OT - Star Wars: Empire at War?

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

I remember reading a while ago a little bit about SW:EAW....I have bitten the bullet and ordered the game from Amazon. From looking at some screenshots and reviews it looks pretty good.

I enjoyed Star Wars: Supremacy (Rebellion) when that was released.

Have any of you guys got this yet? Opinions?

Regards,

Steven

[bostonrpgmania]

I am eagerly waiting my fellow forum mate to write a first impression after playing reasonable amount of time of at least 1- to 15 hours
I will appreciate your opinion[;)]

[Speedysteve]

I will let you know when I get it. It should arrive Thurs/Fri I believe.

Caveat - I am on holiday this Sunday for a week = prob no report until after then [;)]

[David Heath]

Hi

Went out and picked it up and love it.... worth very penny.

David

[Speedysteve]

Hi David,

Better than Rebellion (Supremacy)?

Any details you care to share? Thoughts?

Regards,

Steven

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Speedy
Better than Rebellion (Supremacy)?

I only had a chance to play this with a friend for about an hour over the weekend, so I'm hardly an expert. However, it was fun and had enough strategic options to keep me interested and satisfied during that time. It didn't seem as detailed as Rebellion, which I did enjoy greatly despite the extra effort required by the interface. But, it definitely seemed to be the best and only "real" SW Strategy game I've seen since Rebellion. I'm planning to pick up a copy.

Regards,

- Erik

[DuckofTindalos]

It's a fun game, even though its graphics are a bit dated in places. The detail level is a little bit lighter than Rebellion (where the hell are my Super Star Destroyers???), but overall it's a quality product, and one I'm happy I spent my hard-earned money on.

[Speedysteve]

No Super Star Destroyers?!?[X(] You get Tie Advanced? Defenders? Rebel Assault Frigate?

Can I choose where I want to attack next like in Rebellion or is the campaign linear?

Regards,

Steven

[Tankerace]

Bah, Star Trek Still rules.

[:D]

Actually I may just get a copy of it.... right after a bigger harddrive.

[wodin]

Tried the demo.........didnt change my opinion on the RTS genre Im afraid.

However if you like your RTS games then Im sure you will enjoy this game.

[Maliki]

I still wish they would release a game based off their Miniatuares Battles rules.

That would be awesome.

[Speedysteve]

Well guys it's turned up at work this morning (much earlier than anticipated [:)])

Tonight it will receive a proper testing.

I'll let you know what I think.

Regards,

Steven

P.S. 1 immediate disappointment as T says: from reading the manual = no Super-Star Destroyers[;)]

[Kuokkanen]

I have played demo and to give you others an idea about it, it is much like Imperium Galactica serie. But this one has more weight on tactics and less to strategy. Tactic part don't beat Total Annihilation though and I'm not running after it at first opportunity either. I'll get it anyway, maybe after I have completed Imperium Galactica serie.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Played it for around 4 hours last night.

Overall guys i'm hooked.

I like the interface and the style of play - enough strategy to keep that side interesting (not as in-depth as Rebellion/Supremacy though).

The 'story' driven campaign is great fun.

Started up as the Empire. Darth Vader truly is a force to be recokned with in this.

Graphically the Tactical side is not bad. Not top notch but good enough. The space battle side is good fun. I particularly like the 'cinematic' view of a battle whereby you can issue your orders and then watch the batle unfold from a camera that pans through the action almost as though you are actually in the battle.

If you have any specific questions on it fire away.

Regards,

Steven

[Kuokkanen]

ORIGINAL: Speedy

If you have any specific questions on it fire away.

You asked it. How player starts the game and how game develops? My guess is (based on demo) first there are couple planets available and when game progresses, more comes available (same thing with 1st Imperium Galactica). Am I right?

What is maximum number of available planets? Are there other factions fighting over them than Rebels and Empire?

Is limitation of units problem? Is it possible to decommission own units in order to get other kind of units? In demo I had too much ships but I needed ground forces and I couldn't find way to get rid off ships becouse there was no enemy ships left.

[Speedysteve]

Hi Matti,

No problem.

In short yes. You start off controlling a few planets.

1. You have 3 game play modes.

1. Campaign mode. In here you aonctrol your side but are 'pushed' to follow a set route and along that route you'll acquire enhancements.

E.G. At game star as Empire you control Darth Vader who is hunting down a defector. You trace him to a planet...rebels...blah blah... then to a pirate planets....then Moff Tarkin says take Geonosis since it will proivide useful resources for a 'new project'....

2. Galactic mode - same as campaign BUT more freedom. Hence few set missions or paths. You can choose what planets you would like to invade next amd in what order etc (not that you can't in campaign mode but in that you gain certain set mission bonuses for doing so)

3. Skirmishes - Tactical battles.

-----------------

I believe there are either 60 ot 80 planets. They are either neutral (neutral literally in the sense or pirate owned) or Rebel or Empire owned. They do change hands with out your influence. Hence AI sppears to do something (unlike Rebellion/Supremacy).

----------------

Yes you can demolish your own units to enhance other areas. Also constructing Space stations facilitates further naval sustenance.

[ydejin]

Empire at War is a lot of fun. Think of it as a beer and pretzels version of the Total War series with Star Wars flavoring. The combination of strategic level building and tactical real-time battles matches the Total War Series. But the strategic layer isn't quite as complex as Total War and the individual battles are much smaller. Overall though it's a lot of fun and it really gets the feel of Star Wars down well.

The demo will give you a good idea of what the actual game is like (the actual game is much better than the demo, but if you like the demo you'll definitely like the actual game).

One caveat the AI is not very good at Medium level, at least not in Galactic Conquest mode. I haven't heard any complaints about the AI on Hard, it seems competent on Hard, but a lot of gamers have commented on how the AI on Medium is rather weak. For a Matrix Games player who is probably a pretty solid strategist, I would recommend either starting on Hard, or trying a small 8-10 planet game on Medium to get a feel for the game and then restarting a larger campaign on Hard.

[ydejin]

ORIGINAL: Speedy
No Super Star Destroyers?!?[X(] You get Tie Advanced? Defenders? Rebel Assault Frigate?

No Super Star Destroyers or Tie Advanced or Defenders. Rebel Assault Frigate is in. It's supposed to take place between Episode III and Episode IV, which apparently is before those were all built. I wouldn't be suprised if some of these showed up in an expansion, although an SSD would be so huge, I'm not sure how well it would fit in the Tactical Map.

The game is highly modable (almost all data is exposed via XML and the game is designed to make it easy to add new models), so people are already playing with adding in SSDs (and also working on Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica mods -- let's hope these down get nailed by the lawyers).

ORIGINAL: Speedy
Can I choose where I want to attack next like in Rebellion or is the campaign linear?

There is a story based campaign mode and a wide-open galactic conquest mode. I've only been playing in galactic conquest mode. In galactic conquest, you can attack anywhere you want. There are different scenarios in galactic conquest which determine how many planets are active in the game, and the starting tech levels and credit levels for the two sides. Scenarios range from 8 planets total in the scenario to up to about 40.

[ravinhood]

ORIGINAL: David Heath

Hi

Went out and picked it up and love it.... worth very penny.

David

Traitor!!

[Kuokkanen]

Empire at War is a lot of fun. Think of it as a beer and pretzels version of the Total War series with Star Wars flavoring.

Really? I thought game to be closer to Imperium Galactica serie [&:]

Rebel Assault Frigate is in. It's supposed to take place between Episode III and Episode IV, which apparently is before those were all built.

Yeah, I guess Assault Frigate came to play much later. But then in X-Wing there are TIE Interceptors even before Battle of Yavin! [:-]