There are four main classes in Empires, each of which is suited well for its role. The Scout travels light, relying on stealth and observation to complete his mission. The Grenadier is outfitted to fight those pesky vehicles and may have a few tricks up his sleeve. Riflemen excel in skirmishes, handling enemy infantry with ease. Last, but by no means least, is the Engineer. Master of mechanics and medicine, the engineer is an essential member of any team.
Each class has access to its own weaponry and through experience on the battlefield each can learn, in addition to general skills, skills that are unique to the class. After earning 10 skill points, which can be won by aiding your team or hindering your enemy, a player can select a skill that they will carry with them after they respawn. The skill selected can be changed at any time, but in order for the new skill to become active the player must reselect his class at either a barracks, armory or flag (if applicable). At the highest, rank a player can use up to four skills at any given time.
To select your kit and abilities, you must bring up the kit selection screen ("B" by default) and then choose your class, weapons, and skills. Don't worry, the experience you earn is yours for the battle and is not affected if you die or change classes.
To select a skill, click on an unlocked lock icon. The Skill Selection Menu will appear. In the top left corner of this menu you are able to switch between General Skills and Class Specific Skills.
The General Skills improve basic aspects of a soldier. Listed, they are:
- Health Upgrade: Increases your maximum amount of health by 30%.
- Health Regeneration: Slowly regenerates health.
- Ammo Increase: Increases your total amount of carryable ammo.
- Stamina Increase: Increases your total available stamina.
- Speed Upgrade: Your normal speed is increased by 10%.
- Accuracy Upgrade: Increases accuracy while stopped and moving.
- Melee Upgrade: Increases the damage, range, and area covered by your melee attacks.
Scout
- The scout class is well-suited for forward reconnaissance and stealth. As the scout, you can opt for short range sub-machine guns or a light scoped rifle. You also spawn with a set of binoculars, which can be used to paint a target for friendly artillery (if any are available). To call out a target, simply zoom in and press the fire button. A red attack diamond will appear at your target. Scouts also spawn with smoke, concussion or sticky stun grenades. Concussion grenades will blind your enemy for a few seconds, while sticky stun grenades will stick to vehicles and overheat them for five seconds.
- Any self-respecting scout is also a skilled saboteur. He is able to sabotage enemy buildings and turrets with differing effects by holding the USE key ("E" by default). The health of the building will be halved and will slowly deteriorate until destroyed. Purple smoke will start emitting from the sabotaged building until repaired.
- The scout class' skills at evasion and detection more than make up for its less powerful weaponry. At the forefront of the list is the scout's Hide ability, which makes him invisible to enemies when crouching for a long period of time. To use this, simply crouch and wait. You are semi-transparent when crouching against a single wall, and all but invisible when hiding in a corner.
- Knowing the tricks of his trade, the scout can use his Enhanced Senses to detect nearby enemies, even those who are hidden. As you approach an enemy, an arrow signifying his location will appear on your minimap, faintly at first, but with growing brightness as you near him. Surprise attacks just got a whole lot harder.
- But what spec ops kit would be complete without a Weapon Silencer? In Empires, this ability's effects are twofold - not only does it cut the noise made by every shot in half, but it also hides your kill and death messages from other players. How sure are you that the scout is dead?
- The final two skills of the scout affect vehicles that he drives. The first, Radar Stealth, makes electronic detection of the vehicle almost impossible, hiding him from enemy surveillance equipment. The second, Vehicle Speed, increases the vehicle's speed by 10%.
Rifleman
- Riflemen are the undisputed masters of infantry combat. They can use the most powerful rifles and machine guns, wielding them with an ease no others can match. In addition, these troopers spawn with explosive grenades and a suit of body armor, making them a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. He can trade in his anti-infantry grenades for anti-tank ones that stick to the chassis of enemy vehicles and cause a great deal of damage.
- The rifleman's skills are focused on what he does best: combat. Two offensive skills increase the damage dealt by his weapons, and one defensive skill decreases damage dealt to him. Damage Increase and Vehicle Damage increase damage dealt with hand and vehicle weapons by 10%, respectively, and Dig In decreases damage dealt to the soldier while crouching or proning: half of the damage you take will be substracted from your stamina pool.
Grenadier
- When the going gets tough, the tough call for anti-armor support, and that's exactly what the grenadier delivers. In a direct fight, the class shows its teeth with a standard RPG. If you hold the fire button when firing a rocket, you will guide it, so watch where you point that thing. Releasing the fire button will make the rocket a dumbfire rocket. The RPG launcher converts into a mortar for those times when a straight rocket just won't cut it. To use the mortar, just crouch and let the shells fly. The grenadier also receives a pistol for close quarter combat and double the amount of ammunition than other classes. Finally, the grenadier can lay mines, up to a maximum of 8, for defense. Laying more than 8 will detonate the first mine.
- Grenadiers have the ability of having the Defuse skill, which enables them to defuse mines. Additionally, enemy mines will not explode if you have the Defuse skill. This makes the class extremely useful for detecting and clearing minefields. Grenadiers can defuse mines with the Defuse skill by crouching on the mine, aiming, and pressing the USE key ("E" by default) for a few seconds.
- Arguably the most useful skill of the grenadier is Artillery Feedback, granting the class superiority in that area of combat. The skill works by indicating, with a diamond on the minimap, the area in which the player's last shell or missile exploded. The skill applies not only to artillery cannons and the class' mortar weapon, but also to the handheld RPG and any vehicle mounted cannon or missile launcher.
- A tactical skill is Armor Detection, which lets the grenadier see the percentage of armor on the targeted side of a vehicle. This is especially useful when an enemy's armor has been destroyed on one side but has turned so that an undamaged side faces your team.
- On the defensive, a grenadier is most at home in a vehicle, increasing its resiliance with the skill Increased Armor. This skill reduces damage dealt to a driven vehicle by 10%, letting a skilled grenadier remain on the battlefield long after others have been reduced to scrap.
Engineer
- The most important class early on in the game, engineers build the bases that are placed by the commander. Though technically any class can put a building together by approaching it and pressing the USE key ("E" by default), engineers are given a tool that greatly accelerates the process. Engineers are limited to using light submachine guns but they carry powerful seismic grenades which deal huge amounts of damage to enemy structures.
- The engineer's main asset is a small tool that he keeps clipped to his belt. With this tool an engineer can build and repair vehicles and placed buildings, heal teammates, and even place his own structures . To build, repair, or heal simply walk up to your target and fire the tool while aiming at the target.
- To create your own structures, have the tool out and first right click to bring up the build menu. From here you can build turrets (machine gun or missile), surveillance equipment (cameras to detect infantry, radars to detect vehicles), walls, and crates of ammo. You can't build on heavily sloped surfaces, and you are limited to one turret and one piece of surveillance equipment until you have gained 40 rank points. Your building limit will then double. Also, be aware that there is a time delay between placing multiple ammo crates, so use them wisely.
- To place walls as an engineer, click on the walls icon in the engineer menu. Then left-click on the ground where you want your wall to start. You should see a ghost of the wall appear. Move around to plot out more wall segments and then left-click again to complete the wall. Your wall section will be created, and another ghost wall will appear, allowing you to continue building more walls from where your last line ended. To exit Build Mode, right-click. You can recycle structures that you have placed by right clicking on them with the tool, and selecting "recycle" from the menu that pops up. You can only have a limited number of walls. This limit increases as you gain rank.
- If you use the repair tool on an enemy structure or vehicle, it will deconstruct it while using up twice the normal amount of energy. This tool has a limited amount of energy, but will regenerate its supply during the course of time.
- With his skills the engineer can expand his role as a mechanic or a medic, with his versatility limited only by the number of skill slots the player has unlocked. Healing Upgrade and Repair Upgrade are the most basic skills of the class. Healing Upgrade doubles the amount of health given for a certain amount of the engineer tool's energy, and Repair Upgrade doubles the amount repaired.
- The engineer tool can also be given the ability to Revive an engineer's fallen comrades, making an engineer an invaluable member of a squad both during and after firefights. To revive a teammate who has not yet respawned, activate the tool while pointing at his body. You must be near the teammate's body for this to work and have at least 50% energy.
- Engineers can also use their skills to modify the engine in a driven vehicle, increasing the Vehicle Cooling or rate at which the engine dissipates heat by 10%. This lets a vehicle driven by an engineer maintain continuous fire for a longer period of time than would be otherwise possible.
- Finally, the engineer can upgrade his own turrets, granting them increased lethality by increasing their damage and range. The Turret Upgrade skill lets engineers who have placed and built a turret, upgrade that turret, first to level 2, and then to level 3. These turret levels are the same as those that the commander can research. Note, however, that an engineer cannot upgrade a turret that was placed by the commander. To upgrade a turret approach it and right click on it with the engineer tool. Select "upgrade turret" from the menu, and then build your now upgraded turret. These turrets are not to be underestimated. Remember that while you're upgrading the turret it is deactivated and vulnerable.
