From what I heard from the B guys transitioning, the R ATO phase is quite a bit more involved. And the ATO phase is about 2 months on average longer than NATOPS phase. On average it takes 10 months nowadays with roughly 4 months for NATOPS and 6 months for ATO (Include about 9 flights in the phase).
The Romeo is a very capable platform.
Like everything, it all depends on timing. I know -40 historically taught CAT 1 Bravo guys faster than -41. I don't know the current numbers because I usually get distracted by a shiny object when people start talking about time to train. When I went through -41 as a CAT 1, it took me 10 months, in part due to 9/11 and some maintenance issues that took a few months to sort out until production moved to a more normal rate. Meanwhile, -40 guys at the same time took a little less time.
As a Romeo CAT 1, you have a few more sim events (Hellfire/FLIR stuff mostly along with the ASE/maneuvering events) than the Bravo world, plus the extra TAC flights. The syllabus certainly takes longer, but the amount of knowledge isn't substantially more, there's just so much more button crunching.
You mention the CAT IIC guys saying ATO phase is more involved... They're probably saying that because that's where a lot of the focus is for CAT 2 guys. There's a lot of system and buttons to learn (L16, how to mess with accoustics, etc), but the actual tactical knowledge isn't really much different than the B with the addition of the dipper.