For what problems I see players are having getting Medieval2 and Kingdoms mods to work on Steam, I don't believe Empires will be getting my money anytime too soon. Steam, being a third party, and can't figure out how to put a mod in its proper folder without frustrating its customers, will not be getting my money too soon. It gives them too much control over my game that I would pay my hard earned money for. BE a conspiracy theory, I don't trust them.

Question: any way to play this game legally without Steam loaded on my computer?