Ceratinly rebuilding (or replanting) farms was a pain in the backside, as were the other things you mention. We didn't really care back in those days, though, did we ? Micromanagement carried out at frantic speed was something we all accepted back then : the ability to do so was part and parcel of being a good player. I still think AoE 2 is one of the classic RTS games, though obviously dated now. What killed the RTS in the end (which was really quite a sad event) was that the more complex an RTS became, the more wasted that complexity became, because when the base-building phase was over and the combat kicked off in earnest, there was simply no time to plan strategies, or even to think "tactically". RoN was a very ambitious and complex RTS - almost like a real-time Civilization - but all of its complexity never really came into play once the fighting became large-scale, between several nations. It got high review scores at the time and I really enjoyed it for a while and have fond memories of it, but despite its thoughtful mechanics it was really a game which, in spite of its intentions, rewarded quick reactions rather than strategic or even tactical thought.

For you maybe. For me, Empire Earth was excruciating because the units are not just incompetent but utterly helpless. Now I understand that some people will find aspects of EE (which I have played extensively) more fun compared to RoN, but when it comes to unit management, EE blows, and that must hurt the fun factor a bit even for the most hardcore EE fan.
Even though not as good as RoN, even Age of Empires has a much better unit management than EE.

I think AoE tops them all. Both 1 and 2 are probably still my favorite RTS games.

You have to understand though, I'm old and slow. The less strategy the better the game is for me. :P

I tried Kohan, and must say, it got me intrigued. The tutorial is long, but the game does have very specific aspects one needs to learn. Alas, I'm quite familiar with production now, but still haven't figured out how to set the captain of a company. I.E. how do you put your character in the captain slot? The tutorial didn't explain this at all, so in my skirmish games I just used the default captain.

I'm afraid I can't help you with UI specifics. :( Finding information online might be difficult as the game has been very much forgotten. Maybe the Steam commnity discussions will have something, but I suggest trying to access them only when the US is mostly sleeping given the recent server loads.

I am VERY slow, but RoN allows me to control the game while stopped, or play it at a very slow speed. It is an RTS that gives you the tools to be played as a true 4X game where an overarching strategy is important, whereas you can leave the minutia of fight dynamics to the AI. Sure, some attention may help, but if you did your strategy right (strategy, NOT tactics) then you will have so much resources and production capacity, that it doesn't matter much how the AI resolves the battles. I don't know how to make this any clearer. I am a slow, sit-in-recliner-and-drink-coffee type of player. I detest anything action.
I don't understand why would someone old and slow not like strategy - slow and methodical strategic thinking is what I would expect from someone old and slow to excel at.
Yes, kind of, but the need to constantly rebuild farms is a completely artificial requirement put in there by the game designers. There was no reason why farms couldn't have been like any other building. It's just some idiotic product manager that thought people enjoy going back to the farms every minute. But apparently AoE III got rid of that, according to accounts in this thread.
I don't understand you guys: I have the slowest reactions in the universe. Really. I'm slow as molasses, and could never enjoy any platformer or shooter. And yet I did/do OK with RoN. Just dial down the speed to slowest - which is what I always, absolutely always do - and be ready to stop the game frequently. During stoppage, RoN allows you to give directions to units. Then you restart.


Nowhere. RoN kicks ass. It even has the future tech era, if that's your thing.

OK. Well, I found the manual here:
http://www.replacementdocs.com/download.php?view.6877
Kohan has so much for me to still discover. It's quite fascinating, and I think you just might have earned yourself a beer. Or other drink of your choice, of course.

Okay, maybe I was just rubbish at RoN ! Mentally I was comparing RoN with Civ, or with turn-based strategy games in general. In the case of Civ I can think about my next move, or the whole state of the game, at my leisure, because the game is effectively always paused. In real time strategy games (which I was a huge fan of back in the day) you have to do everything at speed (though, as I just said, perhaps I was just too slow ?) and that makes thought more or less impossible, depending on how many situations you are having to deal with at once. Initially, when the RTS (unofficially) "died" I was outraged, and in a way I still don't think it totally deserved to be consigned to oblivion. Now I think I can see why it had no future as a genre. But my main point is that, as long as a game is designed to be played in real time, there is less time for thought than there is in a turn-based game (even though you can pause a real time game). Consequently, the more complexity you add, the more that complexity is wasted, because thought takes time and there simply is not enough time to think in an RTS. The more complexity you add, the more that added complexity is wasted, because it never has time to come into play. In the end, the RTS died for these reasons, I think. I think that's also the industry's opinion, judging from the few pieces on the subject I've read over the years. I still RTSs are enjoyable but I'm not entirely surprised they died a death ultimately. RoN was a very ambitious RTS which kind of worked and kind of didn't, for the reasons I've outlined.

I'll keep it in mind. :) It really is a pity that both RoN and Kohan left hardly any legacy. It's no wonder that most folks think of RTS as meanign specifically the kind of Blizzard / Westwood inspired tropes.

I agree very vigorously and sadly. Also a bit aggressively.

I was going to try Hegemony, but the tiny font they use is going to an insurmountable obstacle for my eyes.

If you click the "Recruit a Company" button in a city, you'll see in the panel on the left where all the various units can go. Most units can go to frontline, support, etc. but only "Hero Elements" can go in the Captain slot. For example, if you start a new game in the "Cycle of Destruction" campaign, you'll start with a hero called Darius. If you click the Recruit button you'll see Darius on the bottom row, and he can be dragged to the Captain slot.

Having never played a skirmish game, I'm guessing maybe you might not see many "heroes" in that mode? Or maybe they'll show up as mercenaries and then you can make them captains? Dunno, sorry not much help. But that's how you can make a "hero" be a captain.

I figured these out after reading the fine manual the day before yesterday. You know, RTFM ;-) But thanks anyway, I appreciate your help.

In skirmish mode, you get a few amulets that you can then awaken and get the captains/heroes that way.