To those who've been playing RON for a while

[SpencerH]

I've finally been able to play the demo for about an hour so far (my 3dfx video card was persona non grata with RON).

That being said, the game seems to play very much like AoE or Cossacks (and it looks a lot like Cossacks to me). So I'm wondering does the 'clickfest' element become less important, and the civ-like advance in science become, more important as you learn the intracacies of the game? After all, there was an element of scientific advancement in AoE, its just that it was only useful for improving your units. Is the same thing true in RON, or does science advancement actually have other value?

[Solver]

It has tons of value, and you die without advancing science. It provides you with extra cities, population, econmy upgrades, etc.

Also, if you change the pre-game settings somewhat, then RoN can play really a lot like Civ, with games like 8 hours... with SLOW advancement.

[SpencerH]

What sort of changes do you have to make? I notice game speed seems pretty fast, but I'm still learning the controls.

[Solver]

Try setting research options (or tech advancement, whatever it's called) to slow and expensive. You'll find yourself spending much more time in every age, and playing more like Civ.

Note: it will reduce pace of the game, but not clicking speed, etc. There was, somewhere, though, the normal option of "game speed". Try setting it to Slow if you want... although yes, you do need *some* wrist speed in RON.

[Jaybe]

VERY Slow & Expensive tech is even better, though according to the Strategy Guide (Sybex) the AI performs better with faster research. I found you can handicap the AI a little by starting with a small city (compared to city center or nomad).

[SpencerH]

Thanks for the comments.

[MattH]

Science is the core of RON. You advance from age to age using it in a manner slightly similar to CIV III, but a thousand time faster. It upgrades your units (ex: from ancient archers to musketmen to modern infantry). It allows you to collect new resources (early on, metal, then oil in industrial, and uranium in modern). And you can make more cities (at the beginning, you can only build one), caravans, and new, REQUIRED buildings.

[SpencerH]

I've now played 3 half games with the demo. Eye candy looks very good (I love watching my highlanders kick ass).

RoN just doesnt feel very different to me to the AoE-type games (at least the way I play them, i.e. I dont rush with buildings and trebs, I build a "city" then attack in a slow deliberate fashion). Yes there are more civ-like components but the I have the same problem with RoN as I do with AoE. Once the fighting starts I have to spend most of my time keeping an eye on the troops in the field else they'll run amok (and usually get killed piecemeal). So it becomes a clickfest (have I missed whether you can group units under a quick key ?) where you're trying to keep the troops under control -switch back to city- click on new science- click back to troops- try to reorganize troops- decide where to move/attack next-- switch back to city- look for improvements to do - -switch back to troops, most dead or deep in enemy territory - back to city- build new units - click- - click- - click- - click- - click- - click- - click- click- - click- click- - click- click- - click- click- - click-

Comments?

EDIT: I've found the list of the quick keys so hopefully It'll cut down on some of the scrambling around

[MattH]

I thought it was like Age of Empires too. But I reinstalled AoE just to check that out- and there's a big difference. The building style is changed. And the controlls are so different/streamlined as to make it a new game.

[HalfLotus]

Spencer have you tried using Pause? When I play single player (which I presume you are playnig with the demo) I pause ALOT. I consider every small move just as I do during a Civ2/3 game. For every tech, every unit, and every manuever I will spend time to make sure it is correct. It's anything but a click-fest.

In multiplayer you would have to find someone who also likes to play this way, and you can set it on free-pause, or allow alot of cannon-times.

If you play without pause, there are lots of VERY handy hotkeys that ive never seen in an RTS before. Army management in particular is a breeze.

[SpencerH]

I used pause and tab a lot last time I demo-ed and I was able to group my armies etc. It took 2 hrs to play 20min or so of game but it was much less of a clickfest and much more civ-like. I had almost reached enlightenment and was kickin asss when my old CPU said 'No! Thats it! No more!' and I lost control in the middle of a battle to take another city.

Now my only problem is buying a new PC so I can play it for real.