Rise of Nations -- Time for your ideas!

[Starspangled]

You know what would be sweet is if civs had unique line formations

[HuangShang]

Villie:

i forgot the , sorry

Starspangled:

thats will make certain civs too powerfull, b/c i always use only a couple of the 8? formations in EE

[Fayadi]

I dont want to play Rise of Nations in the MSN Gaming Zone.Brian ,make a server that is to rival Bnet.I want to play a multiplayer directly from a game without opening a browser.

1.I think Brian you should know that having a scenario editor is so damn important.Take Starcraft for example ,where players can play all different kinds of scenario(World War II,Zergling Blood,Turret Defense,Sunken Defense).I am glad to hear that you have an ex-Starcraft staff for balancing the units.
2.It is essential for RON to have both SAM and Anti-Aircraft Gun at the same time.SAM can be upgraded to intercept missiles.It will affect the balance if the missiles cant be intercepted
3.How bout Armored Personnel Carrier where you can load your infantry?
4.I think RON should follow what CivIII did,BY NOT HAVING SPECIAL UNIT IN THE LATEST AGE,it is unfair you know.This means that Germany will have an advantage over China in the Information Age.Germany have upgraded tank while China dont have any in that age .But then I think it is a bad idea,another alternaltive is by having every civ to have a special unit the information age to keep the balance of the game because some having advantage over the others in the latest age is unfair ,the latest age is by often the decisive factor for victory,having special units that is not obsolete is really unfair and somehow I felt it can affect the balance.In Civ III US had F-15 in the modern age,but I think planes are worthless in that game so it dont affect the balance

So far I think Starcraft is the most fun RTS,but too bad I am bored with it and sometimes find the micro-management too annoying.I am looking for a RTS game for a replacement ,I hope RON will be the one.

[Darsnan]

Heah Brian,
was just perusing the screenshots for RoN and one thing I observed about the cities in these screenshots was the lack of defense structures. Maybe they were just not included for the demo shots, but if you are really trying to parallel true human history then you (and the AI civilizations) should have the ability to build defensive moats, city walls, etc. around key cities within your empires. Think how wonderful an option it would be to be able to build a "V" shaped moat along a natural attack route to one of your cities, forcing the attacker to bunch his units up in the kneck of the V, where you have concentrated your archers at its apex - the slaughter would be intense, but quick! Also, for the defense of cities you should be able to have the infantry units within the city have an option "make terrain more defensible" which would then give the city and its defenders an added defensive bonus, but at the same time would have a negative commerce effect on the city (which, in reality is completely plausble, as any city that is about to be attacked/ sieged is going to suffer a drop in trade revenue anyways). Also, for the Early Ages and Middle Ages you should have "Atrocities Option" 's whereby the attackers have options like
1) lay seige to a city - cause Hunger and Drone Riots
2) Catapult Plague infected corpses over City Walls (damage to defenders similar to arty strike, as well as suffering a morale hit/ population decrease)
3) Catapult rotting food over City Walls, causing a decrease in the cities population (only available in "Siege" mode after city is experiencing Hunger or Drone Riots)
4) the defenders also have the option of dropping Boiling Oil over the sides of castle walls (don't know if this really rates as an atrocity, tho). Would be considered a Terrain (or City) Enhancement.

Expanding upon the "Make Terrain more Defensible" option above. This should be an option available to all Infantry units. Say you've encountered another civilization at the periphery of your empire and your not quite sure how they are going to react to you. Therefore you want to keep some units in the area in case the other empire tries to infiltrate a force into your area. By choosing the right terrain (i.e. high rocky ground) you have these units "dig in" by giving them the command to "Make Terrain more Defensible". This would take X number of turns to complete (and if there is more than one infantry unit present, then the function would be completed more quickly), and would give an added defensive bonus to ALL units within the square (i.e. Armour and Arty, which do not have the ability/ option to "dig in" themselves) besides their existing Morale and initial natural Terrain defensive bonuses. The negative side would be that attack bonuses for units like armour would be negated (i.e. terrain enhancement would inhibit mobility) By stringing a set of these together you can create a Maginot like line along your frontier, or simulate the Trench warfare of WW1. Once the unit's that had been given the command to "dig in" were moved by the player, the defensive bonus is lost and the terrain reverts to its previous state (i.e. this would not be a terrain enhancement that would remain after it was abandoned). This function could also be applied to areas such as Airbases whereby an Infantry Unit fortifies the defensive perimeter of the Airbase.
Also for the Modern Era, Minefields! Can be laid by Workers or Infantry, and these remain until either triggered by an enemy's forces, or removed by the planting player himself. Damage similar to an Arty Strike, but also dependent upon a unit's movement (i.e. an Infantry unit with Movement of 1 would suffer less damage than an Armour Unit with Movement of 2 or 3, the thought being that the Infantry would be better equipped to probe their way thru a minefield than an Armour unit). Also the minefield would act as a sensor in that when an enemy unit triggers the minefield, the planting player is notified of the encroachment.
Otherwise, the game looks interesting! I'll definately have to look and see what people say about RoN after its release!

D

[cassembler]

A nice way to control the pace might be to show a game break every time a new big thing (such as a new age) happens, showing a flash screen detailing current trends & statistics in one's empire vs. competitive empires.

Maybe a yearly update type thing from your advisors...

Looking nice, but real time makes my carpal tunnel cringe... Give the hand a break and let the brain soak in some stats.

[HuangShang]

Originally posted by cassembler
A nice way to control the pace might be to show a game break every time a new big thing (such as a new age) happens, showing a flash screen detailing current trends & statistics in one's empire vs. competitive empires.

Maybe a yearly update type thing from your advisors...

Looking nice, but real time makes my carpal tunnel cringe... Give the hand a break and let the brain soak in some stats.

not a bad idea, but it will take time to develop and HDD space to be able to use it

[Fayadi]

Brian Reynold,I think you have to adress One serious problem.This will affect the popularity of Rise of Nation.

The main reason why less people play Age of Empires II is because MSN Gaming Zone sucks.To play a multiplayer game you have to download and wait for a lot of things.The reason why Starcraft is still played by many people because playing a multiplayer game is simple and fast.You just have to click Multiplayer and then Bnet ,there you are on the server.I think you should put a Bnet style of server for playing RON in the internet.I dont like Zone!

[HuangShang]

yeah Fayadi is right, the mp determines the life of anygame, EE died b/c sierra screwed up the mp

[theponyguy1]

They're right. Not having a b-net type multiplayer can really do harm to RON's online gameplay.

[Alfonsus72]

I know the game is (fortunately) almost done, but I´m concerned about one thing that could be the diference beetween an strategy game and a "tactic" one. What I hate in most RTS games (from warcraft to cossacks) is that your army is so easily killed and then you have to rebuild it again once more, so experience points really worth nothing. In the other hand, I really loved Gettysburg system of "morale combat", when your troops are routed and retire rather than being totally aniquilated.
What about RON?. I would like to see units difficult to kill, worthy of accumulate experience and "regimental morale" (so they could retire instead of stupidly fight to dead).
Thanks.

[HuangShang]

i dont think they have that...

[One_Dead_Villy]

i like to see morale in the game but its not in RoN

BTW: They had experience points in Cossacks btw
and they have morale in the American conquest expansion. So I am kind puzzled that you included them.

[HuangShang]

i would expect a system of moral and experience even if its as simple as EE's (well EE only had moral and AoK had none)...

[Alfonsus72]

Originally posted by One_Dead_Villy
BTW: They had experience points in Cossacks btw
and they have morale in the American conquest expansion. So I am kind puzzled that you included them.

You are right. I was not saying that Cossacks doesn´t has experience, just that your units are so easily killed in that game as in most RTS ones. Why lost time in creating a regiment of highly experienced guys if they are killed in seconds by any other unit with superior numbers or by any small concentration of artillery?.

In a realistic game, the horde of green troops would retire after some casualties and the small group of veterans would hold the terrain till reinforces could arrive. That´s why the interaction EXPERIENCE-MORALE (the more you´ve fought, the later your retire) is important, imo.

[PanzerMensch]

Mr.Reynolds

I have a few suggestions of what i would like to see out of RoN.

1) You need to make the Nuclear missles very expensive. The reason being, you're including the feature of the armageddon clock. I think that people will abuse nuclear capabilities if missles are too cheap. Over the internet if a bunch of morons start nuking each other, everybody loses because of the armageddon clock. making nukes expensive will eliminate tihs.
2)I think that for the bombers in this game their should be an option for them to find a target and bomb it. In EE their was an Explore button, meaning the bombers would fly around the level and if they found a target then they would drop on it. I think it would benefit everyone if you included that.
3)Transport Helocopters
4)Experience- Say a foot soldier has been in five battles and is still alive and well, shouldn't he revice a bonus towards his Attack, defence ETC?
5)I think that some ships in the information age should be able to fire cruise missles just like todays ships.

These are all the suggestions i have for now i cant wait until this game comes out please consider some of these they would make the game a lot of fun