Empire at War: Remake 5.0 – [OFFICIAL]
Welcome back Commander.
This is the Public Test Build for the latest and likely last version of the Empire at War Remake mod. It is the product of a monumental effort by many modders pouring heart and soul into its code, gameplay, unit design, visual effects and so much more.
Steam launch path: STEAMMOD=3689306867
Over the years much of the team has left the community and as of now, I am the only active developer on the main mod. 5.0, just like 4.0, had to be dragged across the finish line kicking and screaming, and to my shame, I never quite got it there completely. In this build there is some unfinished content. And despite every game mode being playable, and some parts of the mod being quite operational when your friends arrive, especially in lategame GC there are untested parts of content. Non the less, this should be minimal, and there are no crashes, game locks or other showstoppers that I am aware of. There is more that could be done to improve the mod further, but as the sole dev, I have quite simply moved on from my hobby, modding. For about a year I’ve pushed the moment of release into the future waiting for the love of the modding process to return, it has not, and so now is the time to release the admittedly not-as-perfect-as-I’d-like but non the less best version of Remake that’s ever been assembled.
This will happen in two phases, this is the Public Test Build. Here you volunteer as the guinee pig. The one braving the experience. You will run the gauntlet. You will see the content, and whenever you find something that I haven’t found, something that seems off, something weird or not proper, you report it back, here on the steam page, or on our discord server: https://discord.gg/akyJtbHB
I will then fix the greatest of these problems.
A hard sharp look at our mod and how it plays: No more having content to have it, what is actually fun to play? Does this improve the gameplay experience? Is this fun to play, or add needless complexity just to have it? This has been the working thesis of 5.0 and it features:
– Functional Multiplayer space skirmish:
No desyncs and crashes, everyone participating must have the same version of the mod or you won’t be able to join the lobby, and the skirmish has been meticulously balanced for both singleplayer vs AI and for multiplayer. Tested up to 6 players in multiplayer.
– Updated Galactic Conquest maps:
They work better, they have more routes to take, more balanced starting positions, and better balanced economy and population systems.
– Reworked tech system:
Tech level progression is redone completely and better. See screenshots.
– Updated unit design and new units:
Much improved gameplay. No more units or stations with a million hitpoints. Proper armor systems, and weapons to counter it. While this is a from-the-ground-up complete recode, the goal from the start was it has to be easy to understand, it has to make sense, it must be intuitive, and most of all, it must be a ton of fun. Don’t be intimidated, this is much easier to pick up than 4.0 at the start and has a lot more depth at the end.
– Updated starbase and ground structures:
Now more intuitive, less dead-lock-feeling on the Galactic map. Also better balanced. Now all main three factions have unique basic starbases, not just unique models but they function entirely differently both in combat and on the GC map.
– Smarter and hardcore AI:
The AI is the core of any single player game. Our new heavily upgraded and from-the-ground-up ai design can and will surprise, both in skirmish and on the galactic map. The AI does not cheat in health, damage, or other combat stats, but they still receive more money, and on higher difficulty build slightly faster than the player. But most of all, they make better decisions, and they will drop a battlecruiser right next to your frigate if it’s unprotected.
– A "Free mode" for both ground and space:
The Free mode maps in skirmish let you build whatever units and easily set up fights against the ai. The ai for this mode is disabled.
– An "Encounter mode" for space:
You set a budget for yourself and the AI. You then build units with that budget, and hit ready. The AI does the same, and you don’t know what that is. You then start on either side of the map and duke it out. The AI has many build lists of types of fleets and unit combinations that were custom set to ensure competence. The AI is active here.
– New class system for space ships:
Corvettes that are survivable, useful and filled to the brim with utility and special abilities, also supporting passives such as always-on Point-Defense to help protect larger ships. They come in pairs now. It is getting out of hand. Frigates that come in every sort and shape and size, with endurance to last and manoeuvrability that you can get them out of a nasty situation before they take too much damage. Destroyers that are hardy and very cost effective, but have a harder time hitting smaller targets. Battlecruisers are the very fast, some of the fastest units in the mod, combining speed with high-impact firepower but little endurance. Battleships, slow, sturdy, long-range, the center of every fleet. Carriers and support-Carriers and Dreadnoughts and more. Better unit descriptions. What does this unit do, how does it do it. And readable stats. Carriers show what starfighters they carry on their unit icons. And more.
– All the good parts of 4.0:
4.0 had a lot of good. That’s still here. Now it’s better, with a relentless focus on the fun of playing the game, while still being hard as nails if you pick a higher difficulty. Some of the good parts that are still here:
The Audio has always been an important part of the experience, with thousands upon thousands of unique sounds and voice lines and music from your favorite Star Wars content. A sleek and updated UI, with unit filters letting you easily cycle through buildable units, as well as an extended build bar. The Web Way GC still has the many different areas it used to have such as Sectors and Systems of several planets together.
– Removed attrition systems that cause credit loss for losing units. Removed weird starfighter behaviour in space. Removed credit cost for bombing runs on ground. Removed the Regiment system on the ground. Removed pitch-black lighting on maps. Removed a bunch more of these systems that did not add to the gameplay experience:
As a final item I want to list these things to further emphasize how the driving force of a lot of our efforts was to focus on what was fun to play, and to remove things that weighed the gameplay experience down. There are numerous changes that remove roadblocks from the player in everything from the UI, to core gameplay systems. Faction colours are now more easily visible. Starfighter icons have an outline again for better visibility. Buildings on the GC map have little plusses and minusses with credit and population icons on their very icon to make instantly clear when looking at the build bar what they do and what building you need. This is the best version of Remake there’s ever been, just for these changes alone.
I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has worked on this. When I say monumental effort you’ve no idea how much time from how many people this took. Our own team, but also people on other mod teams that helped along the way, and our submodders who have their own projects that we try to support as best we can. Thank you. A full credit list of course is included in the mods download.
Don’t forget to post about your experience playing the mod, good or bad! On our discord server, or just here. Reading those is one of my favourite parts of any release.
Revisions:
Old revisions of this mod are available below. Click the link to download.
