18-08-2004 23:49									#1
	Rise of Nations v. Civ 3 Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

I'm a fan of Civ 3 and play as often as I can (though I'm not all that good and have real trouble at the monarch level, which is the only level I play). I also was a big fan of Civ 1 and 2.

I've never played Rise of Nations and would like to know from Civ 3 players who've also played RoN what they think about RoN.

Let me know. Thanks.

	19-08-2004 00:54									#2
	Increase the size of your Attachments

I just recently (few days ago) started playing. It's really a super extended age of empires-- not that that's a bad thing. It's fairly fun as an RTS. Then again so is Command and Conquer. To me, to compare Civ to RoN is like comparing Civ to C&C. RoN is just much more intelligent than C&C.

	19-08-2004 07:01									#3
	Full PM-box? Change here!

I didn't care for RoN


at all

but I did play it more than MoO3 and GalCiv, for a point of reference. Its fun as a clickfest, but it didn't like my hardware (though I was quite above specs)

	19-08-2004 07:58									#4
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

It's a superb game for a Civ lover if you drop the speed to slow or very slow. Some friends of mine did a modified rule set that slows down technology and resource accumulation. The end result is a slow paced game that allows for slow growth of your empire and then intense competition.

To my surprise, I've found two rts games recently that had entertaining coop fights vs the ai (I generally look on that with scorn, as I'm a hardcore multi player by and large). RoN was one of the two. It's possible to play entertaining games against the AI (3v4 or so).

	19-08-2004 09:08									#5
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

This belongs in Other Games.

	19-08-2004 17:58									#6
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

It's an entirely different genre.

In my personal opinion, TBS > RTS, but that's entirely a question of taste.

	19-08-2004 18:04									#7
	Increase the size of your Attachments

I salute BHG for releasing a demo version. Saved me from buying yet another game box, collecting dust on my shelf.

And no, it does not belong in Other Games.

	20-08-2004 12:46									#8
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

Personally not a big fan. I actually prefer the (less intelligent) C&C and AOE. RoN was too much of a civ/rts hybrid, and managed, in my very humble opinion, to manage neither with anything worth spending my money on. But for any who like that style, I would say they did a fantastic job. Personally, I'm just gonna stick with the extremes of that game (ie, Civ or RTS)

	20-08-2004 13:16									#9
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

It's a good game....but as said it's a RTS and if you play it on normal speed, it's very fast. You can easely finish a normal game within one hour.

	20-08-2004 20:28									#10
	Support Apolyton

quote: Originally posted by Sir Ralph I salute BHG for releasing a demo version. Saved me from buying yet another game box, collecting dust on my shelf.

Yup, me too. Had some fun with it for a couple of hours though, it's not a bad game and I can see others enjoying it very much.

	22-08-2004 18:17									#11
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

Personally i was big huge'ly disapointed by it. I thought the campaign mode would actually be any good. I was very mistaken. Battling the computer is quite good but the tech does just advance too fast. However if you have an hour(or so) to waste its good fun.

However the Global Campaign thing is crap. Its like an EXTREMELY poor version of Medieval Total War. The tech you research does not persist outside the battles you fight. France, UK, Spain and most of the European nations are made up of just one region. For people who lave Eu like me this is absurd. Also the fact that GB can go get Norway, Greenland then North America is ridiculous. Central Asia is one region! From china to russia!

If you ask me they did a half-arsed job on this. What certainly could have been a great game is merely an ok game. Im just glad i didnt pay full price for it...

	25-08-2004 00:14									#12
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

quote: Originally posted by chumly It's a superb game for a Civ lover if you drop the speed to slow or very slow. Some friends of mine did a modified rule set that slows down technology and resource accumulation. The end result is a slow paced game that allows for slow growth of your empire and then intense competition.

Hmm - that might be an improvement.

I'm with the others here - it struck me as a well done 'click fest', as others have mentioned. And moved waaaay to fast to do any of the eras any good, or to make any of the unique units anything of significance. It just seemed like an odd marriage of the game style with the subject.

For this kind of set-up - I think the Total War genre makes good sense. A turn-based strategy side and a RTS tactical/battle side. That is probably closer to real life experience even then civ3, where the battles are carefully orchestrated 'which unit do I attack with next' events.

I had an intersting one-on-one RoN game with a friend who was over. We had previously played civ3 which he is not a fan of - moves to slow for him. He clobbered me at the RoN game, but I had a good sense why. He is an avid RTS, FPS, and action thingy game player - and at the end - where you can compare mouse clicks or actions - he was close to double what I had done.

That being said - the slower game style, where key board skills and mouse speed are not the critical factors - could be interesting.

	25-08-2004 00:59									#13
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

Beta has hit the nail squarely on the head concerning my dislike for RoN. RoN is definately a "click-fest" type of game. He who can click the fastest wins.

If you have to go to the bathroom, be prepared to loose X number of turns to your opponents.

So in my mind, there really isn't any comparison between Civ3 and RoN.

	27-08-2004 08:30									#14
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

The World Conquest is actually a Risk ripoff. and, it you take over a nation's "capital" aka its starting territory, you take over every territory they own. It's a joke.

That being said, the only real cool thing is that you actually take over cities, I like that feature as well as set territory and the resource gathering "style". Foot units coming in sets of 3 is awesome, too. Although selecting a worker among a group of combat units is hard, and the workers/foot units are so small, too!

I own Civ3, Empire Earth, and Rise of Nations. After playing all a whole lot, Empire Earth is simply better in Rise of Nations which is basically sprite-based, where EE objects are made up of polygons, and the use of the scroll to zoom in and out is great.

Perhaps the biggest factor is in EE, the maximum number of units is divided up among existing civs, for example, you can set the number of units to 1600, which means if there are 4 civs, you can have 400 units. In RoN, you can be on a huge map and have 1/2 the territory, but still only have 200 units (excluding your civ, bonus resource and wonder), which makes a really empty map...

EE takes the cake over RoN. but you can't compare real-time strategy to turn-based. That being said, Civ3 is my favorite

	27-08-2004 21:23									#15
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

You'll have fun w/ RoN, but it will not IMHO provide you the feeling one gets when empire building. I still play it.

	27-08-2004 21:40									#16
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

After playin Starcraft, no fast clicking games seems fun to me anymore. Strarcraft is still my favorite.

Meaning that I will Play Civ3 before I'd play RoN.


Spec.

	30-08-2004 06:57									#17
	Tired of ads?

quote: Originally posted by bobbo008 EE takes the cake over RoN. but you can't compare real-time strategy to turn-based. That being said, Civ3 is my favorite

quote: Originally posted by Spec Meaning that I will Play Civ3 before I'd play RoN.

Guess my sentiments are pretty clear.

	30-08-2004 15:17									#18
	Got spare money?

RONs pretty cool... but then so is Civ3

	01-09-2004 19:03									#19
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

RoN is quite a decent game. Though I can barely maintain interest in it for long. Its been months since I last played it, and I don't really see myself getting back into it any time soon. Maybe much later. I doubt I'll ever be permanently bored of it.

Civ III on the other hand, despite all its faults is a game I always come back to. I can be bored of it for a few months, but I always come back to it. Whether or not that means I'll one day be permanently bored of it, I can't really say, but the amount of time it takes for my boredom of Civ III to fizzle out is shorter than my boredom of RoN.


As for comparing the two, that would be unfair, seeing as how despite the similarities, they are completely different games. I'd rather compare RoN to Age of Mythology (in which case, AoM wins), and Civ III to SMAC (in which case, SMAC wins purely out of its depth and personality, both of which are lacking in Civ III).