FAQ - Rise of Nations
What is Rise of Nations?
Rise of Nations is a real-time strategy game. You control a nation, engage in diplomatic negotiations with other nations, expand your borders, and attempt to evolve your culture. Rise of Nations spans 6,000 years of history from the Ancient Age to the Information Age. You guide your nation's resources, armies, scientific research, and many other elements to grow from a tribe of barbarians into a modern superpower.
What is an RTS?
A real-time strategy game. You may hear this term among aficionados of this game genre.
Who created the game?
Rise of Nations was developed by Big Huge Games. The president of Big Huge Games is none other than Brian Reynolds, the game designer who created wildly famous strategy games such as Colonization ®, Civilization II ®, and Alpha Centauri ®. Brian brought an enormous talent and skill to the making of Rise of Nations. Microsoft Games Studio has partnered with Big Huge to publish Rise of Nations.
About Big Huge Games: Big Huge Games, Inc. was founded in February of 2000 by four veteran game developers: Tim Train, David Inscore, Jason Coleman, and Brian Reynolds. These founding partners, who together have brought strategy gamers such classic hits as "Civilization II," "Colonization" and "Alpha Centauri," share a common vision which they believe will enable them to surpass even these outstanding achievements. Organized to create top quality strategy games, Big Huge Games will emphasize excellence in all aspects of game development - game design, artwork, technology and production values alike. Big Huge Games is dedicated to the principle that truly fun and successful games can be created only by talented individuals who not only excel in their specialty but who love their product.
What platform does the game run on?
Rise of Nations will only run on Windows PCs. System requirements are as follows:
- CPU: 500 Mhz
- RAM: 128 MB
- 3d Card: Most 3D cards with 16MB of RAM
- OS: Win98, WinME, Win2000, WinXP
- DirectX: DirectX 9
- Hard Drive: 800 MB
- Other: Audio board with speakers and/or headphones
- Online/multiplayer: 56.6 kbps or better for internet play
Does this game use the Age of Empires engine?
No, it is a brand new 3D engine written by Big Huge Games for Rise of Nations.
When will Rise of Nations be released?
Rise of Nations was released on May 20, 2003 in the United States.
When will Rise of Nations first become available in Europe?
May 23, 2003
Which languages are available for the European release of Rise of Nations?
French, German, Italian, and Spanish will have fully localized versions available. There will be partial localizations (i.e. documentation will be translated) for Nordic languages, as well.
My country is not listed in your initial list. When will support for my country roll out?
We are doing full localizations for certain countries in Asia [(Korea, Japan, and China (Taiwan)].
When will I be able to download a demo?
We are planning to release a demo of the game in Spring 2003.
Is this game overwhelmingly complex? Hard to master?
Not at all. The game features 6 walk-through tutorials, staged in difficulty for the beginning RTS player up to the Advanced RTS gamer.
How should I start the game? It seems like there is a lot to learn?
We recommend new players start with our Quick Learn scenario. This is like playing a normal Quick Battle but with helpful hints along the way to teach you about the new aspects of the game.
I keep losing. What's a good starting strategy?
Begin with a Science technology upgrade at your library, then use your Scout to find Ruins for bonus resources. Taking the Science upgrade first doubles the bonus you get from the Ruins.
Rise of Nations Features
What makes Rise of Nations different from other RTSs?
Strategy plus RTS - Rise of Nations is the first game which combines the strategic and in-depth features found in turn-based strategy games with the speed of real-time strategy games.
Reduced micromanagement - Citizens automatically find work such as gathering resources, building an unfinished structure, or repairing damaged buildings. Military units get upgraded completely replacing previous units, so no need to worry about upgrading individual stats.Unlimited Resources - Resource sites such as forests and stone never dry up. This allows you to really build your nation and expand out without feeling like you are systematically strip-mining the map.Epic scale - The game is about building a nation. Cities are permanent and do not get destroyed, but are captured instead. Infantry units are represented by 3 figures instead of one, allowing you to command large armies. The time frame is huge, spanning from the Ancient Age all the way to present day.Conquer the World Campaign - Instead of a linear, story-driven campaign, we give you an open ended campaign where you decide how events will unfold. You can start as any of the 18 nations in the game and decide where, when, and how you will conquer the world. Will you engage an ally to help you defend your capital? Will you diplomatically acquire territories from your neighbors? Or will you just overrun them with your immense armies?
Can I connect to the Internet to play?
Yes. Microsoft Games Studios has partnered with GameSpy Industries, a leading game content and technology company, to create an online experience for Rise of Nations players. The game will incorporate special technology that allows players to link up through GameSpy's extensive network to play multi-player games. GameSpy also runs matchmaking and other network features for RoN.
Learn more at GameSpyDaily: GameSpy Powers Rise of NationsOr, check out the GameSpy Rise of Nations page.
Can European players play with people in North America, and vice-versa?
Absolutely!
What is the "Conquer the World Campaign"?
This is an exciting single-player campaign that takes place on a real map of the world. Some people have described it as being akin to playing "Risk" in real time. We will release more information about this campaign in the upcoming weeks.
How many Nations are there?
There are 18 nations in the game: Aztecs, Bantu, British, Chinese, Egyptians, French, Germans, Greeks, Inca, Japanese, Koreans, Maya, Mongols, Nubians, Romans, Russians, Spanish, and Turks.
Do the different Nations each get special military units?
Yes. Each nation will be able to build at least four special units. Some unit examples are: the Japanese have Samurai, Bantu have Umpakati, the Germans have Tiger Tanks.
How many different military units are there in the game?
Over 200!
What are the resources in Rise of Nations?
The basic resources are Timber, Metal, Food, Oil, Wealth, and Knowledge. There are also 32 unique rare resources, such as silver, diamonds, sugar, and furs. These rare resources confer special powers on the nation that controls them.
I've heard that citizens will be "smart." How does that work?
If a citizen is left alone without orders, he or she will look around for something productive to do. This includes things like working at an available "gather building" 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.
What kind of unit limit is there in Rise of Nations?
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.
Is the game 2D or 3D?
We use a mixture of 2D and 3D for the game. The buildings are mainly in 2D to allow the level of detail we wanted for the game. However, all of the terrain, units, and some animated building add-ons are in 3D to allow us a huge variety of animations and special effects. 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, animated game elements 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 system allows the 3D and 2D elements to inhabit the same world and interact with each other giving us the best of both worlds.
How does "Zooming Scale" work?
You can zoom the game camera from close-in tactical view to an elevated strategic view. For technical and gameplay reasons, the view does not rotate. You can perform this zoom easily with the keyboard (PageUp/PageDown) or using the mouse wheel.
How do the borders work?
Your national borders define a territorial region that "pushes out" from your villages/cities depending on their size and your Civic accomplishments. Borders also push out from your forts based on similar considerations. The only limit to your borders comes from another nation "pushing back." Also, territory is exclusive—if it's your territory, your opponent cannot build in it.
Your national territory defines:
Where you can build military buildings (stables, siege factories, barracks, etc.) and new cities (universities, granaries, lumber mills, etc.)
Where you control strategic resources
Note: In some cases your troops take attrition damage while inside another nation's borders.
Borders allow you a new venue to compete with other nations besides simple 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.
Will the game include a scenario or map editor?
The game will ship with the same scenario editor that our designers will be using to create our campaigns. It will include a trigger system, a custom scripting language, and the usual features you expect from an editor.
Will there be multiplayer and how many players are supported?
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 on a LAN or the Internet.
Can I select which of the ages my game spans?
You will have the option of choosing which age you would like to start your game in and in which age it will end. For example, you can start your game in the Gunpowder Age and end in the Industrial Age.
Are formations part of the game? What do they do?
Formations play an important role in the game; they keep your military units together. A group of various military 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.
How do units work in the game? If I build an Archer in the Ancient Age will he battle against tanks in the Modern Age?
No! You can upgrade all your units to stronger military unit types as you advance through time. You don't lose the units you build early in the game…except in battle.
Is it possible to use Nukes in the game?
Yes, in the last two ages of the game you will be able to develop Nuclear weapons.
Does Rise of Nations use the special effects supported by advanced cards?
We use pixel shaders and hardware-accelerated transform and lighting.
Pixel Shaders
Nuclear explosions use a luminance effect to make the whole screen wash to grey. Every "renderstate" has to have a corresponding pixel shader to make this work (one small area, but LOTS of shaders). Boat reflections need pixel shaders to clip at the water line (texkill).
Vertex Shaders
Boat reflections use vshaders to put a sine wave on the verts under water, making the reflection look wavy. Some of the nuke effects pieces (mushroom cloud and impact flash) use vertex shaders as well.Logo
The high end GPUs get a dot3 bump map lighting model on the RoN logo in the main menu.