I got my subscription copy of PC Gamer UK today, and they ran an interview with one of the developers of Empire at War. The interview was not really that interesting (and it even had incoherent spelling, shame), but at least it was long, giving publicity to EaW. And there was this one very interesting tidbit:

Stan: Are there any plans to add new playable nations to the game?
Developer: There were originally planned to be only two civs in EaW, but we added a third "on the go" called the "Freelancers", which will be added in an early patch. This civ basically consists of a mix-match of rebel and civilian ships (we modelled a few like the Nebulon A Frigate, the Muurian Transport, and the T-Wing, and it'll really be slightly weaker than the rebels, but with some interesting features. For example, their economy is far better than the Alliance's, allowing them to raise a military quickly. And they have the ability to convert civilian vessels to military use, adding a few guns and new armour plating to it and sending it into the fray. In addition, they can salvage wrecks from battle and turn them into "uglies" (that is, several fighters put together), or they can repair them for their own use. Look out for more info on these, because they really are awesome to play with!

(Pages 17-18, recent issue of PCGamerUK).

I was of course slightly sceptical, so I got over to the the official EaW Web Site (First of april, you idiot!.com), and guess what, it's there, too!

Yi-pee!

Where the **** did they come from???:mad:

Good show, good show indeed

Really.... I hate 1st of april.

Originally posted by Darth Alec
Really.... I hate 1st of april. true dat...

Really.... I hate 1st of april.
Humour, friend, humour:p .

OK, so I could've done better than that...

And also the fact that developers wouldn't use the word "civ" when there are in fact no civilizations, only factions or sides.