Empire Earth Setup Guide

Required Software

• Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest — the GOG or Steam release. Both ship the same binary and work identically. NeoEE is not supported and will not be; please buy the game instead.
• The Archipelago client component, installed with this apworld.

No patching is required. Nothing is copied into the game folder, and no game files are modified — the client reads and writes the running game's memory, and shows Archipelago messages on the game's own message line.

⚠️ On Steam: run Archipelago as administrator

The Steam release always launches Empire Earth elevated. Windows does not let an ordinary program read an elevated one, so a normal Archipelago client cannot see the game at all — it will sit on "Waiting for Empire Earth to start" no matter how long you wait.

Right-click the Archipelago Launcher and choose Run as administrator, before you start the game.

Elevating after a match has begun makes Windows prompt again, which minimises Empire Earth and can be awkward to recover from in full screen.

The GOG release does not elevate, so this does not apply there.

Installing

1. Put empire_earth.apworld in your Archipelago custom_worlds folder.
2. Restart the Archipelago Launcher so it picks the world up.

Configuring your YAML

Empire Earth:
  # reach_epoch or wonder_victory.
  goal: reach_epoch

  # Epoch your skirmish starts in, and the one you must reach to win.
  starting_epoch: prehistoric_age
  goal_epoch: space_age

  # The skirmish setup, chosen here rather than in game.
  map_size: medium
  resources: standard_low
  game_variant: standard
  difficulty: medium
  game_speed: standard
  unit_limit: 300
  wonders_for_victory: 0
  reveal_map: false
  use_custom_civs: false
  lock_teams: false
  lock_speed: false
  prevent_match_end: true
  opponents: hostile
  ingame_messages: true

  # How much of a resource one bundle grants.
  bundle_size: 500

yaml/EmpireEarth.yaml in the repository lists the accepted value for every setting.

Playing

1. Start the Archipelago Launcher and run Empire Earth Client, then connect it to the room.
2. Start Empire Earth and create a skirmish. Pick a map type and a civilisation — the rest of the setup screen is filled in from your YAML.

The client attaches to the game automatically once a match is running, and reconnects on its own if you quit to the menu and start another match.

The skirmish setup is not yours to choose

While the client is connected it holds the setup screen at the settings your YAML asked for, and puts them back if you change them, so everyone playing a seed plays the same match. Cheat codes are always disabled. /settings in the client shows what is being held in place.

Map choice is yours and always will be — the client never touches it, so custom maps work exactly as they normally would.

How the randomizer plays

You begin unable to advance beyond your starting epoch. Advancing normally requires two recruitment or technology buildings; that requirement is removed and replaced by an Archipelago item.

• Epoch: <name> items unlock the ability to advance to that epoch. You still have to pay the resource cost in the Capitol, and epochs are still strictly sequential — receiving a late epoch early simply sits dormant until you have worked up to it.
• Resource bundle items grant food, wood, stone, gold or iron immediately.
• Reaching each epoch sends a check, as does constructing each building type and recruiting each unit for the first time. Units never retire while the client is running, so no unit check can be missed.
• Researching a technology sends a check. The technology itself does nothing when researched — its benefit arrives separately as a Tech: item.
• Building a wonder sends nothing. The Wonder: item is the reward, and raising the wonder is what you do with it. Wonders count towards a wonder goal when they are finished, not when the foundation goes down.

Your goal decides what finishes the seed: reaching goal_epoch, or completing a wonder victory.

Because Empire Earth ends the match as soon as a wonder victory happens, the two options must agree — generation refuses reach_epoch with wonders enabled, and a wonder goal with wonders_for_victory: 0. Otherwise the match could end in a victory that leaves the seed unfinishable.

Client commands

Type these in the client window:

Command	Effect
/ee	Attachment status and your current resource stockpile
/roster	What you own and which checks it satisfies
/wonders	Which wonders you have built, and wonder-goal progress
/settings	The match settings being held in place
/diplomacy	Who is at peace with whom
/grant <resource> <amount>	Debug: add resources directly

Troubleshooting

The client says it is waiting for Empire Earth. It looks for EE-AOC.exe or Empire Earth.exe. Make sure the game is actually running, and start the client from the same Windows account.

"No memory profile matches this build." Your executable differs from the one the addresses were taken from. Only the GOG Art of Conquest build is currently mapped.

Nothing happens when items arrive. Resources are only credited while you are in a match; items received in a menu are applied as soon as one starts.