: The game departed from specific nations, offering only three broad regional factions: Western , Middle Eastern , and Far Eastern .
: The number of eras was drastically reduced to five: Ancient , Medieval , Colonial , Modern , and Future . Empire Earth III
: Resource management was streamlined so that all materials (like wood or ore) are interchangeable into a single stockpile, and citizen management was largely automated or removed. Critical Reception : The game departed from specific nations, offering
: This replaced traditional campaigns with a turn-based strategic map of the entire globe, similar to Rise of Nations . similar to Rise of Nations .