Start here: pick the era you want to fight in, then install the one mod that owns it. Clone Wars means Republic at War or Fall of the Republic. Post-Endor means Thrawn's Revenge. Classic Galactic Civil War means Awakening of the Rebellion or the Remake.

That is the whole decision. The detail is below.

Why this game is still worth modding

Our own tracking makes the case better than argument does. Empire at War launched in 2006 to a Metacritic score of 79, and in 2026 it is the most played Star Wars game of its entire decade, peaking above 2,000 players in a week when twenty-year-old classics like KOTOR were pulling a few hundred.

Nothing Petroglyph shipped in 2006 explains that. Twenty years of total conversions do.

First, the thing that trips everyone up

Almost every mod needs Forces of Corruption, the expansion. If you bought the Gold Pack on Steam or GOG you already have it, and that is what most people own. If you somehow have base Empire at War only, most of this list will not install.

Two ways to install:

  • Steam Workshop is one click and handles updates for you. Use this unless a mod is not there.
  • ModDB is manual, and usually holds the newest version plus mods that never came to Workshop. Follow each mod's own instructions, because the install path differs between the Steam and non-Steam versions of the game.

Run one large mod at a time. These are total conversions, not cosmetic packs, and they are not designed to stack.

Clone Wars

Republic at War. The most popular Empire at War mod overall, and the usual first recommendation. Republic versus Confederacy, drawn from the films, the Clone Wars series and the expanded universe. If you want clone armies and Venators and have no strong opinions beyond that, install this one.

Fall of the Republic. From the Thrawn's Revenge team, which means it inherits their more modern strategy systems rather than just reskinning the 2006 game. Pick this over Republic at War if you care more about the strategic layer than the roster.

Post-Endor and the New Republic

Empire at War Expanded: Thrawn's Revenge. The deepest mod on this list and the reason a lot of people never uninstalled the game. It moves past Return of the Jedi into the fracturing Empire, the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant, and it has been in continuous development since 2006. The team has borrowed ideas from Stellaris and Total War, so expect a real strategy game rather than a nostalgia trip.

If you only ever install one Empire at War mod, most veterans would tell you to make it this one.

Galactic Civil War

Awakening of the Rebellion. An homage to the 1998 game Star Wars Rebellion, with much deeper management and tech systems than the base game offers. Version 2.9 is current. Note that the team's Clone Wars spin-off, Awakening of the Clone Wars, has interesting ideas but a reputation for bugs, including the galactic-map AI getting stuck, so treat that one as experimental rather than a first install.

Empire at War: Remake. The one to install if you are here for spectacle. Rebuilt visuals and a much larger fleet roster, focused almost entirely on space combat, with land battles effectively set aside. Gorgeous, narrower.

Old Republic

Old Republic at War takes the game back to the KOTOR and SWTOR period. Worth knowing before you start: it is no longer being updated, and the team has said they are rebuilding it from the ground up. Still playable, but you are playing a finished artifact rather than a living mod.

The ones that are not Star Wars at all

Empire at War's engine has been repurposed repeatedly, which is its own kind of testament to the modding scene.

  • Stargate: Pegasus Chronicles, a full conversion with Asgard, Goa'uld and Wraith factions.
  • Covenant at War, a Halo conversion, though it has not been updated since 2013 and shows it.
  • Mass Effect at War, restarted in 2020 and still a work in progress.

None of these are why you came, but they are why this engine outlived its publisher.

What to install tonight

Never played a mod before and want the biggest upgrade for the least trouble: Thrawn's Revenge from the Steam Workshop.

Want clones: Republic at War.

Want it to look modern: Empire at War: Remake.

The details

  • Mod descriptions cross-checked against PCGamesN's mod roundup, ModDB listings and Steam Workshop pages. Versions and availability change often; check the mod's own page before installing.
  • Player figures are our own Steam readings, taken every two hours across the Star Wars catalogue. Method and wider context in our player-count coverage.
  • We have not personally finished a campaign in every mod above, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. This is a map of what the scene rates and why, not a set of reviews.