Minor Natives Guide

Back to list of civilizations

Basic overview

The Russians are another civilization that can choose to send advanced trading post as their first shipment. That allows them to utilize the natives and trade route if they so choose, in place of the standard wood trickle card. In some cases the minor natives can save Russia from a problematic situation with their civilization. Because Russian Musketeers are cheaper, more numerous and fractionally cost inefficient, it makes it more difficult for them to defeat cavalry - so if this becomes a significant enough problem for you as Russia, the minor natives in some cases can be used in place or in combination with Russian Musketeer units.

The Russians can use their buildings to great effect with blockhouses and numerous cards to support buildings. Jesuits - like with Portugal - can aid Russia in a similar way. In addition, their Conquistador units, although weak for most civilizations, may be useful for Russian players. That is especially the case if combined with the fact that, like Strelets, Conquistadors cost wood and food, which makes for an easier to manage economy. At the very least, the Conquistadors can help until Russia reaches age 3 and gains access to their slightly better cavalry archers, and then the Jesuits can also give them the Christian schools technology to add onto their faster-training and cheaper villagers.

Although the Commanche provide anti-cavalry units, they are rather poor and should only be used in a real pinch. However, the Comanche do offer cavalry upgrades. Faster Oprichinks in the mid or late game can be devastating too. As it is, these units can tear through an economy. They can do it even more efficiently with this technology, as they can catch villagers more easily and more importantly get away from enemy pursuers. It is particularly useful when the Cheyenne are also available because the Cheyenne can provide some strong anti-cavalry for the Russians.

The Russian hand attack as mentioned earlier is slightly weaker when compared to other Musketeers. These natives do not counter cavalry, but they can improve Musketeer hand attack; allowing Musketeers to better plug the hole in the Russian line up. They can also aid you by providing anti- ranged infantry units in place of Cossacks. Even though Cossacks are hardly weak, you would still normally need to build a stable to train them once your shipments of Cossacks run out. If you have already built a Shaolin trade post, you can train Rattan Shields instead - and they do good job of filling in for the Russian Cossacks.