IGC: Russia

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A couple of thoughts and questions as I approach the close of my first IGC(first Grand Campaign at all).

(Not quite an AAR since there is still nearly a century to play)

I played Russia, and left the other selectable nations alone.

1. This is the first game that really showcases how FRIGGIN BIG SIBERIA is. I mean wow - am I ever going to get to the other coast? I didn't find the border with China until the late 1600s
2. Related to 1, What is this permanent Terra Incognita crap? I understand in a historical context some areas were never explored (during the time frame of the game) but why not just ramp up the attrition to obscene levels instead of arbirtrarily saying "No, you can't go there." How is this handled in EU2?
3. Also somewhat related to 1, why the huge gap in conquistedors? I couldn't really get exploring to the east until the mid 1500s. Can I speed this up with research?
4. Converting of other faiths: I played with the tolerance levels of the various denominations/faiths and it seems that any conversions that happened, were simply random events. Is there a way to speed the process along, or am I suposed to be nice to these *ahem* misguided people?
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   It is 1704 or so, and I am in fourth place. Portugal is barely ahead of me, so I may yet make third. Considering it is my first full length campaign, and only my second game at all, I am quite pleased overall.
   
   I have gobbled up vast amounts of territory from the various moslem nations, but have not gone to war with the Turk. I've expanded to the south and west at the expense of Poland-Lithuania and Sweden. I am raking in the money from my monopoly in Buru of all places. Inflation rises and falls mostly through random events. I am back at 6% and not complaining . The army is large and healthy, my coffers are full.
   
   It's facinating how well they captured the feel of history, without making me feel like I was just along for the ride. Areas that are "hot spots" today, are some of the most troublesome provinces in my vast empire.
   
   "Delcar" Shannon A. Ward

 

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some comments:

1) yup its friggin big
2) its the same in EU2, although there are more provinces that you can discover
3) no way to improve it with research. only ones you get are random once in a while, and historic ones.

 

[BiB]

In EU2 there are missionaries to convert provs. Now u are dependant on random events or sending a settler when the pop is under 5000.

 

[Dark Knight]

1-2) In EU II, Siberia is even larger.
There's still PTI, though.

4) If you really want to convert your provinces, you can lower your tolerance for one of your non-state religions to 0 and then allow the rebels that will start popping up to capture the province before defeating them and sieging the province to take it back. Allow this to occur enough times, and the city populations of these provinces will start to fall below 5,000 allowing you to send a colonist and convert it.

 

[Legolas]

4. In addition to what Dark Knight said, I must say that this won't work in the late parts of the game. In mid 1600s, the pop in many provinces is so high, that you will need more than 100 revolts to bring pop down to 5000. Better edit the savegame.

 

[unmerged(6908)]

Thanks for the feedback gang - let me guess, I'm NOT the only one stuck at work today?

My responses to the responses may seem a bit random, bear with me:

Re: Missionaries and PTI - Sounds like I will love EU2 as well, I do want to give this one a fair shake down before I "upgrade". Taking another look at the PTI "issue" (its a minor complaint at best) it would probably get out of hand without some focus, so I accept it.

Re: Allowing revolts - I'll just continue to beat down the malcontents - and since I have more moslem citizens than catholic, I'll tweak the tolerances a bit.

Besides, all the revolts give me a reason to keep a good sized army in the south (and gives Persia and Turkey cause to sweat)

Re: Random conquistedors - at first I was surprised to get them - my first mental image was of russians landing in South America, until I realized that Siberia was totally unexplored. In retrospect, I think I had a couple die of old age manning a garison somewhere, I'll just pay more attention when anyone of note arrives.

1) yup its friggin big

lol

Any suggestions for my next nation? I enjoyed playing russia, but I would be intrigued to play a more politically oriented game.

(my diplomacy in western europe was almost universally ignored or unwelcome)

"Delcar" Shannon A. Ward

 

[BiB]

For a diplomatic game Austria is an easy choice. Try to keep the HRE crown. In order to do that u have to be nice so if u want to expand u have to do it either diplomatically or pick ur time very good.

 

[unmerged(6909)]

Delcar, you mentioned that you were playing IGC. When you have the version 2.3 (don't know about other versions) then you'll receive a conquistador very early in the game (around 1495).
Annex Golden Horde and Astrakhan and send your most important man with cavalry exploring the northern route. Don't build any colonies or trade posts. Your goal is to discover Khreset/Nagorje and a adjacent coastal province. Kill the natives in these 2 provinces. Put 1 tp at the coast and you can build a level 1 colony in Khreset/Nagorje (cheap, high chance of success, hidden for other nations).
All you have to do then is to wait for your Cot - undetectable for every other nation exploring the coasts. I got my Cot around 1512 in several games. I didn't place any other settlers in Siberia because the big big money comes from China/Japan/Korea and you can use your early settlers better by converting your muslim provinces.

Converting:
The random events are restricted to your core provinces. It's up to you if you want to wait for such an event to occurr. RotW: The population in a rebelling province is lowered by army size/10 after a successful siege (not after an assault).
The population in the provinces is lower in the early years as mentioned earlier but you can afford big armies later in the game - and your attrition level is lower. The army size is only important right before the siege is over. So you can start a siege with a small army and send your big army when you see the walls breaking. In the end of the game you'll also get rid of attrition at sea. Converting a coastal province is very easy: 1 million men and 600 ships

I converted China/Japan/Paris/London/Thrace/etc with this strategy. Many provices with more than 1/2 million inhabitants. The most seriuos drawback of a genocide is the (re)creation of nations since Russia usually lacks of diplomats. So you may want to leave Edo, Paris, Thrace, etc until you have converted the surrounding provinces.

 

[unmerged(6908)]

When you have the version 2.3 (don't know about other versions) then you'll receive a conquistador very early in the game (around 1495).

I am - I must have wasted this guy.

(good strategy snipped for brevity)

Sounds like I may play another game as Russia soon. Just a clarification:

Annex Golden Horde and Astrakhan

I assume that is by force rather than diplomatically?

"Delcar" Shannon A. Ward

 

[unmerged(6908)]

Originally posted by BiB
For a diplomatic game Austria is an easy choice. Try to keep the HRE crown. In order to do that u have to be nice so if u want to expand u have to do it either diplomatically or pick ur time very good.

I like the thought of being in the middle of the action, and would like to be more in western Europe, I shall give them a try.

(I tried France but was a little daunted by it, aborted a game as England (I have a heck of a time with loosing ships). Russia was a great way to grow into the game, without being surrounded by bullies.)

"Delcar" Shannon A. Ward

 

[unmerged(3748)]

Originally posted by Delcar

Sounds like I may play another game as Russia soon. Just a clarification:
I assume that is by force rather than diplomatically?

"Delcar" Shannon A. Ward

Of course, by force

 

[unmerged(3748)]

russia is great to learn the game though, youre right... after that, you can go for something a little more challenging... austria is nice for a diplomatic game, venice for an economic one... if you need any more suggestions, just give a shout

 

[Legolas]

Originally posted by Silent Eagle
russia is great to learn the game though, youre right...

I think that Turkey is even easier to learn. They are big at the start, and they have many good CBs. And Russia has CBs, but they can be defeated at the start. In my game as Mamelukes in the IGC, Russia was partitioned between P-L and Sweden in 25 years
What for other types of games... If you want a difficult and long scenario, take Mameluks in the IGC, and lose the first war against Turkey (give one province). If you do that, it will be a huge challenge. But if you win the first war (this happened to me), the you won't have any enemies. In my game, I took all Turkey's Asian possesions and Constantinople, Venice took the rest, and then I began a huge expansion together with Venice. In 1652, ALL Arrica and most of Asia was mine, and half of Europe belonged to Venice.

 

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if you need any more suggestions, just give a shout

Yes indeed, thank all of you for the feedback!

"Delcar" Shannon A. Ward