Video Game / Republic at War

Republic at War is a Game Mod for the LucasArts & Petroglyph PC Real-Time Strategy Game Empire at War, specifically for the Forces of Corruption expansion pack. As the name implies, the mod functions like the original game with Star Wars prequel-era content, including material from Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the Expanded Universe.

The mod has made some gameplay changes. Heavy factories, mining facilities, and research facilities can no longer be built on every planet, the unit cap in both space and land battles has been increased significantly, only one barracks can be on a planet at a time, and medical droids that can heal infantry have been added. Some planets present in the original game like Coruscant and Tatooine have new maps. New planets have also been added. All of this can make the mod feel like an actual prequel to the original game.

The mod's official website is here. You can download the mod here.

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Republic at War contains examples of:

• A Taste of Power: Much like games such as Rome: Total War, your beginning fleet will usually consist of a few higher-tier units - for example, the Republic usually has at least one Venator Star Destroyer over Coruscant and another one over Bespin. The CIS will also usually start with Lucrehulks and Providences over worlds like Geonosis and Mygeeto.
• Awesome, but Impractical:
  • Arquitens-class light cruisers are not well off in terms of power. They are rather expensive, but do not have the best anti-capital ship capability, are frail and cannot carry fighters, thus rendering it not very viable when trying to defend a planet from hordes of CIS ships.
  • MT Ts are rather weak for a CIS ground unit. They have subpar attacks, are very expensive, suffer from pathing issues, and their only ability is to deploy Battle Droid units. At least they only take up one unit capacity...
  • Juggernauts don't fare well for being the most expensive ground unit in the Republic's arsenal. They do not have any anti-vehicle capability and their primary trait (their ability to carry troops) is rendered useless in defenses and redundant in offensives because the Republic's primary infantry already move fast enough.
  • It's hard to find a reason to use Recusant-class destroyers. They cannot carry fighters and are fragile for an anti-ship warship. In addition, Artificial Stupidity will often have them moving forward and mindlessly ambling on without firing while Republic guns tear them to pieces.
  • Some of the planet-unique units suffer from this.
    • As the Republic, controlling Kuat allows you to construct up to three Imperator-class Star Destroyers. While they are awesome at taking down capital ships, they do not carry many fighters and also suffer from rampant pathing issues, rendering them useless unless one drops them directly next to the enemy starbase.
    • Controlling Ryloth as the CIS allows one to construct the special warships of Sabaoth Squadron (up to 4 Sabaoth Destroyers and unlimited number of Sabaoth fighters and Hex Deployers). While the fighters are decent, the Hex Deployers suffer from having no weapons other than their primary weapon (which also cannot deal much damage to capital ships) and the Destroyers are rather fragile and are easily torn apart by fighters.
• The Battlestar: Each side has a number of carrier units. The Republic have the Venator-class Star Destroyer and Acclamator-class assault ships as their most famous ones, while the CIS have Droid Carriers and later on Providences and Lucrehulks.
• Beef Gate: Several, depending on the map.
  • "From Ashes" is nothing but this after the initial few planets, as every planet no matter how insigificant will be guarded by at least two Lucrehulks and every planet will have a garrison complete with artillery support to slow you down.
  • "Core Assault" has the CIS begin with well-fortified planets complete with maxed out space stations and gun platforms to stop the Republic from taking the offensive early.
• Boring, but Practical: Some relatively early units may not be as cool as some later options, but they are solid and reliable units with a high enough damage output to remain a part of your army throughout the whole game.
  • AT-A Ps are a decent artillery piece that allows one to destroy the droid hordes from a longer range in the early game (when you don't have the AV-7 or AT-TE unlocked).
  • CIS Droid Carriers are this in spades. They are cheaper than the CIS's other carriers and are vital if one is starting the game off at a lower tech level, as they are the first carrier unit available.
  • Heavy Artillery Guns for the CIS aren't as glamorous as say, a droid tank or multiple droid gunships, but they are easy to manufacture^Elaboration They are the only artillery weapon in the game that is created from the Light Factory instead of the Heavy Factory, which means that you can build it on basically any world while others can only be built on specific planets., and putting them on a planet with a shield and some AA Ts for support is a rather cheap way to create a fortress world. At least, until the Jedi show up...
• Combat Medic: Barriss Offee and Fixer can attack enemies and also heal friendly units.
• The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard:
  • Unlike the player, the AI can advance its tech level without research facilities.
  • In certain scenarios, the AI starts off with stronger infrastructure and planets than the player if they start off in the AI's position. The AI can also get planets which are marked red and thus impossible to invade. The most egregious example of this is in the Core Assault scenario. If you are playing as the Republic and then switch to the CIS, you'll find the AI CIS controls far stronger space stations across most of their planets than if a player was playing the CIS, and they also get multiple red planets with massive fleets orbiting them. Flipping the scene, players will soon find the Republic starts off far better as an AI than the Seperatists, as they control stronger space stations and a larger fleet above Coruscant.
• Disc-One Nuke:
  • Yoda, Mace Windu, and Count Dooku are all available at the first tech level, and all of them are far more powerful than anything else during that portion of the game. During the "From Ashes" scenario, it very well may be viable to just use your heroes to take a planet instead of dealing with the fleet in orbit!
  • In some scenarios, if the player starts off at a low tech level, they can obtain extremely high level ships before they can normally be built (the Republic has Venators and the CIS have Providences and even Lucrehulks) starting above some planets.
• Early-Bird Cameo: The Republic can build three Imperial Star Destroyer prototypes out of Kuat, and when Order 66 is initiated they even get kitted out with prototype TIE fighters to boot.
• Early Game Hell: In the "From Ashes" map, you start with only one planet, low income, have to fight through fleets with ships more powerful than yours with only the most basic units available.
• Game-Breaking Bug: In "Core Assault", there is a rare chance for the CIS attack to instead consist of the CIS sending Dooku stealthed to Coruscant. Since the Republic lacks anti-hero units, and due to how the scenario is coded, Dooku will always reach Coruscant, which will result in an instant loss for the Republic.
• Healing Factor: All of the Force-sensitive units recover their HP over time.
• Hold the Line:
  • While playing as the Republic in the "Core Assault" map, the player must stop the Confederacy from conquering Coruscant for 45 galactic days to win.^note It is worth noting that you don't actually have to strictly hold out for 45 days - the AI will send a massive feet towards Coruscant at around day 40-42. The game will simply end once every ship in the fleet is destroyed. In addition, one only needs to guard the space around Coruscant, as the CIS winning a space battle and taking control of the planet's orbit results in an instant loss for the Republic.
  • Confederacy players in the "Triad of Evil" map must defend Mygeeto, Felucia, and Saleucami from the Republic for 60 galactic days to win.
• Master of None: Though a useful asset, the Acclamator suffers from this as its fighters are limited (and does not include bombers), its firepower is helpful but exposed to being taken apart piece by piece, and its durability is mostly in their shields rather than their hull.
• The Medic: Medical droids heal nearby infantry.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: A few things change as you upgrade your tech level, most significantly with the Republic.
  • At Tech Level 5, the Republic stops deploying V-19 Torrents and NTB Bombers out of Acclamators and Venators and instead starts to deploy V-Wings and ARC-170s. All Level 5 space stations likewise do the same, although V-19s and NT Bs still spawn from lower leveled space stations.
    • Prior to this point, Acclamators slowly get upgraded fighter wings, going from a few V-19s to V-19s and NTB bombers.
  • The Republic also switches out to Phase II clone troopers at Tech 5. Your previous options of recruiting Squads, Platoons, and (Kamino-exclusive) Companies is replaced by just recruiting Companies, while Kamino gains the ability to field the various famous regiments like the 501st or 212th in their place.
  • The "Fall of the Jedi" scenario has a mostly optional sidequest that begins upon reaching Tech Level 5. Upon conclusion of this sidequest, your entire roster of Force-Sensitive heroes is removed due to Order 66 being executed, Palpatine and Anakin are replaced with their Imperial equivalents, and Tarkin is brought in as a governor and space hero. You also get a few Imperial Star Destroyers with TIE Fighters.
  • The CIS get multiple upgraded capacities for their carrier ships at Tech 5 and will replace their basic droid bombers with Hyena Bombers (previously exclusive to the garrisons from Admiral Trench's flagship) and many ships will have their carriers upgraded with additional Tri-fighter squadrons.
• My Rules Are Not Your Rules:
  • The AI can produce units at cheaper costs than you; the player needs 60,000 credits to construct the Malevolence, but the AI only needs 20,000 credits to build it according to the changelog.
  • The AI can get planets that are immune to being attacked and much more developed planets than if you were in their position during the "Core Assault" and "Triad of Evil" scenarios.
  • The CIS outright spawns with max level space stations over Mygeeto in the "Triad of Evil" scenario, when this should be impossible (the max level of stations over Mygeeto is only Level 3)
• One-Man Army: Force-sensitive units are powerful enough to conquer a planet by themselves. This is vital during the "From Ashes" scenario once you run into the Beef Gate fleets.
• Promoted to Playable: In the original game, Dark Side Adepts were enemies that could only be encountered in the campaign. In this mod, players can recruit them on Korriban while playing as the Confederacy.
• Timed Mission:
  • The "Triad of Evil" conquest map gives Republic players only 60 galactic days to conquer Mygeeto, Felucia, and Saleucami.
  • The "Core Assault" map gives the player only 45 galactic days to conquer Coruscant while playing as the Confederacy.

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