Russia: Visual strategy guide

[Askthepizzaguy]

Yes, 1.0.

I don't use modified games unless there is a serious error that needed to be resolved with an official patch. It may be a while before I use any modded versions of the game, because I am not done with this version yet, and it is a pain to switch from one version to another. I would also have to reinstall the game.

I made an exception for Rome: Total Realism.
If they make a Medieval 2: Total Realism I will try that.

EDIT: I've looked over the mod in question, and it looks interesting. But I would have to install the 1.2 patch and I am not ready to do that yet. When I have exhausted the gameplay on vanilla, I will try the new version. I am attempting to gain total unquestioned mastery of version 1.0 before I move on.

Right now I am seeing if there are any challengers who can unseat me from my self-proclaimed throne and beat me at my own game. If you can wrest more provinces from AI control than I can on version 1.0, post the proof for all to see, and I will be much humbled and you will temporarily earn my signature title.

This could be YOU!

"Master tactician, holder of walls, sacker of cities, great crusader, superb diplomat, pious and pure, intelligent, witty, faithful and charming, Praetor of Rome, Emperor of Byzantium, Kaiser of the Holy Roman Empire, lord of Spain, France, Milan, Venice, Russia, Poland, Hungary, and Timbuktu, King of the Britons, Defeater of the Saxons, sovereign of all England, Patron Saint of War, Beloved Ruler of all Europe, Greatest Generalissimo of all time, and a damn fine lover to boot." -Me, regarding (YOUR NAME HERE!)

OPEN CHALLENGE: Beat askthepizzaguy at blitzkreig. Post your favorite blitz campaign, and I will attempt to beat it.

Post, as I did, the photo of turn number/provinces taken. Give your word that the game is version 1.0. If I cannot beat your record, you will have won my title.

[Odin]

Yes, 1.0.

I don't use modified games unless there is a serious error that needed to be resolved with an official patch. It may be a while before I use any modded versions of the game, because I am not done with this version yet, and it is a pain to switch from one version to another. I would also have to reinstall the game.

I made an exception for Rome: Total Realism.
If they make a Medieval 2: Total Realism I will try that.

EDIT: I've looked over the mod in question, and it looks interesting. But I would have to install the 1.2 patch and I am not ready to do that yet. When I have exhausted the gameplay on vanilla, I will try the new version. I am attempting to gain total unquestioned mastery of version 1.0 before I move on.

Right now I am seeing if there are any challengers who can unseat me from my self-proclaimed throne and beat me at my own game. If you can wrest more provinces from AI control than I can on version 1.0, post the proof for all to see, and I will be much humbled and you will temporarily earn my signature title.

This could be YOU!

"Master tactician, holder of walls, sacker of cities, great crusader, superb diplomat, pious and pure, intelligent, witty, faithful and charming, Praetor of Rome, Emperor of Byzantium, Kaiser of the Holy Roman Empire, lord of Spain, France, Milan, Venice, Russia, Poland, Hungary, and Timbuktu, King of the Britons, Defeater of the Saxons, sovereign of all England, Patron Saint of War, Beloved Ruler of all Europe, Greatest Generalissimo of all time, and a damn fine lover to boot." -Me, regarding (YOUR NAME HERE!)

OPEN CHALLENGE: Beat askthepizzaguy at blitzkreig. Post your favorite blitz campaign, and I will attempt to beat it.

Post, as I did, the photo of turn number/provinces taken. Give your word that the game is version 1.0. If I cannot beat your record, you will have won my title.

Interesting, well you asked for a challenge and I gave you one. I will assume you are declining the challenge. Frankly your claim would be far more impressive if you did so under my challenge with my criteria.

That said, I'll still read your visual guides, there entertaining.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Interesting, well you asked for a challenge and I gave you one. I will assume you are declining the challenge. Frankly your claim would be far more impressive if you did so under my challenge with my criteria.

That said, I'll still read your visual guides, there entertaining.

Hah hahahahaha. I love a good challenge. However, I don't believe you're being fair. There are a lot of mods out there. It will take me a long time to develop expertise in every one of them, and I've never made such a claim.

I have however claimed mastery of this version of the game, and I think it's fair, at least for the moment, to accept only challenges which involve versions of the game I've played.

If I challenged you to a game of Resident Evil 4, for example, and you were only familiar with Resident Evil 2, I wouldn't hold it against you. It wouldn't make much sense to diminish your accomplisments in the earlier game just because you haven't tried the newest version.

That's like saying "Bah, he's never played Mario Galaxy, therefore he is not an impressive Mario player." Which is true, I've never played Mario Galaxy. But I can play a hell of a mario game on the NES through the N64.

Now, if you ever catch me claiming that I can beat any modded game you throw at me, and I decline your challenge, then I would agree that I would be wimping out by declining. But let's be fair, that's all I'm asking.

You're pretty good at this newer version? I'd love to see you post your accomplishments. You can even post them here on this thread if you don't feel like starting one of your own. I'd like to see some screenshots. I've never even seen screenshots of that version.

For now, I'm just taking unmodded game challenges. But I do appreciate the interest in these threads. It takes a while to post them, and I have to deal with the hassles of converting .tga files to formats I can use, posting them on free file hosting sites (and dealing with maxed out bandwith issues), and of course, figuring out how to make a collection of image files seem interesting enough to warrant posting. But before I do all of that, I actually have to fight an aggressive campaign, and that takes up the most time.

It takes between one to two days to develop a game file impressive enough that I feel proud enough to post. Believe me, I've had a few aborted games.

Anyhoo. I felt that your challenge deserved an explanation. When I get through with my current version, I'll try others. For now, just vanilla challenges please.

[andrewt]

That's impressive. I played Russia, I think it was 1.0, and I thought their early units suck and are pretty much uninteresting. The later units are awesome, though.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Not to worry, folks; the turn by turn strategy section and images are uploading. This is just taking a while because I am going to do it all at once, not piecemeal, so I don't finish uploading and get tired and decide not to finish the strategy section like I did for Egypt.

It is a pain in the neck to do this.

But, as long as you guys enjoy it, I will keep posting more.

Does anyone else think it is sad that I invaded Bordeaux and Dublin before the French and the Scots, respectively?

The AI does suck on any difficulty, even VH/VH. I allowed them to recapture their cities several times, hoping to cripple thier productivity and pillage them, but instead they often let me keep their territory. See: Vienna. 2 stacks of HRE troops just sat there while I invaded the rest of their nation and left Vienna viturally undefended.

[Askthepizzaguy]

THIS POST UNDER CONSTRUCTION

The images have been uploaded and given (occasionally) relevant captions.

The strategy section will be written soon. But I have more photos to upload.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Beginning the campaign. I split my forces and send all available troops into battle. My prince heads for Helsinki, and my King heads for Smolensk. In order to make my starting treasury last as long as possible, I do not spend too much of it on buildings. I never really used the port I constructed.



Turn 2: The generals each lay seige to their respective targets.



Turn 3: Helsinki falls and I head to Stockholm.
Meanwhile, Smolensk falls as well. 3 provinces, 3 turns.



Turn 4: Stockholm falls. 4 provinces, 4 turns. (There is no way to continue at this pace, but I'm trying) I immediately head for Riga and pretty much abandon every province I conquer.



Riga falls. My King heads for Kiev.



Besieging Kiev.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Because my other general has such a small force and a small navy, I land somewhere away from all enemy forces to end my turn. Meanwhile, Kiev falls.
6 provinces, 7 turns.



Turn 8- Beseiging the foolishly undefended capital of Denmark.



Turn 9- I head for Oslo, but it is too well defended and I must turn back. Meanwhile, my King heads for Halych, and I reap the rewards of pillaging Arhus.



Turn 10- Halych is under seige.


My Prince sails south for reinforcements. See that little unit south of Arhus? Not only have I crippled Denmark's economy, but I have also used this single worthless unit to keep their troops seperated from the mainland and block all attempts to reconquer it. They should have built some boats.

Or perhaps built some troops in Hamburg. Oh wait, they did... so why aren't they using them?

Answer: Because they are idiots. I only intended to delay them and harass them while pillaging their best city, but instead I pretty much cripple them for the entire game with one simple blow. AI bug alert!

Nevertheless, I am not stupid enough to let them through. If the AI chooses to be stupid and aid in my takeover of the world, I am not complaining. This is a speed run after all. So the mercenary crossbowmen stay where they are.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

This will be a tough but even battle.
Halych falls.



Stettin falls.
My generals attempt to finish off Poland quickly. I go for the throat; Magdeburg and Krakow are my new targets.



Seiging Magdeburg.



Seiging Krakow. Poland was not prepared for my arrival. Their troops are off somewhere being useless.



Krakow becomes a Russian province, as does Magdeburg.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The two armies converge on the last major Polish province.



After smacking them around a bit with my Prince, they are in no shape to put up a fight.



Thorn falls easily.



A new family member has amassed some troops in Halych and prepares to finish off the Polish scum.



I declare war on the Holy Roman Empire, preemptively striking Germany to prevent their war against Russia in World War II.

Really preemptively. I take no chances with these idiots.

Has anyone noticed I haven't taken Vilnius?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Breslau falls and my two armies become one.
Russia's troops suck, so a mixture of generals and mercenary spearmen is what passes for an army at the moment. Their spearmen are OK in a pinch, especially with light mail armor.



I've always wanted to visit Prague.



Iasi is the last stand for the Polish people. They now fall under your rule, my lord.



I sack Prague and keep moving, inviting the HRE to waste time reclaiming it. Now that my troops are behind their battle line, their cities become sitting ducks for me to ravage. No matter what they do, their entire nation is about to be crippled, permanently.

Same is true for my cities, by the way. But mine are so far away that I can afford to trade hits. I will have destroyed enough of their cities to muster a defensive army if they were smart enough to advance. Which they aren't.
Bad AI. No donut.



My brutal backstab of the Hungarians at their most important and inexplicably undefended stronghold.

The AI doesn't start off defending their cities very well. But wait, because once I get to England... oops. I mean, once I get to Sicily... oops. I mean, once I get to... ah, France. Oops.

Ok, the AI can't defend worth sh*t.

Milan, on the other hand... yay Milan. Actually would have been challenging if I hadn't sent FOUR stacks against them.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

My devastating blitzkrieg has the HRE spinning around in panic and confusion. At least, if they were human, that would be their excuse for s--king so badly.



Smashy, smashy!



Bran and Bucharest fall simultaneously. Ouchy!
I eye Sofia with the look of a bloodthirsty madman.



And Denmark still hasn't done jack. All paralyzed.

I march onward, pitying the fools.
They could have at least taken Stockholm from me. I didn't even build WALLS there, let alone troops.

Not that it would have mattered. Wasting time in Stockholm would not have brought them back from the brink of death. It is only a matter of time now.
Frankfurt falls, crippling a third of the HRE.



These troops are tougher than you think. They put up quite a fight.
My infantry is nowhere near as good as theirs, and if I am to defeat their horse archers, I would need to spread out my infantry and surround them, something that is slow and leaves my troops vulnerable to anything, especially heavy infantry or cavalry charges.

However, I still wipe myself with their battered corpses.

How disrespectful!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I put the idiots out of their misery.
Advancing west.



Good bye Ruby... Foolsday!

Big fake laugh: BAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Wow, that was a bad joke. Tough nipples. Those are the only kind I tell.



Sofia crumbles before the might of my armies. Or my bad puns.



I leave the children of Sofia to fend for themselves while I go beat up their daddies.



Hungary actually summons the courage and intelligence to strike back!

Too bad they chose a city I could defend. Close battle, though. Valiant attempt. I gave them a C for effort.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I prepare to knock the socks off of some Twerps.



Only now, when it is too late, do the Danish idiots decide to put up a fight.

You have nothing left! Your wives have been brutalized and your children sold into slavery! Your homes burned to the ground or occupied by my forces!

It's time to give up and become hired mercenaries for my enemies already!
I put them down like a diseased dog.



Once again the enemy fails to prepare for my attack.

Hasta la vista.



This is for all my homies in I've done this joke twice already.

I like the guys with the giant two handed axes.



Oh good, they have a Cardinal. Better say your prayers, father.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I take back what is rightfully the property of Russia. And mercilessly slaughter them for their rebellion.

I'm just a sick evil man.



What did the English ever do to me? They looked at me funny. Now I will exterminate their entire nation. My leader is frighteningly insane.



Hungary is no more. Turn 30 is coming soon.



Hey look! Defenders! Holy Roman Empire, Batman!

Crap, that was a good joke. I don't usually do those.

I have such delightful hordes to unleash upon thee, German scum.



I rape and pillage all over the English countryside, and kidnap maid Marion. Where is this wretched little mewling infant, Robin Hood?

If he doesn't attempt a rescue, off goes her head.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Let the English retake Nottingham. They will find nothing there of value.
I've burned all of thier homes and left nothing of their families.

Per'aps a spot o tea might lift ye spirits, guvna? Nuttin like a little earl grey to take the sting out of the slaughter of your entire nation. I TOLD you my faction leader was bat sh*t insane, but you didn't believe me. WHY didn't you believe me?



Finally, Norway joins the Soviet Union. Since this army is too far away from the front line, I disband them all. Saves money that way.



Anyone else find it odd that I reached Caernarvon before England?



The bloodiest battle so far is about to commence. Vienna... well defended, but attacked even well... er.

More of the slaughter will be posted soon, you sick freaks. I can't believe you're enjoying this. How could you?

Well, I am.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Here is the remainder of the campaign. Check for updates, and a strategy section will be posted here.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I take Caernarvon, I take Dublin.
I butcher the innocent in a manner most troublin.

Scotland will fight me, but they cannot defeat me.



Vienna falls. Time to make war on the Venetian scum, and plunder thier quaint little banks. Death to the capitalist pig!



Sailing around Scotland. Doing this will prevent me from having to double back after taking Edinburgh, and allow me to attack their entirely undefended northern province. I own amphibious assaults.

I'm not even fair towards these infants.



I send myself some reinforcements.



Surprise, you Scottish pig-dogs!



The Czech republic will soon fall behind the Iron Curtain.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The French will learn to embrace socialism. No, really, they will.



I'll take Ragusa over Pregosa any day.

Zing! Another terrible joke.



Rhiems falls suddenly because of my Soviet spy network.
Next: Paris.



More French blood has been spilt.
Caen you dig it, sucka?



Inverness falls. Next: Edinburgh.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

England decided to defend rather than attack.

So, when they defend, they die. And when they don't defend, they die.

This is all because the AI does not know what attacking is.



Sicily seems surprised to see me. They should have read a newspaper or something. I have been butchering everyone I've met, and have carved a bloody path all the way here. Talk about not being prepared.



The Germans have a couple poorly defended castles that I wish to possess.



And I reach Bordeaux before the French do. What's wrong with these people?

I'm frickin Russia! They are France! They should have conquered thier own territory by now. Trust me, the game is on VH/VH. I've just never seen this level of incompetence before.



Naples falls to Russia, and now Sicily dies.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

A pleasure to have Metz you.



A second and more deadly wave hits northern France. This time, it's for reals.



Now I see where all the French troops are hiding.
It appears as if they lost an entire stack to rebellion.



An ill-fated march towards Rome, for me and for the Pope. None of us come out looking like we won. But he died and I survived.
A pyhrric victory... but they had twice as many troops, and better ones at that.

YOU try beating them. I barely did.

I put all of my cavalry off to one side, and all of my infantry off center on that side as well. Then I rushed their flank.

While they turned their entire army to face my cavalry and infantry, my infantry pinned them and my cavalry kept running all the way to the rear.

Big gamble. Most of my infantry was toast and nowhere near my general at this point.

Then I charged directly into the Pope himself, slicing the head off of the Catholic dragon. He did not go down without a fight.

His troops, shocked that the Earth's only infallible man fell by my sword, lost their nerve when my severely weakened and battered forces made several full charges into their papal guardsmen like a deranged maniac who doesn't know when he is beaten. Even with their leader dead, things were not looking good for me. But I repeatedly rallied my troops, and none of them dared rout.

I do evil things to routers. Very evil things. Vlad the Impaler has nothing on me.

I lost over 80% of my forces, but I personally slew 97% of theirs, and like I said, they were better equipped and twice my size.

Without enough forces to take Rome, I had to retreat. But the world shook in terror as I slaughtered the most powerful army on earth with a weak band of Russian troops at half-strength, and slew the living heir to Christ in front of their unbelieving eyes.

God isn't here right now. Would you like to leave a message, or meet him face-to-face?

I promised the Romans I would return, and when I did, it would be in the form of Death incarnate.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Sicily is mine. I prepare to reinforce my army at Rome.



Look! Defenders! Two entire stacks of vicious, well armed troops!

It's just too bad. I hate killing the brave and intelligent.

Nevertheless, every one of them will die by my hand.
I didn't bring 3 stacks because it looks impressive. I brought them to annihilate all resistance.



Did you read the skulls? That's 10 dread. You don't mess with a guy with 10 skulls branded across his forehead and 3 stacks of blood-soaked troops.

This is a sick evil man. I am a malevolent sanguinary who exterminates cities and tortures prisoners.



See that little stack near Rome? That's what is left of them.

See that little stack near Ajaccio? That's what is left of me.
I fared only slightly better. But they don't have reinforcements, and I do.



A tiny band of recruits takes Rennes. I have better things to do.



See? I didn't forget about Vilnius. I just had bigger fish to fry and no spare cash until now.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It's Istanbul, not Constantinople. It used to be Byzantium. Soon, it will be dead. My recruits from Bran, Sofia, and Bucharest will prove themselves worthy to be Russian men at arms.



A fourth stack heads towards Milan and the pitiful remains of France.
(that little one is full of generals)



Looks like the new Pope has recruited a few more troops.
He will die just like the other, but I will do evil things to his nation after he falls.



I laid seige after the Pope died, and Rome fell this turn. I move my generals north to join my giant Horde heading towards northern Italy. Another stack of troops has been recruited in the Czech provinces.



The mightiest city in the world has fallen. This spells the beginning of the end for the Eastern Roman Empire.



A grim battle is about to take place. The French are outnumbered and have poor leaders. They will try to fight, but will be smashed. My 10 dread general has two gold chevrons, making him virtually indestructible. Even my troops dare not rout, broken and depleted though they might be.



However, I feel it necessary to point out that this game is all but over. I have 50 provinces by turn 45. If I owned Jerusalem, this would also qualify as a long campaign victory. Why Jerusalem? I don't get it. Russia never owned Jerusalem. Looks like the French just got a reprieve.

My point has been made by the bloody edge of the sword. Russia, the most pitiful of factions, has conquered half the known world in record time.

If I were to continue on, I would be beating a dead Frenchman. What would happen next is the inevitable fall of northern Italy and the ERE, followed by Spain and the middle East. And as I have demonstrated on my England thread, the Mongols would quickly fall before my endless stacks of troops. Gets kind of tedious at that point. At least now, in theory, the other half of the world could all rise as one and attempt to destroy me. But the AI is not smart enough for that.

And so ends the bloody saga of the Soviet Empire.

[Odin]

Hah hahahahaha. I love a good challenge. However, I don't believe you're being fair. There are a lot of mods out there. It will take me a long time to develop expertise in every one of them, and I've never made such a claim.

I have however claimed mastery of this version of the game, and I think it's fair, at least for the moment, to accept only challenges which involve versions of the game I've played.

If I challenged you to a game of Resident Evil 4, for example, and you were only familiar with Resident Evil 2, I wouldn't hold it against you. It wouldn't make much sense to diminish your accomplisments in the earlier game just because you haven't tried the newest version.

That's like saying "Bah, he's never played Mario Galaxy, therefore he is not an impressive Mario player." Which is true, I've never played Mario Galaxy. But I can play a hell of a mario game on the NES through the N64.

Now, if you ever catch me claiming that I can beat any modded game you throw at me, and I decline your challenge, then I would agree that I would be wimping out by declining. But let's be fair, that's all I'm asking.

You're pretty good at this newer version? I'd love to see you post your accomplishments. You can even post them here on this thread if you don't feel like starting one of your own. I'd like to see some screenshots. I've never even seen screenshots of that version.

For now, I'm just taking unmodded game challenges. But I do appreciate the interest in these threads. It takes a while to post them, and I have to deal with the hassles of converting .tga files to formats I can use, posting them on free file hosting sites (and dealing with maxed out bandwith issues), and of course, figuring out how to make a collection of image files seem interesting enough to warrant posting. But before I do all of that, I actually have to fight an aggressive campaign, and that takes up the most time.

It takes between one to two days to develop a game file impressive enough that I feel proud enough to post. Believe me, I've had a few aborted games.

Anyhoo. I felt that your challenge deserved an explanation. When I get through with my current version, I'll try others. For now, just vanilla challenges please.

No, I dont have the time or desire to post screenshots or do an aar, plus im not very good, probably a little better then avarage.

I just responded to your request for a challenge, you asked for one I offerred one, no big deal to me.

[Lupiscanis]

Yes, 1.0.

I don't use modified games unless there is a serious error that needed to be resolved with an official patch.

I thought there were several serious errors in 1.0?

And yes, I'd like to second the mod challenge.

Mods such as LTC and The Long Road provide a significantly increased challenge over the vanilla and 1.2 games.

For a man of your obvious enthusiasm, researching and learning a new mod shouldn't take you too long and I'm sure you would find it far more satisfying to achieve victory over a more difficulty enemy than plain vanilla, non?

[Askthepizzaguy]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I thought there were several serious errors in 1.0?

And yes, I'd like to second the mod challenge.

Mods such as LTC and The Long Road provide a significantly increased challenge over the vanilla and 1.2 games.

For a man of your obvious enthusiasm, researching and learning a new mod shouldn't take you too long and I'm sure you would find it far more satisfying to achieve victory over a more difficulty enemy than plain vanilla, non?

There were definitley several bugs in 1.0 for sure. Some loopholes were left open and the weapons didn't function realistically. Other than that, the game works fine enough to have fun with it.

I found that when I installed RTR, my interest in vanilla RTW dropped to zero.

I would like to squeeze as much fun out of this version of the game as I can before I try the new, advanced versions. I am certain that you folks are right, and that the other games are challenging and fun.

Trust me, I'll give them a look. All in good time.