Empire At War expansion News

Another one that got a bit lost during the E3 onslaught - Petroglyph's working on an expansion pack for Star Wars RTS Empire At War.

Called Forces of Corruption, it's due out this autumn and puts you in control of an underworld figure called Tyber Zann, whose goal it is to spread corruption through the galaxy, using new gameplay elements "to influence other factions, steal their funds, slow their production, spy on them and more, all en route to becoming the most notorious criminal leader since Jabba the Hutt."

Tyber's lot will be able to use customisable, upgradeable bases and guerrilla warfare, including chemical weapons, radioactive contamination, mines, holograms, disguises and camouflage.

There'll also be terrain modifiers, bunkers, mobile defences and troop transports adding to land battles, while space battles get cloaking tech, buzz droids, cluster bombs, mines, shield leeching and jammers.

Empire At War fans can also expect new fighting units for all factions (Rebel B-Wings, Imperial TIE Interceptors, Darth Vader's Executor Super Star Destroyer and more), as well as Luke Skywalker, and bounty hunters like Bossk and IG-88 as new hero characters.

Battles will take place across 13 new planet maps (Bespin's Cloud City, Mustafar, Kamino, Utapau, Felucia and Mandalore among them), plus the 43 from EAW.

Not content with that, publisher LucasArts spells out the ultimate goal: the Super Star Destroyer known as the Eclipse. "Spanning the length of nearly 11 of the Star Destroyers seen in the original Empire at War, this deadliest capital ship in the galaxy comes equipped with a superlaser rivalling that of the Death Star." Sounds good to us. Check out screenshots elsewhere on the site for more.