RoN vs Civ2 Comparison

[Alexander's Horse]

The game isn't out in Australia yet but I'm thinking of buying of it.

Could someone who is a civ 2 fan, particularly a civ2 multiplayer geek, please give a hardcore civ2 player some idea of the similarities and differences? I'm interested in the views of vet civ2 players, not someone who has only played the game a couple of times.

I'm a confirmed TBS fan and am a little wary of buying an RTS. Like, do the maps look like a world with continents and so forth? How many cities can you build? Can you stop play at certain points? Does the host or the person with the fastest connection get an advantage in multiplayer? Is it possible to play long games without much warfare? How big are the maps? oes the host get a starting tech? (Aargh!!!) Are "diplo" games possible? How about teams?

To give you some idea of where I live on the player scale, I play 1x1x deity civ 2 with a dedicated band of friends. We'll spend up to 30 hours over about 10 sessions and a couple of months playing out a civ 2 game. Usually with 4 players. We play a couple of nights a week, like a poker school.

Thanks.

[Boris Godunov]

AH, it's an RTS game. It's pretty similar to any other RTS game. If you hate RTS games, you likely won't enjoy it.

It is a superb RTS game, perhaps the best since the original AoE. But it's still and RTS game.

You can't spend days playing it...Most games finish in an hour or two.

The maps are the square isometric ones, like in all RTS games. You are limited in cities based on your technology level, though civ-specific bonuses and Wonders can enhance this. The most I've had (demo) is 9.

Download the demo, it's available. You'll see it all for yourself.

[Alexander's Horse]

I'm on a dial up - probably can't download the demo.

[Boris Godunov]

If a friend has cable/DSL and a CD burner, you could get it that way.

[Grandpa Troll]

From one Troll to another.. I get that warm fuzzy feeling..remember?.."Just One More Turn" while this is a RTS not TBS...it sure makes you wanna have fun and keep at it.

The ai is superb..and I also love how the units upgrade themselves..while some games dont..

My suggestion is if you can handle a good RTS game this be da Bomb fer you!

Also, unlike many here Mr. AH, the ai dont put up with a lot of BULL$H!T..so be nice or be dead..ai gonna come fer you!!

Enjoy my friend!

Peace


Grandpa Troll

[Alexander's Horse]

Recommended retail price in Australia is $99.95

That's almost $70 US. So it better be good.

[Boris Godunov]

Oof, that's a bit much. I'd definitely not plunk that much down without checking out a demo, by whatever means I could.

[Inverse Icarus]

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse
Recommended retail price in Australia is $99.95

That's almost $70 US. So it better be good.

whats it cost to ship something to aussietania? would it be cheaper it online from ebgames or whatever?

[Alexander's Horse]

Probably would be cheaper - the Aussie peso has appreciated significantly against the greenback in recent months - from about 48 cents - 67 cents, approaching 70.

[albiedamned]

The single player game allows unlimited pausing during which you can issue any orders you want, so it can be played very much like Civ2. In multiplayer you don't pause (someone correct me if I'm wrong) but there are other options for Civ-style players. First, the game has speed settings so you can slow it down (as long as all players agree during game setup). Second, there is something called "cannon time" which is like super, super slow motion and which each player can invoke a certain pre-arranged number of times per game. With the slowest speed and cannon time, a lot of the time pressure is removed. As for overall game length, the standard game will take less than an hour (of game time, which will be more if you play on a slow speed setting). However the game setup options let you configure things to take much much longer if you want, primarily by making research more expensive and slower.

I'm a TBS fan (Civ, Col, Civ2, SMAC, Civ3) who has tried RTS before (Age of Kings) but never really been able to get into it. The speed of RTS was always a problem for me, but it also always bothered me that you couldn't play "optimally" because the speed requirement always forced you into mistakes like leaving units idle or attacking with the wrong unit type. In fact it always bothered me that AoK seemed to have such a great game model with a lot of strategic depth, yet a lot of it just flew by unexplored due to the speed. RoN is still definitely RTS - make no mistake about it - but I am enjoying it so far.

[Metaliturtle]

Well, I got a hold of this game from a friend, I can't say it's that great. Sure, the Graphics are awesome, and the sound is as good as any other RTS game, but to buy this game because of that is not a good idea (unless you get off on how realistically sh*t blows up.) My suggestion would be to not pay for it until it goes to the bargain rack, or people start returning it.

Also make sure you have like all the upgrades possible for your computer, I spend a LONG time downloading video drivers so the game would run, and then was dissappointed by the minimal differences from other RTS games.

Personally, I would stick with Civ2 if I were you, it took me 2 years to get bored with that, it took me 2 HOURS to get bored with RoN.

[Jack_www]

Originally posted by Metaliturtle
Well, I got a hold of this game from a friend, I can't say it's that great. Sure, the Graphics are awesome, and the sound is as good as any other RTS game, but to buy this game because of that is not a good idea (unless you get off on how realistically sh*t blows up.) My suggestion would be to not pay for it until it goes to the bargain rack, or people start returning it.

Also make sure you have like all the upgrades possible for your computer, I spend a LONG time downloading video drivers so the game would run, and then was dissappointed by the minimal differences from other RTS games.

Personally, I would stick with Civ2 if I were you, it took me 2 years to get bored with that, it took me 2 HOURS to get bored with RoN.

I dissagre, RON is the best RTS out there and is well worth the 50 bucks(US dollar) I paid for it.

[Metaliturtle]

Originally posted by Jack_www

I dissagre, RON is the best RTS out there and is well worth the 50 bucks(US dollar) I paid for it.

I disagree, RON is NOT the best RTS out there, and I feel like I've been ripped off after paying NOTHING for it!

The team spent too much space on graphics, and not enough on strategy (although I will admit that this game could kick MEGA Arse in multiplayer, I'm seeing people unlike myself spending solid months playing this game and thrashing me, which is no fun, but my friends and I could have one or two kick ass nights of RON action)

Seriously though, I can't find a good speed to play at with this game, it's either too slow or too fast, and I find myself changing speeds and/or pausing constantly.

[alva]

AH, Boris's first post says it all, granted I only played the demo (so far(?)), but it is a full blown RTS with a few TBS influences.
It's a good,well polished game with a lot of really nice touches and innovations but that doesn't alter the fact that it is a RTS game.

[GodSpawn]

>The team spent too much space on graphics, and not enough on strategy

Wow! A strange opinion - most people are saying that the graphics are nothing special, but the gameplay rulez. And yes, if you play C&C Generals, you can see that the RON graphics, by comparison, are nothing special.

But the gameplay really is great, IMHO.

I reckon it's just not the sort of game you like to play - but for the rest of us, it's a really great game.