How To Modernize a Backwards Country - Gigachad Guide Victoria 3 - Russia

Russia is the most backwards of the western powers, and that really shows through their lackluster army, and dedication to serfdom. In this gigachad guide, I'll show you how to modernize the most backwards country: Russia.
Check out my other guides for various primary mechanics in the game:
Trade: • How To Destroy a Forei...
Diplomacy: • How to Be a Diplomatic...
Economics: • How To Build the Perfe...
TWITCH: / tarkusarkusarkusarkusar
PATREON: / language-to-poll-76327535
DISCORD: / discord
Besides that, I hope you enjoy the video! Here are the timestamps, and music in the video:
Intro: 0:00
Opening Moves: 0:36
Agriculture Economy: 4:09
Maslow's Hierarchy of Goods: 7:53
British Aggression: 12:03
GDP Acceleration: 15:00
Intellectualization: 19:45
Conclusion: 22:15
Music in the video (in order of appearance)
The Painful Way - Hades OST
Coalescence - Risk of Rain OST
A Monster - Waveshaper (Furi OST)
Praise the Lamb - Cult of the Lamb OST
Mulligan - Hearthstone OST

[@kindadumb916]

"Afghanistan is a surprisingly defensible nation." I mean it is called the graveyard of empires for a reason

[@accountname9506]

it's only really recently they've been known as that. they've fallen to a ton of invaders, like the macedonians, multiple empires from iran, and the mughals.

[@somedesertdude1308]

@@stanisawzokiewski3308 t-this is cope reeee

[@bebbenbaby5361]

​@accountname9506 hahaha, ok, sure. Yep, easy to conquer Afghanistan. Look dude, all those people, mughals, Macedonians, they held Kabul. That doesn't mean they conquered Afghanistan.

[@Disco_Dem]

Hey just wanna say that your content is awesome. Your style of memeing combined with good gameplay combined with actual insightful commentary on historical events makes you unique from any other Paradox gamer boy on KZbin . Keep it up my man, I look forward to the Mughals taking over India.

[@refuze2quit603]

This guy: interesting Meanwhile Ludi: SHHHTACK AND WHIPEM

[@ComradeCovert]

@@refuze2quit603 yeah, ive tried other channels but none of them actually succeed at scratching the viccy 3 itch like this one

[@3zzzTyle]

tbh Ludi also drops some historical knowledge between shtackenwapenikums.

[@catfacecat.]

​@@3zzzTyle Tough he dosent give many tips and isent as good as tarkusarkusar. And I'm looking for tips.

[@samotter9509]

"this gives us the nice new colossus modifier" *chooses teeming shores instead*

[@Tarkusarkusar]

Never let 'em know your next move

[@ComradeCovert]

interesting - I never considered using wheat farms as an intermediary job for large amounts of citizens. In my Russia game, I jumped straight into the industrialization loop, but I can see the benefits with a cheap and easy way to increase your consummer base here and will try this out in a future game

[@Chillerll]

Yeah don't underestimate the power of farms, only downside is the landowners become more powerful and reforms become harder.

[@BobbyBlockable]

I've heard since it doesn't create any more employment than the subsistence farms it replaces you should actually focus on industry primarily.

[@ComradeCovert]

@@BobbyBlockable certainly true as well, a subsistence farm gives 20k jobs while a wheat farm gives only 10k, but they are 10k jobs that are an order of magnitude more effective + loyalists from cheap grain. though with most countries I do go straight into industry

[@juansackmann1799]

hey, just a quick heads up. you are calculating average gdp growth wrong. if you grow 400% over 20 years, you arent growing 20% each year, you are really growing at 7.2% a year which over 20 years makes out to 400 ish percent of base gdp. (1+7.2/100)^20= 4.016 always remember compunding ;)

[@dexterkosinski1323]

China IRL ;)

[@captainblacktail8137]

Wait until you learn how gdp is calculated in game.

[@christian9125abd]

soviets in the late 20's and early 30's and chinese in the 90's and 00's had a higher growth

[@henryirvine7964]

thankyou

[@martenkahr3365]

@@christian9125abd And later it turned out thirty to fifty percent of that "higher growth" was just the middle management lying about their productivity, covering up widespread theft by severely underpaid workers, and telling the party leadership whatever the leadership wanted to hear. And then the political leadership further falsified the publicly available official statistics to make their internal economy look even stronger than they thought it was for international prestige (and in China's case, to attract foreign investment).

[@Tarkusarkusar]

Thoughts on new Thumbnail btw? I'm looking to try new stuff, and I'm gonna base my new thumbnail direction on this video's performance. Direct input is really useful though. EDIT: Looking at the data, looks like the thumbnail underperformed, so I'm switching over to a more traditional thumbnail. Let's see if it does any better. Thanks for the input y'all! Also, I calculated GDP growth wrong in this video, which was pointed out by a couple commenters. My bad. I'll keep it in mind for future calculations. Thanks to those guys too!

[@slaterfrench9070]

Your thumbnail is great but I would suggest making it about something extreme or eye-catching. Like if you look at Spiffing brits thumbnails they are pretty simple with one-word and statements like 100 days or "war crime" written on this makes the ideas in his video easily recognizable as what kind of challenge the video is about and titles like "war crimes" and organ harvesting black market instantly engages your lizard, make you instantly wanna see what happens in the video.

[@nicodemus7774]

eyesore tbh

[@bp9696]

I prefer the older thumbnails. this looks a bit more meme-y, as if its intended audience is fortnite kids great video nonetheless

[@tf2noob598]

For me is that everything is higher than it supposed to be. not very centred at all sorry for bad english i hope that helps :)

[@teopullisaar1511]

🫤

[@coldtimes8774]

Honestly amazing content didn't realize how far I was into the video until you ended. Definitely keep up the great work, and you earned a subscription!

[@firerocket7343]

In my Russia campaign I've reached 8B GDP and I'm very proud of it.

[@lucasdalla4146]

So cool, I was just able to reach 2 B with russia

[@Themrlol2]

how did you get over lack of workers, oil and wood?

[@lucasdalla4146]

@@Themrlol2 Workers wasn't a problem to me, a lot of them immigrated cause of the quality of life but I started having problems with oil a lot, though I had a lot of oil posts it simply wasn't enough for the demand. So that's why I was just able to get to 2B

[@firerocket7343]

@@lucasdalla4146 The late game strategy for are always "become America" aka invade for oil.

[@crack8558]

I love your content! Even though i don’t like Victoria 3 very much, watching you play it is still really entertaining. I find it amazing how you acknowledge your own mistakes and what you used to do in the video, show the positives and negatives then change how you play! (Also the music choice is great!!)

[@artexl05]

bro built railways in all of the country because he didn't want to read💀💀💀

[@512TheWolf512]

i love victoria players. why is slavery bad? because slaves don't pay taxes

[@elseggs6504]

Thing is that mightve been why western politicians agreed to abolition in the first place. Or Womens Suffrage. Or being more openminded regarding immigrants. Its all about the money

[@user-cd4bx6uq1y]

Weird economic exploits for Victoria games are extremely interesting but most videos just cut it all out. Watching this one felt really refreshing

[@iseeyou5061]

Diplomacy : Accept my protection or die and accept my protection

[@retineyzer1670]

It's like it was in real world to be honest

[@maddogbasil]

Nice a video on russia, definitely gonna watch this for sure.👌 Still gon a wait around for that horn of Africa somali state tho Feel like that would still be a good idea

[@DerSchaender204]

This Video really helped me Understand the Game cause i Always lost to Rebellion or to debt but now i know what to do

[@theoheinrich529]

gotta love the visual aids used in your vids

[@pablorochera3998]

I think that you make the best Vicky 3 content

[@Yacovo]

Thanks for the video.

[@unitor699industries]

took me a while to find a good tutorial

[@gaberobison680]

I recommend trying the Local Producrion Effects mod. It gives a throughout bonus to Industry for having relevant resource building in the same state and reflects vertical integration. Some techs like Improved Fertilizer farm PM’s now come with even more bonus throughput and it’s arguably too OP. I’ll work on rebalancing it myself!

[@lucius8453]

I found that ignoring farms for the first half of the game for the sole focus on lumber and tools would result in more profits (modifiers are too high in Russia) both for capitalists and state. Also keeping wood prices low makes it easy to expand building industry. In my playthrough I reached 300 million in 1865 having even less land you did (no Persia, only Sikh parts of India but some colonies in Africa and America) and I could definitely do better if not for awful RNG (took me eternity to abolish serfdom as well as constant wars with Austria and Qing ending in stalemates). In general export based economies are much more efficient, easy to plan and utilize. Selling wood and cash crops as Russia is strong enough to justify remaining with interventionism for a while. Coupled with huge bonuses for farms in Punjab and Ukraine you can get lots of grain and wine (due to the fact that wine is an obsession in Europe it is easy to earn 100k just from tariffs). It is beneficial to strife for opium monopoly by getting rid of British in India and letting EIC to remain a backwards barely functioning entity Getting early in Africa is also important to limit other Europeans and have a bigger share of those juicy export tariffs in countries without colonies like Germany or Austria Also you are wrong about discrimination. It is beneficial to have state religion for the sweet authority AND discrimination itself. You see, discriminated pops tend to be paid less which means in turn more profits for the capitalists to invest as well as you get bonuses of more loyalists. When all the pops end up converting you keep the loyalists bonuses losing radical penalties (conversion rates are huge with religious schools).

[@aiai3726]

apart from that building farms in russia gives power to the landowners witch are the biggest drawback for you to modernize russia policys

[@aiai3726]

300 gdp at 1865 is very impresive, at what year have you reached 1B gdp in that game? in my last game i reached it in 1883 with landed taxsation and multiculturalism and building a lot of farms in punjab and ukraine, with all the middle east and sikh empire conquered and incorporated

[@lucius8453]

@@aiai3726 the problem is I did not. I have a low-end laptop so after 1870-1880 game becomes completely unplayable for me. Iwant to try in a next one to reach 1B until lag takes over

[@aiai3726]

@@lucius8453 the performance of victoria 3 is so trash i have a good pc and is unplayable in 1995 too

[@mintfork6643]

When I started a video I thought to myself "I must have choose wrong video, this is news channel!"

[@Dreammyrr]

I tried to replicate what I saw in the video and ended up accidentally starting the first world war like 10 years before the original

[@MsFallenPrime]

22:25 A 400% increase over 20 years is FAR from 20% per year, it is less than 7,2% anually actually. Getting a 20% year-on-year increase for 20 years, from 150M GDP would've netted you 5750 million GDP (150*1,2^20).

[@hinkelstein1494]

I really enjoy the Cult of the Lamb ost in the background

[@user-dg5zm6fs8g]

can you make a video like that about the ottoman empire, they actually have intelligentsia in the government but with the 1.1 patch ive found myself struggling to reform and had to resort to civil war cheese

[@jamesfifield6636]

Hi Tarky. I really like your guides, and I have been working on some Indian Territory runs. Could you please make a video where you try this achievement? Thanks so much

[@Pokeeko]

Its stupidly easy, i dont have the screenshot right now but basically, restart till france is protective in the first year, declare independance, invite france, USA back downs, because france is protective ask to become protectorate, have a war with mexico ONLY when USA declares to mexico, ask for texas and war reparations, use money to build clothes and furniture, have second war with usa, ask for lousiana and some reparations from usa in second war, create 2 battalions and 2 navy in that war, keep sending 2 navies to naval invade USA capital till it succeds, focus economy in growing with USA money, have third war with usa powering it off, stealing new york and Pennsylvania, after that you won, do whatever shit you want

[@johnnywalker5068]

bro.... I had to check your video description to wonder why the fuck am I hearing Cult of the Lamb playing. The fact its a fire audio track alwways lets me pick up on it at first beat

[@Makofueled]

That is a chonky GDP by 1860, I'll have to take these lessons to heart!

[@Avalanche_Mudder04]

Your GDP growth is amazing. I was wondering why do you prefer Interventionism over Laissez Faire. I must be missing something, have you explained this in another guide?

[@Tarkusarkusar]

Hate to be boring about it, but literally I prefer it just because it's easier to work with. In general, lassiez-faire is superior, but I don't like having to manage my budget when building agriculture, so I just stay on interventionism

[@Avalanche_Mudder04]

@@Tarkusarkusar Thanks for the reply. I just tried out Interventionism, last night. When I first started paying I never noticed that the pool utilized farms and ranches. I thought it was just less received investment for flexible subsidies. The pool doesn't seem to ramp up as fast, but it is nice that you can use agriculture as well. In my previous games I usually just imported cheap grain from China and mostly ignored agriculture.

[@Themrlol2]

In my playthrough I always had problem with workers not filling strategic factories Like chemical plant becouse sometimes there were better Jobs in state. In that situation I need to subsidise wages to keep exploisive prices low and mining sector afloat.

[@couchpotato7628]

W vod W channel

[@cyrusol]

I've had an exceptional run with Russia, immediately passing Serfdom abolished on first phase autumn 1836, Laissez-fair on second phase late 1837. I think that start is still stronger than Interventionism. But won't be stronger anymore when 1.2 hits. I've had construction go from 600 to 1200 when switching to steel in the 1850s and also higher GDP growth than you. But you seem to have a much better grasp on what to do in the 1860s with that war for British reparations and the Qing treaty port and Beijing.

[@Chadmlad]

Wait im so confused. Why arent your convoys shown to the right of your Influence on the top left UI? I've never seen this lmao

[@zachnar0125]

12:07 "The Great Game"

[@hoizhockaaut-gamingundco6341]

7:33 No that’s not a growth-rate of about 3,33% per year. It’s about 2,73% per year. The gdp-growth is displayed by a exponential function which means that every year the added value is influenced by the value added in the year before that’s why the values differ. What you calculated was the value of a would-be linear function. At a rate of 3,33% the value would have been about 1,62 times the starting-value after 15 years, not 1,5.

[@petarpetrovic3411]

Switching capitalist-owned buildings to publicly traded doesn't increase your investment pool - it decreases it. Namely, investment pool contribution is a percentage of building profits. More capitalists you get with publicly traded still share the same profit pie, so you get no benefit. Even worse, since capitalists are paid wages before profits are calculated, switching to publicly traded in the case of capitalist owned buildings actually reduces their investment pool contribution. The increase to the investment pool you have noticed is purely form switching agricultural buildings owned by aristocrats to capitalist owned via the change into publicly traded, a step which you should always do.

[@gameser6052]

Yes of course. Also this move make your population to buy less usual consumption goods, but more luxury goods. Almost always it don't worth it. Publicly traded funds are useful for increasing industrialist strength.

[@LeakyTrees]

"Afghanistan is a surprisingly defensible nation" it's a nation who's land is almost, if not entirely, all mountains. It's literally never been conquered, at it's been attacked by the British Empire, the USSR, and the USA. There's nothing surprising about it's defensibility.

[@Tarkusarkusar]

I meant it as something of an ironic statement, lol, but I realize now my tone didn't communicate it well

[@elseggs6504]

It has been conquered by Greeks, Persians, Arabs, Mongols, Timurids and Mughals. The Brits and Russians failed. Thats it. Thats the whole graveyary.

[@dvirnevo6669]

Never been conqered? timor gangas khan and persia would disagree

[@LeakyTrees]

@@dvirnevo6669 well he’s dead so he can try but I don’t listen /j

[@pyotrbagration2438]

Is it worth to invest in wood construction? With Perm and Ural and their iron bonuses you should have no problem going with iron construction from the start. In my last run I reached 1B in 1881, granted I was a bit lucky with taxation laws but still, why is wood construction better?

[@gameser6052]

Wood construction always worse than iron. Because wood is much more limited resource. But Russia can ignore it. Iron construction is better, more resource and workers cost effective. But for using iron construction you need to invest in explosives and steam pumps in your mines.

[@Andreus9733]

Man I wish this man was our tsar in empire times

[@numbskull4899]

pretty good guide...now can you do one for brazil?

[@swaggydude117]

You can ez increase your Construction Sector up to 100 and more in the first 1-2 Years. With this Sector you will develop way more faster

[@rahmatabadi769]

You content are awesome, but if you can can you make you video can be watch at HD?

[@notjustwarwick4432]

Why do you use wooden construction till 1860? you can can change it in 1836/1837 and build your economy from the ground up as iron construction. I'm surprised normally I'm changing to steel at that time.

[@inzyniertv9305]

Can you do a Poland guide next?

[@berkaivstheworld]

What is the soundtrack name at 11:49

[@PauloRomanini]

Is your Hierarchy of Goods example appliable to other nations?

[@gameser6052]

It's universal. But IMHO I prioritise construction secrtors economy in yearly game. It's better to increase standard of living a bit later in your country. But investing in consumer goods production make your pops more loyal and your game less risky.

[@beepbop6542]

Agriculture creates unemployment, but the left overs are happier and more loyal.

[@user-Erimej]

Have You finished the journal entry "Orthodoxy, Autocracy & Nationalism"?

[@Eirael]

10:50 14:30 ahhh a true politician

[@FranklyJustNess]

Publicly traded ownership reduces investment pool on most buildings. You add more capitalists as "workers", without doing anything else, so now the building pays more in wages, reducing its dividends. Since each capitalist just pays a percentage of their dividends income into the investment pool, you get a calculation of total dividends / number of capitalists * number of capitalists * investment... meaning increasing how many capitalists there are makes no positive difference. Just think of it as the reverse of automation PMs.

[@memedude1086]

No fatherfigure

[@desran4447]

22:22 Duuuuude, that's the most common mistake when calculating GDP growth. If the economy of a nation increases at the rate of 1% per year, it will double in 72 years, but If it grows 7,2 percent per year it will double in 10 years. Just so you understand how 20% a year sounds, such economy would be 6.2 times its size in 10 years

[@Tarkusarkusar]

yeah, my bad. Some other comments pointed this out, and I added a correction into the pinned comment.

[@skyboy19ID]

Tbh if you have the resource take austria coast either by conquer it or release Venice, Slovenia and Croatia for less infamy. Enjoy their guaranteed neverend economic downfall since they can't fill their trading need from their neighbouring country.

[@512TheWolf512]

the medieval era hasn't left russia, period. it's STILL there. just a little correction for you.

[@bretthuff8971]

Do you prefer Lassaiz Faire or Interventionism?

[@gameser6052]

Lassaiz Faire almost always give you bigger investment fund. But Interventionism is easier for new players, because you can manage your economy a bit stronger and subsidize your industries.

[@geoDB.]

Is aboliting serfdom worth it at start when like 90% of your pop are serfs? Idk but nobody talks about the positives of serfdom

[@pedronabais1456]

serfdom makes pop poor (duuh) this mean they won't consume anything, barely pay taxes or give to the investment pool, also won't be literate snd will probably have the wrong culture if meaning even more debuffs overall it basically means your pops are worth less, also they are used to make farms richer so because of that the landlords/conservative get more votes and political power with serfdom

[@gameser6052]

No. It economically sucks.

[@geoDB.]

They produce extra goods and make up like 90% of your pops at the start and your money is from land tax. I don't think it's wise to immediately get rid of it.

[@izul4223]

22:30 the maldives, guyana and libya apperently hit this in 2021 with guyana at 19.994% maldives at 31.712% and libya at 296.1% idk wtf happend there from the imf libya gdp is an anomoly it goes up and down by 60% regularly

[@MsFallenPrime]

He got a 7,2% y.o.y. increase, not 20%.

[@Eclipse.7897]

For a second I thought this was going to be a video about what to do with Russia after the Ukraine War when this randomly got into my recommendations, lol.

[@quarter1248]

If only the Russian Empire could've gotten a Paradox Victoria or EU4 gamer to rule it.

[@focusdj2138]

You should try a releasable nation like new Africa

[@sahilhossain8204]

Lore of How To Modernize a Backwards Country - Gigachad Guide Victoria 3 - Russia momentum 100

[@basedtortellini]

Bro, your music selection was so good i got sidetracked during the video. Only time a video has had such good music i stop watching lol

[@jorgeabud1133]

400% growth in 20 years is 7,18% per year, even though it doesn't look like it

[@Bruh-ff2tw]

Gigachad Byzantium guide?

[@GhostOfArtBell0935]

Nice content bro but, man, I was so disappointed by Vicky III

[@Noxiefy]

I prefer this alt route for russia instead of what happened in real life.

[@jedaifinn]

I almost pressed dislike button because of 595,9M GDP, but i'm glad that i waited till the end

[@Tho-ugh-t]

they should make you lose wars more, better ai is needed

[@oppionatedindividual8256]

Quicker way, download the cheat mod, enable fastbuild, enable fast research, give 10s millions tax income etcetera.

[@VunderGuy]

20:50 Unlike in real life. XD

[@salty6568]

Corn Laws are so broken

[@gaberobison680]

This game is so cool but I wish it was viable to play as a conservative nation without mods. The German empire was really conservative yet extremely effective. You also can’t really do anything liberal without pops wanting more. I’d love to play like Saudi Arabia and play social conservative with generous welfare

[@Zimojovic]

Where Gigachad 🙈

[@jonbathurst953]

Just like russia in real life. The power of the peasant

[@Gideon020]

'Afghanistan is surprisingly defensible.' Just think, your Russia learned this *before* Communism, lmao.

[@Chadmlad]

Idk why but your videos are always fuzzy to me. I can't tell if its you upscaling the video quality to 1080p or if NVIDIA's automatic upscaling to 4k is being fuck-y. Is anyone else seeing this?

[@elvirmavric6056]

Why interventionism is better tha leisse faire?

[@1Notten]

It is so you can restrict other nations from taking from your market as profitably. Plus you can support failing industries that would be needed in tough times (i.e firearms)

[@captainblacktail8137]

Interventionist doesn't affect trade policy. Interventionist investment pool pays for all building types, under laissez-faire it doesn't pay for agriculture. Interventionist investment pool also gives 5% aristocrat pool, but the aristocrat dividends are tiny compared to capitalist. Its a matter of choosing between being able to Subsidize any industry and getting agriculture investment paid for from the investment contribution vs double the investment contribution and -25% loan interest

[@ComradeCovert]

It is also worth mentioning that laissez faire can use its investment pool on mostly manufactory type buildings whereas interventionism is far less restricted, but tbf this matters very little once you get past the early game

[@idratherhidethat6033]

mind if I send this video to Putin? Feel like man needs a guide.

[@lox000zavr]

22:29 No it's not. If you had 20% annual GDP growth for 20 years, you would have had 5.750 billion gdp. In reality, it was 7.2% annual GDP growth.

[@donaldduck9884]

Sweet Mother Russia 🥃💪

[@KongV5]

looks like trying to build theocracy and trying to retake Constantinople is the wrong way to play for the Russian Empire? sad =((

[@okuretta8383]

How to play Russia. 1.Pass multiculturalism. 2.Puppet and annex Japan. 3.Puppet and annex central Asia. 4.Relax because you already have everything you need

[@VunderGuy]

2:31 Your wrong pronunciation of Kabul kills me faster than Afghanistan fell back to the Taliban after US pull out. KAH-BOOL. Not KAH-BULL

[@Tarkusarkusar]

I'm choosing to pronounce it in the way it would be pronounced in Dari, which is the language spoken in Dari. I don't say it EXACTLY how they do, but the vowel for Kabul for Dari speakers is [ʊ] and not [u] (this is the same vowel found in the word "book" in English.) Although my pronunciation might sound strange if you're an English speaker, it will sound closer to the correct pronunciation for the language the city was named in. I try to say things in their native pronunciations when possible.

[@frorproductions5571]

Incorrect. Plekhanov as one of the first Russian marxists was laughed at *until* Russia began industrializing under Sergei Witte's programs at which point he suddenly looked as a mad prophet. The bolsheviks appeared not from the rural countryside but from a small cadre of the few Russians who came from more modernized backgrounds. The real reason for the Russian revolution was ww1, the radicalization from many military defeats and the sheer anti-concessionist nature of the Imperial Russian leadership. No political, no social and no labor reforms.

[@christos3280]

more byzantium

[@snapeflufy5245]

Russia, western lol

[@jboydayz]

‘imperialist capitalism’ that sounds like the most based system of society to exist

[@antonxuiz]

"Afghanistan is a surprisingly defensible nation" bro it's literally called "the graveyard of empires" XD It's a landlocked predominantly mountainous country and in recent modern history they repelled two different invasions from the greatest powers at the time. It's the epitome of defensiveness.

[@user-rn2bj3dh6j]

Thanks Putin

[@augustoneto3665]

🇷🇺

[@edwardboss]

Don't give the Russian government ideas

[@lcplapiata5501]

Haha a yank talking about backwards haha to funny.

[@graffiti9145]

Based: making Russia #1 Unbased: making Russia a republic

[@mondo3556]

Oh it's a game. I thought I was about to hear the worst historical take of all time

[@johnconnor8206]

What’s wrong with the Bolsheviks

[@elhomiederp6552]

Do Mexico next!

[@bretthuff8971]

Gigachad Byzantium guide?