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The Russians are one of the 18 nations in the original Rise of Nations. They have the Power of the Motherland.
Power of the Motherland[]
Attrition damage to enemy units in your territory is increased by 100%. Attrition upgrades at the Tower are researched immediately and for free, as soon as they become available.
- (Undocumented/hidden) With no attrition research completed, Russians receive a base attrition level of 2 (unlike other nations' 0). This is independent of both attrition technologies and the Russians' stronger attrition. There is no benefit from this base level of attrition once any attrition technology is researched. In nomad, this base attrition level does not become active until certain triggers activate it, such as the completion of any tech research.
- National Borders extend by +1 extra per
Civic Research.
- (Undocumented/hidden) Additional nation-wide border-push (from Gems, Colosseum, and Eiffel Tower) is reduced by 50%. This doesn't specifically interact with border-pushing from the Religion or Fortification techs.
- Start with
Civic 1 (City State) already researched at the Library (allows building a second city right away).
- The free technology is not given in Nomad and City Center Only games.
- Spies are half price.
- Cavalry units (including vehicles) do +25% more damage to enemy Supply Wagons and Artillery units.
- This bonus damage also applies to Totalitarian ("red") Patriots.
- Plunder from Russian buildings goes to the Russians, not the enemy who plundered them.
- +20% Oil gather rate.
- (Undocumented/hidden) Can build Refineries without satisfying the Science 6 (Electronics) prerequisite.
Unique units[]
The Russian unique Light Cavalry have a base cost of 60 
Food and 30 
Timber instead of the standard 60 Food and 40 Timber, with a base build time of 10.3 seconds (155 frames) instead of 11.7 seconds (175 frames). They have a faster attack speed of 22 frames cooldown instead of the standard 25 frames. They also have a 5% damage bonus against units and buildings.
The Russian unique Modern Infantry have a base cost of 80 Food and 60 Timber instead of the standard 80 Food and 70 Timber. Shock Infantry also have +1 attack damage. However, the 
Modern Age Infantry does not have a 5% damage penalty against Heavy Cavalry and Light Cavalry that most Light Infantry, Gunpowder Infantry, and Modern Infantry (including Red Guards Infantry) have, and thus the Red Guards Infantry effectively has a 5% damage penalty against those types of units.
The Katyusha Rocket has a splash radius of 2 tiles instead of 1 tile, and its splash damage is 75% instead of 33%, making it very effective against bunched-up units. It also has a 15% damage bonus against all foot units. However, Fighter Aircraft have a 10% damage penalty against the Howitzer, the standard unit that the Katyusha Rocket replaces, but not against the Katyusha Rocket, thus it is somewhat more vulnerable to those units.
The T-80 Tank has a base cost of 70 
Metal and 50 
Oil instead of the standard 80 Metal and 60 Oil for the Main Battle Tank. However, Tanks gets a 15% damage bonus against Artillery weapons, but the T-80 Tank doesn't, so it effectively does less damage against those types of units.
| Unit | Description |
|---|---|
 Rusiny Lancer |
Russian Unique Light Cavalry,  Medieval Age - extremely fast and lightly armed melee troops; useful for catching enemy raiders; cheaper and faster to build than normal Light Cavalry.
|
 Cossack |
Russian Unique Light Cavalry,  Gunpowder Age - extremely fast and lightly armed melee troops; useful for catching enemy raiders; cheaper and faster to build than normal Light Cavalry.
|
 Don Cossack |
Russian Unique Light Cavalry,  Enlightenment Age - extremely fast and lightly armed melee troops; useful for catching enemy raiders; cheaper and faster to build than normal Light Cavalry.
|
 Red Guards Infantry |
Russian Unique Modern Infantry, Modern Age - fast, powerful, rapid-firing foot troops; slightly cheaper than normal Infantry.
|
 Katyusha Rocket |
Russian Unique Artillery Weapons, Modern Age - powerful, long-range rocket; its wide explosive effect makes it very effective against enemy ground troops.
|
 Shock Infantry |
Russian Unique Modern Infantry,  Information Age - fast, powerful, rapid-firing foot troops; cheaper and stronger than normal Assault Infantry.
|
 T-80 Tank |
Russian Unique Tanks, Information Age - heavily armored, extremely powerful; hard to destroy except with heavy weapons. Cheaper than normal Main Battle Tank.
|
Leaders[]
Cities[]
The names of Russian cities seems to be mainly based on the times of the Russian Empire (1721-1917).
Trivia[]
- In the original 2003 release of Rise of Nations, the Russians had an additional nation power: Spies stayed hidden after using special abilities.
- The power was controlled using the rules.xml variable RUSSIAN_UBER_SPIES, although surprisingly this variable is not included in the file by default (yet despite this, the power is on by default).
- This power is not present in Thrones & Patriots or the Extended Edition, with the latter specifically including game code (found through reverse engineering) that references the above variable, but which ultimately has no effect in gameplay. The ability was most likely quietly removed with the release of Thrones & Patriots, although it's possible that it was an undocumented change in one of the official patches released for the original game.
Gallery[]
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