Star Wars Empire at War RTS?

Started by Grim.Reaper, May 02, 2014, 05:03:48 AM

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Grim.Reaper

With all the star wars stuff on sale over at steam, this game has always peaked my interest.....I do struggle with fast paced RTS games....any opinions on it, especially since only $6 for the gold pack?  Fun to play?  Easy to learn?  Decent replayability?  Has the Star Wars feel?

Nefaro

The RTS part is very RTS.  I didn't like that part much, but the campaign layer was kinda fun.  It's real-time too but maybe not as C&C-ish.

Anguille

I'd go for it....it's fun for a while with a decent story. Not the game i am still expecting (4x) but ok.

Jarhead0331

I enjoyed it overall. The space battles boil down to a click-fest, but they looked pretty good even though it's on a 2D plain and it was still always great to be commanding star destroyers. The ground battles could be cool, but I found them to get tedious after awhile so I would usually auto resolve them. I enjoyed just recruiting troops, building ships and sending them off to new systems to conquer.

It's definitely worth a purchase at the discounted price.
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Gusington

I liked it too...if you're a Star Wars fan it's a no brainer. Loved the campaign map too.


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Jarhead0331

There are also some pretty Impressive mods out for it too.
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Gusington

Oh yeah? That I did not know...played this unmodded.


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

bbmike

Hmm, the Star Wars Collection has 18 games including this one and is only $33.
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Shelldrake

Quote from: Gusington on May 02, 2014, 07:38:22 AM
Oh yeah? That I did not know...played this unmodded.

Thrawn's Revenge is one of the best mods.

http://www.desura.com/mods/thrawns-revenge
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mirth

There's a lot of game in that bundle for $33. The only real dud is probably Republic Heroes. I haven't played it, but I recall it being universally panned.
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mirth

Quote from: Shelldrake on May 02, 2014, 08:16:17 AM
Quote from: Gusington on May 02, 2014, 07:38:22 AM
Oh yeah? That I did not know...played this unmodded.

Thrawn's Revenge is one of the best mods.

http://www.desura.com/mods/thrawns-revenge


Aargh! Cool SW game, lots of mods, cheap price...must resist!!!
"45 minutes of pooping Tribbles being juggled by a drunken Horta would be better than Season 1 of TNG." - SirAndrewD

"you don't look at the mantelpiece when you're poking the fire" - Bawb

"Can't 'un' until you 'pre', son." - Gus

JasonPratt

I never did get far enough in it to play a 'real' space battle (tutorial ones don't quite count), but the ground battles are VERY VERY RTSISH. Except without the base-building exactly. (Bases are handled more like the modular method of the first Battle for Middle-Earth game.) Maybe there are mods to slow the pace down a bit, but I wouldn't recommend it to someone who has trouble with fast-paced RTS games.

In its defense, despite (or because of?) a lack of many 'sides' or factions, I found the ground game to be painfully well balanced without the Empire and Rebellion simply being carbon-copies of each other. I once played a ground battle against a friend for several hours, neither side gaining or losing much, and not from lack of trying -- it was a constantly frantic several hours. I can't remember if one of us even won that, or we finally quit to play something else. But we never, ever went back to it: the experience left a bad mental taste, despite the high quality of it. It's hard to describe.

I did go back later and try the single-player Empire campaign, but once I got past the initial tutorial missions, the first 'real' ground mission left me in the same struggling for hours on a map that wasn't all that big and getting nowhere. I don't suck at RTSs (well, I might now, though I can still play and beat Dawn of War 1 battles), but either I simply could not for the life of me understand what the hell I ought to be doing to make progress within that game engine, or the game was adjusting on the fly to keep the difficulty finely balanced. I dunno. I've never gone back.

I don't want to rag on it, because SWE truly is a great game -- I think. It was easy yet challenging to play, had tons of production value, clever writing (so far as I followed the campaign, which admittedly wasn't far), UI design was at least as good as BFME maybe better. Every year or so I think about going back and trying again. Then my brain goes NOOOOOOOOOOOOO. ;)
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Damn this place...now I'm in the mood for SW love.


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Grim.Reaper

Thanks everyone and appreciate all the good feedback.  The total pack has me interested but the question I have is how many of these old games will actually work on windows 8.1

Martok

Quote from: Grim.Reaper on May 02, 2014, 05:03:48 AM
With all the star wars stuff on sale over at steam, this game has always peaked my interest.....I do struggle with fast paced RTS games....any opinions on it, especially since only $6 for the gold pack? 
Get it, especially if you're a Star Wars fan.  For $6, that's a no-brainer. 


Quote from: Grim.Reaper on May 02, 2014, 05:03:48 AM
Fun to play? 
Yes. 


Quote from: Grim.Reaper on May 02, 2014, 05:03:48 AM
Easy to learn? 
Yes. 


Quote from: Grim.Reaper on May 02, 2014, 05:03:48 AM
Decent replayability? 
In just the vanilla game, so-so.  With mods, yes. 


Quote from: Grim.Reaper on May 02, 2014, 05:03:48 AM
Has the Star Wars feel?
Hell yes! 

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