Earth 2160
Developer(s)	Reality Pump Studios
Publisher(s)	Zuxxez Entertainment (Europe), Midway Games (NA), TopWare Interactive (Poland)
Designer(s)	Reality Pump Studios
Engine	Earth-4 Engine
Release date(s)	June 2005 (Germany, Poland, Russia), September 2005 (Europe), November 2005 (NA), April 10, 2006 (Steam)
Genre(s)	Real Time Strategy
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Media	DVD, Download (Steam)
System requirements	1.5 GHz processor, 512 MB RAM, 2.0 GB hard disk space, graphics card that support DirectX 9.0c or higher, Windows 2000 or XP (while not officially supported it does run on Win98SE with patch 1.3.5)

Earth 2160 is a real time strategy (RTS) computer game, the third in the "Earth" series and developed by Reality Pump studios. It is a direct sequel to Earth 2150. The release of the game was staggered, originally published in Germany, Poland and Russia in June 2005, it was then released in the rest of Europe in September 2005 with North America receiving the latest release of the game November 2005. It was also released on Valve Software's Steam platform in April 2006. The game continues the dysotopian themes of the previous Earth games, and is set in numerous locales throughout the solar system. Image File history File links Cover for the upcoming game Earth 2160. ... A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates video games. ... Reality Pump Studios is a Polish videogame developer who developed Knightshift 2 and are currently working on Earth 2160. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Zuxxez Entertainment is a video game publisher. ... Midway Games (NYSE: MWY) is an American video game publisher. ... Zuxxez Entertainment is a video game publisher. ... A game designer is a person who designs games. ... Reality Pump Studios is a Polish videogame developer who developed Knightshift 2 and are currently working on Earth 2160. ... A game engine is the core software component of a computer or video game or other interactive application with real-time graphics. ... Earth-4 is the graphics engine used in Earth 2160. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays full 2006 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Steam is a digital distribution, digital rights management, multiplayer and communications platform developed by Valve Corporation. ... Video games are categorized into genres based on their gameplay. ... Dune 2 (1992), an early RTS A real-time strategy (RTS) game is a type of computer strategy game which does not have turns like conventional turn-based strategy video or board games. ... In computer games and video games, single-player refers to the variant of a particular game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. ... This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, the lead section of this article may need to be expanded. ... Size comparison: A 12 cm Sony DVD+RW and a 19 cm Dixon Ticonderoga pencil. ... // A digital download (also known as a digital single or a paid digital download) is an official and legal music single available for purchase through an online store. ... MHZ redirects here. ... ReBoot character, see Megabyte (ReBoot). ... Random access memory (usually known by its acronym, RAM) is a type of data storage used in computers. ... A gigabyte (derived from the SI prefix giga-) is a unit of information or computer storage equal to 1000³ bytes or 1024³ bytes (1000³ = one billion). ... Microsoft DirectX (Direct eXtension) is a collection of application programming interfaces for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. ... Real-time strategy (often abbreviated as RTS) is a genre of computer wargames which take place in real-time, where resource gathering, base building, technology development and high-level control over individual units (harvest, build, destroy) are key components[1], which distinguishes it from related strategy wargame genres, such as... A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ... Reality Pump Studios is a Polish videogame developer who developed Knightshift 2 and are currently working on Earth 2160. ... Earth 2150 is a real-time strategy game, originally published in 2000 by SSI and the Polish developer Reality Pump and a sequel to the largely unknown Earth 2140. ... Valve Software is a Bellevue, Washington-based video game developer made famous by its first product, Half-Life, which was released in November 1998. ... Steam is a digital distribution, digital rights management, multiplayer and communications platform developed by Valve Corporation. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays full 2006 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Major features of the Solar System (not to scale; from left to right): Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, the asteroid belt, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth and its Moon, and Mars. ...

Plotline

Earth 2160 follows the progress of the factions, who, after escaping the doomed Earth headed for Mars. After a time of relative peace and recovery, the factions once again come to blows, with a fourth faction of extraterrestrial nature coming into play. Just a few thousand humans were specifically chosen for the evacuation of Earth, and as such manpower and resources are limited. Upon reaching Mars, the factions set about completing the difficult and lengthy task of terraforming the planet independently of one another. As the game begins the process appears to be far from completion. Adjectives: Martian Atmosphere Surface pressure: 0. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Artists conception of a terraformed Mars in four stages of development. ...

Factions

There are a total of four playable factions in Earth 2160. Each faction has a unique method of constructing bases, as will be explained below.

The United Civilized States (UCS) are the evolution of a former expansion of the United States across the Americas. The UCS was previously a huge makeup of hedonistic, advanced humans who used robots and machines to accomplish any unpleasant tasks and jobs. However, whilst the ED and LC evacuation ships arrive safely at Mars and begin colonisation, the UCS evacuation ship, the Phoenix, inexplicably goes missing during the journey. Theories concerning its disappearance range from destruction by a meteor swarm, to the human overlords making the mistake of allocating too much power to the machines and, during the journey to Mars, in a move much akin to HAL 9000's the few humans remaining were exterminated by the machines they created. Major Michael Falkner of the ED personally believes that the ship was sucked into a black hole "or something like that, anyway". (It is revealed during the UCS campaign that the Captain of the Phoenix, an AI, has kept the ship in orbit and the humans in stasis, waiting for the wars in the Solar System between the ED and LC to end). The UCS's backbone forces are its robot mechs and colossal airborne ships. During the campaign, human forces under the rogue LC commander Heldin Ariah stumble across the derelict UCS command ship and are able to command the robots in their fight against the Morphidian Aliens. The UCS structures initially serve almost no function at first but may be upgraded with a series of add-on structures that enhance unit production, armament, and resource collection. World map showing the Americas CIA political map of the Americas The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World consisting of the continents of North America[1] and South America with their associated islands and regions. ... ASIMO, a humanoid robot manufactured by Honda. ... HAL 9000 (Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer) is a fictional character in Arthur C. Clarkes Space Odyssey saga. ... The title mecha RX-78-2 Gundam from the popular anime Mobile Suit Gundam In some works of science fiction, mecha (singular or plural) or mechs (singular: mech) are piloted or remote-controlled limbed vehicles. ...

Screen shot of the ED forces in the ED campaign

The Eurasian Dynasty (ED) represent the largest human faction in Earth 2160. Upon successfully completing the evacuation vessels, the leaders and officers of the faction were among the precious few human beings chosen to board the ships. As the most primitive of all the factions, the ED have previously relied on sheer strength and numbers to triumph over their enemies, using tanks and helicopters in battle. However, with only a few thousand humans remaining, and strictly limited materials, their future remains tentative. The ED seem modelled on the Soviet Union, and before Earth's demise were based primarily in Eurasia. Typical ED bases are huge complexes of production, resource, research, and defense structures connected together through tubes. Base defense can be enhanced with a series of turrets built atop mag-lev walls; these turrets can be moved along the wall sections to respond to threats in multiple directions. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1024 × 768 pixel, file size: 116 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Screenshot of Earth2160 ED campaign This is a screenshot of a copyrighted video or computer game, and the copyright for it is most likely held by... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1024 × 768 pixel, file size: 116 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Screenshot of Earth2160 ED campaign This is a screenshot of a copyrighted video or computer game, and the copyright for it is most likely held by... Eurasia Eurasia African-Eurasian aspect of Earth Eurasia is an immense landmass covering about 54,000,000 km² (or about 10. ...

The Lunar Corporation (LC) are by far the smallest of the factions. Unlike the other factions, they are relatively peaceful, and prior to the destruction of Earth lived unhindered on the Moon. However the fighting between the UCS and ED prompted them to utilize Earth's resources to construct an escape craft alongside the other two factions, and they too escape to Mars. The LC are the most advanced of all the factions, with anti-gravity vehicles and orbital construction technology. LC bases consist of a series of large towers with modules built on top of one another in order to save space while defense is supplied by a series of laser walls and defense towers. Apparent magnitude: up to -12. ... Anti-gravity is the idea of creating a place or object that is free from the force of gravity. ... An orbital spaceflight (or orbital flight) in the general sense is a spaceflight where the trajectory of a spacecraft reaches the height of, and through having an appropriate velocity enters into, orbit around an astronomical body. ...

The Morphidian Aliens are the most obscure of all the factions. Having been imprisoned beneath the Martian surface aeons ago they were awoken by landing UCS ships. Now, they are determined to escape their incarceration and establish themselves across the solar system. Unlike the other factions, the Morphidian Aliens' buildings and units are not manufactured, but are rather organic in nature. All ground-based buildings and units originate from the Mantian family of units, who have the capability of cloning themselves or morphing into another building or units after sating themselves with a nearby water source. The Aliens also rely on large starships called Replicatori, which can then replicate themselves much like the Mantians (after absorbing enough crystal) or morph into Morphoratori. These Morphoratori must then absorb enough metal before transforming into warships.

Graphics and features

Earth 2160's graphics were by far some of the most advanced yet seen in the RTS genre at the time of release, continuing the trend set by its predecessor Earth 2150. The game uses the Earth-4 engine, which boasts colossal amounts of detail, with a T&L rendering module which supports advanced pixel shading and bone calculation direct to ones graphics card. Bump mapping, lighting effects and detailed units are also present. Shading is also extensively used, and much emphasis has been put on creating realistic texturing and materials to create a highly realistic gaming environment. Earth-4 is the graphics engine used in Earth 2160. ... This article or section may be confusing for some readers, and should be edited to be clearer or more simplified. ... A sphere without bump mapping. ...

The game is perhaps the first to use a workable self-learning AI system, this system uses linear back framing algorithms to learn from its mistakes and become more and more competent in battle as the game progresses. Movement routines and smooth, high FPS flying trajectories serve to enhance further the playing experience. Garry Kasparov playing against Deep Blue, the first machine to win a chess game against a reigning world champion. ... Maze War, one of the two candidates for the first FPS. This article is about the video game genre. ...

A new "agent" system has been devised, similar to a mercenary system, factions may choose to hire freelance persons each with their own specific abilities. Some assist your scientific research, others in reconnaissance, resource harvesting and so forth. Each recalls his previous contracts, this affects price. Further, they have an attitude towards their fellow agents, ranging from love to resentment. Mixed reconnaissance patrol of the Polish Home Army and the Soviet Red Army during Operation Tempest, 1944 Reconnaissance is the military term for the active gathering of information about an enemy, or other conditions, by physical observation. ...

Research plays a major part in Earth 2160, and factions can choose numerous technologies to research, often at the same time. Research centres are still prevalent, and the number you construct will have an effect on the speed of your research.

A much expanded on innovation for Earth 2160 is the modular construction. One may construct buildings and units from a wide assortment of basic parts, thus in theory every base and army shall look unique.

The game economy is based upon three material types: Water, Metal, and Crystals.

Multiplayer

A total of ten skirmish maps and four multiplayer modes exist. Players also have the option to save their multiplayer games to finish at a later date. The multiplayer servers are hosted from EarthNet, and a ladder and league is included. A maximum of eight players may join a game. Spectator mode and Replays are also included. There is also an option to join a running game, which many real time strategy games don't have.

Development of EarthNet 2

Development of EarthNet 2, which was meant to replace the old EarthNet after release, was stopped mid-2006. This caused enragement among the community as it was perceived that ZuxxeZ blamed the community for the failure of its development, as it was being developed with members of the community. In addition ZuxxeZ considered the multiplayer feature of Earth 2160 unimportant, as only 10% of all users of Earth 2160 ever went online with it.

Modding

Modding is another feature included with Earth 2160, the E2160 world editor is included as an external program, enabling players to create their own maps to battle on. Reality Pump has confirmed that Unicode is present in the modding system. Modding is a slang expression that is derived from the verb, modify, and the noun, modification. The term can refer to the act of modifying a piece of hardware or software to perform a function not intended by someone with legal rights concerning that modification. ... Unicode is an industry standard allowing computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in any of the worlds writing systems. ...

Community Rebalancing

Due to the retail version balancing problems making fair multiplayer impossible which continued to patch 1.3.7, the InsideEarth community started a mod balancing the game called InsideEarthOperations Rebalancing or simply "reba". It replaced the original balancing with a more balanced version and introduce some changes in gameplay. Most matches online are played with "reba" and it is the standard gametype for the upcoming ECL Earth 2160 Tournaments and Ladders. Online gaming redirects here. ... Look up mod in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... ECL may stand for: ECL programming language, an extensible programming language developed at Harvard Ecole Centrale de Lyon, an engineering Grande École (university) in Lyon, France Educational Community License, an open source license issued to academic institutions for otherwise copyrighted material Effective Character Level, a concept used in D20 games...

Its current version is 8.3v14 and will be included in the next patch, patch 1.3.8

See also

• Reality Pump
• Real Time Strategy

Reality Pump Studios is a Polish videogame developer who developed Knightshift 2 and are currently working on Earth 2160. ... Dune 2 (1992), an early RTS A real-time strategy (RTS) game is a type of computer strategy game which does not have turns like conventional turn-based strategy video or board games. ...

External links

• Official Earth 2160 website
• Main Earth Community website