Rise of Nations

[Entsuropi]

Holy cow this is good. One thing i don't like is how all the units look the same for everybody. So ancient british, turks, monguls and japanese all had phalanxes? But it still rules. And i like how they managed to stop the nukes being too annoying. I do wish the campaign map had more territories - capturing the entire american east seaboard in one battle feels wrong.

Just wondering. They will make an expansion, with new ages, civs and so on and so forth. What do you expect/want to see in it?

My nominations for civs i want:

-Sumeria (ultra fast research and temple powers - power of Zigguriat)
-America (native amerian up until the gunpowder age when it morphes into the european style). Starts off with excellent skirmishers (native american warriors) and then later on gets something similar to the german power.
Scandanavians (good against buildings and with good ships to represent viking raiders)
Arabs (politically hot i guess, but base them off the crusades and it should be cool)

I'd like to see railways built into the game in some way. Like roads you have to build which move troops faster (good for counter attacks is my thinking). And i always love transport helicopters.

I'd be interested to see if they do the usual thing and slap in another "essential" age, with mechs or space ships or whatever.

We should hold games of this, online.

[Tage]

You know, that does sound fun, but I just don't have time for any more games.

[Fellfrosch]

I really like the idea of an extra age with mechs and wacky scifi, but I doubt they'll do it. The lure of historical "accuracy" is what draws most people to the game in the first place.

I also love your railroad idea, and I think it would really add something to the game. I'd also like to see an improved use of aircraft, which in my experience is never quite good enough to warrant not spending your money on tanks.

If they do America as a civilization, make the special unit the scout, later upgrading to commando and and some kind of super-elite special forces. That seem sto fit with both the native american and the modern US aspects of the nation.

[Entsuropi]

Eh. I dunno about that idea - after all, its us brits who have the best counter terrorism units. I think your economy and cultural dominance are your strongest trademarks. Maybe having the following:

- larger national boundaries
- quicker extraction of oil
- tanks produced cheaper
- extra resources from caravans when they visit allied cities
- cities assimilated faster

Unique units could be stuff like...
-Sherman (modern) - cheaper than normal tank
-Black hawk (information) - kinda like a aircraft carrier, only its a chopper not a ship and an infantry squad instead of planes
M1A3 (information) - stronger, tougher, more expensive than normal tank
- Native warrior (ancient - medieval?) - light infantry
- F16 (information) - stronger fighter
Aircraft Carrier (modern) - has 1 more plane than usual, more hit points than usual carrier.

I never really use planes so far. I find that a healthy mix of infantry, tanks and a whole lotta artillery does the trick for me. Add in a few supply trucks and anti air if i remember and i'm done. Planes are just a hassle, what with range and airfields and so on. By the time they reach the enemy force your tanks will have leveled it. But i do find that 13 or so of the strategic bombers will reduce a city instantly, meaning your infantry can take it and set up the campfires.

1 thing i find is that i don't like the games where everybody starts in ancient and progresses to information. You spend all your time desperately advancing epochs. And i think it is too easy to do so - you should have to plough lots of effort into it, not do it inbetween tank batches.

Also, it really really needs ways to speed up infantry. I'm tired of sitting around waiting for the little buggers. Thats where the railroad idea came from.

So do you fancy setting up some games?

[Spriggan]

great Fell, you're going to get us in trouble again  As if we didn't have enough problem with the "K" word in the past.

I'll be deleting those posts mentioning hacked games.  As TWG dosen't advocate stealing.

[Entsuropi]

http://www.gamespy.com/previews/february04/rontappc/

Americans! But no railroads. I should start a mod group just to make those, eh?

[House of Mustard]

Some of the new powers sounds awesome, particularly the Iriquois ability to be invisible in their own territory.  This game is definately on my must-have list.