History VideoGame / RiseOfNations

* RussiaTakesOverTheWorld: The expansion campaign ''Thrones and Patriots'' has a UsefulNotes/ColdWar campaign where you can diverge heavily from history to ensure that the Soviets dominate the globe. A more generic Russian takeover is also possible in the vanilla Conquer the World campaign.

* EenieMeenieMinyMoai: "Relics", one available rare resource, are 2 moai and make research faster.

* SchmuckBait:
** During the pacification of Greece in the Alexander campaign, upon defeating Thebes and Athens, your advisors remark that Sparta looks quite beefy and may not be worth the effort. They instead recommend that you make peace with them and doing so will end the mission immediately. If you choose to fight, they reiterate that this isn't a good idea and a few minutes later, the game asks if you ''really'' want to go ahead with it, even giving you a "don't say we didn't warn you" if you insist. Thing is, if you listen to your advisors and choose peace, then every single battle ''for the rest of the campaign'' will see whatever enemy you're fighting getting Spartan reinforcements just a few minutes into the battle, with the game explicitly rubbing it into your face every single time that ''"perhaps it was a mistake not to crush them earlier"''.
** Attempting to storm Greenland in the New World campaign is a very daunting prospect. You need to gather 1000 food in a short amount of time, all the while the enemy is harassing your base. The only reward for it is the rare resource fish, which can be found anywhere with water and only provides a food and commerce bonus, resources that are already plentiful in the campaign map.

* CapitalOffensive: Taking an enemy capital activates a countdown timer, which ends the game once it expires unless the city is retaken. If the capital is the last unoccupied city, the game instantly ends.

* MovesetClone: In the various "Conquer the World" campaigns, there are some nations exclusive to some campaigns that simply borrow the powers of one from the game proper. Examples include the Portuguese using the Nubians' powers in the New World campaign, and a handful of nation states in the Napoleonic campaign (such as the Knights of Malta-Americans, Austrian-Greeks, Portuguese-Incans, Papal State-Romans, and Prussian-Turks).

*** The Spanish and Persian heavy infantry lines obtain the capability of fighting from range prior to the Enlightenment Age.

''Rise of Nations'' is a RealTimeStrategy computer game, developed by Creator/BigHugeGames and published by Microsoft on May 20, 2003. The development of the game was led by veteran Brian Reynolds, of ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}} II'' and ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri''. Concepts taken from turn-based strategy games have been added into the game, including territories and attrition warfare. ''Rise of Nations'' features 18 civilizations, playable through [[TechnologyLevels eight ages of world history]]. It also has one of the most clever user interfaces in recent RTS history, averting the "hunt-and-peck hotkeys" nuisance that has plagued so many other titles in the genre.

On April 28, 2004, Big Huge Games released the ''Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots'' expansion, featuring new civilizations, campaigns, and game mechanics. Later that year, a Gold edition of ''Rise of Nations'' was released, which included both the original and the expansion. In 2006, a SpiritualSuccessor, ''Rise of Nations: VideoGame/RiseOfLegends'' was released, but instead of a historical game, ''Rise of Legends'' turned more towards fantasy elements (similarly to what VideoGame/AgeOfMythology was to VideoGame/AgeOfEmpires), creating a world where fantasy and technology coexisted. ''Rise of Nations: Extended Edition'' was released on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} on June 12 2014, featuring both the original and expansion pack with enhanced graphics, Twitch integration, and reworked multiplayer. With this causing a revival of the game's fan base and fan sites, the game is more popular than it has been for years.

* FemmeFatale: The spy unit, specially in pre-modern eras.

* ModernMayincatecEmpire: This is the result of having the Aztecs, Mayans, and Inca survive far into the future beyond their historical demises.

* NoFairCheating: Cheating in the main campaign gets you labeled "the Cheater".

** Using nukes reduces the "Armageddon Clock". Using too many means the game ends in apocalypse.

*** Some of the Conquer the World campaigns have unique units that aren't available anywhere else. Examples include the Napoleonic Imperial Guard, Colonial American Ironclad, NATO Humvee, and Soviet Nuclear Submarine.

* TacticalRockPaperScissors: ''Rise Of Nations'' plays this trope absolutely straight; it's practically CripplingOverspecialization. Several combinations abound but here's a general example: Light Infantry ➞ Heavy Infantry ➞ Heavy Cavalry➞ Light Cavalry ➞ Light Infantry, with a mix of Archers, Machine Gun Infantry, and Ranged Cavalry thrown in the mix. For the water, Heavy Warships beat Light Ships, which fend off Fire Ships or Submarines, which destroy Heavy Warships. Better write that down. The entire web is about as convoluted as {{Franchise/Pokemon}}. The more obvious cases are Artillery units on both land and water are ideal for smashing up structures, as are bombers, and fighter planes being used to destroy other air units alongside anti-air batteries. On the other hand, this tends to break down to a degree if one side is an age or so ahead or behind technologically. See RockBeatsLaser above.

*** The Persians and Indians get WarElephants that don't replace units at all. They're effective against crowds of infantry while being vulnerable to anti-cavalry weapons.

*** The Persians and Indians get war elephants that don't replace units at all. They're effective against crowds of infantry while being vulnerable to anti-cavalry weapons.

* NuclearNullifier: The SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative) renders the builder unable to be attacked by nukes. However, it also sets the Nuclear Winter Counter to 1. In addition, the Missile Shield future technology prevents Missile Silo units (both nuclear and conventional) from being targeted or detonated in the researcher's national boundaries (as well as turning the Armageddon Counter back by 2); once everyone has the Missile Shield technology, nukes are essentially useless.

* CurbStompBattle: Pitting [[RockBeatsLaser spearmen and archers in a battle against machine-gunners and aircraft]] goes about as well as one would expect. While launching too many nukes [[NonStandardGameOver triggers a nuclear Armageddon]].

* EasyLevelTrick: In the Conquer the World mode, weaker territories can be seized using only your starting troops, ignoring base building entirely.

* MoneyForNothing: The Persian and Incan empires have powers that allow them to generate wealth more easily than other nations, the former automatically creating caravans and unlocking taxation upgrades, and the latter being able to extract wealth from mines in addition to metal. This makes it very easy to go over the commerce cap for wealth, even with the Incans' increased cap.

* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: France having the "power of the leaders" and their special units being horse grenadiers ? [[UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte Now where did we see that ?]] Comes full circle in ''Thrones and Patriots'' with the Napoleon ccampaign.

** The Russians have broader territory and greater [[GeoEffects attrition damage]], making the prospect of invading them daunting... without a [[BarrierMaiden supply wagon]], which negates attrition damage, and what experienced players use for sieges anyway. The Russians are placed in an even worse position if the opponent has the Palace of Versailles, which allows supply wagons to heal units in range, or the Statue of Liberty, which negates ''all'' attrition damage. Savvy Russian players would know to focus on taking out enemy supply wagons on their territory (which their unique unit, the Cossack, is specialized in) while preventing other nations from obtaining the aforementioned wonders.

* ShockingDefeatLegacy: In the Napoleon campaign, if the player loses a battle, Napoleon will be removed from power and exiled to Elba. He'll then escape and attempt to reclaim his empire, resulting in the Battle of Waterloo. If the player loses, the campaign is over, but if the player wins, they can continue with the campaign.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The Chinese's medieval firearm unit is called the Fire Lance. The developers admit that they don't know how the real thing works in action and portrays them as a spear that's propelled by a rocket. The real thing is more like a tube on a shaft that sprays fire like a flamethrower that's capable of shooting projectiles.

** Since resources are scarce during the first level of the Conquer the World Campaign, it's quite effective to get wounded units to heal inside garrisons than to just let them die.

* AdvancedMovementTechnique: Certain techniques requires intense micromanagement, and is primarily seen amongst advanced players with intimate knowledge of the {{metagame}}.
** Raiding, or small-scale assaults on civilian units in order to disrupt the opponent's economy. Ranged cavalry is most specialized in this, as they can run alongside these units while attacking them, and steer clear of enemy barricades and armies with their inherently high movement. Towers are designed to curb this technique, not only being cheaper, quicker to build, and available earlier than forts; but also allowing for research on anti-raiding technologies, attrition (wearing down enemy units on home soil without a supply wagon) and militia (allowing citizens to fight back against raiders).
** Rushing, or attempting to capture an enemy city - preferably their capital - in the Ancient Age, before they could set up a defense system (as forts and attrition are only available from the Classical Age onward). This is a do-or-die strategy that could either end the match there or leave the offensive player severely handicapped for a large portion of the match.
** Civilian scouting. Most players wouldn't think to use [[WorkerUnit civilians]] for this purpose, but they ''[[NotTheIntendedUse can]]'', and players that are aware of this may use their surplus units for seeking out ruins along with their designated ArmyScout. [[MechanicallyUnusualFighter The Lakota]] in particular benefit from this strategy, as Citizens produce food each, and can build outside of their territory.

** However, played straight for hard counters if the circumstances are right. You can still have the situation where a spearman beats a tank, because [[TacticalRockPaperScissors Heavy Infantry hard counter Heavy Cavalry]]. On the other hand, motorized vehicles are [[RealityEnsues more likely to gun down any approaching spearmen]] before they get the chance.

* RealityEnsues: Pitting [[RockBeatsLaser spearmen and archers in a battle against machine-gunners and aircraft]] goes [[CurbStompBattle about as well as one would expect]]. While launching too many nukes [[NonStandardGameOver triggers a nuclear Armageddon]].