Overview
A guide about the advantages and flaws of these two mods.
What is this guide about?
This guide is about the mods “Clone Wars Mod” and “Republic at War”. These mods are total conversion mods to bring the Clone Wars era to Empire at War. Each is available on ModDB.
Clone Wars Mod: [link]
Republic at War: [link]
Those are links to download the mod and to learn more about them. We will be comparing these mods to help you choose which to download. If you cannot make a decision, don’t worry! You can download both of these and switch between them at any time. This guide is mostly to explain both in case you want to investigate further.
Comparison
The first mod, and my favorite of the two is the Clone Wars mod.
AI
Unfortunately, the AI in both games have some problems. In the Clone Wars mod Galactic Conquest, the AI is very passive. It will only rarely attack your planets, and when it does it might not have enough troops. Overall in the actual battles themselves I think the AI is alright. The AI here is very easy to beat, so people should have no problem on moderate or easy difficulty.
The Republic at War AI is very aggressive and active, keeping you on your toes. It is very difficult, even on easy mode. None of this is really bad. However, the AI has an annoying tendency to spawn units (mostly space fleets) out of nowhere, even if there is no way to produce them or they don’t have enough money. However, experienced players should still be able to defeat the hard difficulty of this game.
AI: Republic at War is better but not by much.
Maps and Planets
Most of the ground maps are quite interesting in the Clone Wars mod. From my experience, almost all of the maps are very unique. A handful of maps will have some sort of hazards, such as sarlacc pits, wildlife from Star Wars lore, or local denizens who will aid one of the sides.
The downfall of these maps is that they are pretty glitchy, units will get stuck or there will be areas that are hard to navigate. Luckily these issues usually don’t greatly affect you. Some of the placement of reinforcement zones, build pads, etc. is poor.
The galactic map of the Clone Wars has 70 planets, mainly coming from the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV show, the non-canon Star Wars: Clone Wars 2003 series, and a few Star Wars Legends (formerly called the Expanded Universe) planets from books and comics.
The Republic at War maps are typically more polished than the Clone Wars mod maps, for example there are far less glitches in the maps. My main issue with these maps is that often they feel a bit similar and generic. Some of Republic at War’s maps are really great because they either have good design or creatures such as Tusken Raiders, rancors, etc.
Republic at War has 70 planets in its largest Galactic Conquest mode, mainly taken from the movies and Star Wars lore.
Maps: Tie
Units
The Clone Wars mod has a great variety of ground units, including things that make small cameos in the movies (such as UT-ATs) and armor from Star Wars Legends (MAFs, GATs). It is not lacking in infantry either, with commando droids, IG-110 lightsaber droids, clone heavy gunners, ARF troopers, and clone snipers. There is also a lot of space units, including Corellian destroyers, Gozanti cruisers, and flagships for some heroes such as the Invisible Hand, the Procurer, the Tranquility, and others.
Republic at War also has a lot of units for space and combat. Most of these are from the movies and a few from Star Wars Legends (such as TX-130 fighter tanks). It has a much smaller number of different units than the Clone Wars mod, and most of its units are included in the other mod.
In the Clone Wars mod, individual units can be selected. For example, instead of having to select a squad of clones, I can choose just one to go scout an area. This goes for most units, aside from B1 battle droids.
Also, Clone Wars mod has a lot more heroes than Republic at War, which has around 8 starting heroes and a couple more that can be bought. The Clone Wars mod has many more heroes for both sides, including Jedi such as Ki-Adi-Mundi and Luminara Unduli and villains such as Sora Bulq and Admiral Trench.
Units: Clone Wars mod
Verdict
Overall I would say if you like the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV show you should choose Clone Wars mod, same if you are more inexperienced at Empire at War or like Star Wars Legends characters like Sora Bulq and Sev’rance Tann.
If you have only seen the movies and maybe know a little about the Star Wars lore then I would say that Republic at War will have more well-known characters and units. If you want a good challenge then Republic at War might be the pick for you.
Favorite part of Republic at War: More clone battalions and they are one group instead of a bunch of individual platoons you must build as in Clone Wars mod.
Favorite part of Clone Wars mod: Variety of heroes and units, as well as more unique planets and maps.
Links to playthroughs:
Droids
Republic at War Droids by Saph:
Republic
Republic at War Republic by Saph:
Republic at War Republic by TheXPGamers (BEST):
Clone Wars Republic by TheXPGamers: