Early Game Strategy

[Hagar]

I need some advice about how to refine my early game. I have mastered the basics, I understand the buildings and basic unit types and I can beat the computer on moderate, but I feel like I need some pro tips if I am to get any better.

My current early game is rather generic.
I nearly always play Bantu because you rarely reach the population limit in the early game.
I start off with LTCVVA (Library, science, select city, build two villagers, set rally to all resource points).
Scout explores around the limits of my visible territory.
Build temple (research taxation)
Build market, caravan, merchant
Build second city (with a market)
Classical
Build city three
All the while conducting research at the library as I can afford it.
After city three I will start building more economic buildings like the granary, lumber mill and so forth (depending upon resource caps). And I will try to build a universtiy in each city. I also build a market in every city (no idea if I need to do this). But I will usually only build a couple of temples at the maximum.

At this point I now build Barracks, Stable and Seige Workshop (pretty much at the same time). I frequently return to these buildings via hotkeys to build one unit of each type (although I usually only have two or three scouts on the field at any one time), and I don't build as many seige workshop units as I do Stable and Barracks).

From here I just keep pumping out units the whole game. Not long after I have a decent small army organized the enemy will attack, usually walking right into my army. On moderate the computer generally comes off second best, and I will keep on pushing my advantage until I win.

I feel my approach is very generic. I don't really have a specific goal other than to cover all basis (so to speak).

How can I refine this early game strategy? I have played quite a bit of Age of Empires 2 and in the game I know a bunch of early game strategies that are extremely specific. For example if I am launching an archer rush, I know exactly how many villagers to build before leveling up, how many woodcutters, to farms to miners etc so that I have exactly the right amount of resources to achieve my goals. But I have no such finesse in Rise of Nations. As I mentiond I just build the three main miliarty building types and pump out units with little thought other than to have a large diverse army.

I welcome all suggestions to improve this stage of the game. Cheers.

[moyang]

There's an economy guide on steam guide section.

[Biz]

rise of nations is more about reacting to what the enemy is doing than age of empires 2

ron gives you the flexibility to focus 100% on economy or 100% on tech/military or anything in between

the 'strategy' in the game is deciding what to do.

what order to build things in once you have a goal is simpler
refining that order in real-time to allow you to switch to a different goal is hard

[Hagar]

Originally posted by Biz:

rise of nations is more about reacting to what the enemy is doing than age of empires 2

ron gives you the flexibility to focus 100% on economy or 100% on tech/military or anything in between

the 'strategy' in the game is deciding what to do.

I have played more AoE2 than RoN so it might be that I don't completely understand. But I would say those principles also apply to AoE2. There is plenty of scope for reacting to your opponent. If you decide for example to launch an Archer rush, while your opponent has been busy massing skirmishers, your rush will fall flat. In both games you have to scout your enemy and adjust your strategy depending upon what you see. AoE2 is a very skilled game.

In both games you need to decide what you are going to do: rush, defend against a rush, boom etc. What I am still figuring out in RoN is once I have decided upon a strategy is the optimal build order in order to achieve that stategy.

Now I keep reading that there is no such thing as build orders in RoN. And this is what I don't quite understand. Let's say you decide that you want to launch a horse archer rush (assuming that people do this), the speed at which you are able to achieve a particular milestone (for example sending those horse archers over to your enemy's lumber camp) will depend upon choices you make. If you invest to many resources in the wrong area early on, you won't be able to spend those resources gettting that stable up quickly and then sending them against your enemy.

One big difference I suppose, is that RoN progress much more quickly than Age of Empires2, so I supppose build orders become irrelevant more quickly than they do in AoE2. In AoE2 you will usually have quite precise build order for the first 11 to 18 minutes. In AoE2, the 18 minute mark is still early game, while in RoN the game is quite advanced by that point.

[Biz]

don't approach it like aoe2

aoe2 is a game about economic optimization
every build order in the game is just about making villagers nonstop
even if you misread the situation and overexpand, the town center is a defensive fortress that kills everything so you barely get punished

ron has lots of strategies where you stop making villagers or can't just make units because you have resources. there's this population limit / commerce limit concept which means you have to make hard choices and optimize your plan instead of just spamming vils + spamming units nonstop

[Hagar]

Originally posted by Biz:

don't approach it like aoe2. aoe2 is a game about economic optimization every build order in the game is just about making villagers nonstop

It's part of it yes. Certainly for the first 15 to 18 minutes you want to make villagers non-stop with barely a second gap between a villager being created and the next one starting to be created. But it also about having exactly the right amount and the right kind of resources (depending upon your strategy).

even if you misread the situation and overexpand, the town center is a defensive fortress that kills everything so you barely get punished

I wouldn't say barely get punished. Defending against a rush takes some skill. While there are advantages to booming there are also risks.

ron has lots of strategies where you stop making villagers or can't just make units because you have resources. there's this population limit / commerce limit concept which means you have to make hard choices and optimize your plan instead of just spamming vils + spamming units nonstop

Yes I see what you are saying here. In both games you have get the balance just right. I just don't have a good sense of how to get the balance right in RoN.

With AoE2 there are so many detailed strategy guides written (and commentated pro games on youtube), it easier to learn from the pros. With RoN you have to figure it out by trial and error, I guess.

But you are right, I need to remember that while the two games have some similarity, there are some big differences too. I need to get out of the AoE2 mind-set.

[Hagar]

If anyone else is a newbie and wondering about Rise of Nations strategy I have found a pretty good link.

http://www.whiskytangofoxtrot.org.uk/ron/strategy/catalogue.htm

There seems to be quite a lot of guides at there.

Edit: except a lot of the links are dead, alas. :-(

[loub]

try find some replays of the top players and copy them . The best way to improve is watch better players than you play