Civ Building Before you even start a Ran-Nano game,
make sure you're armed with at least four civilizations ("civs") (one
for each time the unit relationships get more complicated [one for
pre-middle, one for ren-ind, one for atomic, and one for
digital-nano]). Each civ should have attack, hit points, range, armor,
and more importantly, cost reduction upgrades for the units
corresponding to that era. Focus on cheaper units (e.g., footmen rather
than cavalry) as you will be able to build more of them faster. Some
other general recommended civilization upgrades are building and tower
cost reduction, and if possible, although expensive, citizen cost
reduction. The Importance of Game Settings Once you
are in the game, take note of the settings (is "Reveal Map" on?, Can I
use my custom civs?). Noting what the game settings are beforehand can
really help, as you can plan what you will do when the game begins.
Let's quickly go through the game settings. The game variant
can be set to either tournament or standard and effects only the
quantity of resources required to advance (to the extent of my
knowledge, anyway). Tournament mode will require a smaller quantity of
resources to advance each epoch, while if the game is a "Standard"
game, many, many more resources will be required for you to advance (To
advance from Pre to Stone in standard mode requires 1122 food, while in
tournament mode, it requires only 170; to advance to Copper from Stone
in standard mode requires 1584 food, and 844 of both iron and gold,
while in tournament mode it requires a mere 350 food and 200 iron and
gold). The map size can make rushing a difficult or easy task
for you and/or your opponent. A small or tiny map means less distance
to travel for rushers, and thus there will likely be more rushing with
these size maps - especially if there are more than two people. A
medium or large size map means that you will probably have to spend a
small amount of time finding your opponent before you can rush him,
unless the map is filled with a complete eight players. Rushing is less
likely, although still very possible in these size maps. In huge or
gigantic maps with less than eight people, it is much wiser to focus on
a more economical playing style, as it will days several minutes for
your opponents to get to your base. A good strategy here is to build a
small army at your home base and create a second base closer to your
enemies where travel time decreases for your forces. Resources
and Tournament - Low. If they're not, then don't follow this guide.
This means that you'll start with 200 food, 175 wood, 210 stone, and no
gold or iron. 200 food is enough for four citizens (or five with the
civ cost reduction), which you should start building as soon as you’ve
picked your civ. 175 wood is 50 short of the standard 225 (16 short of
the 191 if you have the civ upgrade, which is a huge help) required to
build a barracks or stable, which you will be doing as soon as
possible. 210 stone is enough to build one tower (again, a civ upgrade
can make it cheaper [don’t remember…155 or something]), which you will
also be doing. Having no gold or iron means you will have to mine it
(duh!), and lots of it because all military units require either one or
the other, or both. The map type should be either plains,
highlands, or continental. The ending epoch is the Nano Age. The
starting epoch is random, and can be any epoch including the Nano Age
(if they’re not, ignore this guide). The game type should be random map
(if it’s not, that’s weird). The unit limit should be 1200 (if it’s
not, ask the host to change, and if he doesn’t, make sure he’s not
trying to screw you with it somehow), but as long as it’s above 400,
you’re fine. I’ve never had a unit limit problem in one of these games.
The difficulty level does not matter, as it only applies to computer
players. The game speed should be above normal, or else your just
wasting time. "Very Fast” may seem a little fast, as it’s two and a
half times the normal speed, but if you play it often, you’ll get used
to it. Wonders for victory should be off. As you’ll learn if you
plan to read the rest of this guide, "Reveal Map” is actually quite
important, as it determines how you should begin the game. My theory is
that "true experts” should play with it off. If "Custom Civs”
are on, use your custom civ. If they’re not, quickly choose a civ
corresponding to the starting epoch, keeping the game variant in mind
(my recommendations being Byzantine Rome, England, United States, and
Rebel Forces). Teams and speed should be locked, and there is no cheat codes option if you’re playing online. The Very, Very Beginning If
"Reveal Map" is off, the second the match begins, grab your citizens,
press "ctrl+1", and hit the "L" key to make them explore while you
choose your civ. When your done choosing your civ, queue up as many
citizens as you can at your Capitol, take three-fifths of your citizens
and put them on the nearest forage patch, and send the other two-fifths
to the nearest tree. TIP: Always take note of what age you
started in and what resources are nearest to you before picking your
civ, but don't waste any time doing this, as time is of the utmost
importance. If "Reveal Map" is on, the second the match starts,
take three-fifths of your citizens and put them on the nearest forage
patch, and send the other two-fifths to the nearest tree, then pick
your civ. After you've picked your civ, queue up five citizens at your
Capitol. Make your Capitol really point the forage patch, and
after the first citizen has been built, switch it to the tree. This
way, you don’t waste any time selecting the citizen and telling them
where to go. Do this until you have six foragers and four lumberjacks.
As more citizens get built search for an iron or gold patch and assign
them to mine it.. Always keep some citizens queued up at your capitol.
Once you’ve gathered enough wood to build a barracks, build one (or an
archery range or stable depending on the resources you have available)
with two lumberjacks. One that is complete, take one of them and build
a tower, sending the other back to his former job. Once you have enough
resources to build a military unit, do so, even if it requires
cancelling the construction of a citizen. Once you have three to five
units, attack. As more citizens are constructed, send some to hunt
animals, mine, or chop down trees. When you have enough wood, build a
settlement next to your mine, if you think it’s necessary. Continue to
expand your little town economically while you rush your opponent. Attacking When
rushing, aim for your opponents economy and avoid towers like they’re
the plague. Towers are often placed in the front of an enemy base, so
going around the back could be the key to snapping the backbone of
their economy. Killing off three or four of his or her food gatherers
can really damage them because they have now lost three citizens, lost
the food they had gathered, and lost the food the could have gathered.
Killing citizens on their way back to the settlement/town
center/capitol can really be a great feeling, because that’s fifteen to
thirty (depending on the population of the structure [when a citizen
brings fifteen of any resource to a full capitol (a settlement
populated with 50 citizens) thirty of that resource will be added to
your stockpile]) of a resource gone down the drain. When you are
moving your troops into position, don’t just move them, attack-move
them. To do an attack-move, select your army, and hold down the control
key when you move them. You’ll know you’ve done it right when instead
of green, the positions which you told them to go to will be shown in
orange. The advantage of an attack move is that your troops will attack
anything that gets in their line of sight as they move. This way, if
your opponent is sending a rush to you, and you see them on your way to
his base, your units will automatically stop him and get the first
shots off. The idea is not to leave long periods of time
between your attacks. Try to make them frequent and small ones, as
opposed to one massive assault. Set your barracks rally point in their
base if you have to! Just be sure to keep up the pressure and leave no
time for recovery. Economic Growth I cannot stress
how important it is to have a constant flow of citizens working on the
constant expansion of your empire. As you get more citizens, populate
your settlements into town centers so that you can build more than one
citizen at a time. Find, claim, and guard as many mines as you can
afford to control. Gather tons of wood and use it to build farms as
your forage patch depletes and all the animals become extinct. When you
can afford to do so, build a second barracks, or a new military
structure and pump out double the units. Get stone, build towers, and
surround your city with walls to prevent infiltration or surprise
attacks from behind. It is these kinds of growth that make a good
player a really, really good player. With a strong economy supporting a
large army, you’re virtually unstoppable. Advancing Epochs When
deciding whether to epoch up or not, I recommend doing so just after a
failed enemy attack when you have at least one and a half times the
necessary resources (standard game variant) or two and a half times the
necessary resources (tournament game variant). This will assure you
that you will not be caught lacking resources to build units required
to fend off an enemy attack while advancing because the enemy is not
likely to attack and you have plenty of leftover resources. Conclusion Press
F11 to see the game clock. See how quickly you can muster up a decent
army and try to beat that time the next time you play. If you can do it
within five muntes, then you know you’re really good. Personally, these
RMs are my favourite type of game to play on Empire Earth as
deathmatches seem like the only strategy involved is military, and not
economical. A player who can find a good balance between economy and
military is definitely an expert player and you just can’t learn that
by playing a deathmatch. A player who is prepared to start in any epoch
is an expert player (or a player with lots of time to make custom civs)
and again, you just can’t learn that in a one epoch deathmatch. I hope this guide will not only increase your skill level, but increase your desire to play RMs,
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