History VideoGame / EmpireEarth

* PowerUpLetdown: Some of the Civ Bonuses are just a waste of rare and irreplaceable Civ Points.

* UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat: In the original game and on the box art.

* UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships: Appropriately enough, the English are the only civilization to get naval bonuses in [=EE2=].

** Vikings, Sharpshooters and Snipers are invisible (even when firing) until a unit gets close to them. The former is a melee unit, which isn't much of a problem, and the latter two emit a big cloud of smoke when shooting.

* OneHitKill: The incentive for using Crossbowmen is that they have a small chance of instantly killing enemy infantry. Sharpshooters, and Snipers have the same purpose in later epochs with the bonus of being invisible from a distance.

* JustAStupidAccent / PoirotSpeak : Most of the voice acting in the first installment was pretty JustForFun/{{egregious}}.

** The Standard Game mode A.I. from ''Empire Earth'' will exclusively focus on building a city of guard towers and anti-air guns, making extremely stressfull for players that attempt an ground offensive.

* OneHitKill: The incentive for using Crossbowmen is that they have a small chance of instantly killing enemy infantry. Sharpshooters and Snipers have the same purpose in later epochs with the bonus of being invisible from a distance.

* TakeAThirdOption: the potential for such exists in the second mission of the English Campaign: with only 4-5 units to your name, you are faced with a blockade of horsemen standing in the road. The three knights that joined you a little bit ago recommend that they pull a HeroicSacrifice and distract the enemy soldiers while William rides on to Falaise. You ''could'' do that...or you could throw all of your units at them, use William's Battle Cry to weaken the enemies, and have him heal your other units as they fight so that ''all'' of them can live and join the battle at the end of the level!

* SpaceIsAnOcean: This is how space is treated in the expansion pack to ''VideoGame/EmpireEarth.'' See RecycledinSpace.

* SacredHospitality: Ceasar apparently has little use for it, as the game's way of choosing which side of the Egyptian civil war you'll fight on is asking his pet tigers which side's envoy they feel like eating.

** Computer players also build walls everywhere [[ArtificialStupidity for some reason]] (though how stupid this is depends on the terrain: on maps with small chunks of forest it leaves gaping holes in their defenses, on those with long tracts of woodland it makes getting to them a slow arduous process.

* RecycledinSpace: The Space Age introduced in Art of Conquest. You build space docks, space battleships, space carriers, space corvettes... there is a crucial difference, however: Only space turrets can hit spacecraft.

A classic military, [[RealTimeStrategy real-time strategy]] game from Stainless Steel Studios, Empire Earth was released in 2001 for the PC. Similar to Emsemble Studios' ''Age of Empires'', the player controls a civilization as it advances through "epochs" from the ''Stone Age'' to the ''Robotics Age'' with the Space Age added in the ''Art of Conquest'' expansion. Specific buildings allow the construction of units and the research of improvements. The game employs a complex technology tree, with literally hundreds of land, sea, and air-based units. The goal, outside the preset scenarios, is the military destruction of the opponent or the construction of ''Wonders'' (Big historical monuments). Users can play against the computer or other players online.

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* RidiculouslyFastConstruction: The buildings also start out as flat and gradually inflate as your villagers build them, even faster the more builders there are.

''Empire Earth 2'' changed the formula in favor of territory management and tech points obtained from universities and temples that are used to upgrade your civilization's military, economy and infrastruture to advance to the next epoch. A year later it recieved an expansion titled ''Art of Supremacy'' that includes three new campaigns, two African civilizations and some new skirmish/multiplayer options and modes.

* PoorMansSubstitute: Palisades are a cheaper form of wall and tower that use wood instead of stone and have less health and damage. Averted with the Bamboo palisade tower, since it packs a ''machine gun'' and attacks faster than the standard tower.

* RobotWar: The American campaign from [=EE2=] eventually culminates in a battle against Blackworth and his cybernetic army.

** SpaceCompression: The creators had to take several liberties with designing the campaign maps so you can expect a lot of inaccuracies when the locations are compared to real-life. Most obvious on space maps.

** A ranged version is the Egyptian unique early unit. It dals the same type of damage as heavy cavalry, but the fact that it's ranged gives it some other uses.

''Empire Earth 2'' changed the formula in favor of territory management and tech points obtained from universities and temples that are used to upgrade your civilization's military, economy and infrastruture to advance to the next epoch. A year later it recieved an expansion titled; The ''Art of Supremacy'' that includes three new campaigns, three african civilizations and some new skirmish/multiplayer options and modes.

** In the Roman campaign, one barbarian army uses wolves (called guard dogs) as AttackAnimals.

* EliteMooks: In addition to the Mk. II versions of cybers, the factional unique units (Persian Immortals, Spanish Cavalry, German Infantry, etc.) have the same stats as their equivalent unit's upgrade, one epoch early (so the 1800s British Infantry is a WWI Doughboy, WWI's German Infantry is the same as a [=WW2=] Marine, etc.). However, they're only available in the campaign or the editor.

* SirNotAppearingInThisTrailer: The intro cinematics feature combat robot that look nothing like the ones in-game.

** [=EE2=] takes it in a different direction, dividing troop types into infantry, mounted (cavalry/tanks/mechs), and artillery, with each type divided into light and heavy, each effective against two classes of units.

* WarElephants: Available in ranged and melee versions. Both have the same amount of life, but the arrows somehow deal more damage than tusks.

* TheLowMiddleAges: The Dark Age epoch encompasses both the later days of Rome and the beginnings of the MiddleAges (the available heroes for that period are UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar and {{Charlemagne}}).

** ShoutOutToShakespeare: The Henry V mission is full of references to, well, ''Theater/HenryV'', including the St Crispian's Day speech.

** EE2 uses a different mechanic: researching four military, economic or imperialistic upgrades gives you a chance to win the corresponding Crown, giving you a commander with a related power (military units are combat-based, economic units boost resource gathering, imperials boost research and landgrabs).

* HeroUnit: Heroes come in two types: Warriors, which have stronger attacks and increase unit morale around them, and Strategists, with a weaker attack which they don't use by themselves but an automatic healing ability.

* [[UsefulNotes/BolivariansWithBMPs All Latin America is Socialist]]: All of the Mesoamerican civilizations in ''Empire Earth 2'' (Mayan, Aztec and Inca) become this during the Digital Age with their soldiers looking like revolutionary cubans and using russian weaponry and vehicles similar to modern ''UsefulNotes/{{Venezuela}}''.

* JustAStupidAccent / PoirotSpeak : Most of the voice acting in the first installment was pretty {{egregious}}.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The barbarians at the beginning of AOC's Roman campaign. You could replace them with orcs without changing their dialogue.

* BoringButPractical: Of all AOC's civ powers (basic troops or towers that work like priests, invisible units, ArrowsOnFire, infantry units that move through cliffs and trees, intercontinental ballistic missiles, stealing enemy civ powers...), one of the most useful ones makes citizens build town centers instead of settlements, which vastly accelerates resource gathering, saves thousands in food from not having to populate them, and makes towers harder to kill.

* TheComputerShallTauntYou: In EE1, AI players make threats as soon as you finish building a Wonder. In [=EE2=], they constantly taunt you when attacking or when you advance an epoch. Amusingly, one taunt tells you you should have used cheats... even if you already have cheats active.

* DarkLordOneLifeSupport: General Blackworth escapes his first defeat grievously wounded. In the next mission, he's in a souped-up mecha.

** In EE1, cybers are big, but closer to MiniMecha in scale. The expansion's campaign makes them tower above most buildings (but upgrading them reverts them to their usual size).

** One civ power in AOC turns all your units into this.

** EE1: In early epochs, the standard is shock attacks (swords) beat archers, archers beat piercing weapons (spears), pierce beats shock, so the classic matchups occur between infantry, cavalry, and archers depends on which one is holding which weapon (with exceptions and complications like ranged shock and pierce attacks), though it gets more complicated as the epochs go on, becoming extremely convoluted when robots and lasers are introduced. The same applies to warships, frigates, and galleys (later replaced by submarines).

* ArmyOfTheAges: When you use the editor to create an army with units from every epoch, or just start in Prehistory or work your way up. Especially evident when playing with computer allies who send troops to protect your wonders and never retreat them.

** [=EE2=] has San Juan Hill, in which reinforcements are constantly sent by boat, and the Maasai mission, where you protect your cow herd until you can get to a base and start building.

** EE1: In early epochs, the classic matchups occur between infantry, cavalry, and archers (with exceptions), though it gets more complicated as the epochs go on, becoming extremely convoluted when robots and lasers are introduced. The same applies to warships, frigates, and galleys (later replaced by submarines).

A classic military, [[RealTimeStrategy real-time strategy]] game from Stainless Steel Studios, Empire Earth was released in 2001 for the PC. The player controls a civilization as it advances through "epochs" from the ''Stone Age'' to the ''Robotics Age'' (14 in the original, 15 in the Art of Conquest expansion). Specific buildings allow the construction of units and the research of improvements. The game employs a complex technology tree, with literally hundreds of land, sea, and air-based units. The goal, outside the preset scenarios, is the military destruction of the opponent or the construction of ''Wonders'' (Big historical monuments). Users can play against the computer or other players online.

''Empire Earth 2'' changes the formula in favor of territory management and tech points obtained from universities and temples that are used to upgrade your civilization's military, economy and infrastruture to advance to the next epoch. A year later it recieved an expansion titled; The ''Art of Supremacy'' that includes three new campaigns, african civilizations and skirmish/multiplayer options and modes.

** The Standard Game mode A.I. from ''Empire Earth'' will exclusively focus on building a city of guard towers and anti-air guns, making extremely stressfull for players that attempt an offensive.
** In the skirmish mode A.I. from ''Empire Earth 2'' [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard is infamous for heavy cheating]]. It will add resources and units to the enemy team instantly if you do too well. Winning is almost impossible as the AI will constantly try to ZergRush your base with more than 40 to 70 units at once, mostly artillery/siege guns, tanks/cavalry and bombers in the later ages.
* UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat: In the game and on the box art.

A classic military, [[RealTimeStrategy real-time strategy]] game from Stainless Steel Studios, Empire Earth was released in 2001 for the PC. The player controls a civilization as it advances through "epochs" (14 in the original, 15 in the Art of Conquest expansion). Specific buildings allow the construction of units and the research of improvements. The game employs a complex technology tree, with literally hundreds of land, sea, and air-based units. The goal, outside the preset scenarios, is the military destruction of the opponent. Users can play against the computer or other players online.

The original was very well received, prompting the release of Empire Earth II in 2005. This also did fairly well. Empire Earth III, by contrast, was a commercial flop, and is [[FranchiseKiller widely believed to have been the end of the series]].

* StealthyMook: Vikings, Sharpshooters and Snipers are invisible (even when firing) until a unit gets close to them. The former is a melee unit, which isn't much of a problem, and the latter two emit a big cloud of smoke when shooting.

* SuperPersistentMissile: A homing projectile will NEVER stop until the unit that it's chasing is dead or the unit that fired it is dead. The same rule applies for torpedoes.