Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest

Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest, also known as AoC, is the official expansion pack for the real-time strategy game Empire Earth. Art of Conquest was developed by Mad Doc Software, and was released on 17 September 2002 in the United States. The game was released in Europe later in the year, and the following year in Japan. The Gold Edition of Empire Earth, which features both the original and the expansion, was released on 6 May 2003.

Art of Conquest added several new features to the original Empire Earth, including new units, new civilizations (Japan and Korea), civilization powers, and new hero units. Art of Conquest also features three new campaigns: Ancient Rome, World War II, and 24th Century Mars. The game received mixed reviews, averaging 66% on Game Rankings.

Gameplay

 * For further information see Empire Earth Gameplay.

The gameplay in Art of Conquest is the same as in the original Empire Earth, albeit with some changes. Variable difficulty has been added to those scenarios which had not received it in a patch of the original Empire Earth. Online multiplayer capabilities has been added, allowing players to play online with up to 7 other players either over the internet via a lobby system, or over a local area network (LAN).

The new Space Age (Epoch XV) allows the building of spaceports and spaceships on maps that allow it. Robots replace Citizens in the Nano Age and infantry in the Space Age (these robots are known as Watchmen). Nano age Farms are run by robots, and by the Space Age farms no longer need citizens to manage them. Each civilization has its own power, or "Civ Power". Often, these powers are only available during certain epochs. A Civ Power gives each nation a specialty: the Chinese, for example, have the "just-in-time manufacturing" ability; while the Japanese have the powerful "cyber ninja" ability.

Empire Earth supports multiplayer games over LAN connections and online. Multiplayer games are identical in form to single player games. Art of Conquest multiplayer play has many exploits, which players can use to give themselves an unfair advantage. The game's publisher, Vivendi Games, has set up forums where players can report exploits. The multiplayer servers were taken offline on 1 November 2008, players are only able to play through Local area network.

Campaigns
Three new campaigns were added in The Art of Conquest: a Ancient Roman campaign about Gaius Marius and Julius Caesar, a campaign involving the warfare in the Pacific Ocean during World War II, and a futuristic Asian campaign involving the colonization of Mars.

Roman Campaign
The Roman campaign revolves around the struggles of Marius and the conquests of Julius Caesar. The campaign comprises six distinct scenarios. The first scenario begins in the late Roman Republic. The player can conscript citizens and must as Gaius Marius defeat a the combined horde of the Teutons and the Cimbri's invasion of Italy in 102 BC, 101 BC. Then the story moves into an alternate reality where Gaius Marius flee from Lucius Cornelius Sulla to the roman Carthage, where he must defeat Jughurtian bandits in order to get the Carthaginian's support ( war Elephants and sea transport-ships ). In this scenario, the player achieve victory by killing Sulla's loyal senators and liberating Rome from his Dictatorship. The remaining four scenarios are about Julius Caesar's rise in power. It covers Caesar's exile into Greece and Asia Minor, where he gets help avoiding capture from Greek bounty hunters by a Pirate King on Crete. In Asia Minor he must help the King of Bythnia against rebels who have taken over Mytiline/Lesbos. The scenario ends with a show off with Sulla's eastern Legion in Macedonia. the next scenario depicts Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul and the invasion of Britain.the player starts in the roman province of Hispania, modern Spain. There he must collect and deliver a large amount of resources within a certain time in order to pay Marcus Crassus for his support in Rome, while fighting off local barbarians. the scenario continues with the migrating Helvetti trying to settle down in Spain by cross the Pyrenees mountains. after defeating the Helvetti, the player leads his army into Gaul and subdues the various Gallic tribes, including the Ambrose, Belgians, the Suebi and Celts in Britain.

The Fifth scenario follows Caesar's war with his former ally and friend Pompey. This scenario starts with the famous crossing of the Rubicon, his conquest of Italy and the short Greek campaign, which ends at the battle of Pharsalus.

The final scenario details his conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt, where he must choice which side to help; Cleopatra VII or Ptolemy XIV. Both have their advantages:

helping Cleopatra gives control of the large city of Alexandria, where the player starts in and must then hold off Ptolemy XIV's forces from capturing town centers inside the city, and then win by destroying Ptolemy's desert camps outside the city.

helping Ptolemy XIV is harder. the player must quickly move his soldiers out off Alexandria and escape or risk being overwhelmed by Cleopatra's forces. he must then regroup outside in one of Ptolemy's camps in the desert and then capture the towncenters inside the city in order to achieve victory.

If the player chooses to help Cleopatra, Ptolemy will after the player have played a certain time, send soldiers towards the Great pyramid of Cheops and try to make it lose half its hitpoints. If they succeed, the player is defeated and must then load a saved game(although a script bug allows the player to destroy the pyramid by simply selecting it and pressing delete without being defeated, thus permanently preventing Ptolemy from damaging an already destroyed building).

Pacific Campaign
The Pacific campaign comprises six distinct scenarios. The opening scenario lets the player control the Battle of Midway. This scenario concludes with the sinking of Japanese aircraft carriers Akagi, Sōryū, Kaga and Hiryū. Then the story covers the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1943, and later the island-hopping campaign directed by Douglas MacArthur which involves killing Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. The next scenarios include a special mission in Burma, the Battle for Leyte Gulf, and the reconquest of Leyte. The story concludes with the Battle of Iwo Jima, which is the shortest scenario in the game. It is completed by sending five marines to the southern tip of the Island. This refers to the famous image of US Marines raising the flag of the United States at Mount Suribachi. See Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima

Asian Campaign
This campaign is told from the perspective of the Kwan Do family, an influential family who claim to be descendants of the Qin Dynasty, and is split into two parts. Part One details the colonization of Mars. As soon as it is discovered that it is possible to colonize Mars, the major superpowers of Earth scramble to develop the technologies and resources needed to establish settlements. One of these powers is the newly-formed United Federation of Asian Republics (UFAR), founded and ultimately controlled by the Kwan Do family. The Kwan Do family are the rich owners of Kwan Do Electronics and Communications. The UFAR government struggles to suppress local rebellions and terrorist activities by the Eye of God, an extremist organization who claim that Earth should be the only home to mankind. Meanwhile, the UFAR also struggles to develop a colonial programme competing against rival superpowers. A UFAR colony on Mars is eventually built, with help from Japan, alongside settlements built by the US/Canadian Conglomerate, the European Union of Nations, Novaya Russia, and the Republic of Japan. With these colonies established, Mars is divided into five regions. Part Two is set 250 years after the first part, during the Space Age Epoch. The Kwan Do dynasty has been overthrown, and harsh conditions on Mars and an increasingly negative perception of the Earth governments have finally forced the Martian colonists into rebellion. During the revolutions, Khan Sun Do, a descendant of the Kwan Do family, unites the five territories. With the acquisition of Space Battleship Yamato, the Martians fight an inter-planetary war against Earth to secure their independence. The campaign ends with the last battle for Martian independence and the installation of Khan Sun Do as the first leader of Mars.

Eras/Ages

 * 1) Prehistoric Age
 * 2) Stone Age
 * 3) Copper Age
 * 4) Bronze Age
 * 5) Dark Age
 * 6) Middle Age
 * 7) Renaissance
 * 8) Imperial Age
 * 9) Industrial Age
 * 10) Atomic - WW1 (World War 1)
 * 11) Atomic - WW2 (World War 2)
 * 12) Atomic - Modern
 * 13) Digital Age
 * 14) Nano Age
 * 15) Space Age (New Age!)

Development and release
The Art of Conquest expansion pack for Empire Earth was announced in May 2002 by Sierra (the game's original publisher, later taken over by Vivendi). The development of the game was turned over to Mad Doc Software from Stainless Steel Studios because Stainless Steel were already working on Empires: Dawn of the Modern World. According to Steve Beinner, the brand manager of the Empire Earth series, Empire Earth's expansion pack was planned even before the original game was released. The developers listened to feedback from the game community and planned the new features and release schedule accordingly. In an interview with IGN.com, Steve Beinner said "People were asking for additional scenarios and extra units. That's based upon surveys we did and distributors on a worldwide basis."

Work on Art of Conquest began in early 2002, with a planned release date later that same year. The developers decided "the game won't be present at E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), because of the tight development schedule and the fact that Sierra didn't want the developers to be distracted by creating an E3 demo." Beta testing for Art of Conquest began on 5 August 2002, and consisted of a single multiplayer map that could be played through all 15 of the expansion pack's ages, allowing players to try out all the new features of the game. Art of Conquest was included in the release of the Empire Earth Gold Edition, which was a re-release of both Empire Earth and Art of Conquest.

Critical Reception
The overall reception of Art of Conquest was lukewarm. Game Rankings averaged it at 66%, and Metacritic averaged it slightly lower, at 63%. IGN, who gave it a 7.8 out of 10, stated "While it's a solid game, there's just not enough here to compel me to reawaken the substantial addiction the first game generated. Whether or not it's worth it for you to pick this one up depends almost entirely on how much you enjoyed the original game. With so few significant changes it plays almost exactly the same. For those who couldn't get enough of Empire Earth, the expansion should be a perfect fit. Just don't expect the breadth and scope of the first game." Armchair Empire gave the game a 6.8 out of 10, and commented "AoC doesn’t exactly bring any shame or disgrace to Empire Earth (EE), but it doesn’t do anything to make itself a must have for EE fans. That being said, most EE fans will like what AoC has to offer." Finally, GameSpot gave it a 5.2 out of 10, and said "Ultimately, The Art of Conquest doesn't add enough to make much of a difference." A notable criticism from GameSpot was regarding the way Space was implemented in the game. Spaceships were only available on certain maps and the gameplay was very similar to water—a dock-type building is built and spaceships travel much like naval ships. Other reviewers found fault with the game's price of 30 USD. The IGN reviewer said "I like Art of Conquest enough but it just falls short of being worth the $30 price tag."

Art of Conquest's music was never released as a soundtrack CD, but the music in the game received critical approval, receiving 7 out of 10 from GameSpot. IGN described the sound as "convincing enough, with realistic battle noises throughout the game's various ages. Each type of attack makes a particular sound and, after a while, you can develop a good sense of the scope of a given battle just by listening to it". IGN gave the sound 7 out of 10 overall, but did have some criticism, remarking that "A few glitches detract from an otherwise sufficient soundtrack. Voices are decent and the music is good.