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Solver
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Apolyton Duke Of Something
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Latvia, Riga
Sep 2000
time: 07:28
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.Updated 26.05.03.. Scroll down till you see the next big updated sign for a big huge post on wonders.
This is my third, I think, day with the retail version of RoN, and it is, therefore, time to publish some strategical tips that I for now believe useful through my games. Bear in mind, the AI is tough and provides a challenge, and that my experience still is very limited (some messing with beta, with limited time and a bit worse AI), so...
Attrition:
Actually, it's a highly important thing, for it makes the defending player quite well-stuited to his position. Maybe this is unlike some other RTS games, where the attacker had an advantage just because he was attacking and pushing the other guy. So, build your first tower in an area that the enemy might reasonably attack, and be sure to research attrition techs there. Once you're at attrition level 2, enemy just doesn't want to risk attacking you by sending 3 units, for that will do him no good - attacks will come in serious numbers then. So, also when planning on building peacefully, get the attrition upgrades and make yourself a less inviting target. Well, that's pretty obvious, I guess.
Of course, this works both ways, never forget that attrition when you're the attacker. However, in some cases, you may see that your units enter enemy territory and take no attrition, which means that the enemy is still to research attrition level 1. If this is the case, attack his economy with haste! You have a free go through his territory, which is just a good motivation to have some Slingers chase his gatherers around for a bit. This will force the enemy to get a tower up, because he will now get quite wary of future attacks on his villagers, even if you're not planning any.
Speaking of attrition, it's an absolute must to mention the Kremlin wonder. If you happen to play as the Russians, GET IT!! Kremlin coupled with your Russian Winter ability results in some very, very serious attrition damage, and an enemy without sufficient amounts of Supply Wagons is going to have a real tough time invading you. This would also make your inner cities quite safe, because enemy units wouldn't be in much of a fighting shape after marching through lots of land controlled by a Russian player who has the Kremlin. Now, this brings me exactly on the topic of Supply Wagons.
You just can't underestimate these guys (or whatever they are). Be sure to bring at least one when attacking with you, and don't leave it too hard behind. Theoretically, the best position is in the centre of your attacking group, but that might make the wagon a relatively easy target. Do as you please, but don't leave him so far behind that he serves little purpose. All in all, the effect countered by Wagons is pretty huge, and you can even offset advantages of those Russians! Again, this is something that goes both ways. If you're under attack, make an effort to get rid of enemy supply wagons, and do it fast. Once your siege is upgraded to Bombards or better, it's a good idea to have a few field guns target the Supply Wagons. If you can manage to wipe enemy supplies at very start of the battle, it might even cause the enemy to flee (well, this particular note is more with MP in mind).
Remember them French here! If you're French, build many supplies, those units are your friends. And, against, the French, hit them with all possible speed, using your siege or Light cavalry or whatever is up to the task. When playing French, I've tried having 3 Supply Wagons in close proximity of my army at any time, and it worked reasonably well, even healing my troopers in enemy land, love that! Note that other nations can also achieve this via research, but it's quite a while till the respective technology can be researched.
City building.
Cities are crucial. Since most of you here are Civ players, you know that fairly well, and this is no different in RoN. You start with just one city, and the benefits that you get when building additional ones are fantastic. Therefore, don't forget to make that Civic research level 1, then find a few free citizens, or create them, and go make a new city. Once you have two cities, you can start to generate wealth better, as well as have a huge boost to your economy. Now, about what to build in your cities.
Farms are really, really important. They're what provide you with all the food, and if you lack food, you're in a weak position. Unfortunately, the cities have a limit of only 5 farms per city, unless you're playing the Egyptians. You will, no doubt, quikcly notice that 5 farms just aren't enough to get your economy going and also have some other developments in your nation. This means that you want a second city quickly. A word about the Bantu here, they have an absolutely fantastic bonus of cheap, cheap, CHEAP cities. So cheap that there's no excuse for not making a second city early in the game. Now, once you have your second city, fill it with 5 more farms, and now finally, with 10 farms, you have quite a surplus of food to continue your research and expansion.
Every city I build or conquer gets a temple as soon as I can reasonably afford it without giving up too much, which is actually soon enough. Temples provide the much-needed boost to your territory. This is important, because a) enemies can't be building up right outside one of your cities, b) you have more land to use, c) it increases your total land control %, which is a crucial play for taxation income. Of course, research your taxation level 1 tech as soon as feasible, because wealth comes into the play rather early. Now, every city also gets a Market, and this one should really be obvious to you. Consider this, you make Caravans at markets, and they trade between your cities. Each pair of cities you have can trade. Therefore, with your city number of n, every city can trade with n-1 cities. So, your total possible amount of trade routes is n*(n-1), which is quite obvious. Now, with 5 cities, which isn't THAT much, you have 20 possible trade routes, which means that you will not be having a wealth problem for quite a while. In fact, the Caravan limit is there for a reason - you shouldn't just be able to run away with as much wealth as you want. Note here - once you build a Caravan, you don't even need to do anything, it will automatically find a city to trade with and will engage the trade route, if possible.
Universities. A pretty high priority build for my cities. Mainly, for my first two cities, I get them very soon (and, of course, fill with scholars), and for the third city, it's medium high priority. I don't want to spend all my wealth on scholars, but 3 unis with them is a nice amount to get the research going quite easily.
Economic buildings. Well, what can I say here? It should be obvious that every mountain you can find should have a mine. It's not like there's dozens of those mountains, you know. For forests, make sure you are using a couple of them, but later it really becomes unwise to lumberjack every single tree you can find. As for Farms, I've already said much, but let me add a bit else. For third city, it's also 5 farms, a must have. For fourth and beyond, they're not that high of priority anyway, but build them nonetheless. Just don't hurry to make 5 farms at once with your 6th city. Gathering enhancement buildings. Show me a single reason NOT to build them when available, please. Lumber Mill, Granary and Smelter should pop up in every city. Well, for me Smelter is usually the highest priority, for mountains (and Metal, therefore) tend to be limited, but Granary and Lumber Mill also gets built. It's a very good prospect, you build it and forget, while getting additional resource output... sounds great? Well, it is.
Research
No comment  . There's quite a lot of technologies to research anyway, but you want to make your progress through them quickly, yet with consideration. First rule of a thumb - never have just one Library! It's not like they're expensive, and at some point in the Classical age, you're quite well suited to dropping one or two more libraries. Then, you can research multiple techs at once.
Early in the game, my personal priority seems to be commerce research, because I tend to hit the commerce cap limit pretty soon, especially with Timber gathering. IF playing Bantu, Civics is of utmost importance, for being able to go and build my second city for almost nothing. Military research is nothing something I value this much, for attacks can generally wait till a later point in the game (and they should, really), but military tech still is important, at least first 2 levels. First, it's the population limit, second, you need the ability to raise an army, even if not planning to use it! In fact, you should always have some military buildings at the ready, even at peace. Well, any RTS player will find this quite obvious. Science research is fine in the various stuff it provides, and never forget that it actually makes the other techs cheaper, making it well worth a path to pursue.
Advance ages at your own convenience, but don't delay it too much. In fact, if you have the resources, it's mostly better to advance. First, it always provides some bonuses, like the Classical age ability to build mounted units (and Mines!). Second, units from later ages are better, and really they are. Once you're in Classical, you can quite certainly expect your cavalry units to beat any Archaic unit that might come. Besides, the Classical Age opens doors for things such as wonders and some interesting prospects. Same goes for other ages, they all are worth it.
Industrial Age
Deserves a few sentences on its own, for it really changes the game. This is where the game changes economically and militarily. Mainly militarily, of course. Tanks become available, and that's a huge change. Simply put, no Enlightment age unit can reasonably fight against a Tank. Once you get the Light Tank tech, you get your heavy cavalry upgrades to those, and enemy infantry and archers suddenly are all doomed. Also note that Artillery is that much more deadly. The second big military change of Industrial Age is the arrival of airpower. OK, all you get for now is primitive fighter aircraft, but it all marks the beggining of a new area in military development. Fighters may not seem like much of a threat to your cities and ground forces, but take my advice - build them anti-aircraft guns! They become available now, and this is the time you HAVE to get them. Otherwise, you'll be very disappointed when in Modern Age 16 bombers fly up to your land and beat the crap out of one of cities. AA guns have quite a reasonable range, and you should clearly put them in proximity of every city center you have, as well as any wonders. I have lost my Collosus because of bombings, and I'm not going to forget that.
City attacking
A few words here, too. First, be sure to bring in supply wagons, because you will likely have to fight at least a bit inside enemy borders. Second, have siege at the ready, there's no other really effective method of getting rid of buildings. Now, my preference is to target the city center immediately with my siege, just trying to outflood the enemy with my units, and take down his military structures with other methods. In fact, once you have some 5 siege guns, taking the city center down to 0 HP isn't hard, and that's when the territory becomes neutral. Great stuff, no attrition, no building for enemy, and it all is going to be yours soon. This is usually where I turn my siege to other military strucutres nearby, while the infantry troopers are made for a more defensive role, often entrenched. Also, 2-3 citizens go for repairing the city center.
Be sure to remember that your siege, once level of Cannons or later, is also good against units, doing serious splash damage.
I also believe I had a few notes to make on missile weaponry and modern aircraft, but not now anyway. Need to play more, and then finally get some sleep  .
[size = 4]Note![/size][size=3]For early game and subsequent sections, scroll down to later posts. I can't update this one anymore because of message length limits.
Last edited by Solver on 26-05-2003 at 23:58
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albiedamned
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Ellicott City, MD
Sep 2001
time: 00:28
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You wrote a lot of good stuff. I think the tips you are giving will appeal to the TBS player, but the RTS player will probably want to focus on military sooner and try rushing. But I tend to play the way you described. A few specific comments:
quote:
Now, once you have your second city, fill it with 5 more farms, and now finally, with 10 farms, you have quite a surplus of food to continue your research and expansion. |
This is obviously a good idea, but don't forget that you have to do a commerce research first or you'll wind up well over the opening limit of 70. A city with 5 farms gets you 60 since the city generates 10 food itself.
quote:
Now, every city also gets a Market, and this one should really be obvious to you. |
I'm not so sure about this strategy. I've discussed this on another thread somewhere. Your math about the number of possible combinations of cities for trade routes is correct, but the total number of trade route is limited by your commerce level and is much lower. I find that one Market can easily keep up with producing all the caravans and merchants I need. Additional Markets give you +10 Wealth each, but that's not that much.
quote:
First rule of a thumb - never have just one Library! It's not like they're expensive, and at some point in the Classical age, you're quite well suited to dropping one or two more libraries. Then, you can research multiple techs at once. |
Two libraries is a good idea, especially given what we learned today about the second library taking over the research of the first if it gets destroyed (see this thread ). However I think Classical Age might be a little early to invest the resources in a second Library. I usually wait until Gunpowder, by which time I'm hopefully about to take over a Library from an enemy!
quote:
Science research is fine in the various stuff it provides, and never forget that it actually makes the other techs cheaper, making it well worth a path to pursue. |
True, and probably slightly understated. If you can, you should always do the science research first. Sometimes it's not practical due to other pressing needs, but all else being equal you should always grab the science first.
quote:
Now, my preference is to target the city center immediately with my siege, just trying to outflood the enemy with my units, and take down his military structures with other methods. In fact, once you have some 5 siege guns, taking the city center down to 0 HP isn't hard, and that's when the territory becomes neutral. |
Not quite true - you have to knock the city down to 0 and then move in your infantry so that there's more of your guys in the area than his. Then the city is captured and the territory becomes neutral during the assimilation phase. One other thing - going for the city initially often makes sense, but if military production buidings are near the border you should probably go after them at the same time (or even first). That way you cut out his ability to quickly reinforce.
quote:
Be sure to remember that your siege, once level of Cannons or later, is also good against units, doing serious splash damage. |
A very good point that deserves extra emphasis. It's easy to get into a habit of just pointing your seige weapons at buildings, but the gunpowder and later ones are devestating against troops. Plus they make for cool graphics - the poor little infantry guys go flying when a shell goes off nearby.
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Solver
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Apolyton Duke Of Something
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Latvia, Riga
Sep 2000
time: 07:28
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quote:
You wrote a lot of good stuff. I think the tips you are giving will appeal to the TBS player, but the RTS player will probably want to focus on military sooner and try rushing. |
Yup, this was written with a more peaceful and TBS approach in mind. I'm yet to explore the super early rushes in RoN.
quote:
However I think Classical Age might be a little early to invest the resources in a second Library. I usually wait until Gunpowder, by which time I'm hopefully about to take over a Library from an enemy!
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Not so sure. A second Classical library gives you a chance to actually be researching two techs at the same time, if your econ is good, you want to keep your resource totals low by researching ahead.
quote:
Not quite true - you have to knock the city down to 0 and then move in your infantry so that there's more of your guys in the area than his. Then the city is captured and the territory becomes neutral during the assimilation phase. One other thing - going for the city initially often makes sense, but if military production buidings are near the border you should probably go after them at the same time (or even first). That way you cut out his ability to quickly reinforce.
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Well, I just assumed that during a massive attack on an enemy, you likely have more troops than he has there by the time the city is knocked down to 0...
quote:
A very good point that deserves extra emphasis. It's easy to get into a habit of just pointing your seige weapons at buildings, but the gunpowder and later ones are devestating against troops. |
Yeah! The thing I would want to write next would be about applications of some specific units... damn, I've suffered from those Russian Katyusha batteries... tough cookies!
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Solver
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Apolyton Duke Of Something
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Latvia, Riga
Sep 2000
time: 07:28
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quote:
You wrote a lot of good stuff. I think the tips you are giving will appeal to the TBS player, but the RTS player will probably want to focus on military sooner and try rushing. |
Yup, this was written with a more peaceful and TBS approach in mind. I'm yet to explore the super early rushes in RoN.
quote:
However I think Classical Age might be a little early to invest the resources in a second Library. I usually wait until Gunpowder, by which time I'm hopefully about to take over a Library from an enemy!
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Not so sure. A second Classical library gives you a chance to actually be researching two techs at the same time, if your econ is good, you want to keep your resource totals low by researching ahead.
quote:
Not quite true - you have to knock the city down to 0 and then move in your infantry so that there's more of your guys in the area than his. Then the city is captured and the territory becomes neutral during the assimilation phase. One other thing - going for the city initially often makes sense, but if military production buidings are near the border you should probably go after them at the same time (or even first). That way you cut out his ability to quickly reinforce.
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Well, I just assumed that during a massive attack on an enemy, you likely have more troops than he has there by the time the city is knocked down to 0...
quote:
A very good point that deserves extra emphasis. It's easy to get into a habit of just pointing your seige weapons at buildings, but the gunpowder and later ones are devestating against troops. |
Yeah! The thing I would want to write next would be about applications of some specific units... damn, I've suffered from those Russian Katyusha batteries... tough cookies!
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albiedamned
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Ellicott City, MD
Sep 2001
time: 00:28
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quote:
Well, I just assumed that during a massive attack on an enemy, you likely have more troops than he has there by the time the city is knocked down to 0... |
I like to use the siege attack option, which means select all your units including infantry and siege and alt-right click on the target. The siege weapons fire away while the ground troops deploy around the siege to protect them. So my guys aren't running in to take the city until I give a new order. This is more conservative of course. In fact, I usually find myself standing on my side of the border during the initial siege attack. Not that I don't have supply wagons but just so that if he couterattacks he'll have to take attrition.
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Enriquillo
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Holland
Nov 2001
time: 06:28
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Ok, it's probably capped at 3 for another reason, I haven't really payed too much attention to how this works. I just build how ever many my empire supports at any given moment.
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albiedamned
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Ellicott City, MD
Sep 2001
time: 00:28
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Actually I think A-B and B-A are the same. But I also think this is a moot discussion, because the caravan limit tied to the commerce research level is lower than the maximum number of combinations of cities..
As for the peaceful approach not working at all, I suspect you might be proven wrong. Only time will tell. It does work against the AI (at least up to "Tough" level where I am playing now). And I suspect a peaceful player who pays attention to defense will have a far better chance in RoN than in previous RTS games.
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albiedamned
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Ellicott City, MD
Sep 2001
time: 00:28
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I don't know how to stop them from declaring war. My guess is it works something like Civ - if you get too powerful, they start to dislike you and decide to attack. Maybe you could send them tribute earlier in the game? Or you could just say "bring it on!"
Tough is only level 4 - there's also Tougher and Toughest. Plus I pause all the time still, which makes things considerably easier. I have to wean myself off that pause button eventually if I want to play mp.
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Solver
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Apolyton Duke Of Something
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Latvia, Riga
Sep 2000
time: 07:28
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Playing my second game in a row on Atlantic Power (islands map), 4 players. And that's very tough for me. I've always sucked a LOT on water in all RTS games, not so much here, but still... I tried an early attack, and succeeded partially, but I couldn't deliver reinforcements efficiently, for my enemies ships made quick work of my arriving transports, while my navy just couldn't get rid of them - argh!
The first game ended after over 2 hours, being really high tech, where I finally was able to take over an island occupied by enemy after several failed attempts - using some really, really mixed arms. Tons of machine guns, some tanks and a great deal of helicopters were involved, with Stealth Bombers doing the cleaning job.
The second game started with some early attacks from me, but I didn't manage to take anything much out, except for 2 or 3 buildings and some gatherers - that's when I started losing the water battles (duh), and will have to work hard to regain them.
BTW, Information age rules! You have a superb income of resources, and Artifical Intelligence technology... need an army? Build two Barracks in newly acquired territory, and that's anything you want...
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Rusty Nail
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Copenhagen
Jan 1970
time: 05:28
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The correct formula is n*(n-1)/2. Two cities give you one route only, 3 cities give you 3, 4 give you 6 etc. provided the caravan max is not lower.
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Inverse Icarus
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flying too low to the ground
May 2001
time: 00:28
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quote:
Originally posted by Solver
Playing my second game in a row on Atlantic Power (islands map), 4 players. And that's very tough for me. I've always sucked a LOT on water in all RTS games, not so much here, but still... I tried an early attack, and succeeded partially, but I couldn't deliver reinforcements efficiently, for my enemies ships made quick work of my arriving transports, while my navy just couldn't get rid of them - argh!
The first game ended after over 2 hours, being really high tech, where I finally was able to take over an island occupied by enemy after several failed attempts - using some really, really mixed arms. Tons of machine guns, some tanks and a great deal of helicopters were involved, with Stealth Bombers doing the cleaning job.
The second game started with some early attacks from me, but I didn't manage to take anything much out, except for 2 or 3 buildings and some gatherers - that's when I started losing the water battles (duh), and will have to work hard to regain them.
BTW, Information age rules! You have a superb income of resources, and Artifical Intelligence technology... need an army? Build two Barracks in newly acquired territory, and that's anything you want... |
heh 
i've found that naval maps are a tad more strategic than land maps, simply because you need an EFFECTIVE navy to really get anywhere en masse (assuming you're playing skilled enemies).
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olaf
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I find that when attacking an enemy city its wise to take out all the buildings that add to the city's defense before attacking the city itself.
Which is basically any/all military buildings and the temple. This makes taking the actual city easier, and worst case (you get beaten back), a few destroyed buildings will leave the city defenses softened up for next time as well as providing you with resources via plunder and costing your foe resources if they choose to try and rebuild. If you hit the unit production buildings it will also delay reinforcements which is always a good thing.
olaf
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bhg_paul
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I agree with olaf that you want to take out military buildings early. You might want to be a bit more careful with the temple. A common tactic is to build a temple forward of the city. Attacker now spends a decent amount of time banging down the temple. During that time I get a nice opportunity to shore up the city defences, perhaps finish building a tower, and even do some damage to the units attacking the temple. Once the attacker pops the temple and proceeds to attack the city several citizens quickly rebuild the temple way in the rear.
Poping the temple can help, but only do it if you're going to be able to rush right in, otherwise you're just letting the defender buy time.
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Solver
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Apolyton Duke Of Something
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Latvia, Riga
Sep 2000
time: 07:28
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Updated!
OK, time for an update. This time, it's a section on Wonders, with comments on all of them
Colossus: Classical Age, 1 Wonder Point, 200 Wood 200 Timber. Wealth income +30%, pop cap +50, timber and wealth commerce cap +50.
Well, quite a useful early wonder to pick. Consider its immediate advantage, the Wealth boost you got. Early on, Wealth can be quite a scarce resource, with you having nothing but a few Caravans generating gold, you don't yet have enough of them, nor do you have enough cities. Therefore, this boost is nice.
However, it's the population increase where the Colossus really rules. This early on, the wonder might let you research military technologies a bit later, for you have the pop slots anyway. In the late game, the extra 50 units can be of great help. Consider fighting an enemy at cap of 200, with yourself being at 50... if you use that by actually having 250 units, you're a very good step ahead of him. Always put this Wonder on highest priority if you're Bantu, for an awesome pop limit!
Pyramid: Classical Age, 1 Wonder Point, 200 Food, 200 Timber, Food and Wealth commerce cap +50, city limit +1, food income +20%.
Not a superb wonder, IMO, but useful. The city limit is good, because you should try and build as many cities as you can. Also, this provides a chance to get a bit later with the civics techs...the food bonus is nice for the cases when you don't get quite enough of it. If building this wonder as Egypt, it provides an absolutely fantastic food income.
Colosseum: Medieval Age, 1 Wondr Point, 300 Metal 300 Timber, national borders +3, attrition in your land +50%, forts, towers 20% cheaper.
Another mediorce wonder, but one that can get very useful depending on the circumstances. It's the attrition damage added why I like Colosseum, because attrition helps you defend, and an enemy that knows you have the Colloseum is likely to depend heavily on Supply Wagons. The borders boost is also nice, especially when fighting an enemy and assimilating one of his cities.
Terra Cotta Army: Medieval Age, 2 Wonder Points, 300 Food 300 Wealth, free light infantry every 30 seconds + 0.5 second for every infantry you control.
A highly useful wonder, especially early on. It creates free units - during your peaceful buildups, it's something extra to defend yourself with (and sort of a defensive protection for an Egyptian who's going for a wonder victory), while during wars it's still a reasonable boost. In a few minutes you do get something valuable for yourself. Note, though, that later in the game usefulness of this wonder does increase somewhat - the actual generation time is going to be more like 40 and over seconds, and, one unit doesn't matter that mucn then - but early on, it does matter a lot.
Porcelain Tower: Gunpoweder Age, 2 Wonder Points, 400 Wealth 400 Metal, Ships created 50% faster, you get bonuses of ALL rare resource in your borders, even if not having a merchant there, market and rare resource income +200%.
I always have this as high priority on naval maps, but even on land maps, I don't exactly want to miss this one out.
The ship creation bonus is so fantastically good for the times you're fighting a big naval war for control of the seas! Every single ship counts there, and you get yours in place sooner... this one has won battles for me. Light ships are created at lighting rates with this wonder.
Now, the don't need merchants bonus isn't so great, for I attempt to already have a merchant on every rare resource deposit before I get to Gunpowder age, but it's the added income that matters! Say, Aluminium gives you +30 to metal and oil - congrats, with Porcelan Tower, it's 90 to both. A big boost. Also, the Market income boost means that you actually gain quite a lot of extra wealth income.
Temple of Tikal: Gunpowder Age, 2 wonder points, 400 Food, 400 Timber, Increases timber gather rate by 50%, timber commerce cap +100, temple effects +50%.
400 food and 400 timber isn't that much for Gunpowder Age, you should be able to generate the amount in a reasonable time. Get this one if you want it... what you get is quite some extra timber (pays for itself rather quickly), and cute additions to your borders and income. Nothing I would break my neck about, but a nice boost.
Angkor Wat: Enlightement Age, 3 Wonder Points, 500 Wealth 500 Timber, Metal gather rate +50%, metal commerce cap +100, barracks, stable and dock units cost -25%.
I like this one. I really do, and how much I do depends on the map. There are those maps where you can't get your hands on many mountains, and your Metal production suffers quite a lot. If this is the case, I definitely want this wonder. However, the unit cost reduction is my favorite part here. 25% is quite a lot. Simply put, it makes those expensive naval ships quite affordable, and barracks unit become plain cheap. Creating all those Musketters becomes a clear pleasure then!
Versailles: Enlightment Age, 3 Wonder Points, 500 Food 500 Metal, non-knowledge research costs -50%, supply wagons heal troops (heal twice as fast if you're French), siege and supply speed +25%.
This is a wonder I do defnitely want most of the time. And it's one of the wonders that is very useful for both peace and war. The ability to get your supply wagons to heal your troops is pretty huge. Nothing can be nicer after a battle, and it also makes Supply Wagons much more valuable during a battle. The research discount you get is also great, and will result in quite some saved costs during the game. Knowledge shouldn't be that hard to acquire, while the extra other resources you keep really matter. The siege and supply speed bonus is also nice... consider this, your siege actually has some quite reasonable speed now. Not enough to run away from Tank fire maybe, but at least they're no longer the slow lumbering weapons they may have been.
Kremlin: Industrial Age, 4 Wonder Points, 600 Metal 600 Food, timber, food, metal commerce caps are +200, attrition damage to enemies doubled, extra free spy that doesn't count towards pop limit and respawns - all spies are created insantly.
A good wonder that can be an excellent one. The commerce cap boosts are very nice, as they allow you to have some insane income, especially if you do the proper research at economic buildings, or happen to have any other commerce enchancing wonder. My favorite part here is the doubled attrition. It will, once again, make your enemies sit in an uncomfortable position (and HEAVILY dependent of suppy wagons) when fighting you. If you are Russia, GET THIS WONDER, GET IT, GET IT! Can't stress that enough. Russians with Kremlin do indeed give ridicilous attrition... and if you happen to have the Colosseum too, you are in the most comfortable defensive position possible in this game at all.
The spy bonus is a more subtle thing. It's quite useful, and you can count on a spy anytime you want, but I am yet to learn how to make the best use of them - although I am surely going to try and do so.
Anyway, this is a wonder that you don't, in most cases, want to miss out.
Statue of Liberty: Industrial Age, 6 Wonder Points, 600 Food, 600 Wealth, ground and air unit upgrades free, reduces attrition to your units by 100%, bombers and anti-air guns cost -33%.
This is quite a fantastic wonder, and one I try to get in all of my games. Just consider, free upgrades! It means, as soon as advance an age, you immediately get your troops upgraded, and if you're an age ahead of the enemy, you will have a few easy minutes till he advances and does the upgrading! Also, think of the resource pool that you save... that's quite some cost to upgrade your 30 Riflemen to Infantry, isn't it? Well, this no longer needs to be a problem! Also, on hitting Modern you immediately have the ability to construct Bombers and Helicopters - huge.
Taj Mahal: Modern Age, 6 Wonder Points, 700 Timber 700 Wealth, buildings double hit points, wealth income doubled, wealth commerce cap +300.
I can quite see how this can be a good wonder. The HP bonus means that even for the artillery (which IS powerful in RoN), it will be a serious challenge to dispose of your buildings, and in most cases you will at least have the chance to respond to the thread before you're dead. Nonetheless, I prefer the added wealth income... by now, there should already be a healthy level of wealth, and the Taj Mahal gives you high amounts of it.
Eiffel Tower: Modern Age, 6 Wonder Points, 700 Metal 700 Timber, oil gather rate +100% and oil commerce cap +200, national borders +6.
This is yet another wonder that I attempt to pick up every time. Oil is a crucial modern resource, you can't get aircraft or tanks without it. And, it's often quite scarce. Especially on some water maps, where tons of oil is on the water, and you don't have control of the sea. Therefore, go and grab this wonder, and you will have decent oil income with even only a few Oil Wells in your empire. The national borders increase is, yet again, a nice boon bot nothing too great - although any territory increase is good for giving extra space to build on, and limiting the options of enemies.
Super Collider: Information Age, 8 Wonder Points, 800 Knowledge, 800 Food, buying costs at Market never more than 125, selling never less than 50, technology research is instant.
IMHO, this one is a bit overrated. I try not to use the Market too much anyway, preferring to gather all my resources the natural way. By now I should already have a very powerful economy. Tech insant research... hmm... the econ techs are likely researched already, to the degree that I need them. Library research is done or nearly done with. And if I have the Statue of Liberty, I need no upgrades. So, while this one can defnitely be a boost in some situations, I wouldn't say the Supercollider is superpower.
Space Program:Information Age, 8 Wonder Points, 800 Knowledge 800 Wealth, reveal entire map, aircraft and missile creation double speed and half the cost, no nuclear embargos.
Now this is what I call a very good wonder. You can spy on your enemie to your heat's content. You know exactly where are they massing their forces and how are they attacking, so you can be well prepared, and defend/strike at the correct locations. Besides, the aircraft that really rules later in the game (stealth bombers KILL the enemy) is cheapo stuff now... get this wonder. If your opponent gets it, you shouldn't be feeling easy, for now it's him who knows every single move that YOU make.
_________
Whew, quite a post, eh? 
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The diplomat
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Terre Haute, IN USA
Sep 1999
time: 23:28
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quote:
Originally posted by Solver
Updated!
Super Collider: Information Age, 8 Wonder Points, 800 Knowledge, 800 Food, buying costs at Market never more than 125, selling never less than 50, technology research is instant.
IMHO, this one is a bit overrated. I try not to use the Market too much anyway, preferring to gather all my resources the natural way. By now I should already have a very powerful economy. Tech insant research... hmm... the econ techs are likely researched already, to the degree that I need them. Library research is done or nearly done with. And if I have the Statue of Liberty, I need no upgrades. So, while this one can defnitely be a boost in some situations, I wouldn't say the Supercollider is superpower. |
Where the instant tech research really shines is if you reach the super-techs. Considering that they are "game-enders" and take very long to research, the ability to research them instantaneously is a huge boost.
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SithUK
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Solver: Excellent post m8. I'm only starting out on RoN (playing the fantastic demo atm) and your posts have helped me immensely. I played the initial tutorial game once and then instantly proceeded to playing on tough.
I haven't won a game yet but I'm now surviving to the end with the Comp winning by a wonder victory. I'm going to turn wonder victories off from now on. IMO its an anti-climax to a game; I want a massive war :-)
Going to print out your Wonder summaries and edit it to include "The Diplomat's" take on the Supercollider. I agree with him on getting the end game techs/abilities. My favourite is being able to create units instantly (AI?). Getting that instantly would own!
For me anything which increases oil and metal are essential. They are the late game caps for me. Haven't used planes yet :-)
Oh well off for another game.
Cheers again Solver and keep up the excellent work!
Can't you edit your original post with the additional info that you create? Or are you posting the updates as replies so that other user's replies are in chronological sequence to the updates?
Thanks again,
Sith
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Solver
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Apolyton Duke Of Something
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Latvia, Riga
Sep 2000
time: 07:28
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quote:
Where the instant tech research really shines is if you reach the super-techs. Considering that they are "game-enders" and take very long to research, the ability to research them instantaneously is a huge boost.
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IF you happen to get to super-techs yeah. I anyway might have one of them researched already by the time I can get Supercollider... though I agree it can be a boost .
quote:
You like ALL of them, except for SuperConductor. :~(
That doesn't help so much. :~(
Maybe you could tell us instead how to maximize the values of the ones which aren't immediately obvious? The Civ's which are best to use with them? Etc?
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You know, it's quite easy to critisize stuff, isn't it ? Besides, it's not that I think all the rest are useful... and Supercollider is a booster too.
Please understand that my RoN experience is still limited somewhat. I do expect myself to be able to write a better list of Wonders at some point (with maximizing uses and such), but my current priority is trying to make a post about the early game - the first age, maybe start of the second. How to get your economy going, etc. In RoN, there's no "one way to go", especially not with the research, but there are quite some tips to give. Still, I need to experiement a little bit on myself to post that. Will do, though.
quote:
Solver: Excellent post m8. I'm only starting out on RoN (playing the fantastic demo atm) and your posts have helped me immensely. I played the initial tutorial game once and then instantly proceeded to playing on tough.
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Thanks a lot, much appreciated . BTW, congrats on immediately going to tough  .
quote:
For me anything which increases oil and metal are essential. They are the late game caps for me. Haven't used planes yet :-)
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Yeah, especially oil for me. Can't seem to get enough of it if someone else grabs the Eiffel...
quote:
Going to print out your Wonder summaries and edit it to include "The Diplomat's" take on the Supercollider. I agree with him on getting the end game techs/abilities. My favourite is being able to create units instantly (AI?). Getting that instantly would own!
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A little something here. I try to, on hitting the Information age, get all the techs in the library at about the same time. So, let's say that the moment I'm in Information, I already have access to super-techs. Now, the first thing I do, is go and research the AI. If I also start building the Supercollider, AI will probably be finished/near finished before the Wonder... note again, this is NOT to say that it's a bad or useless wonder. It's just to say that I don't think it's that crucial.
quote:
Can't you edit your original post with the additional info that you create? Or are you posting the updates as replies so that other user's replies are in chronological sequence to the updates?
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I'm updating the original post with new "sections", such as that on Wonders. However, little replies like this one should mainly stay where they are, to give it some chronological sense...
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20-05-2003 01:16
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