Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds - Age of Galactic Empire

[Fanghawk]

Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds - Age of Galactic Empire

Star Wars: Galactic Battleground suffers in places from its Age of Empire origins but is still a solid, classic RTS that franchise and genre fans would do well to revisit.

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[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I found GB to be fairly solid. It wasn't the best RTS but it wasn't broken. I don't remember a whole lot of it but I do remember enjoying the heck out of it. May just pick this up.
Another SW strategy game I enjoyed immensely was the older Rebellion release, just a suggestion if you're going to revisit some other Star Wars games. I still play my old Rebellion disc from time to time.

 

[Neverhoodian]

Truth be told, one of the biggest draws this game had for me was its ease of customization. It came with a robust scenario editor that let you come up with whatever you wanted, from epic battles with hundreds of units to character-driven RPGs. There's still a thriving community that releases new levels and mods to this day.

 

[dragonswarrior]

In 5th grade I used the scenario editor on this game to construct each of the three days of the Battle of Gettysburg, then videotaped myself playing it for a class project.

I have the fondest memories of this game. I didn't care then that it was just AoE with a Star Wars skin, and may any and all gods help me I still don't care now. Ima 'bout to play the ever lovin' mess outa this game.

 

[Jingle Fett]

That's weird timing...just a couple of weeks ago I found my physical copy of Galactic Battlegrounds in an old box and on a whim installed it. I've been playing mostly that since then
Well that along with replaying Star Wars: Empire at War -> best space battles ever.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

I like empire at war more, even if it needs more depth, more units, more polish,ect.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

I remember having a demo of this, and playing the "Darth Vader on Yavin IV" level that appears in a few of the screenshots, but I could never find a full version for Mac. I did find Empire at War though, and that was (still is, in fact, still got it installed despite several changes of laptop) enormous fun, even if it does only have the two factions

 

[Buizel91]

just bought this game now from GOG, and i love it even more than i used to.

If any game needs a HD re-release, it's this one!

 

[Bindal]

I remember that game quite well. One of the better Star Wars Games I played (but it can't beat my opinion that Force Commander was done better)

 

[Starke]

I like empire at war more, even if it needs more depth, more units, more polish,ect.

Even if the Consortium are dull as hell to play.

But, yeah, EAW really is the Star Wars RTS to look at.

 

[Kahani]

One thing that did disappoint me, was that Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds doesn't really have space battles to speak of. There's a mission on an asteroid, but most levels put you in control of ground units. While you can unlock various spaceships, they're not actually going to space - just supporting your ground troop campaign. Granted, this probably stemmed from its Age of Empire origins. The Romans never went to space that I'm aware of. It's still something though, that keeps Galactic Battlegrounds from feeling like a "true" Star Wars strategy game.

I'd be fairly surprised if there isn't a mod around to add space battles. There was a scenario for Civ 2 that turned it into Master of Orion, and it's actually a pretty simple idea - paint most of the squares black and give them no production, replace units with pictures of spaceships. There's no reason you couldn't do exactly the same sort of thing within the AoE engine. Make it mostly a flat, featureless area with various types of asteroid instead of trees and other resources, and then it's just a matter of replacing unit models with spaceships.

I like empire at war more, even if it needs more depth, more units, more polish,ect.

I'm not sure they're really comparable. GB is a fairly traditional RTS with base building, resource gathering, and so on. EaW is a Total War-style empire building strategy game, with battles only fought by whatever units you've actually brought with you. They're both fun, but it's like comparing Total War games to C&C or Civ; despite various similarities to both, none of them really belong in the same genre at all.

 

[Rowan93]

One thing that did disappoint me, was that Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds doesn't really have space battles to speak of. There's a mission on an asteroid, but most levels put you in control of ground units. While you can unlock various spaceships, they're not actually going to space - just supporting your ground troop campaign. Granted, this probably stemmed from its Age of Empire origins. The Romans never went to space that I'm aware of. It's still something though, that keeps Galactic Battlegrounds from feeling like a "true" Star Wars strategy game.

I'd be fairly surprised if there isn't a mod around to add space battles. There was a scenario for Civ 2 that turned it into Master of Orion, and it's actually a pretty simple idea - paint most of the squares black and give them no production, replace units with pictures of spaceships. There's no reason you couldn't do exactly the same sort of thing within the AoE engine. Make it mostly a flat, featureless area with various types of asteroid instead of trees and other resources, and then it's just a matter of replacing unit models with spaceships.

Outside of the campaign mode, there's already an "asteroids" map type, which is like an "islands" map type except with space (only passable to air units) instead of sea, which I thought was close enough to a space battle. All you really need to do is make it feel like a "proper" one by expanding the range of ships besides fighter, bomber, transport, flying siege gun thing.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

One thing that did disappoint me, was that Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds doesn't really have space battles to speak of. There's a mission on an asteroid, but most levels put you in control of ground units. While you can unlock various spaceships, they're not actually going to space - just supporting your ground troop campaign. Granted, this probably stemmed from its Age of Empire origins. The Romans never went to space that I'm aware of. It's still something though, that keeps Galactic Battlegrounds from feeling like a "true" Star Wars strategy game.

I'd be fairly surprised if there isn't a mod around to add space battles. There was a scenario for Civ 2 that turned it into Master of Orion, and it's actually a pretty simple idea - paint most of the squares black and give them no production, replace units with pictures of spaceships. There's no reason you couldn't do exactly the same sort of thing within the AoE engine. Make it mostly a flat, featureless area with various types of asteroid instead of trees and other resources, and then it's just a matter of replacing unit models with spaceships.

I like empire at war more, even if it needs more depth, more units, more polish,ect.

I'm not sure they're really comparable. GB is a fairly traditional RTS with base building, resource gathering, and so on. EaW is a Total War-style empire building strategy game, with battles only fought by whatever units you've actually brought with you. They're both fun, but it's like comparing Total War games to C&C or Civ; despite various similarities to both, none of them really belong in the same genre at all.

GB is more micro management than I care to fool with, least from what I recall, I like War craft/Star Craft more so I enjoyed EAW to a point I really wish you could do base building and planetary defense/bases and such and give me a game mode with no real limits assuming you have resources to support the bases,ect ><

I split RTS/TBS into micromanagement and fun...er basic resource management ala War craft/Star Craft . LOL

 

[Bindal]

I'm not sure they're really comparable. GB is a fairly traditional RTS with base building, resource gathering, and so on. EaW is a Total War-style empire building strategy game, with battles only fought by whatever units you've actually brought with you. They're both fun, but it's like comparing Total War games to C&C or Civ; despite various similarities to both, none of them really belong in the same genre at all.

GB is more micro management than I care to fool with, least from what I recall, I like War craft/Star Craft more so I enjoyed EAW to a point I really wish you could do base building and planetary defense/bases and such and give me a game mode with no real limits assuming you have resources to support the bases,ect ><

I split RTS/TBS into micromanagement and fun...er basic resource management ala War craft/Star Craft . LOL[/quote]
Actually, StarCraft is almost nothing BUT micromanagement of everything.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

I'm not sure they're really comparable. GB is a fairly traditional RTS with base building, resource gathering, and so on. EaW is a Total War-style empire building strategy game, with battles only fought by whatever units you've actually brought with you. They're both fun, but it's like comparing Total War games to C&C or Civ; despite various similarities to both, none of them really belong in the same genre at all.

GB is more micro management than I care to fool with, least from what I recall, I like War craft/Star Craft more so I enjoyed EAW to a point I really wish you could do base building and planetary defense/bases and such and give me a game mode with no real limits assuming you have resources to support the bases,ect ><

I split RTS/TBS into micromanagement and fun...er basic resource management ala War craft/Star Craft . LOL

Actually, StarCraft is almost nothing BUT micromanagement of everything.[/quote] [/quote]
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Thats partly true, but the micro management I am talking about is more economy, ect driven stuff(Civ,Elemental: War of Magic,ect) that bores me to tears, I want control of individual units so I can control a battle field, leading generic armies as grouped icons on a map is boring as hell. Even Supreme Commander/Heroes of M&M test what little patience I have for doing stuff outside of gathering resources, building bases and building defenses so I can raise and protect unit production.