- Sponsor benefit: Orbital units stay in orbit 20% longer, and the first one launched grants a free Technology.
Polyglot, multiethnic, and spanning Eurasia and Eastern Europe, the new Slavic Federation covers territory beyond what the czars could ever have dreamed. Although rich in resources, much of its land was barely developed until the time of the Seeding, and the Slavic Federation has grown wealthy with providing the materials for many space programs around the world. Politically fractious but united around its signature massive space engineering projects, the Federation sees itself as the keepers of the last true national space program. It continues to rise from the wreckage of the Great Mistake[el] one rocket, one space station, and one starship at a time.
Playstyle
Vadim Kozlov is a direct man. He'll field a good army, build well-protected cities, and bombard the heck out of anyone who tries to mess with him. He's one of the more likely leaders to go after you if you present any sign of weakness. Keep your borders secure, and settle cities defensively if they're near his land. Use hills and rough or impassable terrain to limit access to your territory.
As with most Colonies, you can buy time or even friendship by trading heavily with Kozlov. Let him direct his energy toward other rivals, and watch for any moment of weakness. Kozlov's best strength is in his great military and defensive cities. If he loses the first of those during a war, be ready to take the latter from him before he recovers.
Should you join the Slavic Federation, be prepared for a life of hard work. You won't be sitting back on your passive bonuses and waiting for an easy victory to come to you. The Slavic Federation gets most of its power from the skies. Grab Technology quickly to ensure that you have access to a leaf tech that has affinity experience that you want. If your explorers find a free orbital, launch it, and then get that affinity tech to have your soldiers become marines much sooner than everyone else. Use that opportunity if it becomes available, and try for an early push against an opponent whom you don't like having on your border.
Later in the game, devote a major city to orbital creation. Pop out good orbitals, and use them to supplement your city's natural resources and defenses. You can afford to be more aggressive than most because the Slavic Federation is so nasty on defense. Having orbitals to protect your troops is a great thing, and your cities won't be defeated easily if you take advantage of that. Let enemies kill themselves in your territory, and then expand back into theirs once their units have been squandered.
Vadim Petrovich Kozlov
- Strengths: Military, Infrastructure, Orbital Use
- Weaknesses: Health
Kozlov is the epitome of the self-made man in the new order: after a childhood in the industrial cities of Poland and Belarus, he rose through the ranks of the Roscosmos program and eventually became known as the "Hero of the Slavs." He is a quiet, stoic, and efficient leader, personifying the authoritarian military that figures so prominently in the government. From his days in space, he is careful, analytical, and direct; he expects those same qualities from everyone. In his early 40s at the time he was selected to head the colony, he was physically fit and mentally sharp. He is a "by the book" career officer with absolute dedication to his command and the Slavic Federation. He is equally comfortable in a spacesuit or uniform but eschews most casual or civilian dress. Save for his insignia of rank and nationality, he wears no personal jewelry or trinkets, not even his wedding band. His gestures are minimal, and he uses his voice as an instrument of command: soft when consulting or giving advice, stentorian when giving orders or angered. Whichever tone he may use, however, people tend to listen.
The most celebrated cosmonaut since Yuri Gagarin, Vadim Kozlov came from a working-class family but rose to heroic stature in the years before the Seeding. The eldest son of parents who labored as itinerant steelworkers and welders, Vadim acquired his limited formal education in industrial cities scattered across the Federation: Krakow, Bydgoszcz, Lublin, Minsk, Vitebsk, Donetsk, and Dnipropetrovsk. Vadim answered the call for construction volunteers issued by Roscosmos, the resurgent Federation space agency. Minimally trained in zero-G construction methods, Kozlov was sent to work on building the second Federation Earth orbit station. He was soon promoted to foreman of his shift due to his aptitude for weightless labor combined with practical experience in heavy construction.
Inducted into the armed forces and immediately given the rank of Colonel, Vadim took advantage of part-time educational programs to gain a comp diploma in aerospace engineering. Over the next decade, he became the public face of the Federation efforts to exploit the vast resources of space. Vadim Kozlov was the first citizen of the Federation to set foot on Mars. For this, he was made a "Hero of the People" and promoted to General in Roscosmos. Six years later, he led the mission to map Sol's asteroid belt in preparation for mining operations; for this success, Kozlov was awarded a second Hero's medal and promoted again.
Incredibly popular among the working class, a devoted family man, and fiercely loyal to the Slavic state that had rewarded his hard work, Kozlov eschewed offers to enter politics or move into the civilian realm. At the age of 35, he was overseeing Roscosmos construction projects on Earth, Mars, and in space. He was not reticent in pitching in personally to do manual labor during inspections of construction sites on Earth, elevating his reputation even more as a self-effacing, self-made, successful servant of the people. Both professionally and personally, Vadim Kozlov appeared content.
Yet Vadim made no effort to disguise his desire to return to space. In his early 40s, when the Slavic colonization effort was launched, Kozlov volunteered to head one of the missions. He was promptly accepted and threw himself into the role of mission commander with the vigor and consummate professionalism for which he was famed. It has been surmised that his beloved wife urged him to volunteer, as she hoped to give their children opportunities on a new world not available in the overcrowded and calcifying Slavic Federation. Whatever the truth of such rumors, in the colony mission, Kozlov was able to combine all the loves of his life: space travel, exploration, engineering, family, and Federation.