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57-489: The games were built on the Genie engine by Ensemble Studios , the same one used in Age of Empires and Age of Empires II . The player starts the game with a Command Center, a scout, and three workers (in a normal random map game) for whichever of the six original factions they choose. The player searches and gathers resources such as Food, Carbon, Nova Crystals, and Ore and then uses

114-749: A Data Droid , which she takes with her to the Wookiee colony on Alaris Prime. Alaris Prime soon serves as one of many probing attacks by the CIS on Wookiee territory before the Battle of Kashyyyk . After destroying the Wookiee Decimator facilities, Tann makes the droid unlock the Decimators. At this point the objective is revealed: Sarapin, a world providing much of the Republic's power. The Decimators' firepower enables Tann to crush

171-519: A compromise which could be released for Christmas 1998. To help meet the next year's deadline, additional programmers , artists, and designers were employed. The original Age of Empires had been criticized for its artificial intelligence (AI). Because the original AI did not " cheat " by attributing itself extra resources or using other techniques the human player could not, it was easier to defeat than in many other real-time strategy games. For The Age of Kings , Ensemble Studios attempted to develop

228-476: A generation of gamers raised on Star Wars". However, Brian Gee of Game Revolution gave the game a "C" and said that it "doesn't feel very Star Wars". Carla Harker reviewed the PC version of the game for Next Generation , rating it four stars out of five, and stated that " Age of Empires and Star Wars ? Bring it on." The Clone Campaigns expansion pack was met with positive to average reception; GameRankings gave it

285-457: A modern re-implementation of the original Genie Engine using C++ and Python . Droid (Star Wars) In the Star Wars space opera franchise, a droid is a fictional robot possessing some degree of artificial intelligence . The term is a clipped form of " android ", a word originally reserved for robots designed to look and act like a human. The word "android" itself stems from

342-406: A more powerful AI system that did not compromise by cheating. Industry veteran Mario Grimani led Ensemble Studios in the creation of the new system. To overcome another significant objection to Age of Empires —that of path finding—the team completely redesigned the game engine 's movement system. The team was less successful in resolving other issues; programmer Matt Pritchard complained following

399-452: A romantic dream of obedience and dogged faithfulness to a master." Diana Sandars follows a similar vein, seeing droids as a negative counterpoint to humanity, epitomized in Darth Vader 's mechanical body, having "vanquished his human nobility." Writing before the release of the prequels, in which Obi-Wan Kenobi's relationship to droids differed from the original trilogy, Lane Roth instead saw

456-429: A scenario editor, campaigns, LAN, serial and TCP/IP multiplayer, background music amongst others. The engine uses an isometric tile set, unlike other real-time strategy engines such as the one used for Warcraft . The games based on the engine have usually been rated highly with Age of Empires having sold over three million copies by 2000 and having an average score of 87% from GameRankings . The Age of Kings

513-401: A score of 73.78% while Metacritic gave it 71 out of 100. Genie (game engine) The Genie Engine is a game engine developed by Ensemble Studios and used in several computer games , such as Age of Empires , Age of Empires II and its expansions (but is not used in other Ensemble Studios games) and Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds . Some of those games have been ported to

570-705: A trademark in 1977. The term "Droid" has been used by Verizon Wireless under licence from Lucasfilm, for their line of smartphones based on the Android operating system. Motorola's late-2009 Google Android-based cell phone is called the Droid . This line of phone has been expanded to include other Android-based phones released under Verizon, including the HTC Droid Eris , the HTC Droid Incredible , Motorola Droid X , Motorola Droid 2 , and Motorola Droid Pro . The term

627-796: A variety of devices, chemicals and techniques to exploit a prisoner's weaknesses in order to extract information from them. Assassin droids such as the IG-series act with ruthless efficiency to hunt down their targets; while some serve other masters, others may operate independently. Medical droids on the other hand work tirelessly to heal people who have been harmed, whether as medical assistants, midwives or doctors. Many possess an encyclopedic knowledge of different species' physiologies so that patients can be properly diagnosed and treated. Voice: Matt Berry ( The Book of Boba Fett ) Matt Martin ( Rogue One ) Unknown ( The Mandalorian , The Book of Boba Fett , Obi-Wan Kenobi ) Many film scholars link

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684-472: Is a depository for Holocrons and produces Jedi Padawans/Sith Apprentice and Jedi Knights/Sith Knights as well as Jedi Masters/Sith Masters. The Airbase produces aircraft such as fighters, bombers and transports, and the Heavy Weapons Factory produces pummels, artillery, anti-air mobiles, basically the big guns needed to mount a full-scale assault. The Fortress serves as a defensive structure and produces

741-732: Is a protocol droid turned bounty hunter who responds to Darth Vader 's call to capture the Millennium Falcon in The Empire Strikes Back (1980). TC-14 is a droid with feminine programming that appears in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), and ME-8D9 is an "ancient protocol droid of unknown manufacture" that resides and works as a translator at Maz Kanata 's castle on Takodana in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). An astromech droid

798-622: Is an oft-repaired, "outmoded" astromech who is one of the main characters of Star Wars Rebels , and BB-8 is the astromech droid of X-wing fighter pilot Poe Dameron in The Force Awakens . A battle droid is a class of war robot used as an easily controlled alternative to human soldiers, most notably seen in the Star Wars prequel trilogy of films and the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series, in which 'B1' and 'B2' models are frequent antagonists. Due to their ubiquity,

855-730: Is equipped with twin blasters and a deflector shield generator and can transform into its wheel form, allowing the droideka to roll towards the enemy at speeds of up to 75 km/h (47 mph). Commando droids are superior versions of the B1 battle droid, built sturdier with armor to withstand blaster fire and more advanced combat programming and battlefield awareness. The T-series tactical droids serve as advisors to Separatist commanders or command groups of other battle droids, while super tactical droids serve as generals of droid armies and fleets. Droid vehicles and spacecraft include Vulture droids , Dwarf spider droids and Hailfire droids . After

912-547: Is often used as comic relief as battle droids comment on their tragic situation and even question orders that would get themselves or other battle droids killed. Beyond the B1 and B2 models, multiple other types of specialized battle droids have been featured in the Star Wars fictional universe. The droideka is a three-legged heavy infantry unit designed by the Colicoids, a bloodthirsty insect-like species which it resembles. It

969-466: Is one of a series of "versatile utility robots generally used for the maintenance and repair of starships and related technology". These small droids usually possess "a variety of tool-tipped appendages that are stowed in recessed compartments". On certain spacecraft such as X-wing starfighters, astromech droids also double as the ship's navigational system. In addition to assisting with piloting and maintenance, astromech droids work in conjunction with

1026-468: Is typically humanoid in appearance. Protocol droids are used to aid in communications during diplomatic or business negotiations and often function as personal assistants to their owners. Protocol droids are also used for military service, whether as administrators, couriers or spies. However, they do have a tendency to be eccentric and fussy. The most notable example is C-3PO , introduced in Star Wars and featured in all sequels and prequels. 4-LOM

1083-471: The Apple Mac . The Genie engine was developed as the basis for Ensemble Studios ' first game, Age of Empires which had the development name of "Dawn of Man". The designers received much of their inspiration from the game Civilization , with its proven historical setting; this was noted among reviewers as something positive. Age of Empires was designed by Bruce Shelley , Tony Goodman (in charge of

1140-720: The Rebel Alliance in their conquest of Coruscant 's Imperial Palace, a few years following the Battle of Endor . Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds was developed by LucasArts by licensing the Genie game engine from Ensemble Studios . The game, as well as the Clone Campaigns expansion pack, was designed and directed by Garry M. Gaber . In the United States, Galactic Battlegrounds sold 225,000 copies and earned $ 9.8 million by August 2006, after its release in November 2001. It

1197-439: The Star Wars films, easily destroyed and devoid of any personality. However, Rafael Motamayor of SyFy Wire argues that the 2008 Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series rehabilitated their image by giving them distinct personalities. With the in-universe explanation that battle droids were upgraded to have independent thought, battle droids in the series are shown with self-awareness of their cannon fodder nature. This

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1254-516: The Star Wars universe, a class system is used to categorize different droids depending on their skill-set: first class droids (physical, mathematical and medical sciences), second class droids (engineering and technical sciences), third class droids (social sciences and service functions), fourth class droids (security and military functions), and fifth class droids (menial labor and other non-intelligence functions). A protocol droid specializes in translation , etiquette and cultural customs , and

1311-715: The Clone Wars, the Imperial Senate banned the manufacture of battle droids, but with loopholes for the building of "security" droids and experimental combat droids. This includes the Imperial military's KX-series of which K-2SO is an example, as well as Moff Gideon 's pure-droid heavy-duty Dark Troopers. Probe droids are deployed by the Empire in The Empire Strikes Back to search for hidden rebel bases. They are described as traveling via hyperdrive -equipped pods to almost anywhere in

1368-461: The Crown , and Rise of Nations . Most of these games have also been critically successful. The in-development free software real time strategy game 0 A.D. by Wildfire Games started out as an Age of Empires II modification and boasts many similarities to Age of Empires in its current design on top of its new engine Pyrogenesis. Openage is another free software project trying to create

1425-518: The Gungan unique unit Fambaa. The player can build separate units at separate buildings designed specifically for different types of units. The player can advance through the four Tech Levels by paying a certain amount of resources. When a player advances a Tech Level, more units, buildings, and upgrades become available. There are a total of seven military structures in the game. These are the Troop Center,

1482-460: The Hutt , who tips him off about the CIS' alliance with Boorka the Hutt (a rival in the planet's criminal industry). After defeating a band of Tusken Raiders and the combined Confederate and mercenary forces, Echuu discovers some supply crates destined for the distant world of Krant. Shen-Jon and Reath head to the planet and destroy a Trade Federation mining camp on Krant's moon, creating a staging area for

1539-507: The New Latin word "androīdēs", meaning "manlike", itself from the Ancient Greek ἀνδρος (andrós) (genitive of ἀνήρ (anḗr), "man (adult male)" or "human being") + -ειδής (-eidḗs), itself from εἶδος (eîdos, "form, image, shape, appearance, look"). Writer and director George Lucas first used the term "droid" in the second draft script of Star Wars, completed 28 January 1975. However,

1596-477: The Republic defenses and kill the base's commander, Jedi Knight Jor Drakas. The Galactic Republic campaign begins at the Battle of Geonosis. Jedi Master Echuu Shen-Jon leads a force of clone troopers and Jedi including his young Padawan , Stam Reath, in destroying Trade Federation core ships. The mission is successful, but Reath is brutally killed by Sev'rance Tann, sinking Echuu into depression. The campaign follows

1653-537: The Separatist army, Count Dooku directs her to Tatooine , where she finds Boorka the Hutt . In exchange for destroying a Republic outpost, she is given information regarding the location of a Decimator testing base on Eredenn Prime. General Tann manages to capture the base and the Decimators, but their Wookiee manufacturers include a fail-safe locking code and prevent the CIS from using them. However, Tann manages to also capture

1710-1150: The Shipyard, the Mech factory, the Jedi Temple or Sith Temple depending on the faction, the Heavy Weapons Factory, the Airbase, and the Fortress. The Troop center produces 'cannon fodder' early game units. These are the Grenadier, the Anti-Air trooper, the Mounted Trooper, and the ubiquitous Trooper. The Shipyard produces ships, these being the Frigate, the Destroyer, the Cruiser, and the Anti-Air Frigate. The Mech Factory produces Scouts, Assault Mechs, Strike Mechs, and Mech Destroyers. The Jedi Temple or Sith Temple

1767-460: The civilization's unique unit and an anti-jedi Bounty Hunter, as well as long-range cannons, and the massive Air cruiser. It fires high-damage, area-of-effect shells at air, sea or ground targets over long reload times while being durable and having passive shielding. It is the most directly powerful unit in the game (not including cheats.) If Victory is set to standard, the player can win in three different ways. The player may win by destroying all of

Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds - Misplaced Pages Continue

1824-551: The climax of the CIS campaign. The Jedi Council sends Shen-Jon to the planet along with his new padawan, Stam Reath's sister Naat, to reactivate Sarapin's energy platforms. The wreckage of a Decimator found on the planet reveals the usage of stolen Republic technology. The Republic forces successfully take back Sarapin and Shen-Jon interrogates CIS officer Zian Finnis , who gives away the Confederacy's presence on Tatooine . Shen-Jon goes to Tatooine and strikes an alliance with Jabba

1881-486: The droids as a means of establishing the moral standing of human characters, with "sympathetic" characters like Obi-Wan treating them kindly (calling R2-D2 "my little friend" and listing the droids as passengers, not cargo) and initially "unsympathetic" ones, like Han Solo and the Tattooine Bartender, neglecting or abusing them. Cyrus Patell reads them similarly, referring to the droids as both "an ethical index" and

1938-514: The droids for the Trade Federation and later the Separatists. Standing 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) tall, B1 battle droids were given a humanoid appearance so they could operate existing machinery and weaponry, and are meant to be cheaply mass-produced in large numbers. During the Battle of Naboo , battle droids were controlled from a central command computer as a cost-saving measure. By

1995-521: The enemies buildings and units with their army. Also, the player can use a Jedi / Sith to bring all of the Holocrons to the Jedi/Sith Temple and preserve them for 200 "days". The final way to win is to build a monument that is only available at Tech Level 4. If the monument stays standing for 300 days, then the player wins. Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds Clone Campaigns is an expansion pack that

2052-461: The film. Labor droids are used for a variety of tasks, from the very simple such as lifting heavy objects to the complex such as repairing machinery or administrating entire facilities, though their programming is very task-specific. Examples include mining droids which extract valuable resources, often from hazardous environments, and power droids, mobile fusion reactors which recharge ships, machines and other droids. Interrogation droids utilize

2109-595: The first months of the Clone Wars . In the Confederacy campaign, the hero is Chiss warrior Sev'rance Tann , and guided by Count Dooku . The player's goal is to capture the energy-mining platforms of the Galactic Republic so that they can effectively hold Coruscant hostage, and take control of the Decimators, a secret weapon developed by the Republic. The campaign begins with the Battle of Geonosis as Tann's forces clear an escape route for Count Dooku. After rebuilding

2166-432: The galaxy in order to search for their target. Also called probots, they are 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in height, floating above the ground on repulsorlifts and propelled by silenced thrusters. Probots are equipped with a variety of sensing equipment, including motion detectors and ultraviolet sensors, a blaster for self-defense, and a HoloNet transceiver to transmit any discoveries to Imperial forces. During

2223-432: The game's artwork), Dave Pottinger (in charge of the game's artificial intelligence ), and Matt Pritchard (in charge of the game's graphics). The game was described as " Civilization II meets Warcraft II " and this shows in the game's engine design. Like Warcraft it is real time strategy but unlike Warcraft and like Civilization II it is historical and has an isometric perspective. The design team for

2280-702: The invasion of Krant. Wookiee stragglers assist the Republic forces in destroying the CIS Decimator factories, but Tann catches Reath and challenges Shen-Jon to a duel. The Jedi Master kills the Chiss commander, but his brush with the Dark Side of the Force leaves him with enough guilt to go on a self-imposed exile. Echuu later meets with Princess Leia on Krant during the Rebel campaign, where Darth Vader kills him. The last mission follows

2337-461: The lack of an art asset management tool, while other departments gained new tools and automated procedures to assist in design and play testing . The Age of Kings saw the introduction of a triggers system for its scenario editor. The triggers allow messages to be displayed, or actions to take place, based on pre-set criteria or "events". The scenario editor was also improved by the new AI system. The AI and trigger systems interacted regularly in

Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds - Misplaced Pages Continue

2394-422: The portrayal of droids in Star Wars to racial or class politics, technophobia, and/or sexual and reproductive anxieties. Dan Rubey, for example, sees the original film as establishing a "race hierarchy" with droids on the bottom rung. J. P. Telotte sees the droids as part of a human-over-nonhuman and living-over-nonliving hierarchy in the film, describing them as "essentially slaves to a superior mankind, embodying

2451-447: The production of The Empire Strikes Back , Joe Johnston drew storyboard panels influenced by Dan O'Bannon and Moebius 's short comic " The Long Tomorrow " (1975), one of which repurposes a pose Johnston admitted he borrowed from said work. The same panel of the comic features a robot design by Moebius, which may have been the basis of the probe droid (or "probot") design that concept designers Johnston and Ralph McQuarrie created for

2508-460: The release of Age of Empires that there was still no process by which patches could be issued. Extensive cheating in multiplayer games of Age of Empires came as a result of several bugs in the game, which resulted in Microsoft promising Ensemble Studios there would be a patch process for The Age of Kings . On release, there were several bugs that needed immediate attention, but the patch process

2565-463: The resources in order to create new buildings, combat units, and workers. Food is used for low-end units and troopers, as well as the work force. Carbon is used in place of Wood in Age of Empires 2 for buildings and artillery. Nova Crystals create the more high-end units and can be gathered through getting special "holocrons" (similar to Relics in Age of Empires 2). Ore is used for defensive structures as well as

2622-451: The sequel, The Age of Kings , intended to complete the game within a year by using code from the original and reusing the game engine . Several months into the process they found they would not be able to complete a game of the quality they sought in that time. Ensemble Studios informed Microsoft they would need another year and instead created Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome , an easily developed expansion pack of Age of Empires , as

2679-492: The ship's hyperdrive to plot a safe course when traveling at faster-than-light speeds. R2-D2 is an astromech droid introduced in 1977's Star Wars and featured in all subsequent films. The malfunctioning droid R5-D4 also makes a brief appearance in Star Wars . U9-C4 is a timid droid sent on a mission with D-Squad, an all-droid special unit in Star Wars: The Clone Wars , C1-10P (nicknamed "Chopper")

2736-586: The single player campaigns. Numerous upgrades were added in The Conquerors but this was mostly in terms of gameplay and not engine advancements. Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds was developed by LucasArts by licensing the Genie game engine from Ensemble Studios . The game, as well as the Clone Campaigns expansion pack, was designed and directed by Garry M. Gaber . The Genie Engine has several features that are common across all its games, including

2793-613: The terms 'B1' and 'battle droid' are used interchangeably; 'B2' models are also referred to as 'super' battle droids. These droids are mainly used as the primary troops of the Confederacy of Independent Systems or Separatist Alliance, acting as the counterpart to the clone troopers of the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars . The tall, thin B1 model resembles the Geonosian species, whose Baktoid Armor Workshop designed and built

2850-580: The time of the Clone Wars, this drawback was rectified by giving them the capacity for limited independent thought called free thinkers. The B2 super battle droid, introduced in the Battle of Geonosis , was designed by the Techno Union and manufactured by Baktoid as an improvement of the original B1 model. Heavily armored and capable of limited independent thought, it features an integrated dual laser cannon in its right arm. B1 battle droids have been criticized for being ineffective and boring opponents in

2907-567: The word does have a precedent: science fiction writer Mari Wolf used the word in her story "Robots of the World! Arise!" in 1952. It is not known if Lucas knew of this reference when he wrote Star Wars , or if he came up with the term independently. The word "droid" has been a registered trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd since 1977. Droids are performed using a variety of methods, including robotics, actors inside costumes (in one case, on stilts), and computer animation. Lucasfilm registered "droid" as

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2964-472: Was a bigger critical success than the first game, with Game Rankings and Metacritic scores of 92%. The Age of Empires expansions for both games received slightly less praise but were still very well received. Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds received generally positive reviews, both from critics and fans. GameRankings gave the game a score of 77%, based on 38 media outlets. However, Galactic Battlegrounds did have vocal critics. The Genie engine

3021-902: Was also used for the Lucasfilm projects EditDroid , a non-linear editing system , and SoundDroid , an early digital audio workstation. The name "Omnidroid" was used with permission of Lucasfilm for the 2004 Pixar movie, The Incredibles , referring to a line of lethal robots built by the film's antagonist. The franchise, which began with the 1977 film Star Wars , features a variety of droids designed to perform specific functions. According to background material, most droids lack true sentience and are given processing abilities sufficient only to carry out their assigned function. However, over time droids may develop sentience on their own as they accumulate experience. Periodic memory wipes can prevent this from happening, but those who manage to escape this fate will begin to develop their own personalities. Within

3078-456: Was not yet ready. The first patch was released 11 months later. Ensemble Studios developed a new terrain system for The Age of Kings , with 3D presentation capabilities that were vastly superior to those of Age of Empires . Pritchard noted an improvement in the team's artistic abilities following their work on the past two games, and he is noted as saying that " AoK became a showcase for their improved talent". However, he complained about

3135-559: Was released two days before the theatrical release of Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones on May 14, 2002. It introduced two playable factions and campaigns: that of the Confederacy of Independent Systems and the Galactic Republic . Clone Campaigns added more units, such as the Decimator and the Air Cruiser, support for movable power supplies, and more. Clone Campaigns occurs during

3192-565: Was succeeded by the Age of Mythology engine used by the games in that series as well as Age of Empires III and its expansions. The most significant changes are the updated graphics engine and the inclusion of the Havok physics middleware engine, as well as the introduction of home cities . The design of the Genie engine has been mirrored in later game titles such as Empire Earth , Cossacks: European Wars , Theocracy , Tzar: Burden of

3249-427: Was the country's 94th best-selling computer game during this period. Combined sales of all versions and expansions of Galactic Battlegrounds reached 480,000 units in the United States by August 2006. Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds received generally positive reviews. GameRankings gave the game a score of 77.33%, while Metacritic gave it 75 out of 100. GameSpot gave the game an 8.2/10, calling it "perfect for

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