It turns out the news about the release of the version 1.1 patch for Rise of Nations: Thrones & Patriots was just a wardrobe malfunction, as the Big Huge News Page (thanks Frans) has word on what went wrong as well as plans for a beta patch to follow the actual release of this first update:

The release of patch 1 for Thrones & Patriots is still pending, despite the accidental posting of the download instructions on our site. Our apologies for the false alarm. The patch change list has been posted however, click here to check out the fixes that this patch will introduce.

A beta balance patch is in our near future, where expert players will have the opportunity to test out proposed balance changes and offer their input. More information on that will be forthcoming, following the real release of patch 1.