Should I play Empire Earth before AoC?

So, my earlier problems with Empire Earth and Empire Earth: Art of Conquest seem to have oddly self-resolved. Now, I am wondering whether I actually need to play both games or if I can safely just dive into Art of Conquest?

To this end, I have a few questions to help me choose:

• Is Art of Conquest just a sequel to Empire Earth, or is it an expanded version of the original?

• Are all of EE's original missions and storyline covered, if I start a new campaign in AoC?

• Would I miss anything if I were to completely disregard and never play Empire Earth - only playing the Art of Conquest game?

Solution 1:

Is Art of Conquest just a sequel to Empire Earth, or is it an expanded version of the original?

Art of Conquest is an add-on/expansion pack for Empire Earth.

Are all of EE's original missions and storyline covered, if I start a new campaign in AoC?

Starting a new campaign - you can play/re-play the original campaigns but also play the new campaigns added in the expansion.

Would I miss anything if I were to completely disregard and never play Empire Earth - only playing the Art of Conquest game?

If you mean to play only the Art of Conquest missions then yes, you are missing out on probably half the game. If you mean to NOT replay the original campaigns (assuming you played them on the original version of the game) then not really. Improvements have been made to the civilisations which may affect your strategy in some missions. However, generally speaking the original missions are exactly the same in the expansion.