What would you change with the game?

[Trigger01]

Greetings to everyone. First off I want to say I forgot my username from when I used to play here so I've created a new account.

Empire Earth has been my all-time favorite game since I first played it around its release. Since servers went down I have been playing here and on GameRanger, often introducing friends to this very awesome game. A few years ago I started working on a new 4X RTS game, Empire Earth being the main inspiration.

I ask all of you others who dream for a new EE-like game, if you were in power, what would you change and why?
Also, what is it that makes Empire Earth so good in your opinion? (basically what I should focus on)

If mods feel like this should be moved to another category, feel free to, I was not sure where to put it. Thanks!

[Jodocus]

Hi,

first of all, I like EE for the same reasons I like AoE: no stupid limitations like territories and arbitrary colored lines on the game map or this stuff like crowns or I don't know (basically everything that's different in EE2 or 3). IMHO this stuff belongs into round-based games and not REAL-time strategy. I wan't to see the game map modeling a real world and no symbolic territory stuff. There are no red lines between countries in real world either (but rivers, oceans, walls, fences, ...).

What would I change if I had to make a real EE2?
1. Give EE 360° angle camera (thus also implement 360° models for buidlings and trees, not just units).
2. Overhaul graphics, of course. No comic style trash but love to detail, especially to the models and textures. In EE2 and 3, you hardly even can distinguish between different units once in combat.
3. More ages! By this I don't mean to increase the time interval of EE (which is quite huge) but increase the density of ages. Or maybe even completely remove this aging up and replace it by a rather contious development in each sector (military, culture, economy, health etc). This would make it even more realistic imho.
4. Add more units, more possibilities over all: more types of artillery, infantery etc.
5. Add more different kind of ressources (that's one good thing of EE2: age-dependent resources like oil) and some sort of trading system better than tributes.
6. Re-implement space age of AoC expansion, pretty failure.
7. Make different civilizations give different looks of units and buildings.

[Trigger01]

I agree with a lot of your points and will take them into consideration. I have also been thinking about a continuous development tree and dividing it into sectors, but I have not yet decided.

It's been a long time since I played EE2, I cannot remember how it worked with age-dependent resources. How and from where did you gather them (were they visible in previous ages, etc)?

[Jodocus]

If you plan on a contious development, you should also consider to make the different sectors depend on each other. It should be impossible to develop only in one sector, like military and get nuclear weapons while still living in the cave.

I think in EE2 the resources are invisible until one player enters an age where he can use the new ressource. They stay visible until the last player left the age that could use the resource. I don't think that it needn't to be exactly like that, but having some different resources in later ages would be cool, nontheless.

Also, you should consider talking to the people in ee.heavengames.com forum (mostly modders that love EE), I think they maybe got some cool ideas, too.

[Coolosity]

I think one of the best things about EE, what really differs it from other RTS games, is the counter units. It adds a lot of strategy. Also, the ability to upgrade units.

[Trigger01]

If you plan on a contious development, you should also consider to make the different sectors depend on each other. It should be impossible to develop only in one sector, like military and get nuclear weapons while still living in the cave.

I think in EE2 the resources are invisible until one player enters an age where he can use the new ressource. They stay visible until the last player left the age that could use the resource. I don't think that it needn't to be exactly like that, but having some different resources in later ages would be cool, nontheless.

Also, you should consider talking to the people in ee.heavengames.com forum (mostly modders that love EE), I think they maybe got some cool ideas, too.

Having the different sectors depend on each other was something I already had concluded when I had this idea, as your gave an example for, it would indeed be strange to say the least if it was not so.

I appreciate your replies and I'll have a look at heavengames in the future, cheers!

I think one of the best things about EE, what really differs it from other RTS games, is the counter units. It adds a lot of strategy. Also, the ability to upgrade units.

Personally, I don't think the counter units are too easily distinguished in EE though, would you agree? I think Empires: Dawn of the Modern World did it better in that regard.


I would like to add, I'm not here to argue, but to get everyone's opinion and reasoning, so keep them coming!

[P-51]

I think the custom civilizations of EE makes the game more versatile than the limited options of Empires. I haven't played that game in a long time so I don't really remember well, but looking back at it I feel like being forced to pick from a rigid set of countries really hurt the game's counter system.

Usually those kind of games tend to become railroaded. Just from reading the manual Russia seems OP, and in an MP game there would be no motivation to choose other countries. Like EEII, Empires appears to be aimed at making SP more interesting, whereas EE is a superior MP game.