Rise of Nations

[Hobbit]

After hearing so many good things about it, and after being pressured by friends to play it online, I finally grabbed a copy of "Rise of Nations" for PC, and I must say, it is the bomb. It is in the style of "Age of Empires," and spans from the Stone Age to the Information Age (8 Ages in all), with all the features that made that game popular, but it adds so many new things to gameplay. First off, there's national boundaries. These are expanded by your cities and forts, and the radius can be increased with certain upgrades. What pupose does this serve? Well, you can only build inside your boundaries and, after a quick upgrade, enemy units take damage in your territory unless they bring supply wagons. There's also "rare resources," things like sulpher, rubber, spices, and titanium that add to your resource income, as well as provide a few bonues (papyrus decreases the cost of scientific research, for example). Also, since the game spans more ages, new resources have been added. Namely, there's knowledge (which is generated at univerities) and oil (drilled, as one would expect). Another thing that's been added is full out naval combat, including submarines and aircraft carriers, and air combat, with everything from biplanes to stealth craft. There's even V2's, cruise missiles, and ICBMs (and yes, they're nuclear). The only thing that fell a little short on me was the lack of depth in the single player. You get a Risk style map and have to take over the world, with every territory take being resolved by a 15-120 minute RTS level. I guess my point is...get this game. In fact, get 2. I hear there's an expansion that adds America as one of the new playable nations. It's quite a cool game that I would recommend to anyone...except liberals...!@$# commies.

 

[Zhukov]

I just bought this too.

I enjoy this game. I like the variety of military weapons thru the ages, but I still would have liked more. An additional siege weapon in each age would have been nice, as well another type of aircraft. I would have also liked more options for ordering troops, formations et cetera. And it would have been cool if WW1 style soldiers actually dug trenches.

I would have liked a little more nuace to the inner workings of my country. More upgrades, slower advancement, and more observation required for the minutuae of resource gathering.

Higher population would be nice.

I really don't like the Apocalypse counter. I should be able to nuke my enemies as often as I please. Conversely this option allows someone in a two player game who is losing badly to develop nukes at the last second, use one (provided the person beating them ahs used as many nukes as they could without triggering Apocalypse), and thus achieve a draw via nuclear Apocalypse.


It's an good game, and like I said I enjoy it, but it's not quite what I was looking for.

 

[DKSuddeth]

It's quite a cool game that I would recommend to anyone...except liberals...!@$# commies.

It sounds like alot of fun, but why wouldn't you want me to have one?

 

[Semper Fi]

I got the game, too.

I agree with Zhukov completely. And it's too like Age of Empires, I think it needed more of a Civilization touch. So far I have only been Russia. And yeah, trenches would be nice. Also, the game seemed to move too fast. I'd get stressed out fighting five opponents at once, and having my troops be outgunned and outnumbered. Then, once my new troops get built, they take forever to get to the battlefield because the lines move constantly and your capital is on the other end of the map and yadda yadda. I think it would be a good game if it was turn-based. One day I will try and host a LAN party at my house with my brother, we'll play this and Call of Duty.

 

[padisha emperor]

THis games seems to be good.
Like said semper fi, it seems like AoE and Civiliaztion.
Emipre Earth too, when I erad your messages. Empire Earth above all in fact : stone age >> future, lots of technologies, of weapons, units, civilisations......

Higher population would be nice

Zhukov : Do you know "Cossacks" ?
A great game too, the hisyory period is the XVIIth - so France, England,Russia, Spain, Ottomans....... - and the things that make sthis games great is the military units :
you can have 5,000 units, in formation, with officer flag and drumer, for the best coordination.

 

[Semper Fi]

Ive played Cossacks a few time with my brother. It fun, but it was an all out blood-bath. It was basically an arms race in whomever could click the button that makes military units. Oh, and I had pikeman while my brother had sharpshooters, so it was Gallipoli every time I tried to move.

 

[Zhukov]

Zhukov : Do you know "Cossacks" ?

Yes, I've played Cossacks quite a bit. Love the formations of 100+ men, officer, standard bearer, and most of all the animation as the men reload their muskets.

I recently got Conquest. Same thing as Cossacks, same people, just a few upgrades and centered about the New World. My favorite upgrade being the fact that cannon are no longer just moving artillery pieces. The cannon in Conquest have three men that push it along, position it, and load it. This not only looks better, but also provides for protection so that you're artillery can't be as easily caputred.

Drawback: No mortars. How the hell am I to pound my enemies into submission without my mortars? Let's just say it takes alot longer. There aren't any howitzers either. Not sure why they decided to butcher the artillery options.


Other differences: All units originate from town centers. The same fort builds infantry, cavalry, and artillery, but you have to send peasents into the building to train them into whatever you want.

So you end up arranging infinite production queues that pump peasents into forts, and pump units out of the forts to your staging area.

 

[Zhukov]

Also, the game seemed to move too fast.

Truly it does, but alsofor another reason, the ages go by too fast. There's no time to actually enjoy any of them. The computer typically waits till it has developed nukes to really attack anyways, so it turns into a tech rush just to get to nukes.

This game begins to tire me, and if haven't found any really useful tactics. If you set the AI so that it actually posses a challenge it's pretty much just an attrition fight, and that's no fun.

 

[padisha emperor]

I recently got Conquest. Same thing as Cossacks, same people, just a few upgrades and centered about the New World.

I think I heard something about it.
I don't remember the name, but it was like Cossacks - for the number of units;.. - and it was in America. It is probably the same game.

In the game I 've seen, they were English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Natives....


I makes me remember of an old game, but really fun : "Conquest of the New World". Games turn by turn, but quite hard : you have settlers, have to found a colony, but the place muist be well chosen : with water, near a mountain - for gold and iron - and near ofrest - for wood.
It is not like AoE or same games : you have not people to take ressources. You have to put goldmine to have gold.....same things for iron, wood....you can make them better...ot of evolution...
There is 4 grades, at the 4th, you are strong : I had 12 colony - 12 cities - a strong army, a real good fleet.......


The fun thing : you have some explorators : when they discover a river, a land, a mountain not known, it belong to you to name it. You name also your cities....

Oh, and I had pikeman while my brother had sharpshooters, so it was Gallipoli every time I tried to move.

Same thing in Empier Earth : if you are too slow and you are doing a mission from 1st grade - prehistory - to modern times, you may attack the ennemy base with Grenadiers, Dragoons and Galleons, and your ennemy will strike you back with nuke bombs from B-52, with Leopard tank and with Stinger missiles.......
It is worse than Gallipoli

 

[Zhukov]

if you are too slow and you are doing a mission from 1st grade - prehistory - to modern times, you may attack the ennemy base with Grenadiers, Dragoons and Galleons, and your ennemy will strike you back with nuke bombs from B-52, with Leopard tank and with Stinger missiles.......
It is worse than Gallipoli

This brings up another flaw in Rise of Nations, the ability for prehistoric units to do ridiculous damage to modern weapons.

I'm big into scenario creation, and in one scenario everyone started at prehistory, but I gave myself a single modern attack helicopter so I could easily and quickly scout the the various enemy camps and make sure they were actually building and preparing for war.

Well, in one instance, and I'm still not sure why, the enemy would simply not get going until they were attacked. So I had to goad them early on. What I would do was fly the chopper over, kill one peasent each for each nation, and that would get them going.

But get this, the first time I tried this, the enemy city rang the raid bell, the peasents ran into the town center and began throwing spears at my helicopter. In a matter of seconds four peasents nearly knocked it out of the sky. I thought that was pretty stupid.

 

[dmp]

This brings up another flaw in Rise of Nations, the ability for prehistoric units to do ridiculous damage to modern weapons.

I'm big into scenario creation, and in one scenario everyone started at prehistory, but I gave myself a single modern attack helicopter so I could easily and quickly scout the the various enemy camps and make sure they were actually building and preparing for war.

Well, in one instance, and I'm still not sure why, the enemy would simply not get going until they were attacked. So I had to goad them early on. What I would do was fly the chopper over, kill one peasent each for each nation, and that would get them going.

But get this, the first time I tried this, the enemy city rang the raid bell, the peasents ran into the town center and began throwing spears at my helicopter. In a matter of seconds four peasents nearly knocked it out of the sky. I thought that was pretty stupid.

While talking to an Apache Pilot, he told me a properly-aimed BASEBALL thrown at his tail rotor could knock the bird out of the sky...

 

[Zhukov]

While talking to an Apache Pilot, he told me a properly-aimed BASEBALL thrown at his tail rotor could knock the bird out of the sky...

Very well, I'll try it with a tank, and get back to you later.

 

[dmp]

Very well, I'll try it with a tank, and get back to you later.

Cool - thanks

but I'm betting it'd still get destroyed; perhaps the game wants to sort of 'level the playing field'?

 

[Zhukov]

I used the best tank in the game and it fared better.

But not so much better that it still wasn't silly.

 

[Semper Fi]

Yeah that is quite lame. That and all the little guys run around and go logging while you are trying to make them built new buildings. Just got the news: LAN at my place tomorrow night. I think Im gonna play some single player games tonight and get burshed up.