Russia is a major faction in Napoleon: Total War.
Description[]
Russia is a giant, if it can be mobilised to face the deadly danger to peace that is Napoleon Bonaparte.
It is also a nation that is recovering from the assassination of the reforming Tsar Paul in 1801, a man who was too interested in reform to be left on the throne. Rumour has it that Tsar Alexander was complicit, at the very least, in his father's death. Paul had taken Russia to war against revolutionary France. Now Alexander is beginning to realise that a French, or rather, Napoleonic hunger for victories will drag Russia into war once again. If Russia is to be seen as a major power in Europe, she must behave as a major power, or accept French domination of Europe.
This is why Russia now contemplates war against France again. There may be incidental gains to be made in Poland and Prussian-dominated Germany, but the threat of the new French Empire is real. Napoleon has set himself up as the equal of the Tsar, and that is an implicit challenge. There are potential allies and some, like the English, have very large treasuries.
Russian soldiers may be rough and ready, but her generals are cunning commanders. Russia also has the advantage of time and space, should a war go badly. No invader from the west can comprehend the emptiness of the steppes, deal with the vast distances of Russia, or survive the merciless campaigns of "General Winter".
General Information[]
Victory Conditions[]
Historical
Capture and hold 25 regions, including the regions shown. Ingria, Greater Poland, Moldova & Bessarabia, East Prussia, Finland, Galicia, Moscow Guberniya.
Complete by the end of your turn in: Late December 1812
World Domination
Capture and hold 60 regions, including the regions shown. Moscow Guberniya.
Complete by the end of your turn in: Late December 1812
Regions[]
Moscow, Moscow Guberniya
- Starting Buildings - Magistrate, Cantonment, Cannon Foundry, Theatre
- Infrastructure - Not developed
- Population - 3200000
- Wealth - 3300
- Religion - Orthodox 100%
- Villages/Towns/Ports - Kovrov Forests (Undeveloped), Nizhnij Novgorod (College), Ryazan (Undeveloped Commercial Center), Tula Pasture (Undeveloped), Voronezh Farmlands (Undeveloped), Yaroslavl (Undeveloped Industrial Center)
Minsk, Belarus
- Starting Buildings - Tax Office
- Infrastructure - Not developed
- Population - 1620000
- Wealth - 925
- Religion - Catholic 60%, Orthodox 40%
- Villages/Towns/Ports - Homel Farmlands (Farms), Vitsebsk (Undeveloped Industrial Center)
Belgorod, Belgorod Guberniya
- Starting Buildings - Tax Office
- Infrastructure - Not developed
- Population - 1090732
- Wealth - 925
- Religion - Orthodox 40%, Islamic 40%, Animist 20%
- Villages/Towns/Ports - Bryansk (Undeveloped Commercial Center), Kursk Farmlands (Farms)
Mitau, Courland
- Starting Buildings - Cantonment
- Infrastructure - Not developed
- Population - 650000
- Wealth - 800
- Religion - Protestant 85%, Catholic 15%
- Villages/Towns/Ports - Kuldiga (Member's Club), Liepaja (Undeveloped Port), Valdemarpils Forests (Undeveloped)
Riga, Estonia & Livonia
- Starting Buildings - Tax Office
- Infrastructure - Not developed
- Population - 1488000
- Wealth - 1175
- Religion - Protestant 95%, Catholic 5%
- Villages/Towns/Ports - Reval (Trading Port), Valmiera Forests (Logging Camp)
St. Petersburg, Ingria
- Starting Buildings - Tax Office, Cantonment, Cannon Foundry, Theatre
- Infrastructure - Not developed
- Population - 1250000
- Wealth - 3300
- Religion - Orthodox 60%, Protestant 30%, Catholic 10%
- Villages/Towns/Ports - Luga Forests (Undeveloped), Narva (Undeveloped Commercial Center), Staraya Ladoga (Dockyard)
Kiev, Kiev Guberniya
- Starting Buildings - Tax Office
- Infrastructure - Not developed
- Population - 2600000
- Wealth - 1900
- Religion - Orthodox 80%, Catholic 20%
- Villages/Towns/Ports - Poltava (Supply Post), Zhtzhors Farmlands (Undeveloped)
Vilnius, Lithuania
- Starting Buildings - Tax Office
- Infrastructure - Not developed
- Population - 712120
- Wealth - 1000
- Religion - Catholic 70%, Protestant 30%
- Villages/Towns/Ports - Grodno (Undeveloped Industrial Center), Lida Pasture (Undeveloped)
Odessa, Little Tartary
- Starting Buildings - Cantonment
- Infrastructure - Not developed
- Population - 950000
- Wealth - 950
- Religion - Islamic 60%, Orthodox 40%
- Villages/Towns/Ports - Brest-Litovsk Pasture (Stables), Rostov-on-Don (Undeveloped Industrial Center), Sevastopol (Undeveloped Port)
Novgorod, Novgorod Guberniya
- Starting Buildings - Tax Office
- Infrastructure - Not developed
- Population - 1500000
- Wealth - 1375
- Religion - Orthodox 100%
- Villages/Towns/Ports - Borovichi Forests (Logging Camp), Tver (Undeveloped Commercial Center)
Smolensk, Smolensk Guberniya
- Starting Buildings - Tax Office
- Infrastructure - Not developed
- Population - 1100000
- Wealth - 1100
- Religion - Orthodox 100%
- Villages/Towns/Ports - Orsha Mines (Iron Mine)
Kamenets Podolsky, Volhynia & Podolia
- Starting Buildings - Tax Office
- Infrastructure - Not developed
- Population - 1400000
- Wealth - 1025
- Religion - Catholic 70%, Orthodox 30%
- Villages/Towns/Ports - Bila Zerkwa Farmlands (Farms), Letychiv (Undeveloped Industrial Center)
Russia has one of the best starting positions in the game. All of its required regions are within reach from the beginning. Its enemies are far away from Russian regions: Austria and Prussia act as buffer states, shielding Russia from most of its enemies. Even if Russia is attacked, it has a unique and powerful home field advantage: most of its regions are covered in winter attrition areas, yet Russian troops are immune to winter attrition. Russian troops are practically the only units in the game immune to winter attrition, and so almost always possess a numerical and stamina advantage should Russia be attacked in the winter. Offsetting Russia's geographic advantages is its poor army quality: almost all of its units have inferior reloading and accuracy to their counterparts in other factions' unit rosters, forcing more aggressive rather than passive gameplay. The difference is apparent when fighting the Prussians, with far superior reloading and accuracy as a whole.
One unique quality of Russia's lands is its large number of lumber resource locations. While most factions have just one or none at all, Russia has five, with three more within relatively easy reach in Scandinavia. Russia's abundant land development potential, its defensive advantages and its potential to expand trade mean that it can afford to remain more or less static for much of the starting game while still enjoying strong economic growth. Unmolested by enemies, Russia can use its assets to quickly subdue nearby factions, particularly the Ottoman Empire and Sweden. Prussia and Austria are good targets for attack, too; Russia requires some of their lands.
With its port in the Black Sea, Russia has the opportunity to take the four trading nodes in the region if it can defeat the Ottoman Empire. It can also possibly take the nodes in the north-west corner of the map with ships from Ingria, thanks to the French and Spanish navies being preoccupied with the powerful British navy.
Diplomacy[]
Russia tends to maintain peace with most of its neighbors--even Sweden, which it harbors historical grievances with. The one exception to this is the Ottoman Empire: when controlled by the A.I, Russia usually attempts to annex Moldovia and more. Russia periodically sends troops through Austrian lands to fight France and its allies.
Below is a list of grievances/friendships other factions have with Russia initially. This list is exhaustive; factions that are not listed do not have friendships or grievances (they are neutral).
Ottoman Empire | Prussia | Batavian Republic | Denmark | Kingdom of Sardinia |
---|---|---|---|---|
-95 | -45 | +160 | -60 | -30 |
Mecklenburg | Papal States | Sweden | Switzerland | |
-60 | -30 | -105 | +120 |
Below is a list of grievances/friendships other factions have with Russia if it emerges. This list is exhaustive; factions that are not listed do not have friendships or grievances (they are neutral).
Austria | France | Great Britain | Ottoman Empire | Spain | Kingdom of Italy | Kingdom of Naples |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
+70 | -85 | +55 | -95 | -100 | -100 | +30 |
Kingdom of Sicily | Mecklenburg | Poland | Romania | Sweden | Switzerland | |
+30 | -60 | -35 | -25 | -60 | -60 |
Military[]
Nearly all Russian units have a formidable charge bonus. This applies even to their light infantry and militia. All Russian units are resistant to cold fatigue, making them immune to the effects of winter attrition and giving them a stamina advantage on snowy maps. On the other hand, nearly all Russian missile troops have by far the worst reloading and accuracy statistics when compared to their counterparts. Russia's complete lack of skirmishers only hurts them further in this regard.
Russia benefits significantly from DLCs, which provide a handful of units that have better reloading and accuracy without sacrificing the Russian advantage of good charging bonuses and resistance from winter attrition.
Russia has the opportunity to train very cheap, albeit inferior, lancer cavalry. Their missile cavalry, the Mounted Rifles are arguably superior to the only other missile cavalry available to a playable faction, the Chasseurs à Cheval, due to their superior numbers.
Russian artillery are among the best in the game. They do not suffer from inferior quality (unlike Prussia) or a limited roster (unlike Great Britain or Austria). What makes them unique, however, is their powerful unicorn artillery--the best howitzer artillery in the game, firing at much greater ranges, and with greater reloading to boot. The only faction that rivals them is France, which similarly face no restrictions in their artillery roster and boast elite cannon artillery.
The Russian navy is slightly better than average: while most of its roster is standard, it has the opportunity to build 80-gun ships-of-the-line, largely superior versions of 74-gun ships-of-the-line. While individual Russian ships are statistically unremarkable, Russia has the potential to build by far the cheapest ships in the Europe Campaign thanks to its many Logging Camps, meaning fleets can be easily maintained.
Gallery[]
Napoleon: Total War Factions | |
---|---|
Italy Campaign Factions | Austria • France • Genoa • Lucca • Modena • Milan • Parma • Papal States • Piedmont-Sardinia • Trent • Tuscany • Venice |
Egypt Campaign Factions | France • Bedouin • Great Britain • Mamelukes • Ottoman Empire |
Europe Campaign Major Factions | Austria • France • Great Britain • Ottoman Empire • Prussia • Russia • Spain |
Europe Campaign Minor Factions | Baden-Württemberg • Batavian Republic • Bavaria • Belgium • Brittany • Catalonia • Courland • Crimean Khanate • Denmark • Greece • Hannover • Hessen • Hungary • Ireland • Italy • Kingdom of Italy • Kingdom of Naples • Kingdom of Sardinia • Kingdom of Sicily • Mecklenburg • Norway • Oldenburg • Poland • Papal States • Portugal • Romania • Saxony • Scotland • Sweden • Swiss Confederation • United Netherlands • Westphalia |
Peninsular Campaign Factions | France • Great Britain • Portugal • Spain |
Unused Factions | Savoy |