New star wars strategy game "Empire at war"

chupacabra

Ok so if you havent heard of this I suggest you go over to gamespot or IGN now and look at the awesome trailers. Basically Lucas arts In association with Petroglyph are releasin a new star wars strategy title called Empire at war. It uses an engine vaguely similar to a mix between battle for middle earth and star trek armada, where you control a battalions of maybe 6 units each, with the exception of the star destroyers of course and........you can even play as the death star. It looks amazing. Release date set for febuary 2006.

CerebralCortex

Meh

The Bollox

it looks crap!

AnCapaillMor

Fantastic idea, saw its trailer on the EP3 DVD. hopefully they can pull it off.

Sand

Wasnt there a previous "Empire at War" game? I remember happening upon a strategy guide for it a few years back?

Anyway, from what Ive seen of the trailers the space battles seem the most impressive. The ground stuff looks the same distinctly average base building C&C stuff. Its not something Ill be getting I think.

CerebralCortex

Meh

BopNiblets

Quality contributions to the discussion there CerebralCortex.

Anywhoo, I've been waiting for this game for ages, since before the summer.
I heard there would be a demo out soon (like the end of last month) but alas, the downloads section on the official site has nothzing, NOTHZING!



Homer: "40 seconds!? But I want it noooowww!"

Apparently, the specs are nice and low and they're releasing a collectors edition (and a CD version, why? ) with an EaW mouse mat.... WOOOO!
Min specs:
* Computer: 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible computer
* CPU: Intel Pentium III 1.0 GHz or AMD Athlon 1.0 GHz
* Operating System: Windows 2000, Windows XP
* Ram: 256MB
* Graphics Card: 32 MB graphics card with Hardware Transform and Lighting (T&L) capability
* Sound Card: 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible, PCI or Onboard Audio Device
* Internet: 56kbps or faster connection (required for multiplayer only)
* About 2GBs HD space

BopNiblets

*bump*

Demo is out and it's pretty damn cool!
Filesize is pretty big for a demo - 741MBs!
But I got it from here after a 20 minute wait: http://www.filecloud.com/files/file.php?file_id=2753
Then the actual download took ~2 hours.
(Non member: 100kb/s cap, free member: 200kb/s cap, and htere's a paid member option too, but meh)

There's torrents out there too but it was terribly slow for me.
More mirrors here:
http://www.3dgamers.com/dlselect/games/swempireatwar/empireatwardemo.exe.html

Pretor

Sand wrote:

Wasnt there a previous "Empire at War" game? I remember happening upon a strategy guide for it a few years back?

Anyway, from what Ive seen of the trailers the space battles seem the most impressive. The ground stuff looks the same distinctly average base building C&C stuff. Its not something Ill be getting I think.

Maybe ur thinkin of Dune: Emperor?

Just finished playing the demo, was surprised the ground battles arent like c&c at all, i felt it was more Rome total war based basically u use what u have built from the galactic battle map (like the total war turn based map) which is especially true during invasions, the whole game is in real-time, no turn based so whatever ur doing ur enemy will be doing at the same time....

I enjoyed it although the demo took ages to download, looks like ill be getting this one when it comes out (im sick of anti-terrorism RTS's)....

Btw, i got it off http://www.gamershell.com/news/27450.html, no wait and and good d/l speed

Sand

Maybe ur thinkin of Dune: Emperor?

Nah, this was definitly star wars - they were talking about using characters like han solo and so on. Few years ago, late 90s IIRC. I dunno, maybe Im going mad.

Hercule

Wasnt there a previous "Empire at War" game?

You must be thinking of "Star Wars: Galactic battlegrounds" which was basically
Age of Empires with ewoks.

youcancallmeal

I too have looking forward to this for a good while.
Gameplay was quite crap tbh, they should of tried to introduce space battles like homeworld and kept ground battles more like c&c.
Graphics were ok nothing special. The demo was a bit buggy for me, froze on a few load screens but it was only a demo after all. Still not sure if I'll get it when its released.

Pugsley

I thought the demo was very good if insanely short for a 1.5gig install (800meg download from Gamershell). Ill definately be getting this when it comes out because it looks like it has potential, and looks like it could be very good for multi-player too if done right (although MP could be sh*t if done badly).

shinzon

I believe sand was talking about Star Wars Force commander, which was an RTS game bought out a couple of years ago but wasnt at all good

Just played with the demo of empires at war and TBH it does have very good potential, the cinematic angle is very dramatic when switched 2 in battle, and the interface is a dream


anyhoo more about force commander here

http://www.lucasarts.com/products/forcecommander/default2.htm

Shin

Pretor

youcancallme>al wrote:

I too have looking forward to this for a good while.
Gameplay was quite crap tbh, they should of tried to introduce space battles like homeworld and kept ground battles more like c&c.
Graphics were ok nothing special. The demo was a bit buggy for me, froze on a few load screens but it was only a demo after all. Still not sure if I'll get it when its released.

id say the reason that didnt happen was because it would made the game a combination of two other ones, then u would have people complaining its just the same old c&c (theres enough of those flying around, ala Act of War) with added space combat ripped off from someone else. Nothing original although u could argue its just a real-time version of total war in space, definitely has potential....

Spear

Hercule wrote:

You must be thinking of "Star Wars: Galactic battlegrounds" which was basically
Age of Empires with ewoks.

Or maybe Star Wars: Rebellion aka Supremacy, which had a fairly similar galactic level view.

regeneration

I thought it was very good; nothing too original, but so what? That never stopped people playing and enjoying the likes of Halo, Warcraft3 etc. Play on it's own merits, not other peoples.

The blend of space fighting/blockade running & ground battles was very nicely pitched. I am a definite fan of base building RTS games so I always miss it when it's not there; but I could easily get used to this galactic-scale building idea; otherwise it felt like a solid and familiar RTS game at heart. Lots of options & the galactic map wasn't too confusing (Rome sometimes felt very overwhelming in that respect) so you felt like you were building your forces.

My only complaint is that ground maps were a little blah; nothing too exciting or interesting (very bland and symmetrical), but maybe that was just cos it was turorial/demo/early-game maps.

The graphics look very nice with all the effects turned on. Needless to say a Star Wars game always guarantees quality gfx & sound.

There's not much room for the RTS game at this stage to develop, so I think it's unreasonable to expect companies to re-invent the wheel, especially when the wheel is such a proven and workable formula. This could very definitely be the first Star Wars game I've bought since Jedi Knight: Jedi outcast

Sand

Or maybe Star Wars: Rebellion aka Supremacy, which had a fairly similar galactic level view

Thats the one, 1998 but the screenshots look woeful by todays standards. Plenty of ambition it looks like through. 200 systems to play for apparently, Id be surprised if this new game gives your 20. Cant imagine it was all that much of commercial success when only one person here has heard of it though.

BopNiblets

It's not fully 3D in space like Homeworld, it's more like 2.5D, smaller ships can fly under or over larger ones.
Good enough for me!

You can tell there's some Battle For Middle-Earth mixed into this game (like the "attack anything while moving over there" command), it's good that they have some RTS veterans making it!

Lots of download mirrors here!

Nietzschean

BopNiblets wrote:

(like the "attack anything while moving over there" command)

is that command not in nearly every RTS?

BopNiblets

I've only seen it in a few, but then again, I mainly play FPSes.

youcancallmeal

Reviews are starting to come out now, Like I expected most of them are generally praising but note a significant lack of depth in gameplay

Pugsley

I cant see the full game having much depth, but it looks like it could make for a very interesting 1v1 LAN game if the multiplayer is implimented well.

alic

does anyone know when the game is released over here

V9

Its out today, I picked it up this morning, its pretty good if ya ask me, there are far worse Star Wars RTS games out there, at least there was some degree of thought put into this game unlike Battlegrounds, which, as was said before, was just Age of Empire with Ewoks.

AnCapaillMor

Jut installing it, going through the book looks very nice.

started it and immediately asked me to download and update. F'in hell its only out today, heres all the supposed bugs fixed.

General Issues

---

* Corrected an issue that could prevent progress past
mission 4 in the Rebel Campaign.
* Added AI improvements for Land Control games.
* Corrected an issue to count troop transports towards
unit cap in space tactical battles.
* Improved AI to move units within firing range when using
Tractor Beam/Proton beam weapons.
* Corrected an issue where proton torpedoes would ignore
hardpoints when applying damage.
* Corrected an issue in tutorial mission 5 that caused hint
Voice Overs to stop repeating if the reinforcements
objective has not been completed.
* Corrected multiple text and voice issues in Japanese,
French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Polish versions
of the game.
* Corrected an issue that prevented two Force-sensitive
heroes from targeting the same building.
* Corrected an issue that caused ground troops to be
destroyed in space tactical battles when using
Auto-Resolve.
* Corrected an issue that prevented enemy units from
displaying their team color in the mini-map.
* Corrected an issue with the magnapulse cannon that
required double-clicking in order to target enemies.
* Corrected a collision issue with Land Skirmish map
"Clash on Tatooine" that allowed units to fire through
the terrain.
* Disabled Save/Load functionality when in tutorial
missions.
* Corrected an issue that allowed AI to use Luke
Skywalker's special ability without waiting for the
recharge timer.
* Corrected multiple issues with the cinematic camera.
* Corrected an issue that allowed the Interdictor Cruiser's
Gravity Well to remain active after it was destroyed.
* Corrected an issue that prevented multiple units from
using the Barrage ability on the same target.
* Corrected an issue that allowed the Death Star to fire
after a tactical battle completed.

V9

Could have been worse, they could have left the bugs unattended and then we'd have weeks of "whensthepatchout? whensthepatchout?" ****.

alic

better than most games(black and white 2)

Pugsley

You must remember that they didnt make this patch in 1 day, it was probably out of their hands about 2 or 3 weeks ago, so they have had a good while to get a patch out if their put their minds to it, if this was released by EA you wouldnt see a patch for about 3 months where they would release it as an expansion pack containing one new ship and costing $20.

V9

Pugsley wrote:

You must remember that they didnt make this patch in 1 day, it was probably out of their hands about 2 or 3 weeks ago, so they have had a good while to get a patch out if their put their minds to it, if this was released by EA you wouldnt see a patch for about 3 months where they would release it as an expansion pack containing one new ship and costing $20.

Agreed, but I can see an expansion for this game at some point or another, maybe Clone Wars or something.

Grow up, kids

I got this today, but for some reason it's not allowing me to build a research facility when playing as the empire, thus leaving me in the space stone age. Anyone else have this problem?

AnCapaillMor

Really like it, ground battles are basic as feck, but love the space battles. It's no homeworld, but if its got s.wars in it, i like it.

Have'nt tried the empire yet, waiting on the empire to attack yavin now.

BopNiblets

Has anyone spotted the Collectors Edition, online or (gasp) in a shop at all?
I can only see it on Amazon.com

Pugsley

Got it this morning, I like it.

The rebels are pants imo, the Imperials have a really big advantage in the space battles because of the free Tie Fighters, and without hoards of Y-wing's or mr Fishy (Ackbar?), they find it VERY hard to take out the higher Star Destroyers, the Imperial hero who gets a huge star destroyed can take all the shields and about 1/4 off a space station in 1 shot with his special attack, and the tractor beam will leave any corvette dead in its tracks to be picked off by your Tie bombers (also free). As for land battles, Rebels seem to have a very hard time taking out AT-AT's, snow speeder's cant touch them once AT-AA's come about (the same time as AT-AT's), and the free Storm Troopers AT-AT's can deploy eleminate any anti tank infantry, which is their only other weakness. Apart from just spamming them with artillary (The rebel artillary is insane Ill give them that), and meat shielding them with infantry, theres little to be done. Not to mention in galactic conquest the Imperials get boba fett, who can eleminate an enemy hero (for a fee), and sometimes the hero will die permenantly.

On saying that Im sure the rebels have their uses, their quite hard to use though, and Ill have to get around to learning them at some point.

AnCapaillMor

A group of 3-4 Y-wings will decimate a star destroyer, sure make sure you got plenty of cover with corvettes taking out the ties etc. Take out shileds first then turbo laser targets. One i did was take out shields then engines and retreat every now and then to let shields replenish. Being sneaky with the rebels pays off. Not too impressed with land battles, i usely just built and overwhelming force and auto'd the battle.

Pugsley

I know Y-wings are awsome at taking out any heavy cruisers because they shoot right through the shields, the problem is that Tie Bombers are the same, the only advantage a Y-wing has is slightly more health and the ion shot, which is useless because they go right through shields and take out all the shields in 1 run whe nthey take out the shield generator. The big difference is that for them 3 squads of Y-wings it takes up 3 of your population cap in a space battle, for the Imperials they get a good sized star destroyer for 3, and it comes with 4 wings of tie fighters and 2 squads of Tie Bombers. Not to mention 2 wings of Tie Fighters will wipe out a squad of Y-wings in a single pass.

However argueing 'well this counters this', 'oh yes but you counter that with this', is both long and largely pointless
Currently at Uni so wont get playing it again til Friday, however I intend to give the rebels another go, so Ill argue with you then

regeneration

It's funny when you play a game and you can almost sense where the development team spent the most time and gave the most amount of love & attention

The space battles are lush, exciting & have much to recommend them. Once you start building capital ships the battles are great to watch and play. I love the idea too of having "parts" of the ship you can target & cripple (for me, I always target the hangers first to stop pesky fighter squadrons crippling my ships); it's a great feeling to watch your enemy's capital ship judder to a halt because you took out their engines. Homeworld would have benefited greatly from this.

However, the land battles are utter utter cack & any vet RTS gamer would scoff at it. The maps re-define "dull and generic" and there's not enough (or interesting) units to make this fun. There's SFA to separate one planet from another apart from the odd native house sitting there (apart from that the maps are barren); there's not even any base building to distract you. There's a half assed reinforcement system that makes no sense at all (why when you're landing from space are you restricted to a small limited number of points dotted across the map). The maps are also far far too small - even the old school RTS games had buckets of detail - look at RA2 for instance.

Wasted opportunity really; it's half a good game. I expected much more from Petroglyph given their heritage. Back to Blizkrieg2 I go!

AnCapaillMor

ground battles are non-existent for me, i just build an huge force and click on auto resolve. Is it me or are the pirate planet ground battles amazingly tough?

Pugsley

Yea some of the pirate land maps can be irritating at best, with constantly respawning waves of fodder it can be hard to get off your starting area without some Tie Marauders to back you up (they cut through infantry at an insane rate, shooting or running over).

Id agree that the land maps are bland at best, downright awful at times, and the land units leave a lot to be desired, the only land unit worthy of mention are the AT-AT's, because they really got the slow ponderous feel perfect for them, small fast units can literally run around them indefinately and never get hit, but if anything fast gets hit, it dies, which is how it should be for a unit as large as the AT-AT, however I think they could probably do with a small AoE on their attack, as in the battle of hoth (films) you could see AT-AT's taking out 3 or 4 troops every shot, I know they need a weakness, but infantry take so long to kill them that it wouldnt have too much of an effect on gameplay to make them paste infantry (this may be an Imperial biased opinion ).

As for space battles, their definately the best Star Wars space battles to date, played a Homeworld2 MOD of Star Wars and it just missed 'something', it didnt feel or play right, but in this I think they got it spot on, I love the way that the bombers go through shields, its makes them excellent for disabling shield generators from even the largest capital ships, and about 3 squadrons can take out the hangers from star bases in a single pass, really makes them worth using, not to mention how long it takes for a capital ship to shoot them out of space, 2 squadrons of Y-wings can take out medium class Star Destroyers by themselves if all the Tie Fighters and Corvette's are killed.

AnCapaillMor

nice mod at the bottom : http://mods.moddb.com/?search=true&mod=&mf=0&game=151&type=0

Adds in 2 new capital ships, plus the rebel capital ships now have fighters, so if you're imps you better bring loads of anti fighter frigates. Pirates are a hell of alot tougher, their cap ships have launch bays too.