Gamecloud - What other gameplay additions and improvements will the Empire Earth II expansion have?

Dr. Ian Davis - We've pushed the gameplay further with The Art of Supremacy. There are Native Tribes (groups of people who live in the game world who you'll come across as you explore the map). Unlike computer players, Native Tribes are not players trying to build an empire -- they're just part of the world, going about their business and living their lives. You can trade with, assimilate (i.e. ally with) and fight Native Tribes as you see fit. Both trading and assimilating provide you with benefits.

New game types add to the mix as well, like "Element of Persistance" (when one side beats the opposing side on a map, the victorious player or team gets to bring any Leaders and Heroes they earned with them to the next map). Each side gets to choose new starting troops from the Reinforcements Screen before continuing on to the next battle, all players' Epoch and Tech Tree progress is transferred to the next map, and the war resumes.

We've had some fun with Hotspots as well. Similar to a normal Hotspots game, in Territory Hotspots a number of territories on the map are considered vital. Unlike normal Hotspots, all Territory Hotspots are revealed as soon as the game starts. You gain control of a territory in the normal fashion of building a City Center, and a fortress when required, in the territory. To win the game, a player or team must control a simple majority of all the Territory Hotspots for a set amount of time (a countdown clock will appear to indicate how long the player or team must hold the Territory Hotspots to win).

New features and upgrades allow a totally new level of customization and strategy as well: Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy lets you create your own custom civilization and lead it to glory. First, choose which Region you want your civilization to belong to (African, Meso American, European or Asian). Then select the two civilization attributes you want your civilization to have from the dropdown lists. Choose the unique units you want to use for each set of epochs; and which technologies you want to have automatically researched for your civilization when you start a game beyond Epoch 1. You can also create a list of city and territory names to use for your civilization by typing a name in the text box, I prefer "Mad Doctor I-Land!" We've got more we've done to make this one a fun ride, you get the idea...