Peasants cannot be captured unless in a mine, so they defend reasonably well against early rushes. Not a lot of unit diversity, so expect to see a lot of registered cossacks, serdiuks and mercenaries. Extremely high army sizes render Ukraine virtually unstoppable in no-art/high-peacetime games (45+ minutes).

Strengths

• Peasants train 10% faster, have 20% more hitpoints.
• 17thc Officers (Hetmen) ride a horse, have 200% more hitpoints, have +150 attack.
• Priest (Pope) heals 40% faster.
• Serdiuks maxrange 900 (11% farther than most 17thc muskets), can achieve +30 musket attack through training (best in the game).
• Light cavalry (Registered Cossacks) cost 34% less, have +1 attack.
• Hussars (Sich Cossacks) train 37% faster, have 20% more hitpoints, attack 7% faster, attack upgrades cost 60% less, maximum defense upgrade is 20% higher.
• Howitzer building-speed upgrades are researched 2x faster.
• Mill farming upgrade #2 costs 81% less (HUGE savings).
• Academy buildings' strength upgrade costs 95% less.
• Academy building construction time upgrade requires 81% less gold.
• Balloon available in 17th century (but costs 12750 gold).
• Academy ships' speed upgrade costs 99% less (HUGE wood, gold and iron savings).
• Academy builds 93% faster.
• Barracks have no gold cost, additional barracks cost only 3x more.
• Blacksmith builds 33% faster.
• Church has 26% more hitpoints.
• Diplomatic Centre has 11% more hitpoints.
• Houses cost 40% less, have 4% more hitpoints.
• Shipyards cost 9% less.
• Town Halls cost 50% less, have 32% more hitpoints, support 200 population.

Weaknesses

• Cannot advance to 18th century.
• In general, upgrades are very expensive, and require a lot of iron.
• No pikeman unit, no infantry formation units, no native dragoon unit, no stone walls, no towers, no multibarrel cannon, no navy (except galley).
• 17thc Officers (Hetmen) cost 5% more, train 50% slower, salary cost 50x higher, max attack upgrade is +50, attack and defense upgrades are extremely expensive.
• Priest (Pope) costs 173% more, has 35% fewer hitpoints.
• Serdiuks cost more than all other unique muskets and 17thc muskets, start with +1 attack vs most 17thc muskets and -8 attack vs other unique muskets, have 70% more hitpoints than most 17thc muskets.
• Hussars (Sich Cossacks) cost 31% more, have -2 attack, maximum attack upgrade is 15% lower, defense upgrades cost 400% more.
• Howitzer building-speed upgrades are less efficient (500% slower).
• Mine capacity +40 upgrade requires +340000 food and +65000 gold.
• Academy costs 8% more.
• Artillery Depots cost 285% more.
• Barracks support only 75 population.
• Blacksmith has 19% fewer hitpoints.
• Diplomatic Centre costs 7% more.
• Additional houses cost 0.01x more.
• Mills cost 17% more, have 25% fewer hitpoints.
• Shipyards have 8% fewer hitpoints.
• Stables have 50% fewer hitpoints, cost 29% more, additional stables cost 100% more (3x).
• Additional town halls cost 100% more (4x).