Rhye’s and Fall of Russia

UHV

Russias unique historic victory conditions are:

  1. Colonize Siberia by 1700 AD
  2. Build the Apollo Program by 1950 AD
  3. Never lost a single city until 1950 AD

Russia UHV 1

Unique Power

General Winter: Enemy units in Russia take damage every turn.

Unique Building – Research Facility

unique building

Unique Unit – Cossack

Rhye's and Fall Russian Unique Unit Cossak

The Russian Cossack is a little stronger than the cavalry it replaces. Also it’s got a +50% bonus against cannons. Not too special but still a very good offensive unit which helps defend Mother Russia from invaders from the East (Germany) and the South (Turkey).

Russian Strategy

Here’s as quick summary:

  • grab land quickly – prioritize Europe, go for Siberia later
  • Ryazan (1S of Moscow) will get the Iron – found your capital there
  • Initial cities:
    • 1 in Romania to contain Turkey
    • 1 in Belarus/Poland to contain Germany
    • 1 in the Baltic States to contain the Vikings
Rhye's and Fall Russia UHV 1951
Unique Historical Victory with Russia

Found your first cities at will, but use the land generously. Rather found cities further away from your capital than too close – otherwise the AI civs will only claim more of your precious land!

Build some more settlers and units with defense against mounted units. The first to expand further south and east (still west of the Ural mountains) and the second to defend against roaming barbarians or even AI civs from south of the Caucasus mountains.

Rhye’s and Fall Russia – Diplomacy

This is quite simple – your goal is to never lose a single city. Doing much conquest would be a risk. So play defensively. Be nice to your neighbors. Maintain relationships with Germany even if that means going to war with France or the Netherlands. None of their units will ever come near you, because they’d have to march through Germany first. Well… Napoleon did just that, but it won’t happen in your game.

Colonizing Siberia

Rhye's and Fall Russia colonise Siberia 1650
Four Russian cities in Siberia in 1650 AD

I’m pretty sure in one RnF patch the UHV goal has been revised to only requiring 4 cities in Siberia by 1700 AD. Otherwise my victory as shown above wouldn’t have been possible. If you played well in the European theater you should have some decently sized cities there. Building some settlers to colonize Siberia is not a hard thing then.

Winning Rhye’s and Fall Russia

Rhye's and Fall Russia Ranking
Ranking as Russia

Russias main problem is it’s backwardness. Unfortunately your quick expansion will only worsen that burden. Technologically focus on those techs that allow you to make the most of your land and allow cities to grow! Don’t ignore defensive techs though.

Once your cities grow big enough, your technological disadvantage will vanish and you’ll catch up incredibly fast. By then the land will be your advantage! Big cities, production powerhouses altogether, combined with little hunger for conquest, will allow you to focus on research and build the Apollo Program early in the 20th century and win the game!


The usual official strategy guides are still here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20090514073418/http://rhye.civfanatics.net/wiki/index.php?title=Rhye%27s_and_Fall_of_Civilization_-_Russian_strategy

Unfortunately they’re not as detailed as most of the other guides. Now I played Rhye’s and Fall Russia in late 2012. By the time I’m writing this (as the 4th last of my Rhye’s and Fall “Guides”) it’s late 2015. I wish I could provide more details, but I fear you have to make do with the above.

Bottom line conclusion, nonetheless: Rhye’s and Fall Russia wasn’t the hardest UHV. It’s pretty much doable but might require some experimenting with how close to settle to Germany as to 1. contain them, but 2. not anger them too much so they turn on you.

1 thought on “Russia”

  1. I was reviewing my Russian history and felt compelled to revisit this gem of a game. I pursued a new strategy in this round in which I attempted to mimic the pattern of the Grand Dutchy’s expansion. The name of the game is commerce and colonization.

    For my spawn I founded along the course of the Volga basin. Moscow was 1 tile west of default. Now I have an extra iron to trade (very valuable can trade with Arabia for lots of luxurys). I send my first horse archers to capture the Aral basin and export its cotton surplus. I spam settlers, workers, and spears from Moscow and the lower Volga. From here I can reinforce the Silk Road and open commerce with China and Arabia. I stay atheist to open boarders and send a scout through Egypt to meet Mali and snag divine right.

    Caste system is essential to control population growth, spawn great people, and reinforce boarders. My first big colonial push is to the Kazak step. It provides a land link to the Silk Road and the copper is good to trade for luxuries. Most importantly, I am now linked to the Siberian river route. I can send waves of settlers east to grab as much of the land around lake Baikal and the lower Amur river before it is taken by Mongols, Chinese, and Japanese.

    Isolation from Europe should give a free pass on the first plague. I made it to found my first city on the Pacific by the late 1600s. By waiting to found cities on the North Sea until after reaching the pacific, I kept city maintenance low and science steady. My key techs were guilds, gunpowder, and astronomy.

    Now by the mid 1700s I had filled out European Russia, colonized America down to Vancoover, and was fighting protracted defensive wars against Turkey and Mongolia (beat China this seed). I found the dynamic to be quite enjoyable.

    I’ve thus far made it to the mid 1800s. I highly recommend playing Russia as an Asian colonialist. I thoroughly enjoy your blog.

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