Rise of nations quick commands. Rise of Nations: Walkthrough Tips. Resources common and valuable
One of the most severe punishments for an outstanding personality is to constantly be behind someone's back, to be a kind of "wallpaper" that serves as a favorable background for a more famous person. This definition fits very well. Brian Reynolds responsible for the design of projects such as Civilization 2 or Alpha Centauri. Is it easy to see how the results of your labors are labeled "Sid Meier" s, and all the glory goes to the spoiled favorite of the crowd, and you are almost unknown to anyone? Not wanting to put up with such injustice, Reynolds left Firaxis, moved under the wing of Microsoft and, together with the Big Huge Games team, undertook to prove what he could do ... the best clone Age of Empires in history. The value of this intention is very doubtful, but even to implement it at the proper level failed.
Normal heroes always go to...
While Ensemble Studios has gone down a path proven over the years by improving the graphics, simplifying tactics and light cosmetic innovations, Reynolds decided to radically transform the gameplay and get as close as possible to the definition of " Civilization in real time". At the start of the campaign to conquer the globe, we are not given the usual first training task explaining how to move units and collect resources, but are forced to choose a controlled nation and transferred to a strategic world map, somewhat reminiscent of Shogun .The main goal is to take over most of the continents divided into separate regions, first fighting with barbarian tribes, and then with stubborn neighboring nations, also obsessed with ideas of world domination. In practice, all neutral areas are very quickly occupied, and weaker states are destroyed. This is achieved mainly by capturing the enemy capital, after which all the lands subject to the enemy pass into the possession of the aggressor power.
In one turn, you can perform several actions: attack a neighboring territory, repel an invasion, buy bonus cards and increase the level of protection of one of your provinces. Diplomacy lovers can take advantage of a special menu for making alliances, declaring war, and even buying land. An alliance with another nation allows you to receive reinforcements if suddenly one of the common neighbors decides to attack.
Captured plots each turn bring income in the form of tribute coming to the treasury (tribute). It is this substance that allows you to prepare for war, strengthen your position in a particular region (at the beginning of the battle, more buildings will be rebuilt, more units will be issued and several technologies will be researched) or even acquire a neighboring one without entering into a military conflict. Of course, one should not expect that the enemy will calmly squander his provinces and thus self-destruct.
Finally, tribute allows you to get "cards" that give various bonuses in battles. This can be a simple increase in the starting amount of resources, and certain technologies, and more troops, or speeding up production. You can use them during one battle, when the troops are trying to storm the region where the capital is located. In practice, when playing with a computer, such cards are really needed only at the highest levels of complexity, but in general it is advisable to use them in multiplayer mode. A separate type of card - the construction of wonders of the world - allows you to build a majestic structure in a certain area and acquire permanent bonuses in the form of all the same resources, increasing the effectiveness of certain types of troops or technologies.
The last thing to note is the additional bonuses received after conquering a certain region. Among them, of course, an increase in tribute, resources, sometimes all the same useful cards or getting a "supply center", which allows you to get hold of an additional military corps. The computer will offer to place it on one of the controlled land plots. In the event of an enemy attack on the territory adjacent to such an army, we will receive reinforcements at the opening of the battle.
Veni, vidi, vici
Having dealt with all the above nuances, we are looking at a piece of land fatter and starting the genocide of the local population in the name of a brighter future for our own people. Since there is no plot at all, there is no question of a variety of tasks, which is the most vulnerable spot Rise of Nations. If we attacked the barbarians, it means that in two hours we need to destroy all their cities or capture the capitals. Invaded the territory of a neighboring state? We get an hour and a half to take control of the largest city. Are we defending? It is necessary to withstand the siege for fifteen minutes or the same one and a half hours. Yes, the time factor is always present, and it is extremely annoying. The only exception is the capture of very weak regions, when a small detachment is issued into the hands, sufficient to destroy a couple of barracks or a city, along with the garrison guarding them at the other end of the map.
The second unpleasant moment is the generation of maps: the next mission may not only be identical to the previous one; sometimes the starting points, the location of buildings, resources, the number and types of units, as well as the location of the traditional sawmill in exactly the same forest as last time, coincide. Of course, all this ultimately generates incredible boredom. The only way to avoid it is to abandon the campaign in favor of the quick battle mode, and even preferably not with stupid AI (shamefully taking the amount as the difficulty level increases), but with a live enemy.
Daily bread
The tutorial mode is still worth going through in order to properly understand all the nuances of local micromanagement, which is quite different from Age of
"Knowledge" is supplied to us by university students. Each university accommodates up to seven academics breaking their teeth on the granite of science. With food and gold, everything is much more complicated. From now on, the player is in possession of not just a set of abstract "bases", but cities belonging to a single state. In order not to be too lazy to rebuild them, gold mines have been abolished in principle, and agriculture for each settlement is limited to five arable lands. Moreover, bonuses from a woodworking factory, a mill and an ore processing enterprise are valid only within the same city. Willy-nilly, you have to build new villages, develop the mining industry, and at the same time produce caravans that automatically run between them and increase the amount of coins entering the treasury. An additional source is taxes, which are collected by the temple for all eight eras, where the corresponding upgrades are carried out.
To increase the strengthening of the economy, it is possible to purchase a merchant and send him to a settlement next to one of the rare resources located randomly on the map. The result is a slight acceleration in obtaining basic resources. If there is water on the map, then oil and fish (food) can be mined there as well.
Another important function of cities is to expand the boundaries of subject lands. This not only makes it possible to capture more ordinary and rare resources, but also makes it difficult for the enemy to advance through their own territory. If you are at war with another state, and its army crossed the border on the tactical map, the health of the soldiers begins to plummet, and the combat abilities weaken. Thanks "attrition damage". And, accordingly, at home they receive a bonus. Convoys help mitigate such an unpleasant effect, within the radius of action of which the "penalty" is reduced, as well as the "fall" of health. Moreover, artillery starts firing much faster. From era to era, the influence of "attrition damage" weakens, but long-distance campaigns in the early stages of the game become dangerous.
research institute
The upgrade system has also undergone a significant overhaul. In the library building, you can study twenty-eight technologies, divided into four groups: military, civil, commercial (overcoming the limit of the amount of extracted resources) and scientific. The benefit is most direct - new buildings, units, upgrades in other buildings, and even an increase in the maximum population size. Farewell, annoying construction of endless houses to accommodate the population.
AT Rise of Nations eight historical eras, and the ability to move to the next requires the study of any four technologies in the library, but this only applies to multiplayer and single player mode. In campaign mode, there is a global transition from one period to another for all nations every few turns. In other words, if we are in the "antiquity" period, then in a tactical battle we will be able to explore the "medieval" and "build" more advanced armies, but in the next mission we will have to start all over again. When there is a global transition to the "Middle Ages", the corresponding level of technology will be already at the beginning of the mission, and the "Gunpowder Age" will open for research. Remembering what was said about the monotony of missions, we put an additional tick in the column "boring gameplay". What, right, is the interest on an almost identical map to take out the enemy three times in a row for a certain period of time, and even when the upgrades are exactly the same?
charge!
Trying to avoid the "tank strike" traditional for RTS, the authors used a no less traditional way of dividing the effectiveness of units, popularly known as "rock-paper-scissors". That is, one type of troops is very effective against another type, but also immensely weak against the third. For example, the cavalry brilliantly cuts off the heads of arrows and stably dies at the hands of spearmen. In my opinion, developers Rise of Nations, adhering to a similar scheme, could not create a decent level tactic Age of Empires 2 .
Like Age of Mythology, RoN suffers from excessive simplification of combat. Even the walls were taken away from us, and castles and towers are not a serious obstacle to invasion. It turns out that you can easily build a cavalry detachment, a cavalry rifle detachment, an artillery division (relatively speaking) and a baggage regiment, and then defeat the enemy at any level of difficulty. No elaborate siege, no search for a breach in the defense, even reconnaissance is practically not needed. The available modes of tactical formation are useless. Boring.
Any city has a certain number of hit points. When it drops to zero, foot troops get the opportunity to capture the settlement, which after a certain time ("assimilation") passes under the control of the player along with civilian buildings. The capital is generally a tasty morsel. If it is occupied and held for a couple of minutes, the enemy will automatically lose the battle.
Each nation has several unique combat units that are advanced counterparts of ordinary ones, plus a number of "saboteurs". With the help of a spy or a researcher, you can send a "cossack" into an enemy building or, conversely, identify one, buy it or eliminate one unit. They can also work effectively in counterintelligence. The general is able to strengthen the defense, forcing the army to dig trenches, carry out a forced march, instantly moving it to the specified point, set up an ambush (almost complete invisibility) or distract the enemy with "fake" units. These actions require craft, which replaces the more traditional, sorry, mana and limits the use of special "skills".
Water expanses are used very poorly. In addition to the collection of a couple of resources mentioned above, you can rebuild the fleet, but it turns out to be completely unnecessary in the presence of one of the main innovations Rise of Nations: if you build a dock and conduct the necessary research, the army automatically turns into a transport on the water and is able to get to any territory separated by water. If some enemy flotilla decides to fire on the landing force, it will always be answered by its own prudently captured artillery.
Aviation is a similar pampering. It is practically pointless to carry out raids, because there is an effective air defense, and also in the form of ground mobile howitzers. Yes, no one bothers us once to build an airport, spawn a dozen attack aircraft or bombers (no longer fits) and annoy the neighbors a little, but the benefits from them are small. A more or less effective means is nuclear weapons, but it can only be used 10 times per mission, otherwise "argmageddon" will happen.
my precious
From Age of Mythology RoN favorably distinguishes the spectacle of the battles, especially when firearms appear. Watching the cannonades and skirmishes is very interesting; I dare to assume that many players will discard the "dark ages" and start the battle right away with "Modern age". On the other hand, the graphic design is bewildering. Animation of polygonal units is not satisfactory. It's nice to watch how the gunners dismantle the battering ram, harness/unharness the horse, put the cannonball into the muzzle of the cannon and light the fuse. The developers' attention to detail even touched the daily life of the peasants; suffice it to recall at least lumberjacks who, at the dawn of civilization, use axes, and then take up chainsaws.
The polygonal landscape looks good with craters from falling planes, special effects and lighting are very nicely done. But why are these horribly ugly building sprites rising up in the midst of all this? Trying to give them a decent look, the artists took a desperate step and screwed in some polygonal elements, like horses standing in the stable or shutters on the windows, but the result was strange mutants with a terrible appearance.
For some reason, the voice acting of the troops was forgotten, although this can be taken as a peculiar style, because not everyone likes to listen to the hackneyed "I obey and obey, sir king." However, the disadvantage is compensated by excellent musical accompaniment, which is absolutely not annoying during the passage of boring missions.
Big Huge Miss
I have no doubt that the creation of Big Huge Games can be liked by someone, especially if you try out its multiplayer part. And so, in terms of face-to-face communication, the game should be purchased solely to get acquainted with a certain number of new ideas. She is not able to replace even an iota Civilization in strategic and Age of Empires 2 in tactical plan, cannot please the eye with unprecedented visual effects and only systematically finishes off the viewer with dullness and the same type of action. The mixing of genres is not always beneficial for the project, which is once again demonstrated by the example Rise of Nations. Looking forward to new attempts to impress the audience in performance Brian Reynolds. So far, without the Maestro, he has not succeeded.
Basic game settings
To create a match, while in the main menu, go to "Solo Game", then click on "Quick Battle". The settings menu opens before us, where we can set the game parameters, select the map on which we will play, as well as set the number of players and, accordingly, select a nation for each of them.
We need to set the game options shown in the following screenshot
I note that it is necessary to set your profile as a player so that both nations are under your control. I also advise you to put the "Bantu" nation as a must, since this nation has a very important feature, it is "+100% Population Limit. May exceed maximum limit by 25%" (for those who do not understand, this ability gives us +50 to population). You can choose any map, my choice fell on "African Watering Hole", because it has enough land and a small lake in the center of the map, which can be useful to us. You can also set the speed of the game to any. Then click on the "Start" button and start the battle.
First of all, we need to select all the peasants and build a wonder of the world - "Colossus" (The so-called Colossus of Rhodes, which will give us another +50 to the population). You can also find a rare resource on the map - "Peacocks", which will also give us population growth.
Next, you need to go to the library (Library), which we have already built and study "Artificial Intelligence".
Next, we switch to another player, as a rule, he is blue. This can be done by hovering the mouse over a unit or civilization building and pressing the left mouse button. Here you also need to study the "Artificial Intelligence" technology. Now we have complete freedom of action to obtain the above achievements. Our further actions depend on what we need.
Achievements related to the construction and destruction of buildings
1 Grand Architect
Build 10,000 buildings
After we have set up the map and done all of the above, we start building anti-aircraft guns, to do this, you need to select (preferably all) peasants, click on the "Military Buildings" tab and select the "SAM Installation" building, then by holding down the "Shift" key ", we begin to build this building throughout your territory.
The more buildings you build, the better it will be for you. I chose the blue player to produce these buildings. Please note that if you switch to another player, then some buildings may not count towards the achievement progress, since this player will be hostile towards you. Why exactly anti-aircraft guns? Because they are built more quickly than other buildings, they take up little space and can be built in an endless amount. Once again, I note that achievements are given only after the match ends, so we build as many buildings as we consider necessary. It is advisable to build them as close as possible, this will also help us in getting the next achievement.
This achievement is given for destroying 10,000 enemy buildings. Remember we built a whole bunch of anti-aircraft guns? Now we need them here. Now we just switch to another player (in our case, he is red). We build a "Missile Silo" (missile silo) and create a "Nuclear ICBM" (nuclear missile), drop it on the buildings of the blue player, there should be no problems with the creation of a nuclear missile, and I don’t see the need to build another missile silos, because the rocket is built instantly, just as instantly it flies out and hits the enemy. Carrying out these operations will help us in obtaining this achievement, do not worry about the onset of the so-called "Doomsday", if you correctly followed the settings of the game, then it will definitely not happen.
Achievements related to creating, destroying and losing units
First, let's deal with the achievements that are given for the creation of a certain number of military units. These include:
- Mass Infantry
Train 1,000,000 infantry units
- Mass Cavalry
Train 1,000,000 cavalry units
- Artillery
Train 50,000 artillery units
- Air
Train 10,000 air units
- Naval
Train 25,000 naval units
After that, move the cursor over one of the barracks and double-click on the left mouse button to select all the barracks we have built. Next, hold down the "Q" ("Y") key on the keyboard and click on the very first unit in the barracks. After that, if you did everything right, then soldiers will endlessly appear from the barracks. If the combination through the letter "Q" does not work, try to make it again (you can try to double-click on the desired unit, you can sharply click on the ground with the left mouse button). If everything worked out, congratulations, the most dreary part needed to get the achievement remains. On the keyboard, we hold down the "Ctrl" and "Delete" keys and begin to select with the mouse the soldiers leaving the barracks (this can be done by double-clicking on one of the units or by tracing the units, also with the computer mouse).
I want to note that just here the nation we have chosen will come in handy (if someone does not remember, this is Bantu) and the Colossus built. Another tip: "The more barracks built, the better for you", this will speed up the creation of units, as well as filling the population limit (which is already 300 units), i.e. and will speed up the receipt of achievements, all that remains for us is just to delete new units in the above way.
We act in a similar way with cavalry (in our case, these will be tanks, which also count towards the achievement), artillery, ships (if you followed the settings, then there is a lake on the map (submarines are best for building)), and air units ( Helicopters are the best.)
The next achievements are -
- Tactical
Kill 50,000 units
- sacrificer
Lose 100,000 units
Then it all depends on what achievement you want to earn. If such is
Tactical
Kill 50,000 units
Then just switch to another player, build a nuclear mine and create a nuclear missile. Drop it in the center, between all the barracks. This way she will kill units and not destroy the barracks, which will contribute to the further appearance of units that you will destroy. If you still hit the barracks, then there is nothing to lose heart, just switch back to another player and re-build the barracks at a slightly greater distance.
Here your imagination is not limited by anyone and nothing, you can put more players to make it possible to kill more units, or create other military units for destruction, such as tanks or helicopters. In this case, I used submarines, which I also assigned a rally point, after which I dropped a nuclear bomb on them, but in this case I used 3 players assigned as allies, since allied submarines can stand right next to each other. This increased the number of units destroyed per missile fired.
Harder is the achievement
sacrificer
Lose 100,000 units
Here we repeat the procedure of the previous achievement, namely, we also build barracks in a circular way. The only difference is that we wait until the population limit is filled (it is best to kill all the peasants and the scout in advance, which is given at the beginning of the game). After that, we switch to another player, build a nuclear missile and also launch it on the soldiers of the opposite player. After you press the rocket launch button, you need to switch to another player as quickly as possible (I think this will be easy, since the cursor is already hovering over the units and all that remains is to click on one of them). The following message should appear
Developer- Big Huge Games
Publisher-Microsoft
System requirements
Windows XP/2000/ME/98
128MB RAM
Processor 500 MHz
800MB free space on hard drive
Video card: 16 MB with Direct3D
Introduction
Rise of Nations is, frankly, an epic game. With breadth and scope. In it, everyone can feel like, if not a great commander, then a tactician and strategist of the middle hand - for sure. The single player campaign (the only one) is a map of the world, divided into territories, so that everyone can bend over the map in the literal sense of the word :).Some parts of the map have civilization, some don't. But every civilization is driven by only one desire: to conquer the world. Moreover, the results after some rounds can be quite unexpected :). So, I had no Americans in the world, and the British shared second place (after my Russians) with the Mayan tribe! Ideal society, right? :).
The icons under the image of the city can tell a lot about the territory: is there any "wonderful marvelous, marvelous miracle", how much after the conquest of this piece of land you will receive in the form of tax, is there a supply base so that you can maintain another army, is it rich earth resources.
If there are no pictograms under the city, then you will have a fun forced march for a while over rough terrain with shooting and storming an enemy object.
Strongly reminiscent of the game "Zarnitsa" (if anyone else remembers this), isn't it? You will need new armies like air if you start an invasion of enemy territory from several sides (with the involvement of reinforcements from neighboring areas - the possibility of their participation will be indicated by black arrows).
Due to the fact that I needed to get as much as possible more information in a fairly short time, I played on the easiest difficulty level. Therefore, I can say one thing: when you get tired of spending an hour and a half (maximum time) on a level, defending your cities or conquering others, do not hesitate a minute, but immediately throw the troops entrusted to you at the beginning of the mission to storm enemy cities - the enemy’s citizens have not yet built military fortifications (unless they are planned according to the scenario), barracks or an airfield. Therefore, instead of an hour and a half, you will spend twenty minutes at the most. My record is two and a half minutes, because I didn’t have to walk far.
Every few turns, humanity unanimously moves to new level development in the next era. There are eight of them in the game, and upon reaching the last one, you are invited to either stop the campaign to conquer the world, or continue the all-out attack on the neighbors at the highest point game development. What do I do in this moment:). The Maya are already defeated...
The game automatically ends as soon as you capture the enemy capital. All the lands conquered by the enemy automatically pass to you, and there is simply no point in playing further :).
In principle, everyone can find something to their liking in Rise of Nations: either make plans for conquest, studying the map and calculating steps, while imagining yourself at least as Napoleon Bonaparte, or stop at short scenarios and be an ordinary executive manager. The second you can find in abundance in all other strategy games.
In any case, Microsoft is once again "ahead of the rest", and Rise of Nations will occupy more than one mind and more than one hour. For my part, I will try to tell in sufficient detail about the important (and not so) little things that give the game a special charm...
How It Was Intended
Each nation has a unique Power and unique weapons that allow you to shine on the battlefield in all its glory. Russians, for example, have the power of Motherland, which I can translate into their native language as Mother Earth. Its power increases the protection of your troops on their native land by one hundred percent and gives other, no less pleasant, bonuses.And from weapons: Rusiny Lancer (I couldn’t find an analogy at all), just Cossak, then a more advanced model - Don Cossak (sounds amazing :)), Katyusha, Red Army (infantry), Shock infantry (I didn’t translate at all them, because I can’t say any words at all for the troops, either in quilted jackets with shoulder straps, or in overcoats, with Kalashnikov assault rifles, and in light gray hats with earflaps with a red ribbon diagonally). The T-80 tank completes the chain (apparently, we have classified the T-90 too well and the developers have not heard anything about it).
The developers decided not to provide us with anything flying or soaring :). Therefore, all their bombers at our airfields are made using stealth technology. With which I congratulate everyone :).
Looking ahead, let me give you a little advice: at the last level of development, first of all, pay attention to air defense and the creation of as many aircraft as possible. The secret of success lies precisely in speed. Then your opponent may not even unpack his suitcases to linger on your land :).
The change of epochs occurs smoothly and automatically. That is, if you created, say, a regiment of Cossacks, and then moved on to the next era, and made the necessary upgrade in the barracks, in place of the cavalry regiment you will have a regiment of armored cars. In principle, this is good, because climbing with a sword against lightly armored, but still cars, an opponent is suicide.
As I said above, the game is divided into eight periods of development - epochs:
antique. The very beginning of the game world. Infantry and Watchtowers - that's the whole attacking and defensive arsenal of that time. Of the buildings of military importance, only the barracks are available.
classical. The second era, which boasts the presence of the Stables, the Siege Factory, the Fort, the University and the Mine.
Medieval. The Fort turns into a Castle, with new units - a Spy and a Supply Van following your troops.
Age of Gunpowder. As the name suggests, gunpowder has appeared in your world. Consequently, the arquebus and flintlock guns replaced the sling, bow, and pike. Crossbowmen are still popular, but they will soon be replaced by gunpowder weapons...
Age of Enlightenment brought with it unit upgrades, heavy infantry, and new types of siege weapons.
Industrial the era is characterized by the appearance of new resources for their further production by your merchants, the addition of a new game resource: oil. As for weapons, humanity has switched to the use of tanks and airplanes. A step into the sky has been taken...
Modern era (we have already survived it :)) - these are bombers, fighters, helicopters - in the sky, and heavy tanks, and missile silos (so far only for tactical missiles without a short-range nuclear warhead) - on the ground.
And finally Informational the era in which we live now will delight commanders with nuclear weapons,
stealth technology for bombers, more advanced fighters, the same T-80 tanks (for Russians), and new global research in four areas (more on them below).
How did you manage to implement
Each subsequent study is more expensive than the previous one. The same rule applies to workers created in cities.Limitations on the number of farms (standard - five, the Egyptians due to the Power of the Nile - seven) in one city and caravans somehow make them gather and not produce cities on the map idle :).
I don’t know exactly how the developers saw the movement of some types of troops (regardless of the choice of nation), but in practice it turned out literally the following: the Russian army consists of a general, a couple of T-80s, several armored personnel carriers, infantry and a group of comrades responsible for anti-tank grenade launchers. When specifying the destination, almost all of the above species get to the place as if by notes, and only a group of comrades with anti-tank grenade launchers makes their way "to the neighboring entrance through Khimki-Khovrino." Everything would be fine, but their speed is already close to zero, and even with their own unique route ... Fighting is torment. Although the effectiveness of them can not be denied.
Or another example: in a crowd, some units may "get lost" and not find a passage to the target. That is, they "poke" at those in front, and are not able to get around them on their own. It looks funny, but in fact it is quite tragic, especially when every weapon counts.
On the positive side, I can say the following:
No matter how much your lumberjacks cut down the forest, it does not become less. Mountains and fishing places in the sea turn out to be just as bottomless. It's nice :).
High level of detail of units: warriors squat, workers sit or lie on the grass, resting, dogs scratch behind the ear with their paw. It can be said that in the depiction of such trifles, the game surpassed everything that I had seen before, even The Lost World.
In all other respects, this is a game from the series "select a bunch of little men with one green frame", as one of my friends put it :).
As soon as you build a port, your units will be able to cross water barriers, automatically turning into pontoons. Very, in my opinion, a convenient solution. As you can see, the developers have reduced the number of civilian units, but did not stint on the military. As many as three buildings for the production of troops, watchtowers, bunkers, air defense systems, a mine for launching missiles, an airfield. And this is against some farms and mines. However, there are buildings without which the game is not possible:
Library- the most important, perhaps, civil structure. All discoveries and research are done here. One building is enough for the entire territory, unless you are planning a brainstorm :).
university- the only building that generates Knowledge. To do this, you will need to hire seven scientists. Every city is supposed to have a University on a mandatory basis.
Temple- also does not hurt in every city. The temple explores taxation, religion, labor contract and other delights of civilization. Along with this, the morale of the townspeople rises, and strengthens their resolve when attacked by enemies.
In the settings, you can set not only the behavior of the troops, but also the workers: they can be engaged either only in mining, or in mining, repair, and construction at the same time. In fact, to tell the truth, the civilians from the developers turned out to be much smarter than some military characters :).
Basically, naval battles as such, no. Therefore, it is not worth spending much money on the production of submarines and warships. Aviation turned out to be much more important, as, probably, in life.
And finally. Remember that the starting point (choice of nation) greatly affects the choice of attack area. It's one thing if you start in Russia, and the whole world is at your feet, and on the other hand, you start on some island where there is only one neighbor, and even he does not feel hostility towards you. How to play here? :)
Therefore, I wish you to choose wisely and carefully. After all, it's just a game...
Each city has its own miracle
A miracle is what gives each city its own flavor. In addition, each building carries bonuses for the city: either cheaper construction, or an increase in the level of commerce for one of the resources, or something else that is no less pleasant :). As you might guess, only one world wonder is allowed per settlement.So what are they offering us?
Pyramid. Age II, +1 Wonder point. Cost: 260 food, 260 wood.
Increases the trade limit for food and wealth by 50.
Increases the city limit by 1 unit.
Food collection is increased by 20 percent.
The Colossus of Rhodes. Age II, +1 Wonder point. Cost: 200 wood, 200 wealth.
Increases the collection of money (wealth) by 30 percent.
Increases the population limit by 50 units.
Increases the trade limit for wealth and timber by 50.
Coliseum. Age III, +2 Wonder point. Cost: 390 wood, 390 metal.
Expands national borders by 3 units.
Forts and Towers are 20% cheaper.
The attrition of enemy units in your territory is increased by 50%.
Terracotta Army. Age III, +2 Wonder point. Cost: 300 food, 300 wealth.
Creates every thirty seconds free units (in triplets) from your barracks (that is, the Russians can never have free Zulu warriors :)).
Of course, these are the cheapest representatives of the infantry, but this does not decrease their value :). The upgrade in the barracks also affects them.
Temple Tikal. IV era, + 2 Wonder points. Cost: 400 food, 400 wood.
Increases wood production by 50%.
Increases the effect of the Temple (national borders, hit points, attack) by 50%.
Increases the trade limit for wood by 100 units.
porcelain tower. IV era, + 2 Wonder points. Cost: 520 wealth, 520 metal.
Ships are created 50 percent faster.
Your profits from developing valuable resources and markets are increased by 200 percent.
You get a bonus from all valuable resources in your territory, even if you do not mine them with traders.
angkor wat. Age V, +3 Wonder point. Cost: 680 wood, 680 wealth.
Increases metal mining by 50%.
Increases the commercial limit for metal by 100 units.
The cost of units produced in the Barracks, Stables and Docks is reduced by 25%.
Palace of Versailles. Age V, +3 Wonder point. Cost: 500 food, 500 metal.
Your supply wagons can heal the troops they escort (if you're playing as the French, the healing is twice as good and faster).
When conducting research, the cost is reduced by 50 percent for all resources except Knowledge.
Artillery, siege, and escort wagon units move 25 percent faster.
The Statue of Liberty. VI era, + 4 Wonder points. Cost: 600 Food, 600 Wealth.
The upgrade of all units produced at the airfield is free of charge.
Reduces the cost of bombers and air defense buildings by 33 percent.
Reduces the risk of attrition of your troops in enemy territory by 100%.
Kremlin. VI era, + 4 Wonder points. Cost: 840 food, 840 metal.
Increases the commercial limit for food, wood and metal by 200 points.
Increases the attrition risk of enemy units not accompanied by support vans in your territory by 100%.
Spies are created immediately. Benefit from the use of an additional spy unit that is not part of your population and thus does not affect the unit limit. Every time a spy is killed, this unit is re-created for free.
Eiffel Tower. VII era, + 6 Wonder points. Cost: 700 wood, 700 metal.
Increases profit from oil extraction by 100 percent.
Increases the commercial limit for all resources by 100 percent.
Expands national borders by 6 units.
Taj Mahal. VII era, + 6 Wonder points. Cost: 700 wood, 700 wealth.
Increases the hit points of buildings by 100%.
Profit from everything that brings wealth is increased by 100 percent.
The trade limit for wealth is increased by 300 points.
supercollider. Age VIII, + 8 Wonder points. Cost: 800 food, 800 knowledge.
The cost of purchases in the markets is not higher than 125 units (in wealth).
The sale price is not less than 50 units (in material wealth).
Technologies are being researched immediately.
space program. Age VIII, + 8 Wonder points. Cost: 1200 wealth, 1200 knowledge.
Unlocks all buildings, units and territories on the map.
The country has immunity against the Nuclear Embargo.
Aircraft and guided missiles cost 50 percent less and build 100 percent faster.
Thus, if you correctly calculate which monument should be erected, you can get a fairly tangible bonus for your nation.
In the main game (on global map) points of interest are not available for construction, but they can be found in some locations (where there is a corresponding icon under the city). But in the Quick Battle mode, you can build a monument for each city :). The beauty of the incredible country will be :).
Resources common and valuable
Any activity one way or another rests on resources. There are six main pieces in the game:
Food (farms, fishing),
Wood (lumberjack camp),
Metal (mines),
Oil (oil slicks),
Wealth (produced by markets with the help of caravans; taxes),
Knowledge (produced by scientists; 80 units in 30 seconds).
In addition, Rise of Nations is rich in valuable resources. In total, there are 31 of them in the game, but usually there are no more than six or seven at the level. For each such "deposit" there is a serious struggle between the warring parties, but they bring significant bonuses for the country.
Coal(+15 knowledge, +15 metal). Wood production is increased by 25 percent.
bison(+20 food). The construction cost of the Granary is reduced by 33 percent.
Obsidian(+10 knowledge, +10 metal). Archers, towers, forts and cities get +1 attack.
Aluminum(+20 metal, +20 oil). Aviation cost is reduced by 15 percent and production speed is increased by 25 percent.
Cotton(+20 wood). The cost of units produced in barracks, stables and docks is reduced by 25%.
Dye(+10 wealth, +10 Knowledge). The cost of civilian research is reduced by 25 percent.
Sugar(+12 food, +12 wood). Reduces the cost of all food by 10%.
Salt(+12 wood, +12 metal). The cost of units produced in the barracks is reduced by 15 percent.
Relic(+20 to knowledge). Research cost and upgrade time are reduced by 33 percent.
Wine(+10 food, +10 knowledge). The cost of upgrading units is reduced by 20 percent.
Gems(+10 wealth, +10 knowledge). National borders are expanded by 2 units.
Sulfur(+15 wealth, +15 metal). The cost of siege and artillery weapons is reduced by 20%.
Papyrus(+10 wood, +10 knowledge). The cost of scientific research in the Laboratory is reduced by 25 percent.
Spices(+10 food, +10 knowledge). Income from Caravans is increased by 20%.
Horses(+10 food, +10 metal). The cost of units produced in the Stables is reduced by 15%.
Silver(+10 wealth, +10 metal). The transition to a new era costs 15 percent less.
diamonds(+20 wealth). Increases the commerce limit by 10 percent.
Fur(+10 food, +10 metal). The cost of military research in the Library has been reduced by 25 percent.
Rubber(+20 wood, +20 oil). The cost of units produced in auto repair shops is reduced by 15 percent.
Copper(+20 to metal). Units produced at factories and docks receive 20 percent more hit points.
Silk(+10 wealth, +10 knowledge). The cost of commercial research is reduced by 25 percent.
Citrus(+10 food, +10 wood). Ships at sea are automatically healed.
Uranus(+20 knowledge, +20 oil). Missiles with nuclear warheads are 10 percent faster and 5 percent cheaper.
Amber(+10 wood, +10 wealth). The selling price in the market increases by 10 units, and the purchase price decreases by 10 units.
Peacocks(+10 wealth, +10 metal). The limit on the number of inhabitants increases by 10 units.
Fish(+10 food, +10 wealth). Food resource, harvested by fishing boats.
Tobacco(+10 wealth, +10 knowledge). Residents erect buildings and monuments (wonders) 10 percent faster.
Wool(+10 wood, +10 knowledge). Creating villagers is 33% faster and costs 15% less.
Titanium(+20 food, +20 oil). The attrition of your army in enemy territory is reduced by 50 percent.
whales(+10 food, +10 metal). Fishing boat speed is increased by 20%.
All resources, except for fish and whales, are developed by merchants. In order to start producing resources on the water, send a fishing boat to the place.
Workers build oil derricks on the water.
Conclusion
In all other respects, Rise of Nations is similar to other real-time strategy games :). However, this does not detract from its merits and charm.Very high quality graphics, corresponding to the latest trend of the times in terms of resolution. No less high-quality and beautiful music, sound sound. At least you won't be tempted to turn off your speakers or throw away your headphones.
And in what-what, but in games, it is difficult to accuse Microsoft of monopoly or dishonesty - to recall at least such masterpieces as Age of Empires, Age of Mythology or Age of Wonder. Now Rise of Nations has joined them. So, it seems to me, we can safely say that Microsoft has confidently taken its place among the grand publishers of strategy games.
Despite the outward similarity, each of the eighteen nations in the game RiseofNations has its own strengths and weak sides, their winning strategies. It is difficult to give preference to any nation, all of them are carefully balanced. However, some perform better in attack, others in defense, and some show rapid economic development.
In previous issues of the LCI, read complete guide on the game and the first part of the article.
In this article, we will continue to analyze the distinctive features of playable nations. Here you will learn about the distinctive features and corresponding strategic adjustments when playing as the Germans, Greeks, Incas, Japanese, Koreans and Mayans.
Germans
Each of the nations of the game has its own focus: economic, attacking or defensive. The Germans are strong in the economy with a military bias, moreover, they can use their advantages without any special financial and human costs. This will appeal to those who want to quickly build a strong economy and a strong army. With the large-scale “tuning” of German military units arranged by the developers, the relevance of building a strong army should not be in doubt, but remember that the Germans do not have many military advantages, and when playing for them, you must take your opponent by the throat with a strong economy.
Improvements in granaries, sawmills and metallurgy are half the price for the Germans and become available earlier. This improves economic performance, allowing the Germans to quickly maximize their production and quickly bring it to the very "ceiling". You won't get any benefit if you don't fully exploit your advantage - research upgrades as early as possible by raising your production level. You can stop raising the bar when the level of production is already “at the ceiling”. This is often indicative of not the most efficient allocation of resources or not timely research in the field of commerce. The cause can be helped only if the imbalance in the economy is corrected by transferring part of the inhabitants of the cities to new capacities.
All German cities collect an additional ten units of food, wood and metal. This is a hint that it is not necessary to delay the increase in the number of cities. No one can take away the resources obtained in this way from you - even if the enemy arranges a raid on logging sites and farms, these magical dozens will remain at your disposal. This property of the nation is one of the few in the entire game that does not require any effort on your part. Indeed, you will build cities in this way, and the requirement to build more cities can only be met with the growth of scientific knowledge.
With another distinctive feature of the German nation, you can interact closely. I'm talking about 100% increased "reward" resource gain from building buildings such as farms, mines, universities, market stalls, etc. This increase is credited to your account once after the construction of the corresponding building. Your interaction should be expressed in the desire to build up each city as much as possible, knowing that this will indirectly pay off with a large amount of prize resources.
The remaining national traits relate to military affairs. The Germans create fireships with submarines somewhat faster and cheaper. This may encourage you to organize the famous underwater "wolf packs", however, only on sea charts. Planes and helicopters are created a third faster - you don’t need to think too much here either: build up and start attacks earlier than the enemy does, all other things being equal. The aviation theme does not end there - with each airbase built, the Germans receive two free Messerschmitts, which can then be successfully used against enemy supplies and siege weapons. Use aviation for its intended purpose.
Greeks
The Greek nation is scientists. All their advantages and all their strategies are involved in this, this obvious fact is easy to find out and start exploiting for any novice player.
At the very beginning of the game, the Greeks get a university, and this early building should not be underestimated - universities directly affect the speed with which you will tear through eras and develop technologies. This rate of development has a strong impact on your immunity to early attacks, since no one will stop you from building a fort and developing a couple of advanced “guerrilla” technologies in the meantime.
Despite this, achieving prosperity in the economic sense is as difficult for the Greeks as it is for other nations (if not more difficult). It is one thing to develop science quickly, and quite another to have a strong economy. Make no mistake about it - the Greek armies are likely to be smaller in number than the opponents' armies, although they will probably be more developed. You can try to mitigate the army size problem by quickly reaching the Middle Ages, setting up unique heavy royal knights and starting raids on enemy cities. A lagging opponent in development will not be able to oppose anything to medieval "tanks", since heavy infantry - the generally recognized leader in beating knights - is too slow for this.
Let's move on to numbers. Scientific developments in the libraries of the Greeks are cheaper by one tenth for all resources except knowledge, and are twice as fast. It's easy to see that this often results in you getting ahead in technology. Do not pay attention to the remaining restrictions on knowledge - from the very beginning you will have more of it than your enemies. All in all, this will help the Greeks stay at least one tech ahead of the enemy throughout the game, so advance science as quickly as possible and build universities. Use this advantage to get good economic and military results and to keep your small but high-tech army from being a heavy burden on the economy. Again, remember about defense and partisans.
Playing as the Greeks, you will be able to accumulate knowledge and build universities from the very beginning of the game. This gives you a huge advantage in the scientific technologies available for development, so immediately build a university in each of your cities and spend any free funds on scientists. However, do not get too carried away with this - use only available funds so that the economy, the backbone of the nation, does not suffer from your passion for science.
Finally, Greek libraries and universities cost half as much as similar buildings in other nations. This is another argument in favor of the early rebuilding of universities in all cities - not the strongest economy of the Greeks, most likely, will withstand the reduced construction costs.
The Incas
The Incas in the game have a huge economic potential, smoothly turning into military power. The bad news is that the power of the Incas is not visible until the classical era, but after moving into it, you immediately have large cash savings - and they are especially hard on nations at this stage of the game.
With this money you can buy a lot of things. For example, you will be able to regulate the economy with the help of market technologies for buying and selling resources. The Inca Knights are a huge force. They are expensive, but with a large treasury, it is not difficult to build several of these knights, and after the death of each knight, a quarter of its cost is returned to you (probably in the form of valuable armor). Finally, by spending easily accessible money to fill the universities, you will greatly spur your jumps through the epochs.
Here, for example, is one of the strategies that allows you to use knights. Start the game as usual, but try to reach the classic era faster than usual. Then build mines and fill them with miners until you reach the maximum in the production of metal and money at the same time. As soon as this joyful moment comes, build two stables and start building an army of knights. Add infantry and archers to your taste, supply a couple of siege weapons, and the army is ready. Even if all of it is destroyed in battle, a quarter of its value will be returned to you.
Inca mines, in addition to metal, produce money. This is the Inca's key asset, and half of their budget will come from the supposedly legendary Eldorado gold. Each citizen placed in the mine will give ten units of metal and ten currency units - and this is only at the beginning. And money is, as noted above, freedom. But for this it is necessary, first of all, to have mines. Capture all the mountains that are nearby, rebuild the required number of mines, filling them with workers - of course, just so as not to exceed the limit. Build mines as soon as you get your hands on the classic era, and the sooner the better. Do not let the enemy take your mountains, the loss of mountains means an economic disaster for you.
The upper limit of money extraction from the Incas has been raised by a third, and this is another contribution to the wealth of this people. Collect money in mines, but don't forget about caravans - an easy and inexpensive way to add money to yourself. From time to time, your mining speed limit will increase, and you need to make sure that your mining speed is always at the maximum.
Finally, you need to be reminded that after the death of your military units at the hands of the enemy, exactly a quarter of their value is returned to you. This is a good help in the war, it will not affect your economy so much, especially if you throw into battle quite expensive heavy cavalry. In this regard, you can use an interesting feature of the game (game bug?), As a result of which the returned cost of the lost unit is calculated from the price of the last unit. Remember that with each unit produced, the price of the next one increases. If you (the lord of the Incas) rebuilt ten horses, and they began to die, then the return of money from the first horse killed will be more than a quarter, since it will be calculated from the price of the last horse made. Such an Indian squiggle.
Japanese
The Japanese are committed to a military solution to all problems. The developers made them such samurai-militarists. The strength of the Japanese is in the infantry, their barracks soldiers become cheaper from century to century. A common strategy when playing as the Japanese is to develop to a certain level, then build a whole bunch of infantry and overwhelm the enemy with numbers. Once they start extracting salt and sugar (reducing the cost of military units), they become especially strong. By the way, the Japanese economy was not offended either. Cheap farms, cheap townspeople, cheap way to get food and wood. It makes sense for them to develop commercial technologies in the first place, this will allow them to extract resources more efficiently. There is something to smile about when playing for the land of the rising sun.
Let's start in order.
Units produced in the barracks are created ten percent faster and cost seven percent less per age plus military research. In practice, this means huge Japanese armies, which, moreover, are being born quickly. In this regard, it makes sense to rely on the infantry, leaving the cavalry for support (it is better to use light cavalry for this purpose - metal is not wasted, and you will have a lot of food).
The same soldiers with each age (plus military research) do five percent more damage to buildings. Build up heavy infantry late in the game, and throw them at the houses - they will serve you as well as a battery of cannons. The increase in the strength of attacks on the walls of enemy cities is not so noticeable with light infantry and archers - but they themselves weakly attack houses, and there is nothing surprising here.
Japanese ships are ten percent cheaper, and aircraft carriers are created a third faster. It would seem a small increase, but on sea charts it can be useful, especially if you take into account the cheaper fishermen. Build docks on sea maps as quickly as possible, and preferably before laying down a second city. Fast carriers will only help if you decide to bet on air raids. Other ships will either fight, as usual, or guard cheaper fishermen.
But an additional quarter to the speed of food production by farmers and fishermen, plus half the price of farms, is already serious. Food, delicious food! This also means that farms won't be spending as much wood. Like many other nations, the Japanese can try to build farms just to get ten units of food for free, even if some farms will not work at first.
And there is no forgiveness for you if you sea map do not send fishermen to fish. Remember that fishermen get two different types resource and take action!
Koreans
Koreans are a good economic boost in the beginning and good defensive abilities throughout the game. The main Korean attraction is the free townspeople that appear after the construction of the city, which can be immediately sent to useful construction. With the first city you get one, with the second - three, and with all the others - five citizens. The infrastructure of the city with so many fast workers is growing before our eyes, and only the Chinese neighbors can compare with them in the speed of construction of mining buildings. Fast tuning means fast resources and reaching the limits of their production speed early.
No, of course, I'm not saying that it's worth building cities just for the sake of these free Koreans, but it is necessary to use this advantage. Try to build a third city near the mountains and quickly organize a mine. Do not leave the townspeople unattended, and try not to send them to the construction of one building by a whole "team". Five citizens building five buildings separately will do their job faster than five people building one building. The problem can only be that there may not be funds in the treasury for five buildings at once.
Let's list the rest of Korean features.
Koreans start the game with a temple and get all temple upgrades for free. This increases the territory, and you just need to keep building temples in other cities. Taxes won't be a problem for you either, as Koreans are the most "tax oriented" nation in the game. If you have the opportunity to build a temple in two different cities, then choose the one that is most likely to be attacked in the future. (This, by the way, is advice not only for Koreans, but for everyone in general.) With the expansion of the territory, do not forget to send merchants to rare resources. This is not critical advice, but for Koreans, rarities are more useful when combined with high tax returns.
Building repairs are done at 1.5 times the speed, and you can repair buildings right in battle (other nations do this very inefficiently according to game mechanics). Repairing buildings in battle means delaying the sieges of your own cities, and after capturing a foreign city, repairing it is not a problem. Therefore, do not hesitate to repair cities in battle and right during sieges, waiting for the main army to approach. This can save your city more than once. Repair captured cities as well. Captured from the enemy in time, assimilated and repaired, the city no one will recapture from you - there will not be enough strength.
Koreans get all guerrilla and militia upgrades for free, this is, as you might guess, a defensive feature. I would not advise using the militias in attacks - they are rather weak. The only option is if you built a city right next to the enemy border. Then free citizens can be turned into militias and, having found out that the nearest enemy city is not guarded, arrange a raid and beat the defenseless citizens. But this tactic is very risky - use it only when you are sure it is safe. And do not try to attack the enemy with the militia if he has researched resistance technologies - the resistance hits the militia especially hard. It is best to defend the city with the help of the townspeople-militias. If your army is roughly equal to the invading army, then every soldier becomes important, and a few citizens can decide the outcome of the battle in your favor.
Mayan
If you ask yourself which of the three basic strategies (attack-defense-economy) the developers have in store for Maya, then the answer will be simple - defense. Mayan buildings are not only much stronger than the rest (by 50%) and rebuild half as fast, but they are also built with a solid (33%) wood discount. The picture is completed by the forts and cities of these Indians - they fire with a greater frequency of volleys than the forts and cities of other nations. Even those cities (central buildings) that do not have a garrison of citizens shoot. As you can see, the developers made a lot of thick hints at the key focus of the Indians.
Let's now go over all these defensive advantages with a light paw. More fort shooting and shooting without a garrison means that more enemies will die during attacks on your cities, and opponents will have to spend money on additional siege assets and armies. It will also help to avoid most of the damage from the raids, since the central building of the city will start "machine gun" fire on the enemy long before the townspeople run into it. Does it even make sense to hide the Mayan townspeople in the central building? Only if they are in real danger, and there is no army at hand. If the enemy, most likely, will not have time to get to them (for example, your troops will intercept him earlier), then you can leave the townspeople at their workplaces.
Keep in mind that Indian forts and castles are more efficient and use them wisely. Rebuild a couple of forts to expand your borders and provide support for your troops in military campaigns. Build military structures around the fort - barracks, stables and siege buildings - this will give you an excellent opportunity to prepare soldiers and immediately throw them into battle to the front line. Even if you can't build a fort within shot distance of enemy buildings, you can still "squeeze" the border of a rival state with it and notice the invading army in time. Evacuate the wounded to the fort, providing them with treatment and protection.
All Maya buildings build half as fast and have half as many hit points. Destroying them becomes somewhat more difficult. While the enemy is busy with your farms, gather an army and repel the attack. Faster construction of the building is very useful for winning the race for the wonders of the world. This will help in the construction of traditional "long-term construction" - forts, castles and cities. Combine this advantage with architectural improvements and the speed and health of your buildings will increase tremendously. Finally, just before an enemy attack, you can quickly build a fort near the city - and it is better to build it outside the city so that the fort provides defense, but does not become the first target for the attackers. It will cost you as much as five squads of soldiers, and the benefits of the fort will be much greater.
All Mayan buildings, except for the wonders of the world, cost less than a third the amount of wood. This is the only economic advantage of the Indians, and it allows you to immediately build more farms. This will not only create a stable supply of food, but also allow you to enjoy one-time replenishment of its stocks. Therefore, actively build farms, especially in the second city when you save food for the second commercial science or for the transition to the classical age. Do not forget to build cheaper markets, you can easily build yourself a market in each city. And they built markets - you see, and the money has come in.
Published in the magazine "Best Computer Games" No. 12 (25) December 2003
Material author: Timur Khorev
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When dinosaurs walked the Earth... Eh, it became difficult to live and earn their daily bread for gentlemen developers! After all, in every game you need to come up with something new, extraordinary, exciting. ... How many games do we remember, saying: “There were other times: the air was cleaner, and the beer was tastier ...” Here
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When dinosaurs walked the earth...
Eh, it has become difficult to live and earn your daily bread for gentlemen developers!
After all, in every game you need to come up with something new, extraordinary, exciting. ... How many games do we remember, saying: “There were other times: the air was cleaner, and the beer was tastier ...” So the scriptwriters have to dodge with might and main in order to please gourmet gamers. And it is doubly difficult for renegade companies to live: either create a masterpiece, or live in the grave with the tag “Clone” or “Plagiarism”. It seemed that the second option was prepared for the guys of Brian Reynolds, who left Sid Meier. But they created a game that includes finely chopped Age of Empires, large sheets immortal Tsiva, as well as seasoned with a sauce of nostalgia and good performance. What came of it? Let's see…
Make War, not Peace!
And if from school you imagined yourself as Napoleon, Hitler or Caesar, then this game is for you! You have a great opportunity to realize your tyrannical plans! First, choose a nation. There are enough of them, but I, out of old habit, played for the Romans. Each race has its own units and bonuses, but they are useful from gulkin's nose. So the game is finally on. And the question immediately arises, where did Germany or other nations come from in the ancient age? And how do you like the army of Elizabeth in the advanced age of the future? That's the same.
After starting the game, carefully read the interface, since it is through it that you will solve the world's problems. And how are we going to solve them? Ta-a-ak, who here loves peace and prosperity? Shot on the spot! The essence of the game is exclusively in fighting, and nothing else. No, of course, you can watch how Holland finishes off Russia, how blacks seize prestigious Spanish resorts, and the Chinese occupied South America, but sooner or later your peace-loving neighbors will be taken out, then your turn will come.
But still, war is not the only, albeit the cheapest, way to capture enemy lands. You can buy them with the help of special cards, here is the first innovation for you. By the way, the cards are very useful, but they are quite expensive, and at first you will not be able to afford them. Skillfully using the extracted cards, you can get a huge head start against the enemy. It's a pity that the cards are disposable, besides, only 4 cards can be used in one battle.
Since we started talking about the war, it's a sin not to remember the units. Everything is clear here - who is more expensive is stronger. There is nothing to say about the balance, in fact, all units are painfully the same. Yes, and you should not remember about tactics, here everything is decided solely by the mass, and the AI of the enemy is useless. But what pleases the game is the scale of the battles. I have already said that everything is taken en masse, but when two huge armies merge in battle, it looks very beautiful and, perhaps, epoch-making. By the way, it is worth noting that the navy is useless, battles on the water look lousy, besides, they are expensive and inefficient. There are no transports at all.
Mom, I ruled the Earth today!
political map divided into regions, each region has a certain center, capital, so to speak. It can be either a luxurious developed city, or a filthy shed. In the latter case, this means that this territory is not occupied by anyone. Resources located on the territory of the region are shown under the city icon. Depending on the time the region is under the auspices of a particular nation, it becomes stronger. However, this power can be brought down by separate cards. Nation capitals are marked with flags. On the map you can see various figures, one figure - one army. Armies can be moved on their territory, as well as attacking the enemy with them. There are some tactical advantages here. If this region is between your regions, then you can call for reinforcements, otherwise the enemy can do it. For the sake of complicating the game in one move, you can do each action 1 time, whether it's an attack on an unloved neighbor or buying a card. And if you decide to capture the enemy nation completely, then carefully study the resources that are located in its regions, and also find shortest way from your army to the capital of the enemy, since the capture of the capital means the total loss of the nation, and all its lands are transferred under your leadership, the game is worth the candle. This way you can make your life much easier, for example, I stayed to play 1v1 with Russia. My army is in Rome, I only control Europe, Russia controls everything else (I played on the highest difficulty). Close to the capital. I cut through to it, and in the epochal battle I capture, thereby gaining control over the entire territory globe. As you already understood, the goal of the game is to achieve world domination. Let's move on to another stage. We declare war on the annoying Chinese, choose 4 desired cards(why deny yourself luxury?), and we lead the army to their nearest region. Hmm, the picture that appeared before me surprised me a little. Painfully reminiscent of the second "Age of Empires", yes, the developers were too lazy to make the original interface. No, I'm not saying that it's inconvenient, no, it's effective, but couldn't it have been changed a bit? I think it is possible, so we count it as a disadvantage.
Simple blacks bend their backs, the two on the right are us
What do we see on the battle screen? Our land, enemy land. Their boundaries are drawn with bold lines. Within the boundaries of our land, we get a city and a couple of farms. Sometimes they give a small army and sources of extraction of resources such as mines. Later, oil wells appear. All work is done by city residents, who, as usual, are stamped in the city center. As in Cossacks, all scientific research in the areas of commerce, economics, military craft and science is carried out in the library. Infantry is produced in barracks, tanks in an engine plant, aircraft at an airfield. Nothing new. There is also a university where scientists improve. By the way, I completely forgot, there are 6 types of resources in the game: food, oil, wood, money, metal and the so-called knowledge. All resources are endless. That's what in Rise of nations strained, however, as in real life So it's with money. In order to always have a clear coin in your wallet, you need to make really titanic efforts: you need to build as many cities as possible and build trade routes between them. Be sure to build a temple, taxes are collected there. Cities, in addition to bringing money, have another useful quality, namely: the expansion of borders, which affects the population limit.
We are waiting for changes…
While it was a curse among the ancient Japanese to wish someone to live “in times of change,” changes in the game are clearly conducive to increasing the power of the state. Moving from era to era (one battle - one era), our armies become more equipped and powerful. The invention of nuclear missiles can rightfully be considered the crowning achievement of destructive power. But you should not abuse such a terrible weapon, and you can bomb it before game over. If we talk about the conditions of the battle, then there are several of them. An hour and a half is allocated to capture the city, the same with defense, the destruction of an enemy regiment in 5 or 15 minutes. You can capture enemy lands in 2 ways: build your own city or clear the enemy's city. There is no time limit in a quick battle.
Execution
The graphics didn't make me happy. The ideal resolution is 1024x768. When you are in full zoom mode, the angularities of units and buildings stand out. Colors are very dull. In addition, the game is quite demanding on the car, sometimes there were strong brakes, and with the graphic bells and whistles turned off, it generally looks just miserable.
The situation is similar with the sound, it is not bad, but the language does not turn to call it good (or the finger is too lazy to hit the key). The music is good enough, does not make you want to turn it off. There are some great tunes, but this is not enough.
Is it A Big Huge Game?
Now it's time to draw conclusions. When playing, it is clear that the guys from Big Huge Games really tried. But since the office is still young and inexperienced, the project turned out to be good, but a bit damp. Good idea, decent amount of innovations, mediocre execution. All in all, fans of Age of Empires and Civilization should enjoy it. I advise the rest to play for general development. I bow out on this. Have a nice game!
