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Rise of Empires is an empire-building game in which players develop their ever changing empire from Ancient Age to Modern Age. War, economics, science and diplomacy are to be taken into consideration to successfully win this epic game.
In Rise of Empires two to five players are building their own civilization from the dawn of history to present times. All players start small and fairly powerless, however, through clever play they try to gain wealth and progress in several areas. Like many empire building games, it is possible to be wiped from the board one turn, only to return the next in another area.
Rise of Empires is divided into three eras. Each era consists of two game turns. The core of the game is the Action Display where players conduct various actions during a turn. The first turn in an era is called the A turn, the second one the B turn. In a way, the B turn is a mirror image of the A turn.
The aim of the game is to have the most victory points at the end. Victory points are scored by building cities, having an empire (area control), developing technology, and trading goods.
In contrast to some other civilization type games, Rise of Empires plays fairly quickly. A full game can be completed in less than three hours. It is also more abstract than many civ games, in that cities, towns, and technologies are represented by tiles the players keep, even if their civilization is buried in the sands of time.
Publisher Blurb:
Don't just make history-guide it! Take the reins of a developing civilization, choosing the resources and development paths that will lead to the fastest expansion, as you claim and defend territory on a map forging an empire that eventually encompasses whole continents.
Rise of Empires play is divided into three eras. Choices made early in the era are repeated late, so your decisions must have both short-term and long-term benefits to be successful. This process requires tough decision-making and promotes an atmosphere with nail-biting suspense. Victory points are rewarded for building cities, having an empire, for progress in science, and for trading goods.
Rise of Empires breathes new life into the civilization games genre! Balance gold and food, war and agriculture, territory and technology to forge an empire that is destined to rise above all other nations!
Each copy of Rise of Empires contains:
. 1 large game board
. 1 tiles display
. 40 resource discs
. 150 player cubes in 5 colors
. 45 action discs in 5 colors
. 8 empire tiles
. 40 territory tiles
. 48 progress tiles
. 36 city tiles
. 104 gold markers
. 5 alliance pieces
. 5 player aid cards
. 1 rules booklet with illustrated example of play.
- Civ feeling without overstaying welcome
- Fast play after setup
- Good interaction
- Replayability
- Long teach
- Complex setup
- Large table presence
- Civ Style game with sand timers
- Clash of Cultures
- Terra Mystica
- Terraforming Mars
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area Control — Placing population discs and expanding from a capital city.
- civilization building — Expanding empire, developing technologies, building structures.
- Combat — Wiping out opponents' buildings and pieces.
- Real-Time — Actions are taken simultaneously with sand timers expiring.
- Technology tree — Unlocking spots and advancing civilization.
- Worker Placement — Placing sand timers on action spots.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- When you get married during a leap year and you always have the discussion you the only ones you celebrate is the 29th that's when you do the big celebration.
- If you're looking for a different game like that so that is get on board from yellow game.
- The nice thing is if your buildings get destroyed they don't go back to your board so if you've like I said they go to the opponent's board because you don't want them to go back to your board because you've already unlocked the bonuses of either generating extra resources extra bricks extra Scholars depending on the type of building that you built.
- This is like a Choose Your Own Adventure story from middle school but it's it's on steroids.
- Oh my God he had the word Bostwick on top of it and I said wait was that it oh I said oh these two go together because there was a Barry Boswick and his face was Stone Cold and you were like was he a stud and I was like I don't know but he was popular back in the 80s.
- The race is really simple I as the one controlling the race would roll two dice and let's say a six came up I would move that horse one space and this is all happening real time.
- And what's so cool is if have never played this literally with a core set which is required for all campaigns a core set and this one box here edge of the Earth you could have a full game experience.
References (from this video)
- realtime work placement with strategic depth
- epic feel and thematic engagement
- rapid and accessible setup for a complex concept
- not explicitly stated; described as bold and unique
- Warcraft 3
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's one of the most unique games I've probably ever played
- this is one of my biggest surprises of the year
- it's a Triumph of game design
- colorful and combo-tastic
- team versus Team battles with zero luck
References (from this video)
- Potentially strong theme and legacy system
- Zero-new-ideas issue highlighted in discussion
- Campaign blitz without substantive iterative design
- Array
- Fantasy / empire
- Star Realms
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Wise Wizard Games has been dealing with significant financial challenges.
- We won't be doing any new physical crowdfunding campaigns until we finish delivery on our outstanding campaigns.
- To raise funds, we will focus on immediate deliverables like sales on some of our great games and digital products.
- I'm sorry. I deeply regret these delays.
- All scuttlebutt by the way. I'm really hopeful they could get out of this hole, but at this point I just don't see that happening.
- This is a company that quite frankly should have known better by now how to run a campaign.
- Rise of Empire had practically zero new ideas and the campaign was just unlockable mechanisms that already existed in prior Stars products.
- Never ever take funding for one project and start diverting that money towards something that takes a lot more time and work to develop.
- The sad thing is something like the Colonial Collection isn't even a new design.
- They've been radio silent for months and now suddenly small batches sound like code for we're broke but trying to look professional.
- The backer trust is at an all-time low.
References (from this video)
- Attempts to solve the problem of very long civilization games by providing a fixed playtime.
- Intriguing concept of real-time empire building.
- Dislikes real-time games.
- Concerns about lack of auditing in cooperative play.
- Past negative experience with Escape: Curse of the Temple, a similar real-time game.
- Empire building
- Through the Ages
- Civilization
- Space Alert
- Escape: Curse of the Temple
- Kitchen Rush
- A Tale of Pirates
- Pendulum
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Dice Rolling — Players roll dice, which can lead to issues with auditing in a cooperative real-time game.
- Empire Building — The game is described as an empire-building game in the vein of Through the Ages or Civilization.
- Live soundtrack — A soundtrack cues actions and time limits, similar to Space Alert.
- Real-Time — Actions must be performed within the duration of sand timers.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- number two is a game called evergreen
- look how different and striking these cards look look how juicy and enticing these dual layer boards look i'm a sucker for dual layer boards if a game has them i'm like take the money i don't have please
- it looks neat it's appealing
- number one game that i'm most excited about checking out is a game called weirdwood banner
- i don't like cooperative games
- i like pretty artwork i like nice components
- it's steven spielberg it's stranger thingsy it reminds me of eerie indiana which was one of my favorite shows when i was a kid you know it's goosebumps it's scooby-doo it's that whole thing it's the the kid paranormal genre which i quite like
- it's a game that i might not necessarily purchase myself or want to have in my collection but i do want to witness it and i want to see more about what it does and how it works
References (from this video)
- loved the real-time twist and the timers as workers
- engaging engine-building angle
- real-time pace isn't for everyone; can be stressful
- Sky Team
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- real-time worker placement with sand timers — timers function as workers; map-based civilizations with shared challenges
- Worker Placement — timers function as workers; map-based civilizations with shared challenges
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I really liked it first of all I had a really good time with the White Castle
- I was blown away by Scout
- Earth is my favorite out of all four of those games so far
- it's pure Mayhem
References (from this video)
- high replayability
- new factions and upgrades
- integration with Star Realms universe
- legacy commitment
- two-player only
- rising empire and battles between factions
- two-player space empire conflict; legacy progression
- campaign-driven, envelope-based progression
- Star Realms
- Hero Realms
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Asymmetric Player Powers — each side plays as Star Empire or Trade Federation
- faction upgrades — new factions; upgrade stickers via an infinite replay kit
- legacy-style campaign — play scenarios from envelopes; outcomes influence future play
- Two-Player Asymmetric — each side plays as Star Empire or Trade Federation
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- This is our first party game ever
- It's our new family and lightweight game
- It's reminiscent of games like Fake Artist Goes to New York
- The production is amazing
- We are massive fans of Star Realms
- Rise of Empire coming it's a legacy Star Realms two player game
- There's no text so there's no reading
- I can't wait for that
- the core of the game is still there