Those Russians again

[xjohnnywas]

I've played Russia twice.

The first time I expanded to the South West and quickly captured the castles on the borders of Poland and then later Hungary. The Holy Roman Empire seemed to appreciate my efforts and made an alliance. However, I had failed to discover Caffa (on the Black Sea) and Ryzaks (South of Moscow) until the late period so I decided to play again. I hoped to acquire more settlements in the early period and develop the economy.

This time I got well and truly pawned. The Poles and the Hungarians joined and attacked me from both sides almost from the off. I was always recruiting more troops - draining my Treasury and population. Meanwhile as we slugged it out the Danes buildt a vast empire. Eventually I had no big fortresses because of the constant war attrittion and my cities were underdeveloped.

I gave up when the computer declared that England had won a domination victory.

Russia is difficult of course. you start with one settlement. the Cities are separated by vast distances and the populations of the Northern most cities grow very slowly. the infantry is virtually non existent until you have fortresses and or huge cities. the cavalry are mainly archers.

I should have done better second time round.

I don't know what the moral is. Don't forget to explore the map and don't forget to send out your diplomats to far flung corners of the globe.

Next time...

[shikaka]

Use khazaks in large numbers (general + 5-10 khazak) in the beginning. When sieging, the enemy will sally because they rate horse archers a substandard unit

This way you will be mobile enough so that the distances are not that big problem. (later you can use boyar sons, cossack Ha and dvor) What is important to capture Kiev and the baltic coast, preferably sweden too. Kiev-Caffa, the baltic cities with Sweden will provide you with enough money.
Also, ally and trade with Byzantium, they are the only dependable ally for you.

[KnightOfPortugal]

Expand to the Baltics and into Scandinavia. I somehow always do that when playing Russia. Going to the Black see as well is a good option, trading with the Byzantines can be profitable.

[Silverheart]

I would take control over as much of the steppes as possible, from Kiev to the Zagros mountains.
Then you should have enough regions to finance a couple of quick wars against Poland and Hungary to take control over their eastern castles. Secure them, and you got yourself a nice, easily defendable border. Then you can for the Baltics or the Turks (or both), or even push further into Europe.

Also, perhaps you should set the difficulty a little lower? Unless you love the challenge, of course...

[xjohnnywas]

aaaaaaaaahh !

was doing so well. then the Mongols came but instead of going South into anatolia as before - they crossed the steepes seized Kiev and then took every city in Russia

what hope does the kingdom have against ten stacks of horse and a huge war chest. there seemed to be a second wave of four more stacks.

they were not particularly strong but they hugely outnumbered the Russians

not sure what to do.

why did they appear so far North. Is it random. Was it because I owned Bulgar ?

[Silverheart]

In my experience, the Mongols aim first for either Kiev or Antioch (depending on which you own). A good idea is to prepare a massive defence and build a full army in the city as soon as the Mongols start moving towards it.
You can actually defend Kiev easily by placing armies at the bridges close to the city - the Mongols will be unwilling to engage your field troops and just march back and forth from one bridge to the other. Of course, that would probably not work on the higher difficulties (I have never played as Russians on Hard or Very Hard), but it would still buy you some time.
It is always easier to fight the Mongols in a defensive way - from the safety of well defended settlements.
And yes, they DO receive reinforcements after an undefined number of turns, about four stacks or so.

But right now, I think you should try to reclaim the areas which the Mongol horde has already passed through (they usually leave them to rebellion or with pretty weak garrisons), and build up your defenses in your remaining territories - quickly! We´re talking Ballista towers, Archers and Spearmen.
If you have access to some of the Russians more elite cavalrymen, don´t hesitate to use them (in city defense or to make Kamikaze-attacks to try to kill Mongol generals)

[xjohnnywas]

making some progress

I found that provided that I didn't own Kiev the mongol horde spawned further South and wreaked havoc on the Turks. I guess I feel the Turks deserve em' more than I do

I also found that seizing Stockholm and Oslo early in the Game gives the Russians a much stronger economy in the earlier stages.

building lots of watchtowers helps greatly as they are cheap and give plenty of early warning of approaching enemies which given the size of the Steppe helps. I have about eight or nine outposts.

the Russian militia units in Towns are not bad (and they get better throughout the game). toughen them up with blacksmiths. build up their experience by using them to fight rebels or mixing them with frontline units. don't expect them to hold off a fully equipped Danish/Polish/Hungarian armies but do use them to boost the cities defences. the first few units are free.

keep building farms/upgrades etc as the Northern Russian cities grow slowly.

[KnightOfPortugal]

I got another tip: Migrate to the British isles. It'll be a hard fight even on medium, but once you get a foothold, and the isles are yours, all you need to do is some turtling for about 20 turns, and you're ready to go! No freaking Mongol hordes attacking your under-developed castles in the East.