Russia Faction Guide: Medieval 2 Total War

Today I discuss the faction of Russia, its units and its campaign strategy

[@filipcerny6072]

In Feudal England, you crush the paesants. In Soviet Novgorod, the paesants crush you.

[@_Gandalf_The_White]

I love the Russia campaign, slower paced and rewarding with beast units that can crush Mongol trash. Get each of the guilds and build your eco by force it's the only way to survive and mass early horse archers are always viable in an ambush scenario. guerilla tactics and balls to the wall early sieges are the way to go, take out enemy eco powerhouses and Bran later on when you can afford doomstacks.

[@Cba409]

Lol russia sucks

[@prussianrocket2702]

legendoftotalwar: Russia is a boring faction you: is a interesting faction

[@lugotorix6173]

haha I get why he thinks it is boring but I find it interesting that it's mostly cav based and starts off so isolated in the corner of the map with a poor economy

[@jacobsxavier6082]

@@lugotorix6173 I loved russia to ransom the shit out of the Hungarians and the Poles. The amounts of gold that could gotten ripped from Poland is astonishing.

[@EricTheActor805]

Napoleon Fation Guides!!!!!

[@yarugatyger1603]

Ye I find it quite cool too cuz Dvor is like danish huscarls just with bows, very powerful.

[@skyrim654]

Man, id like to say thanks for posting a video like this up. I am finally getting back into the game full bore, and discovering things that I have never considered before. Even after 12 years! I didnt expect to see someone providing an in depth analysis of factions for a game thats so old. Your awesome!

[@lugotorix6173]

Thanks a lot man. Glad you find the videos useful!

[@Darkdaej]

I know it's random, but one thing I always liked about the original MTW versus this one was that you could marry brothers and sisters together. It would create generals with "twelve toes" and other deformities. Also doing so could actually cause a civil war in your faction (something I haven't seen in TW since), breaking it in two and forcing you to pick which side you'll play as. I once had a game running with the royal family being inbred for 6 generations. Their stats were atrocious :P

[@alessandrobenvenuti6551]

*Hapsburgs* “Permit me to introduce myself”

[@oceanplanet8160]

Damn, that sounds interesting.

[@Nuncey]

🤣

[@LeoMajor1]

you would love crusader kings

[@Darkdaej]

@@LeoMajor1 I do - Been playing CK3 for about a year now. And yes, I love cheating my way into creating a dynasty of superstrong, gorgeous inbred geniuses with pure blood so they don't get defective traits LOL

[@RocketHarry865]

I think early Russian steppes region could have been more interesting if Russia is replaced with both the Kievan Principality and Novgorod which starts out as a vassal to the Kievan Principlality. Also there should be the Cuman-Kipchak confederation to provide the Russian factions an early game challenge and practice in steppe warfare which would come in handy when the Mongols would come come calling in the 1200's

[@elcontador1016]

Check out Stainless Steel mod. It has everything you have mentioned, except the vassal state of Novgorod

[@dannypacheco4937]

That's true but in SS both Russian factions have a really weak army. The don't have those cool mounted archers.

[@alexkerr5804]

Check out the vanilla beyond mod. It includes both Novgorod and Kiev

[@michaelwalton1450]

Spot on! Couple of things: Cossack Musketeers recruit in any Huge City- no special bldng req so get into action fast. I’ve found that keys are Stockholm (money), Thorne (Def), Kiev (killing barbs).

[@petitpanierdosier3206]

Dismounted dvors will crush anyone facing their way !!!!

[@tzonhose1993]

Come on...

[@hassarfn3557]

By taking control both scandinavia and lithuania, Russia could become the wealthiest faction. I always did it that way, completely abandon the eastward expansion

[@pbh9195]

if they make a 3rd MTW that is more faithfull to the period the Russian factions would be Novgorad, Moscow, and Kiev.

[@Cybernaut76]

In many ways, M2TW is way too simplified. Maybe because the computers of that era therefore did not have too much work.

[@lewisyeadon4046]

@@Cybernaut76 That, and the glut of factions in the new games make the game worse. They're all weak, end up in one giant faction anyway, and just make diplomacy worse

[@Cybernaut76]

@@lewisyeadon4046 Not yet played as far as advanced game as Empire Total War but isnt that the whole idea of Total War to conquer smaller factions BEFORE OTHERS DO THE SAME? Then YOU will be that giant faction. Total War is all about eras when the international community was not so interventionist against any ambitious expansionistic empire builder (that is the reason why, for example, Russia and USA are such huge countries today)

[@lewisyeadon4046]

@@Cybernaut76 you missed my point- the diplomacy works much better in M2TW because you rarely have more of a handful of factions at any time interested in you. For example, England has France, Denmark and the HRE as immediate neighbours to ally/attack. In Rome II, Rome begins with Massillia, the Ligurians, the Venetians, the Etruscans, Carthage, the Daorsi, the Ardiaia, Syracuse and Epirus as immediate neighbours. Except for Carthage, if you ally with anyone they could disappear in 5 turns, which is garbage for diplomacy because even getting a trade agreement can permanently damage relations with people who don't like them, and so without any real difference in the world you suddenly have neighbours who hate you for now reason. In M2TW, its unlikely anyone will die for a while, allying with Milan may make France hate you, but they aren't going to die immediately and make the alliance a liability.

[@Cybernaut76]

@@lewisyeadon4046 Then just dont ally. Attack one tiny faction after one another as soon as you get a few military units up and running on the field.

[@RocketHarry865]

Moscow should have started out as a village at the start of the game. It did not become important until 1304

[@Brugar18]

@Jan Sitkowski The Nation as Russia itself was first became in 1547, before that there were principalities and duchies.

[@Brugar18]

@Jan Sitkowski That's what I'm pointing out that naming it Russia isn't historically accurate. But on the other hand those inacuracies applied not only for russia but for Spain and Portugal which during that time weren't named that also there could've been a Grand Duchy of Lithuania as well but they added Lithuania in Teutonic expansion.

[@Brugar18]

@Jan Sitkowski the peninsula became unified in 1516. Teritorically during 1080 It should be borders of Castille, Aragon, Galicia-Leon

[@Nightingale1986]

Moscow was first mentioned in 1147, though it was not a foundation year, but a year, when the Prince (Knyaz) of Moscow recieved his relatives in the city. So by 1147 it was a full-grown town (by medieval Russian merits at least). The archeology says it was a defended town from at least XI centuary. In a way Russia is a successor of Novgorod. Maybe even more so then Spain was to Castille. Ivan Kalita was a direct successor to Alexander Nevsky (the Great, the Saint, etc.) of Novgorod, while Spain was first a union under Aragon, - then a Habsburg domain.

[@Dimitrije_Sukovic]

If I'm not mistaken, Moscow starts out as a "minor city" if not outright a "town" at the beginning. Since you can't add settlements, they wanted Moscow represented in the later period so they made it a small settlement to start with. The faction you're playing is Kievan Rus, where the Knyaz went to Novgorod to consolidate his forces before retaking a politically dissarayed Kiev, hence why it's owned by rebels. The faction is called "Russia" because it's meant to represent the same faction spread across a wide time gap wherein it would've been called different names. Remember, you can technically go into the 21st century in the game, so whether it's Kievan Rus or a modern version of the country, it's still "Russia." Same applies to Portugal, Spain etc.

[@josephpark6502]

Just use khazaks to siege a town. Because they are considered to be bad units, the defenders will most likely sally out of the gates, even if you have 1.5 more units than them. Dont get cossack cavalry. They look good on paper, but will tire more easily and are slower. Khazaks can outrun even cavalry of most civilizations. They can just shoot them down while running away and will not get tired. Once the enemy cavalry becomes exhausted, charge them. Even if they are armored knights, they will break and run away due to exhaustion and overwhelming numbers. Then charge the infantry that is just catching up. They will probably break without a fight from just seeing the routing cavalry and khazaks charging. Run down everyone and mop up the rest with your terrible peasant infantry.

[@luluflu1140]

You actually use peasant infantry 😮

[@hannibalburgers477]

Game developers seem to be extremely confused. Cossac and Kazakh is etymologically same word, literally same people and same tribe. Only difference is that the pronunciation of the word changed by their neighbours. It is like difference between Deutch and Dutch (mainland Germanic "People"), Turkish and Turkmen (Literally like "English" and "Englishman"), Frenk (Mediterranean and Eastern European Francophone people) and French. Note: When you hear Frenk and Fransz in Eastern sources, Frenk is about either Frankish people of early medieval period, Byzantine Latinkons, Mediterranean Normans, or Romance language speaking Crusaders. And Fransz means people of France. In similar way, people divide Oghuz tribes as Caspian Oghuz and Crimean Oghuz. While Both Seljuks, Ottomans, and naturally Turkmens are from Oghuz tribe. For example, Ottomans are of Western Branch of Oghuz main-tribe, Kayi sub-tribe, and Osmanoglu Dynasty. Although some Turkic Dynasties had "Houses" CK2 style, Ottomans did not had that because of Fratricide.

[@rarescevei8268]

​@@luluflu1140In Russia, peasant crush you.

[@bio_hazard4891]

Hey man sweet vids, would love to see a moors faction guide next :)

[@lugotorix6173]

pink coco Thank you! Moors will be next then

[@bio_hazard4891]

Lugotorix Awesome! Thanks dude

[@daltonater1212]

Pro Tip: Wanna capture those rebel settlements really fast and cost effective? Send a as many cav as you can, one cav per settlement, to lay seige to them. Everytime the enemy army strides out to attack you choose to fight on the battle field. The second you spawn in with your army go to your menu and hit "exit battle." If you do it fast enough before they can get out of the gates it counts as a draw. Do this until the rebel settlement surrenders.

[@OK-ws7ti]

That’s just cheese bro

[@cratoss.4772]

You can alway siege a settlement with a single cav unit and park your army opposite of that to draw out the enemy defenders,that way you don't have to wait for turns on end plus since you have to actually fight the enemy I don't consider it to be a cheese.

[@Endwankery]

I like to head south and make the Byzantines a vassal. Cossack musketeers are fantastic since you get free upkeep on them and they're not bad in melee. All they need is a catapult and some mounted archers to back them up when the enemy does get into melee (place cav and catapult behind them, they can hit enemies in melee without inflicting losses on your own troops)

[@yarugatyger1603]

Lol, k my personal recommendation for settlements to take fast are Helsinki, Smolensk (as Vilnius is quite well defended), then push straight for Kiev to prevent Poland from advancing east, from Kiev take Iasi and Kaffa then you can take Stockholm and Oslo followed by Riga and Vilnius at this point you are rich where I'd personally go to take out England and Scotland if you manage to stay neutral with Poland and Hungary. If you follow this the campaign is as good as won on vh/vh.

[@visitkotor9663]

Russia is a challenge since you have neighbours with far stronger unit rosters and you are relying on peasants untill you get a fortress.

[@hernanreipp6983]

Two words: horses archers (kazaks)

[@michaelaburns734]

When you get started it is slow and it gets going with armour to infinity and Tsar's Guard. The Rus are starting in Novgorod instead of Moscow.

[@artemchinakov9646]

The key when playing for Rus is to dash for Stockholm. It is one of the most profitable cities in the whole game, it grows pretty quickly and gives you a ton of money. Especially if it is at good trading terms with other cities across the Baltic. Danes and English will try to capture it from you, but it’s not that hard to defend. What helps here is to block the ground troops near Arhus and block the straight between Oslo and Arhus.

[@archer8849]

"when the Rurikids return to their origins"

[@user-gq6rv5wp2p]

It sounds funny but I don't like playing this faction (being myself Russian) because of the way the look of dismounted dvor changes after armour upgrade. While other Russian units remain or look better, they look funny with their strange helmets. Russians never wore them, brrrr, I' m so dissatisfied.

[@gregthesuperninjaturtle450]

I have a different theory on expanding, go to Stockholm and take Denmark, then over to England. Conquer all of England, then when the mongols come, you have an extremely good stronghold. Conquer France and Poland from there.

[@justsammy2023]

Ar-qua-booz-ee-air :-)

[@lugotorix6173]

JustSammy hahaha ok I finally know how to pronounce it now! Thanks

[@VVeremoose]

Ah-kwe-bush-air

[@VVeremoose]

@Jan Sitkowski Ear-qway-bus-air

[@pavolp.6527]

Update: I am finishing campaign and I did not even train dvor cavalry or tsar guard because you need not only citadel but the 4th and 5th stables building which is annoying given your poor economy and constant battles which push you more and more west and south.

[@jtwy161]

They have the best peasant units in the game

[@AngelCanseco1]

Idk i really like the trnsylvanian peasants, plus aztec peasants have a shield

[@rangerminsc3152]

I must admit i'm not a fan of Russia myself! as i have a certain way i like to play in the early game and i always prefer some type of decent infantry that's Avaliable at a good price to hold the line for me until the better Calvary or mercenaries become unlocked so then i can really expand my empire and Russia really seems to suffer early game from a lack of a hardy infantry. looking at you Italian Spear Militia.

[@Madikowka]

Could you make a video on Sicily? I really would love to hear about it from you

[@lugotorix6173]

Yeah I'm planning on covering Sicily next actually

[@handcuppo569]

If I may do a request, can you make a gameplay as Russia in M2TW??

[@way2tehdawn]

Russia early campaign wants to focus on getting the settlements around the Baltic Sea and alliance with HRE, Denmark, Byzantine Empire and Venice. You need to recruit a boat and take your starting army around the Baltic taking as much as you can get. Recruit militia units and take the territories that border Hungary and Poland so you don’t have to schlep through the steppes taking tiny settlements from them. You want them nice and penned in, they will probably declare war in you at this point though. The Baltic trade will support at least two doom stacks which you can then use to crush Poland and Hungary. Hungary is the most dangerous opposition, by the time you get around with dealing with them they have a fortress in Bran and they are recruiting Knights. Your chain Mail spearmen ain’t really got the chops to deal with Hungarian knights. Poland won’t put up much of a fight, they have a poor roster early on and outside of Krakow they have bad territories, they might capture rebel territories but they have to build them up into anything good. Polands only hope is usually turn 1 capture of Thorn which is a common move. If you can somehow deprive them of Thorn they are screwed 🤣

[@leviclark82]

Those high attack, armor piercing units are really good when you put them inside a guard mode, high defense unit, since they attack slow, but kill with every hit. the guard unit distracts the enemy, and the axmen come in and start chopping. ;P

[@chaseboddicker3834]

What about Stockholm? It has key iron and silver deposits. Whenever I play as Russia that city is my economic powerhouse

[@jack1428]

I think taking Stockholm early on is important financially, and just yse a ship to block the land bridge from where the danes will Attack, for Northern European factions Stockholm is a big money maker.

[@Cybernaut76]

Seljuqs indeed is the correct name for early game Turks (Ottoman for late game Turks). Hopefully, Medieval 3 Total War will be a bit more realistic what comes to faction names....and hopefully will change the names according to how time and game processes.

[@Darkdaej]

Or they could do that EU4 does - have faction events where the capital and name of faction can change depending on what you did.

[@hannibalburgers477]

Seljuks did not had Janissaries.

[@Cybernaut76]

@@hannibalburgers477 Yeah, and if totally adhering to realism and historical accuracy, Medieval 3 should reflect that in the early game.

[@liamcarnahan1346]

Woodmen definitely punch above their weight

[@mrorlov2706]

Druzhina, not druzina. Some units are really weird though and smth like boyar sons or dismounted dvor( Dvor bscly means a yard or court in russian) were made up by ca I think. Boyar cavalry was a thing though. Bscly its like a feudal cav in Europe in terms of a class of a society.

[@sarmatiancougar7556]

Nikolai Orlov you should read the unit description I think. Boyars Sons is just the name CA had given to young adventurers of noble birth. Dvor represents Duke’s best druzhina units crafty with both the bow and the axe. Tsars Guard are like made up because it should be the bodyguard, not a separate unit. The really crappy part is that they are poorly balanced. Although they wear glorious high-tech Roman lamellar armor (better than any early plate armor) Dvor and Boyar sons have terrible armor stats. That’s a shame.

[@mrorlov2706]

@@sarmatiancougar7556 I mean a unit called dvor just doesnt make any sense to a russian speaker other than that i agree with all what you said .

[@VVeremoose]

@@mrorlov2706 I think it comes from дворянство

[@dmitryliashko78]

@@VVeremoose actually, reverse is right, дворянство comes from двор

[@dmitryliashko78]

@@mrorlov2706 such a shame for a russian speaker. Take a some research about origin of "дворяне".

[@matyaskarikas1348]

Hello, can u made more rome total war gold edition video?

[@lugotorix6173]

Matyas Karikás yes, what type of videos do you want?

[@matyaskarikas1348]

Lugotorix continue the sxythish and germanish campaign.

[@lugotorix6173]

yes i will do! Nearly finished the Scythia campaign...

[@princeofakavir6722]

I have seen the mongols spawn in north Russia before😭😭

[@hundun5604]

21:34 But you need to take Jeruzalem and Constantinopel for your long campaign goal. You've to go south.

[@misaka3468]

Can you plz make russia campain on medieval 2 ?

[@lugotorix6173]

I would like to do a medieval 2 campaign at some point, but at the moment i'm focusing on my greek cities campaign

[@VehicleDigest]

250, lets get it bro

[@lugotorix6173]

Thanks man!

[@LORENSSIOK]

The thing is that the rebels are far betwin and poor. One you take them you need farms and roads asap

[@juliusbelisarius753]

Mother Russia

[@danielhess1082]

FYI the narrator pronounces the arquebuisers unit you have issue with pronouncing in the narraration of the battle of Pavia opening

[@TheGoldennach]

arquebus, I think is pronounced like arc -- boos

[@aleaiactaest6503]

How to beat the game as Russia: switch to Venice

[@litewave5186]

you mean Milan

[@OK-ws7ti]

Bar-duh-Shay axemen

[@OK-ws7ti]

Just so you know how to pronounce the unit name correctly

[@lugotorix6173]

thanks man

[@user-ox7ob6fm7e]

No, the most correct spelling is Bear - dish))

[@user-Erimej]

Could of been more accurate to the history but ow well. Russia as well as the Turks and to some extend the Byzantines & Egyptians/Mamluks are geographically vulnerable to the Mongol & Timurid Invasions

[@user-uv8kr4fe6o]

Russia did not exist in the 12th century. The game has a faction Novgorod and not russia. I advise the author to correct the video. In the Middle Ages, there was a state of Rus', the real heir of which is Ukraine and not russia.

[@pavolp.6527]

My recent campaing as Russia: 1. Split your armies, get mercs and get Smolensk and Vilnius. Start building military buildings as your priority in these castles above all else. 2. Army from Vilnius gets Riga, army from Smolensk gets Kyev 3. From Riga to Helsinki, from Kyev to Iasi (fortunately it was rebel). 4. Get Crimea somehow, new army from Novgorod to get Moscow, Ryazan and the rest of the east to form a medieval USSR :D 5. Remember your first princess who you sent far down into Egypt at the begining? She gets married to a crusading general, therefore you already have a general with merc army ready to take Acre and have foothold in the Holy land :D 6. Poland attacks you, destroy them and you get at this time access to your best infantry and archers. 7. Do whatever the f*ck you please with the rest of Europe.

[@Historyfan476AD]

I never really been a Calvary man myself. i prefer my heavy infantry personally, no wonder i am a roman fan.

[@Cybernaut76]

Cavalry: have enough them, especially horse archers and you will minimize your losses and maximize enemy losses easily on open battlefield if you know what you are doing. However, with cavalry leaning faction, you will be frustrated once you have defeated the enemy enough to go and siege their cities.

[@Historyfan476AD]

@@Cybernaut76 Yeah i get where your coming from, and it makes perfect sense and does save lives, but i just love those massive infantry battles.

[@Cybernaut76]

@@Historyfan476AD I understand you perfectly. I love infantry too: no difficulty in siege battles but just like with cavalry, you better know what you are doing and you better have the elite units of them because running away is not an option for them. Neither is charging. Just like you, I was all for infantry myself....until I was FORCED to learn cavalry battles because someone told me I should play with Turks. No good infantry whatsoever and I am just waiting for ability to recruit Hashishim. Otherwise, my only substitute for infantry and my only substitute for battering rams will be the exhaustion of enemy food supplies which means my progress on strategic map will be on par with snail or turtle speed. Cavalry will also refuse to dismount just to set up spikes.

[@Historyfan476AD]

@@Cybernaut76 Well i don't really play Calvary factions myself, i do use cavalry in my armies as it does serve a good role, but my bread and butter is more infantry and archers.

[@Cybernaut76]

@@Historyfan476AD That is a wise preference. Now that I have played with Turks for some tens of rounds, I feel like I would be willing to pay tens of thousands of florins to gain ability to train good infantry. Otherwise sieges will be rather annoying.

[@Kataramenos_69]

Plz do hre next

[@lugotorix6173]

I've already promised to do Moors next, and then Spain. But after those I'll do Holy Roman Empire!

[@Kataramenos_69]

@@lugotorix6173 lmao i was looking for those too I'm hyped for them u r doing great guides

[@lugotorix6173]

Normie Cuck haha thanks man. Yeah I've still got a few more to go. Glad you're enjoying the guides!

[@LeoMajor1]

doesn't even give advice on how to deal with the hardest part of a russian campain... the infinite mongol hordes that spawn and they don't spawn near the Turks if your playing Russia. They spawn north of the lake and come right for you.

[@Alexej09]

It's fórte not, fortè!! CIT. Hermione Granger

[@orangeknight6000]

First