Kievan Rus' Strategies

[YuriVII]

Ok so I am playing Kievan Rus' on late campaign. Needless to say, Kievan Rus' is pretty hard (you arent England on your Island). You are surrounded by everyone and the Mongols will come from the East. I allied with Byzantium, HRE, Teutonic Order (what can I say, I like Germans), and Novgorod. I'm at war with Hungary, Poland, the Cumans, and Genoa (bastards in Crimea). So what are your opening moves with this one. It's definitely one of the trickier ones. It took Zhytomyr, and Azaq, and Olesha, but the outside preassure is coming from all sides and is making it tough to get out.

[Ichon]

Ok so I am playing Kievan Rus' on late campaign. Needless to say, Kievan Rus' is pretty hard (you arent England on your Island). You are surrounded by everyone and the Mongols will come from the East. I allied with Byzantium, HRE, Teutonic Order (what can I say, I like Germans), and Novgorod. I'm at war with Hungary, Poland, the Cumans, and Genoa (bastards in Crimea). So what are your opening moves with this one. It's definitely one of the trickier ones. It took Zhytomyr, and Azaq, and Olesha, but the outside preassure is coming from all sides and is making it tough to get out.

Black Sea is your friend... use it to transport reinforcements when Mongols come. Of course that means taking Caffa and getting Genoa out of the region as soon as possible. Novgorod will usually be faithful allies for the early game but eventually stab you. Byzantines are great allies as long as you don't border their cities more than one place. Try and keep them as allies and trading partners. Hungary, Poland, and Lithuania are enemies and yet also quite annoying because it is easier in long run to leave them some area so you don't border HRE or the Scandinavians.

If you don't want to focus on Black sea then... sorry to say but safest route is to take on fellow Orthodox as it is easy to capture their regions, there is no Pope ordering halt, and it provides safe map edge and access to Baltic.

Personally I would-

1. Take Caffa and get rid of Genoa.
2. Expand into Hungary before they become very strong.
3. Alliance with Cumans as long as possible as they helps them stay stronger vs Mongols and also their area of map is quite poor and takes a long time to develop but costs much money to guard except on region bordering Black Sea.

[delra]

All successful campaigns I've had with Kiev included swallowing either Byzantines or Novgorodians right away, then Poles and Hungarians...

[Spartan90]

Because of your Horse Archers, you'll have the upper edge against your western enemies, but you will be matched and challenged by those from the east (and to a lesser extent, south). I completely agree with not touching the Cumans, their land is too poor and far too expensive to defend.

You're in a rock and a hard place. Because your Horse Archers will make mince meat out of Western Europe, you should aim for there. However, Christendom can unite and gather far greater armies than your Orthodox allies, so their strength will come in numbers. If your Horse Archers get caught, you're done for.

I suggest creating an enormous and extremely tight alliance block between all of Orthodoxism and expand west. Try to control as much of the Black Sea without putting yourself at too close a distance between the Byzantines and the Mongols.