Star Wars: Empire at War (sometimes abbreviated EaW) is a real-time strategy (RTS) game that takes place in the Star Wars universe. Promising to end the perceived mediocrity of past Star Wars RTS games (like Star Wars: Force Commander and Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds), Empire at War started from the ground up.
This article is about the video game. You may be looking for the booster pack for the Star Wars: Destiny card and dice game by Fantasy Flight Games.
Star Wars: Empire at WarPublication informationDeveloper(s)Publisher(s)Game engineRelease dateGenreModesRating(s)Platform(s)Chronological informationEraTimeline
The game was developed by Petroglyph, comprising many former members of Westwood Studios (known for the Command & Conquer series). This company has developed a completely new engine specifically for EaW known as Alamo. It uses several higher-end shader effects such as soft shadows, specular lighting, and particle effects for dust clouds and explosions.
The game spawned an impressive mod community, and was followed up by an expansion pack, Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption, taking place between the aftermath of the Battle of Yavin and the Battle of Endor.
Opening CrawlsEditRebel Alliance CampaignEdit
Galactic Empire CampaignEdit
GameplayEdit
The game features a brand new style of play to make things a bit more realistic. Instead of building workers, gathering resources, and recruiting individual units, players are granted resources based on how many planets the player controls. Controlling worlds increases a player's cash flow and provides unique bonuses depending on the planet (e.g., Armor increases, discounted prices, special unit production).
Battles are carried out both on a planet's surface and in orbit. Whoever controls the planet's surface, controls the planet itself. There are different factors to keep in mind depending on your status as an attacker or defender. Attackers must secure Reinforcement Points to increase the number of units they deploy, while Defenders may deploy up to 10 'units' on a planet immediately. Attackers have their advantages, though. They may call in bombing runs if they have Bombers in orbit. Likewise, ground-based installations (like the Ion cannon and Hypervelocity gun) can fire upon units in orbit during space tactical battles. Unlike in Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, shields will form an actual physical barrier that must be penetrated and protect bases from artillery and bombing runs. Assorted building pads litter the playing field in both space and land battles. These pads allow the player to build useful structures (e.g., turrets which can easily destroy enemy units, bacta healing stations)
Empire at War takes place between Episode III and Episode IV, concluding with the construction and possible destruction of the Death Star. Empire at War features three factions, although only two are playable. These factions are the Rebel Alliance, the Galactic Empire, and the Black Sun (playable with XML modding; see below). Units in this game are a mix of Clone Wars–era and New Order–era. The Empire's advantages include powerful ships and swarms of TIE Fighters, while the Rebels, on the other hand, must rely on swifter ships and Raid Fleets (small ground troop fleets that can bypass space defenses). Like many RTS games, Empire at War features a 'Rock-Paper-Scissors' unit usage style—for every unit there is a counter-unit. Brett Tosti, the LucasArts producer, has stated that this encourages players to create diverse armies and fleets with units that counter other units, as opposed to building a bunch of 'super units.'
Players are also able to call on reinforcements during battle, including heroes like Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Players can also construct planet-borne ion cannons, factories, and space stations. Over forty locales are featured including Yavin 4, Tatooine, Dagobah, and others from the movies and Expanded Universe.
The destruction of Alderaan cannot be prevented regardless of the player's actions.
AppearancesEditBy type
Characters
Creatures
Events
Locations
Organizations and titles
Sentient species
Vehicles and vessels
Weapons and technology
Miscellanea
Star Wars Empire At War Download
Hidden ItemsEdit
The following are units and planets that were removed for the final version and are hidden or mentioned in the internal game files. Some have been unlocked via XML and MEG editing. A few of these planets (such as Kamino) & units (such as Luke Skywalker) were included in the expansion pack.
PlanetsEditHeroesEdit
Land UnitsEdit
Space UnitsEdit
MissionsEditRebelEdit
ImperialEdit
EndingsEdit
There are two different endings to Empire at War's campaign mode depending on the side the player chooses to fight for. The end of the Rebel campaign closely follows the canonical ending of Episode IV. A cutscene shows Luke Skywalker's X-Wing destroying the Death Star and the award ceremony that follows afterwards. However, this ending should not necessarily be treated as canonical, as the final battle with the Death Star can take place over any planet in the game. Moreover, it is still possible for the Rebellion to 'win,' even if the Empire destroys other planets besides Alderaan, including Yavin 4.
The end of the Imperial campaign is non-canonical, as it is intended to be more of an 'alternate history' in the vein of the Infinities universe. The ending cutscene depicts Darth Vader leading a ground assault on what is presumed to be the main Rebel base, the Rebel defenders are quickly crushed as Vader orders his troops to move in. If the player uses the Death Star in the final battle, the game plays a different cutscene where Moff Tarkin successfully fires the superlaser against the last Rebel world. Afterwards, a shuttle is seen flying to the Death Star, flanked by two TIE Fighters. In a scene reminiscent of the Emperor's arrival in Episode VI, an assembly of Imperial troops is shown waiting in one of the battlestation's hangars for the shuttle to land. As the shuttle deposits its contingent of Royal Guards, the Emperor disembarks, greeted by a kneeling Lord Vader. Palpatine congratulates Vader, claiming that the last Jedi and the Rebellion are defeated, and that it is all as he had foreseen.
Star Wars Empire At War Thrawn's Revenge Console Commands
Two other non-canon endings can be seen in Galactic Conquest mode. If the Rebels defeat the Empire without destroying the Death Star, or the player loses the game as the Empire, the ending cutscene depicts a pitched space battle over an ecumenopolis, presumably Coruscant. A Rebel fleet closes in on an Imperial Star Destroyer with Darth Vader aboard. As the Imperial defense crumbles, Vader chokes the Star Destroyer's captain for his apparent incompetence and escapes in his TIE Advanced x1 moments before the ship is destroyed. From there, the same award ceremony cutscene follows that was in the campaign ending. Also, if the Empire destroys the last Rebel planet/one with Mon Mothma on it, the battle will be replaced by the Death Star destroying a planet, followed by the Death Star cutscene.
ModdingEdit
As revealed in early press releases and interviews, EaW is marginally open source—with much of the game being controlled through text files (*.txt), XML files (*.xml), DAT files (*.dat), and Lua (*.lua). Anyone with the knowledge and software needed to alter these files can do so.
The text files are easily edited in most text-editing programs and control the unique ship names that appear on many of the capital ships as well as a fair amount of the stories used throughout the Galactic Conquest mode. The XML files control much of the data responsible for the appearance and behavior of units and buildings. These files are often, by default, launched in a web browser which allows for viewing only. WYSIWYG web editors (e.g., Microsoft Expression Web or Adobe Dreamweaver), text editors such as Notepad, or proprietary XML editors can edit XML (though the latter two are most common due to their relative ease of use).
DAT files require software capable of reading the information embedded within. In Empire at War, DAT files store almost all of the text found within the game. Lastly, the Lua files are used primarily for high-level scripting and AI. The decompiled files come with the Map Editor, and can replace the scripts in the EAW directory without having to compile them.
It is now possible to create new ground and space maps with the map editor released by Petroglyph. Included in the map-editor download is a plug-in for 3ds Max 6 that can export models into .alo format used by the Alamo engine. However, 3ds Max 8 users who patch their software to the Service Pack 3 version are able to use the separately released 3ds Max 8 exporter in conjunction with the shaders provided with the map editor. Modified shaders created by EaW modder Mike.nl fixes an issue where the models in the viewports using Rskn shaders are invisible. 3ds Max 8 SP 3 is also necessary in order to use the exporter included with the Forces of Corruption map editor.
Star Wars Empire At War Console Commands
The community has been pressing forward in terms of modding, going so far as to implement diplomacy, create new particles, and even have detachments of transports assigned to a specific fleet in Galactic Conquest mode. There exist some fan-made programs to assist with the editing of what can be edited, such as an .alo file viewer and importer.
DemoEdit
Before the full game, a demo version was released. It consists of one Galactic Conquest mode not featured in the full version. In this mode only three planets and a few units are available. The story is set some time after the establishment of Echo Base on Hoth as the Rebel Alliance learns about an Imperial base in the Vergesso asteroid belt. Fearing that it may detect their presence, the Rebels send Han Solo to deal with it. After the base is destroyed, Han is sent on a mission to liberate Tatooine. There he finds out that the Imperial forces are commanded by Boba Fett. The demo ends after the player captured the planet. This may contradict other sources as Tatooine appears under Imperial control until after the Battle of Endor, though it is possible that the planet was contested or recaptured at a later date.
Expansion packEdit
Main article: Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
An expansion pack was announced at E3 May 9, 2006. It adds 40 new units, 13 planets, a new faction and new warfare and features. It was released October 24 in the U.S. and October 27 in Europe.
ContinuityEdit
The game has several inconsistencies with established canon. Some of those in the following list may be an issue of game balance or mechanics.
ReceptionEdit
Empire at War was well received by fans, and many considered it the best of the Star Wars RTS games. Gamespot called the game 'the RTS fans had been waiting for.' Others were disappointed that a sequel to Rebellion had not been made. Some critics, at the worst, claimed the game to be shallow and repetitive, while others considered it fun but basic.
The game holds an overall rating of 79.88% on aggregate ranking site Gamerankings[1] and a 79 on Metacritic.[2] Individual websites such as Gamespot[3] praised the game's 'epic-looking battles,' 'spot-on sound effects,' and contrasting gameplay styles between the two factions, the Rebellion and the Empire. However, the game was not without fault, as Gamespot found the battles somewhat repetitive and the land battles lacking compared to other facets of gameplay. Another popular gaming website, IGN,[4] reviewed the game, giving it a 7.6/10. They said that it provided 'an authentic Star Wars experience,' relating the experience to playing with Star Wars action figures as a child. IGN also complained of the game's repetitiveness and relative lack of variety, although recognized that the game's creators were somewhat hampered by the setting.
CreditsEditBy type
Cast
Crew
BibliographyEdit
Notes and referencesEdit
See alsoEditExternal linksEdit
(Redirected from Star Wars Empire at War Forces of Corruption)
Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption is an expansion pack for the computer gameStar Wars: Empire at War released in October 2006. It adds the 'Zann Consortium' as a third faction in addition to a number of new features.
Gameplay[edit]
For further information see Star Wars: Empire at War Gameplay
A screenshot of the Galactic map during gameplay (playing as the Zann Consortium)
Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption adds the organized crime syndicate the Zann Consortium as a third faction. Pirates had previously been present in the game, but as a type of moderately-armed 'speed bump' to progression in the war between Empire and Rebellion. The Zann Consortium is a new faction, neither good or evil, but willing to go to any lengths for a profit.
The Consortium has a full-fledged campaign that is set in the background of the film trilogy. Its specialty is 'corruption': it can conquer planets traditionally, but also gain bonuses from enemy-controlled worlds by having its infiltrators conduct any of several kinds of missions such as bribery, sabotage or piracy. Several mission types cause a small battle. It also has a mish-mash set of original units: A ring of raiders, renegades and ruffians eventually expands to eclectic exotic equipment as the Consortium appropriates everything it can lay its hands on. Crowd-pleasers include Rancor riders, surviving Droidekas and, if a 'slavery' mission is performed on the forest moon of Endor, suicide bomberEwoks.
The Rebel Alliance and the Empire receive new units and changes to existing ones. Corruption also introduces the ability to position structures and units on a planet's surface, pre-select starting units during space or ground battles, mobile build pads and transport ships for ground battles, the ability to repair space station hardpoints, and orbital bombardment from capital ships.[1]
The Galactic conquest mode includes new planets, with the added feature of non-conquest goals.[1] The skirmish mode includes maps for the new planets alongside the previous maps, with the optional feature of having a third player on the map.[1]Corruption includes 12 new planets: Dathomir, Mandalore, Hypori, Myrkr, Felucia, Honoghr, Kamino, Mustafar, Muunilinst, Saleucami, The Maw, and Utapau.[2]Alderaan is now an asteroid field and Bespin has a new ground landscape. Some planets now have infantry- and light vehicle-only terrain, and damaging terrain. New vehicles are also available, most drawn from the books and comics taking place after or between the original saga. These include three phases of the Empire's Dark Trooper, Lancet Aerial Artillery, the TIE Defender, and the Super Star Destroyer Executor. Many of the new units and planets included in the game are incorporated from the Star Wars expanded universe.
Plot[edit]
The campaign story begins just prior to the Battle of Yavin; as the game progresses, events from the Star Wars films occur, such as the Battle of Endor. The tutorial mission sets up the main campaign plot, showing Tyber Zann’s imprisonment for stealing a Sithartifact from Jabba the Hutt. The actual campaign story begins with Tyber Zann, the leader of the Zann Consortium, being rescued from imprisonment on Kessel with help from Urai Fen, his loyal friend and lieutenant of the mercenary army he built over the years; Fen himself arrived on Kessel with the help of Han Solo and Chewbacca. The four of them then escape aboard the Millennium Falcon.
While re-establishing his headquarters, Tyber goes to Yavin IV after the Death Star destruction, where he learns of the Emperor’s hidden treasury vaults and designs for a new Super Star Destroyer. After renewed conflict with Jabba the Hutt, Tyber sends Urai to capture Jabba's communications outpost on Saleucami and then goes to the factory world of Hypori, where he takes control of Jabba’s Droidekafactory, bribes the bounty hunter Bossk, and negotiates a truce with Jabba (both sides cease attacks, plus Jabba withdraws his bounty on Tyber and surrenders the planets Saleucami and Hypori). To unlock the secrets of the artifact, Tyber and Urai Fen go to Dathomir to find a dark-side Force user. They eventually free the witch Silri along with the other Nightsisters (both of whom are adept at the dark side of the Force). After killing the imperial governor, Tyber, Urai and Silri escape the planet and return to the Consortium's stronghold on Ryloth. Prince Xizor, the head of Black Sun crime syndicate, agrees to arrange a meeting between Tyber and an Imperial contact to sell the artifact. In return, Tyber is to steal some valuable Tibanna gas from the planet Bespin; with help from the bounty hunter IG-88, Tyber implicates the Black Sun, and watches Darth Vader finish them off.
Later, Grand Admiral Thrawn and Tyber (in his new flagship, the Merciless) clash in space above Imperial planet Carida. During the battle, Bossk steals the artifact and heads towards Thrawn's ship, the Star Destroyer Admonitor. Thrawn retreats shortly after, however Tyber planted a tracking device on the artifact earlier, allowing him to track it to Coruscant where he, Urai, and Silri raid the Emperor's personal data center, retrieving the Sith artifact and obtaining passcodes for the Emperor's flagship, the under-construction Eclipse-class Super Star Destroyer.
After the destruction of the Death Star II, Tyber and his forces assault the Eclipse over Kuat; he is joined by the Rebel Alliance fleet who want to destroy the Eclipse, but he boards it and uses it to repel both Imperial and Rebel forces. Despite a malfunction with the Eclipse’s super-laser and the arrival of the Imperial Super Star Destroyer Annihilator, Consortium forces repel all opposition and eventually defeat both enemy fleets; he then uses the Eclipse’s computer to track the Emperor’s vaults, before abandoning the ship. Meanwhile, Silri uses the Sith artifact to locate an ancient Sith army frozen in carbonite; the story ends with Silri piloting a Consortium shuttle to an unknown world, and uncovering the Sith army. The army itself seems to be from Revan’s infinite army in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, making it over 4,000 years old.
Development and marketing[edit]
Best king of the hill episodes. Forces of Corruption uses Alamo, the same game engine as the original Star Wars: Empire at War. Higher resolution textures for better graphics are included in the expansion, and larger maps (30% - 40% bigger) have been included.[3]
Following the announcement of the game, Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption was shown at LucasArts' booth during E3 2006. A single player demo was made available, which featured a single tutorial-mission; the player had to corrupt the planet of Mandalore, establish a black market on Nal Hutta, and take over the planet of Kamino.[4] The game was later released on October 24, 2006 in the United States. Following the release of Forces of Corruption, LucasArts and Petroglyph released the first patch for the game, which included many minor fixes.[5]
Reception[edit]
Forces of Corruption was met with positive reception, as GameRankings gave it a score of 77%,[6] while Metacritic gave it 75 out of 100.[7]
The Australian video game talk show Good Game's two reviewers gave the game a 6/10 and 7/10.[18]
References[edit]
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Star_Wars:_Empire_at_War:_Forces_of_Corruption&oldid=903857686'
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