What Cossacks 3 is
Cossacks 3 is a real-time strategy game where you gather resources, build up towns, and research technologies to field large armies. You send peasants into mines, chop forests for wood, and manage crops, keeping an eye on your town's prosperity while also directing battles in the field. The game covers the 17th and 18th centuries and gives you 20 playable nations, 100 research opportunities, over 220 historical buildings, and 120 unit types to work with. Battles take place on land and at sea, and the landscape has a real influence on tactics, so terrain matters as much as your army composition.
Playing together with your group
Multiplayer supports up to 8 commanders competing against each other for victory, or teaming up as alliances against an AI opponent. A flexible map generator is available for both multiplayer and singleplayer, so your group can set up fresh scenarios rather than replaying the same battlefield. Battles can reach up to 32,000 units on the field at once, which means coordinating with allies across land and sea engagements. Whether your group wants a free-for-all or a shared push against the AI, the setup is in your hands.
Before you start
The Standard edition includes five singleplayer campaigns based on historical events: liberating Turin from the French garrison, overcoming the Ottomans at the Battle of Khotyn, defeating English rebels at Edgehill, defending Mogilev against Polish troops, and establishing superiority at la Manche. These are a good way to learn the economy and combat systems before jumping into multiplayer. Expect a game that asks you to manage resource production, building construction, and unit control at the same time, with the scale of the armies adding to the tactical load.