Opening Moves—The Vinci

One of the best aspects of Rise of Legends is how the designers streamlined the early stages of the game so you can get into combat as soon as possible. With most RTS games, each player’s initial choices are usually limited and extremely slow in coming to fruition. Depending on the game, you’d be looking at ten to fifteen minutes of growing your city, collecting resources, and building your first units before you get into your first conflict. An entire quick battle of Rise of Legends could take place in that timeframe!

Here’s a sample order for opening moves for a Quick Battle that you may want to consider:

1. Send out the scout. Select your Scout Flyer and put it on "Auto-explore." It will then explore the immediate area first, filling in the map while you do the rest of your actions.
2. Create a Military District. Upon completion, this district produces a free Imperial Musketeer. Send that unit to join your existing troops and position them in place to attack your chosen target.
3. Add Miners. In most cases, the Mine that you control in the beginning of the game is short by one, possibly two Miners. Add as many as you can afford as soon as possible, so as to boost your Timonium production for the crucial next steps. In most cases, there is a Timonium patch within your immediate area that lacks a mine—you can start building additional miners, setting their rally point on that Timonium patch before you have a mine there (see below).
4. Pick a Technology Track. You typically have one, sometimes two, points to put towards Technology Tracks. A good early choice is to pick the Mining Technology Track, as it boots your Timonium production and grants you access to the Industrial Devastation National Power.
5. Build a Mine. Build a Mine beside an empty Timonium patch within your territory. For the next couple of minutes, keep an eye on it to make sure that you’re building as many miners as possible. Make sure you’ve maxed out the number of Miners on your existing mine before you do this.
6. Build a Merchant District. By this point, you’ll probably get the warning that you’ve reached your Resource Cap. Build a Merchant District.
7. Build a Caravan. You are allowed to build one Caravan at the beginning of the game. Get one going and then add another as soon as your Merchant District is complete.
8. Build a Barracks. You may have to wait a minute or so to get your Timonium income past 100, but once you reach that point, build a Barracks so you can get more units churned out to start attacking neutral cities and expand your empire! Also, as soon as the Barracks is built, make sure that you begin research on Clockwork Men (a relatively cheap 40 Wealth) to augment your Imperial Musketeers.
9. Build a Research Lab. In addition to granting you a Research Point, building a Research Lab opens up the door to special buildings. Once it’s built, consider choosing to upgrade the Research Lab to a Borehole, which greatly increases your Timonium or Wealth production.
10. Get your War on! Build, attack, or research new units.

What’s Next?

Once you’ve achieved these initial steps, the choice is yours in how you want to proceed. If you’re planning on using a Rushing Strategy, you start producing as many troops as possible, followed by building an Aerodrome for air support. If you’re thinking of pursuing a Turtling Strategy, build a few Defense Towers to protect your cities and mines.