Recommend some EOW mods

[Crossroads Inc.]

So for Christmas my artner got me an old copy of Empires at War to play on my mac after finally finding a copy of the game. Having been enthralled with it after following Stargliders "Lets Play EOW' thread several months back, I'd been itching to try it.

After finally getting it, I realized just how heavily modded Stargliders game was And how limiting the stock game is. As far as I have found thus far... No options to make a custom map, no customizable options for planets or names, ad the unit lists that come with it are a joke.

So what are some good mmods to instal to liven things up?

[Marko Dash]

found most of the ones i use here, the game uses .xml files for most things so it's very easy to change things with just wordpad.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Yeah, since posting this I found quite a few mods and am looking at how to put them in, don't know the first thing about xml, but my partner should be able to help.

What I am really looking for is the mod, or series of mods 'Starglider" used for his thread months ago. One of the things upon having the game that frustrates me is how ridgid it is. There is little to no custom options for changing things, planets, or maps.

That and because the game is so old it is hard finding good overviews and tips. First thing I learned is the Empire is WOEFULLY outmatched on the ground in terms of units. I often have to 'lay seige' to a planet and send in several large tank forces before taking out what seems an inferior Rebel force.

[HSRTG]

With regards to ground battles, I usually mass produce some light vehicle, and then auto-resolve. It can be a bit expensive when dealing with heroes, but it saves frustration.

How to install a mod. Place the folder of the mod inside the Mods folder in the game folder. Create a shortcut to the exe, then add "MODPATH=Mods\YourModFolderName" without the quote marks and with the obvious change.

I recommend modding the game to increase the space unit cap to 50, for all of these mods. If you want I can give you instructions on this. It makes the space battles crazy awesome. Also, all of these mods are for Forces of Corruption. I cannot speak to ground battles due to my advice above, so these are recommended on the basis of the space combat.

Phoenix Rising is essentially X-Wing Alliance as an RTS. If you have a decent computer by two years ago's standards, you can run it fine. It comes with several Galactic Conquest maps that are all kinds of awesome. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

z3r0x XP is what Starglider was running, with a few changes. Ask him what he did specifically, I don't know. The Rebels have massive advantages all around in that (if you want my rant, I'll hand it out), but it's still fun to play. I recommend disabling the concentrate fire special ability on the Recuscant Frigate that the Consortium has, though. When a dozen of those go off at once it slows things down beyond a crawl.

Absolute Corruption is interesting. It's more like z3r0x than Phoenix Rising, but that doesn't really do it justice. Try it out. It greatly expands space choices, Star Destroyers and Mon Calamari Cruisers are lightish medium units in this mod. Word of advice: The Executor SSD sucks.

A new one for me, Thrawn's Revenge is at the 1.0 stage and there's a patch coming out sometime in the future. It's a greatly expanded game that is primarily focused on the EU timeline and Galactic Conquest mode. The AI is a bit buggy (Hundreds. Of. Fleet. Commanders.), and auto resolve in space is broken. Still, it's worth checking out. SSDs are actually awesome in this mod (MWAHAHAHAHAHA enjoy the wall of fire rebel scum), and it takes a solid dozen or so MC80b's or equivalent to reliably take one down. The graphics are very pretty for EaW.

If you're looking for vanilla EaW mods, I have two recommendations. First, is Ages of Star Wars. It's a KotOR mod. Play as the Republic for the Galactic Conquest map and set the difficulty to hard. Good luck with that. Enjoy the Ravager swarms. The Sith variation isn't any good. A solid mod otherwise is Ultimate Empire at War. Its feel is very much like the regular game, but greatly expanded.

Have fun.

[Crossroads Inc.]

I PM'ed Starglider a while ago but I think he is pretty busy these days and away from the forum a lot.

I'd ask for your rant, but I bet I'd be distill it down to "Rebels Horribly overpowered"
That, and also the fact that they can land forces on your planet even with a fleet of ISD's in orbit over head.

Looking at your mods I already think I will repurchase the PC version so I can get the expansion since that is PC only. Also it looks like the mods add the varity I am looking for. I really could not believe that you have a grand total of SIX starships you can build in the whole game. I keep thinking I was missing things, but nope. ISD, Vic, Acca, Interdictor, 'Missile ship' and the Tartan.

I'll agree about ground combat. I started doing "resolve combat" using mostly tanks and SPHAT's and while the attrition is still high I usually end up winning.

Won't be till Wed that I can try installing all those but totally looking forward to it now.

EDIT: looking at the mod, how hard would it to have the Empire make "Dreadnaughts" along with the rebels? I really like those ships

[HSRTG]

I'd ask for your rant, but I bet I'd be distill it down to "Rebels Horribly overpowered"

If you run into three or more Liberator Carriers in a fleet, just auto resolve spam until they go away. I'll spare the other details. There's literally no other option.

That, and also the fact that they can land forces on your planet even with a fleet of ISD's in orbit over head.

This is easy to fix, just keep a full garrison of your spammed light tanks. The AI never attacks those. Granted it's a lot of units, but the cost for those shouldn't be a problem.

EDIT: looking at the mod, how hard would it to have the Empire make "Dreadnaughts" along with the rebels? I really like those ships

If you're doing this with Ultimate Empire at War, the Empire does have the dreadnaught.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Well I went out and got a PC version of the game and the expansion and played around with it last night and WOW the corruption thing sucks balls. 20 turns in I am havig key planets rebel against me and lossing whole worlds. Decided to start up a new game as Zahn just to see what the fuss was about and accidently started a new game as the Rebels.

Never truely apprciated how wanked they were until 30 turns in when I defeated two ISD's, 2 Missile ships and 4 Tartans with just 6 Corvettes, 4 destroyers and a planetary ion cannon.

I would agure that the Ion cannon is OP'ed, but it does what it is supposed to do, where BS is, is that only the Rebels can build plaetary ion cannons.

[HSRTG]

Never truely apprciated how wanked they were until 30 turns in when I defeated two ISD's, 2 Missile ships and 4 Tartans with just 6 Corvettes, 4 destroyers and a planetary ion cannon.

ISDs and the like in vanilla games aren't meant to be line of battle ships. It's sad, but the way the game was made. They're meant only to be the extra punch of a line of medium ships.

I would agure that the Ion cannon is OP'ed, but it does what it is supposed to do, where BS is, is that only the Rebels can build plaetary ion cannons.

The Empire has the Hypervelocity Cannon. It's a giant railgun that ignores shields to do damage. I like it better if only because I generally build multiples whenever I build something, and rapid fire HC shots are hilariously effective.