Empire Earth is a real-time strategy video game developed by Stainless Steel Studios and released on November 23, 2001. It is the first game in the Empire Earth series.
The game requires players to collect resources to construct buildings, produce citizens, and conquer opposing civilizations. Empire Earth spans 500,000 years of world history, which is divided into 14 epochs, beginning with the prehistoric age, and ending with the nano age.
An expansion pack was developed by Mad Doc Software called Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest, which was released on September 17, 2002. It added new features such as a special power for each civilization, and a new 15th epoch, entitled the Space Age, which focuses on the colonization of space planets.
Gameplay
Empire Earth is a history-based real-time strategy game. Empire Earth uses 3D graphics. The game itself contains many unique and innovative features, including a "morale" system, which directly affects individual units' statistics. It also incorporates a "hero" system. These can be built at the town center or capital. There are two types of heroes, Strategist heroes who heal surrounding units and can demoralize enemy units while Warrior heroes give morale to surrounding units and have greater attack power. 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 (at the time of release in 2001). 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.
With new epochs, some new units are available at the cost of having to abandon the ability to produce old units, though any old units still alive are kept. 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.
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 such as catapults are produced at siege factories, they are available starting from the Bronze Age until the Dark Ages and are later substituted by the trebuchet in the Middle Ages throughout the Imperial age, finally being replaced by cannons in the Renaissance. In the Atomic Age-World War I epoch some new buildings are made available to the player, such as airports, tank factories, and naval yards where certain planes, tanks, and submarines, etc. can be produced. In the Digital age Cyber Factories and Laboratories are available and can produce many types of mechs, referred to as "Cybers".
Like many real-time strategy games, there are technologies available to improve a 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, speed, and attack of a civilization's citizens, a hospital's healing rate and range, or the population capacity. Education upgrades are found in the university, which can protect units from being converted. Economic upgrades are found in the town center or capitol. These upgrades will increase the rate at which resources are gathered.
Empire Earth has 21 civilizations, (with two additional ones in The Art of Conquest). Civilizations are predetermined in scenarios but chosen by the player shortly after the beginning of random map games. Each civilization has several bonuses such as increased speed or decreased cost for a type of unit. Any civilization can be played in any epoch but will only be powerful in ages that use units that it has bonuses for. In scenarios, the player receives "civ points" for completing various tasks. The following are the available civilizations, grouped into their recommended epochs. With the exception of the futuristic Novaya Russia and Rebel Forces, all civilizations in Empire Earth are based upon history. From the Prehistoric to Dark Ages, the civilizations are Ancient Greece, Assyrian Empire, Babylon, Byzantine Rome, Carthage, and the Kingdom of Israel. From the Middle Ages to the Industrial Age Austria, England, Franks, Kingdom of Italy, the Ottoman Empire, and Spain are available. From the Atomic Age to Modern times France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, and the United States are playable, and from Digital Age to Space Age China, Novaya Russia, and Rebel Forces are playable. Japan and Korea are added in the Art of Conquest expansion and belong in the "Digital Age to Space Age" group.
