Russia/Early

[Anubis]

I have just started a Russia/Early campaign. Very, fun... but I found it very hard. I dont think its I am bad, I do well as the other factions, but I find it very hard to keep my econemy afloat. Everytime an heir pops up that makes me in the negative. So then Ill either have to raise taxes or invade the rebels..(usually both)
Ok, good.. I'll invade a rebel province, but just about every turn I get a rebellion. I could manage 2 boyars(my heirs) vs. say 600 spearmen but these rebellinos are big'
I'll usually get a full stack worth with tons of Steppe Cavalry and Heavy Cavalry. And its not like I can build bigger armies..or I will be in debt. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif
I have also tried trade, but the ships are still too much in upkeep than my profits, being its early and not many ports, and its very hard to manage troops and profit losing boats. (I've even tried suiciding my heirs to about 3 men.. to keep cost down, but they dont help in battle heheh)
Now, When the Horde Comes.. I wont get started on that hehe http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/flat.gif

Anyone know what to do with these expenenses? Was anyone able to get a reliable econemy afloat? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-help.gif

[Russian Threat]

Just one question Anubis: Are you playing the
MedMod early Russian campaign (where the starting
points are Kiev and Khazar) or did you simply change
Novgorod to playable in the original un-modded campaign
(starting provinces are Muscovy, Novgorod and Kiev)?

I think the differences in these starting positions
are huge.

[katank]

also, VI or non VI. sounds like non VI.

funny, a recent early nov campaign I was actually doing pretty well. by 1100, I had my starting treasury again which was pretty good since the russian provinces are piss poor.

this was on expert, too.

grab only rich provinces. I first took muscovy,t then smolensk, chernigov, lithuania, the volhynia and moldavia. these are all rich farm lands except for the last two. vol allowed a strategic position to threatened the polish which I took advantage of by conquering Poland and the pomerania, getting a nice ransom for their king. moldavia for the avar nobles.

now i'm nicely afloat financially due to the king's ransom and pumping out viks to chop through poor byz slav warriors to get to const. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif

don't trade or build keep early, only build watch towers and border forts to maintain loyalty and build crap loads of peasants to keep it high enough to raise taxes.

build farming and soon you will be in the black. I actually never dipped into the red and managed all my conquests so far with my starting troops. the rest is just garrisons.

so just economize and you'll be fine http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-2thumbsup.gif

[Crash]

I started a couple of games as the Russians, and found it challenging also. I never got around to finishing the games, but I will try it again someday. It's quite a different game from playing factions that can rely on trade income for awhile, but that's what will make more interesting and fresh.

You have to be efficient and aggressive since your resources are limited. Vikings are very good, low cost and low maintenance for some effective infantry. You will have to be patient and bide your time and build up methodically. Steppe calvary are also good units, the land version of Vikings. Boyars are excellent units too. An army of Boyars, Vikings, Rus Spearmen, and Steppe Calvary is actually quite a nice combination. But you will have only one army, so it must win every battle.

[gaelic cowboy]

Any province's bordering the black sea are good just be careful of Kazar when the G horde arrive al those trade goods are very handy for your economy.

[katank]

agreed on the limited resource part and not to go for trade early though tempting.

I don't think you should do much build up though. wait until you carve out a nice chunk of land before you start building up.

besides starting troops which I supplement with viking spamming and some HAs, you dont need anything else except for some slav warriors for garrisons.

boyars and vikings are great for raw power and a stack of these can obliterate most things.

I would hold off teching up until ideally you are well back in the black and hopefully ransomed a king. I like to take the richer provinces and leave the rebel strongholds intact but go west fast.

then, I would ally with the turks and rush the byz, risking everything for const. which is definately worth it.

then, you can build druzhina and boyars from const. and you are set to dominate.

by the time trade goes online, you pretty much have it made.

druzhina are awesome. who wouldn't want cheap, 60 men unit of FFK? they can cut through most early armies like nothing.

[Anubis]

I am playing VI And I just modded it so you can play as the Papacy and Novorgord In Early. Thanks for the help..I think loyalty is the major problem.. if it is high I can do without the rebellions.

[katank]

rebellions are often not a bad thing. if you keep shuffling your stack of good combat troops to suppress the rebllions, you can train up your princes/king very easily as boyars can take on whole armies themselves. they are just so amazing in early.

rebellions are in fact one of the fastest ways to raise cash due to the money from confiscated lands.

so if you can't keep the rebellions down, then raise taxes to max and kill the rebels again and again and soon you wouldn't be broke as you get a lot of cash. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif

[Kropazz]

Anubis if a loyalty in province is low and u expecting rebellion, just take all your troops of it. That makes rebellion much smaller. I'll do it every turn until i get high loyalty in province, and it works mostly every time.

[Crash]

Quote[/b] (Anubis @ Mar. 09 2004,16:09)]I am playing VI And I just modded it so you can play as the Papacy and Novorgord In Early. Thanks for the help..I think loyalty is the major problem.. if it is high I can do without the rebellions.
Maybe this is a question for another thread, but wouldn't the Papacy need special rules or victory conditions?