A strategy to use when you're going against the same opponent in your next game is to set him up. It is risky, but if you are successful in using a risk tactic to win in the first game, the setup for your 2nd game gives you more options to play with.

Game 1 = I Kamikaze Rush and I win due to his lack of readiness and defense.

Game 2 = I FEINT a Kamikaze Rush to slow him down and get a good enough lead where he can't follow through with his Nation's strongest strategy.
posted by El_Capitan at 9:07 PM

I divided up all 18 Nations into 3 categories: Top Tier, Mid-Tier, and Low-Tier.

Top Tier - These Nations are regarded as Top Tier because of their ability to manipulate other Nation's weaknesses with their own strengths.

1. Maya - By now, everyone knows the Maya lame strat I used in the BHS Tourney. Their auto-firing Cities make them difficult to raid, nearly impossible to rush, and they save Timber on non-military buildings which enables them to boom very effectively. The most dangerous part of them is that they can speedily build Towers and Forts 50% faster with 50% more Hit Points for defense while stalling for time. They also build Wonders faster, so there's no beating them there. Basically, you've got a Nation impossible to control to your will. The only chance you have is to attack them early and effectively, because they grow stronger over time.

2. Spanish - There are so many advantages of the Spanish, I have to list them:

1. With 2 Scouts and their Ruin bonus, they can end up gathering up to 1500 resources just from Ruins alone. This enables them to cap resources, expand, and build a military all at the same time faster than any other Nation.

2. They know where everything is on the map. It's not difficult for them to find the best location for their Cities next to lush forests or big mountains.

3. Even without researching Military 1 at the Library, they recieve a free Heavy Ship from completing a Dock. That can slow down their opponent's economic fishing just because of that on open sea maps.

4. They can Rush the best, either in Ancient or in Classical Age because of Ruins.

5. They can defend the Rush the best, excluding Maya, of course... because of Ruins.

6. They can Raid the best, especially with Heavy Cavalry which is nearly impossible to stop early in the game, and again, because of Ruins. They also know where your Rare Resources are.

7. They have the best Heavy Infantry during Gunpowder Age (Gunpowder Age is the longest and most important Age where the main fighting takes place). The only way to stop Heavy Cavalry raiding is to build Heavy Infantry, but they're too slow... so you need to build a few Cavalry, both Light and Heavy to stop those raids. That means the other Nation can't boom without using resources for defense, and their Cavalry and Heavy Infantry are nearly useless in battle once the Spanish reach Gunpowder Age.

The only Nation they can't control is the Maya... no Nation can control that Nation. However, no Nation besides the Maya can control the Spanish. The Spanish can do what they want, and the only way to defeat them is by countering their strategy, if that's possible.

3. Chinese - A very well rounded Nation. After trying out a new strat with them, they've got a nasty border push because of their Large Cities, and they don't have to worry about any Kamikaze rushes. They've got a really fast start, especially with cheaper Science research and instant Citizen, Caravan, and Merchant creations. They also have a nice Medieval Age attack with their early Gunpowder Light Infantry. Their only advantage is their powerful border push, and hoping that they get lucky finding Timber while doing it. This enables them to manipulate many other nations, even Top Tier Nations.

4. Mongols - People know what's coming from the Mongols... RAIDING! The sooner the better, because hurting the enemy's economy at the beginning is where it hurts them the most. Just using the 2:00 minute Fast Classical alone is good enough to force many other Nations into a defensive position. Not only that, but the 2:00 minute Fast Classical strategy makes them nearly invulnerable to a Rush. While raiding, they are free to boom because they have no immediate threat from counter-raiding.

5. French - Their extra Timber cap helps them to boom and/or attack. They've got one of the best Classical Age attacks in the game besides the Koreans because of their free Healing Supply Wagon and cheaper Siege units being defended by the best Heavy Cavalry in the game. With the extra Timber being collected in the game, they easily have enough Timber to build a Barracks, a Temple, and Foot Archers once they research Military 1 if surprise Rushed.

6. Koreans - Besides the Germans, they're probably the most well-rounded Nation. They can cap resources very quick, and they're not susceptible to getting their Cities taken from a Rush (which is why I included them as a Top Tier Nation). Besides the Maya, Spanish, and Bantu, they've got the fastest early expansion, and a good ability to attack heavily starting in Classical Age, or just boom until whenever they want to start fighting.



Mid-Tier - These Nations are regarded as Mid-Tier because they have certain strengths that can counter the manipulative Top Tier Nations. However, they also have weaknesses that can be exploited by any Nation, and that leaves them with fewer options.

7. Germans - Besides the Spanish, Chinese, and Koreans, they have one of the fastest starts in which to cap their resources. They are the best all-around Nation, and their only weakness lies in the fact that each of their Economic Cities are so important, that losing one can be the death of them.

8. Japanese - 2nd in Rushing next to the Spanish, great on water maps because of their cheaper ships and fishing bonus, they only get stronger the longer the game lasts with cheaper Barracks units every Age.

9. Inca - They have the slowest start next to the Aztecs and the Russians, but only until Classical Age. Once they are able to start accumulating Wealth from Mountains or Fish, they can boom faster than the Greeks, and raid pretty well with Heavy Cavalry. Their weakness lies in their slow start, and that they depend heavily on mountains.

10. Turks - This Juggernaut Nation has a good start, but cheaper Citizens and cheaper Military research don't give them that much of an advantage as a booming Nation. If they can manage a fast and steady attack with their free siege, they can be a force to be reckoned with. However, many good players know this, so Rushing or Raiding works rather well to slow the Turks down.

11. British - Their importance of having 25% extra Commerce Cap is usually overlooked. Their weakness lies in the fact that it takes longer for them to boom, but once they get going, they become very strong. They're good on the water with 33% faster ship creation, and they've got a really good Foot Archer turned Light Infantry line. Like I said, their weakness lies in their slow start.

12. Nubians - They've got a nice, quick beginning, but Rare Resources are easily raidable, making them weak vs. aggressive raiding Nations. The only advantage they have is being able to use the market trading effectively, which make them very adaptable in tight situations.



Low-Tier - These Nations are regarded as LowTier because of their inability to manipulate other Nations.

13. Bantu - Good early expansion, but weak against Rushes. They can have a decent rush with their Barrack's unit speed, but that negates their expansion advantage. There's only two ways to go with them... expand or Rush/Raid. They can boom well with 4 Cities... but they may not hold their 4 Cities for long.

14. Egyptians - Early Wonder building can give them an advantage, especially with the Terra Cotta Army being built in Classical Age. They are susceptible to being Rushed to slow them down, but are decent at defending Raids. Building Wonders strenghtens them, but weakens them at the same time, because everyone knows what to do when they start building a Wonder... ATTACK!

15. Greeks - They cannot stay in Ancient Age for long, because they cannot accumulate enough Wealth and Knowledge to upgrade Science 2 or Commerce 2 without slowing them down further. They can do a decent Rush, but other than that, they need to get up to Classical for their +100 Knowledge and start booming from there... which will usually be only with 2 Cities. No defensive bonuses, and no attacking bonuses, the only hope for them is that you're smart enough to survive and stay an Age or two ahead of your enemy.

16. Aztecs - The other Juggernaut Nation. You've only got 2 choices in the beginning because of their slow start. Either Kamikaze Rush, or Raid with 4 Light Infantry, taking out edge-Farms. Then, you need to Raid in Classical Age no matter what to slow down your enemy while giving yourself more resources, and hope for a fast Gunpowder Age when you can start spamming Barracks for free Arquebusiers. That's their only strength, but predictability is their major weakness.

17. Romans - They've got a good Rush, but a slow expansion, and a slower than average start... but still a much better initial start than the Incas, British, Aztecs, or Russians. They've got a good Heavy Infantry and Heavy Cavalry combo until Gunpowder, but after that, they're in dire need of that cheaper Fort and Tower bonus, because they'll need it to defend their Cities.

18. Russians - My favorite Nation because they have no advantage what-so-ever. Supply Wagons take away their attrition, and experts know enough to bring more than one Supply Wagon, and defend them with Heavy Infantry. They don't have any economic bonuses until Industrial Age for Oil, and everyone will get there faster than the Russians will, anyhow. Not only that, other Nations don't have to worry about the expanding Russian territory, because they can just go and take any of their Cities. Spies have been nerfed, and are nearly useless. However, this is a great Nation to practice booming with, since they have no economic bonuses, and they're a good Nation to practice tactics with, because they need as many tactics as possible to help defend themselves from total slaughter.



For those of you who lose to a Top Tier Nation, don't be ashamed. For those of you who lose with a Low Tier Nation, don't be ashamed, either. The only time you should be ashamed is if you lose to a Low Tier Nation using a Top Tier Nation. Top Tier Nations have so many options, while Low Tier Nations barely have any. The Mid-Tier Nations are okay, ranging from high average to low average, but you don't have as much catching up to do with them against the Top Tier Nations. The challenge is to beat the Top Tier Nations with the Low Tier Nations, but the opponent must make a lot of mistakes and play poorly for that to ever happen.
posted by El_Capitan at 9:49 AM

Not a very exciting game, but very good for learning purposes. This game had to be played perfectly by me in order to win, and a win could've been possible had I not made so many mistakes, but instead I get rolled. This is what games at the expert level have to be ... near perfection in order to win. When you know something is coming, and you know everything you're doing is a mistake, even though it's the best decision you can make... you've got to play flawless, because perfection is your only chance of winning.
posted by El_Capitan at 6:12 AM

Here's an example game on why you oughta just keep plugging away. In this game I'm getting completely owned by KBS_Phunky, who does the obligatory smack talk during the game: "I bet you're not this good with any other civ." Actually, I'm better, but I just can't beat Mayans. So fuck it. Anyway, he doesn't seem to have any problems taking most of my cities. His army just mows through my cities at will. However, despite taking city after city, I keep popping them back up. Also, my counter-raiding keeps his economy down and after enlightenment age he stops expanding. For some reason he never does go for my capital, nor does he ever attack my fishing, which was what kept me in the game. After I make it to industrial and start: 1) shooting up his siege with planes, and 2) taking down his captial with commandos, He gives up with a "fucking Mayans."

Yea, I hate 'em too.

Anyway, he easily took and held 4 of my cities. FOUR! This is a good game to watch to see just how bad I am with Mayans, and how you can stay in the game if you just keep at it.

UPDATE: KBS_Phunky has come away really offended because I posted this game. To Phunky, I say: Get over yourself. If you think I posted this game to brag about beating you, then you have too high an opinion of yourself. I don't post games to "brag" about beating players. And if I were to do so, I certainly wouldn't post games where I beat a lower-ranked player. Or brag about winning with Mayans.

I posted the game because it was interesting.Which is the reason I post all of my games. And a majority of the games I have posted of mine are losses. Most of the games I've played have been pretty boring. Either boring wins or boring losess. This was an interesting game. There's no denying that. It was interesting for the following reasons:

• Mayans aren't invincible. Phunky was able to easily capture my cities. Maybe it took him 20 extra seconds because they were Mayan, but he took them nonetheless. In fact, he took a LOT of them. Phunky complains about the city spamming, but this is not a Mayan-specific tactic, it is just common sense. If you lose a city, make another one. Even if you are going to recapture it, use that opportunity to get up an extra city.


• Never give up, even when the other guy is completely kicking your ass. Until he takes your capital, eliminates all of your cities, or wins on territory or wonders, you still have a chance. Comebacks in RON are very rare, but when they do occur, they are valuable lessons. As in, I resigned in a game vs. niDe where he was marching through my frontlines, but as it turned out we were pretty evenly matched. I just gave up. That won't happen again.


• Finish off your opponent when you've got him reeling and on the run. Phunky had the means and opportunity to take my capitol and end the game, but he got distracted by the extra cities I was laying down and by the raiding I was doing -- I was basically attacking him on ALL fronts. Stay focused on your objective. You can win the game by sacking the capital and holding it for a few minutes.


• Which is another point. If you are losing on one front, fight somewhere else. If what you are doing isn't working, do something else. He was moving on my capital and I couldn't stop him, so I countered with some raiding. Almost all of his troops were at the front so he had to turn. In another battle, I caused him to fall back because I was attacking one of his towns with a small force of siege. All of these were attempts to sieze the initiative and confuse the enemy, rather than patiently wait out my doom. Yea, as EC pointed out, he could have esaily taken my capital, but he didn't. Main reason he didn't was because of these tactics. He felt more vulnerable than he really was.


• Don't talk smack during the game. And don't complain about opponent's civ choice in rated. It's rated play for crying out loud. And, if you're going to bitch about Mayan, then you've no business picking Spanish. Spanish are even worse for ownage, particularly on Outback. Mayans are the only ones who can even be competitive.

posted by Tim at 1:31 AM

Someone posted this flamebait thread in MFO. However, El_Capitan crafted such an extremely well-thought out response that I just had to link to it. I think he hit the nail on the head though with this comment:

Out4Blood - If there was an Einstein for RoN, this would be the guy. I guest-write for this guy's blog because he's so scientific, it scares me. I, on the other hand, am quite the opposite, and prefer trial by fire. Besides, I think his actual talent is being held in check by his wife, so it grieves me to not to see how good he could've been as a player.

To be fair - I am usually more seat of the pants, but when you can't play as often as you like you have to think about the game more. However, even if I were to play more often, I probably wouldn't be much better. I'm not sure my micro is up to par like it used to be. Too old. Besides, I've always been more of a "win by strategy" guy than a "win by micro" guy, anyway.
posted by Tim at 10:43 PM

They've been updated. Updated O4B rankings. Montana wanted everyone to know he's moved up a few notches.
posted by Tim at 10:00 AM

petachoks asks this question about Changing stances

Is there a hotkey to changing stances. It's really annoying to click on the screen a few times to the desired stance, especially with lag.

There's some good answer in the thread. Like EC, I only use Agressive (SHIFT + A), Defensive (SHIFT + E), and Raid (SHIFT + R). But I use the faster keys, I didn't even know the SHIFT + T hotkey! I hate cycling through them, because I never knew what was what and I'd always pass up the one I really wanted. BTW, My stance on new units is always Defensive. I set it when they come out based on the situation.
posted by Tim at 2:57 PM

MaximusX asks about Tactics at RoN Heavengames.

Strategy = Dictionary term: A plan of action resulting from strategy intended to accomplish a specific goal. In my words: a plan of action; if successfully achieved, that ensures completion of the main goal.

Tactics = Dictionary term: A procedure or set of maneuvers engaged in to achieve an end, an aim, or a goal. In my words: a course of action that succeeds in helping assure the means of an end.

In RoN, your goal is to win the game. In order to achieve this, you have to plan out sequences of actions that will give you an advantage over your opponent. If the completion of those plans are successful, then that will help ensure an easier victory. That is strategy. Now tactics are maneuvers which will make each plan of action you commit in your strategy more successful. For example, you use strategy to win a war, and tactics to help win battles in the war. Just because you've lost a battle doesn't mean you've lost the war.

Let me dumb it down a notch. It's a 1vs1 game. My opponent is Spanish, while I am the Maya. My strategy involves booming ahead of the other player and staying alive defensively and winning by a Wonder victory (watch my 1vs1 BHS games). My plan is to make it to Medieval as soon as safely possible, and build the Terra Cotta Army. This ensures me a standing army while I play my defensive game while continuously booming. Once I make it to Information Age, I build the Supercollider and the Space Program, and finally research World Government to instantly win the game by Wonder Victory. This is Strategy.

Let me dumb it down another notch. In order for my opponent to stop me, even though he knows what my plans are, he does Tactics #2, #7, and #9. Is that his strategy? No. His strategy is to stop my booming process by taking me out by conquest, or trying to outboom me. Those tactics are just things he can do to try to hinder my strategy, and help get his strategy to fall through.

Think of it this way... is rushing someone a strategy to win the game, or is it a strategy to lose the game? I've played games where I've rushed, took their Capital, and won. Other players have played me where they rushed, took my Capital, but lost. I've had games where I've rushed and failed to do anything but raid a little, and win later on. I've also had games where I've rushed people, failed, and lost. It's not because of the rush that people have failed or succeeded to win games, it's because they relied on it as their main strategy. No matter what, fail or succeed, rushing never ensures you of anything except that: even though it slows you down in the beginning, it has a chance of slowing your opponent even more.

On a side note: My brother used to play team games with certain people (I'll call them the Rush-Quitters), and all they would do is rush. If they didn't succeed, they'd quit. What's the fun in that? Why even bother playing with them at all, if the only time they played the whole game was if they were winning because their rushes were successful?

On another note (it's getting fun to rant): When I was playtesting the game at MS with the other playtesters, I'd lose a couple of games. Heck, all of us lost to each other. When you're testing, you're trying new things out, seeing how they work for a few times. Well, one of the "other" playtesters that helped us for a little while thought he was the best around because he had beaten the "original" playtesters in a few games. One of the games was against me when he was the overpowered Mongols with me trying a new strategy with the nerfed Aztecs. After that win, his ego went through the roof.

If I kept playing him for the "title belt" to see who was the best, it would have lasted forever. Plus, I had no real incentive to prove anything to anybody, while he did. That gives him fuel to play his best while I play with nothing to gain but everything to lose. So, I told him that I never play seriously except for money. He laughed. Hell, everybody did, basically saying that I was bullshit. All I said was, if he wasn't afraid, I'd play him for $20 a game. We'd bet $20, and the winner of each game would get the loser's money. I told him he'd never win a money game.

So, the first money game we played, he chose the Spanish, and I chose the Maya. Back then, both nations were overpowered more than they were now, and Spies were god awful! I edged out the win, and got a better feel for how he played. Ahhh.... twenty bucks... how nice!

Afterwards, he asked for another game. We chose the same civs. This time, I knew what was coming, and basically did my lame strat without the TCA (TCA was nerfed at that time). I ICBM'd him so bad, he called me a fag, lol. Wow, I got $40 in less than an hour... this was getting fun!

Although he kept asking if I'd play him again, we never did. And why wouldn't I? I'm always willing for free money. =)

The moral of the story is... even if I defended my title as the "best" playtester, all it would be doing is giving me stress. He had nothing to lose by losing, but everything to gain by winning. My strategy to defend the title was to play as few games as possible. The tactics to make this happen was by involving money and betting. The more times he loses, the less money he'll end up having, and the less confident he'll get to keep playing more. Not only that, he wouldn't want to challenge me as much after each loss, because it's $20 a game he'd be losing! Think about it. It's like my brother vs. the Rush-Quitters. They'll keep playing like they do, and keep thinking like they do, until something changes it for them. Now, if they had to play each game for money like I did, I'm sure they wouldn't rush, and if they did, they would keep playing until they knew for sure they'd lost. It's just the way some of us humans are, unfortunately.

So, of the 10 Tactics I listed here, you cannot win the game soley because of doing them (except if you play noobs with my Kamikaze rush, or raid them so well that they quit). Because of that, they can never be strategies, but only tactics.


Here are the 10 Tactics you can practice or use:

Tactic 1: Kamikaze Rush
Some might consider this a strategy, but it isn't unless your opponent is totally undefended and unprepared. This tactic is to slow down your enemy's economy by either taking one of their economic cities (mainly the Capital), or causing them to overbuild on defenses.

Tactic 2: Raiding
Raiding is almost the same tactic as rushing (basically it's watered down and less of a risk)... slowing your opponent's economy down while yours goes unhindered.

Tactic 3: Caravan Suicides
When you are being raided, and your Caravan is about to get killed, delete it before it gets killed so your enemy does not get +50 Wealth for killing it.

Tactic 4: City Exchange
This is a very risky maneuver, and you can't actually plan it until one of your less important cities are being attacked. What you do is let your opponent take your city, even though you have a larger army. When your city is taken, you quickly build another city for free without having to research another Civic upgrade at your Library. Then, you walk up with your army and take it back. Having an extra City just to build another University or create a few more Caravans can help you immensely.

Tactic 5: Taking Out Supply Wagons and Siege
A tip I previously wrote about using Generals in conjunction with Light Cavalry to take out Supply Wagons and Siege is on this site. This will not work if the enemy has ranged Heavy Infantry. Basically, if you see that they don't have a Scout with their army, you use the Ambush ability with your General. If there is a Scout, you use the Force March to speed your Light Cavalry to take them out.

Tactic 6: *Flanking With Spies
Spies have gotten badly nerfed in the game, however, there are a few uses besides using Counter-Intelligence on one of their Libraries. If your opponent is attacking you far from his border, flank behind his initial army with your Spies and start bribing his reinforcements. Good players will run their troops back to their base in order to not get bribed, buying you more time to fend off his main army. If your opponent is smart, he'll have a Scout or two going back to stop your Spies. Use your bribed units if you have any to kill the Scouts he sends your way. *The recorded game shows this maneuver in actual play during the BLUT tourney.

Tactic 7: Sieging and Besieging
When a city is being besieged, place towers and/or a fort behind the City. This helps buy you some time, and your enemy has to build a few more Siege, leaving less resources on actual military personnel. However, if your opponent does this to you, focus on the City first, and once the City's Hit Points are down to zero, have one of your siege to keep bombarding it, and your other Siege to take out the towers and fort placed further back.

Tactic 8: The Heavy Fisherman
On maps with open fishing (meaning there's only one main body of water), many good players will go heavy on fishing. However, don't do this yourself. Make sure you have at least 10 Farms with Granaries producing your Food, and go light on fishing. If you're going to fish heavily, you'll need to keep spending resources on a Navy to defend them. What you must do is send a few ships to raid his fishing ships, just to get your opponent to start thinking about building a fleet. Meanwhile, you're booming up to Gunpowder Age (because of Siege ships starting in the Gunpowder age, you can't totally neglect the sea, and you trying to take out your enemy's docks before that is foolhardy at best), and pressing an attack on your opponent's city on land. Then, start going heavy on your Navy to wipe out his Navy, his Docks, his fishing, and his Food, Wealth, and Timber income.

Tactic 9: Superficial Military Buildings
Usually very aggressive players will delete their Military Buildings that were far inside their territory to save a few timber on building newer ones closer to the edge for quicker reinforcement. However, it's unwise to do this if your opponent is just as aggressive, and if you're either the Aztecs, sometimes French, Mongols, Romans, Spanish (for Docks) or Turks.

Tactic 10: Dumbing Down with Aircraft Carriers
I use this tactic all the time when there's water in the map. You have to at least be in the Modern Age, and you need Aircraft Carriers. At this point, Knowlege is crucial, and so is Timber and Wealth. Once you upgrade your Fighter jets at your Airbase, you use the Fighter Bombers that are in your Aircraft Carrier's to take down your opponent's defenseless Universities and kill the Scholars.
posted by El_Capitan at 2:14 AM

The Spiderman 2 trailer. This is one of the better "teaser" trailers I've seen. Makes me wanna watch the movie without revealing all the good scenes. I was particularly pleased by the

2 . . . July . . . 2004

at the end. Nice touch.

It's the simple pleasures, really.
posted by Tim at 8:07 PM

RON Revolution is hosting a 1vs1 tourney on 12/20. I think there is a prize for the winner. Via Rohag.
posted by Tim at 9:22 AM

So, I've been playing quite a few rated games lately. I was excited to play with a (close to) "perfect" rating system. But after playing about 60 games or so, I'm having second thoughts. The ratings pretty accurately describe skill level. That has both good and bad connotations.

• The good news is that it tells you how good someone is. This makes it great for balancing games and picking teammates and predicting how tough they are going to be.
• The bad news is that it tells you how good someone is. This means that you are likely to beat someone rated below you and likely to lose to someone rated above you. With a few rare exceptions, I usually beat the guys below me and lose to guys above me.

This is how it is supposed to be; with mathematical precision, you can directly calculate the odds of winning, just by looking at the difference in ratings. You can pretty much tell how the game is going to turn out ahead of time. Which can be pretty discouraging if you are looking to win. It also explains some weird rated room behavior. People tend to "camp" out in the rated room (as if they were playing Everquest) rather than clicking the Find a game button. They usually try to negotiate games with people around their skill level, presumably because the QM function doesn't do a very good job of matching skills -- or perhaps because there are so few people. If people are looking to win games, then they will be looking for people at or below their rating.

One improvement I would suggest for this is to eliminate the list of names and ratings from the lobby. People should be matching up with whoever is there, not waiting for the "right" person. Maybe something for the expansion pack?

Oh, and did I mention that Maya sucks to play against?
posted by Tim at 6:33 AM

Black Watch asks What's a good civilisation for a Beginner?

I'm a 'newbie' to this game, as I've been constantly hooked on AoK since it came out, and I really am not good at choosing civs to play, I can't stand random, just not reliable if I don't like a civ and it randomly selects it.

I'd just like to know 1 or 2 civs to try out in the beginning, so I can get better. ie: the Mongols in AoK:TC were considered an Expert civ (last time I checked) and I just want to ease into the game, no hard-to-manage civs, I mean.

Any help is appreciated.

Before we answer that question, it's good to think about what would make a good civilization for a beginner. When learning a game I like to use a nation that requires little micro and has minor bonuses, so it plays conventionally. To learn RON, it's a good idea to play initial games against an AI with nation bonuses turned off, this way, when you do have bonuses, you'll notice their impact.

I'd recommend several civs to learn with:

• British. They require little micro to be effective and their bonuses make it easier to play. Two of the difficulties beginners face is dealing with the commerce cap and maintaining good gold income. Also, there natural development is more in line with the commerce cap increases. 1 city = about 60, 2 cities = 120, 3 cities = 180. These increases step nicely with the +125 and +187 commerce caps.


• Mayan -- Mayan require very little micro, even at the expert level. They have good defensive bonuses and make a good starter civ for folks.


• Japanese -- my best advice for people who really want to improve their game is to play Japs and rush every game. Rushing is pretty straight forward and easy. Through rushing, players will see: 1) how deadly it can be, and 2) how to stop it. They can then move on to +100 attack and +150 attacks, improving their repetoire as they get better at managing their economy. They will also gradually learn important micro skills as they get better.

Nations I didn't mention are also playable, but for raw beginners, I'd stick with the top 3.

Nations I would avoid are:

• Spanish -- require intense micro and sophisticated manipulation of ruins. However, the revealed map is very good for beginners, but you can toggle that in the settings so that any nation plays with reveal map.


• Greeks -- they require a completely differetn approach from the "normal" civs. It's difficult to get adjusted to them. They can be very powerful if used in the right situation, but not for beginners.


• Nubians -- a fun civ to play, particularly in large map team games. Nubians great economy relies on rare resources, somethign that new players might have difficulty taken full advantage of.


• Aztecs -- these guys require aggressive play to make use of their bonus.


• Bantu, Chinese, and Koreans -- these guys all have "weird" bonuses that require substantially different play. I'd save them for later.

posted by Tim at 1:12 AM

Coming down to the final two, I would have expected Lill to beat Sandra in a head-to-head vote. However, it probably would have been smarter for her to instead pick Johnny Rotten. Her dislike of him took over, though, and she picked Sandra instead. But instead of winning the vote, it was a landslide the other way 6-1 and Sandra won the $1,000,000. At the reunion show, Probst asked the jury members how they would have voted if had been Lill-Johnny. 4-3 in Lill's favor. Oh well. She says she doesn't regret her decision -- but what else is she gonna say? "You're right, Jeff, I am soooo stupid." Probst pointed out an interesting statistic. In 7 Survivor seasons, the winner of of the final immunity challenge has lost the game 5 times. That's a pretty compelling statisitc given that the winner gets to choose who they'll go into the final with. So why does the immunity winner have such trouble?
posted by Tim at 12:42 AM

There are 3 ways to improve your game:

1. Learning Hotkeys. I am a slow player myself, but because of this, I have to play more methodical using hotkeys. The important thing is to keep it simple. A very great feature about RoN is that they actually have scenario's to help improve your micro and Hotkey abilities! When you're ready, just go to Tools and Extras, and Skill Test. My favorite is Whack the General... I could play that game all day. It's boring, but it's great for click-drag selecting, and doing it fast and flawless! The Hotkey Handling is a close 2nd. It's useless in a game, but your reaction speed and hotkey memorization gets really good. Correct me if I'm wrong, but these are all from my memory.

I'm pretty lazy, so when I need to upgrade something, I just use the TAB key.
My beginning game is basically using "L" for giong to the Library, and using the "Q", "W", "E", "R", "T" to research the prospective library upgrades.

As for economic buildings:
Clicking on a Citizen, "B" is build:
"F" is for Farms
"W" is for Woodcutter's Camps
"E" is for Temples
"U" is for Universities
"M" is for Mines
"G" is for Granaries
"J" is for Lumbermills
"H" is for Smelters
"N" is for Markets
"Z" is for Oil Wells
"Q" is for Refineries

As for military buildings:
"T" is for Towers
"R" is for Forts
"A" is for Anti-Air Defense
"K" is for Barracks
"S" is for Stables
"O" is for Siege Factories
"I" is for Airbases
"X" is for Missile Silo's

Going to a City, just keep pressing "C". To make Citizens press "V". The same with Universities and Scholars, but it's "U" to go to the Universities, and "V" again for the Scholars.

Now, the important thing is assigning numbers for different things. To do this, just click on the object(s) you want and press CTRL and a #.

Here are my lists of Hotkey numbers, and everybody's is different.
1 = Scout(s)
2 = Citizen Scout, 1st Raider, Spies, or Main Cavalry
3 = Citizen Scout, 2nd Raider, Main Cavalry, or Main Infantry
4 = Citizen Scout, 3rd Raider, Fort, Docks, or Main Infantry
5 = Primary Barracks, Stables, and Siege Factories
6 = Secondary Barracks, Stables, and Siege Factories (during a two-front war)
7 = Airbase for Fighters
8 = Airbase for Bombers
9 = Airbase for additional Fighters or Bombers

A good thing to keep in mind in case you want to know if you have any idle Citizens is pressing ".", and "," for any idle military. Also, if you press ";", " ' ", and "/", you can auto-find your Scouts, Spies, and Generals. Another important aspect is using the "Home" key (or double clicking on your target) to gather ALL the units or buildings of the same type you want.

That's about it. It's just a personal thing with Hotkeys. Z_CP barely uses anything but 100 clicks a minute on his mouse, and he still plays very well. I, on the other hand, use about 10 clicks a minute, but also 10 hotkeys a minute to make up for the additional 90 that I'm not clicking. =p


2. Not Panicking. A great many players panick when it comes to being Kamikaze rushed, being raided in Classical Age, or being Assaulted in Medieval thru Enlightenment Age.

First off, don't panick. Secondly, you are going to have to rely on some micro abilities. Third, don't waste more resources than you need for a defense! During most Kamikaze rushes, you need to buy time, but mostly 2 Foot Archers and a Slinger. Instead of building a tower, build a temple far back to increase your City's hit points, but only if you have enough Timber to spare. You need Foot Archers more than anything else. Keep your Citizens on Wood, but use all your Farmer Citizens to build your Barracks and Temple.

In a raid, if your enemy goes up 4:00 minutes to Classical, don't panick! He'll need to get Mil 2 for HA and HC. Just get Mil 1 amd go up to Classical while building a Tower at your most vulnerable economic position. Get your 1st Stables up, and 2 LC. Research Attrition at your Tower, and then Mil 2, getting 1 or 2 HC out. There's your raid defense. Now once you fight it off, you can raid with them by making 1 or 2 HA to counter-raid, or save them for a future battle that's surely coming.

When you're being assaulted heavily on your 3rd City's border, don't panick. Build 2 towers behind the city or a Fort to buy you some time. You goal is to make it an age-up on your enemy, because if he's attacking before you do, that means he's not booming as well as you are. Remember, buying yourself time is your first goal! However, be sure to have at least some military backing. If you opponent has mostly Arquebusiers and Heavy Cavalry, go up to Enlightenment and just build mostly Musketeers and
a few Fusiliers and Heavy Cavalry. If your city falls, build another City ASAP, and don't send in the rest of your troops to die. Reinforce, reinforce, and reinforce until you know you can take it back. Remember, the enemy wastes resources on Siege, while you're just using it on an army. Also, remember, don't go too heavily on economy in your 3rd City. Your 3rd City will be the front line of attack in nearly 90% of your games. Most chances are that it will be attacked, and if you lose it as an Economic City, you're in trouble.


3. Looking at the Mini-Map. This is very important, especially in team games. Be sure to look back at it at least every 3-5 seconds. You'll find Ruins you passed, a Kamikaze rush en route, or raiders in your town. You need to know what's going on in the game all the time! You'll rarely be surprised if you use my advice and look at the mini-map as much as you can.

posted by El_Capitan at 6:17 PM

Errr ... on closer reading it appears that it's just Saddam. Sorry, but he's a close second, right? Yahoo! News - U.S. Forces Capture Saddam in Iraq Pit.
posted by Tim at 5:55 PM

They've been updated. Updated O4B rankings. I've made some changes. I'm using the top 200 from the BHG list. Active means a player has played rated int he last 30 days and established means they played at least 25 rated games.
posted by Tim at 5:54 PM

There are many 2vs2 Nation combinations to use, ranging from the very aggressive to the very passive style of playing.

Very Aggressive. These very aggressive nation combos involve mainly the Turks, and can even take out the frustrating Maya nation, making it very powerful. The most aggressive styles of playing require great micro, correct manipulation of Ruins, precise build orders, and absolutely flawless teamwork. The risks may be great, but so are the rewards.

1. Turks and Mongols: This is the most aggressive nation combination. The Mongols and the Turks pull a 2:00 to 2:30 minute Classical, with the Mongols having 4 Horse Archers and 2 Light Horse at the Turk's enemy Capital near 3:00 to 3:30 minutes, and the Turks with 4 Catapults, followed by a Foot Archer and a few Heavy Infantry ASAP.

Weakness: The reason the Mongols must reach the Turk's enemy is because if the enemy knows this attack is coming, the Turks are very susceptible to a Kamikaze rush. The Mongols are protected because they can micro their 2 HA and 1 HC from a Kamikaze rush after their original 4 HA and 2 LC are en route to their partner's base or the Turk's enemy Capital, still commencing with their siege attack, or helping defend the Turk's from a Kamikaze attack. However, because the Mongols and the Turks are in Classical, instead of in Ancient Age, they have a distinct advantage over the Kamikaze rushes.

The players must make sure that the Mongols get the Capital sack bonus in order to build more Heavy Cavalry and Stables for the free Horse Archers. Meanwhile, the Turks must make their way to Medieval Age to get their free upgrade to Trebuchets as quick as possible after the first player goes down. Then it's game over.

The Feint: The Feint is when the Turk/Mongol strat is known, and the enemy prepares to counter correctly against it by doing a double Kamikaze rush, aggressively attacking the Turk player, or going 1/1/1/1 Classical for an early defense on the non-Maya side with LC and Foot Archers. In this situation, both the Turk and Mongol do a fast Classical, but instead of the Turk building Siege, the Turk builds a few defenses and tries to boom while the Mongol raids the non-Maya player and helps defend the booming Turks. If the Feint works correctly, the defensive players spent too much early resources on a defense that wasn't needed. All of a sudden, the Turks are in Gunpowder Age with their powerful Turkish siege supported by Jannisaries and the Mongolian Cavalry.

2. Turks and Spanish: The Spanish are a bit riskier, but depending on the amount of Ruins they get, can produce a great many Heavy Cavalry and Foot Archers from Barracks. They will be slower than the Mongols, but much stronger. It will all depend on how many Ruins they find, and how well the player can manipulate them.

3. Turks and French: Similar to the Spanish, the exception is having a healing Supply Wagon, and the best Heavy Cavalry in the game. Because of this, they won't need to have Foot Archers, but can use Horse Archers, making it quicker to reinforce and protect their HC. It's less powerful but faster than the Spanish, and slower but more powerful than the Mongols.


Aggressive. These aggressive nation combos mainly use the Maya to filter out any Kamikaze rushes. These strategies cannot take out the Maya nation early, but the goal is to take out the non-Maya (or non-defensive) player instead. These strats require good micro, correct manipulation of Ruins, and precise build orders. Teamwork is always essential for any type of aggressive strategy. The risks and rewards may not be as great, but there's also less vulnerability to Kamikaze rushes or combo attacks. The reason for this is because the Maya cannot be Kamikaze rushed, and the other Nation doing a fast Classical attack with a few Horse Archers first makes it easy to defend Kamikaze rushes by themselves.

1. Maya and Mongols: The Mongols commence with their fast Classical 4 HA and 2 LC, while the Maya do an Ancient Age Kamikaze attack towards the non-Maya player. It must target a non-Maya player because these combo attacks do not use siege, so it is doubly important for the Mongol player to make sure and take out any opposing Maya's citizen(s) that might be building a tower at the partner's Capital.

2. Maya and Spanish: Basically the same thing, with the Maya doing a Kamikaze rush, while the Spanish does a fast Classical to help double the non-Maya player with Foot/Horse Archers and Heavy Cavalry.

3. Maya and French: Again, the same thing, with the Maya doing a Kamikaze rush, while the French does a fast Classical to double the non-Maya player with Horse Archers and Heavy Cavalry, along with their Healing Supply Wagon.


Passive Aggressive. Passive Aggressive strategies include any Maya combination, but does not involve any early aggressive attacks, but can focus on Medieval Age attacks. The Maya combination focuses on the Maya in sending an early Citizen and help build a tower at their teammate's Capital. Both players must do a 1/1/1/1 (or sometimes a 1/1/1/2) Classical to assure better protection vs. any early aggressive attacks. After preparing for any aggressive attacks, the Passive Aggressive Maya strategy involves the basic Gunpowder Age attack towards the non-Maya player.

1. Chinese and Turks: This strategy involves surviving any Kamikaze rushes and trying to raid early in Classical to throw off any boom or fend off any aggressive combo. The Turks mainly build a lot of Siege Factories for Trebuchets supported by Heavy Infantry while trying to make it to Gunpowder, while the Chinese focus on a large Medieval army of their early Gunpowder Infantry.

2. Maya and Turks: The Maya plays defense for the Turks, while the Turks make it to a fast Gunpowder Age attack with their Siege and Jannisaries. If the Turk player is strong, they can even attack during the Medieval Age.


Passive. Passive strategies are mainly Sling strategies or strategies trying to make a quick but powerful Gunpowder Age assault. They are vulnerable to Kamikaze attacks and aggressive combos. However, if they can be left alone, or successfully defended against early attacks, they can be formidable later on.

1. Greeks and Spanish: The Spanish do the fast Sci 2 then Com 2, then acquire 100 of each resource to tribute to the Greek player. After that, the Spanish go Classical after a 1/1/2/2 and prepare to defend while booming. The Greeks must do a 1/1/1/1 Classical, but with nearly 85 Food, 85 Timber, and 85 Wealth early in the game, they can use that to help rapidly boom enough that they can take out their prospective player, or help defend the Spanish player while still booming ahead of everyone else.

2. Aztecs and Maya: The Aztecs try to boom to Gunpowder as fast as they can with a 3/2/2/3 build order in about 10 minutes, then preparing to spam as many Barracks as possible for Arquebusiers and a few Bombard Cannons. The Maya must help defend both the Aztecs and themselves while the Aztecs are able to commence their strong juggernaut attack. With the Aztec killing bonus, the Aztecs can start building their own Cavalry to protect their Arquebusiers and boom, while the Maya continue to play a defensive game.

3. Aztecs and Spanish: The Aztecs do their fast Gunpowder, and so does the Spanish. They defend while they can, but both organize a quick Gunpowder Attack, with the Aztecs building Arquebusiers from Barracks, and the Spanish mainly building their ranged Heavy Infantry. Their defense is not as strong, but if they can survive to Gunpowder Age, these two nations are the biggest offensive threat.

4. Aztecs and Turks: The Juggernaut civs! These nations are really slow in the beginning, and very vulnerable. However, after playing it by ear, and surviving to Gunpowder Age, these two Nations are devastating together!


Very Passive. Very Passive stragies are all about defense and booming. It is very difficult to pull off, but with great teamwork, can work like a charm.

1. Maya and Egyptians: The goal is for the Maya to do the lame strat with a fast Medieval and building the Terra Cotta Army first while the Egyptians build all the other Wonders for a Wonder victory. The Maya must defend the Egyptians and themselves.

2. Maya and Russians: The goal is for a territory victory by having the Maya build a few Forts and Towers in Russian territory, and helping fend off any large assaults.

3. Maya and Koreans: The same territory victory strategy, but with a better economic nation than the Russians.

4. Maya and Inca: The Maya play the defensive role again, but for the Incas. The Incas just boom as fast as they can to Information Age in under 25 minutes to end the game easily.

5. Maya and Greek: The Maya play the defensive role for the Greeks. The Greeks boom as fast as they can to Information Age in under 25 minutes to end the game easily.


There are many other Nations I've not included:

Bantu
British
Germans
Japanese
Nubians

There are a few strategies that can be used with them, but they're not particularly useful. Most of the ones I've listed are for the people asking for help with the 2vs2 BHS tourney. Those strategies are simple but effective. However, if you wish to use any of the Nations above, I can work out a strat with that Nation with whichever style you want to use. Regardless of the strategy, teamwork is essential!
posted by El_Capitan at 4:17 AM