Comments - Mattcs

I just tried this mod out for the original Empire at war. I don't know if this mod is dead; however, I'll put this up anyway. There are some neat ideas in this mod. Changing the space stations so they look like venator class cruisers is pretty cool; however, it can only be upgraded to level 2, which is a real negative during game play. Additionally, all space stations for both factions in game are made to look like venators so there is no variety between factions in this regard. I think that this mod is supposed to change the game play of skirmishes and it does a little bit but these changes are overall negatives for the game play experience. First off, the AI no longer appears to function properly and it does not build or deploy units in skirmish anymore, neither does it function well in Galactic Conquest. The AI simply works with pre-existing units and garrison spawns, which is not terribly exciting. Secondly, the mod's limitations in regards to space stations in skirmishes seriously hampers the game in Galactic Conquest mode. This is primarily because the production of space units at tech levels higher than 2 depend on the existence of a space station with the corresponding level. Since this mode limits space stations to level 2, no space units that correspond with tech levels 3 to 5 can be built. While playing this mod in it's current state, you will never see a Star Destroyer, Mon-cal Cruiser, or the Death Star to provide examples. This is a serious negative for the game play and if this mod is going to receive further development, I highly advise correcting this issue so that the full range of tech becomes available once more. Third, the unit variety. As the mod stands now, far more units are removed from game play than are added by the mod. Only a couple starfighter units , a small corvett class ship, and the ebon hawk are added into the game. Granted, seeing the ebon hawk in an EAW mod is unique and pretty cool; however, this doesn't compensate for the loss of the bulk of the space units that would otherwise be available when playing the vanilla version of the game. A plus that this mod brings into the game is the Ep. 3 music that is playing in the background instead of the normal EAW music. This is a nice touch that the mod brings into the game. If it was possible to give this mod a rating on a scale of 1-5, I would give the mod a 1.5, moving in the direction of a 2 but still only halfway there. This is because the mod in practice removes much more content than it adds, though it does add some nice touches in terms of music and the unique presence of the Ebon Hawk. If anyone is thinking of downloading this mod, go ahead and enjoy it; however, be aware that you'll be playing a very reduced version of the game and that the novelty will probably wear off after the first 10 or so minutes of game play.