Well, that's relative;
Even though Russia has expanded in PE's 1520, Poland in PE's 1492 has somewhat more lands but they are in the hands of silly Lithuanian AI which fights stupid and caves in to enormous demands. Plus, much more important than that, in 1492's Poland has land lvl 6 and Russia 4, while in 1520's Poland is lvl 10 and Russian still is at lvl 6, which means CRT and being on the edge of Reinaissance lvl 11 (which is an enormous jump as well), while Russia has lvl 7 and running far behind with its poor provinces.
The other global disadvantage is greater Ottoman influence over Crimea in the 1520s instead of just the self.destroying GH as neighbour... In fact, Astrakhan is a powerhouse with lvl 7 land (higher than European Russia!) and more income while Crimea itself has the CRT even.
Also, Russia has 2 noticeable disadvantages compared to 1492s;
1492 is the startdate for highly narrow minded countries like Russia to start getting random conquerors. Not just that, if they delay their appearance (it's random!), Russia can access Siberia before they come against AIs, while if you get a conqueror in the 1520s, 30s, 40s, (depending on how busy your neighbours make you), now you are still blockaded by the damn AIs, which are stronger than in 1492 as well as I said...
Another matter is the Russian Northern Provinces. Yes, it is not the most important complain ever said in this game, but in 1492 they still can be turned into Russian culture provinces by colonizers while now they are doomed into being ugric forever 'til uncle Joseph decides (but that's another story...)
Solutions I can propose:
Back to the Polish matter, in case no human plays as Poland, then I don't want to be a stubborn crying baby or behave like an agressive negotiator and would consider it fair whatever advantage AI has of course...
But regarding the expansion into Asia this is creepy!... I guess most of what I asked for (Russian provinces humans/even AI always have by 1520? :S) would cause outrage to other players, so what about just helping me push at-least-a-little in that direction by getting from the beginning the cores I get in the events of 1540 and 1560 over those lands? (Cores mostly over Astrakhan, Kazan, Altai so I can dow earlier without massive stabhits, also to be ready for colonization in time... But cores that aren't outrageous to others as I get them very soon anyway so being this really a big problem for me is the only reason I can ask for them)?
Finally the last petition, which isn't a big change in the fate of the game except they would obsess my mind the rest of the game; Turning into Russian Culture my ugric provinces (instead of crying for the Ugric culture Russia used to own in other PE's versions if I remember well, so no one can think I want it to have an advantage over Sweden or anything like that...)
I think my proposals are fair & stretched to the minimum. And if you still don't find them convincing, remember together with OE I am the only player with orthodox techtree, but the OE has 3x my money and MP... :sad:
Thank you very much for letting me ask.
please do. I'll be back on January 7
