Review: Rise Of Nations
One of the best ever Real Time Strategy Game !
Main Game : Rise Of Nations
Expansion pack: Rise Of Nations : Thrones & Patriots
Developer : Big Huge Game
Publisher : Microsoft Game Studios
The LAN networking, implemented on windows&MAC, provides a system for people on the same network to play together.
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Rise of Nations is kind of like an advanced version of Age of Empires. It brings some unique elements to the table that I have personally never before experienced, along with a lot of the old standards that RTS gamers have come to know and love – or hate as the case may be.
Gameplay focuses heavily on creating a balance between Offense, Defense, and the nations economy based in the city. In each battle economy is vital to win. It is also notable that if a nation loses all of its cities that nation has lost that battle. Generalship is also needed in this game like most RTS games; this includes a knowledge of the troops and what they are good at fighting (pikemen will kill cavalry easier than cannon will). Learning the surrounding terrain of your empire to defend from attack and to flank an enemy army will allow a player to fight more efficiently. Generals can also be created from a fort to aid an army.
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Five tactical formations are also available, including the ability to compress or expand the line of battle. When a formation is chosen, the selected units automatically reposition themselves accordingly, typically with faster moving units in the front and slower moving, vulnerable units in the rear. With sufficient skill in creating proper unit distributions in an army and fielding that army, it is possible to defeat a numerically superior enemy in Rise of Nations.
In a manner similar to chess, slight strategic mistakes early in the game can turn into major tactical problems later on. For example, if a player starts with the nomad setting (where no city is build at startup) it is wise to scout for an area that has resources before building a city, for without resources there is no army and the player will lose.
Many profesional quality user-made multiplayer scenarios have been developed. These usually involve a real historical setting. To allow for more nations than those built into the game, players choose their real nations inside the game by walking into labelled areas. Once they choose their nation, they inherit its real cities on a historically and geographically accurate map of the given setting. No new cities can be built, and the starting nations are quite balanced. Since there are usually more available nations on a map than the maximum number of players permitted in a game (8 players), some cities are not inherited. They are left in the control of an inactive AI, who will not resist attack, and the cities are therefore up for grabs. The economic micromanagement also disappears in these scenarios, since gathering resources is no longer possible. Instead, every two minutes, (referred to loosely as “turns”) the player gains resources automatically based on the cities which he controls. Finally, the population limit is often raised. These properties of a scenario transform the focus of a game from domestic optimisation to diplomacy and war.
There are more than 200 different types of units in Rise of Nations, ranging from the Ancient Age Hoplite to the Information Age Stealth Bomber. Military units are created at certain structures: the Barracks, Stable/Auto Plant, Siege Factory/Factory, Dock/Shipyard/Anchorage, Airfield, Missile silo and Fort/Castle/Fortress/Redoubt.
Most Infantry units operate in squads of three, and when a player builds an infantry unit, three soldiers are produced, rather than just one soldier. Exceptions to this rule are: Scout and Special Forces units, armed civilians, flamethrowers, and machine gunners
Unit types such as Light Infantry, Heavy Infantry and Ranged Cavalry are upgraded as the player advances through the ages. These upgrades usually represent revolutionary changes in their particular field. For example, the Arquebusier of the Gunpowder Age becomes the Musketeer of the Enlightenment Age, representing the great advantage of flintlock muskets over the earlier matchlock muskets and showing increased attack power and reload speed. Also, each nation gets its own set of unique units. For example, the Greeks can build Companion cavalry, the Russians can build Red Guards infantry and T-80 tanks, the British can build Longbowmen, Highlanders, and Avro Lancaster Bombers, and the Germans get the Tiger and Leopard tanks. In the Thrones and Patriots expansion pack, the Americans can build various Marine units.
Because of the wide variety of units in the game, players have the opportunity to create an army customized to their tastes. Most units have a cost that is roughly equal to that of their peers. Additionally, most units use only two resource types, making the creation of diverse armies easier and almost required. Terraced costs further contribute to the incentive for a diverse army, as each additional unit a player creates of a single type will cost more.
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