Prerelease:Rise of Nations
This page details pre-release information and/or media for Rise of Nations.
Contents
Trial Version
The Trial version of Rise of Nations was released on June 5th, 2003; two weeks before the final US release.
There is one minor difference between this version and the original game, such as:
Pausing the game causes it to play Sound 24.wav, while in the final version there's no sound at all.
Pre-Release Images
Before the game's release, there was a large amount of work done to advertise and promote this game. Beta screenshots and facts were posted on different game sites, multiple copies of beta versions were distributed between game critics, game developers had been interviewed many times, and even a fan-site creation kit was produced by Microsoft. As a result, there's a HUGE amount of pre-release content that can be found.
Feb-May 2002
One of the earliest available screenshots, dated March 2002, more than a year before the final release.
- HUD is completely different, more similar to Age of Empires 2's HUD. Resources amount / produce speed and commerce limit numbers are located in the top edge of the screen. However, the Age Advance button is absent. There's a line between the bottom part of the interface and game screen that contains information about the current nation and age. There's a bunch of buttons near the mini-map, with the purpose of some of them being unknown. These two in the bottom-left corner are Select Free Citizen and Select General, and both of them have icons that differ from final versions.
- Icons of literally all Technologies, along with icons that represent Technology Lines, are completely different from the final. Age Advancement icons use a more simple texture, it's just a number of age placed on an identical background.
- Knowledge icon is different - it's a combination of a darkened human head and schematic brain.
- Farm texture is completely different and much more similar to Age of Empires 2; farms - it's a generic seedbeds filled with some green vegetable, probably cabbage or lettuce.
- Information lines about nations and Age Advancement on the right are absent. But there's also a possibility that they just have been disabled.
- Library building has a different HP value.
- HUD grid appears to be 4 lines and 5 columns, while the final's has 5 lines and 4 columns.
- Four scrapped units are shown. They look like medieval siege towers.
- Musketeers unit has different HP and attack value.
- Library building has a different texture.
- Howitzer unit (Modern Age Siege) has a different texture. The icon which represents this type of Howitzer still can be found in the game's files.
- A different UI (only icon placement on the greed) for combat unit can be seen.
- Unusual large-scale view is presented on this screenshot. Perhaps it could be the action of this unused button, although there's no such button on the UI represented in this screenshot.
- Large City (medieval version) building for Japanese nation has a slightly different texture - a pot and water-pumping system located under the bottom house are absent.
- An unknown structure or natural formation (located in the upper-left corner) is present. It probably could be an early version of Mine building.
- There can be seen an unfinished version of the researching progress system near the right edge. Currently it's just a simple bar with a tech sigh near it, while the final version uses rectangular icons that fill with green coloring.
- Three unknown units can be seen. They look like medieval siege towers, and might be leftovers from a scrapped fortification system.
- There is an early version of Airbase UI with two dials.
- Several Fighters (Modern Age Fighter unit) with unusual yellow paintwork can be seen. There's no such variation of Fighter in the final.
- An icon for Modern Helicopter upgrade is absent for some reason.
- Dreadnought unit has different characteristics.
- An unusually large-scale view is presented on this screenshot. Perhaps it could be the action of this unused button, although there's no such button on the UI represented on this screenshot.
- Citizen unit is named Peasant in this version. Also he has a different amount of HP and attack. This combination of parameters strikingly resembles the similar ones in Age of Empires 2.
- An early version of the HUD for Citizen (Peasant) is shown. Icons of buttons are also completely different.
- At first, the line of building buttons (with Repair button) is located on the first line instead of second in the final version.
- Movement button line (Move/Attack/Forward/Guard/Patrol) seems to be absent, and only (apparently) Move button can be seen on the second line.
- Perhaps some part of these buttons are separate Stance button condition, AKA Gather, Build&Gather etc.
- A scrapped unit can be seen on a little cove on the right. Apparently it's a catapult ship. - Several early icons of rare resources can be seen ON the game map (Wine near the upper edge and Silk on the left), representing yet missing textures of them.
- An unknown building is located in the bottom half of the screen. It might be an early version of the Industrial Age Smelter.
https://foto.games.tiscali.cz/rise-of-nations-2733/194109
This screenshot clearly reveals early population limit progression conditions. Originally the player has to build villages (Towns) and Granaries in order to increase popcap.
There are two blue units near the right side of the screen which appear to be rams, and they seem similar to Age of Empires 2 rams. According to the screenshot from below, they are either Battering Rams or Siege Rams, and due to the fact that Siege Ram upgrade is available in Gunpower Age (thus highly likely being intended for this age) and the current age in this screenshot is Medieval Age (Pikemen and Crossbowmen appear, but no gunpowder unit), there's a probability that these rams are Battering Rams.
E3 2002
Some photos remained from E3 2002's test game showing prototype gameplay. There is some differences which can be seen between the shown prototype and the final version of the game.
- The HUD is different - instead of compact placement of all resource information in the upper-left corner there is Age of Empires-like placement, on the upper edge.
- Map is located in the lower-right corner.
- Icons near the map are square instead of round like the final. There are only two icons instead of four. The lower icon is presumably Idle Citizen with a different graphic, but it's unknown what the upper icon is for.
- HUD for building is located in the lower-center instead of lower-right in the final version. There is still no Garrizon indicator, and Armor indicator has different graphics.
- Different icon graphics for Diplomacy, Chat and other options.
- There is no Age pointer in the score text on the right.
- Placeholder icons for units can be seen.
- Buttons for two units can be seen - Battering Ram and Siege Ram. One of these units can be seen in a screenshot above.
- A cotton placeholder icon (which can be seen on this picture that's still in the game's files) can be found near the right edge of the screen.
- All collected rare resources are shown on the bottom HUD panel in the line instead of column located near the left edge of the screen.
- Name of the City is shown on papyrus-like piece, while the final version shows the name in a generic black square.
- Knowledge icon is different.
- Beta version of unit icons can be seen. ICBM uses its old icon with nuclear explosion, while V2 Rocket and Cruise Missile use standard placeholder icons.
- An unknown building is displayed. Perhaps it's an old version of the Terra Cotta Army Wonder.
- An early texture for Bunkers (Modern/Information Age Towers) is displayed.
- An early texture and model of Missile Silo is displayed.
- HUD for Missile Silo differs - icon textures and location of them are different.
An upgrade for Supply Wagon is shown - Supply Truck. It seems that Supply Wagons were supposed to be manually upgraded to Supply Trucks, while in the retail version this upgrade applies automatically after Industrial Age researching.
May 2002 - Oct 2002
- HUD was changed and now it highly resembles the one in the final version. The color of the Modern Age backdrop is light gray, while in the final version it's more dark. The minimap was moved to the middle of the bottom part of the HUD. Resource information was moved from the line on the top to a separate tab in the upper-left corner.
- An early Library texture is displayed.
- An unknown building is displayed. Perhaps it's another texture iteration of Missile Silo.
- An unknown truck is present here. Presumably it's an early (and BIG HUGE) Industrial Age version of either Caravan or Supply Wagon, most probably it's Caravan.
- An unknown defensive looking building is located in the upper-left edge. It might be an early version of the Air Defence Gun/Radar Air Defence/SAM Installation.
http://ron.heavengames.com/gallery/beta1_shots/aav
A placeholder of Temple of Tical Wonder is shown. This version is significantly shorter in height than the final counterpart and has "TEMPLE OF TICAL (placeholder)" white inscription on the texture.
http://ron.heavengames.com/gallery/beta1_shots/aau
- An unknown rare resource can be seen. It's either sea lions or walruses. Given the fact that Whales rare resource is also present here separately, one can decide it was the third naval rare resource, besides Fish and the aforementioned Whales.
- An unused icon of Citizen
can be seen.
http://ron.heavengames.com/gallery/beta1_shots/aat?full=1
Two scrapped icons can be seen near the right edge of the screen. The first one is a man in a spacesuit, and it's presumably the Space Program wonder icon. The second one is more interesting, because it shows Opera Theater building in Sydney and obviously was intended for the scrapped Opera House wonder (which was redone to Supercollider later), thus revealing the icon of this Wonder.
http://ron.heavengames.com/gallery/beta1_shots/aaf?full=1
An unusual scrapped UI selection ring is shown.
An example of usage this 
Howitzer (Modern Age Siege) icon, unused in retail version.
Different icons for Future Techs present.
Oct 2002 - Feb 2003
- HUD now is practically the same as in the final version, except the Knowledge icon - it's still darkened human's head with gear.
- Placeholder version of Artillery (Industrial Age Siege) is displayed.
- An unusual scrapped texture of a Helicopter unit can be seen. It's an Mi-8, and could be a unique model for Russian (and probably also Chinese/Mongols) nation.
- Placement of HUD icons in the bottom-left corner is still far from the final's one, and many of the icons are absent. Also there's an unknown icon with a bomb drawn on it.
- Helicopter unit still uses a placeholder icon.
Unknown Period
- Conquer The World gamemode provided 3 turns in Ancient Age. Retail version significantly cuts duration of this age, reducing it to 1 turn.
- The Chinese nation was supposed to have 33% Library research discount, while the retail version reduces this bonus to 20%.
- Greeks nation lacked "Libraries and Universities 50% cheaper" (66% cheaper in later patches), missed "except Knowledge" condition in "Library research 10% cheaper (except Knowledge) and 100 faster" and had "Age advance always cost Knowledge instead of Food".
The latter is pretty interesting, as it would have forced the player to build University and Scholars in Ancient Age in order to research Classical Age, which looks more like disadvantage and might provoke a significant delay in development.
Pre-Release Interviews and Articles
Before the release of the game, multiple interviews were given by Brian Reynolds (Big Huge Games lead designer) and the other developers from BHG team. Multiple copies of the beta version of the game were distributed to various companies and magazines, and many of them made reviews based on this version. As a consequence, there are many mentions of cut or altered game content in these articles.
Reynolds admits that in the earliest builds of RoN a 'build road' command was included in the citizen's list of duties, but was soon dropped.
you will eventually be able to study the Literacy advance, a University-specific technology, which upon completion thereof will upgrade the number of scholars that a University can support at one time.
The aforementioned functionality of University upgrades differs from release ones.
--- The players can't increase maximum number of Scholars per University.
--- All of University upgrades (which are all belong to Literacy line upgrades) only increase Knowledge gather rate per Scholar.
The change from extensive progression method to intensive was made most probably because of the inability to raise Knowledge production high enough to fulfill economy needs in late stages of the game. While in the release version Knowledge production rate can be increased by five times (from 5 Knowledge unit to 25 per one Scholar) without any related issues, it would require to increase the number of Scholars from 7 to 35 per one University to maintain the same production rate with extensive upgrades, which will fill the population cap very quickly.
Another reason might be an already existing graphical representation of Scholars inside University that sit on benches, there's only 7 places for them, so further increasing max Scholar capacity number would be quite illogical.
Especially helpful while engaged in or catching one's breath after battle, Supply Wagons can be brought in to mend broken bones, repair mechanical malfunctions as well as carry supplies for further campaigning.
Presumably Supply Wagons were intended to heal injured units. The released version conserves this feature only as nation-related (French).
There is an unused feature in the game's files named "SUPPLY_HEAL_RATE" that most likely is a leftover from this scrapped idea.
This interview from October 2002 (at least 8 months before release) mentions Government technologies and reasons why they were cut. Government techs were implemented in the TaP addon, which means Big Huge Games developers had the plans to add them already in the original release, but decided to set aside this idea for later.
"RUSSIAN_COMMUNISM" unused tech is present in the game's files of the original Rise of Nations release, which may suggest that Government techs were supposed to be nation-exclusive.
https://web.archive.org/web/20020918122954/http://pc.ign.com/articles/371/371003p1.html
Wood resource is mentioned, and apparently it was an early name of Timber. Along with Food, Wood was one of the basic resource types from Age of Empires. Since Rise of Nations was clearly made after the BIG HUGE inspiration of this game, there's no doubt that the Wood resource idea was from there.
Early Wonders page from December 2002, at least 6 months before release. It contains information about Wonders abilities that significantly differs from the release ones. Ages that make Wonders available are also changed - Ancient Age is included as well, and Ages that require for some Wonders are more historically accurate, as opposed to release version, which uses less historically accurate but more elegant system "Two Wonders for every single Age".
---Scrapped Opera House Wonder is mentioned. Judging by its abilities, it most probably was later replaced by Supercollider.
Note: the following spreadsheet describes differences between only these abilities that were mentioned in the article due to the early state of the game. The opposite thing (abilities that are present in the final version of the game but don't in this article) is not included.
| Wonder | Early Ability(Abilities) | Release Ability(Abilities) | Early Age and Wonder Points | Final Age and Wonder Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pyramids
(Pyramid in article) |
"Increases your Commerce Limit by +50."
"Improves your Food and Timber gather rates by 25%." |
"Increase Commerce Limit for Food and Wealth by 50."
"Improves Food gather rate by 20%." |
Ancient Age | Classical Age |
| Colossus | "Increases your Wealth rate by 25%."
"Increases your Caravan Limit by +1." |
"Increases your Wealth rate by 30%."
Absents. |
||
| Colosseum | "Increases your National Border by +2."
"Attrition to enemy units in your territory increased by +1." "Upgrades all your Forts (+1 Range/LOS, +2 National Borders)" |
"Increases your National Border by +3."
"Attrition to enemy units in your territory increased by 50%." Absents. |
Classical Age, 1 Wonder point | Medieval Age, 2 Wonder points |
| Temple of Tikal | "Increases your gather rate for all resources by +50." | "Increases your Timber gather rate by 50%." | Medieval Age | Gunpowder Age |
| Angkor Wat | "Increases your research speed by 25%." | Absents. | Medieval Age, 2 Wonder points | Enlightenment Age, 3 Wonder points |
| Versailles | "Reduces the Knowledge cost of all Library research by 25%."
"Ground units move 10% faster." "Buildings constructed at double speed." |
"Reduces the non-Knowledge cost of Library research by 50%."
"Siege, Artillery, and Supply units move 25% faster." Absents. |
Gunpowder Age, 2 Wonder points | Enlightenment Age, 3 Wonder points |
| Statue of Liberty | "Doubles the speed at which you create ground units."
"Halves the attrition damage inflicted on your units in enemy territory." "Your siege units receive + 2 Range and Line-of-sight." |
Absents.
"Reduces attrition damage inflicted on your units in enemy territory by 100%." Absents. |
||
| Taj Mahal | "Increases all your building hit points by 50%."
"Wealth income increased by 50%." |
"Increases all your building hit points by 100%."
"Your Wealth income is increased by 100%." |
Enlightenment Age | Industrial Age |
| Kremlin | "Raises your commerce Limit to +999 of each resource" | "Raises your Commerce limit for Food, Timber, Metal and Oil by 200." | Enlightment Age, 4 Wonder points | Modern Age, 6 Wonder points |
| Eiffel Tower | "Increases your National Borders by +4." | "Increases your National Borders by +6." | Industrial Age, 4 Wonder points | Modern Age, 6 Wonder points |
| Supercollider
(Opera House in this development period) |
Sets Buy\Sell caps to 120\60.
"Doubles the cost of enemy Missle Units." |
Sets Buy\Sell caps to 125\50.
Absents. |
Modern Age | Information Age |
| Space Program | "Doubles the Range of all of your aircraft."
"Doubles the Attack strength of all your aircraft." |
Absents.
Absents. |
Modern Age | Information Age |
Another early Wonders page, but this time from March-April 2003, one or two months before release. Despite the short amount of time remaining from release, almost all Wonders still have differences compared with the final version.
The following spreadsheet describes all differences between early and final Wonders.
| Wonder | Early Ability(Abilities) | Release Ability(Abilities) | Early Cost | Final Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pyramids | Absents. | "Cities are 33% cheaper." | 250 Food
250 Timber |
200 Food
200 Timber |
| Colossus | "Increases caravan limit by +2." | Absents. | 375 Timber
375 Wealth |
200 Timber
200 Wealth |
| Terra Cotta Army | "Creates (free) foot unit every 35 seconds." | "Creates free foot unit every 30 seconds (plus 7/15 seconds for every infantry unit you control)." | 700 Metal
700 Wealth |
300 Food
300 Wealth |
| Colosseum | "Forts and Towers 33% cheaper."
"Barracks, Stables, and Siege Factories 10% cheaper." |
"Forts and Towers 20% cheaper."
Absents. |
875 Food
875 Timber |
300 Metal
300 Timber |
| Temple of Tical | "Temple cost reduced by 100%."
"You receive Religion, Monotheism, and Existentialism upgrades free." |
"Increases Temple effects (on National borders, Hit Points, and Attack Range) by 50%." | 500 Food
500 Timber |
400 Food
400 Timber |
| Porcelain Tower | 500 Wealth
500 Metal |
400 Wealth
400 Metal | ||
| Angkor Wat | "Increases your research speed by 300%." | Absents. | 750 Food
750 Timber |
500 Wealth
500 Timber |
| Versailles | "You construct buildings 100% faster." | Absents. | 750 Wealth
700 Metal |
500 Food
500 Metal |
| Tag Mahal | 1000 Timber
1000 Wealth |
600 Timber
600 Wealth | ||
| Kremlin | "Raises your Commerce limit for Metal and Oil by 200."
"Increases farms allowed per city (and workers per wood cutter and mine) by +2." |
"Raises your Commerce limit for Food, Timber, Metal and Oil by 200."
"Spies are created instantly." |
1000 Food
1000 Metal |
700 Food
700 Metal |
| Eiffel Tower | "Increases range and line-of-sight of siege units by +6." | Absents. | 1250 Timber
1250 Metal |
700 timber
700 Metal |
| Supercollider | Buy\Sell caps in Market are 100 both.
"Increases cost of enemy missile units by 100%" "You are immune to the effects of a nuclear embargo" |
Buy\Sell caps in Market are 125/50.
Absents. Absents, presumably was moved to Space Program Wonder. |
1500 Wealth
1500 Knowledge |
800 Food
800 Knowledge |
| Space Program | "Increases the range of aircraft and missiles by 100%." | "You are immune to the effects of a Nuclear Embargo." | 1500 Food
1500 Knowledge |
800 Wealth
800 Knowledge |
