Special Units Clarification

[Gobalopper]

It seems the special units given to those who pre-order Emperor has caused somewhat of a stir among some people on the official board. Meatball clarifies some of it in his post below:

Q) Won't players without the special units be at a disadvantage?

A) Yes and no. Of course, players without the units will be slightly shortchanged on the multiplayer battlefield for the first 2-3 weeks; however, the holdback units aren?t absolutely vital for success. Since Emperor has a multitude of properly balanced units and tactics, victory can be achieved with or without the special units. This special unit promotion is a way of rewarding those fans who are as excited about the game as we are and have access to pre-purchase facilities.

Don't worry too much, guys...the additional units are cool to play with but they're not so powerful as to completely disrupt your gameplay experience. We'll be sending out the unlocking codes about 6-8 weeks before ship to those that pre-purchased. -LINK

Delphi also answered some questions I sent him:

Is the special code something that changes each time or will it be the same for every pre-order?

1. Yes it will be a special pre-order code.

Will people with the extra units be able to play against those who don't have it?

2. Yes, they will be able to play against those that do not have them.

Will the units eventually be made available to those who didn't pre-order or for some reason can't pre-order?

3. Yes, once the promo is over.

So it looks like the special units will be released to everyone eventually, but I am sure there will be codes posted somewhere once those who pre-ordered receive them. Of course we still don't know the special units stats or which online stores will be giving away the codes but that should be released eventually... but don't pre-order just to get the special units, especially if you will end up paying more for it.