Web-Hax

I’ve been playing this mod quite a bit recently, so I thought I’d share with you what it is all about.

Because I’m so god damn lazy, I’ll copy paste the about page from their website here (accessible here):

Empires is a revolutionary mod, currently in the BETA stages of development. It utilises Valve’s Source engine, which is also the basis for commercial titles such as Half-Life 2. The gameplay in Empires combines elements of both FPS and RTS gaming. One player from either team is elected to act as a Commander: playing the game from a top-down perspective, his role is to construct bases and co-ordinate his troops. The remainder of the team act as soldiers, playing the game from a first person perspective in the field. At their disposal is a wide variety of fully-customizable armoured vehicles and – in a future release – aircraft.

Ultimately it is up to the Commander to determine his team’s strategy, which will decide whether or not his team is victorious. As a soldier, it is up to you to follow your Commander’s orders and take part in direct combat against the enemy. If, however, the Commander is not acting in the team’s best interest, he can be voted out just as easily as he was voted in.

As the game progresses, upgrades become available in several forms. Firstly, the radar’s ability to communicate over long distances allows instructions for more advanced equipment to be sent to your vehicle factories. This includes better engines, weapons and armor – with which you can equip vehicles as you see fit. Soldiers are also promoted in rank, in recognition of the contributions they make to their team. This gives them the opportunity to learn powerful new skills, such as the Scout’s ability to hide from enemy sight, or the Engineer’s capacity to revive fallen comrades.

Battles take place in a wide variety of locations: from intense infantry combat in the alleyways and buildings of an urban district, to sprawling tank battles across open desert plains, this is very much a global war.

As you may have guessed, Empires is class-based, and allows a choice between four different infantry classes:

• The Engineer is probably the most used class in the game. They are armed with a standard pistol, an SMG (two variants), seismic grenades (which destroy enemy buildings), and an Engineer Tool used for building structures dropped by the commander, and personal engineer structures such as turrets, cameras and walls.
• The Rifleman is designed for taking out enemy foot soldiers. They are armed with a pistol (two variants), an assault rifle (three variants), explosive grenades (two variants), and increased armour.
• The Grenadier is capable of laying waste to enemy vehicles and small buildings. They are armed with a pistol (two variants), an RPG / Mortar, mines, and a mine detector.
• The Scout is a disruption class designed to annoy the enemy. They can be armed with an SMG (two variants) or a scoped rifle, a pistol, smoke / concussion / stun grenades, and a pair of binoculars. They can also sabotage enemy buildings.
• The Commander is a special role which only one person can play per round. They can drop buildings, conduct research for the team, and give orders. When the teams in a round are equally skilled, the commanders ability usually acts as the decider.

Why is this game so fun?

If you aren’t serious about playing the game (and believe me, there are a fair few who are), the game can be pretty funny. Vehicle maneuvering tends to be hilarious, as tanks roll on to the battlefield and are blown up by mines, missile turrets, RPG’s, and other tanks. Jeeps can also be seen flying around the place from time to time.

The command vehicle (the objective of most games) also gets owned a lot.

But I suppose its also fun always coming up with new ways to win a round. There are many kinds of technologies at your disposal, such as rail guns, plasma cannons, guided and homing missile launchers, biological weaponry, and nukes. I’ve been playing the game since last year, and I’m still seeing new ways in which a map can be won. It’s very interesting indeed.

If you want to join me in this game, you can download it from the official website for free. Most players can be found on the VIPER (US) server (75.102.12.98:27015), or the Main (Euro) server (81.19.209.199:27015).

See you on the battlefield.

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EDIT: I’ve done up a new Australian Empires server for the UDN clan, accessible at 202.60.89.64:27015