Rise of Nations: Thrones & Patriots Expansion Pack

by Microsoft

Product Features

• Expansion pack to the Rise of Nations real-time strategy game
• Combines traditional turn-based strategy with fast-paced action
• 4 new non-linear, single-player campaigns based on historical epochs
• Over 130 new scenarios; 6 new nations; 20+ original units
• Achieve greatness by constructing 3 new wonders of the world

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0001KVPE4
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: April 27, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,237 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #85 in Video Games > PC Games > Strategy
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots, the expansion pack to the critically acclaimed, best-selling, real-time strategy (RTS) game Rise of Nations, adds a barrage of new features to the original game. Combining the epic scope of traditional turn-based strategy games with the fast-paced action of RTS games, Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots enables players to explore 6,000 years of history as they amass powerful armies, build prosperous economies, and perform acts of diplomacy.

Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots introduces six new nations, four unique single-player campaigns, more than 20 original units, new wonders, and new government types. Unlike other historical RTS games, the Rise of Nations franchise allows gamers to quickly play through eight historical epochs of time from the Ancient Age to the Information Age.

Features:

• Highly diverse new nations: Players can lead one of six new nations--Iroquois, Lakota, American, Dutch, Persian, and Indian--in the single-player campaigns or on a multiplayer battlefield. Each nation has its own distinctive national powers and special units, such as the Lakota who have no national boundaries, or the Americans whose marines can hide anywhere without the need of a General nearby.
• Rich new campaigns and scenarios: Four new non-linear, single-player campaigns based on historical epochs will keep players busy as they plan their moves on the strategic outer map and play out the battles in over 130 new scenarios. The new campaigns include Alexander the Great, Napoleon, the New World, and the Cold War.
• Choose a government type: As a nation advances through the ages, players can decide between six different government types. From socialism to capitalism, despotism to republic, each government type has a different power that allows players to customize their nations and open up new tactics and strategic possibilities. A unique Patriot unit is available with each government type, bringing a variety of powers to the battlefield.
• New units: More than 20 new units, which are graphically unique to each new nation, are available for players to command including the massive Persian War Elephants, armed Dutch merchants, unique ships, and supply wagons.
• Achieve greatness by constructing three new wonders of the world:
  • Forbidden City: Walled city built in 1407 within Beijing for the Imperial Court of the Chinese emperor. Entry was forbidden to ordinary citizens until 1912.
  • Red Fort: Massive fortification built of red sandstone in 1618, it served as the palace of India's Mughal Emperors. The outer defense wall was 1.5 miles long and 110 feet tall.
  • Hanging Gardens: One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, these gardens were built by Nebuchadnezzar II for his queen in ancient Babylon, circa 600 BC.

Product Description

Expansion Pack; requires Rise Of Nations Also includes four new single-player campaigns - The rise of Alexander the Great, the career of Napoleon Bonaparte, the conquest of the New World, and the Cold War

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

82 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A world class expansion pack for a world class game., April 29, 2004

By 

Christian Hunter "Christian Hunter" (Austin, Texas Santa Barbara, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rise of Nations: Thrones & Patriots Expansion Pack (CD-ROM)

Like many who have been eagerly anticipating the arrival of Thrones and Patriots, I played a social-life crippling amount of Rise of Nations when it debuted in early 2003. That's why when my co-junkie CIO barged into my office yesterday with this expansion pack I was both elated and petrified at the potential darkening of my social life that might occur if this follow-on was half as interesting as press has made it out to be.

I went home, and savagely thrust the CD into my eager drive, loading....anticipatory sweat began to bead on my backhair....loading...

Fast forward 20 minutes, and if you asked me "how is it", I wouldn't answer you. That would be my answer. Now, sitting here in my office, I'm jones'ing to run home and play again...the crackling of US Marine Machine Gun fire, screaming Persian Elephants....

So much has changed, yet thankfully, for RON lovers, the gameplay is still comfortably familiar. There are however some notable differences in this game.

First off, there are 6 new nations, 20 new unit types, and 4 new maps. But so far, the biggest difference is the ability to choose a government type...

At the Classical Age you establish a Senate and choose a government. Your choices are: Despotism, Socialism, Capitalism, Monarchy, Republic, and Democracy. Your Government gives your nation military and non-military bonuses, and each government type allows you to create a Patriot. The Patriot is a special unit that acts as your leader. They are produced from the Senate and give certain bonuses to units and buildings within a proximate radius of their location. What's interesting is that each of the six governments produce a Patriot unique to their type.

So in choosing government type (which give you global bonuses), you also need to balance that governments value against the unique set of Patriot bonuses. As if there weren't enough choices in Rise of Nations to begin with. But really, as I expressed in my review of RON, that's what I love so much about this game. I know of no "one way to win". Much like chess, there are counters to every efficacious strategy and tactic, "rushing", "turtleing (holing up defensively)", "age leaping"...every game must be played dynamically against your partners strategy. A "thinking mans RTS".

Needless to say, I'm thrilled. I haven't been this excited to game since I was learning Rise of Nations a little over a year ago. If you love RTS's like Civilization, you'll should pick up this habit. If you're already addicted to RON, well, your next fix is on the shelf...

I hope this was helpful.

Enjoy.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars jumping into RoN with the expansion pack, June 28, 2004

By 

Mike Garrison (Covington, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Rise of Nations: Thrones & Patriots Expansion Pack (CD-ROM)

I'm a veteran off-line RTS player, but I never got around to trying Rise of Nations before now. So I bought the original and the expansion pack, and am reviewing them together.

First thing, the install: I had to clear some space on my applications drive -- adding the two games took well more than a gig (most of my drive is formatted for linux). I'm running under Win98. But the install was flawless, and the program seems very stable. I've only managed to lock it up once in many hours of gameplay.

Learning the game: There is a very handy "quick start" tutorial for people with previous RTS experience. The main difference with RoN from most games is the multitude of resources required. This is a big improvement over the traditional "food, wood, and gold". You start out needing food, wood, and wealth, but quickly you add requirements for metal and knowledge. Later you need oil.

The other big resource is territory. The "national borders" concept is brilliant, because it makes territory a valuable resource. Normally a player can only expand territory by building new cities and forts on the edge of their existing territory. Sitting back and building a big tech base and army will not work, nor will a simple rushing strategy. The game demands balance.

Playing the game: The game is very good at eliminating micromanagement of the citizens. However, there is still a fair amount of micromanagement of the soldiers to do. The game follows the usual pattern of requiring a mix of units (cavalry is good against archers, who are good against infantry, who are good against cavalry, etc.). Since these are supposed to be strategy games, it would be nice to be able to build a well-balanced army and leave it alone to fight optimally, but as usual the units all attack whoever is closest. This can lead to a massacre unless you do some intense battle micromanagement.

Thrones and Patriots adds a great "library tech control bar" which allows you to see at a glance your main technical status. This is a big improvement over RoN. However, you still need to shift focus from one building to the next to upgrade your unit and building technologies.

Thrones and Patriots also adds the "Patriot" general (not a big deal) and some new cultures (a little more varied in powers than the original set). But the big change is the addition of four new "Conquer The World" scenarios.

The original "Conquer The World" is obviously based on the board game Risk, and is a unique melding of board game strategy with computer gameplay. It also makes for a nearly infinitely replayable campaign. But there is no plot element.

The new scenarios use the same Risk-style play (position armies to contest territories) but add historical scenarios, such as Alexander The Great's conquest of Persia. The technology is limited to the time of the scenario.

All in all, a very fun solo game. I recommend newcomers buy and install both the original game and the expansion pack, and jump right in with playing "Thrones and Patriots".

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So glad they made a great expansion, May 29, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Rise of Nations: Thrones & Patriots Expansion Pack (CD-ROM)

I really loved Rise of Nations but I wanted more from the Conquer the World Single player. Thrones and Patriots delivers on this. Now the world map is playable in cool campaigns. What's nice is that I've actually learned some interesting things about Napoleans campaign (that's what I'm playing now) and I'm sure it is the same for the other campaigns as well.

The new nations are great. They did some great art for the new civs like making native american archers, riders and cities made with tipis. It's also cool to play as the Americans and use the new capital building, it looks like the US capital. All the others are represented by cool new buildings and they allow for some cool new gameplay.

To sum it up Thrones and Patriots does what a good Ex-pack should, it really expands the scope of play and content of an already cool game. It's also getting great reviews on all the game sites, which I checked before buying. Oh yeah, be sure to run the credits, they made a cool new song for this Ex-pack, it's really funny, but I still like the RON credits song the best.