekzandr something, I can't remember his name).

[British-Bulldog]

I found exactly this as well! >:/. Dagestan and Georgia are a PAIN if you don't get rid of them quickly that's one piece of sound advice I can give, take them out, quick! I found Dagestan invading me every 6 turns then for a Peace Treaty they demand about 10k when I have 11k in my Treasury :/, on top of that your regions are horribly backwards and take years to fully develop, I normally use the first ten years of gameplay to have development and tech research for any faction I play, by 1710 I normally have a full stack, a navy, and a sustainable economy and quite a hefty amount in my treasury.

Hope this helps some people!

[Maximus Lazero]

The big plus side for Russia is that they hold the richest region in the game (or at least in Europe). But, as everyone points out, the regions are lamentably slow to develop. If you can afford the time and troops, take out Sweden sooner, rather than later. You have to do it anyway, and Sweden itself is another one of the most lucrative territories in Europe. Conquering them (especially if they've managed to conquer Norway, thus enabling you to take it) will also net you several ports for commerce and warfare. Turn south, take out the Ottomans, and you'll have two areas of sea trade under your control, and some excellent territories.