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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Star Wars - Empire at War (Official Thread)

Discussion in 'Archive: Games' started by Kurtmajister, Nov 9, 2004.

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  1. Drew_Atreides

    Drew_Atreides Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 30, 2002
    ^^Ha, see, "X-wing: Alliance" was the game that did that to me :p
     
  2. Vezner

    Vezner Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 29, 2001
    So how are all of you liking EaW? Me, I think it's a great game. I've been suprised at how many whiners there are on the lucasarts forums. You'd think that LA kicked some of them in the jewels and stole their money or something. :p

    I personally think that the game works really well especially considering it's a new release of a game with a brand new engine. MP works great for me, SP works really well too, and I think that RTS gameplay is perfect. It's innovative and yet familiar at the same time. It's a gem of a game.
     
  3. Errant_Venture

    Errant_Venture Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 21, 2002
    Quick question:

    Is this game worth getting? Don't say yes because it is a Star Wars game please. But is the gameplay, story, whatever worth spending 50 bucks on? I'm tired of wasting money on SW games that suck.
     
  4. Darth_Invidious

    Darth_Invidious Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 21, 1999
    Errant Venture: No, this game does not suck. I had a blast playing through the Imperial Campaign. Once you have the Death Star available...*sighs*...well, the evil fiend in you will chuckle evilly once you fire up that superlaser and blow up any planet housing wretched, Rebel scum.

    The only annoying things I can think of are: 1) units not going where you want them to go because the AI wants to navigate through some obstacle or path in a way you don't want it to, and 2) engaging auto-resolve to settle a land or space battle is simply worthless, even if you have a vastly superior force.
     
  5. CieSharp

    CieSharp Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 18, 2002
    First of all, I'm pretty lousy at RTS. :)

    I am playing Rebel single campaign, and after I take a few planets, an Imperial invasion fleet comes out of nowhere with 10 acclamators and Star destroyers, and I can't defend against it because my own invasion fleet is elsewhere and my defending forces are on various planets and never seen to be plentiful enough.

    I feel like I'm definetely missing something crucial here. Do you need to always max out your maximum # of forces # until you conquer another planet? Does slow and steady win the race?

    And yes I'm playing on easy :p
     
  6. TwiLekJedi

    TwiLekJedi Pretty Ex-Mod star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2001
    you're always supposed to try to have enough of a defense force on/above the planets at the front. It worked for me in the Imperial campaign: I was attacked once, on Coruscant - can't remember if that was random or a plot point.

    However, I also had difficulties playing as the dirty rebels
     
  7. CodyDog

    CodyDog Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Nov 8, 2005
    I had a main attack fleet, then like small garrison forces at each planet (space station, a vette sized thing or two, and an accus or vic) and then kind of a "defense fleet" that stuck around my major ship yards and places that seems to be attacked a bit. One time the rebels destroyed my garrison force with a giant fleet, but my defense fleet hit them right afterwards (as the rebellion ground forces were in transit, so moments later I got to blow them up in space as well). I'd strongly recommend a defense fleet that operates without any connection to your attack fleet, so you can continue your advance. Also, don't be afraid to take some fleets from a garrison or two to stop another attack if needed.
     
  8. ConservativeSoldier

    ConservativeSoldier Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Oct 1, 2005
    The game is great. No doubt. But the multiplayer setup is horrendous. They need to fix the internet/connection methodology or else they won't be able to sustain any long-term interest.
     
  9. CodyDog

    CodyDog Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Nov 8, 2005
    yeah, the MP is abnormally screwy and not user friendly........but I just attribute it to the fact that all LA games ever made have crappy as hell coding for MP.....when JK was lagging out with 3 people, everyone else was playing tribes just fine with 32. Air warrior was big in like the mid 90s with 100 people, XvT, 2 on 2 tops........maybe someday they'll figure it out, but not today. Still, I dig the game, when the MP works, it's fun, and the SP is great.
     
  10. Drew_Atreides

    Drew_Atreides Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 30, 2002
    I've only played as the Imperials, so far. My trick was to just build a space station around every planet that i could, and max it out as far as i could, and just consistently build ships, non-stop, everywhere. I basically wound up with a small fleet over EVERY planet. Then, if one of my planets was attacked (and defeated), i would shift the ships from 3 of the nearby planets to that one planet to kick the rebels off and then hold it.

    I also tended to build up more forces on planets bordering world's that were neutral or controlled by the rebs.
     
  11. ppal

    ppal Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Aug 13, 1999
    They say this is supposed to take place just a few years before ANH but I dont see that. Number one they are measuring the campaign time in days not years so how is it that a few years before episode IV Obi-wan, Han Solo, and Luke Skywalker show up and the Death Star is completed. I think they should say that this takes place in conjunction with episode IV with several different outcomes that change history.
     
  12. EH_Pilot

    EH_Pilot Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 12, 2003
    I'm having some trouble liking this game. Sure, it's good, but it's just so...chaotic. I mean, I have about ten seconds in a space battle before my attacking ships are swarmed by endless waves of corvettes and Rebel fighters.

    Also, everything just happens too fast on the galactic map. Can every planet connect to nearby planets via hyperspace, or are there certain routes that I just can't see?
     
  13. CieSharp

    CieSharp Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 18, 2002
    One time, when I was playing the Rebel Campaign, Alderaan was attacked by a lot of Acclamators. There was no way they could have gotten there except through the gray planets in the back. Or perhaps I was such a newb that I missed something :p

    If we're referring to singleplayer, the Imperial campaign is definetely easier. I've been having considerable problems getting through Rebellion singleplayer, but have been breezing through Imperial with no problem (in many instances with ground combat, I've been able to completely solo ground missions with Darth Vader, using Stormtroopers as placeholders for reinforcement points and buildpads).

    I suppose that's normal, as the Empire is supposed to have all the power, but there should still be some advantage for the Rebels, like in Star Wars:Rebellion for instance, when the Rebels typically got better diplomats to convert planets with. Or when the Empire used brutal methods of bombardment to win a planet, and then it would flip back to the Rebels.

    I enjoyed EAW more than I enjoyed Rebellion, but having more to work with like you did in Rebellion might have made for a more interesting game.
     
  14. Vezner

    Vezner Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 29, 2001
    I agree that the Rebel campaign is more difficult than the Empire campaign. I also agree that there are things about Rebellion that would have been cool to include in EaW. However EaW is still a great game and I think it will be one that I will enjoy for a few years to come, especially with the modding that most likely will continue to happen. That fact alone makes the replay value of this game very good.
     
  15. Kish

    Kish Jedi Youngling star 2

    Registered:
    Jul 12, 2004
    Meh, I don't want to come down harsh on Empire At War, but I would give it an 80%.


    The game fails to deliver any sort of Epic feel, and that every battle you fight actually has an impact on the larger galactic scene. Overall, it looks like LucasArts has once again managed to produce a Star Wars game that is pretty much like every other game from it's genre. Relying on tried and true methods, rather then actual innovation.


    Even one of the main "hooks" of the game, that it incorporates Space and ground battles together, and one impacts the other falls short. Really, the only thing that a space battle affects is whether or not you can use Bombers on the ground. And those are on a 5 minute timer.


    As a ground defender, as soon as your fleet is destroyed you have little hope of surviving. For example, you can't call in a reinforcement fleet once the ground game has begun. It would have been much more interesting to see the ground defender hold out long enough for his space fleet to arrive in space and destroy the attacking fleet.


    I have to say that the ground game overall is just really really boring. You only have one map for each planet, so already you're looking at repetitive gameplay. You also can't determine where to place your buildings, which removes a personalization aspect of the game. This is also lame for building Turrets, because you can only build defensive structues where they say you are suppose to build them. Sometimes these spots are way off in the middle of nowhere!

    Another problem with the ground game is that its soooooooo slllllllllooooooooooowwwwwwwwww. A fight between two groups of infantry takes a good couple units. Even a fight between a group of infantry and a tank takes along while. And if those infantry are standing in a "natural barrier" then the fight will go on forever! As Rebel Alliance I had 6 heavy tanks attacking Infantry behind the sandbags, At least 3 minutes to destroy one squad. Meanwhile i'm sitting here wondering when i'm going to be able to move on and actually do something. Infantry also apparently don't know how to run, and for being in the middle of a war they are pretty slow to raise their guns and shoot. This aspect of the game is annoying because i'm always thinking 30 seconds ahead of what my guys are doing, because once I decide to do something, it takes that long for any of my units to actually do it.





    The space battles are fun, defintely the highlight of the game. But they're very straight forward, and again, they don't really feel like they matter. When a ship blows up, i'm like. "Oh Well". When I destroy an entire Imperial fleet I don't really feel like i've accomplished anything.


    In the galactic map things move way too quickly. Build speeds and travels speeds are fast. This can be especially lame if the enemy conquers one of your planets. Very quickly can they create a solid defense and reinforcements, even if you try to take the planet back right afterwards. Individual planets also don't seem to have any individual character to them. Granted they all look the different, but every game plays the same on them.




    I like the graphics and think they're awesome. It's also nice to play another Star Wars game, however the novelty of playing a Star Wars game from a specific genre is getting old, LucasArts better start coming up with some new ideas rather then just copying those of previous games.
     
  16. CodyDog

    CodyDog Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Nov 8, 2005
    Is anyone else having a problem changing sides/colors/anything in the hosting or joining game screen? I'm completely unable to change stuff, even when hosting (beyond the map). If I clikc Rebellion over to Empire, it just reverts back. Was hoping the Devs would comment on it, as some friends have had this problem as well, but they didn't say much of anything and tech support isn't really getting back to me. It's really annoying when you run a clan and you want your friends to all be Rebellion and the other to be Empire and you can't change anything.
     
  17. Darth_Invidious

    Darth_Invidious Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 21, 1999
    Kish: Just about everything you said about the game is true. The land battle aspect is certainly the weakest part of the game. It feels uninspired and just too simple. It's simply not moving to conquer a really lame map and afterwards have "planetary control". I guess the main draw of the game is the space combat and it's probably going to comprise the bulk of the multiplayer matches once the mp gaming runs smoother.
     
  18. TwiLekJedi

    TwiLekJedi Pretty Ex-Mod star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2001
    German magazine PC Games gave it 91%. They say it's rare that an RTS gets anything over 90 (or 85). They also compared it to Battle for Middle-Earth 2 - and took the cheap way out by giving both the same score and say "You can't go wrong with either".

    Didn't read the actual test yet, but I saw that they also hate the Rebel campaign :p
     
  19. Dark_Jedi_Kenobi

    Dark_Jedi_Kenobi Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2004
    I picked up a copy of the game this evening and so far I've really enjoyed the game. I need to play it for a bit longer before I can give a full opinion though.
     
  20. Sith_Lords

    Sith_Lords Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 17, 2004
    Mine was more expensive. 30 pounds for the game, 1251 pounds for a new pc (basically $2200)
     
  21. AdmiralWesJanson

    AdmiralWesJanson Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    May 23, 2005
    When playing, I find the Rebels have only 3 things going for them: Ion Cannons, Raid fleets, and Speeders.
     
  22. Rogan_Agar

    Rogan_Agar Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 1, 2004
    I read it.

    They wrote that EAW has better battles, tactics and strategie. They also mentioned that the idea of melting 3 games into 1 is something revolutionary and it works well.

    The only point in which SUM 2 has a higher score is the technical part. SUM 2 has a slightly better graphic-engine and a better new score (not the original music).

    But they are even in every other point.

    Can't wait to play SUM 2 to compare it with EAW. I am glad they gave both games a 91 %. This times no fan group will feel superior to the other. :)
     
  23. TwiLekJedi

    TwiLekJedi Pretty Ex-Mod star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2001
    ah, well, didn't read it yet. Just skimmed through it on the way home.


    and don't say "SUM", people won't know what the hell it's supposed to mean :p
    I didn't for a second ;)


    I'm not playing BfME. I hate RTSs :D
     
  24. Winged_Jedi

    Winged_Jedi Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 28, 2003
    I have a question for all those of you with the game. What makes it so good? There's only two factions! Surely that becomes dull after a while?

    See, I wasn't really into strategy games at all until Rome: Total War, which hooked me. Great battles, great factions, the whole thing had a really epic feel to it. Compared to that EaW appears overly simplistic and boring. I hear land battles in particular are simply about clicking and wait for the shooting to stop. Am I being unfair?
     
  25. El Kabong

    El Kabong Jedi Grand Master star 3

    Registered:
    Sep 28, 1999
    Well, there's 50 bucks shot straight to hell. What a crap game! It's ugly as sin, it's way too simplistic, and its the same old boring mission after mission. While it was no prize winner, I thought Rebellion was a MUCH better RT(sort of)S- and Battlegrounds totaly owns this game.

    To those on the fence like I was - dont waste your money! Wait a couple of months and pick this turd out of the bargain bin for 20 bucks.
     
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