When will Rise of Nations be out?
What sort of system will I need to play Rise of Nations?
How many people are working on Rise of Nations?
What are the resources in Rise of Nations?
How many nations are there?
Do nations get special units?
Can games last longer than an hour?
When will I be able to download a demo?
Will there be a public Beta?
How many units are there in the game?
I've heard that peasants are "smart". How does that work?
What kind of unit limit is there in Rise of Nations?
What is the exact method by which you increase your Population Cap? Will you have to build houses?
Is the game 2D or 3D?
How does the strategic zoom work?
How do the borders work?
Does the game include a scenario or map editor?
Is there support for multiplayer games and how many players are supported?
Can I select which of the ages my game spans?
Will I be able to record my games to play back later or share with others?
Are formations in the game? What do they do?
Does the game include real world maps?
Why isn't there an American civilization in the game?
Q: When will Rise of Nations be out?
A: Rise of Nations is available on store shelves worldwide and has been localized into a variety of languages including French, German, Japanese, Italian, and more. It began shipping to stores in the United States on May 20, 2003.
Q: What sort of system will I need to play Rise of Nations?
A: The minimum system is currently set at a 500 MHz processor, Win98/2000/Me/XP, 128MB of memory, 800 MB of HD space, 16X CD drive, DX 8.2 or higher, and a 16MB video card.
Q: How many people worked on Rise of Nations?
A: Big Huge Games employed over two dozen people to work exclusively on Rise of Nations.
Q: What are the resources in Rise of Nations?
A: The basic resources are Wood, Metal, Food, Oil, Gold, and Knowledge. There are also 32 unique rare resources. These rare resources confer special powers on the nation that controls them, but are not needed to produce units or construct buildings.
Q: How many nations are there?
A: 18. They are the Aztecs, Bantu, British, Chinese, Egyptians, French, Germans, Greeks, Inca, Japanese, Koreans, Maya, Mongols, Nubians, Romans, Russians, Spanish, and the Turks. Each of the nations has a unique set of powers that grants them advantages on the battlefield or in expanding their nation. Nations create units and build structures that fit with the region of the world that they hale from. For example, Japanese light cavalry units look distinctly Asian while British light cavalry look very European.
Q: Do nations get special units?
A: Yes. Each nation is be able to build at least three special units. Some unit examples are: the Japanese have Samurai, Bantu have Umpakati, and the Germans have Tiger Tanks.
Q: Can games last longer than an hour?
A: Certainly. They can also be over sooner. We've balanced our "standard game" around a one hour experience, however Rise of Nations has a wide range of game settings and can be adjusted to whatever play style you prefer.
Q: When will I be able to download a demo?
A: You can download the trial version of the game from the official Rise of Nations website.
Q: Will there be a public Beta?
A: Rise of Nations has shipped so testing has finished on the title. We may include fans in testing any future patches, especially those that will effect game balance.
Q: How many units are there in the game?
A: There are over 200 unique units in the game. These range from Archers and Knights, right up to Tanks and Flamethrowers.
Q: I've heard that peasants are "smart." How does that work?
A: If a peasant is left alone without orders, he or she will look around for something productive to do. This includes things like working at available gather buildings such as a farm or oil well. The peasant will also help repair damaged buildings or assist in their construction. Note that peasants will NOT begin totally new construction on their own. Peasants only notice things within a limited range so they tend to remain near where you left them. It's also worth mentioning that you can turn this behavior off if you prefer to have your peasants simply remain idle and adjust how long they wait before they look for a task on their own.
Q: What kind of unit limit is there in Rise of Nations?
A: Like many RTS games, Rise of Nations uses a "Population Cap" system that limits how many units a player can have at one time. This number starts out small and increases as the player advances down a branch of the technology tree. All units count against this "Pop Cap" and, in the later ages, some units even count with a value of greater than 1. It is very important to remember that in Rise of Nations many units are actually made up of multiple figures (usually 3). This means that while an Archer unit may only take up 1 space toward your Pop Cap you're actually seeing three Archer figures on the screen. You'll quickly discover that the armies in Rise of Nations become much larger than you might expect. You'll be able to keep a productive economy AND field an army worth fighting with.
Q: What is the exact method by which you increase your Population Cap? Will you have to build houses?
A: You don't need to build individual houses in Rise of Nations. Instead, you'll have to invest in a specific line of technologies to increase your Population Cap. The branching technology tree offers a player a options to improve their civilization in a variety of ways, including the pop cap.
Q: Is the game 2D or 3D?
A: Rise of Nations uses an original, hybrid 3D game engine that allows the use of expressively animated 3D elements with the rich detail of 2D. More specifically, game elements that animate such as units are fully 3D. This allows the units to interact with each other and with special effects in ways that are difficult or impossible to do with 2D units. Buildings, on the other hand, are 2D. 2D allows a level of detail that would be too expensive in 3D. The Rise of Nations hybrid systems allows the 3D and 2D elements to inhabit the same world and interact with each other giving us the best of both worlds.
Q: How does the strategic zoom work?
A: The player is able to zoom the game camera across a range of zoom levels, from a tight in tactical view to a pulled back strategic view. For technical and gameplay reasons the view does not rotate. You can perform this zoom easily with the keyboard or with the mousewheel.
Q: How do the borders work?
A: Your national borders define a territorial region that "pushes out" from your villages/cities depending on their size and your Civic accomplishments, and also pushes out from your forts based on similar considerations. There's no practical limit to how far your borders can push outward from a strong political center other than another nation "pushing back". Also territory is exclusive--if it's YOUR territory your opponent CAN'T build in it.
Your national territory defines (a) where you can build military buildings and new cities (b) where you control strategic resources and (c) in some cases your troops take attrition damage while inside another nation.
Borders allow you a new venue to compete with other nations besides simply military attacks--you can increase your political strength and thus increase your territory, taking away control of vital strategic resources from your rivals. Likewise there's subtle strategy involved in where you place your villages and forts to "claim" territory you'll want later.
Q: Does the game include a scenario or map editor?
A: The game does include a scenario editor that allows you to edit maps, as well as units and building statistics. A script editor is also included with the game as well as and a custom scripting language that you can use to create triggers and events for your scenarios.
Q: Is there support for multiplayer games and how many players are supported?
A: Rise of Nations will include many victory conditions and options for multiplayer gaming. Up to eight players can play head to head, or in teams. (yes, you can select your player color)
Q: Can I select which of the ages my game spans?
A: You have the option of choosing which age you would like to start your game in and which age it will end in. For example you can play a game that starts in the Gunpowder Age and ends in the Industrial Age. There is also be the option to start in randomly determined ages.
Q: Will I be able to record my games to play back later or share with others?
A: The game does include a recorded game feature that will allow you or others to play back games at a later time. There is also an "Observer" mode that allows players to join and watch games as they happen, but they are unable to interfere with anything that goes on.
Q: Are formations in the game? What do they do?
A: Formations play an important role in the game, in that they keep your units together. A group of various unit types that normally move at different speeds will move at the pace of the slowest unit if they are ordered to move in a group. Your cavalry units will not leave behind your vulnerable siege units, and will automatically move to the front of the formation to provide protection for ranged units.
It is important to note that units take more damage when they are attacked from the flank or from behind. Exploiting weaknesses in enemy formations that allow you to take advantage of such bonuses can turn the tide of a battle for or against you.
Q: Does the game include real world maps?
A: Due to the sheer scale, a map of the world isn't really feasible in the game, as a single city would place your borders over entire continents. However, the individual maps in the Conquer The World campaign, which does take place on a huge world map broken down into territories, are seeded based on the actual location that you are fighting in. For example, if you are battling in a territory in North Africa, the terrain of the individual maps will resemble that part of the world. The same goes for any other region.
Q: Why isn't civilization X in the game? (X = the name of the civilization that you think should have been included)
A: Whether it's an American or Persian civilization that you think should be included in the game, chances are that we considered including them long and hard: "One of the significant decisions we had to make in forming our list was to group nations into "regional groups" because given the size & quantity (and quality!) of the buildings and structures in our game, and given that any architectural style would need art that "changed through the ages", there was a limit to the number of architectural styles we could represent.
Another reason we have 18 nations (as opposed to, say, 20, or 63--although 18 actually represents a stretch of two from the 16 we were supposed to have) is that each of our nations also has several special unique units (complete with full art and animation), along with in many cases "unique art" even for units that aren't unique. For example the units of African nations have dark skin--their Citizens, Musketeers, etc, have special art for this. Likewise, many Far East units have eastern style uniforms instead of European style." - Brian Reynolds
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