RoN vs. EE

[covok48]

I was in a Virgin Megastore when they had RoN for a $50 tag. I decided not to buy it because I thought it would be a carbon copy of Empire Earth...

Question : Is it? What makes RoN different from Empire Earth? Responses can be detailed or vague. Just tell me what makes RoN so good or EE so bad. Thanks in advance for any responses.

 

[Rohag]

Here's some information on just that subject. Having played both games, my short opinion is they feature distinctly different gameplay. That doesn't mean you'll like Rise of Nations, but it's unlikely you'll find it a clone of EE.

 

[GenMarshall]

Well, EE is compadible to all computers while RoN are only compadible to users without the Intel Graphics Chip set.

 

[Archer 007]

I like EE much better.

 

[puglover]

Rise of Nations is better except that you can't zoom in so much as in Empire Earth and that Rise of Nations is a memory devouring monster (850 Megabytes )!

 

[Leonel]

Yes I'll have to say EE is far superior than RoN. Very compatible with all computers, scenario making is very flexible and there's the option of having the impression of space in the Expansion Pack. Although I wish EE had the road feature in RoN though.

 

[The Lodian]

I personally believe that RoN is much better than Empire Earth. The graphics and gameplay are much more streamlined in RoN than in Empire Earth. So overall i find RoN, for those reasons and a few other minor ones, to be the better of the two.

 

[Grav]

EE is crap, absolute crap. I regretted buying the thing.

I was also worried about RoN being a clone, but I played the demo, and was VERY surprised on how much more fun it is. EE was just AoE expanded a few more ages. RoN, sets the bar for the genre. You feel much more attached to your nation in RoN, and the exp. pack is coming out soon, isn't it? Another good thing about RoN, you can't build building just anywhere you want, you actually have to build them in cities, etc. It makes for a much more logical, and fun, game.

 

[Silverflame]

The only advantage Empire Earth has as an advantage against Rise of Nations is the fact that it came out first. Empire Earth is NOT compatible with all computers, as it doesn't work on mine but strangely enough RoN does...

 

[Odoacer]

I love rise of nations! It is so awesome... The Conquer the World campaign definitely will take a good time commitment but it's still really, really cool. I really like the 'national borders' touch and the assimilation of cities and so on... the game really does feel epic. There are a lot of little things that make it so cool, like your caravans building roads linking the cities as they go and the computer automatically naming your control groups things like "1st Infantry" or "7th Artillery" and so on. It's also a very fast paced game actually. There's a surprising amount of detail packed into each age, from the number of techs you have to research to the upgrades available to you.

I can't say that RoN is universally compatible - it won't play on my brother's computer. and it occasssionally freezes up mine. But as long as I save every so often, I don't worry much.

Go RoN!

 

[Emp.Napoleon]

I like both, when I am in the mood for a fast paced game I play EE, when I am in the mood for a game that may take a little more time (Conqure the World in RoN) I play RoN.

 

[zjl56]

I haven't bought either of them but RON won't work since the demo didn't work.

 

[citizen001]

i don't think we should be comparing RON to EE, but rather to Empires: Dawn of the Modern World.

 

[LLXerxes]

They are different. Very different
EE is nice, but I'd prefer RoN cause it's just nicer, IMHO,

They are very different, and try getting it

 

[Andu Indorin]

I know this is a little off topic, but ...

Everytime I look at RoN, I see the graphics on the back and I think, "Too much effort went into the graphics. How is the actual game design?" And the 850 mb footprint really scares me in that it suggests that too much effort went into the "bells and whistles" and not into the conceptual framework. And I'm still stinging from the money I wasted on Civ3. And, I've tried to install their trial versian but no luck there ("not a valid Win32 application."

So, my question would be: What are the three best improvements in RoN over Civ2 or Civ3? Your opinions would be much appreciated.

 

[Flintlock]

It's very hard to compare RoN to Civ, since they're two completely different games, one is turn- based, and one is real- time. However, RoN, IMO is like Civ on a smaller scale, ex: you fight battles as opposed to entire wars.

The graphics in RoN are very grandiose, yet the gameplay itself is also very good (and very addicting), the only problem may be your graphics card, mine didn't work when I first got the game (I had to download a patch to get it to work), but the cursor in the game still didn't work, and sometimes the game wouldn't start- up. When I got the expansion, and after game actually did start- up (about once in a blue moon), sometimes it would crash, and I had to attempt to start it again. But, then I got a new computer and it never gave me a problem again.

The trial version seems to be full of bugs or something, I messed up when first trying to install it, and it never worked again (the trial, that is), even though I re-downloaded it, and tried again to install it. So basically it is up to you, if I were you, however, I would buy it, it’s an awesome game the only problem is the graphics require a great graphics card to work. On the back of my box, it says you can check your graphics card’s compatibility on www.riseofnations.com, so you might wanna do that first.

 

[Communisto]

one of the things about EE i loved so much was the sheer scale of some of the battles, and these battles could become extremely theatrical with the zoom function that let you zoom in and actually see the faces of you're soldiers

 

[Silverflame]

one of the things about EE i loved so much was the sheer scale of some of the battles, and these battles could become extremely theatrical with the zoom function that let you zoom in and actually see the faces of you're soldiers

You can do that in Rise of Nations as well.

 

[Tomanak]

I just bought EE Gold (EE + Expansion) for $20. RoN was $30. Maybe when RoN comes out with a similar deal, I'll end up with both. Still have a feeling Im going to prefer Civ III though.

 

[covok48]

That deal came out in November. I bought RoN + Expansion for $30.

The game is more polished and has addressed many of the problems that Free-Range RTS games like AoE and EE inherently have through streamlining, city-building, and different types of diplomatic victory. It has also eased the rock-paper-scissors style of combat that EE prized.

In short RoN is what EE should have been.

I guess I answered my own question...