Is it worth conquering Russia?

[Faeelin]

Playing as Denmark, I've beaten up Muscovy pretty badly. I have religious ideas, so I am wondering if it's worth conquering Russia, and heading east to Siberia. It's about 1520, and I have most of the Baltic (save for Pommerania) already as well, and annexed Norway. Sweden's troops are still around as cannon fodder.

 

[YuriiH]

Depends on what you call Russia.
The nearest rich provinces = yes.
Steppes and Siberia = no.

 

[ecrurudesby]

What are your goals for the campaign?

Muscovite culture has the fifth highest development in the game at 185, so it's not a bad region.

 

[Faeelin]

Be a great power? The Reformation fizzled pretty drastically, alas.

 

[Faeelin]

To clarify, obviously there is value to knocking around Muscovy and using it as a whipping boy. I guess the question is more whether there's a value towards annexing the region to push east towards India, Central Asia, and China.

 

[LoyalistRedcoat]

It will make you more powerful, but at the cost of horrific borders. Choices...

 

[ecrurudesby]

Be a great power?

You can stay in the Baltic and achieve that.

To clarify, obviously there is value to knocking around Muscovy and using it as a whipping boy. I guess the question is more whether there's a value towards annexing the region to push east towards India, Central Asia, and China.

It's a long way to go and you'll have to fight some strong nations, but India and China are filthy rich.

Personally if I wanted to take Indian land as Denmark I would do it the same way as in history and go around Africa, although you will have competition if you don't just go blobbing everywhere.

 

[Sfan]

I'd say yes without any second guess if you picked Religious. Conquer all of Asia and send the trade towards the Baltic.

 

[atwix]

do it...

as denmark, the obvious ways to expand are either england or muscovy. state up muscovite rich states if you got spares, if not, beeline through white sea into hordes into India. If so, conquer the trade nodes upstream of novgorod to india. set up trade chain into lubeck or even channel node.

if the latter, and if you conquer england, then consider allying emperor and conquer channel node in HRE slowly but steadily, without triggering coalition, by releasing vassals like Holland after taking one province.

if so, taking influence and diplomacy idea groups will help.

 

[Faeelin]

So to do this, I should take trade and expansion as ideas?

 

[Sfan]

What? No, definitely neither of them. You should take Religious, which you already have, and Administrative because you will conquer a lot of land.
You will generate merchants by having the majority of the tradepower of a trade company region. The idea is to push through Russia, then Persia, to reach India, and there you will generate merchants by giving land to trade companies, and easily make your homenode the strongest one in the world. Once that's done, that gives you enough of a powerbase to do anything you want, whether it is to invade continental Europe, or to go further east into China and make even more trade companies, or do both.

 

[AdAstra]

I thought Russia conquers you...

 

[raikaria]

Trade from the Russian region flows into the Baltic and Lubeck nodes via Novogrod.

That makes it pretty worth to at least invade Russia proper. Siberia is only worthwhile if you're either going to develop all that Fur and Iron [Developed Siberia can give you a LOT of money later in the game] or if it's en route to somewhere in Asia you want to invade.