Dev Diary #19: The NOMAD Empire... A Completely New Way To Play Empire At War
Dev Diary #19: The NOMAD Empire... A Completely New Way To Play Empire At War
The Vagaari Empire will pillage their way across space, an ineradicable threat plundering across hyperspace.
Happy New Year! We begin 2024 with an amazingly exciting breakthrough. Now, bear with me, this is a super obscure faction, but what I’ve done for the Vagaari Empire in v1.34 can transform gameplay for many factions, across multiple eras, and offer an entirely fresh way to play Empire At War.
I’ve found a way to create a brand new, completely unique playing experience for this race of nomadic, stateless pirates, marauding across space and plundering all they can find. So, strap yourself in, we’re on the move…
The Vagaari Empire
Who are the Vagaari?
Originally based on a planet called Vagar Praxut, their homeworld, at some point prior to The Phantom Menace they became nomads, marauding across the Unknown Regions. They are pirates and slavers, and their economy, such as it is, is based entirely on conquest, plunder and taking slaves. For a real-world comparison, imagine the Huns of the 5th century AD; a territory-less people moving on horseback and sacking cities for plunder.
The Vagaari’s leader is called the Miskara, and succession to this title is won by murdering the current incumbent. The Miskara is a kind of pirate king for the Vagaari, and their domain.
The Vagaari were in constant conflict with other powers in the Unknown Regions, whom they preyed upon for plunder and resources, and particularly with the Chiss Ascendancy. Their piratical slaving fleet was augmented with some technology from the known Galaxy following the destruction of Outbound Flight, and eventually they would come into contact, via the Empire of the Hand, with the New Republic and the Jedi.
How can all of this be reflected in their gameplay?
I wanted to recreate a similar experience to playing as the Huns or other migrating barbarian tribes in Rome: Total War where you have no territory but large horde stacks with which to pillage and build an economy based on sacking cities. But how could this be possible within the limits of the Empire at War engine?
Well, I did it. And in the process I invented a completely new way to play Empire At War in the process…
Playing As The Vagaari
When you load up a Vagaari Empire campaign you will find a horde of space units, usually in space-only regions, and perhaps some very small planetary forces as well. You will only have a few ground structures, at most - and perhaps none at all, and you will have no starbase. Indeed, you will have no space stations of any kind. All you have is your raiding fleet…