Haegemonia: Legions of Iron
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| Haegemonia – Legions of Iron | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Digital Reality |
| Publisher(s) | DreamCatcher Games (USA), Wanadoo (Europe) |
| Release date(s) | 2002 |
| Genre(s) | Science Fiction RTS |
| Mode(s) | Single Player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (T) |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Media | CD-ROM |
Haegemonia: Legions of Iron is a 3D real-time strategy game made by Digital Reality and is similar in many respects to Homeworld and Digital Reality's previous game, Imperium Galactica II.
Contents |
[edit] Storyline
Haegemonia takes place in the distant future where humanity has colonized the solar system and tensions are high between the World Government of Earth and colonial Mars. A summit on Earth’s moon is planned to ease tensions, but the Martian representative’s shuttle is destroyed en-route by a third, currently unknown, party. The two sides blame each other and this one event sparks off the civil war between the colonists and Earth.
You can side with Captain Jack Garner of Earth to quell the colonial uprising, or join Captain Nilea Cortilliari and the Martian colonists on their campaign for independence.
The war between the 'Martian Republic' and the 'Earthling Empire' is not a civil war, as according to the presented storyline, the Martian Republic was independent from its foundation. At the start this appears to be due to long travel and communication time and later by choice. The Lunar incident was rather the spark that caused the already extremely high tension to flare into open war.
Once the outcome of the civil war is decided, be it Earth or Mars, humanity unites under the new Unified Government and forms the Legions of Iron, its vanguard of expansion into the unknown.
As the human race expands outward from Sol, mysteries are solved and more new ones are created as they encounter new worlds and alien civilizations.
[edit] Features
Haegemonia allows the player to create a multi-system empire. At first, only the planets similar to Earth can be colonized. After advanced terraforming and colonization techniques are researched or stolen from enemies, almost any planet can be colonized and, eventually, terraformed into Gaia-class worlds (gas giants are uninhabitable).
There are several ways of getting money to fund planetary projects and space construction: tax colonies, steal money from enemies with spies, mine resource-rich asteroids, receive tribute from other races/factions, and other ways (e.g. aid from Earth).
Research system is based on research points (RPs) which are allocated at the beginning of each mission. Most of the time, that is the maximum for the mission; however, certain random events may also increase that amount. During the campaign, all researched technologies are transferred from mission to mission, and the player can choose a certain number of ships and heroes to bring along to the next mission.
The espionage system is also different from many other games. Spy ships can be constructed in the same manner as other ships, usually no more than 3 may be present at a time. Certain heroes excel at spying and are best placed in those ships. These ships are invisible on sensors and have no sensors of their own (to prevent from unfairly using them as scouts). Instead, spy ships can be assigned mission to be performed on planets, ships, or stations. The higher the level of the spy ship and/or hero is, the more types of missions they may perform (they gain levels by spying). In some cases, a well-trained spy ship may be worth several battleships. Spies can also be used to detect and stop enemy spies. If a spy ship is detected (e.g. spy mission failure, detected by another spy), it becomes visible for a short time to all ships, allowing it to be attacked. Ship behaviors can be set using right-click menus. The same is true for subsystem targeting, although it is limited to hull, engines, and weapons.
Energy weapons are split up into there groups: cannons (fighters only), turrets (anti-fighter, used on turret corvettes and heavy ships), and blasters (only energy weapon for orbital bombardment, used on blaster corvettes and heavy ships). Missile weapons are the fourth category of weapons (besides proton, ion, and quantum). Fully-upgraded, they are the most powerful of all; however, they are not very good against fighters.
Planetary takeovers are accomplished by literally bombing a planet into submission, killing millions of people in the process (apparently the designers did not want to add planetary combat to the game, not even a simulated one). If the population is low to begin with, the planet will most likely become uninhabited and free to be colonized. Planetary bombardment, apparently, does not affect the planet's quality.
[edit] Races
Humans - Legions of Iron
There are four main differences between the Earth and Mars campaigns: the storyline of the first chapter, the result of the Earth-Mars war, the look of certain ships, and your hero (Garner or Cortilliari). Starting with chapter two, the two campaigns unfold virtually identically.
Humans began on Earth. During the age of space exploration, the Solar system was colonized, solving the Earth's overpopulation and resource problems. However, FTL travel was still beyond human science, so the race was confined within the boundaries of the system. After several generations, those living in colonies stopped thinking of themselves as Earthlings and saw the colonies as their home. Tensions arose as the Earth Empire attempted to force their rule on Mars (completely terraformed) and the other colonies. In response, Mars rebelled, and the other colonies joined it. When Mars diplomat's shuttle was ambushed and destroyed on the way to the Lunar summit, each side blamed the other, eventually resulting in a long and bloody war across the entire system. The war ended with the crushing defeat of one of the sides (player's choice which one) and formed the Earthling Empire. Coincidentally, a wormhole was discovered at the edge of the Solar system at the same time. Two more were found shortly after. Thus began the age of interstellar exploration and expansion for the new empire.
Most of the war was fought with fighters and corvettes using primitive plasma weapons. Close to the end, proton and missile weapons slowly replaced plasma as the main tools of destruction. First cruiser prototypes were also built, however their slow speed and low maneuverability made them prime targets for waves of fighters.
Kariak Empire
The Kariak are the first alien race humanity officially encountered. Unfortunately, the encounter ended in disaster, as several Kariak ships exited an unexplored wormhole in a newly-colonized system and attacked a defenseless transport, starting the Human-Kariak war. "Kariak" is most likely not the race's actual name, as the name was a random designation due to the fact that the Kariak language remained unknown until the end of the war. Physically, they are humanoids with stone-like features and great physical strength, compared to humans. The Kariaks' native climate is arctic. It is only later discovered that the unprovoked attack on the transport happened out of fear not malice. Apparently, long ago the Kariak were attacked by a hostile alien race whose ships looked similar to that of the Earthling Empire.
The Kariak tend to rely more on their cruisers than fighers or corvettes for combat. Their weapons of choice are ion-based, allowing them to hit their target nearly instantaneously.
Darzok Empire
The Darzok suddenly appeared at the close of the Human-Kariak war, claiming to be on a mission of peace and exploration (they managed to decipher English fairly quickly). It wasn't long, however, before the situation changed. Apparently, the Darzok military took over their government once the humans and the Kariak were discovered, claiming them to be a threat. The Darzok then launched a powerful attack at both the Earthling and the Kariak Empires. The first strike would have been crippling, had one of the former Darzok officials not warned the Legions of Iron of the impending attack. Still the Darzok pushed on, forcing a split within the Kariak Empire, where a rogue general attempted to aid his race's enemies in exchange for the promise of regency of the Kariak. Recent intelligence suggests that the Darzok may, in fact, be acting on behalf of some other, unknown force. Physically, the Darzok are four-armed giants (about 10 feet tall) with slight insectoid features.
The Darzok try to complement their heavy cruisers and battleships with fighters and corvettes in order to create a nearly-undefeatable attack force. There are also rumors of massive supply ships being developed to support the Darzok armada on their campaign of destruction, allowing their ships to be repaired in flight. Darzok military technology far surpasses that of the humans or the Kariak. Their quantum weapons can turn most ships to dust with just a few shots, and their wormhole blocking technology allows them to control the interstellar routes.
Solon
Very little information is available on this ancient race. Most likely, the Solon are extinct, destroyed by another powerful race. Several massive bases remain as a testament to their former glory. Unfortunately, the bases are protected by unknown defenses - all ships approaching them were destroyed. These defenses further indicate that the Solon were trying to protect themselves from something else. Many believe that the massive structures were left there on purpose, so that younger races (those who could learn to bypass the defenses) could learn about the ancient race and use that knowledge to avoid the same fate.
[edit] Expansion
Due to the success of the game, Digital Reality produced an add-on package, The Solon Heritage, which added a few new features, such as a proper skirmish mode, and modding tools. It was not that well received, however, due to the lack of a new campaign. Because of contract issues (mainly of Wanadoo being sold), The Solon Heritage was not published in the US.
