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''Empire Earth'', also known as '''''EE''''', is a Real-time Strategy Computer Game Developed by Stainless Steel Studios and released on November 23 , 2001 . It is the first game in the ''Empire Earth'' Series . It has been described as very similar to the '' Age Of Empires Series '',2 and received positive reviews.3 The game requires players to collect resources to construct buildings, produce Citizen s, and conquer opposing Civilization s.45 The game spans 500,000 years of World History , which is divided into 14 Epochs beginning from the Prehistoric age and ending with the Nano age.6 An expansion pack was developed by '', which was released on September 17 , 2002 . It added new features such as a special Power for each civilisation and a new 15th epoch named the Space Age , which focuses on the colonization of space planets.7 GAMEPLAY ''Empire Earth'' is similar to the Age Of Empires Series in that it is a history-based Real Time Strategy game. ''Empire Earth'' uses 3D graphics instead of sprites like '' Age Of Empires II '', the comparable game at the time. The game itself contains many unique and innovative features, including a well implemented "morale" system, which directly affects individual units statistics. It also incorporates a "hero" system. Heroes can be built at the town centre or capitol. There are two types of heroes, Strategist heroes and Warrior heroes. Finally, the player has the option of creating their own civilization with unique bonuses. Empire Earth has a map editor included. Epochs are the ages a player passes through in ''Empire Earth''. Each of these epochs represents an age within history. In ''Empire Earth'', the last two ages (Digital and Nano Ages) are set into the moderate future. In the Art of Conquest, a third future age, the Space Age, is available. It deals with space colonization. Each epoch brings new technologies and units. Epoch advancement requires additional buildings to be built and the costs of advancing increases as more epochs are attained, although the ability to gather the required resources greatly increases as well. The epochs in Empire Earth are the Prehistoric Age , the Stone Age , the Copper Age , the Bronze Age , the Dark Age , the Middle Ages , the Renaissance , the Imperial age, the Industrial age, the Atomic World War I age, the Atomic World War II Age, the Atomic Modern Age, the Digital Age and the Nano Age. An extra epoch, the Space Age, is available in ''Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest''.8 Several different units are available in each epoch, each being produced in a different building. Some units such as Infantry are available in every epoch and can be created at the Barracks . Other units such as Archers are available from the Stone age to the Renaissance and are created at Archery Ranges. Horsemen are available from the Copper Age to the Industrial Age and are created at Stables . Siege weapons are produced at Siege Factories such as Catapult s, they are available from the Bronze Age to the Dark Ages then are later replaced by the Trebuchet in the Middle Ages and ending their use in the Imperial age, when Cannon s emerged in the Renaissance and are available then on. In the Atomic Age-WW1 epoch some new buildings are made available to the player, such as Airports, Tank Factories and Naval Yards where certain planes, Tank s and submarines, etc can be produced. In the Digital age Cyber Factories and Laboratories are available and can produce many types of Mech s, which are known as Cybers in Empire Earth.9 Like many RTS games, there are technologies available to improve the player's civilization. Technologies to improve farming can be researched at the granary. Health related technologies can be researched at a hospital. Technologies researched at the hospital improve the hit points and attack of your citizens, the speed of your citizens, your hospital healing rate and range, or your population capacity. Education upgrades are found in the university, which can protect units from being converted. Technologies researched at the university will increase your buildings' line-of-sight, your university's range, the hitpoints of your buildings, your dock's/naval yard's healing rate, or decrease tribute cost. Temple upgrades are found in the temple. A series of research projects will increase your prophets: speed, hitpoints and range. The upgrades for the priests are also almost the same, except that they have two extra upgrades which can let them convert other priests and buildings. Temple range, which prevents enemy prophets from casting calamities near a temple, can also be upgraded at the temple. Economic upgrades are found in the town center or capitol. These upgrades will increase your gathering rate for hunting and foraging, wood cutting, gold mining, iron mining or stone mining.10 , units such as naval units can be built. Shown here are; Galley (left middle), Frigate (lower middle), Battleship (top) and Cruiser (upper middle) which are the main ships until galleys are replaced by Submarine s in the Modern age. Cruisers are available from the Industrial Age .]] ''Empire Earth'' has 21 civilizations,11 (with two additional ones in '' expansion and belong in the "Digital Age to Space Age" group. Multiplayer consists of LAN and Internet play. Players log in as a certain name profile, and search for, or create, a game that concerns several other players. The game is a basic war between all sides, unless diplomacy is involved. Advancement within Multiplayer comes about most easily when the player populates town centres. 5 citizens per centre, and one centre per age. Patches of the game are unlikely because the developer of the game Stainless Steel Studios is no longer in operation.1213 CAMPAIGNS Like many other RTS games, ''Empire Earth'' has single-player campaigns. But unlike some games, each scenario has a story to tell and by playing that scenario, you are actually playing out the story for that scenario. In order to win a campaign, you must play and win all scenarios in order. Apart from the Russian campaign, the mission, " Operation Sealion " in the German campaign, and possibly the first four scenarios in the Greek campaign, all of the battles in the campaigns have actually occurred. Learning campaign The first campaign in Empire Earth is the Learning campaign. This campaign is where players are taught how to play Empire Earth. This campaign is available in both the original game and ''''. This campaign is not required to be played in order and is divided into two parts. The first part is about the rise of Phoenicia . The second part is about the rise of the Byzantine Empire. Players are taken through the scenarios step-by-step to learn the basics of gameplay. Greek campaign The first real campaign focuses on Ancient Greece . The opening four scenarios (of eight scenarios total) focus on the rise of Greece. The story tells of the early Helladic peoples, the Trojan War , the rise of Athens , and the first years of the Peloponnesian War , though with some fictional elements (such as the Trojan Horse being given to the Ithaca ns by the gods). The second part is about the life of Alexander The Great . The fifth scenario is about Alexander crushing the revolt of Thebes and Athens. The following scenario is about the Battle Of The Granicus , Battle Of Issus and the siege of Tyre . The final scenario is the Battle Of Gaugamela , the capture of Babylon and the battle for the Persian Gates , a mountain pass which beyond lies Persepolis , the ceremonial capital of Persia . The campaign ends when Alexander and his army enters Persepolis and Alexander manages to escape an assassination attempt while visiting the tomb of Xerxes I Of Persia . English campaign The English campaign is about the struggles between England and France for superiority in Europe . The first three scenarios (of eight total) are about William I Of England , his victory against the rebellion from the barons with the help of Henry I Of France in 1047 , and the Battle Of Hastings in 1066 . The next three scenarios take place during the Hundred Years' War between England and France; Edward, The Black Prince and his raids in France are featured in the fourth and fifth scenarios. The sixth scenario is about Henry V Of England 's story, some parts based on William Shakespeare 's play. The first part is the internal unrest of Lollards . Henry V starts the scenario fleeing from London to Oxford , where his units are protected from conversion by Oxford University . After that Lollard churches are required to be destroyed and the capture or death of Sir John Oldcastle in order to end the Lollards. After a cutscene with Henry Chichele , the Archbishop Of Canterbury , the second part takes the player to France, where Harfleur must be subdued to gain a foothold. Finally, the Battle Of Agincourt takes place. The next two scenarios are led by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke Of Wellington , who meets Napoleon I Of France in battle. The first scenario deals with the Battle Of Roliça and the resulting Convention Of Sintra , Battle Of Talavera , and driving Napoleon out of Spain . The last scenario in the English campaign is the Battle Of Waterloo , where Napoleon finally meets Wellesley in person. German campaign In the German campaign, the first four scenarios take place during World War I, and feature the Red Baron, Manfred Von Richthofen . The player follows Richtofen through his early days of flight and the development of his "Flying Circus." The first mission involves directing Richtofen and his pilot, Count Holck, to safety after their aircraft is shot down over Poland in 1914 , but in subsequent missions, Richtofen is a minor character. In the next three missions, the player protects shipments of war materials into Germany, directs German forces at the Battle Of Verdun , and directs the ''Kaiserschlacht'' at the Battle Of The Somme . The second part, consisting of three scenarios, deals with Nazi Germany and the first years of World War II in Europe. The first scenario introduces the Blitzkrieg , in which the player has to conquer Poland, Scandinavia , and France. The next mission deals with the German U-boat and naval blockade of Great Britain and the Battle Of Britain , which features the gargantuan German Battleship Bismarck . In the final scenario, the never-attempted Operation Sealion , the player leads German forces in an invasion of Great Britain, under the famous Field Marshal Erwin Rommel , ultimately conquering the country and annexing the United Kingdom to the Greater German Reich. Russian campaign In the Russia n campaign, the player leads Novaya Russia, a restructure of the Russian Federation. The game begins in 2018 , with the player directing the Russian political dissident Grigor Stoyanovich from the city of Voronezh to safety in Volgograd , followed by a seizure of power in the Kremlin and Moscow . The second scenario is about Novaya Russia's conquest of Europe. In the third scenario Grigor must crush a Coup in Moscow. He dies at the end of this scenario and is succeeded by a robot called Grigor II. Under Grigor II, Novaya Russia continues its conquest of the world by invading and subjugating China. In the fifth scenario, during an attempted invasion of the United States , the player directs the disillusioned General Sergei Molotov and U.S. agent Molly Ryan as they try to build a Time Machine to transport them back to the early 21st century and warn the original Grigor of the future. The final scenario takes place at the same time as the first. Molotov's Expedition, using Atomic Modern Age technology, battle against the technologically superior forces (thanks to Grigor II, who arrived earlier despite having left later) of the Ushi Party. At the end of the mission, Molotov or Ryan (it does not matter who; the outcome is the same) informs Grigor of the future atrocities that the machine will commit, and urge him to reconsider his seizure of power. Grigor is too propagandized by the cyber to listen to reason, and the character has no choice but to kill him. The Russian Campaign ends with an unanswered question: DEVELOPMENT AND RELEASE ] ''Empire Earth'' was announced by Stainless Steel Studios on March 31 , 2000 , with an intended release date of the early half of 2001.14 When first interviewed about the game, Rick Goodman and Stefan Arnold commented about the progress and layout of the game on December 12 , 2000. They mentioned many aspects of the game, including the use of heroes, unit upgrades, the availability of civilizations, economic build up, and polishing of the final product.15 On January 18, 2001, Stainless Steel Studios added Damon "Stratus" Gauthier to work on the multiplayer aspect of the game.16 He was a veteran of several Starcraft tournaments, and was meant to balance the multiplayer of the game. ''Empire Earth'' also made appearances at E3 2000 and E3 2001 about its progress, and a beta test and movie for it were released in early August of 2001.17 RECEPTION AND LEGACY Critical reviews ''Empire Earth'' averaged an 82% according to , who commented "Anyone who's familiar with Age of Empires is going to hit the ground running in Empire Earth. With a few additions and some small changes the economic model and interface is pretty much exactly like that in AoE2."19 GameSpot was not as impressed, giving it 7.9/10, saying "Empire Earth is best reserved for hard-core real-time strategy players who won't mind the game's less-than-stellar graphics and sound but will instead relish the ability to relive 14 different epochs of human warfare.". '' Game Informer '' was disappointed and gave it a 6.25/10, saying "Empire Earth couldn’t walk the walk like it talked the talk. Although no one patch can fix either of the aforementioned items, the latter will certainly see some type of quick adjustment in the near future."20 ''Empire Earth'' sold well, with over 1 million units sold.21 ''Empire Earth'' was re-released as ''Empire Earth Gold Edition'' on May 6 , 2003 . It contains both the original game and the expansion pack, Manuals , and technology trees for both games, hotkey reference and the official strategy guide. Legacy ''Empire Earth'' spawned several sequels, and eventually an entire series. An expansion pack for ''Empire Earth'', '''' was considered to be a "spiritual sequel" to ''Empire Earth'', since it was also made by Stainless Steel Studios and released between ''Empire Earth'' and ''Empire Earth II''.22 A cell phone version of ''Empire Earth'', '' Empire Earth Mobile '', was released in 2005. Another sequel '' Empire Earth III '' is expected to be released in late 2007.23 REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS |
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