First thoughts Rise of Nations

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

Bought this a few days ago - the national borders and detailed economy
seems good. However, I'm a bit mystified by the campaign - is there
really just this Risk-type game, with no storyline whatsoever?! I
defeated a barbarian tribe, then fought one of the outlying Mongol
provinces, but I keep getting slaughtered: they just have too many
troops that swarm on me as soon as I attack. Do I really need to build
200 military units before attacking? Or do I have to go for a rush?
Neither strikes me as a very satisfying "strategy"...
 
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Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

Sine Nomine wrote:
> Bought this a few days ago - the national borders and detailed economy
> seems good. However, I'm a bit mystified by the campaign - is there
> really just this Risk-type game, with no storyline whatsoever?! I
> defeated a barbarian tribe, then fought one of the outlying Mongol
> provinces, but I keep getting slaughtered: they just have too many
> troops that swarm on me as soon as I attack. Do I really need to build
> 200 military units before attacking? Or do I have to go for a rush?
> Neither strikes me as a very satisfying "strategy"...

The expansion pack is a little more story or background oriented, but
there is no story driven campaign. If you are getting creamed, try
playing an online game to see how others play the game. You will be
suprised at how bad you likely are at this point. Also, you need to
learn the keyboard shortcuts, at least the important ones. For example,
tab key cycles through all available research. U key cycles through
Universities. Shift K to select all barracks...etc. Once you get all
of those down, the interface rocks and playing becomes very easy. Make
sure you expand the top interface to have the market up there. I buy
and sell from that interface. I play the game without ever clicking on
one building. If you are clicking on a building, then selected actions,
then you are playing this like AOK and not using the interface the way
it was intended.

Regards,

javajeff
 
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Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

You play the game without ever clicking a building!? I am impressed, I
only previously used the shortcut keys to supplement my play... Will
have to experiment more, thanks for the info!
 
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Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

On 11 Jun 2005 10:15:37 -0700, "Ben Parsons" <dyefade@gmail.com> wrote:

>You play the game without ever clicking a building!? I am impressed, I
>only previously used the shortcut keys to supplement my play... Will
>have to experiment more, thanks for the info!

FYI, there's a training mission that determines how skilles you are at
using hotkeys. Useful to know, if you didn't know about it previously.

(There's even a hot-key to select anti-aircraft batteries.)
 
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Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

Ben Parsons wrote:
> You play the game without ever clicking a building!? I am impressed, I
> only previously used the shortcut keys to supplement my play... Will
> have to experiment more, thanks for the info!
>

Well, kinda. I don't need to select my barracks by using the mouse, but
I still need to select it to make units. So Shift K will select all my
barracks. TAB cycles through all available research, so you never have
to select any buildings to find research. U cycles through
Universities. I use shift I for my airports and so on. I do not know
all the keyboard shortcuts since the game has many, and I may click on a
building if I do not know them. For example, I think I do click on my
missle silos with the mouse later in the game, and I may click on some
buildings out of old habits. Majority of my play is without ever
clicking on a building with a mouse...to be more precise. :)
 
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Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

Raymond Martineau wrote:
> On 11 Jun 2005 10:15:37 -0700, "Ben Parsons" <dyefade@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>>You play the game without ever clicking a building!? I am impressed, I
>>only previously used the shortcut keys to supplement my play... Will
>>have to experiment more, thanks for the info!
>
>
> FYI, there's a training mission that determines how skilles you are at
> using hotkeys. Useful to know, if you didn't know about it previously.
>
> (There's even a hot-key to select anti-aircraft batteries.)
>

I can imagine all the people that buy this game and start playing it
like Age of Empires with the lasso move routine. The game is way to
large to play like that.