A question for all you Beta testers or BHG staff...

[Wtiberon]

1. Is this game the perfect mix of the RTS of Empire Earth and Epic gameplay of civ?
2. If not is it more RTS than epic?
3. How many cities are possible in a game?
4. If you own a large group of cities does it become difficult (or annoying) to maintain control of them?
5. I've heard that you can play the game in less than an hour...explain how that is possible for a game that is suppose to be epic.
6. How is warfare in the game?...In my limited experience with RTS I've noticed that sometimes units will ignore or become confused by orders. For example you order a group to go from Point A to Point B, half starts to point B, some ignore it, others travel a different route to point, still others do something completely different. Does it become difficult in battle to control large armies?
7. Is there an editor or cheat mode?
8. On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate this game? (For beta testers only ) Did it meet your expectations or is it just a kinda fun game?


Thanks for any answers you can give me

Wtiberon

[Rohag]

1. Is this game the perfect mix of the RTS of Empire Earth and Epic gameplay of civ?

I hesitate to say "perfect." In fact, I prefer to think of RoN not as a "mix" at all but its own, new take on historical RTS. Despite some external similarities, I find RoN feels very different from EE or the Age games.

2. If not is it more RTS than epic?

Yes but...RoN features all the 4X elements but they happen a lot faster. One thing that strikes me is, looking at the mini-map at the end of a match, it reminds me of a Civ map at the end of a game.

3. How many cities are possible in a game?

It depends on the number of nations. By increasing its Civics rating a single nation can build up to eight cities in a game but may capture and assimilate any number of other cities. The game imposes limits on how close cities can be placed to one another, so the size of the map can play a role in the number of possible cities as well. In a couple of single-player games I’ve finished controlling over 20 cities.

4. If you own a large group of cities does it become difficult (or annoying) to maintain control of them?

No. This is one of the strong points of the game. The national/city economies basically run themselves; no need for regular player intervention. You found and build up cities individually; one city might be more valuable or stronger than another due to what you've built there or its location near resources. Yet cities won't whither from neglect.

5. I've heard that you can play the game in less than an hour...explain how that is possible for a game that is suppose to be epic.

Epic means different things to different people. I'd say the grand Conquer the World hybrid TBS/RTS single-player campaign is certainly epic (my experience with CtW from Preview Beta 2). In regular random map games, on the other hand, much depends on the settings. RoN offers many ways of adjusting game speed and pace: overall speed, resource collection rate, technology costs, research speed, etc. Typical RM games last 20 minutes to 1.5 hours, but 2-2.5 hour RM games are not unheard of in the Preview Betas. Playing through Conquer the World takes significantly longer (in my experience 9-12 hours of game time).

6. How is warfare in the game? ...

RoN handles warfare a bit differently from other RTS games. I find large army control and pathing much better but not perfect. The mappable hotkeys and combos are extensive and flexible. You can micromanage your units in battle, but I've found the unit-level AI is smart enough it doesn't pay for me, a reflexed-challenged type, to interfere at that level. I let the units do their thing while I pay attention to tactical disposition and stance (aggressive, defensive, raid, raze, etc.).

7. Is there an editor or cheat mode?

Yes and yes.

8. On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate this game? (For beta testers only ) Did it meet your expectations or is it just a kinda fun game?

Based on my experience with Preview Betas 1 & 2 (but not the most recent update), I'd give it an overall "very high" and Conquer the World an "even higher." Depending on the settings - and RoN features more settings than I think I've ever seen in any other game, you can play it as just a kinda fun little game or frantic click-fest or leisurely building game or "empire lab." Beyond that, this game seems to have very extensive modding possibilities.

I think RoN gives the historical RTS gaming world a new model that is neither Age nor EE nor Cossacks nor Total War. RoN has the potential to satisfy a very wide range of gamers, but I think it has less of a chance of catching on with the die-hard Agers ("RoN is too slow and newbified") or the die-hard TBS crowd ("RTS?! That's an oxymoron").

[Alex]

I'm not the thread starter, but thanks for your explanations, Rohag.

[Bridger]

Good answers there rohag, i'll have you know that beta 3 is signifigantly improved upon beta 2. I tried to invade scandinavia from germany and MAN what a navy they had! Constantly blocked my attempts to invade until i built a much larger counter-navy to destroy their oil derricks and docks.

Also in the CTW campaign there's some new features. If you conquer a continent (say all of south america) you get bonus tribute for "uniting" it under your rule hehe. Also, i found it MUCH to easy to "buy" land from the computer in beta 2, whereas in beta3 the computer won't sell you it's only other province anymore, and if you try to buy a province off a big empire that's busy fighting a war, it will cost you upwards of 100 tribute at least.

[Wtiberon]

Thank you Rohag

It seems the game will be worth buying but I'm going to keep my expectations very low so as to keep from being disappointed...I especially like the fact that it has modding capabilities.

[Bridger]

Oh yeah, i'm not a modder myself, but from what i heard (script editor with it's own XML type language, scenario editor, both shiping with the game) it should be really nice.

The only thing not availible to moding is the SP CTW mode. I suspect though, with enough requests, we'll get some kind of CTW editor in an ex pack.

[One_Dead_Villy]

RoN so far I'd give a 9/10
The CTW is I think the "epic" part of the game...and really fun. Althought it would be cool to make it have more permanance. Like if u go back to a terrioritory u can develop it more specifically. Rather then depend on this point scale. Would also be good if one can build wonders instead of just getting them from bonus cards or capturing them. The CTW is great now but has so much more potential...i really hope they develop this further.