Rise of Nations

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Rise of Nations
Studio United StatesUnited States Big Huge Games
Publisher United StatesUnited States Microsoft Game Studios
Senior Developer Brian Reynolds
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 May 2003
platform Windows , Mac OS X
genre Real time strategy game
Game mode Single player , multiplayer
control Mouse keyboard
system advantages
preconditions		 CPU : 500 MHz; RAM : 98-128 MB; HDD : 800 MB
medium 1 CD-ROM
language German
Age rating
USK released from 12
PEGI recommended for ages 12+

Rise of Nations is a real-time strategy game by Brian Reynolds , chief designer at Big Huge Games , and was released for Windows in May 2003 . The game is a mixture of several genres in the strict sense, although it is a typical representative of the real-time genre. So it plays partly like a global strategy game (such as risk ) or Civilization (in the 2nd part of which Brian Reynolds was also involved), but there are also elements of The Settlers . It is based on the Age of Empires II program code . In May 2004 an expansion called Thrones & Patriots , in October 2004 a gold edition with the main game, add-on and now also for Mac OS X was released. 2006 appeared with Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends, an offshoot on the same technical basis.

Gameplay

Game objective

The aim on the campaign map is to conquer the entire world within a given number of rounds. However, it is also possible to continue the game after this number of rounds has expired. On the real-time maps, the opposing capital must be conquered in most cases, but there are also other variants in some territories, for example defending your capital against invaders or destroying a certain building on the map with an army. All of this can always be achieved within a specified period of time, but mostly in 90 minutes.

Game flow

First and foremost, Rise of Nations is a classic real-time strategy game, and it plays accordingly. The difference to other representatives of this genre is that the player has to build several cities in order to expand them. In addition, there are national borders that separate the player's nation from the other nations from the start. There are 18 nations playable, including the Chinese, Romans and Aztecs. Each nation has several special units depending on the era, each with certain bonuses. There is no story campaign in Rise of Nations . Rather, the player starts on a world map with territories that can be attacked round by turn. Each of these territories represents a game in itself. If you now attack a territory on the risk-like campaign map, the real-time game is loaded, which is played on a map that is similar to the real model. During the game on the campaign map, several epochs of human history are traversed, from ancient times to the information age .

You start with a single small town and send the citizens to mine resources. First of all, these are wood and food (cornfields and fishing), in later epochs metal and oil are added. There is also the resource of knowledge, which is collected by scholars at a university and is needed to research the technologies. There are also so-called “rare” resources, such as coal, sugar, sulfur or even fur, which have to be extracted by specialists, the traders. The size of cities is influenced by additional buildings erected in the vicinity (e.g. temple, market square, university). Likewise, the raw material yields can be considerably expanded through special buildings (e.g. mill) and possible research there.

In the course of the game you build more cities, between which you should build up a trade network with the help of caravans. The caravans regularly pour money into the state treasury. Cities and all other buildings can only be built within their own national borders. To expand the boundaries, for example, a fort can be built on the border line. The border then continues to expand (similar to The Settlers ). Another possibility for expanding the boundaries and increasing the possible total population are research goals, which are carried out in the library in particular. If you have now collected enough raw materials, soldiers can be trained, typical of the genre, with whom you can face your opponents. The troops develop further as the player ascends an era (e.g. in the Middle Ages a catapult becomes a trebuchet ), and there is a great variety of units. In addition, the war is not only fought on land, but also on water and later in the air.

Technologies

There are four different types of technology: military, government, commercial, and scientific technologies, plus some enhancements such as: B. for better resource production. In the information age, if one has researched all seven technologies of the main categories, it is possible to research four further so-called "future technologies". These are: "Missile Defense Shield", "World Government", "Worldwide Prosperity" and "Artificial Intelligence"

-Military technology: increases the maximum number of units, allows the development of better units (e.g. tanks) and lowers the costs of building units -Government technology: extends national borders and allows research into "church technologies" or "temple technologies" -Trade technology: increases the maximum amount of resources that can be accumulated and increases the maximum number of caravans -Science technology: extends the range of vision of all units and buildings, reduces research costs and enables research into civil technologies.

- Missile defense shield: Enemy long-range missiles and nuclear missiles can no longer be fired in that area with this technology and units can no longer be directly attacked by missiles. World government: Enemy cities are integrated into the area immediately after they have been conquered, if this technology is available to the attacker. -Worldwide prosperity: The resource collection limit increases to the maximum value in the game and allows research into "advanced hunters" and the stealth bomber. -Artificial intelligence: any unit build time is reduced to 0.5 seconds.

Nations

There are a total of 18 nations in Rise of Nations , each of which has certain advantages and special forces:

  • Aztecs - The power of the Aztecs lies in the cult of sacrifice
  • Bantu - The power of Bantu resides in migration
  • British - The power of the British is in the Empire
  • Chinese - The power of the Chinese is in culture
  • Egyptians - The power of the Egyptians lies in the Nile
  • French - The power of the French is in leadership
  • Germans - The power of Germans lies in industry
  • Greeks - The power of the Greeks lies in philosophy
  • Inca - The power of the Inca lies in gold
  • Japanese - The power of the Japanese is in honor
  • Koreans - The power of Koreans lies in tradition
  • Maya - The power of the Maya resides in architecture
  • Mongols - The power of the Mongols resides in the Horde
  • Nubians - The power of the Nubians lies in trade
  • Romans - The power of the Romans resides in the Caesars
  • Russians - The power of the Russians lies in the fatherland
  • Spaniards - The power of the Spaniards lies in the urge to discover
  • Turks - The power of the Turks lies in the siege

age

World wonder

Rise of Nations has a total of 14 wonders of the world (the add-on Thrones and Patriots contains 3 additional wonders of the world, see: Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots ). The wonders of the world offer special military, economic, development and population benefits. This prevents z. B. the space program that after launching a nuclear missile you receive a trade embargo of 5–20 minutes, which prevents the buying and selling of raw materials on the world market. World wonders can be built by any nation, but they need a certain age and a certain amount of raw materials. In addition, wonders of the world are city-bound, so they must be built in a city radius. Should a city with a wonder of the world be occupied and incorporated by a hostile nation, the advantages of the wonder of the world are transferred to the hostile nation. In each case, a world wonder can only be built once. As soon as a world wonder has been built by a nation, it disappears from the building menu and can no longer be built in the further course of the game. In other nations, the same, unfinished wonder of the world is automatically demolished.

reception

The game and the add-on Thrones and Patriots were sold around a million times together. In 2006, the steampunk offshoot Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends was released , for which both the development budget and the team strength were increased. But the title turned out to be not nearly as successful, the sales were around a third of what Rise of Nations could sell . Microsoft then canceled the contract for the development of Rise of Nations 2 .

Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots

Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots
Studio United StatesUnited States Big Huge Games
Publisher United StatesUnited States Microsoft Game Studios
Senior Developer Brian Reynolds
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 April 2004
platform Windows , Mac OS X
genre Real time strategy game
Game mode Single player , multiplayer
control PC mouse, keyboard
system advantages
preconditions		 CPU : 500 MHz; RAM : 98-128 MB; HDD : 750 MB
medium 1 CD-ROM
language German
Age rating
USK released from 12
PEGI recommended for ages 12+

Thrones and Patriots is an add-on for Rise of Nations and was released in April 2004. It adds six new nations and 20 new units to the main program. In Thrones and Patriots , the player can choose between four new single-player campaigns that will replace the world conquest mode ( Alexander the Great , the New World , Napoleon and the Cold War ). Another complementary feature are different forms of government ( monarchy , despotism , republic , democracy , capitalism and socialism ) which each come up with special patriot units. These influence the course of the game through their specific combat characteristics. With the add-on, three new wonders of the world were added, bringing the total to 17. The world wonders "Forbidden City" and "Red Fort" have a special feature, as these world wonders are not city-bound. A nation thus retains the advantages of these world wonders until they have been destroyed (Red Fort) or conquered (Forbidden City).

Nations of the add-on

World wonder of the add-on

Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends

Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends is the sequel to Rise of Nations and was released in May 2006. In contrast to its predecessor, Rise of Legends does not play against a historical, but rather against a fictional fantasy background. There are also innovations such as B. buildable districts, hero units, dominance, a simplified resource management (only two resource types per playable race) and neutral tribes, buildings and units to be conquered. Compared to Rise of Nations, there are only three playable races. These include the Vinci, who draw their strength from the art and science that magic gifted Alin, ruler of the elements of sand, fire and glass, and the Cuotl, the jungle people who are most likely a mix of Aztec and the film Stargate remember .

Trademark rights

In May 2012, developer Big Huge Games was closed due to the bankruptcy of the parent company 38 Studios. On December 11, 2013, the company's brands and technologies were auctioned, including the rights to the name and games of Big Huge Games. The rights to Rise of Nations / Rise of Legends - including a fully developed but hitherto unreleased iOS game called Rise of Nations: Tactics - and the rights to the name of Big Huge Games found an unknown buyer for $ 320,000. In May 2014 Microsoft confirmed that it had won the bid and at the same time announced an Extended Edition of Rise of Nations , supplemented by the Thrones and Patriots add-on , improved graphics and support for the social functions of the online platform Steam .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.bighugegames.com/press_rongoldships.shtml ( Memento from July 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/99489-PAX-East-2010-How-Big-Huge-Games-Barely-Survived
  3. ↑ http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/26/5238072/rise-of-nations-tactics-38-studios-forgotten-game
  4. ↑ http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/207020/38_Studios_auction_raises_320000_fails_to_sell_Amalur_franchise.php
  5. ↑ http://www.pcgames.de/Rise-of-Nations-PC-23122/News/Rise-of-Nations-Microsoft-hat-Rechte-erworben-und-veroeffentlicht-Extended-Edition-1123082/