This makes the buy price on oil swell to unreasonable prices and essentially locks players out of purchasing it as soon as they unlock the ability. Once I have it, I purchase as much as I can possibly afford. A strategy I employ in most games is to focus on research and unlock oil as soon as possible. The market fluctuates, so Nubians are able to have a heavy impact on prices. This may seem like a minor advantage, but when you are aiming for a very specific goal, you need to have the ability to buy the resources you need and at times you need to sell off your excess to build up the wealth required. While it normally takes a few minutes to research the required technology (more on that in a moment) to build a market, Nubians start the game with it and they are able to buy resources cheaper and sell higher. For example, the Nubians (my personal favorite) focus on using the market to their advantage. Each nation brings a number of unique units and special abilities. Economy is still key, but in a much different way. While other strategy titles focused on building up resources and a large army as quick as possible, Rise focused on giving players the ability to win without ever firing an arrow, rifle or nuke. There are a few reasons for this dedication to a single game and without covering those first, you will not see what makes RoN such a masterpiece.Īs stated, strategy is the most important part of the game. That following may not have been anywhere close to that of the Warcrafts and Command and Conquers that were so popular in the early part of 2000, but it is a game still discussed by hard core strategy fans. It won multiple game of the year awards and held a strong following. What it did, and the reason that it is worth a second look, is change the way real time strategy titles should be judged. When the original launched in 2003, it faced some pretty tough competition.

What you need to know is that Rise of Nations is a RTS that puts strategy first and foremost. This is a multiplayer game at its core, but it does include a single player aspect to help you familiarize yourself with the systems in the game. The community, as of this writing, is small, active and helpful.

If you are not familiar with Rise of Nations the new version that just launched on Steam is going to be a great place to get started. Rise of Nations: Extended Edition Overview

Game rise of nation