This is my honest opinion on the mod, and if some people can't take that I am telling it has a few problems and it is not perfect, then close this tab right away.
Let's face it everyone. We all needed a good Star Wars game.
Yes, there are some very well made FPS, TPS, fighter simulators and other games, but considering strategy games... well... Let's be honest. We never had anything really good.
Rebellion was way worse than most of the games of it's time, Battlegrounds was a reskinned Age of Empires II, but then Empire at War came and the salvation with it. I still remember when I first played with it and I said that: "yes, this is something.". A game which had both ground and space battles, not to mention a Galactic Conquest. It's not a wonder there are still so many modders out there for EaW, even to this day.
The problem was, It was not lining up with other games. Proton torpedoes and rockets passed trough shields when the Expanded Universe (EU), especially the X-Wing video game series clearly established that they don't(or everyone would have destroyed an SSD with one torpedo in the bridge), the monstrossity called the ground battles, bad development choices like only Rogue squadron could destroy the Death Star...(Meaning Zann Consortium had no counter) The best solution that had been created was Imperial Civil War.
This mod was daring. Even if not unique, but between the very few mods which dared to come out of the comfort of the Rebellion Era and did not went to the Clone Wars Era. Instead of these, it went ahead in time, showing many people what happened AFTER Endor. Many people didn't even knew that there was Star Wars after Endor. This was the mod what made some of us want to know more about the Expanded Universe. Is the mod perfect? Sure as hell... NOT.
Is this a problem? Not... that much. It is still a pretty good game. Yes, it is as good as a new game, so in my dictionary, it is.
Torpedoes does not pierce right trough shields, the ships which had fighter squadrons finally all have them properly represented, and they don't need micromanaging because every single fighter got the Hunt ability. The scales are finally accurate and the weapon systems finally got some justice. The modders also fixed the "unsalvageable" ground battles as much as they were able to and presented us with new Galactic Conquests. But the pathfinding still sucks. Especially in the GCs. But let's go into details.
The units:
Improved the graphics to a much better state, on a much larger than original unit rooster. It is not the mod with the most units in game. Is this a problem? Absolutely not. Only adds as many units as it have to. They single handedly recreated ships from small pieces of information they could find. With hard work and much care, they created many many units from picures showing only the sides of a ship, and many from only descrbed in texts. This however led to many "mistakes" when concept arts of those ships came to life, not to mention that they had different models in other mods, many people calling theirs crappy. Of course some models have problems, like the ships' engines does not taking damage or the missles and torpedoes shot against the ship are passing right under it giving me a constant headache, especially when I see 20 of them in the same fleet.
The gameplay/ ground:
The ground battles are better than the vanila game, but they are still... well... crap. The only factor deciding which infantry unit is going to win in a battle is only decided by only one factor: Which one will stop and turn to the enemy first. If your unit was the first to stop you surely won unless they have reinforcements. I experienced many times that units are just standing there, shooting the ground because there is an enemy in a lower or an upper level and the terrain is in the way, and sometimes there is a small elevation or a hole in a reinforcement point making my units stuck there as soon as they reached the ground, giving me an annoying disadvantage, especially if that is one of my most powerful units.
The civilians on the other hand was a surprise. Finally I was not able to win a battle just because I had them in my side. Yes, they still give you an advantage and they could still turn a battle around, but as I experienced it, they are not as powerful as they were in EaW. The only problem with them that only the humans are represented. Did everyone else just died or what? Yes, I see that this means there is less data in this already enormous mod, but the vanila game's aliens have also disappeared. Why? Also one world only supports one party. It could be so much better represented if the aliens support the NR for their politics, some humans the IR, some the NR... Why not? (of course only if necessary)
The gameplay/Space:
The space is the biggest improvement in the whole game. Every single ship looks beautiful, Their armament and escort is much better represented, I already told the torpedo thing 2 times, and the fighters are still useable. Wait, what? Yes. The fighters are not as OP as in the vanila game, but the capital ships also lost anti fighter weapons, therefore giving the fighters and especially the bombers a new, more accurate roll. in EaW 9 bombers(3 squadrons) were able to destroy a star destroeyer. 9 god damn bomber. In ICW the fighters are not a method to just overrun an enemy, but instead supporting role next to the Capitals, as they should be. The rebels could just attack the death star 2 with 100 X wings only but the end result would have been catastrophic. And if we are talking about capitals... They are so much better represented. Each ship has a role in a fleet.
The best thing about space is though: THERE AREN'T 100 UNITS FOR EVERY FACTION. Some says the more the merrier. I don't think so. If you want 150 ships fore everyone go play with the Yoden or Alliance mod. If you want to play a mod where everything is (mostly) balanced out, have a role to play and feels much more like it should, then you are in the right place. Nothing unnecessary, everything has it's purpose. I think nobody could have done this better. My never dying respect for everyone in the mod team for this feat.
The AI:
Well, what can I say? This is something the mod had limited access to modify, but they still managed to give it some juice. congratulations for that one.
The GCs:
You can find it, whatever you are searching for. from the very small to the huge, everything is represented, inculding the From the Ground Up. Tech system removed, but instead there are different Eras, everyone is always in the same Era and every era differs from the one before. Even if your own rooster does not change a bit, someone else's surely do, therefore you have to change your strategies accordingly. You can only go trough hyperspace lines in ICW, therefore no more surprises, however this have a downside too. This feat causes problems with the pathfinding and I experienced on multiple occasions that my fleet goes trough the whome galaxy to reach a planet 3 jumps from it's original location.
There are GCs for specific eras, and there are GCs for all of them. There are even GCs with unique unit roosters and/or playable factions.
The Voice acting:
Definitely one of the stronger sides of the mod. There are lots of new VOs in this mod. The only problem I can name with them is the wide gap between the best and the worst. The worst for me is Issard's itro speech. I could barely hear it, therefore It would have been hard to understand, only the text saved it from being a 100% fail, and right after that came Thrawn's intro and it blew my mind it was so good. I know for sure(from a reliable source) that some VOs will be redone for 2.2 and lots of new ones will come in too. And I don't have any right to judge or praise some of them because they will bemy doings, and I know that it would not be fair to tell a VO sucks and mine is much better, because they might turn out to be worse for most of you. I am waiting for your criticism on them.
Final thoughts:
This mod is one of the bests I have ever seen, and definitely portrays the EU as it should. I hope the team will continue it's great work for a long time, even if balance had been shifted to Ascendancy. It has many mistakes which could wreck one's nerves from time to time, but nothing mayor. It is surely a fun to play game for everyone who loves EaW, and even is to some of those who hate it.
This was my rewiev on this game please let me know if I left out something mayor or you think I was unfair in some points.
edit: fixed some grammar issues and clarified a few things better.
Ps.: disregard the lack of civilians part. for details read the comments bellow
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