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Catherine the Great (2 May 1729 – 17 November 1796) was Empress of Russia (1762 – 1796) after her husband's assassination.
General Info
Catherine leads the Russians in Civilization IV.
Unique Building: Research Institute
Starting Techs: Hunting, Mining
AI Traits
Catherine is one of the leaders who will plan wars when pleased. She is also the only leader who can be bribed into declaring war on a leader with whom she is friendly.
- Strategy: culture (5) and military (2).
- Favourite religion: Christianity.
- Wonder Construct random: 30 (from 0 to 50).
- Base Attitude: 1 (from -1 to 2).
- Base Peace Weight: 2 (from 0 to 10).
- Warmonger Respect: 2 (from 0 to 2).
- Espionage Weight: 130 (from 50 to 150).
- Refuse To Talk War Threshold: 6 (from 6 to 10).
- No Tech Trade Threshold: 15 (from 5 to 20).
- Tech Trade Known Percent: 20% (from 0 to 100).
- Max Gold Trade Percent: 5% (from 5 to 20).
- Max War Rand: 100 (from 50 to 400).
- Raze City Prob: 0 (from 0 to 75).
- Build Unit Prob: 25 (from 0 to 40).
- Close Borders Attitude Change: -4 (from -4 to -2).
- Same Religion Attitude Change Limit: 5 (from 2 to 7).
- Different Religion Attitude Change: -2 (from -2 to 0).
- Favorite Civic Attitude Change Limit: 3 (from 1 to 6).
- Demand tribute will be refused when: cautious or worse.
- Request help will be refused when: cautious or worse.
- Request strategic bonus will be refused when: cautious or worse.
- Request happiness bonus will be refused when: annoyed or worse.
- Request health bonus will be refused when: furious.
- Request map will be refused when: pleased or worse.
- Request declare war will be refused when: pleased or worse.
- Request declare war them will be refused when: friendly or worse.
- Request stop trading will be refused when: annoyed or worse.
- Request stop trading them will be refused when: annoyed or worse.
- Request adopt civic will be refused when: annoyed or worse.
- Request convert religion will be refused when: cautious or worse.
- Request open borders will be refused when: furious.
- Request defensive pact will be refused when: cautious or worse.
- Request permanent alliance will be refused when: pleased or worse.
- Request vassal will be refused when: annoyed or worse.
- Max War Nearby Power Ratio: 90 (from 80 to 130).
- Max War Distant Power Ratio: 40 (from 30 to 100).
- Max War Min Adjacent Land Percent: 1 (from 0 to 4).
- Limited War Rand: 80 (from 40 to 200).
- Limited War Power Ratio: 110 (from 80 to 130).
- Dogpile War Rand: 25 (from 25 to 100).
- Make Peace Rand: 10 (from 10 to 80).
- Demand Rebuked Sneak Prob: 80 (from 0 to 100).
- Demand Rebuked War Prob: 0 (from 0 to 50).
- Base Attack Odds Change: 2 (from 0 to 6).
- Worse Rank Difference Attitude Change: -2 (from -3 to 0).
- Better Rank Difference Attitude Change: 0 (from 0 to 4).
- Share War Attitude Change Limit: 2 (from 2 to 4).
- Vassal Power Modifier: -20 (from -20 to 50).
Civilopedia Entry
Catherine was born in Szczecin in 1729, a princess of Pomerania, a small kingdom in Prussia. At 16 she was married to Carl Peter Ulrich, the heir to the Russian throne. Catherine quickly learned Russian and joined the Russian Orthodox Church. Largely self-educated, Catherine immersed herself in the literature of the time. Endowed with both beauty and intelligence, she became strong friends with the great thinkers of the day, including the brilliant French philosophers Rousseau and Diderot.
Catherine did not lack political ambition, however. At the age of 33, with the support of the Imperial guard, she overthrew her husband, the Emperor Peter III, who was soon killed "in a hunting accident," leaving Catherine the sole ruler of Russia. As Empress, Catherine pursued an expansionist policy, fighting two successful wars against the Ottoman Empire and acquiring vast territory in southern Ukraine and the Crimea. She undertook a wide range of political reforms, attempting to shape up the notoriously corrupt and incompetent Russian bureaucracy. She curried favor with the aristocracy, expanding their already-great power over the Russian peasants.
A patron of the arts, Catherine commissioned many statues and paintings. Under her rule St. Petersburg was transformed from a primitive and forbidding city into one of the most beautiful and impressive European capitals.
Despite her many public successes, Catherine is best known for her private excesses. Her affairs are legendary; it has been suggested that she slept with a fairly large fraction of the Russian officers corps, not to mention her many well-publicized dalliances with a horde of well-known European politicians and artists.
Catherine died at the age of 67, having lived longer than any other Romanov monarch.
Trivia
Catherine's apparel is apparently based on the real life queen's equestrian outfit.
In the background is the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow.