This guide is meant to help people who want to play as Russia quickly shortcut into industrializing. It's written for v. 1.5.10 with all DLC released at the time installed.

Russia has some extremely mixed performance in our history during the period of Victoria III. While its territorial expansion into Central Asia and the Far East (at the expense of the Qing Chinese) are successes, the country stagnates and finds itself unable to adequately throw its weight around towards the end of the 19th century - culminating in humiliation (Russo-Japanese War) after humilitation (October Manifesto) after humiliation (defeat in World War I) after humiliation (multiple revolutions).

At game start, Russia is holding steadfast against modernizing and liberalizing forces. Not only do you have the Traditionalism law, you have Peasant Levies and Serfdom, and you start the game Suppressing the Intelligentsia. Unlike a lot of other countries starting with these laws, you have a few things they don't - a semi-functioning industrial sector, pre-built Goods to take advantage of, and enough Bureaucracy points to handle a Law reform that requires Institution levels.

Compounding the modernization problem is that Russia starts with a laughable 15% literacy rate, over 50% Clout for the Gentry Assembly (Landowners), and a permanent 10% buff to the Orthodox Church Interest Group due to the unique Saint Basils Cathedral building in Moscow. It's already rough sledding to reform, and this makes it a thousand times harder.

You also don't have a lot of friends. Not counting your puppets in Central Asia or your personal union over Finland, all you have is a Rivalry with the Ottoman Empire, an Obligation from Greece, and truces with the Caucasian Imamate and Circassia that expire in 5 years.

While your army is huge, it's a paper tiger. Any early wars that aren't curbstomps will drain manpower quickly, forcing you to conscript the peasants.

Your technology isn't outright terrible; you have military technology on par with other European powers. But you lack the knowhow and industrial capacity to use steel, and the combination of your low literacy rate and few Universities mean you will be constantly catching up to the other Great Powers without changes.

If you're intending to follow this guide, you're not interested in following Russia's historical path. You want a strong Russia that you can dominate the world with/troll everyone and go multicultural. This is not a standard Russia game.

So the goal of anyone following this guide is simple.

• Swap to industrializing friendly laws as soon as mechanically possible.

At the start of the game, you have Tsar Nikolai Romanov leading your country, and you have Sergei Uvarov in charge of the Gentry Assembly. The Gentry Assembly is filled with people who don't want you to modernize. But you have a secret weapon: Tsesarevich Aleksander Romanov.

Aleksander Romanov is Nikolai's heir, and while he is a member of the Gentry Assembly he has the Market Liberal ideology. Market Liberals like Laissez-Faire, Free Trade, and will gladly push to get you off of Serfdom.

In Victoria III, the character ideology of an Interest Group's leader overrides the default settings of said Interest Group. But like we already know, Sergei Uvarov is the leader of the Interest Group and Aleksandr's father isn't slated to die until the 1850s.

We are going to force the game to put Aleksandr in charge of the Gentry Assembly.

On Nikolai’s character page should be a button on the left of his portrait. Selecting it opens up multiple options. One option for the Character Interaction button for Nikolai is 'Abdicate the Throne'. It requires any one of multiple things:

• The Gentry Assembly's Approval is at least -10 or lower
  
• The Gentry Assembly are Marginalized - aka have Clout less than 5%
  
• Nikolai's popularity is -50 or lower.
  
• Nikolai has the Psychological Affliction trait
  
• Nikolai is at least 75 years old.

It also requires that Aleksandr is 18. He will turn 18 on April 26th, 1836 - only a few months after the start of the game.

Our only options from the jump are Policing laws or rolling back women's rights. We're not starting any reforms right now.

For political groups, we're swapping the Intelligentsia from Suppressed to Bolstered, and we're Bolstering the Industrialists as well. We want these groups to be eligible to enter government by the time Aleksandr comes of age.

For your budget, hike your taxes to High or Very High and add a Consumption Tax to Services - we need to fund our opening Construction splurge.

Maximize your Construction Sectors in Ingria and Moscow - it may be worth flipping Moscow's onto Iron-Frame Buildings. You only start with four Sectors, so that's the priority. Most of this guide happens quickly enough that you will still be building Sectors after you've accomplished the most important part, but start building a ton of Iron Mines and Coal Mines to get a headstart on Good shortages and slowly working on Tool shortages.

Stock Exchange will be your top priority. Free Trade hides behind this technology, and this method of modernizing Russia counts on getting rid of Mercantilism quickly.

After that beeline towards Mechanical Tools, Atmospheric Engine, and Railways. These are extremely strong technologies and will position you well to industrialize early.

You have a free hand in deciding what to do with your Diplomacy points. I like trying to build good relations with Europe, but you do you. Foreign policy is beyond the scope of this guide.

Unpause the game.

You can opt to start annexing your Central Asian puppets immediately if you'd like, it doesn't particularly matter. You're waiting for the simulation to process your opening moves.

By March, the Intelligentsia should have reached 5% Clout and can enter the Government. Reform the Government to let them in.

It's time to piss off the Gentry Assembly. Start trying to pass the Homesteading law. Homesteading has a -20 to Gentry Approval while you're trying to pass it, reducing their Approval from 5 to -15: more than enough to make Nikolai eligible to step down.

If you've done things correctly, the Gentry Assembly should be preparing a Revolution by the time Aleksandr comes of age.

On April 26th, 1836, pause the game and trigger the 'Abdicate the Throne' option for Nikolai from his Character page. This triggers the Abdication event, and the options here don't especially matter.

You get a special event with the Accession of Alexander II. You get a bonus to Bureaucracy and Political Strength for the Aristorcrats and Bureaucrats, but also Market Liberal Characters have a higher chance of appearing in your country while he's in charge.

You now have Alexander II, over a decade ahead of time. But we still have Sergei Uvarov in charge of the Gentry Assembly. We are about to cheese the game a bit to ensure that Aleksandr Romanov becomes head of the Gentry Assembly.

Cancel your Homesteading reform and unpause the game. The Gentry Assembly's burgeoning Revolution will immediately cancel. Repause the game - again - once it's cancelled. Go through all of your generals and admirals, forcing any who are part of the Gentry Assembly to Retire. Yes, this will tank the Gentry Assembly's Approval further. Right now that doesn't matter. We're doing the Great Purge in 1836.

Remember to check your generals and admirals.

Our last step is another Character Interaction, this time for Aleksandr. We are going to seek a Royal Marriage. We will have only one option, and the country doesn't matter. What does matter is that a second event, "The Royal Wedding", will then trigger.

Select the grand public wedding for a +25 to Aleksandr's Popularity. I tend to also Give Command to him as well for good luck. Save your game.

It's time to Exile Sergei Uvarov.

When an Interest Group's leader stops being leader, the game will check to see if there are any characters with a high Popularity in that Interest Group and make them in charge.

If anyone that is not Aleksandr ends up in charge of the Gentry Assembly, reload your save and keep trying until Aleksandr comes out on top. Aleksandr being in charge of the Assembly means that they will now have a Market Liberal Ideology, unlocking massive support for certain reforms.

Immediately start switching to Tenant Farmers. The bonus to Approval from implementing this law will keep the Gentry Assembly from opening another rebellion, and you need to get off of Serfdom anyway.

You're not guaranteed a smooth ride to your reforms - the Orthodox Church is in favor of Serfdom. But you shouldn't have much difficulty getting Tenant Farmers either in late 1836 or early 1837.

Next, get rid of Traditionalism. You can choose Interventionism or Laissez-Faire, and there's arguments for both that we're not going into here. Aleksandr gives a larger bonus to Laissez-Faire, but you may need the Construction Sectors to focus on your directives early in the game from Interventionism. Whichever you pick, there shouldn't be any pushback from your Interest Groups.

After getting rid of Traditionalism, swap off Mercantilism and onto Free Trade. It helps with trade routes and you'll be doing a lot of trading once your economy is online.

Professional Army, surprisingly, is not so easy to get done. The Gentry Assembly has the Statocratic Ideology, making them favor Peasant Levies. You may need a Political Movement to get this one done.

This reform is crucial to letting your army start having long-term success and stop relying on peasant conscripts.

By 1840, you've very likely gotten most of your industrialization laws passed - you no longer have serfs, you've got a modern Economic System law of your choice, you might still get getting a modern Trade Policy law (or giving Professional Army a go).

You may have noticed that this guide doesn't provide a lot of building order advice or the like. That's because with the modernized laws this early in the game, you can easily get hundreds of construction points per week speeding your economy to catch up to Europe. With that kind of Construction, you can start churning out Universities and Government Administration as well, and will be well positioned to spam Railroads once you have the technology for it.

Investing into an Education System as early as possible will pay dividends, since you start with such a low literacy rate.

Within a few years, you will be well positioned to modernize the military and really start pushing against the Ottomans, Austrians, and Prussians/Germans.

Russia modernizing as fast as this method allows may make the game a bit easier than you'd like, but if you want to absolutely just start dunking on people and avoid the pratfalls that happened in real life, this is a sure-fire way to get around to it.

Happy hunting!