E3 2002: Haegemonia preshow report

DreamCatcher will be showing off Haegemonia, its futuristic PC real-time strategy game, at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo. Haegemonia takes place in the year 2104, in a sci-fi setting in which space travel and colonization have become commonplace. Settlers and scientists leave Earth in droves to help colonize Mars--a fact that doesn't sit well with the authorities back on Earth. Eventually, the two planets become separate political entities--the Earth's World Government and the Martian Organization of Colonists-- and tensions between the two groups escalate into full-blown war, though the appearance of hostile aliens complicates things considerably.

In Haegemonia, players will be able to play as Earth humans, Martian humans, and aliens and attempt to conquer their enemies by building and managing a fleet that can contain more than 40 different types of spaceships, colonizing planets to increase their resources and holdings and gaining technology by researching it themselves or stealing it from their enemies. Haegemonia will feature distinct single-player campaigns, depending on which side you choose to play. For instance, in the Martian campaign, players will play as Captain Nilea Cortilliari, an ambitious female military officer and daughter of two high-ranking Martian officials who, over the course of the campaign, must resolve her doubts about the Earth-Mars conflict and her innate loyalty to the Organization of Colonists. In the Earth Campaign, players will play as Captain Jack Korso, an orphan who wound up in an Earth military academy and eventually rose through the ranks to become an officer. He is loyal to the Earth's World Government and will fiercely defend it during the campaign.

In Haegemonia, players will be able to access a technology tree that features about 200 different types of research goals, as well as hire spies to infiltrate their enemies' ranks. Players will also be able to use hero units in battle and use interstellar wormholes to quickly travel across huge distances in outer space. Of course, in addition to the campaign games, Haegemonia will include a full suite of multiplayer options.