Empire Earth

[Zukunftstraume 220]

Anyone remember this classic game all the way back from 2001?

It was seriously what I consider the best RTS of all time (excluding the turn-based ones at least). It's quite a shame it's antecessors failed to live up to the original game. I remember taking mad advantage of the scenario editor tool, and made huge 400x400 maps that loosely resembled the Earth. One time I accidently made too many wolves in the game in Siberia, while I was in the Americas. Later on, when I went to go colonize and explore the Old World, I came across a harsh reality: The remaining players were constantly being raided and destroyed by the wolves (which by then had reproduced tremendously and had an giant pack ramsacking Europe and Asia ).

Some of the best music ever was found within those games:

I think the one thing I loved the most about the game was how it had the potential to start in the prehistoric time period (500,000 years ago), where armies were built up with caveman and stone throwers ... Slowly overtime boats, spearman, bowman, catapults, trebuchets, horseman, rifleman, etc... would all begin to appear over the epochs. Leading all the way past the modern era and into the near future, and technology would go up until the 23rd century. It was really quite a treat, and this is even demonstrated by it's epic intro cinematic:

Even the 7 campaigns within the game (and it's expansion pack) were quite amazing. The highly historically accurate Greek, Roman, English, German, and Pacific based on several scenarios depicting real battles that took place throughout time (or ones based on legend such as the Trojan Horse and King Arthur). Also the two sci-fi futuristic ones: the Russian (based on time travel and robots), and the Asian (based on colonization of Mars from a newly unified East-Asian superpower complete with it's own secret police).

Hopefully Maxis or someone can one day combine a game that is a massive mix of Empire Earth, Civilization, and SimCity... I've been waiting for such a game for a very long time, but still to no avail.

Anyways, opinions on Empire Earth anyone?

[Cefien 361]

Empire Earth is one of top ten best RTS of all time, so i couldn't agree more with you.

I played this game back from 2003. I personally loves history, so when the first time i played this game, i was just amaze.

I said this in someone else's thread, but i'm gonna say this again, i'm a huge fan of RTS games and have many collection of them, and Empire Earth Series is one of them.

I personally love this background soundtrack:

[Superbacon 380]

Ohh I played this game endlessly. I still have the disc and the expansion around somewhere.

[TekindusT 3,809]

I spent lots of afternoons with that game before SC4 caught all my attention. Definately, the music and the FX were amazing! I turned the volume up during naval battles and it seemed the battle was right at my backyard. Furthermore, I played the Spanish version, and these FX were perfectly translated.

[Terring 6,473]

Battles with robots and spacecrafts on Mars. Need I say more? Find me an another similar game, beginning from 500.000 years ago and ending to the distant future, with the most epic music ever!!!

[Fresh Prince of Wmbg 44]

Empire Earth was one of my favorite games as a child. It's hard for be to believe that once, I didn't have a computer strong enough to play it ( last for 6 months, drove my crazy). Alas it's successor didn't live to set the standard the first one did; although EE2 was a fairly descent game EE3 was weak.

[Wiecher 192]

I loved that game, I always built my own maps for me to play on and gave the computer a huge advantage.

[Zukunftstraume 220]

I loved that game, I always built my own maps for me to play on and gave the computer a huge advantage.

Haha I loved making my own maps (max-size 400x400 was the way to go! Early on when making my own maps I gave myself a huge advantage all the time, and every now and then even made sure all I had a huge wall with extremely powerful laser towers separating myself from the rest of the world (despite the game starting in the prehistoric epoch).

After a while I hated doing that so much because of how easy the latter parts of the game would become.

[Terring 6,473]

I also loved making my maps. Mostly planetary maps with sea in the middle and many moons around the planet. This means epic battles in land, sea, air and space

[Wiecher 192]

I didn't get the space expansion pack, and when I eventually copied it from a friend, it wasn't as exiting as I thought it would be and I never played space maps after that.

[Zukunftstraume 220]

I also loved making my maps. Mostly planetary maps with sea in the middle and many moons around the planet. This means epic battles in land, sea, air and space

Correct me if I'm wrong... But I don't recall being able to have all four battles at the same time. Didn't having space immediately make having docks (and thus ships) completely void? I mean, I might've just been too distracted at the time to realize there was a way to have both sea and space ships on the same map. But, it's been far too long and my memory is only human.

I didn't get the space expansion pack, and when I eventually copied it from a friend, it wasn't as exiting as I thought it would be and I never played space maps after that.

Right? The problem was that they treated space like a 2D ocean map. Very sad indeed. But I still enjoyed it nonetheless. I wish the AI would've been more intelligent though. Being able to claim all the asteroids, moons, planets, and other outlands only because the AI rarely sent out any colony ships from their home planet was quite the bummer. I really wanted an intense challenge to result from that :/ Even the hardest difficulty was too easy!

[Terring 6,473]

It's true that space and sea are the same thing in the game and it's true that you can't build sea dock ans space dock at the same time. But with the map editor, you can have them both. Protect the sea docks cause you can't rebuild them.

[Zukunftstraume 220]

It's true that space and sea are the same thing in the game and it's true that you can't build sea dock ans space dock at the same time. But with the map editor, you can have them both. Protect the sea docks cause you can't rebuild them.

Wow, now I feel stupid for not thinking of that when using the map editor. Suddenly, I have a strong urge to go back to that game...

I would probably just make the docks have a HUUUGE amount of HP and have an Ocean layout in the middle of the main planet that has an ocean/space interface.

[Terring 6,473]

The negative reactions about the new Simcity reminds me Empire Earth 3, the most insulting game ever made. Only 3 civilizations, only 5 ages, a very low collection of cartoonistic buildings, a few low collection of cartoonistic units who makes stupid jokes every time, a dumped conquer the world campaign, unacceptable low A.I. and too much bugs and requirements for the ultimate fail ever made!!

 

The futuristic genetic mutants are the only think I liked though...

 

[Zukunftstraume 220]

The negative reactions about the new Simcity reminds me Empire Earth 3, the most insulting game ever made. Only 3 civilizations, only 5 ages, a very low collection of cartoonistic buildings, a few low collection of cartoonistic units who makes stupid jokes every time, a dumped conquer the world campaign, unacceptable low A.I. and too much bugs and requirements for the ultimate fail ever made!!

 

The futuristic genetic mutants are the only think I liked though...

 

 

Hey, but then again... The first EE was highly cartoonish as well. I never even bothered playing or buying the third EE, mainly because it just looked dreadful and received even worse reviews than EE2.

 

Speaking of cartoonish, gotta love those caveman grunts:

 

[nuyokcity 22]

Funny story about the swarm of wolves!  Yeah Empire Earth 1 and 2 are pretty cool, Rise of Nations is a similar game that begins in the Stone Age and ends in the present modern Info Age, no futuristic epochs but still fun.  There's a mod community here.

 

It seems like a lot of developers simplified and/or watered their games down - Empire Earth 3, Red Alert 3, Command and Conquer 4, maybe Simcity 5? etc... Instead of getting more complex, unique or just different features that still have depth, they go the opposite direction and usually end up ruining the series, sometimes for good.

 

I see that a new rts Planetary Annhilation will have the option to actually go out and engage with planets, moon, etc in outer space so this should be better than Empire Earth's outer space options.  There's a topic in this forum about this game.

 

I too think it would be awesome if they also created such a "global rts building sim" that had optional military rts and city building elements - so you could focus on combat like Age of Empires, Command and Conquer, Empire Earth or strategy like Civilization, or city building like Casear 3, Pharaoh, Emperor, Simcity, etc - or you could do all if you'd like. 

 

It might be too complicated as you would be in charge of so much, so making certain things optional, automatic, ai-run, collaborative or somehow modifying the game to include all these elements without simplifying it too much would be a challenge but might turn out to be a lot of fun to play.  Sometimes I get bored with only military, only city building, or only strategy, so a mix would be a welcome change.

[Zukunftstraume 220]

^ Okay, so I checked out the Planetary Annihilation site, and I must say, the concept behind it is awesome. But, that single video does me little justice. Would the game be confined to one planetary system? No interstellar travel? No ancient history on the planet leading up to the space age stuff? And why does the home-world look so cheesy?

 

Well, it's just me... But I definitely prefer games like that to have a darker realistic feel. Like Diablo, Titan Quest, or Starcraft (maybe some elements of WoW too: like Westfall and Duskwood). Brilliant games, and the feeling while playing it was very deep. Those games and the story associated with them are downright scary and really make you feel like you're there, in the game! Instead of feeling like it's just another simple chore.

 

The voice-actor and the music itself they featured in the Planetary Annihilation video was rather middle-school-ish.

 

I have played Rise of Nations, and it was also tremendous fun. The game itself felt like it had too many limitations that took away from the overall game. Like the map size, max population, number of nukes that can be detonated before the game is over, unit damage for crossing borders, and terrain variety. One terrain type per map was rather... disappointing. EE1 and Civilization's options of being able to make huge maps, with  ridiculously different terrains, and even some that looked just like Earth made those games shine more than RoN.

 

But nonetheless RoN was still plenty of fun.

[nuyokcity 22]

Yeah I feel similarly about being more immersed in certain games that are more darker and realistic.  If you like any fantasy rts games I can recommend Populous 3: The Beginning and Rise of Legends as being either darker or more immersive.  The music, graphics, unique settings and gameplay make them stand out from other rts games.  Diablo 2, Age of Mythology, Another World, Warhammer Dawn of War 2, Command and Conquer Generals and Anno 1404 are a few others off the top of my mind that are also immsersive more so than others for me.

 

It seems like Planetary Annhilation has a "blocky" colorful graphic style to it, which is cool but I know not everyone is into that.  Also maybe it's more of a general military war game, but I share your desire to see interstellar travel, some actual in depth history to the locations, etc.  As I mentioned earlier, sometimes I get bored with military rts games because they are too simple, city builder games are more complex but then sometimes it woud be nice to go on a rpg-style adventure within an rts or city builder game - exploring, traveling, observing, creating your own adventure or occupation to a certain degree without playing a strict separate first-person view rpg or mmo - you still have the rts background but can do more besides always build a city or destroy a base.  Thankfully some of the rts games can be modded and some people have made some great creative rgp/rts mods and scenarios, but I think there's still room for more untapped potential.

 

Rise of Nations does have some mods for the game and unfortunately Rise of Nations 2 along with the Rise of Legends expansion was cancelled, though some fans continue to mod and discuss ideas at the Heavengames site.

[Cefien 361]

Wait, Rise of Nations has community? Now i didn't know that. I love this game, and the world domination is my favorite.

[Zukunftstraume 220]

Rise of Nations does have some mods for the game and unfortunately Rise of Nations 2 along with the Rise of Legends expansion was cancelled, though some fans continue to mod and discuss ideas at the Heavengames site.

 

That's quite a shame... Both those games were amazing

[CharlieX 0]

any good game out there that use SimCity as the foundation, meaning no limitation to how big an area you can build on. good graphics and multiplayers would be excellent

[Terring 6,473]

I've got Empire Earth by GOG.com, and oh boy the memories are still strong

[City_Slider 2,716]

11 minutes ago, Terring said:

I've got Empire Earth by GOG.com

Moin,

did you checked it for a while? If not, please do in the Future and let us know, what you are thinking about it.

Thanks, Oliver

*Edit* Explaining "Moin"

Moin Moin goes from 06:00 till 12:00 and means: Good Morning.

Only Moin goes from 12:00 till 06:00 and means: Hello.

BUT not in all our Country, only in the North. If someone from Munich makes a Trip to Hamburg oder Berlin, he wont understand the Pepps there ;-) Crazy, but thats Germany.... Furba

  Edited April 21, 2021 by City_Slider  
Typo

[Terring 6,473]

You mean if I recommend it? Of course, it's one of the games I've had being playing a lot when I was a student at the university of Kavala

[City_Slider 2,716]

So the Game is a bit older? I was thinking its brand new :-D

But looks interesting.

[Terring 6,473]

It's a 2001 game, so it's even older than SimCity 4.

[Terring 6,473]

On 1/2/2013 at 11:15 AM, Terring said:

It's true that space and sea are the same thing in the game and it's true that you can't build sea dock ans space dock at the same time. But with the map editor, you can have them both. Protect the sea docks cause you can't rebuild them.

Yup, it's possible

The problem is that your citizens can't build both naval (dock and naval yard) and space (space dock and space turret) structures, unless you mod the game. But make the water bodies big and deep enough and you'll have a very surrealistic sight, with fishes and submarines look like they're floating into Space

[Terring 6,473]

You know you've been playing too much SimCity when you play SimCity even if you don't play SimCity. Confused? Here is what I mean

In Empire Earth, you need to build at least one settlement next to a resource to harvest it. But why just put a little settlement, when you can build an entire and actual city with everything you need?

During the game it's possible and highly recommended to upgrade your settlements into town centers and from there to capitols by populating those buildings with citizens. Town centers and capitols allows you to train new citizens, deploy scout dogs-balloons-blimps-satellites and heroes, research new technologies and gives you economic bonus for stone, gold and iron. And look, we have friends here. Hello, folks

I guess sharing is more fun, right?

OK, now it's getting serious. My previous cities were on my safe and well defended home planet, but the next ones are in the middle of a conflict, so heavy defenses and fortification is a must. See the central planet in the mini map, which is now full of blue (me) and red (my ally) colonies and forces? It used to have a very strong yellow (our enemy) presence which actually tired to raid my cities and kill my citizens. And yes, those little robots that gather gold are human citizens, fully cyborg this time. We're into the future. What did you expected?

This is my strategy and my favorite way to play Empire Earth. When establishing a city, always build a hospital and enough houses to get all the healing and moral your and your allies' forces need. Notice the green marks at the units' and towers' base? That's the morale bonus provided by building houses close to town centers and capitols. High morality means tougher forces and better protection for your civilization.

Houses, a hospital, and some production buildings, with a fully upgraded capitol and enough defenses, all constructed in a neat array instead of just random.

So here is my strategy and my favorite way to play, a mix of aesthetics and functionality. In other words, playing SimCity in Empire Earth

[Terring 6,473]

What's this? A crossover episode?

[Terring 6,473]

Yesterday I tested dreXmod (available here) that allows you to zoom out even further and gives you some extra tools for multi-playing. This mod is indeed great. It gives you more and better control over your armies and spectacular views of the battlefield.

Burning empires to the ground has never been that epic

It even gives your even more awesome views of your empire. SimCiting at its finest

Like my colony?

But sadly I had to remove this mod because of a strange graphic glitch that turns black color into transparent. At first I was fine because I thought it was only a problem with the buttons, until I found that even units and ambient graphics (like Space itself) suffered with this problem too. I'm sure it's my PC's fault, it's not a gaming powerhouse after all. And besides, having so many things going on in a single frame and monitor lags my game a lot. So no dreXmod for now, but hopefully soon again.

Hmm, I think I've been spending more time playing this game than SimCity, but can you blame me? The last time I played Empire Earth was many years ago in an Internet café