Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome

Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome or ROR is an expansion pack for Age of Empires. It is based on the rise of the Roman Empire, and adds four other playable civilizations to the main game.

Overview
The Rise of Rome Expansion is similar to the first Age of Empires, but includes a few changes including the new Roman architectural design which is shared by all of the new civilizations.

Four new research technologies have been added, most providing very good bonuses and making a large change in the gameplay strategy. There are also additional new features and new units for the game.

Some other changes includes possible larger maps and new ways to play such as adding unit queuing, using the period key to cycle through idle villagers, balancing damage done by catapults, and increasing the population limit.

New features
The Rise of Rome features a new Roman architectural design, shared by all four new civilizations (the Romans, Palmyrans, Macedonians and Carthaginians). Four new researchable technologies have been added. Additional new features include five new units, the ability to double click a single unit and highlight others of the same unit-type, and unit-build queuing.

Gameplay changes include adding larger maps and tweaking the interface.

Civilizations

 * Carthaginians - bonuses in nautical and war elephant units
 * Macedonia - bonuses in siege units and missile resistance
 * Palmyrans - bonuses in economy and trade
 * Roman - bonuses in infantry and construction

Units

 * Armored Elephant - an upgrade of the War Elephant with blast damage effect.
 * Camel Rider - a new unit which is effective against cavalry.
 * Scythe Chariot - an upgrade of the Chariot which damages adjacent units.
 * Fire Galley - a new ship unit which applies fire to enemy units.
 * Slinger - a new infantry unit which is effective against archers.

Technologies

 * Logistics - reduces the population count by half for all units created at the barracks
 * Martyrdom - sacrifice priests to instantly convert units
 * Medicine - increase priest healing rate
 * Tower Shield - decrease damage received from missiles

Reception
The expansion was criticized by some fans as the new features were minimal, but on the whole it was well accepted. The most praised features were Rise of Rome's unit queue feature, and the improved all around gameplay and balance. Review website GameWorldNetwork gave the game a score of 93%, and commented that it seemed to be a whole new game.

To celebrate its release, several tournaments were held at Age of Empires Heaven, inviting players from around the world to test their skills in this new game.

Multiplayer
The multiplayer community is no longer supported by MSN Zone or IGZones. The game can still be played on online gaming services like GameRanger, Voobly, Garena, CGA and QQ BattleZone.