Star Wars: Empire At War

[Dressel Rebel]

Absolutely amazing trailer...

My favorite part is when the stormies are fighting and a bunch of Y-Wings fly overhead and carpet bomb the hell out of them, bodies, armor pieces, and helmets go flying all over the place.

Galactic Battlegrounds is pretty fun, this one looks better.

[Jesse James]

Indeed DR, it looks to be a bit graphic which suits me fine.  Star Wars can be too squeaky clean at times.  The movies skirt the line at times, but often times EU's just not visually intense.  This stuff looks good though.

[dafoo]

I can't really see a Star Wars game where you have peon/minions that go and collect resources.  It just doesn't fit in my mind.

It could be like FC with the points system or like Rebellion where you build mines and refineries and then the resources trickle in. 

I'm more used to the Rebellion set up, I started playing it again.  In case you were wondering, it is still fun.  (I blew up two whole star systems, and yet more didn't slip through my fingers *manical cackling*)

[Matt_Fury]

The graphics on this game do look really tight.  I really hope they don't go with that command point system that FC had.  Or if they do, they need to make it a LOT better.

I like the idea of building factories to get resources though....although that would be tough in some of the space battles.

[Jesse James]

I'm not a huge fan of gathering resources...  I'm not sure how they could improve on the Force Commander Point system either though.  I thought it was really perfect...  At least for combat.

I can see resource gather's place, but in galactic-scaled combat like this it is really almost trivial...  It's something that you shouldn't have to manage really,a nd it should just be assumed more than a facet of the game.  It makes more sense in games like Lords of the Realm where each county/shire's production was the means by which the county grew, survived, and defended itself...  But in Lords the control and care of the people was important...  In Star Wars gaming thepeople are too vast in number to be a micro-feature of the game, and they're more a macro thing where they're assumed taken care of.

Harvesting resources then becomes sort of silly...  At least controlling it in any real fashion...  It should be a more natural exercise that just comes with control of a planet or system...  I'd simply adapt the Force Commander point structure to the galactic conquest theme.  It's perfect.  The only thing I'd change is to make it so you can never get too much momentum going where you just become a steamroller and are unstoppable.  Not much fun in that.

[Matt_Fury]

Ahh but Jesse...the steamroller concept is what every general tries to achieve!

I was reading through some of the news for the game and they do talk about the ability to make factories, so it looks like you're going to have the ability to at least manufacture your units during the battle.  So I think there will be some sort of resource building.

I wouldn't mind the Command Point system as long as there's no cap to the amount that you get.  That would happen in FC unless you incorporated a cheat.  If they go with a command point system, I think you should accrue them by the amount of troops you have in the field, or controlling certain points on the map.  FC tried to do this, but you I never saw my CP rise faster compared to the different points on the map I controlled, and then there was that cap.

One other item I read on the site is that your success or failure on any level will have an affect on how well you do on subsequent levels.  This is why I wouldn't want a cap on CP or another reason why I would want some sort of resource building.

Who knows...they may come up with some wierd thing we've never heard of before!

[Jesse James]

I thought I read something about the resources being well integrated at least...  So that'll be good if it's teh case.  Like if yout ook a planet known for ores/mining, you have that for better ship production...

I like the concept of being hated by who you "control" too...  But I don't want to see too much interaction with the civilian population unless it's them acting to support or revolt against who it is controlling them.  Like I said, that's cool in a Civilization or Lords of the Realm, but when you get to Star Wars things become so vast that micro-management of civilians and their happiness becomes redundant and annoying.

I thing building strong militaries is cool, but I still don't want there to be any real way (or at least it's incredibly difficult) to become just a giant military juggernaught that's unstoppable.  Games just aren't fun if youhave no challenge from your opponent.  That was a problem with Force Commander and almost every RTS up till the "Total War" series (and even then, there was always a point in TW where you knew your winning was inevitable).  Force Commander though, it came way too early...  It was fun at the time, but it's noticeable in every strategy game so I hope they're trying to curb that... 

I will say, I always still liked mowing down my opponent even when I was unstoppable.  FC tried to curb that by making you want to conserve forces (as much as possible) toc arry over to the next mission.  That was a good idea often unrecognized (And something that EAW seemst o have incorporated in their game).  You could build troops from a weak rookie level to an advanced military if they could survive...  I liked that aspect, especially when you played as the Rebels in FC where unit conservation became kind of important since you were often limited.

[Jesse James]

I've changed the title here but also, there's a new trailer up at the Empire At War site as well as there being a trialer on the Episode III DVD for your viewing pleasure.

The game's really shaping up nicely.  I like the ground units that aren't Force Commander units now and that's a major plus for me.  I've taken it in stride as just expansion of what the Alliance has and uses rather than replacement, but I believe they did incorporate some elements of FC so that's cool.

I'm still thoroughly disappointed in the TIE Crawler irregardless of "excuse".  I'll accept it, but to me the TIE/C in West End Games books was and always shall be the true TIE/C.    Just a great and more traditional design.

The unit management on the field looks fantastic.  I'm fearful though of how that space combat is gonna play out.  That could be a MAJOR bitch to control, especially if at the same time you've got tons of other stuff going on...  It could be a really complex game to master, and it's breaking some new ground for this genre so it'll be interesting. 

The unit designs look great, and it plays out the galactic Civil War like I like it too...  Big huge battles, the Alliance AREN'T a bunch of pussies but an army/military just as organized and threatening to the Empire as the CIS is to the Republic...  They just are against a much more militaristic society that has total control and a mightier military that can be focused anywhere at any time. 

The fact it's pre-ANH but there's multiple fighter types, the Mon Cal, etc...  That's good news.  I hope they incorporate maybe the A-Wing early as it has been established and not that BS "post-ANH" crap.  Same for Interceptors if they're making the space combat diverse in unit types.  I'm thinking they won't though because the Fighters and Bombers seem like the standards.

I'm not sure how I'm taking that 3rd element of beasts on the field...  I mean if it's a rancor on Dathomir I can see it...  Or a Nexu on the Gran's planet or whatnot...  But like if it's a Rancor on Alderaan that'd be just dumb.  I dunno.

I'm a little concerned about a lack of linear story following Star Wars too.  It could kill it somewhat for me if it changes the story totall, I don't know.  Have to see how this plays out, just voicing some early thoughts...  The trailer blows you away though, go look at it.  The visuals of ships blowing up...  The Destroyer iwth a HUGE ass chunk of its starbord side blown out and decks exposed...  That's spooky, hardcore military stuff.  The screaming as troops run into battle just adds to it too, and makes you think of old-style military charges, or the D-Day landings...  Amazing.  Go Watch NOW!

[Jesse James]

OK, so I changed the thread title because just generic "Strategy Game" was bugging the piss out of me.

But in news, the game's official site was unveiled the other day for Empire At War, and holy schnikeys it rocks.

The little videos to see what troops or other aspects of the game do/interact is really neat.  The weather effects look like they'll add a unique dynamic to the game among other details.

I'm sorta so-so on things like a Rancor just popping up anywhere and I really wish they'd relegate things like that to their native planets.  IE: the Rancor only appears if you're on Dathomir duking it out.  It showing on Tatooine is sorta ass backwards to me and takes away from the game's "realism".  Granted Jabba has one and all, but I doubt it'd be running loose on Tatooine.

For that matter, I'd be ok with never seeing Tatooine in-game since as a planet its "importance" and supposed rebel activity on it doesn't take place till post-ANH but that's a whole other rant.

The TIE Crawler is not a TIE Crawler and that's cool.  It's a much smaller model basically, and a replacement for the AT-PT which appears to be omitted from the game.  That is a 50/50 split to me as I feel the AT-PT is superior in design and has become an established walker in EU materials during the war...  The Crawler is actually a TIE Marauder which is a cool name and the vehicle is basically a fast anti-personnel weapon that's easily destroyed even by a nice sized infantry group.

I'm perplexed on what a "PLEX Trooper" is for the Alliance...  They look like heavy weapons troopers more or less judging by the video but I'm wondering what PLEX means more than anything.  There seemed to be two types too.  Would they be specialists?  What?  Weird.

I'm pleased to see the AT-AA appears to be making a resurgence and vehicles like the AT-ST appear to be holding up well as core walkers.  There's a ton of other new vehicle names too that really have me intrigued.

I'm slightly disappointed at the same time to see that they didn't carry over the Rebel Tank designs from Force Commander which were 100% perfect IMO and fit in squeaky clean into Star Wars.  They have a hover tank (lighter model) and a heavy tracked tank, so why design NEW tanks and not just adjust the FC tanks to this game, ya know?  At the same time it's cool to give some diversity to the SW EU, as it's not like the ALliance couldn't have a wide variety of tanks at their disposal and you just don't have their use in this game...  I can believe that, so that's not the point, it's more that the game's designers are just trying too hard to rewrite history in their image which always strikes me as a stupid aspect to EU stuff anyway but I digress.  I'm sure I'll accept the new tanks as part of my EU world just like I accepted the ones in Rogue Squadron and all the tanks in Force Commander. 

Stuff looks good to me though overall, the battles look really gritty and fun...  Space battles looked a lot cooler than I imagined too, that should rock.  I really want to see how fast the action is, and then how easy to control the game is.  FC's fun/fast but controlling it was always probably its biggest issue.  Once you learned it, it became somewhat easy but always an issue during the game, so I'm really curious to see how it's handled in EAW.

Glad to hear that the battles aren't forcing multi-tasking or whatnot.  You play the ground or space, not both at the same time, because I can't see how anyone would control that.

The sounds, which many probably haven't even thought of yet, sounded really great in the game.  Screams were realistic, commanders for various parts of a ship yelling out damage as if you're the honcho on the bridge and hearing staticy reports from Engineering or the Gunnery line decks, or Torp Launcher rooms...  Really cool ****.  Especially when the guy's voice is cut off because his ship just took the big hit and blows up...  Speaking of this too, watching the Corvette blow up and a huge chunk of the foreward section drift off into space as the engines/aft section desintegrated...  Nice.

Something I wish they'd include but I doubt is a "Ramming" option.  Taking your ship directly into another if you're going to lose it.  Make it hard to accomplish and have an "intensified fire" counter so if your ship is barely alive as it is it gets destroyed in the ramming attempt, but to me that'd add a realism aspect that would be really fun and have a bit of strategic value to it too.

Great site though, lots of fun stuff, looks like some great vehicles.  My EU world just got a huge spike in cool ****.   My "Customs To-Do" list for custom vehicles seems like it just got a lot longer too.  Ugh.

[JayDouble]

I can't wait.  If it's anything like Galactic Battlegrounds I think I'll be in trouble.   

[Jesse James]

Dunno if anyone checked out the update story I did on the front page, but the new stuff was kind of cool.

I liked the TIE Scout, that looks like a great, and fairly simplistic, custom ship.  The base is easy enough since it's just a TIE Advanced with that box on top.  I am curious to see if there's some kind of tech gallery like in X-Wing/TIE Fighter games where we can take really close looks at the craft.  If not, I hope an editor is available soon to pull the 3-D models and get my customizing list really long, but with good informationa t least.

I liked seeing Kyle Katarn's little video...  He looks like as big a smartass in that as he was in the game series focused on him.  Katarn as a playable character is just great too.  He is one of the ultimate EU characters IMO, so having him as a "hero" to throw into battle that can sabotage things or pull off amazing stuff is just great.  Looks like he's maybe a specialist for sabotage though, something I always kinda figured he'd be great at by his past games.  Just a badass!

The Bothans looked cool but not much was said about them...  Just them fighting at the feet of an AT-AT against a Stormie.  They look neat, but I'm curious what makes them special...

Good stuff.  This game looks better and better, but I'm still wary of problems.  I'm anxious to see more vehicle bios too.  I want to see how they cover the armor for both sides that's new, and how things like the AT-AA reappear in this game, and if they're modeled after their predecessors or new designs.

[Matt_Fury]

There are a bunch of characters from the films as well that will be playable in the game, Darth Vader, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Boba Fett just to name a few.

Another cool EU character...Mara Jade.

I sure hope this game lives up to its potential.

[Jesse James]

Mara could be real cool but I question her being thrown into the timeline.  She'd be REALLY young I'd imagine...  I had similar thoughts about Katarn but at least he's a fairly older guy by the time of ANH when he bogards the Death Star Plans...  At least Solo's age or older so I can sorta buy him.  Jade always struck me as perhaps younger than Luke, and this war supposedly takes place a while before ANH I thought.  Could be only a short time before though, like a couple years I guess?   

It's a beautiful game though, the environments look fantastic.  That was something I have learned to appreciate for almost all games...  Force Commander had cool environments, but it sounds like EAW will definitely utilize terrain more which FC didn't do so well...  It did, but on a crude level compared to modern 3-D RTS games like Medeival Total War does.  You really can use terrain strategically and that is cool.

Love the looks of the game, and I'm just happy to see something new/expansive coming to PC.  Platforms have been getting way too much attention.  PC's always going to be the cutting edge so I hope this is a sign that perhaps classic genres like Flight Sim and 1st Person Shooter will make a comeback with new games for the PC.

[JayDouble]

The demo is set to launch tomorrow.

[JayDouble]

Has anyone actually donwload it yet?  I keep trying but it's downloading at 30kb/s so I just keep cancelling it.  Hopefully things will cool off during the weekend and I can get it a a reasonable rate.