Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds

Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds is an RTS game built on the Age of Empires II engine.

Critics believed that the game somehow showed the limitations of the engine which was maybe not to fit for space games: Laser shots often were hitting the target, even when the craft wasn't pointing at them, and also the proportions (like in the cases of AT-ATs) were unrealistic. Perhaps balancing that was the many units and civilizations players could choose from, much more than Force Commander.

Gameplay
The player controls a race and guides them through four "technology levels". The game begins in the First Level, where very few buildings and units are available. After a short time, the user gains the ability to advance to the Second Level (at no small cost), where more upgrades, buildings, and units become avaiable. The next age is the Third Level, and finally the Fourth Level.

The player directly controls the workers (usually droids), and can order them to construct buildings, collect resources, and attack.

There are four types of resources, all of which are necessary: Carbon (wood), food (fruits, fish, meat or farms), nova crystals, and ore. Often, one of the difficulties of a certain scenario or map is that it is short one type of resource, forcing players to adjust to this shortage.

The original game comes with five campaigns, and the expansion adds three more, all of which reflect some events in history. There is also a Standard Game feature, which pits a player against a set number of Computer players for control of a map. The usual goal in standard games is to defeat your enemies and force them to surrender, but other goals like building and protecting a special type of building also exist.

In multiplayer mode, up to eight players compete with other nations for world dominance, online or offline.

There is also a Scenario Editor mode, that lets the player create thier own scenario and campaign. In this mode players could insert units and buildings that is not in the singleplayer mode, for example players could insert Obi Wan Kenobi and some other heros that is not in the singleplayer campaign.

Technology
To acquire technology, the player must first construct buildings. Each building offers a range of technology which can be researched, for a price. Technologies build upon each other. As technologies are researched, a wider range of buildings and units become available. Technologies may benefit military units (by perhaps increasing their defense attributes), civil units (workers/droids can benefit from technologies that make them hunt more effectively, etc), or buildings (e.g. by researching technology that allows buildings and turrets to fire at units at their base). Technologies vary greatly in benefits and costs.

In the game, technology plays a central role. Early in the game, players must constantly assess priorities and allocate scarce resources between creating new units, upgrading existing units, and researching to upgrade to the next Age. Too much emphasis on researching technology and moving through the Ages without creating manpower, can leave an army vulnerable to attack. On the other hand, putting resources into a large population at the expense of progress, can lead to defeat if the enemy has progressed and is able to field a small but more powerful attack force.

Selecting which technologies to research is also vital in military strategy. For example, you might choose to research the next Level (which opens up more technologies and skills), which would take time and resources but enable you to create more sophisticated fighting units - or you may stay in a lower Age and use the same resources to quickly build a large number of basic fighting units instead.

The cost and number of technologies increase through the Levels. For example, the technologies of the First cost about 100-150 resources while those of the Fourth cost between 700 and 1500 resources.

Monuments and Holocrons
Holocrons are special unique items that are scattered around the map, and can only be picked up by Jedi. Once placed within a Jedi Temple, a holocron steadily generates free gold for the civilization that holds it (this reflects the historical realities of the power and influence that possessing knowledge). To capture a holocron from an enemy temple, the temple must be essentially destroyed. The holocron will then be expelled so that a player may capture it with a Jedi.

It is possible to set the game such that victory is achieved by collecting all available holocrons, or building a Monument. This is the case in several campaign scenarios. To win, all the holocrons must be held for a specific uninterrupted period of time (usually 200 game days).

Monuments are massive structures that require large amounts of resources and time to build. If a player completes a Monument, and it stands intact for an uninterrupted period of time, they win. Each civilization has their own Monument (typically a famous work of historical architecture)

Plot
The original game has six campaigns. Some of the missions represent actual battles form the movies, like the Battle of Hoth.


 * The first campaign (the tutorial) centers around Attichitcuk, the father of Chewbacca, and his quest to rid Alaris Prime of the Trade Federation. You are guided through the tutorial by Qui-Gon Jinn.
 * First Battle of Alaris Prime
 * The second campaign from Episode 1 is that of the Trade Federation. It follows OOM-9, the de facto droid leader of the Trade Federation's army.
 * Sieges of Naboo
 * Naboo Swamp Battle
 * Battle of Grassy Plains (non-canon)
 * The third campaign is that of the Gungans, centered first around Boss Gallo, then Boss Nass, the current leader of the Gungans at the time of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
 * War of Gungan Tribes
 * Battle of Naboo
 * The fourth campaign is the campaign of the Empire. Darth Vader is your main character in this campaign, and the events take place just before and during Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.
 * Skirmishes of Yavin IV
 * Occupation of Reytha
 * Battle of Zaloriis
 * Battle of Hoth
 * The fifth campaign is the campaign of the Rebel Alliance/New Republic. Your main character this time around varies from level to level, primarily between Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker.  The events of this campaign are outside the scope of the movies.
 * Krantian Civil War
 * Battle of Silken Asteroids
 * The sixth and final campaign is the final Wookiee campaign. This campaign takes place after Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, during which time the Imperial remnants are trying to keep the Empire together, and have attacked Kashyyyk. The main characters of this campaign are Han Solo and Chewbacca.  Attichitcuk makes appearances, as do Lando Calrissian and Luke Skywalker.
 * Liberation of Kashyyyk
 * The Royal Naboo also appear in the Gungan and the Federation campaigns but have no campaign on their own. However they are playable in the multiplayer game.

Expansion set: Clone Campaigns
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns is an expansion pack that was released shortly after the theatrical release of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. It introduced two more civilizations that are playable and two more campaigns: That of the Confederacy of Independent Systems and the Old Republic.

The Clone Campaigns added more units, such as the Decimator and the Air Cruiser, support for movable power supplies, and more.
 * In the Separatist campaign, your hero is Sev'rance Tann, and Count Dooku himself guides you. Your goal is to capture the energy-mining platforms of the Galactic Republic so that you can effectively hold Coruscant hostage.
 * Battle of Geonosis
 * First Battle of Tatooine
 * Battle of Eredenn
 * First Battle of Alaris Prime (Clone Wars)
 * First Battle of Sarapin
 * In the Galactic Republic campaign, Mace Windu tells you what to do as you control Echuu Shen-Jon, a Jedi you meet "later" in the Rebel campaign. Your goal is to get back the energy platforms.
 * Battle of Geonosis
 * Second Battle of Sarapin
 * Second Battle of Tatooine
 * Battle of Aereen
 * Battle of Krant

Planets
Battles take place in the following background settings, also availiable for custom missions.
 * Alaris Prime
 * Tatooine
 * Krant
 * Hanoon
 * Hoth
 * Yavin IV
 * Aereen
 * Naboo
 * Sarapin
 * Eredenn Prime
 * Geonosis
 * Bespin
 * Zaloriis
 * Reytha
 * Kaer Orbital Platform
 * Kashyyyk
 * Endor
 * space, asteroids and asteroid fields.

Easter eggs
Some levels also featured some 'easter eggs': In some marginal and hard to reach places (like mountain peaks, or areas behind trees that have to be harvested in order to reveal), some well known characters can be found if the player decides to explore the corners of the map with air units. On Naboo, there are places where you find Qui-Gon and Jar Jar Binks which you can lead to a bongo. On Tatooine, C-3PO and R2-D2 can be found next to an escape pod. Palpatine and Anakin are near a Sith Temple in one mission based on Krant, Anakin, Senator Amidala, C-3PO and R2-D2 on another Krant mission, and Jar Jar Binks among the skyscrapers of Coruscant Yet another one is the appearance of Tatooine on Kashyyyk in the first Wookiee campaign to the far right of the screen. On the Imperial Battle of Hoth a player can find Mara Jade atop a cliff for a few seconds before she walks away.

Cheats
''While playing, press 'Enter' to open up the chat screen. Type one of the following codes and press 'Enter' again (Note: Some codes require you to highlight a unit for the code to work)''


 * forceexplore - Entire map is explored.
 * forcesight - Remove fog of war.
 * forcebuild - Building, harvest, and research time becomes instant.
 * forcecarbon - Get 1,000 carbon.
 * forcenova - Get 1,000 nova.
 * forceore - Get 1,000 ore.
 * forcefood - Get 1,000 food.
 * suddenly silenced - Buildings/turrets and units do extra damage.
 * intensify the forward fire power - Ground units become stronger.
 * the fighters are coming in too fast - Aircraft become faster.
 * most powerful jedi - Jedi/Sith become stronger.
 * the force is strong with this one - Jedi/Sith converting becomes faster.
 * tarkin - Destroy all civilizations except yours.
 * darkside(1-8) - Destroy a specific civilization according to their # (1-8).
 * skywalker - Win the battle.
 * that's no moon - Get a Death Star.
 * imperial entanglements - Get a Star Destroyer.
 * tantive IV - Get a Rebel Blockade Runner.
 * galactic upheaval - Get a Decimator.
 * simonsays - Get Simon the Killer Ewok.
 * scaryneighbor - Get a Bongo Marauder (actually is a motor boat).