Forumer Bob_003 has written a walkthrough to the 1st atilla scenario. It is long and well-written, and a great read for anyone that needs help with that scenario.
Sierra's Official Empire Earth Site has put up a new poll, this time asking, "How important are historically accurate units to you?" I'm pretty amazed that is has over 800 votes so far with the game being historically accurate very important. Be sure to go vote there!
Well I got home about a hour ago so I'm a little tired. I've been hearing from people that someone has released a 6 minute Star Wars movie that is as good as the real movie somewhere on the net. Anyone have any idea where I could get this?
It would seem these days I get more information and news from the forums than most other places.
Blood Donor stopped by the forums to answer one of the forumer's questions on the animals in Empire Earth in this thread. His words were: Nope, he didn't get all of them. He missed 5
-J Our forumer listed 10 animals which means EE has 15 animals in total! Just think how much more that is to Age of Kings and Cossacks...does cossacks even have animals?
Our quite active forumer, BigFanatic emailed Rick asking if planes could land at any carrier? Here was Rick's reply: Any.
Thats important, because when a carrier sinks the planes are also lost unless you have another carrier available. For more details go to this thread and thanks to Big Fanatic and Rick Goodman.
One other thing, Empire Earth Heaven's counter has almost reached 198,000. That means it is only 2 thousand more away from reaching 200 thousand hits! If anyone could a snapshot of it as close as you can I might be able to get you a t-shirt or calendar.
Thats all for now folks but remember to send in those ToonEEs.
Our lil' ol' forums have received a visit from ES Designer Sandy "Sandyman" Petersen. He's answered a ton of questions on various subjects, and of course he couldn't escape commenting on the recent announcement of the partnership between ES and LucasArts:
"Q) Does this new partnership signal an end to ES's relationship with MS?
A) To clarify: Lucasarts is NOT publishing ES’s games. ES is NOT publishing Lucasarts’ games. This is a side deal, in which we license Lucasarts some useful technology.
MS publishes AoE, RoR, AoK, & TC. As long as those games stay in print, we will have a “relationship” with MS. However, it’s entirely possible, even likely, that our upcoming games (Nemesis & RTS3) will NOT be published by MS." -Sandy Petersen
Click on the link above to check out Sandy's full post as he further comments on this subject and more. ...earthquake here on the west coast today...see what happens when Thunder screws up on the news? ; )
From Rick's answer in the Sierra Forums it won't be anytime soon. Thanks to Chooch for pointing out that he posted in this thread saying:
We have not announced when Beta will be, yet. Form the programming and Art side, we still have quite a ways to go before the game can be Beta Tested. We'll let you all know app. 60 days in advance.
Rick
Since it is already just a day away from March that means the closest date could be May, but I'm thinking July. Hopefully it won't be too far away.
EBWorld has changed their Empire Earth release date to September 28, 2001. I'ld have to say that'll really be bad for me since I was hoping anytime in summer, but EB isn't always right. They've also added a picture of the EE box which looks like this:
You can check our EBWorld's Empire Earth page here.
It's well known that Evil Avatar is a big Evil Ager, and with yesterday's announcement regarding Ensemble Studios lending a technological hand to LucasArts, he was able to get in touch with Bruce Shelley for a bit of clarification.
"Evil Avatar: If the Battleground game engine is 2D like Age of Empires, Why did Ensemble Studios & LucasArts decide to go with a 2D game engine after having used 3D for Force Commander?
Bruce Shelley: The decision to go 2D was made by Lucas Arts. I think they were impressed with the AOE games and they could use that technology immediately. Our new BANG! 3D engine is still in development as we work on our third major RTS game internally."
So it appears that the LucasArts crowd will be using ES's tried and true 2D engine for another whack at the RTS market. Bruce couldn't answer all of Evil's questions regarding the LucasArts game, illustrating that the role the Studios is taking in this partnership seems to be supplying the technology, with the design decisions coming from L.A. ...my bad...lesson, never update the news as you're running out the door... ; )
Following the annoucement of Star Wars Battleground, Tom Byron of LucasArts has done an audio interview with techTV.com. He talks about the relationship between Ensemble and LucasArts and says they hope to continue the relationship in the future, so it's possible we may see a Star Wars game someday based on Ensemble's upcoming "Bang!" engine. For now, however, Star Wars Battleground will utilize Ensemble's existing technology. Also, Tom Byron was hesitent to say that it using the "Age of Empires" engine, probably due to legal technicalities with Microsoft, who owns the name "Age of Empires." Will SWB be out this fall? According to Byron it will, "if the game wants to be." once again, Star Wars Battleground is not RTS3
The overview of that good old civilization, Sweden, is up! Here's a sampling of guest writer styrbiorn starke's masterful prose:
The history of Sweden during the time frame of Cossacks is a story of many battles and wars. From 1500, when Sweden was a medieval country, to 1814, Sweden was almost uninterruptedly at war, with some small breaks for peace. Wars were fought against most of the nations represented in Cossacks - Austria, England, France, Holland, Poland, Prussia, Russia, Saxony and Spain. Sweden had important roles in many large wars, such as the Thirty Years' War and the Great Northern War.
Despite what some Age fans would have you believe, RTS3 is not "Star Wars Battleground." These will be two different games, one by Ensemble Studios and one by LucasArts using Ensemble's 2D technology:
IGNPC: So you've been working on Battleground for a while now? Randy Breen: Yes.
IGNPC: Ensemble announced they were working on a 3D RTS codenamed "RTSIII" late last month. Is this the project they've been working on?
Randy Breen: No. Ensemble is doing several things, but their focus has been on transforming their game designs to a 3D engine. I think that in some ways what we're doing is continuing the development of their existing technologies.
IGNPC: So Battleground is going to be a 2D RTS like Age of Empires?
Randy Breen: Yes.
Source: IGNPC (thanks X27) So, Star Wars: Battlegrounds will use the genie engine, developed by Ensemble for Age of Empires and Age of Empires 2.
A big shocker for all of us, there wasn't even a hint of this before today. It's hard to imagine something this big was worked on for a significant amount of time without leaking out, but it was pulled off nicely. Calling dibs on the naming the first rushing technique... the FRUSH (FoRce RUSH)
A totally new game by Ensemble Studios has just been revealed! It is going to be called Star Wars Battleground and will be created in co-operation with LucasArts. Here's a press release from LucasArts themselves:
"LUCASARTS AND ENSEMBLE STUDIOS ENTER INTO INNOVATIVE BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP
Age of Empires® Developer and LucasArts to Pioneer New Developer/Publisher Relationship; Announce Star Wars® Battleground® for Fall 2001
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. -- February 27, 2001 -- LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC today announced a strategic alliance with Ensemble Studios to develop a new and compelling Real Time Strategy (RTS) franchise for the digital interactive gaming market. The initial release from this cooperative venture, Star Wars Battleground, will be built upon PC-based technology created by Ensemble and used in the highly acclaimed Age of Empires series. Combining the design talents of LucasArts and Ensemble -- including noted designer Bruce Shelley -- Star Wars Battleground will build upon Ensemble’s proprietary engine technology to usher in a new phase in the evolution of the RTS game. Star Wars Battleground is expected to release fall 2001.
Future ventures with LucasArts are envisaged to encompass new technologies developed by Ensemble, weaving increasingly innovative engineering into the core premise of interactive strategic warfare within the Star Wars universe.
“From the first time I played Age of Empires, I knew someday LucasArts and Ensemble should work together to create the ultimate RTS franchise,” says Simon Jeffery, president of LucasArts. “Gaming is evolving rapidly and fewer massively successful games are stumbled upon by accident. The market is more aware of what it wants, and consequently we are providing a marriage of superlative design, consummate technology, and an IP-based gaming universe with which most of the western world is familiar. In short, LucasArts very much views this as the birth of a market leading franchise.”
“All of at us at Ensemble are huge Star Wars fans and we’re very pleased to be partners with LucasArts in creation of Star Wars Battleground,” says Ensemble Studios CEO Tony Goodman. “The passion and talent of the LucasArts team blends well with our Real Time Strategy game expertise to make the Star Wars universe a compelling and fun game experience.”
Out of left field comes a press release from the folks at LucasArts Entertainment announcing their new partnership with Ensemble Studios to bring us a new RTS game based in the Star Wars universe:
"LUCASARTS AND ENSEMBLE STUDIOS ENTER INTO INNOVATIVE BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP
Age of Empires® Developer and LucasArts to Pioneer New Developer/Publisher Relationship; Announce Star Wars® Battleground® for Fall 2001
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. -- February 27, 2001 -- LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC today announced a strategic alliance with Ensemble Studios to develop a new and compelling Real Time Strategy (RTS) franchise for the digital interactive gaming market. The initial release from this cooperative venture, Star Wars Battleground, will be built upon PC-based technology created by Ensemble and used in the highly acclaimed Age of Empires series. Combining the design talents of LucasArts and Ensemble -- including noted designer Bruce Shelley -- Star Wars Battleground will build upon Ensemble’s proprietary engine technology to usher in a new phase in the evolution of the RTS game. Star Wars Battleground is expected to release fall 2001.
Future ventures with LucasArts are envisaged to encompass new technologies developed by Ensemble, weaving increasingly innovative engineering into the core premise of interactive strategic warfare within the Star Wars universe.
“From the first time I played Age of Empires, I knew someday LucasArts and Ensemble should work together to create the ultimate RTS franchise,” says Simon Jeffery, president of LucasArts. “Gaming is evolving rapidly and fewer massively successful games are stumbled upon by accident. The market is more aware of what it wants, and consequently we are providing a marriage of superlative design, consummate technology, and an IP-based gaming universe with which most of the western world is familiar. In short, LucasArts very much views this as the birth of a market leading franchise.”
“All of at us at Ensemble are huge Star Wars fans and we’re very pleased to be partners with LucasArts in creation of Star Wars Battleground,” says Ensemble Studios CEO Tony Goodman. “The passion and talent of the LucasArts team blends well with our Real Time Strategy game expertise to make the Star Wars universe a compelling and fun game experience.”
Let that sink in for a moment. ...speechless... ; )
Jace at Empire Earth X has gotten some of the music from Empire Earth. There is a chance it won't actually be featued in the game, but that is a small chance. I'm downloading one of them right now although it might be another minute or two. There are only 2 mp3s but still pretty big. Be sure to try it out.
*-Added Note-* Okay, I'm listening to the opener mp3 right now. It wasn't like how I expected and in some parts it sounds like Star Wars or Final Fantasy. There seems to be a good mix of trumpets, drums and other instruments.
The second primitive sounds more scary like, and I cannot get a favorite out of the two. Still a pretty cool thing to listen to. Both mp3s are between 1-2 MB.
I haven't had enough time to do these personal daily posts recently. Seems all the snow I told you about before is all gone now. Here is today's gaming/minor EE news:
Blood Donor stopped by our forums to tell us airplanes won't be able to land on any land piece in this thread although there is some confusion on helicopters.
Empire Conqerors created by our forumer Steven is looking for new people to join. You can read more on it in this thread.
Also Next Game has done a two part interview with Microsoft (which will be going to court for an appeal soon) about their new console. They even have a few good shots of it! You can check it out here.
This ambitious project may well remind some Agers of Angel Washizu's Net Campaign, which he organized way back in the AoE days. Myll_Slaghter_ has sent along word of the Clan War Campaign, which I believe is still under development right now. Clans will be fighting for control of territories on a world map, in team games of course.
Drop in on the CWC website for a better idea of how to get involved and how things will be run. They have a forum already up and running to help answer your questions and are working on setting up scripts to update game results quickly. Best of luck with this venture fellas! ...not in a clan? ...grab your buddies and make one! ; )
I am working on RTS3 along with Kevin McMullan. It will have a very different sound, but one I think fans of the Age series' music will like. Lots of live instruments, lots of big beats.
Big beats eh? That could mean any number of things, including rock or maybe some sort of tribal music. Does this clue us into a theme? Well, it certainly eliminates "Age of Carebears" or "Yanni's Empire."
The Empire Earth Design Guild known before as Empire Earth Manor is down right now for some big changes which might include a new design. From Augustus ICQ message itself he said something big and soon. Doesn't give us many details, but we'll wait and see. If you want to see the one sentence page than go here.
The latest AI Tournament League event being run by Angel Bingmann is well underway. You can drop in and check out the results from the first three rounds of this tourney, which features custom AI scripts battling it out on island maps. Keita's Spanish navy script is currently undefeated in the 1 on 1 bracket, while SlakTheEldar leads the team AI event. Good luck to all as they head towards the final showdowns! ...welcome back Sammy... ; )
The 23 winnners at Empire Earth Place have been announced. Among them are our active staff member, Angel Socrateius and our forumer DX Doug who actually won our last week's toon contest. Here are all the winners:
Sören Evers, Tim Jaarsveld, Barrett Hoffarth, Arman Afshar, Douglas Trantham, Chris Urban, Pat Riley, Denver Hunter, Boyan Kulusic, Sergio Prado, Ackermann Mathieu, chad perkins, Michael Crudele, Jean-Lionel "Nox" Nogues, Alan Keller, Marc Shirley, Craig Furrer, Thomas White, Garrick Solberg, Pierre Pepin, Joseph Lupo, James Freiwirth, and Nick Pychtin
Remember to submit your ToonEEs to me this week for a chance for you to also win a calendar.
Jace at Empire Earth X picked up the news that the Sierra forums will be down for a few hours Monday. Here is what the Sierra Coordinator said at this thread:
Dear Members,
Sierra's community forums will be offline on Monday (2/26) starting at 10:30 am PST and will be brought back online later Monday afternoon at approx. 2:30 pm PST.
We would like to apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
It's been a busy weekend for Angel Alexander I as he's been finishing up the latest installment in his look at markets. The latest section covers some of the foods available, complete with mouth watering photographs from my favourite of food groups!
AAI has also been passed a few whispered words on a new HG site that will be opening. Drop in and visit Alexander at HeavenGames Main for all of the above! ...aha! A Mazda 323, great little cars...I'll have to come down and visit Alex, check out all that foooood... ; )
The latest in the weekly Real World Map Download series from Ensemble Studios is the bare bones of the map of Italy. It came in with the most votes in their poll to decide which map to post, beating out Byzantium by just over 1%.
Check out their growing collection of Real World Maps and while you're there, vote in the poll to decide which map is posted for next week! ...Sea of Japan and Byzantium are tied at the moment... ; )
This week's new poll by request is asking Which 20th Century War do you want to see? I have a feeling that a majority will choose one of the World Wars, but I've been surpised a few times. Last week's poll now looking at it might of been little foolish but here are the results:
There has been lots of activity since yesterday on Empire Earth. I'm sorry to say I didn't have enough time since I had gone to the movies for Hidden Dragon, Crouching Tiger. Go check out this thread to talk about the movie. Anyway the new screenshot from SSS is up, here is how it looks:
I'll be choosing this week's ToonEE winner soon. I received more toons than last week although more is always better.
I got a request from someone to mention this but for all of you know Dale Earnhart died in a race, and our forumers are doing what they can in our forums. Go check out this recent thread and the older thread for him.
Don't even try pronouncing that title tonto_stickman has come up with a very interesting prediction for the theme of RTS3.
What is RTS3? Einstien has solved the problem.....
"On the assumption that a Third World War must escalate to nuclear destruction I can tell you that the Forth World War will be fought with bow and arrow" - Einstien
On assumption that "Einstien" is never wrong in anything (even when he was wrong he was actually right) I think "RTS3" will be about "future earth" where mankind has reverted technology wise back to ancient times. Hence the "History and Fantasy fans will be interested" bit......
Stickman's theory is entirely possible based on the information we have now, but hopefully some real info will be released soon. Stay tuned. Black and White is nearly gold!
As the forum DM tourney rumbles towards the semi-finals, Exzar made an interesting post outlining the basics of the Deathmatch rush. He's set out a few basic rules, and gone ahead with a civ by civ description. Check out his words of wisdom in this thread from the DM forum, and add a little of your own findings if you can. ..."...be 2 steps ahead of your enemy. Cause they will more than likely be 1 ahead of you." -Exzar...I love it! Thanks to Angel Zen for the heads up on this one... ; )
AOK designer Sandy Petersen has been answering more questions in his latest thread. He comments on everything from his religion to his opinion of Pink Floyd:
Q) Does Sheriff always build insane amounts of archers? A) Not when I’m watching. I’ve frequently seen him wipe out opponents (including myself) with cav or infantry. Or even ships.
Q) Are there going to be random maps on RTS3, I heard that ramdom maps on 3d is time consuming(or something) A) Random maps on 3D are hard to do. They’re hard to do in 2D as well (look at Starcraft). Most companies don’t even try. I’m not supposed to talk about RTS3 at all, but I think I won’t get in trouble if I say that, yes, we want random maps.
Q) What's your ladder at Nemesis?, i mean from best player to last? A) This question does not apply to Nemesis.
Q) If you could create any kind of game from scratch, what genre/plotline would it be? A) The answer would be different if you asked me at different times. At this instant in time I’d kind of like to do a high level strategic/diplomatic multiplayer persistent online game of WW2.
Read all of Sandy's thoughts here.well, not ALL of them, but a few.
A brand new interview can be had at GamesDomain with Rick Goodman and Stefan Arnold of SSSI. There's some older screenshots to be seen in addition to a pretty good read:
"GD: How many different unit types are represented in Empire Earth? How are units such as heroes, priests/prophets, mechs, etc. incorporated into the game? Did the inclusion of these special units cause any balancing issues to arise?
SSSI: EE has over 200 different types of units on the multiplayer side of the game, with an additional 100 created especially for the single player campaigns. There are also, as you point out, a number of "special" units in the game, including Heroes, Priests, Prophets, and futuristic mech-units with cool powers. These units are not only fun to use for their unique abilities and game effects, but they add an extra layer of strategic possibilities on top of the basic rock-paper-scissors structure of the game, which itself is already brimming with strategic options.
To answer your last question, yes, these units did introduce some special balancing requirements, just as we knew they would. To address this, SSSI hired a team of RTS experts who, under the direction of Richard "Methos" Bishop and the rest of the core design team, have been doing an incredible job play balancing the game."
Sure, there's no new pretty pictures, but it is a heck of a read! Make sure you drop in and check out the full interview which covers units, wonders, economics and more! ...the effects of the Lighthouse Wonder seem familiar...Civilization anyone? ; )
A great way to end the week, a pair of brand new screenshots have surfaced! You can find the first at Sierra's EE site, as they've updated their weekly screenshot feature a little early. It's a great close up shot of a siege on a fort, one that isn't going so well.
The second shot is a real beauty! You can take a look at it in all it's high resolution glory at the EE Net Center. It features some major naval action with some reasonably modern ships.
There's some more ammunition for our EE Toon Contest! A new winner will be awarded an EE calendar signed by Rick Goodman at some point today, so keep an eye out for a great new toon. If you'd like to enter to win a calender, and a shot at a grand prize, click here for more information and good luck! ...ToonEEs...ya think that name for em will stick? ; )
Once again Stainless Steel Studios has released another future unit with this time being a Destroyer. For some reason all the future units seem to look much more cool to me. Here is a picture of it:
For more information and a larger picture of it and some more information check out the future unit page.
..of the Stainless Steel Studios crew. That man is the infamous Bob Scott who did an mini-interview with SSS. Here is a quote from it:
2. What task will you be working on next?
My last major task is victory condition strategy, where I finally put to good use all of the AI infrastructure that we've built up in the last year or so. After that, there will be a whole lot of minor adjustments to get things just right - the whole reason for playing a game is to have fun, and we'll make sure you have fun playing against the computer player.
He controls a large part of the AI so be sure to be nice to him. Go read the interview here.
Looking out my window once again and the whole place is covered with snow. Lucky for me school was canceled so I got a good 11 hours of sleep
--Total Empire Earth has finished their last poll on Fan's Favorite Site with EE Command Center taking the gold. I have to say I'm pretty shocked since the last time I checked EENC and I were at the top. Their new poll is asking "What Forum do you visit most often?"
--Gamespy is back online and hopefully will stay that way. They've also posted some great screenshots of the possible game Doom 3. You can see them here.
Also I'll be getting cable modem access soon which means faster uploads and just better quality and speed
Gordon Farrell dropped by our forums a few days ago giving us some info. on trading. This is what he said:
Sadly, there will be no trading in EE. Although I am disappointed about this, I can understand the decision to avoid it. Fact of the matter is, in AOK trading is really not very interesting or effective, so I can see why Rick just decided to nix it in EE. A really good trading system would involve a huge amount of thought and software writing. And it would add whole months of playtesting. If a company is not prepared to put in that kind of time, it's better to skip it altogether, rather than to come up with something half-baked, like AOK has.
A central issue here, imho, is the fact that trading requires thoughtful planning, negotiated trade routes, and business strategies. RTS games, however, are too darned action-packed to allow time for this to happen in a meaningful or in-depth way.
One of the best trading systems I ever saw in an RTS-like game was Microprose's "Machiavelli." Anybody else play it? Very cool trading... but the game suffered on other counts.
Well I suppose we can live without trading now that gold never runs out. You can reply on this topic in this thread.
"I also had the seem doubts about as you. Will it 2 hours before you reach nano age? It will be then mostly an economic game. The one who is fastest with his/her economy will win the game."
I can say this, the build up time is much faster in EE then in the Age series. A game might last that long if everyone turtles and playes defensive all game... on average our games here last anywhere from 15-45 minutes.
Hope this helps.
One of the SSS people once said that how long a multiplayer game usually depends on what type of player are so if you like a 2 hour game than you can make it happen.
Tonight the folks at the AoK Command Center will be holding one of their Blind Date events, in which you'll be paired up with a mystery player for some 2 on 2 games. The games will have a time limit, so you won't have long to get better aquainted with your partner, just long enough to smurf the enemy. The fun will start this evening at 8:30pm EST, good luck to all!
For added clarity, smurfing is when a player uses a different name than usual to disguise themselves. For example, when Angel Washizu doesn't want to scare away lesser skilled players with his expert reputation, he uses his smurf name on the Zone, allyerbase. There's no telling who you may be paired up with for this event! ...you'll have a smurfy time I'm sure... ; )
A feature posted today at Daily Radar entitled The Newbies Guide to Playing Online reminds us that there's lots of newcomers to the online arena. The article is a general look at playing online and includes some of the many terms that may seem completely alien to newbies.
Several newcomers to our forums have mentioned that translating some posts is quite a challenge. There's tons of abbreviations for units and buildings, but a trip to the AOKH Tavern can answer quite a few questions. It contains some useful guides on posting, AOK lingo and more. A great first stop for new forumers! ...I was on a tour at CreoScitex yesterday...their sales rep talked a different language I swear... ; )
COSSACKS HEAVEN CDV Hosts "The Cossacks 16 Nation Challenge" Posted 2/22/2001 @ 3:19 PM EST by Angel Zen
If you are 18 years of age or older, live in one of the 16 nations presented in the game, and be able to make your way to London, UK, this one's for you!
"Hear ye, Hear ye, CDV Software is recruiting 16 Players from the Countries outlined below for an all night pre-launch event for the up and coming RTS Cossacks: European Wars.
We need a representative from each of the following Countries to lead their army and to participate in an all night battle at The Playing Fields, London www.theplayingfields.com to determine who is the most powerful European Nation of them all.
That's right... it's your chance to make your country proud!"
Do you qualify? Are YOU up to the challenge? [ More ]
In a recent post in the forums, PsychoRabbit inquired about the ability to create a new hero unit. Although that's not exactly possible, SSSI_Eggman dropped in on the post to give us the goods on modifying existing heros:
"Morale is the raison d'être for Heroes. You can set how much Morale a Hero provides, as well as changing their other stats, like attack, speed, armor, hair color, etc. (ermmm... scratch that last one). These mods only apply to the existing Heroes in the game. We don't have facilities for creating entirely new units from scratch..." -Eggman
This is still a hot topic, click on the source link above to check it out in it's full glory, and our thanks once again to SSSI_Eggman for dropping in. ...Tina Turner was sooo wrong...we do need another hero... ; )
Isn't it weird how life/weather always will amaze you? It is nearly the end of February and right now out of my window I can see tons of snow coming down. Snow is a very rare thing and especially this much which is why I got to leave school early today. Anyway the day is early so there isn't much EE news to tell.
I'm reading some information on Windows XP which is suppose to replace Windows 2000 like how Windows 95 did for 3.1 version. To read some more facts on it visit this features page or here.
Also very strangely the entire Gamespy network including it's hosted sites are down. The Gamespy Arcade and daily news letter is still working though, hopefully they'll fix it soon.
Well all the news that I can find so see you later.
Newly winged Cherub Winston will be taking over my duties as the Strategy Forum moderator. I felt I really couldn't devote enough time to it (although I still generally moderate all the forums), and it needed more attention. Winston was voted the unoffical strategy forum president by other forumers, and was known for helping others with strategy questions and instigating some good discussions. Welcome to Heaven! All your base are belong to us.
It's not all fun and games working at Ensemble Studios, the latest article on Gamasutra by Herb "Captain Insano" Marselas is proof of that. (thanks EA) How would you like to be working with tens of thousands of files, in various formats, and in various stages of development. Now throw in a bunch of fellow employees all working on these files and things can get pretty mixed up. Herb's article covers just how the Studios gang has gone about improving their handling of such tasks.
Probably the highlight of the article for most will be the top image on page 2, which is likely about as close as any of us will get to viewing RTS3 for awhile. ...don't gimme that look...I didn't just look at the pictures, I swear! ; )
There's a tournament that goes tonight on the Zone, for random map 1 on 1 fans. Sign up as soon as possible, as things will be getting underway at 4pm PST, which is 7pm EST.
You can also sign up for a Deathmatch tournament which will be getting underway on March 6th. This could be a strange tournament as those Zone folks don't like to ban civilizations.
To sign up for either or both of these events, click over to the Zone Tournament Page. Make sure you read the eligibility rules and other fine print! ...last Zone tourney I played in before the x-pack turned into an RM Teuton TC war... ; )
There's lots of photographs in the latest addition to Angel Alexander I's look at the structure of markets, with the promise of more to come. My fav is the photo of tent and umbrella tops that abound in the area. Head to HeavenGames main for the goods. ...I squinted real hard, but just couldn't see the make on that green car...a Mazda perhaps? ; )
Stainless Steel Studios has released a new interview with its own staff member, Mike Tatro. Just like all the other mini-interviews it contains six quesitons with him. Here is my favorite:
2. What was the last EE-related task you completed?
I recently added rolling clouds to EE's sky. They move across the sky and change colors during sunset and nighttime.
Wow, Empire Earth has moving clouds
You can see the rest of the interview here which includes a visit to Japan.
Our friends at Stainless Steel Studios has released a new future F-96 figher plane unit. This plane looks really great and must be one of my top favorite units now. Here is just a glimpse of it:
A next-generation avionics system went into the F-96. With it, the Talon could track 100 separate targets, evaluate the threat posed by each, and feed the information to the pilot by both voice and an advanced heads-up display (HUD). The plane could also take many defensive actions by itself, such as dispensing chaff and transmitting a variety of electronic counter measures (ECM) to confuse incoming missiles and jam ground tracking systems.
To go see/read more on it check out the future unit pages here.
Local forumer GPA_Great Benze has taken it upon himself to offer up his services in order to help us less skilled Agers improve our games. He has recenlty co-oped with a player and offers in game advice, the results of which you can check out in this thread. Need a helping hand? Drop in and get in touch with GPA_Great Benze.
If you're no rookie and are willing to offer up your time and advice to a newcomer, Benze has also started up a thread for that, click here. ...you're a sweet heart Benze... ; )
Wow I'm pretty tired right now, must of not gotten enough sleep. I spent 2 hours trying to repair my brother's thing he got long time ago because my stupid friends broke it. I wonder if my brother actually visits this site
There really doesn't seem to be much news to report in Empire Earth nor general gaming. There are a few Empire Earth screenshots I'll be uploading later.
- Rick said over at the Sierra forums in this thread that satillites won't be in the game but is an expansion idea.
- Our Cherub Chooch has made a flash movie about Cherub Marechal that you can check out here.
I think that is all, remember to go submit your Empire Earth Toons and come on visit again later
Kraken just hit this ZH forum thread to elaborate a little upon how the cost of bribery i made up (there are some comments about auto-defend in there too):
Autodefend works better in version 1.1. Previously your company commanders became thoroughly confused when invaders arrived by sea. They have since undergone some training, and are less apt to muster their troops on the wrong side of the city.
Regarding the original question: heck, I don't know. But the gods sent the great Solomon, programmer of Zeus' combat stuff, into my office as I was typing, and Solomon spake thusly:
"25 is the cost per figure for infantry and rabble, and the cost for infantry and rabble shall be 25. Horsemen add 50 per figure present. Ships add another 50, unless it is some other number. Not even Solomon the Wise knoweth the cost to bribe a ship. These prices do increase with difficulty level."
Shadows from Empire Earth Punk, a part of SCN Punk, has announced that their forums are up. They currently have three public forums and their site should also be up soon as well. EE Punk shall no doubt be one of the top design sites we'll be seeing, so I wish them (perhaps I'll join...) good luck, and you can see their forums here.
Empire Earth Place has ended their last contest with spyro2, kom sidius, mid3, qvezina and pgobbee as the winners. Sim Mayor must of still have lots of calendars left because he has started another contest. All you have to do is check out their new site/design that they plan on using later. You can see the new site here.
Jace has put up his new design at his Empire Earth X including some new features. He has also switched his forums to a more better one. This is what he had to say:
Woah! Big changes here over the last week. I'm sure you've noticed the layout changes. Now, aren't they nice and pretty? Thanks to Augustus for the cool headers. You may have also noticed that we've added several pages of content that you can browse. There are also several other pages that I will be uploading tomarrow morning. Now, here's the really big news. Empire Earth X has some brand new and very cool forums for your pleasure! These are not just measly UBB forums, but ZCom forums which were developed by Empire Earth Manor's very own Zanardi! These forums have many more features than UBB and are easier to use, plus we've got the developer as an onboard administrator! You don't want to miss out on this, so check out the new forums here
The images, chat, and forums all look great, good luck to Jace.
The nominees for the 4th annual Interactive Achievement Awards are in (thanks Avault) and The Conquerors is up for a pair of awards. Hopefully we'll once again see the Ensemble Studios gang picking up some hardware, for PC Strategy Game of the Year and PC Game of the Year! Of course, there is some big time competition in both categories, head to the Interactive Achievement Awards site for the full listings of console and PC titles up for awards. Here's the Age related categories and the nominees up for glory and fame:
PC Game of the Year:
Age of Empires II: The Conquerors
Asheron's Call
Baldur's Gate II
Command & Conquer: Red Alert II
Deus Ex
Diablo II
Disney's Magic Artist 3D
EverQuest: Ruins of Kunark
FIFA 2001
Links 2001
MechWarrior 4
No One Lives Forever
Roller Coaster Tycoon: Loopy Landscapes
Sacrifice
PC Strategy Game of the Year:
Age of Empires II: The Conquerors
Command & Conquer: Red Alert II
Sacrifice
Zeus: Master of Olympus
These awards are especially meaningful as it's fellow game developers who nominate and decide the winners. Being recognized by ones peers is always exciting, congrats to all the nominees!
These awards will be handed out on March 22 at a ceremony in San Jose, California. Until then, keep your fingers crossed. ...good luck to all nominees, even Zeus, which is also up for PC Strat Game of the Year... ; )
A big sloppy kiss goes out to Angel Thunder (umm...let's not go that far, a simple 'Thank you' will suffice -Ed) for pointing out to me that Zeus is nominated as Strategy Game of the Year by (wait for it, this is a mouthful) the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.
Click here to take a look at a .pdf file showing what Zeus is up against (some pretty stiff competition there).
The local crowd in our Deathmatch Forum have been taking each other on in a tournament of late! Hopefully we can convince them to upload some of the recorded games to the downloads section for all to view. Currently, they are fighting it out in round two. Good luck to everybody! ...nice tourney format too... ; )
Cherub Dimitrios alerted me today that his Life of Khan contest deadline is being pushed back to March 18th, so you still have a month to write a magnificant essay on Genghis Kahn. I'll bet more than a few of you come up with "The Wrath of Khan" for your title, but I guess now you'll have to change it since I said it here first. haha! Try some clever play on words, like "The Bath of Khan" or "The Math of Khan." Oops, there are two more you can't use now. Oh, what the heck, I'm freely giving out the title, "The Math of Khan" for anyone to use in the contest, just because it seems like it would be a good essay. Get writing! saw Hidden Tiger, Crouching Dragon tonight. It was great! It made me want to climb trees and fly around in them.
Formerly of aoe2.com, Merlin and Xynon have teamed up to bring us the brand new AoE Center. The big news there at the moment is their Ager Appreciation Contest, which features daily prizes and there's also an AoE Collectors Edition up for grabs as a grand prize!
Best of luck to these two fellas on their new venture. It's a snazzy looking site that covers Age in all its glory, drop in and check it out. ...rekindle that magic... ; )
EMPIRE EARTH HEAVEN What is better than a screenshot but worse than a demo? Posted 2/20/2001 @ 3:28 PM EST by Angel Park
Well I'ld say an EE movie would fit the title. Blood Donor was nice enough to tell us in this thread that he had just completed an Empire Earth movie. There is no idea when it maybe released but hopefully it'll be soon.
Hello everyone, today is a brand new day. It is actually warm today here with the sun bright. Anyway I thought I'll do a daily news post on random gaming stuff, mini site updates, small EE news, and whatever. First off I'ld like to say my apology to Joffe over at EENC. I didn't read his news post right, so anyone not registered at the Clan Center can/should register.
Aragorn at Total Empire Earth has added the Site of the Week feature with EENC featured this week.
Our very active forumer, Petard Rusher, has become a cherub here at Empire Earth Heaven as well a few days/weeks ago.
In our Scenario Design forums both Empire Earth Punk and Celtic Dragon teams are looking for members to join.
Also we're still accepting toons for the contest so be sure to send them in.
My thanks to magicmel for sending in a great recorded game that features quite a few great players from our King of the Nomads tournament! QGuardian, dedkrikit, petard_rusher, FoN_Raveman, and of course magicmel duke it out on the Nomad map with a trio of newcomers to round out the teams. There's early action on the seas and tons of late game clashes making for a very entertaining game. Head over to our downloads section to grab a copy and settle in for some top notch nomad action!
If you're curious about the results or happennings in our King of the Nomads Tournament which was held last December, click here. Recorded games from the tournament can also be found in our downloads section. ...that trio of newcomers knew what they were doing...held their own just fine! GG all! ; )
No, I'm not talking about the one that makes you sick. Sim Fever has added a new game to it's site and guess what it is? Of course it is Empire Earth. Right now they don't provide much information but still worth a visit. Don't forget to visit their forums and say hello.
Joffe over at Empire Earth Net Center has finally released his Clan Center which is currently under Beta 3. Joffe prefers you do not register right now.
Anyway the Clan Center will have great features once the final product is out and for those registered you can go check it out here.
Islands and Team Island maps will be the theme for the latest AI Tournament League clash, which is set to get underway today. No doubt Angel Bingmann will be keeping us all updated on the round by round results as these custom AI scripts try to knock each other's block off.
For AI script downloads, tips, previous league results and more, drop in on Bingmann's AI Tournament League page. ...no artificial intelligence for me...I'm searching for the real thing... ; )
The first part of Angel Alexander I's look at market life can be found at HeavenGames central. We're not talking a trip to the downtown to the mall, but more of a central feature of life in many towns in the world. Hopefully in future writings AAI will be sharing more of his great photos with us, like the one of the giant Age of Kings banner! Haven't seen that one yet? Head to HG main for the picture and the tale. ...always seems to be sunny in his pictures from Colombia...even when it's cloudy...how's he do that? ; )
The latest in this series of weekly downloads from Ensemble Studios is the real world map of Britain. It has been added to the two previous real world maps released, Texas and the Caribbean, which you can also snag here.
Is there a particular real world map you've got to get your hands on? Head to their Real World Maps page and vote in the poll which will decide which map is the next to be released! ...Byzantium and Sea of Japan are tied for first right now...go Byz! ; )
In today's CompUSA ad, there is a new box set of city building games. "The Great Empires Collection" combines Caesar 3, Pharaoh and Cleo x-pak for only $29.99 after the instant $20 coupon. Not bad!
Not bad? I'd say !
EMPIRE EARTH HEAVEN 100 copies of EE beta on the wall, take one down,.... Posted 2/17/2001 @ 10:19 PM EST by Angel Park
Our last week poll was very amazing since a lot more people voted, and the results weren't what I expected. While 49 out of 228 voters said they've been an EE Fan for 4 months or so, and 43 fans said they've been devoted for over a year. There really must be some fans hiding away from the forums or something
This week's poll asks how many beta copies do you think will be given out?
The winner of Empire Earth Heaven's Toon contest for the first week is Enrique Orduno. He sent in three toons although this one caught my eye:
Enrique will get a signed Empire Earth calendar and now has a chance at the grand prize. Better luck to everyone that entered and be sure to do everything that the rules said. Hopefully we'll be seeing more creative cartoons this week.
The winners will be announced soon. I'm very sorry, but it seems I had to work a lot longer than I had expected and got home about 40 minutes ago. While I did pick 2 possible winners, it seems that they may of not followed all the rules. Therefore I must first contact me and if I don't get an answer soon than I'll have to pick someone else. Please remember everyone to read the rules which includes signing the people list and sending the toon attached to the email. Also we didn't get that many people this week which means all you who didn't try must have a good chance so take out your image editor and start making toons
VG Ranger from Empire Earth Command Center has posted an article about his visits to Stainless Steel Studios. It seems like there is someone from every game site that has gone there now. The article is a good read with photos of the building and its crew. Here is just a little bit of what it provides:
Saturday testing usually runs from midmorning to midafternoon, and lunch is provided. Testing is overseen by a representative from the company who assigns balancing tasks (i.e. “see how many archers it takes to beat X swordsmen” . In addition to small scenario battles, there’s usually time to fit in a few full team games, starting in whichever epoch is under the microscope for that day.
Thanks to David Masters for reminding me that, unless you adventure creators want people to edit your adventures, the only files you need to include in the adventure zip file are the .pak, .mp3 and .txt ones.
As for extracting, either of the following procedures can be applied:
1) using WinZip, open the zip file you want to extract and play, and click the 'Extract' button... down in the right corner is a button that says 'Create New Folder' -- use that, and create a new folder (usually named after the adventure you're extracting) in the Zeus\Adventures directory in your game. Extract the zip to that directory, and you're ready to go.
*OR*
2a) in Windows Explorer, find your game directory and click on the Zeus\Adventures directory so the folder icon is highlighted. 2b) under the File menu, choose 'New' ---> 'Folder' 2c) the new folder will appear in your Zeus\Adventures directory, labelled "new", with the label highlighted -- name it whatever you want, though usually you will name it after the adventure you're downloading, and hit Enter. 2d) extract the zip file into that new folder.
Feast your eyes on the wonderful unit artwork done by GSC, in the new Units Gallery. If you think those ships looked awesome in game, wait 'till you see them in their full-sized glory!
I just want to take a moment to thank Angel Spineman for all his hard work on developing our blacksmith software. Thanks to his efforts, and with the help of a few others, we now have over 2000 campaigns and scenarios for you to download. That doesn't even include the hundreds of other random map scripts, recorded games, utilities, etc. Also, a huge thanks goes out to everyone who submits these files. You could have the best download script ever written, but if no one uploads anything to it, it isn't worth much.
A few hours ago the ribbon was cut and the doors flew open! A pair of brand new ladders are up and it's time to start dragging yourself and your team up the rungs.
There is of course a RM Ladder, and a DM Ladder. Round up your pals and set up a team while there's still that new ladder smell!
If you're new on the MFO ladder scene, they've set up a couple of articles to set the scene for you. You can start with this quick "how to" that'll get you off and running. ...a little over 12 hours until the forum parties start! ...better get some beauty sleep... ; )
I believe that tomorrow is the first Saturday that Angel Park will be awarding an autographed EE Calendar in our EEToon Contest! Make sure that you've read the rules, and get your entry in to Angel Park as soon as possible.
If you need a little inspiration, click here to check out a toon by Angel Socrateius that should get you pointed in the right direction.
In need of materials? Head to our big ol' Screenshots Gallery and grab a few gorgeous screens to work with. Good luck! ...I've been crafting my own toon today...hard to keep these under 50k! ; )
A quick follow-up on some matters arising from the release of the EP an hour or so ago.
Our download section will now be receiving submissions of scenarios and custom adventures.
Custom adventures created in the Adventure Editor can only be played by people who are also running the Enhancement Pack. So, everyone without the US version will have to wait until March 31st to play these adventures.
There are now 2 new forums - one for map editing, and another where people who wish to collaborate in the creation of an adventure can meet up and make arrangements so to do.
I think that just about covers it. Here's hoping that, if the non-US EP versions can't be released before March 31st, Impressions will find a way of letting people play custom adventures without it.
Wow, the Scn Punk team is really building up a sizeable base of designers for their EE team! shadows166 has just made a post in the Scenario Design Forum outlining their openings:
"1) Scenario Designers: If you are applying for this area, make sure you send me your best piece of work. I only have AoK and AoK:TC. So make sure your design skills are in aok. If you have designed for StartCraft or something. Send me pics and what the storyline is about.
2)Site Designers: Graphic Experts, coding (Java..HTML ext.), or anything related to site creation. You must send me the URL of something you have created, or send me the graphic, code ext. you have created.
3) Writers/historians: Not many teams have these. But EEP will be a larger team, with numerous of openings. Writers much of course send me something they have wrote. Be it a story or poem. Your job will be to created stories for designers that aren't quite good in that area." -shadows166
Click on ye olde source link above to see how you can contact shadows166 and become apart of this talented team of designers!
If you're apart of another EE Scenario Design team and are looking for members, throw a post into the Scenario Design Forum or get in touch with us and we'll give you a plug. ...500,000 years of history/future...a little inspiration there for scenarios no? ; )
The nation known as Turkey was ruled by the Ottoman Turks during the 16th to 18th centuries. The empire peaked in power in the sixteenth century when it was the greatest Muslim empire in the modern era. Their influence even crossed over into Europe. It was the only other point in history other than the Muslim invasion into Spain in the 7th century that Islam seemed to establish a presence in Europe. Their Islamic influence is still very evident today as it was back in the 16th century.
I spotted another new high resolution image on the ES news page today. The latest of the random images that appear at the top was a very shirtless male villager. Hide your girlfriends and eat your heart out Tom Cruise!
Keep an eye out for that image, and snag the Turtle Boat and Petard wallpapers if you missed those. You can download these here, and the male villager will be added to this list shortly I am sure. ...no hooting or cat calls if they post the female villager... ; )
Forum Regular Caylynn spotted this page over at GameSpot, where you can download the Zeus Adventure Editor. Interestingly enough, there's no news of this at the official site at the time of posting (though it was announced an hour ago over at VE.
Oh well...everybody pile over to GameSpot - providing you have the US version, since that's all you can get at the moment. Here's the official word on that:
This version of the Official Zeus Enhancement Pack will work ONLY with the US version of Zeus: Master of Olympus. Trying to install it on other versions may have detrimental effects on the game. International versions of the enhancement pack will be available for download at the end of March.
End of March? A lot of people aren't going to be happy about that...
Update: The official site expands on the 'end of March' bit, announcing European versions will be ready on March 31st.
Ok, that was two questions, and MNBob posted a pile more that illustrate how different the game can be if you fiddle with the game settings. Any number of those settings can give the game a completely different feel and make players give up their old stand by strategies they've practiced for hours on end, or at the very least adapt them. The possibilies are endless. ...love those whacky settings games at forum parties... ; )
Former Studios member and co-founder of the brand spanking new Iron Lore development company, Brian Sullivan, has ended up in the clutches of Ogre! The Game Tropics Network webmaster, home of Through The Ages, talks to Brian about his plans, his reasoning, and more:
"Recently GT webmaster Ogre interviewed Brian Sullivan. Brian Sullivan was the co-creator of Age of Empires. In late 2000 he left Ensemble Studios, the developers of the Age of Empires series, to start his own company. Iron Lore Entertainment is the name of his new company and already they are hard at work on their game." -Ogre
It's a pretty well done interview. Brian as been interviewed by quite a few game sites lately and Ogre did a good job of getting more than just the standard replies. If you're interested in Iron Lore and the ambitious new title they are working on, drop in for a read. ...do ya think we've over used that "webmonster" title too much? ; )
Attention all frequenters of HeavenGames sites! From 11:00 PM EST of February 17 to 1:00 AM EST of February 18, all HeavenGames sites will be down to gain more power. I'm sure you all can survive two hours without us...or can you?
The game play itself is an interesting mix of resource management and strategy. Cossacks certainly plays heavily on the strategic element and the units have been designed to take advantage of this. Unlike other RTS games it's unadvisable to send your men piling into battle without some sort of strategic planning. Each unit type will perform better in certain formations or from strategic vantage points on the terrain. The formation system is an integral part of the game and assuming you have a commander on the battlefield with your troops they can be placed in just about any formation imaginable, from straight lines to protective box formations to protect artillery or command units. The inclusion of the formation system certainly adds to the game's appeal and the developers seem to have have pulled this off very well.
I'm feeling spoiled now. The gang at Ensemble Studios are now offering another new download today, something scenario and map designers will no doubt be interested in. You can now download the blank real world map for the Caribbean, a pirates
tonto_stickman has come up with a very interesting 
These are not just measly UBB forums, but ZCom forums which were developed by Empire Earth Manor's very own Zanardi! These forums have many more features than UBB and are easier to use, plus we've got the developer as an onboard administrator! You don't want to miss out on this, so check out the new forums 
ust received this message from Angel Draco:
!
