Civ 5 Russian Civilization
Civ Bonuses, AI Info, Strategies, Unique Units and Buildings
Updated for Gods and Kings and Brave New World DLCs
Civilization's Leader: Catherine
Civ Bonus: Siberian Riches
Strategic Resources give +1 Production when worked by a City. Additionally, Horse, Iron and Uranium are provided in double quantity, allowing you to support a larger military.
Unique Unit: Cossack
Requires Military Science, Replaces Cavalry
The Cossack is an Unique Cavalry replacement which gets a +33% bonus vs Wounded Military Units. This combines with the +33% Charge Promotion Mounted Units can receive. Combining the two will result in a whopping +66% Combat Strength boost vs Wounded. Have your ranged hit them, then send in the Cossack to finish off the enemy.
Unique Building: Krepost
Requires Bronze Working, Replaces Barracks
Provides the usual +15 XP of a Barracks, but reduces Gold and Culture costs of acquring new tiles by 25%, expanding your lands more swiftly through Culture or allowing you to purchase important tiles on the cheap. Building these after Libraries and Monuments in your first Settled Cities will result in rapid expansion of borders, particularly if you have a Culture-producing Pantheon.
| Warmonger Hatred | Wonder Compete | Offense Build | Defense Build | City Defense | DoF | Friendly to Civs | Denounce Civs | War w/Civs | Deception Likelihood | CS Comp | CS War | |
| 5 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 7 | |
| Other Info | As you can see, Catherine is likely to be Deceptive and a presence that should lead you to avoid making Pledges to Protect City-States. She is likely to build a large Military, and though she doesn't have a tendency toward Warmongering she will certainly use this force if you've given her enough reason. She is likely to gobble up lands to make good use of her UA, with her high tendency toward Expansion. Russia is not a neighbor you'll want to see expanding toward you, for she's likely to want your land. Arm up if this is the case and prepare to either knock her down a peg or remove her from the game. | |||||||||||
This is distinct from the Charge Promotion, and these stack to allow for +66% CS vs Wounded
Strategies/Ideas for playing Russia:
Russia is well-suited to Wide play, but can do just as well playing Tall. This makes them an adaptible Civ so long as you have enough Horses and Iron around in the early-game. Otherwise, their UA goes to waste until you've found some. Thankfully, you should be able to locate Iron near the Tundra they are inclined to start in and Horses when you can find some Plains.
Having double Iron is of particular help early on to let you build Swordsmen, who are much better at defending and assaulting other Civs than the Spearmen you would get to use otherwise. When you only have one patch of Iron, you'll really appreciate Siberian Riches. You may even sell excess Iron and Horses to an early neighbor.
Key here is the Production bonus from Strategic Resources, which are not necessarily found in quantity in every game. You can have awful luck, so this Civ is hit and miss as a result. When things go in your favor, either you've got a few Cities that grow Tall enough to make great use of the tiles around them and utilize it for whatever (Buildings, Wonders, Military or all three) or are able to have stronger Production in many small Cities to accomplish the same on a larger scale - the latter requires Happiness management and, likely, Warmongering on your part. Regardless, this Civ is a bit open to interpretation. The extra Production can certainly help for a Domination Win, but is equally helpful in pursuing a Cultural or Scientific Victory.
The Cossack is incredible when it comes - though unfortunately a little late. Having your ranged units (Crossbowmen, Gatling Guns) attack the enemy first then moving in with Cavalry to finish them is an excellent strategy. With three Military XP buildings, you'll find yourself only 15 XP away from being able to get Charge for the extra 33% Combat Strength bonus vs Wounded Units. This is significant and will have the Cossack dominating the battlefield any time you can set up these situations. It is especially wonderful if you've had Knights/Horsemen in the past that already have this Upgrade, so do plan ahead for their use if you find yourself in that situation.
Overall, Russia is a bit unreliable. You never know what you'll get and other Civs that seem fit for Warmongering are much better at the job. Still, you may find her Production bonuses even better than Egypt's for early-game Wonderwhoring - especially since it does not take a tile improvement to make Horses and Iron churn out an extra Production. When improved, they'll be very powerful tiles. Good Scouting is absolutely essential with this Civ, as is unlocking the ability to see Horses (Animal Husbandy) and Iron (Bronze Working) on the map so you can Settle wisely.
| Sid Meier's Civ 5 is a deep strategy game. I created these individual Civilization Guides to highlight the strengths of their specials and unique units. If you have an opener or tip for playing this Civ that you would like to share with other readers, please use the comments form below. Some Guides are in need of update and will be improved to a new standard of quality or altered to reflect gameplay changes in G&K and Brave New World. | ||||||
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| Greece | The Huns | Inca | India | Indonesia | Iroquois | Japan |
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| Polynesia | Portugal | Rome | Russia | Shoshone | Siam | Songhai |
| Venice | Zulu | |||||
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