On Friday I picked up Empire Earth and have been enjoying it since. Despite the book being a hefty size, it amazes me that they tell me very little useful information--specifically, the benefits/drawbacks of any units and buildings. So, a few questions:

What are the purpose of houses? They don't seem to be required to increase the population limit or anything... so why would I build them?

How do I advance to the next epoch? I know I need "x" amount of food, etc. What I mean is, what do I have to do to even see the grayed-out "V" (or whatever epoch I'd advance to) in my capitol? It seems to just miraculously appear after a while.

Houses built within the town center's square of influence increase your troops morale as long as they are fighting within that square. Increased morale makes them harder to kill and is indicated by the small green dots (dashes?) that partially encircle each guy.

Advancement to the next epoch becomes available once you spend enough resources. I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but I just usually keep building and upgrading my army until the advance button appears. I think you also might have to build a certain number of buildings as well. Not sure though.

Hope that helps.
-Cavalier

To advance to the next epoch, you have to get a certain amount of resources gathered, and you also have to build two buildings during your current epoch.