Rise of Nations: Extended Edition — Complete Strategy Guide

A practical guide to Rise of Nations: Extended Edition (RoN:EE): the economy, territory and attrition, age-ups, opening build orders, nation picks, Thrones and Patriots governments, Conquer the World, and playing online in 2026.

Researched September 2026 — current as of the 27 June 2024 PlayFab services update (the latest official patch). Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Status: RoN:EE (SkyBox Labs/Big Huge Games, Xbox Game Studios) came out on Steam on 12 June 2014 and bundles the original game with the Thrones and Patriots expansion. The last update (27 June 2024) moved online services to PlayFab with no gameplay changes. Steam multiplayer with Elo-ranked matches still works.

Quick Start

• Never stop making Citizens early. Every idle second of your City's queue costs you later.
• Six resources, all infinite: Food, Timber, Metal, Oil, Wealth and Knowledge. They never run out. What limits you is the commerce cap on how fast you can gather each one.
• Research Commerce at the Library to raise gathering caps. Hitting the cap wastes workers.
• Build more Cities. Cities expand your borders, add farm and building slots, and generate resources. Players who expand early usually win.
• Borders matter: you normally build inside your own territory. Enemy units inside your borders take attrition damage over time unless they have supply.
• Age up through the Library. There are eight ages: Ancient, Classical, Medieval, Gunpowder, Enlightenment, Industrial, Modern and Information.
• Grab rare resources with Merchants for bonuses and extra caravan income.
• Wonders give big bonuses and count toward a wonder victory if it's enabled.
• The four victory types are capital capture, territory, wonder and score. Check the lobby settings before the game starts.

The Economy

Resource | Gathered by | Notes

Food | Farms (Citizens), fishing ships | Your biggest early need; five farms per city (Egyptians get seven)

Timber | Woodcutter's Camp (Citizens) | Needs forests inside your borders

Metal | Mine (Citizens) on metal deposits | Unlocks later military

Oil | Oil wells/platforms (later ages) | Needed for modern units and some tech

Wealth | Merchants on rare resources, caravans, taxes | Wealth techs and some units

Knowledge | Scholars in Universities | Needed for Library research and age-ups

Rules of thumb:

• Keep your gather rate under the commerce cap, and research the next Commerce tech just before you hit it.
• Caravans between your own cities (or allied cities) generate Wealth. Longer routes pay more.
• Taxation research raises the Wealth you earn from your territory and cities. Check the tooltips to see where each tax tech is researched.
• Population cap grows with civic research, so don't forget to research it.

Territory, Attrition and Supply

• Borders grow from Cities, Forts/Fortresses and technology (civic research and some rare resources).
• Attrition: enemy military inside your borders slowly loses hit points. It gets stronger with the civic line and certain nations. An army without a Supply Wagon deep in enemy land will melt.
• Supply Wagons stop attrition for nearby friendly units. Always bring one on long pushes.
• Capturing cities: knock a city down to low health, then move infantry in to capture it. Capturing is almost always better than razing, since the city becomes yours along with its territory.

Opening Build Order (Standard Land Map, Ancient Age)

This is a flexible 1v1 opener. Adjust to your nation.

• City: queue Citizens continuously.
• First Citizens → Farms on your City. Scout with your starting Scout to find ruins, rare resources and the enemy.
• Next Citizens → Woodcutter's Camp on the nearest forest.
• Build a Library early and research the first Science and Commerce techs.
• Build a second City as soon as you can afford it. Expansion speed decides most games.
• Add a Barracks or Stable for a small defense and to take early map control.
• Put Merchants on nearby rare resources.
• Age up to Classical once the economy is steady. Don't delay it.

Rushers: raid with light cavalry on enemy farms and caravans. Boomers: expand to 3–4 cities, max Commerce, and win with superior eco by the Gunpowder or Enlightenment Age.

Nations

The base game has 18 nations: Aztecs, Bantu, British, Chinese, Egyptians, French, Germans, Greeks, Incas, Japanese, Koreans, Maya, Mongols, Nubians, Romans, Russians, Spanish and Turks. Thrones and Patriots adds 6 more: Americans, Dutch, Indians, Iroquois, Lakota and Persians. Every nation has a passive national power and several unique units.

Nations with especially recognizable strengths (read the nation's in-game summary for exact numbers):

Nation | Known strength

Russians | Defensive: big partisan bonuses, borders that grow with Civic research, and punishing for invaders

Bantu | Expansion: much cheaper Cities, extra cities early, a higher population cap and faster-moving units and Citizens

Greeks | Science: start with a University, cheaper and faster Science research, cheaper Libraries/Universities

Egyptians | Food and wonders: seven farms per city instead of five, cheaper wonders available an age earlier, two wonders per city

Mongols | Cavalry raiding: free mounted archers from Stables (after early military research), resistance to partisans, food from territory

Nubians | Trade: Market from the start, faster rare-resource income, extra caravan capacity, cheaper Markets and caravans

Lakota | Can't build farms; instead Citizens, Scouts and cavalry provide a constant food supply

Americans / Dutch / Persians / Indians / Iroquois | Thrones and Patriots nations with their own unique bonuses and units

For beginners, a nation with a straightforward economy bonus and good unique units is forgiving. Save the Lakota's farmless economy and the Bantu's expansion style for when you know the basics. Exact percentages come from a community nations guide and the in-game nation screen; confirm them there before you plan around a number.

Governments and Patriots (Thrones and Patriots)

Build the Senate to choose a government. Each gives a permanent bonus and a unique Patriot unit, effectively a stronger version of the General. If your Patriot is killed, a new one is automatically created at the Senate.

Tier | When | Choices

First | Early game | Despotism or Republic

Second | Gunpowder Age | Monarchy or Democracy

Third | Industrial Age | Capitalism or Socialism

Pick a military government for aggressive plans and an economic one for booming. Read each government's in-game tooltip, since the bonuses stack with your nation's strengths.

Military Basics

• Counter triangle: heavy infantry beats cavalry, cavalry beats ranged units, and ranged units beat heavy infantry. Siege and later artillery counter buildings.
• Generals give bonuses and special abilities to nearby troops. Spies can bribe units and reveal the map.
• Forts/Fortresses extend borders and defend them. Place them on choke points.
• Navy: on water maps, controlling the sea protects fishing and lets you land armies.
• Late game: air units, missiles and nukes arrive in the Modern and Information Ages. Anti-air defenses become essential, and nukes raise the Armageddon Clock. If it runs out, everyone loses.

Wonders

The base game has 14 Wonders, from the Colossus and Pyramids through to the Supercollider and Space Program. Thrones and Patriots adds wonders such as the Hanging Gardens, Forbidden City and Red Fort. Every Wonder adds points toward a wonder victory and gives its own bonus. Build them in safe, walled-in areas, and don't let wonder-building starve your army.

Conquer the World

Conquer the World is a Risk-style campaign: you move armies across a world map and fight each battle in real time. Thrones and Patriots adds four themed campaigns: Alexander the Great, Napoleon, New World and Cold War. In Conquer the World, spend bonus cards before a battle and prioritize territories that border many enemies. Use Tribute to keep weaker neighbors off your back.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Idle City queues. Keep making Citizens until you reach your planned economy.
• Ignoring the commerce cap. Adding workers past the cap wastes population.
• Pushing without supply. Attrition quietly kills whole armies.
• Razing instead of capturing. Captured cities add territory and income.
• Staying at one city. Nobody wins a 1v1 with a single city.
• Nuking recklessly. Nuclear war ticks the Armageddon Clock toward a shared loss.

Advanced Tips

• Time your age-ups right after a Commerce tech, so your wider gather caps line up with new unit tiers.
• Raid caravans and rare resources. They're the enemy's softest economy targets.
• Border pushing: Forts and new cities shrink the enemy's buildable land and extend your attrition zone.
• Use hotkeys for idle Citizens and military cycling. A lot of your APM goes into these small jobs.
• Online troubleshooting: if lobbies won't connect, the official advice (August 2017) was to add firewall exceptions for all Rise of Nations files on both Public and Private networks, and to check that a firewall prompt isn't hidden behind the game window.

FAQ

Does Extended Edition include Thrones and Patriots? Yes. It includes the original Rise of Nations plus Thrones and Patriots.

Is multiplayer still working in 2026? Yes. The 27 June 2024 patch moved services to PlayFab for stability and security. Lobbies and Elo-ranked matches run through Steam.

How many nations are there? 24 in total: 18 base nations and 6 from Thrones and Patriots.

What are the resources? Food, Timber, Metal, Oil, Wealth and Knowledge. All of them are infinite, and gathering is limited by commerce caps.

What's the fastest way to improve? Constant Citizen production, early second and third cities, and Commerce research on time.

Can I play the Conquer the World campaigns solo? Yes. Every Conquer the World campaign is single-player.

Sources

• Rise of Nations: Extended Edition on Steam
• Rise of Nations Steam news (PlayFab update, troubleshooting posts)
• Rise of Nations on Wikipedia
• Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots on Wikipedia
• Nations and their strategies (Steam community guide, Russian)