http://www.ihaveapc.com/2010/11/how-to-run-rise-of-nations-in-widescreen-resolution-in-windows-7/

In order for Rise of Nations to go Widescreen one must find and edit rise.ini or rise2.ini.
I believe with the initial release, you must edit rise.ini located in the install directory, but with the patches (v1.03 to date) it is a little harder to find.

goto:
C:\Users\<USER NAME>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft Games\Rise Of Nations

and edit rise2.ini

(if it's not there, you have to run the game first, before it will generate the .ini file. Exit the game, then you can edit it.)

change the following rise2.ini line:

AllowAllResolutions=0

to

AllowAllResolutions=1

and then the game will allow the player to choose whatever resolution is supported by the monitor.

Please note that:

1) The minimum resolution is 1024 x 768. The game wouldn't accept any resolution lower than that.
2) When the resolution on the X axis is lower than 1280, the game shrinks the size of game world graphics according to the X axis, not unlike "Vert-".
3) When the resolution on the X axis is 1280 or higher, the game world graphics no longer change size. The game functions like any "pixel based" games. At maximum zoom, the game graphics now are the same size as their original assets (the TGA files in the "art" folder).