Faction overview

• "General Winter": Attrition damage to enemy units in your territory increased by 100%. Attrition upgrades are free.
• Expansionism: Start with 1 free level of Administration research. National Borders +1 extra per level in Administration research.
• Masters of Steppe Warfare: Cavalry units do +25% more damage to enemy Supply and Artillery units.
• Resistance to Invaders: Spies are half price. Plunder from your buildings go back to you, not the enemy who plundered them.

Strengths:

Weaknesses: 

When one surveys the national bonuses, abilities and unique units of the Kievan Rus', one immediately thinks of one thing: land grab. With 1 level of civic research already accomplished, and the ability to EXPONENTIALLY increase your borders with each round of research, coupled with a near-legendary ability to destroy unprepared opponents by just letting them walk through your territory, your cities can be used as area-denial weapons. Administration research makes cities cheaper, so you have a faster setup than others: once you have built your third settlement on the map, others may still be worrying about the placement of their second one.

Additionally, the Russian army has a strong emphasis on heavy infantry and heavy cavalry. The units that are available to them - first Gridny Retainers and Druzhinniky, then Boyarniky are fairly competent by themselves, with the Druzhinnik having one special advantage - it is a fairly heavy cav lancer unit that can be recruited from a Corral right away, providing defence against enemy cavalry raids - or facilitating a rush since the Druzhinnik is a very fast and heavily armoured unit, as with Bulgaria who also trains this unit. After the early game, it is then possible to upgrade the Druzhinnik - but this time to a Boyarnik, a unit trainable from a Nobles' Court. But this poses challenges: firstly, Nobles' Courts are costly to build and upgrading Druzhinniky to become Boyarniky then reduces your ability to recruit heavy cavalry later on, given that you may build only one Nobles' Court per settlement you control, and they too are costly. Next is the cost of raising these unique armies - while they are decent units, the fact that you will have to shell out a lot of Metal just to raise them (albeit with savings in Wealth and Food) often can be a burden on your economy, especially since you have no competitive advantages in harvesting Metal. The Boyarniky themselves need a Monarchy to be established before they can be used, which also prevents you from training that fourth signature unit - the Ushkuiniky raiding infantry, who while being mercenary raiders capable of knocking out civilian units, can be raised only if you managed to establish a Republic at your Meeting House - thus ensuring that you cannot have Boyarniky if you wish to access them, and vice versa.

Still, regardless of this dichotomy - having to choose between expensive shock cavalry, or slower mercenary raiding infantry, the culturally advanced nature of the Russian civ makes it a competitive pick in most games but only if you are capable of overcoming the problems springing from a lack of economic bonuses. On the other hand, being able to access free Attrition upgrades at moment's notice if you have a Tower-type building of some sort can prove to be a wonderful way to "lock down" parts of the map, ensuring that only you can access them and others can't - a strategy that can be potentially useful against some rush civs, such as the Polovtsy with their Bek cavalry-Steppe Warband-Nomad rush. In addition, of the three Wonders at your fingertips, two of them are useful - the Zoloti Vorota wonder provides a Food economic bonus and a discount to cities, making it all the easier for you to expand and forward build and army, while the second one, the Detinets' enhances your Attrition damage bonus, and also allows you access to Turkish Cavalry - a fast moving ranged cavalry unit that can be raised in considerable numbers.

The main task of this civ, therefore, is to use cities to lock down areas of interest (shorelines, merchant Rares, mountains and forests for resources), and then exploit what resources are available to you, whilst using your units - your cavalry, particularly - to raid and disrupt your enemy's progress, setting yourself up to be several steps ahead of them on the path to victory.

Unique units and structures gallery

Leader names

Settlement names