02-03-2003 08:28									#1
	Wow its pretty Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

My simple words aren't gonna do this game justice. My inadequacy has never stopped me before though. Take away the coolness of the genre-blending, the excellent pace, depth of game play, etc., etc., and you still have a beautiful looking game.

I read somewhere about the neat level of detail in the animations but one can not fully appreciate it without playing. There I am massing my forces for an all out assault against some woefully unprepared French towns, when something catches my eye. Two of my trebuchet units were hanging out while more of their brethren were trained. All of a sudden one of the little crewman hops up on the side of the trebuchet and scurrys up to the top were he proceeds to peer across the horizon, presumably scanning for potential targets( or perhaps the nearest pub), then when satisfied with his findings sort of hops down. The animation was so cool that as he ascended the trebuchet it rocked from side to side as if responding to the forces his body would apply as he quickly climbed. Most units I've been exposed to have these type of animations, which really add such a wonderfully realistic look. Even the buildings have similar animations. I built a mine and sat and watched it just to see what would happen. Up from inside the shaft comes a bucket being hoisted. When it reaches the top of the structure the bucket tips over into a chute and down pours pieces of stone/ore. All of this movement, and the damn building isn't much bigger than my thumb nail(albeit my thumbs are kinda big, but STILL!) The hybrid of 2D and 3D I'm sure helps make this possible so let me say to other developers -- give it a try! WOW! This kind of detail really helps pull you into the game as well as being great eye candy.

Go BHG, what BIG HUGE artists you have... -- really bad pun, I know

Last edited by AceFlint on 03-03-2003 at 01:00

	03-03-2003 20:29									#2
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

It is great that there is this level of detail and eye candy but is it distracting at all? You admit that you built a mine just to watch what happened. How accessible is information if things are constantly moving around?

	04-03-2003 04:28									#3
	Increase Your PM Length

come on, tniem, people want fluffy.

	04-03-2003 05:01									#4
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

Not at all distracting. Very well done.

	04-03-2003 06:46									#5
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

Righto Anun,

Allow my to clarify, the animations I was refering to were of units that were idle. The actual unit was not moving, rather the overall graphic had movement within it. Make sense? Many units in RON are graphically displayed as multiple pieces, ie. one "unit" of foot soldier is seen as three individual soldiers, much like the Angry Mob unit from CnC Generals(GLA!,GLA!).

As far as fluffy goes, fluffy gets old quick if thats all you got. Rise of Nations, so far, is just about anything you could want out of a RTS/strategy title under the hood, and then some. Add to that the eye candy I described and you've got one helluva package.

As far as RTS goes, I haven't seen better. One of the reasons I say that is because of RON's ridiculous level of customization. Don't like playing the rush, okay choose "no rush until a certain age" from the setup menu. Hate the units during those acient years, fine, choose to start the game during the Industrial age, or any other age for that matter. Can't stand waiting around for units, or research to complete, no problemo, speed it up, or slow it down. The list of game options goes on. With one game you can set the rules to play in "sandbox mode"(great place to feel it all out) and then turn around set the speed on high, start in the Info Age and have yourself a break-neck clickfest. Oh don't forget that you also get the "Conquer the World" campaign which in alot of ways is a whole other game on its own, playing like a mix between, RON, Risk, and Medieval: Total War.

Yeah its a beautiful thing to look at, but its got game to match.

	04-03-2003 08:34									#6
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

Thanks for the clarification. That is what I was looking for. It is nice to hear that they have worked on that level of detail, just as long as it is not distracting and the rest of the game is well polished.

	07-03-2003 08:36									#7
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

Now you've gotten me really dpressed. Sounds interesting. Anywhere we can see a video or movie of these activities?


DAmn you microsoft. I couldn't even register becasue of the microsoft.com key they sent me never worked. They of course sent me another key after the contest was over.

I need to get this game. I dond;t get the WC# frozen throne beta either. i figured there was a chance I'd get that and that would keep me busy until the release but noOOOOOOOO!! I didn't get either.


Ah well- I guess time to spend time with my wife

	07-03-2003 08:50									#8
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

You have a wife and your obsessed with RTS games? Hmm...

	07-03-2003 11:05									#9
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

well gereally she works early in the morning. I'm still wired by the time she goes to bed. And when she's asleep I play games. Not a bad bargain i might say.

	08-03-2003 12:31									#10
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

It was a joke on my part (yes a bad one) but I have to say that it isn't a bad bargin.

	09-03-2003 21:35									#11
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

How about some screenshots? Eh? Are we supposed to take your word for it?

	09-03-2003 23:14									#12
	Support Apolyton

I hear you Sava.
I have several that I'll post later today.

	11-03-2003 05:36									#13
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

well?