Star Wars: Empire at War
Encyclopedia
Star Wars: Empire at War is a 2006 real-time strategy
(RTS) game developed by Petroglyph Games and published by LucasArts
. Set between Episode III
and Episode IV
, it focuses on the fledgling struggle between the Empire
and the Rebels. It uses Petroglyph's game engine Alamo. The most recent patch was released on July 20, 2006. In October 2006, an expansion entitled Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
was released.
There are three game modes: storyline-based Campaign, Galactic Conquest and Skirmish. Battles can take place on a planet (land battle) or above the planet (space battle). Land battles are fought with infantry and ground vehicle units, while space battles are fought with starfighter squadrons and large spacecraft.
Galactic Conquest is the sandbox campaign, in which the player controls the Rebel Alliance as it struggles to achieve freedom or command the Empire and strive to achieve galactic domination. A weaker, neutral faction of Pirates exists, but makes no attempt to battle the Rebels or Empire unless attacked. Each faction has at least one of three broad objectives for Galactic Conquest, which vary depending on which scenario is being played: kill the enemy leader (Mon Mothma or Emperor Palpatine
), protect or destroy the Death Star
, or completely remove the other faction from the campaign map. Grand strategy, production, and resource management is facilitated through a two-dimensional galactic map. The player receives funds from planets they control and from mining facilities. Money is used to research technology, build defenses and vehicles, and train troops. Each planet confers different advantages to its owner, even though some bonuses are specific to each faction (for example, controlling Kuat reduces the price of Imperial Star Destroyers by 25 percent).
When enemy forces meet (either fleets in space or ground forces landing an enemy planet) a battle ensues. The player(s) can use only the equipment they brought to the battle (be it an X-wing
squadron or an AT-AT). Factions must battle across both space and land maps. The defender may also use any buildings (land) or his space station (space) if he has constructed them. In each battle, each side may only have a certain number of units on the field at a time; the rest are retained as Reinforcements, which can be called in any time to designated areas when allowed. In land battles, a player can field more units at a time if he captures Reinforcement Points.
The storyline campaign follows a semi-open linear path, where the given side must complete sequential mission objectives (such as stealing X-wing prototypes). Campaign missions build up to the plot of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
and eventually, the Battle of Yavin. The campaign is very similar to Galactic Conquest, although the Galactic Map is gradually opened for play as the player completes scripted events and completes missions.
Skirmish mode is the familiar, classic RTS mode. Skirmishes come in two types: land and space. In land skirmishes, all players start with bases and must research upgrades and capture resource nodes while fighting to destroy the enemy's base or command center. In space skirmish mode, all players have a space station that can be upgraded. The player buys land or space units to attack the enemy with until the enemy base/space station is destroyed or the enemy forces are destroyed. The player can advance in technology levels to access more powerful ships as the player gains more money. The player can build more buildings and defenses, and the space station can also be upgraded to better defend itself without requiring the player to leave ships behind to defend it. Skirmish battles require the least time investment, so it is better suited toward casual players. It also has some "free-play" to it. Maps can support two, three, or four players, and the difficulty is scalable as easy, medium or hard.
All modes are played in real time. Days on the galactic map pass continually. When a battle occurs, galactic time is paused while the battle wages. After the battle, the galactic day timer resumes. When playing against the computer, the player can accelerate time or pause time on both the galactic and skirmish maps.
All modes also make use of important Star Wars characters, such as Darth Vader
, as Heroes. Each Hero is a single, moderately powerful unit with special abilities. For example, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Emperor Palpatine, and Darth Vader can use The Force
. Some characters can be used in both land and space battles,(e.g. Darth Vader becomes a special tie fighter unit in space.) while others can be used only on land or only in space (a land-only Hero will remain on board a landing craft during space battles and have no use of their special abilities).
and the construction of the Death Star
. It occurs during the events leading up to "A New Hope".
In the Rebel campaign, the fledgling Rebel Alliance begin with an attack on the shipyards at Kuat introducing the player to basic space combat before infiltrating the planet of Wayland on a basic ground combat mission. The campaign explores how the X-Wing
is pressed into the service of the Rebel Alliance, the liberation of Kashyyyk
, the first whisperings of a brand new Imperial superweapon and ultimately the Battle of Yavin.
The Imperial campaign features Darth Vader
and his search for the fledgling Rebel Alliance, interspersed with missions to help complete construction of the Death Star. It then transpires that the plans for the Death Star have been stolen so the player has to seek out the traitor
who has passed the plans to the Rebels, intercept Princess Leia and then use the Death Star to crush the Alliance once and for all.
video game set in the Star Wars
universe, stating "...there's a bright future there for games based on these new properties as well as original Star Wars games like a new real-time strategy PC game that Petroglyph is developing for next year". Ward described the game as taking the real-time strategy genre in a new direction and outlined plans to balance the gameplay between hardcore games and audiences familiar with the Star Wars franchise. The game was unveiled by LucasArts
on January 21, 2005 with an original release date set for the end of 2005. LucasArts said that the newly formed Petroglyph Games would be developing an original 3-D game engine, entitled Alamo for Star Wars: Empire at War and that the game would support online battles for up to eight players.
Lead designer Joe Bostic outlined the gameplay for Star Wars: Empire at War, stating the developer's priorities were for players to have easy control of ships during space combat because of difficulties with the structure of the space aspect of the game. He said that the scaling of the various units in the game was another difficulty that the developers had to overcome to balance the gameplay. In 2006, Chris Rubyor, a former employee of Westwood Studios
, discussed the galactic conquest mode of the game, stating that the initial mode had to be overhauled several times because Petroglyph was unhappy with the original mode. Rubyor said the game's skirmish mode incorporated a variety of new and traditional strategy mechanics found throughout RTS genre. He also said the game's focus was primarily combat and unit tactics, while allowing units and new technologies to be purchased during skirmish combat, a feature that was not put in the main single-player campaign or galactic conquest. The game's musical score was composed by Frank Klepacki
. Klepacki said surround sound was an important aspect for the game because he said he believed many past RTS games did not take advantage of the features of surround sound. The game's audio took elements from the Star Wars films, as well as adding new elements to add variety to the game. Much of the sound effects were created by Klepacki, including all sounds in the interface and structure.
A stage demo and trailer were on display at E3 2005. On July 15, 2005 LucasArts released a new trailer and announced a release date of February 7, 2006. A playable build of Star Wars: Empire at War was well received at the 2005 Games Convention
in Leipzig
, Germany
.
The official demo of Star Wars: Empire at War was available for download on January 18, 2006, for Microsoft Windows
systems. It featured five introduction tutorials to the game, and one galactic conquest mission with the player assuming the role of the Rebel Alliance. The full Windows version was released on February 16. On November 3, 2006, Aspyr Media Inc. announced Empire at War would be coming to the Mac OS X
platform in April 2007. The Mac demo was released in March 2007.
gave Empire at War an 8.7 out of 10, saying "Empire at War delivers a true Star Wars experience". IGN
gave the game a 7.6 out of 10, saying "Star Wars: Empire at War definitely scores big in terms of style.... If you're hoping to enjoy this game because you really like Star Wars, you'll probably be satisfied for quite a while, but if your interest in the Star Wars property takes a back seat to your desire for a solid strategy experience, the few innovations aren't going to be enough to overcome the repetitive nature of the fights."
Patches were released by Petroglyph to fix the multiplayer connection protocols. However, some players have discovered that the latest patch (1.05) contains a bug that causes the game to "lock up" when the Death Star destroys a planet Han Solo and Chewbacca are on. This has been seen to occur in both galactic conquest mode and space battles. The original patch for the game actually "fixed" a special ability as shown in the game's manual—after installing the patch, General Veers' AT-AT becomes vulnerable to attack from the tow cable of snowspeeder
s.
Real-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
(RTS) game developed by Petroglyph Games and published by LucasArts
LucasArts
LucasArts Entertainment Company, LLC is an American video game developer and publisher. The company was once famous for its innovative line of graphic adventure games, the critical and commercial success of which peaked in the mid 1990s...
. Set between Episode III
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is a 2005 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the sixth and final film released in the Star Wars saga and the third in terms of the series' internal chronology....
and Episode IV
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
, it focuses on the fledgling struggle between the Empire
Galactic Empire (Star Wars)
The Galactic Empire is one of the main factions in the fictional universe of Star Wars. It is a galaxy-spanning regime established by the series' lead villain, Palpatine, to replace the Galactic Republic in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The Galactic Empire is introduced in Star Wars...
and the Rebels. It uses Petroglyph's game engine Alamo. The most recent patch was released on July 20, 2006. In October 2006, an expansion entitled Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption is a 2006 expansion pack for the computer game Star Wars: Empire at War. It adds the "Zann Consortium" as a third faction and holds an average rating of 77% at Gamerankings.-Gameplay:...
was released.
Gameplay
Galactic Conquest is the sandbox campaign, in which the player controls the Rebel Alliance as it struggles to achieve freedom or command the Empire and strive to achieve galactic domination. A weaker, neutral faction of Pirates exists, but makes no attempt to battle the Rebels or Empire unless attacked. Each faction has at least one of three broad objectives for Galactic Conquest, which vary depending on which scenario is being played: kill the enemy leader (Mon Mothma or Emperor Palpatine
Palpatine
Palpatine is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the Star Wars saga, portrayed by Ian McDiarmid in the feature films.Palpatine first appeared as the unnamed Emperor of the Galactic Empire in the 1980 film Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back...
), protect or destroy the Death Star
Death Star
The Death Star is a fictional moon-sized space station and superweapon appearing in the Star Wars movies and expanded universe. It is capable of destroying a planet with a single destructive super charged energy beam.-Origin and design:...
, or completely remove the other faction from the campaign map. Grand strategy, production, and resource management is facilitated through a two-dimensional galactic map. The player receives funds from planets they control and from mining facilities. Money is used to research technology, build defenses and vehicles, and train troops. Each planet confers different advantages to its owner, even though some bonuses are specific to each faction (for example, controlling Kuat reduces the price of Imperial Star Destroyers by 25 percent).
When enemy forces meet (either fleets in space or ground forces landing an enemy planet) a battle ensues. The player(s) can use only the equipment they brought to the battle (be it an X-wing
X-wing
X-wings are fictional starfighters from the original Star Wars trilogy and the expanded universe. They are depicted as the primary interceptor and dogfighter of the Rebel Alliance and the New Republic...
squadron or an AT-AT). Factions must battle across both space and land maps. The defender may also use any buildings (land) or his space station (space) if he has constructed them. In each battle, each side may only have a certain number of units on the field at a time; the rest are retained as Reinforcements, which can be called in any time to designated areas when allowed. In land battles, a player can field more units at a time if he captures Reinforcement Points.
The storyline campaign follows a semi-open linear path, where the given side must complete sequential mission objectives (such as stealing X-wing prototypes). Campaign missions build up to the plot of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
and eventually, the Battle of Yavin. The campaign is very similar to Galactic Conquest, although the Galactic Map is gradually opened for play as the player completes scripted events and completes missions.
Skirmish mode is the familiar, classic RTS mode. Skirmishes come in two types: land and space. In land skirmishes, all players start with bases and must research upgrades and capture resource nodes while fighting to destroy the enemy's base or command center. In space skirmish mode, all players have a space station that can be upgraded. The player buys land or space units to attack the enemy with until the enemy base/space station is destroyed or the enemy forces are destroyed. The player can advance in technology levels to access more powerful ships as the player gains more money. The player can build more buildings and defenses, and the space station can also be upgraded to better defend itself without requiring the player to leave ships behind to defend it. Skirmish battles require the least time investment, so it is better suited toward casual players. It also has some "free-play" to it. Maps can support two, three, or four players, and the difficulty is scalable as easy, medium or hard.
All modes are played in real time. Days on the galactic map pass continually. When a battle occurs, galactic time is paused while the battle wages. After the battle, the galactic day timer resumes. When playing against the computer, the player can accelerate time or pause time on both the galactic and skirmish maps.
All modes also make use of important Star Wars characters, such as Darth Vader
Darth Vader
Darth Vader is a central character in the Star Wars saga, appearing as one of the main antagonists in the original trilogy and as the main protagonist in the prequel trilogy....
, as Heroes. Each Hero is a single, moderately powerful unit with special abilities. For example, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Emperor Palpatine, and Darth Vader can use The Force
Force (Star Wars)
The Force is a binding, metaphysical and ubiquitous power in the fictional universe of the Star Wars galaxy created by George Lucas. Mentioned in the first film in the series, it is integral to all subsequent incarnations of Star Wars, including the expanded universe of comic books, novels, and...
. Some characters can be used in both land and space battles,(e.g. Darth Vader becomes a special tie fighter unit in space.) while others can be used only on land or only in space (a land-only Hero will remain on board a landing craft during space battles and have no use of their special abilities).
Plot
The game's plot is that of the Galactic Civil WarGalactic Civil War
The Galactic Civil War is a fictional war from the Star Wars galaxy. It serves as the setting for the original trilogy of films A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, as well as many novels, comics, and video games in the Expanded Universe.The war was fought between the...
and the construction of the Death Star
Death Star
The Death Star is a fictional moon-sized space station and superweapon appearing in the Star Wars movies and expanded universe. It is capable of destroying a planet with a single destructive super charged energy beam.-Origin and design:...
. It occurs during the events leading up to "A New Hope".
In the Rebel campaign, the fledgling Rebel Alliance begin with an attack on the shipyards at Kuat introducing the player to basic space combat before infiltrating the planet of Wayland on a basic ground combat mission. The campaign explores how the X-Wing
X-wing
X-wings are fictional starfighters from the original Star Wars trilogy and the expanded universe. They are depicted as the primary interceptor and dogfighter of the Rebel Alliance and the New Republic...
is pressed into the service of the Rebel Alliance, the liberation of Kashyyyk
Kashyyyk
Kashyyyk , also known as Wookiee Planet C, is a planet in the Star Wars universe. It is the tropical, forested home world of the Wookiees...
, the first whisperings of a brand new Imperial superweapon and ultimately the Battle of Yavin.
The Imperial campaign features Darth Vader
Darth Vader
Darth Vader is a central character in the Star Wars saga, appearing as one of the main antagonists in the original trilogy and as the main protagonist in the prequel trilogy....
and his search for the fledgling Rebel Alliance, interspersed with missions to help complete construction of the Death Star. It then transpires that the plans for the Death Star have been stolen so the player has to seek out the traitor
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
who has passed the plans to the Rebels, intercept Princess Leia and then use the Death Star to crush the Alliance once and for all.
Development
Star Wars: Empire at War was first mentioned in 2004, by then-president of LucasArts Jim Ward. He discussed the possibility of a RTSReal-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
video game set in the Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
universe, stating "...there's a bright future there for games based on these new properties as well as original Star Wars games like a new real-time strategy PC game that Petroglyph is developing for next year". Ward described the game as taking the real-time strategy genre in a new direction and outlined plans to balance the gameplay between hardcore games and audiences familiar with the Star Wars franchise. The game was unveiled by LucasArts
LucasArts
LucasArts Entertainment Company, LLC is an American video game developer and publisher. The company was once famous for its innovative line of graphic adventure games, the critical and commercial success of which peaked in the mid 1990s...
on January 21, 2005 with an original release date set for the end of 2005. LucasArts said that the newly formed Petroglyph Games would be developing an original 3-D game engine, entitled Alamo for Star Wars: Empire at War and that the game would support online battles for up to eight players.
Lead designer Joe Bostic outlined the gameplay for Star Wars: Empire at War, stating the developer's priorities were for players to have easy control of ships during space combat because of difficulties with the structure of the space aspect of the game. He said that the scaling of the various units in the game was another difficulty that the developers had to overcome to balance the gameplay. In 2006, Chris Rubyor, a former employee of Westwood Studios
Westwood Studios
Westwood Studios was a computer and video game developer, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was founded by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle in as Westwood Associates, and renamed to Westwood Studios when it merged with Virgin Interactive in...
, discussed the galactic conquest mode of the game, stating that the initial mode had to be overhauled several times because Petroglyph was unhappy with the original mode. Rubyor said the game's skirmish mode incorporated a variety of new and traditional strategy mechanics found throughout RTS genre. He also said the game's focus was primarily combat and unit tactics, while allowing units and new technologies to be purchased during skirmish combat, a feature that was not put in the main single-player campaign or galactic conquest. The game's musical score was composed by Frank Klepacki
Frank Klepacki
Frank Klepacki is an American musician, video game music composer and sound director best known for his work on the Command & Conquer series. Having learned to play drums as a child, he joined Westwood Studios as a composer when he was only 17 years old...
. Klepacki said surround sound was an important aspect for the game because he said he believed many past RTS games did not take advantage of the features of surround sound. The game's audio took elements from the Star Wars films, as well as adding new elements to add variety to the game. Much of the sound effects were created by Klepacki, including all sounds in the interface and structure.
A stage demo and trailer were on display at E3 2005. On July 15, 2005 LucasArts released a new trailer and announced a release date of February 7, 2006. A playable build of Star Wars: Empire at War was well received at the 2005 Games Convention
Games Convention
The Games Convention, sometimes called the Leipzig Games Convention and abbreviated as GC, was an annual video game event held in Leipzig, Germany, first held in 2002. Besides video games, the event also covers Infotainment, Hardware, and Edutainment...
in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
The official demo of Star Wars: Empire at War was available for download on January 18, 2006, for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
systems. It featured five introduction tutorials to the game, and one galactic conquest mission with the player assuming the role of the Rebel Alliance. The full Windows version was released on February 16. On November 3, 2006, Aspyr Media Inc. announced Empire at War would be coming to the Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
platform in April 2007. The Mac demo was released in March 2007.
Reception
Star Wars: Empire at War was generally positively received, with a GameRankings average of 79 percent. GameSpotGameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
gave Empire at War an 8.7 out of 10, saying "Empire at War delivers a true Star Wars experience". IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave the game a 7.6 out of 10, saying "Star Wars: Empire at War definitely scores big in terms of style.... If you're hoping to enjoy this game because you really like Star Wars, you'll probably be satisfied for quite a while, but if your interest in the Star Wars property takes a back seat to your desire for a solid strategy experience, the few innovations aren't going to be enough to overcome the repetitive nature of the fights."
Patches were released by Petroglyph to fix the multiplayer connection protocols. However, some players have discovered that the latest patch (1.05) contains a bug that causes the game to "lock up" when the Death Star destroys a planet Han Solo and Chewbacca are on. This has been seen to occur in both galactic conquest mode and space battles. The original patch for the game actually "fixed" a special ability as shown in the game's manual—after installing the patch, General Veers' AT-AT becomes vulnerable to attack from the tow cable of snowspeeder
Snowspeeder
A snowspeeder is a Rebel Alliance vehicle featured in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and several books, comics, and video games in the Star Wars Expanded Universe...
s.