Russia Faction Guide

A guide to the nation of Russia covering their bonuses, unique units, and overall playstyle with a bit of history on the side!

Introduction

Banner of the Most Gracious Savior (or at least a fair reconstruction of it), 1552–late 17th/early 18th century. First used by Ivan the Terrible, it continued to accompany Muscovite armies for the next century and a half, last appearing during Peter the Great’s Azov campaigns and wars with Sweden.

Availability: Base game
Focus: Early/Balanced, 17th century infantry spam
Playstyle: European

Russia is a nation defined not so much by its units but by its buildings. Their ability to spam Barracks in the 17th century allows them to quickly raise large infantry armies with which to smash their foes. This feature makes Russia a major power in the early-to-mid game while still allowing them to be reasonably competitive in the 18th century–sort of like a quantity-focused Spain with more unique twists. They’re a bit slower to get going than other early-game factions (hence why they aren’t really a rush nation), but once the flood of Muscovite soldiers begins, it can be very hard to stop.

If you like brutally beating down your enemies with hordes of expendable footsloggers, have zero regard for the lives of your men, or just want a strong, quantity-focused early-game country that’s still viable later on, Russia is a great nation for you.

Features

+ Strelets Barracks–very cheap 17c. Barracks that cost no gold but only support 25 pop.
+ Shipyards cost less wood
+ Spearman–spammable armored Pikeman
+ Strelets–tough, spammable Musketeer with short range
+ Vityaz–strong armored heavy cavalry
+ Don Cossack–cheap swarm cavalry with high attack
+ Pope–cheaper Priest that heals faster
+ 18c. Musketeer
+ Balloon to reveal the map
~ Stables build quickly but cost more
~ Mills and Izba houses cost no stone but extra wood
- Town Centers only support 75 pop.
- Academies and Walls cost more stone and build extra slowly
- Diplomatic Center costs 3,000 more wood
- Cathedrals cost more
- Towers build slowly
- No 17c. Dragoon

As already mentioned, Russia’s strength revolves around their ability to quickly build lots of their unique Strelets Barracks. These structures are dirt cheap–cheaper than even Islamic Barracks. Whereas most European nations struggle to build 3-4 17c. Barracks during a single game, Russia can easily construct 6-7. This massive production advantage allows them to quickly pump out large numbers of 17th century infantry once they get 4+ Barracks up (remember that number–it’ll come up again later). Add to this the decent quality of said infantry for how spammable they are, and you have one of the most powerful armies of the early-to-mid game.


A typical Russian 0-peacetime opening with 4 Barracks and an Academy up by the 3.5-minute mark. Playing well as Russia requires a different build order and more frequent use of the Market.

Naturally, all this infantry-focused goodness comes with some hefty tradeoffs. Russia doesn’t get 17c. Dragoons, meaning they’re missing an important early source of cheap firepower. Their Stables also cost more, meaning Russian armies tend to lack cavalry compared to other nations’.

Speaking of buildings, lots of Russian structures build slowly, support less population, and/or cost more (especially in wood, which gets annoying in the mid-to-late game since wood gathers way slower than stone). In particular, their expensive Diplomatic Center makes Russia slow to get mercenaries, which can be a problem in the very early game. It also changes up Russia’s opening build order compared to other European countries, but more on that in the Gameplay section.

Finally, Russia is one of the few factions in the game with a naval bonus, namely cheaper Shipyards. This is mostly just there to offset the higher wood cost on their other buildings, though, so don’t go thinking Russia is a naval powerhouse or anything.

That’s it for their unique traits.* Everything else about Russia, especially in the 18th century, is standard European fare.

*The classic Basic Nation Differences guide claims that Russian Serfs build more slowly than other Peasants. After testing, I can confirm that this isn’t true, and the older guide was likely mistaking the longer build time of some Russian structures for an inherent trait of the Serfs.


Building contest between Prussian Peasants (left) and Russian Serfs (right). When the build time on both nation’s structures was the same, the Serfs worked just as fast as the Peasants.

Spearman (17th century)

Base stats:

Full upgrades:

Cost: 45 food, 4 gold, 15 iron
Training time: 5.5 seconds

+ The most spammable early Pikeman in the game with 4+ Barracks
+ Good stats for how spammable they are
+ Can easily overwhelm other melee troops in large numbers
+ Benefits from armor upgrades at the Blacksmith and Academy
~ Slightly worse at tanking bullets than 17c. Pikemen
- Train slowly with fewer than 4 Barracks
- Individually weaker than 17c. Pikemen

The Russian Spearman (who counts as a Pikeman despite his name) is easily one of the strongest melee units of the early game. Though they’re slightly weaker than a 17c. Pikeman and take a full second longer to train, they can easily be spammed from Russia’s numerous Barracks to form a large, powerful force for early-to-mid-game battles as well as a capable bullet sponge against enemy gunfire later in the match.

Compared to 17c. Pikemen, Spearmen look nearly identical. Their HP and protection are slightly lower (save for against bullets), but their attack is the same and their cost is shifted more towards food than iron, which is nice. Their 5.5 second training time is interesting as it makes them slower to produce until you get several Barracks up (generally 3-4). After that, though, they become the most spammable pikeman of the 17th century.


175 fully-upgraded Russian Spearmen vs 720 Algerian Light Infantry. The numbers in this test assumed 4 Russian Barracks and 3 Algerian ones, reflecting both nations’ construction discounts.

This combination of decent stats and the ability to be churned out quickly makes Spearmen very formidable in the early-to-mid game when melee units rule the battlefield. They easily smash other early pike units with their superior numbers and can even take on Light Infantry hordes once fully upgraded. Only Scottish Sword Clansmen and heavy cavalry like Reiters can stand up to them in a close quarters brawl.

In early- and mid-game battles, Spearmen are a blunt hammer. Just spam them from your Barracks, add Officers and Drummers for stat boosts, research upgrades, and march them at the foe. It’s honestly hard to go wrong with tactics like these, and I’ve even seen them used to great success in games with peacetimes of 15+ minutes, overwhelming the musket-and-mercenary combo that usually rules those matches. (See the example games for more on that.)


Rushing a rusher: A large force of Spearmen and mercenaries swarms over an early Spanish base.

In the late-game, when melee infantry get relegated to a secondary role as blocking troops/bullet sponges to protect your Musketeers, Spearmen perform a bit differently. Although they boast the same bullet armor as 17c. Pikemen, they’re actually slightly less tanky against gunfire in most situations thanks to their -5 HP.

Shots to kill (full upgrades)

Damage:	16	20	22	25	30	35	40	46	51	56
Merc. Roundshier	10	7	6	5	4	3	3	2	2	2
Spearman	11	8	7	5	4	4	3	3	2	2
17c. Pikeman	12	8	7	6	5	4	3	3	3	2
Reiter	50	30	25	20	15	12	10	9	8	7
Vityaz	43	30	26	22	17	14	12	10	9	8
Cuirassier	150	50	38	28	19	15	12	10	9	8

Against normal Musketeers dealing 25 damage per shot, Spearmen only do as well as Mercenary Roundshiers (though again, this can change depending on the attacking Musketeer’s damage). That’s not awful–Polish and Scottish Pikemen have it way worse–but it’s definitely subpar and it leaves late-game Russian armies slightly weaker to gunfire than most other factions’. On the other hand, Russia can replace fallen Spearmen with such ridiculous ease that it kind of makes up for it–kind of like a way stronger version of Islamic Light Infantry.

Bottom line: Spearmen are some of the strongest melee infantry of the 17th century. Don’t be fooled by their unimpressive stats: These are dangerous troops who can easily overwhelm any unprepared enemies they come across.


“Quantity has a quality all its own.” Massed ranks of Spearmen and mercenaries push through musket and artillery fire to reach the Saxon lines. Note their own Musketeers firing safely from the rear.

Strelets/Streltsy (17th century)

Base stats:

Full upgrades:

Cost: 70 food, 7 gold, 9 iron
Training time: 8.5 seconds
Range: 13.13
Reload speed: 4.69 seconds max: 2.3 seconds min.

+ One of the best-performing early Musketeers at lower upgrade levels
+ High HP and melee/arrow armor for an early musketeer
+ Can be produced very quickly with 4+ Barracks
- Very short range
- No melee attack
- Trains very slowly with fewer Barracks
- Relative effectiveness declines as upgrades and combat range increase

The Strelets (which is the singular form of the more well-known “Streltsy”) is basically a tougher, shorter-range, far more spammable version of the trusty 17c. Musketeer. On their own, their stats don’t come close to justifying their horrible 8.5-second training time, but once you get 4+ Barracks up they can be produced faster than any other early musketeer in the game, making them a great choice for matches with longer peacetime (15+ minutes).

Stat-wise, Streltsy boast +15 HP and +2 max melee/arrow armor over 17c. Musketeers. This makes them one of the tougher early shooters in the game, able to take four 25 damage shots before dying just like an 18c. Musketeer. The downside is their very short range of 13.13–the lowest of any musketeer by far, only matched by Polish Musketeers. This pretty much guarantees the enemy will get the first volley off in any gun battle. (For comparison, normal 17c. Musketeer range is 15 while 18c. Musketeers have 16.88)


112 fully-upgraded Streltsy vs 108 Polish Musketeers, reflecting the difference in training time. In 12 test matches with the Poles, the Streltsy won 9 times. (It’s also kind of funny because both units share the dishonor of having the lowest range of any shooter.)

These strange stats were reflected in their tests. With fewer upgrades, Streltsy perform very well, beating all other early musketeers in a straight shootout. But as damage and rate of fire increase, making the first strike matter more, Streltsy do worse. By the time they’re fully upgraded, they’ve fallen from best to merely good, losing to stronger shooters like Dutch Musketeers, Turkish Janissaries, Ukrainian Serdiuks, and even (to my surprise) Hungarian Hajduks. They still beat other musketeers like Polish and Spanish ones, albiet not as decisively as they did before.

Fortunately, straight shoot-outs are rare in actual games and you can get good results from your Strelets through careful use of blocking troops. By keeping your mercenaries and cavalry between your Streltsy and the enemy, you can march them into range without being subjected to enemy fire. Once they start shooting, their higher numbers and 25 damage mean they can inflict a lot of punishment while resisting enemy return fire better than other early Musketeers.


Ivan’s legacy: Streltsy unload their muskets into Portuguese Pikemen who are being held up by Mercenary Roundshiers. Note how the Streltsy use their bardiches as musket stands, which is a nice touch. (They carried both weapons historically.)

Gradually, as 18th century units begin emerging and the average range of combat increases, Streltsy become less effective at dealing damage. On the flip side, their sheer spammability will help keep your army’s numbers up, and their 85 HP means they’re kinda like slower-training 18c. Pikemen with guns, so they're far from useless even in the late game.

In conclusion, even with the problems brought on by their short range, the Strelets is a good unit. In longer-peacetime games where Musketeers rule and Spearmen won’t cut it, the tough, spammable Streltsy of Ivan the Terrible will serve you well (so long as you don’t kill them for murdering your family like a certain tsar).


Britain under siege: Streltsy and other Russian troops skirmish with an English town’s defenders as they push up a street.

Vityaz (17th century)

Base stats:

Full upgrades:

Cost: 160 food, 13 gold, 25 iron
Training time: 25.5 seconds max: 17 seconds min.

+ Strong armored heavy cavalry
+ Extremely high HP
+ Lower iron cost than Reiter
+ Cheap upgrades
+ Outperforms most other early melee cavalry when fully upgraded
+ Benefits from armor upgrades at Blacksmith and Academy
+ Defense upgrades research quickly
~ 3 less bullet armor than Reiter
- Extremely slow training time
- Can be hard to mass produce from Russia's fewer Stables
- Attack upgrades research slowly

The Vityaz (literally the Russian term for an armored knight) is basically a stronger, slower-training Reiter that trades away 1 attack and 3 bullet armor for a lower iron cost and a monstrous 380 HP–80 more than a Reiter! This all works out very well for them and Vityazes are one of the strongest heavy cavalry units of the 17th century, only held back by Russia’s relative lack of Stables.

In tests with other melee cavalry, Vityazes performed very well, beating every other heavy horseman and even doing well against swarm cavalry like Polish Light Reiters and Turkish Light Sipahis once they were fully upgraded.


42 fully-upgraded Vityazes vs 80 Turkish Light Sipahis. This win is especially impressive when you consider how well Light Sipahis usually do in head-on melee fights.

The only other melee cavalry they couldn’t beat in a head-on clash were Don Cossacks, Ukrainian Register Cossacks, and fully-upgraded Cuirassiers and Saxon Cavalry Guard. That’s a great performance, and it can make Vityazes an attractive option to give some extra melee power and tankiness to your early-to-mid-game armies. They’re even pretty good at tanking bullets when fully upgraded, dying to generic musketeers in 22 shots as opposed to the Reiter’s 20 (though still falling short of the Cuirassier’s 28).

In battle, Vityazes are basically a more elite Reiter, and fulfil the same role as an early melee powerhouse that can slaughter Pikemen and archers while resisting the gunfire of early Musketeers. They aren’t as strong as fully-upgraded 18th century heavy cavalry, but they can be amassed earlier and their techs cost far less. They also don’t take up as much population space as Don Cossacks, leaving you more room for your spammy infantry.


Maces versus blades: Vityazes clash with Bavarian Reiters while defending their base.

If Vityazes have a weakness, it’s that Russia’s relative lack of Stables means you’ll struggle to make very many of them, especially in the early-to-mid game. They’ll be a useful hammer unit, but you’ll have trouble fielding large numbers of them in higher-level games. They also cost 25 iron apiece, which can be draining on your economy on top of your infantry production, and aren’t as good at tanking bullets as Cuirassiers, though that’s normal for early heavy cavalry and they’re still slightly better at it than Reiters (see the bullet table in the Spearman section).

All this is why, despite their great performance as heavy cavalry, Vityazes often get overlooked in favor of Don Cossacks, who are way cheaper and require less economic juggling to make work early on. But if beefy, heavily-armored riders are your cup of tea, look no further than these mace-wielding boyars on horseback.


For tsar and motherland: Vityazes lead the way as Russian and Prussian armies engage in battle. Even in the late game, Vityazes can still be effective shock troops so long as they don’t run into an equal force of Cuirassiers.

Don Cossack (17th century)

Base stats:

Full upgrades:

Cost: 100 food, 1 wood
Training time: 13.5 seconds max: 9 seconds min.

+ Fast training time for cavalry
+ Very low cost (no gold or iron)
+ High attack
+ Great against heavy cavalry with equal upgrades and training time
- Low HP and melee/arrow protection
- No bullet armor
- Defense upgrades are expensive
- Can't make formations

Instead of an early Dragoon like most factions have, Russia gets the Don Cossack; a super-cheap swarm cavalry that, rather than shooting a gun, seeks to overwhelm its foes in melee. While they can perform well against other melee cavalry in the early-to-mid game, their high upgrade cost and vulnerability to gunfire cause most players to use them as cheap cannon fodder to pad out their early armies before switching to stronger 18th century cavalry later.

The biggest selling points of Don Cossacks are their cost and spamminess, allowing Russia to add some disposable cavalry to their early armies for a very low price. Being the only cavalry unit in the game that costs no gold or iron is pretty nuts, and the faster training time helps make up for Russia having fewer Stables. This is how I’ve seen most players using their Don Cossacks, and it’s what I usually do as well.

The reason for this usual lack of investment becomes clear when you look at Don Cossacks’ combat abilities. Their max attack of 30 is nice, but that’s the only good thing about their statline. 220 HP is quite low for melee cavalry–the only ones with less than that are Mercenary Cossacks and Polish Light Reiters–as is their 8 melee/arrow armor. Their Stable upgrades also cost a lot of gold, especially the defense ones, so even reaching their full potential requires serious investment.

Still, 30 attack is a lot, and combined with their quick production time allows Don Cossacks to take down surprisingly tough foes in melee fights.


Triumph over elites: 80 fully-upgraded Don Cossacks versus 48 Cuirassiers. Considering how few cavalry can beat Cuirassiers, this is a notable victory.

In fact, during testing, Don Cossacks smashed every heavy cavalry unit in the game, including fully-upgraded Cuirassiers and Saxon Cavalry Guards. That’s very impressive, especially for a dirt-cheap 17th century unit. They also did well against other swarm cavalry, only being outperformed by Ukrainian Register Cossacks and Polish Light Reiters. They also did relatively worse against Hussars and other fast cavalry, still winning but only barely. This makes upgraded Don Cossacks something of an anti-heavy cavalry unit, which is something I definitely didn’t expect from them.

In the early game, Don Cossacks can be quite handy. If you invest in their upgrades, they become potent hunters of more elite cavalry, but mostly you’ll just use them as expendable meatshields and save your cash for other things. I find them especially worthwhile when making Streltsy since they don’t drain the iron my shooters need to fire, but they can also be useful alongside Spearmen as well if you don’t feel like shelling out the cash for Vityazes.

The mid-to-late game is when Don Cossacks struggle. Their low HP and lack of bullet armor mean they get obliterated by massed musket fire, doing even worse than other swarm cavalry who train faster and/or have more HP. Unless you’ve already fully committed to your Cossacks (i.e. you sank thousands of gold into fully upgraded them), I’d strongly recommend swapping to an 18th century cavalry unit before you reach the late game.


Conquerors of Siberia, now turned toward Europe: Don Cossacks lead an army of infantry against the Piedmontese, soaking up incoming fire so their Musketeers can blaze away unhindered.

Pope (17th century)

Stats:

Cost: 40 food, 20 gold
Training time: 20 seconds

+ Cheaper, faster-healing Priest
+ Can boost army’s performance in early fights
+ Produced from Cathedral–doesn’t interfere with military production
- Extremely slow training time
- Requires gold upkeep
- Healing matters less as battle size increases

The Pope (AKA the Orthodox Christian priest) is a strong contender for the best healer in the game. He’s literally just a better Priest: Same training time and upkeep, but he costs less and heals 25 health per second (hps) instead of 20. This gives Russia yet another advantage over other nations in early fights (not that they really need it).

The upside to using Popes and other healers is that they give your army a noticeable boost in combat, especially in the early-to-mid game before the size of militaries and lethality of battles outscales their ability to keep your men healthy. They also don’t interfere with military production, being produced from a Cathedral (which you’ll need to build anyway to age up). The downside of healers is that they train slowly, have short range, are totally defenseless on their own, and have a passive gold upkeep like mercenaries.

To show how much health each healer can regenerate in a second as well as their respective gold upkeep, here’s a comparison:

Pope: 25 hps, 40 units/1 gold per second
Priest: 20 hps, 40 units/1 gold per second
Padre: 30 hps, 19 units/1 gold per second
Mullah: 15 hps, 53 units/1 gold per second

As you can see, Popes cost the same upkeep as Priests despite healing 5 more health per second. This was reflected in testing against other healers, where Popes performed exceptionally well.


The Westerners’ faith is weak: 12 Priests versus 12 Popes, with both sides accompanied by 160 Mercenary Roundshiers. These fights aren’t fast, but you can see the Popes’ blue-clad soldiers slowly overwhelming the Priests’ thanks to the Popes’ better healing.

In tests with equal armies and training time on both sides, the Popes consistently beat both Priests and Piedmontese Padres. Only Islamic Mullahs gave them trouble, and even then the Popes still won four of the ten tests.

I mentioned before that Russia doesn’t really need Popes to do well, and that’s mostly true. Russia’s 17th century infantry and cavalry are strong enough that they can usually dominate your enemies without any healing support. It doesn’t help that Russia pays more for its Cathedrals, making it harder to start Pope production. I’d only worry about adding Popes to my army when facing another top-tier early-game faction like Scotland or Poland, and even then I’d still prioritize increasing the production of other military units over them.

Still, Popes are very good healers, and you’ll be glad to have them once you start producing them. Just don’t think you need to prioritize them over your other units.

Gameplay

NOTE: This section assumes you’re only playing with Russian units and buildings. That means it largely ignores capturing, although the advice given can easily be applied to games that allow it.

Early Game (early 17th century)

Ending the Time of Troubles: An early Russian base showing off their normal opening in a low-peacetime game.

Russia is a top-tier nation in low-peacetime games (0-10 minutes) that rely on its Spearmen. They’re not quite as dominant in longer peacetime games (15-30 minutes), but still do better than most countries thanks to their Streltsy spam. Heck, I’ve even seen Spearmen do great in 15-minute peacetimes, so you have some options for how you want to destroy your foes.

That being said, there are some key things to be aware of before you dive into a game. First, Russia’s opening build order differs greatly from other European factions’, with the goal being to lay down 4 Barracks and start your Academy before your first crop of wheat ripens. After that plus building your Mines you’ll want to save for a Diplomatic Center while constructing enough houses to keep your army growing. This is all a little tricky as it costs lots of wood and requires heavy use of the Market to buy and sell resources, and I highly recommend watching a few example games and practicing the build yourself before taking Russia into an online match.

4 Barracks really is the magic number for Russia: With that many built, you’ll be able to offset your Spearmen and Streltsy’s naturally slow training times and gain a numerical edge over your foes. Since early Russian infantry aren’t as quite strong as standard European units one-on-one, outnumbering the foe is usually vital.

Given all the extra hassle involved in getting established, Russia isn’t quite as fast to get going as most other early-game nations like Poland and the Islamics. This makes you slightly vulnerable to being rushed by those countries in 0-peacetime games before you can build everything you need. Once they have everything set up, however, Russia quickly turns into a full-on early powerhouse, up there with Poland, Scotland, and the Islamics as one of the 17th century’s top dogs.

Mid Game (late 17th/early 18th century)

Reforms of Peter the Great: A mid-game Russian base.

Russia’s strength continues in the mid game as they add more Strelets Barracks and increase infantry production still further. That said, their exalted position will decline as other countries reach the 18th century and start making armies based around 18c. Musketeers.

Russia can be one of those factions aging up around now, although they’ll have to weigh this against the short-term benefits of increasing 17th century unit production still further. With enough bodies, early Russian troops can still overwhelm a lot of potential enemies in the mid game, but putting off the 18th century for too long could leave you in trouble if your opponents build up strong musket armies while you’re dallying with spears and Streltsy. Plus, 18c. Musketeers and late-game cavalry are a great addition to your Spearmen and Streltsy hordes, so think carefully about when you want to age up.

Also, be mindful of factions like Ukraine and Portugal which are at the height of their power.

Late Game (late 18th century)

The Third Rome: A late-game Russian base.

This is easily Russia’s weakest era, as vast hordes of early-game infantry don’t mean as much in an era dominated by large, powerful 18th century militaries. Should the match go on long enough, you could even find that the higher wood cost of your houses keeps you from building as many as your opponent, leaving you with a lower population cap and potentially a smaller army. Combine that with the lower average quality of your soldiers compared to a normal country’s (due to having both a higher proportion of early infantry and fewer cavalry in your ranks) and you can clearly see why Russia tends to struggle against armies that equal theirs in numbers.

It’s not all negative though, as your ability to rebuild your armies quickly makes it much easier to bounce back after losing a big battle compared to other European nations. This makes late-game Russia pretty good at grinding attritional wars where you try to aggressively keep the pressure on to prevent your enemy from amassing an army the same size as yours. This isn’t a foolproof plan and it certainly doesn’t put Russia on the level of Saxony or Prussia as a late-game superpower, but it makes them about average, which for an early-game country is pretty darn good.


Forward, you dogs! A large Russian army surges into the gap to crush a trapped Piedmontese force. Being careless with your men’s lives (since there’s always more where they came from) is one of the many privileges of being a Russian general.

Map Preferences

Swedish forces meet their bane: After pushing deep into a Russian base, an army of Caroleans is slowly ground down by more numerous Russian forces.

Being an early-game nation, Russia naturally favors wide-open maps that start them relatively close to their enemies. That will put your trundling, footslogging army within easy reach of opposing players and allow reinforcements to reach the front quickly. Unlike some other early-game nations, however, Russia can still do fine on larger, more defensive maps like Mediterranean, making them a relatively safe pick if you don’t know the map type going into the game.


Great Turkish War: Russian infantry advance alongside their Austrian allies.

The same logic applies to peacetimes; shorter times are preferable to take advantage of Russia’s early-game strengths, but they perform alright in longer-peacetime games. They can be a bit vulnerable at the start of 0-peacetime games due to their tricky start, but once they get set up they shouldn’t have a problem.

In team games, Russia’s job is basically the same as it is in solo matches; get established as soon as possible and start bullying weaker nations. Take advantage of your early superiority to win early fights and put your team ahead. Even if you can’t kill an enemy player early on, it’s not a massive loss: Russia does alright in the late game, so as long as you’ve put your team in a good position to win you’ve done your job well.


Slaughter in East Prussia: After a long fight, two battered Russian armies advance over the frozen bodies of friend and foe alike to deliver the coup de grace.

Tutorials & Example Games

A collection of great Russia games and tutorials showing how to skillfully play the nation. If you have any video recommendations, send me a link through Steam or YouTube (username 1Korlash) or Reddit (Effective_Can72)!

1. The first of two classic guides from top player colorfit. A must-watch for people looking to dive into multiplayer or just get better at the game.
https://youtu.be/XP19ocvOIg0

2. The second colorfit guide, this time covering how to micro your armies in battle. Again, a must-watch.
https://youtu.be/t6JE59Gnesk?list=PL9MM6y8GRIFcfOaVMvUGSZ7s3HANGpEPd

3. 4v4 Russian civil war by colourfit with awesome back-and-forth action and a stellar 0-peacetime opening for Russia, nearly building 4 Barracks and an Academy before the farms are even ready.
https://youtu.be/_QmgnkCpTf4

4. An exciting colourfit 2v2, again showing off that great 4 Barracks and Academy start. This is the build order to strive for in 0-peacetime games.
https://youtu.be/30MmXduoeBo

5. A colorfit free-for-all featuring copious amounts of Streltsy.
https://youtu.be/wzYneyrZGAY?t=537

6. A mid-level 2v2 from ZacktheReaper showing off the power of Spearman spam in 15-minute peacetime games.
https://youtu.be/78_lQKJNgTY

Closing Remarks

The current national flag of Russia, first introduced in the late 1690s by Peter the Great as an ensign for Russian merchant ships. Peter spent time in the Netherlands during his famous European tour and may have been inspired by the Dutch flag when designing his own. (Just put the red bar on top and boom–you have the Dutch flag.)

That’s Russia! One of the most unique European countries in all of Cossacks!

I tried hard to avoid any comments about the current Russian regime and its actions–despite serious temptation to make some snide remarks here and there–and just focused on the in-game faction. This is a strategy game based on early modern European history and Russia, for better or for worse, played an important role in that part of our past. It’s only fitting that they appear in a game about the era that marked their rise as a major player on the stage of Europe and the world.

(Also, me doing a Russia guide before a Ukraine one has nothing to do with current events and everything with Russia being easier to play and write about. I need to get good with Ukraine before I can make a guide for them!)

As always, thank you for reading. Comments and feedback are appreciated!

Other nation guides:

Austria
Bavaria
Denmark
England
France
Netherlands
Piedmont
Poland
Portugal
Prussia
Saxony
Scotland
Spain
Sweden
Turkey
Venice