Empire V2.03 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION The Right Computer Hardware Atari ST Version The Amiga Version Keystroke Notation Backing Up Your Playing Disk Installation on Hard Disks Symbols The Combat Units Production Movement Combat Combat Between Units Repairing Ships Attacking Cities Bombardment Starting EMPIRE Atari ST Version Amiga Version EMPIRE Security System Starting/Resuming the Game File Selection Atari ST File Requester Amiga File Requester Player Selection Computer Opponents Multiple Human Players Play by Mail Setting the Efficiency Ratings Production Efficiency Combat Efficiency World Map Selection Signing On Initial Production Demands The Playing Screen PLAYING THE GAME The Game Modes Move Mode Survey Mode Group Mode Direction Move to Escort Patrol to Mark FPIth Production View Wait World Map Strategy, Tactics, and Other Hints CREATING YOUR OWN WORLDS Building a World Blotch Build a World Center Screen City Clear Map Exit Editor Fill Map Grow Land Mass Land Load Map Save Map Save Map As Sea Sprinkle Cities Validate Cities Watch Build World View FINAL WORD Credits Background Information Autobiographies Interstel Product Warranty Product Replacement Product Upgrade/Update Plan Product Registration TABLES TABLE //TITLE //PAGE -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I/Colors Used in EMPIRE//4 II/Transport's Carrying Capacity/6 III/Summary of All Combat Units/8 IV/Maximum Damage Points Per Unit/11 V/Commands and Orders Used in EMPIRE/34 VI/Commands Versus Game Modes/35 VII/Combat Unit Production Times/50 VIII/EMPIRE World Building Commands/60 FIGURES FIGURE//TITLE//PAGE --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/Security Verification Screen/14 2a/Atari ST File Selection Box /16 2b/Amiga File Selection Box//17 3/Today's Opponents Screen/19 4/New Game Options Display for Two Players/22 5/New Game Options Display for Three Players/23 6/City Production Selection Menu/25 7/Sample Playing Screen//26 8/Numeric Keypad Direction Keys/31 9/Commanders Report//38 10/Time Delay Screen//39 11/Direction Cursor//41 12/Direction Cursor//43 13/Sample Production Map//48 14/Sample Ship Report//51 15/Sample War Report//52 16/Survey Cursor//53 17/Sample World Map//54 18/World View in Map Editor/64 STAR FLEET HEADQUARTERS UNITED GALACTIC ALLIANCE From: Grand Admiral Trevor C. Sorensen Commander-In-Chief Star Fleet Command To: Captain William P. Brown Captain, U.G.A.S. Britannia Re: OPERATION BIG BROTHER Security Classification: TOP SECRET The Krellan Empire is invading Alliance space at an alarming rate and ravaging all the helpless planets in their path. Due to the vastness of the territory invaded, even the mighty Krellan Empire does not have enough warriors for full planetary assaults on each and every planet. Thus, the Krellans have developed OPERATION BIG BROTHER. Its purpose is to subdue and conquer the low to medium technology planets, which the Krellans can accomplish with minimum forces. A Krellan battle cruiser or troop transport teleports down one or two strategy and production team(s)to the largest and strongest city on the planet,and installs one of their generals as emperor. With the introduction of some advanced technology, but using the planet's own resources and manpower, they begin their conquest of the planet. After this planetary empire has been established, they hand the planet over to the Krellan Empire. The United Galactic Alliance is even more sorely pressed than the Krellans for manpower and resources. It will be a great struggle to counter this new Krellan threat. Therefore, you, Captain William P. Brown, and your crew of the U.G.A.S.Britannia, are hereby assigned to patrol the region of Alliance space as outlined in Attachment 1, and intercept as many Krellan vessels as possible in an attempt to stop Operation Big Brother. You are to avoid detection by any Krellan forces. Your ship will contain a number of Alliance advisory teams, each with its own General Officer in command. You are to send one team to each Krellan invaded planet to try to unite the fractionalized cities. Your team will form a counter empire to stop and defeat the growing Krellan planetary empire. Once the Krellan threat has been eliminated, the Alliance will convert the planet to a democratic government. INTRODUCTION EMPIRE - 'Wargame of the Century' by INTERSTEL is a strategic simulation of global conflict, conquest, and empire building between two or three opposing forces. You start with one city in a large unexplored world. Your armies must capture cities to produce your war materials. As part of your overall strategy you must decide what each of your cities should produce to best ai. " My fellow captains said it was an honor for us to be selected for this task, he remembered. Only time will tell. Captain Brown waited for the sensor report, to see if one of the Alliance teams he was carrying would be transported to the planet below. Arabella is a pretty world-abundant water, plenty of land mass, and a good spread of cities. He hoped this world could be left behind. "Sensor report, sir. A Krellan scout team has already arrived. Recommend we begin our conquest immediately." "OK, notify General Marks, tell him he and the 5th team can transport down." "Yes, sir," responded the young Lieutenant. Suddenly the quiet was shattered by an alert klaxon. "Red Alert. Enemy ships detected." "Tactical display," shouted Captain Brown, "I want to see those ships!" "Shields to maximum," reported the weapons officer, "All weapons are ready. "The view screen filled with a graphical picture of the planet, their orbit, and that of the Krellan ships. "Sir, a Krellan troop transport and destroyer have entered orbit at 12400 kilometers. I do not think they know we are here." Captain Brown studied the tactical display. "Confirmed sir, they have activated their teleporters and sent down what appears to be a large landing party. They are somewhere on the other wide of the world, I cannot determine their exact position." "Inform General Marks that a large Krellan landing party is on the planets surface...somewhere. Tell him he is on his own, as we must leave orbit to avoid detection." "Yes sir," acknowledged the communications officer. Captain Brown wanted those Krellan ships. Destroying them would be no problem. "Not today, "he though to himself, "They must not know we are here. "This battle is up to the Arabella Commander. General Marks would have to conquer this world on his own. "Take us out of orbit, ahead C-Factor 5." 2. Follow your computer's operating instructions to make a disk copy of the original disk. When the backup is complete, store your purchased EMPIRE disk in a safe place and use your new backup copy as your playing disk. BE SURE THE WRITE PROTECT TAB OF YOUR PLAYING DISK IS CLOSED! EMPIRE keeps track of players by writing a special file to your playing disk. Opening the write protect tab. "Orbit achieved about planet Arabella, Captain, altitude 14500 kilometers" "Thank you, Lieutenant. Standard sensor scan. "This was getting tough trying to stop Operation Big Brother while avoiding detection from Krellan forces. "What a task," mumbled Captain Brown. "One good phaser barrage would lay waste to the major cities and stop the Krellans. Instead we go to battle hand to hand. Commands and Orders About Empire Activate Center Screen Clear Orders Combat Report Commanders Delay Escort Ship Exit Game Flight Paths Go Direction Go Home Go Random Group Survey Info(rmation) Load Load Ship Map Editor Move Mode Move To New Game Patrol To Production Map Quit Save Save As Sentry Set Production Ship Report Skip Move Sound Status Survey Mode Unload Ship Vied your war effort As your production capacity grows, you will soon command armies, fighters, destroyers, troop transports, submarines, aircraft carriers, cruisers, and battleships. You will maneuver your armies, fighters, ships to try and smash your opponent(s). There are no compromises - each player must strive to annihilate the other until all opponents are wiped out or surrender. Your goal is total domination of the world. There can only be one winner! EMPIRE is NOT an arcade game. You must use strategy and tactics instead of hand-eye coordination to defeat your enemies. EMPIRE will allow up to three players per game of the same computer. EMPIRE is part of the STAR FLEET family of strategic simulations. It elaborates on one method of planetary conquest that is used in STAR FLEET II and STAR FLEET III. However, the Star Fleet series games do not provide you with actual command of the teams that use the planets' own resources. This is the role of EMPIRE. Although it is not necessary to play any of the Star Fleet series in order to play EMPIRE (or vice versa, it does help enrich your playing experience by immersing you in the total Star Fleet universe. WARNING EMPIRE - Wargame of the Century has been known to be addictive. Typical battles can take several hours to resolve. INTERSTEL assumes no responsibility for lost productivity on the part of the player(s). THE RIGHT COMPUTER HARDWARE Atari ST Version EMPIRE requires an Atari 520 or 1040 ST Personal Computer or equivalent with the mouse inserted in port #0.The game will run with either a color or monochrome monitor. In addition, the game can be played using either a single- or double-sided disk drive, a hard disk, or a RAM disk. Amiga Version EMPIRE requires an Amiga A500, A1000, or A2000 with a minimum of 512K memory and Amiga DOS version 1.2 or higher. The game can also be played using a hard disk or RAM disk. KEYSTROKE NOTATION The following technique will be used when referring to a key on your keyboard: [A] [Shift] [H] i.e.,the name of the key enclosed in square brackets. For example, [Space] refers to the computer's space bar. Some of EMPIRE's commands can be executed by pressing two keys in combination. The notation: {Control][H] is used to denote that the keys {Control} and [H] are pressed at the same time. BACKING UP YOUR PLAYING DISK For your convenience, the EMPIRE disk you purchased is not copy-protected. It is recommended that you copy the purchased disk onto a blank disk or hard disk for playing, and save your purchased disk as a backup. Before making a backup disk, open the write protect tab on your original EMPIRE disk. To make a backup copy, take a blank disk and follow these steps: 1. Format the blank disk per your computer's operating manual. on your playing disk will not allow the program to save the player information. INSTALLATION ON HARD DISKS The EMPIRE disk supplied by INTERSTEL is NOT copy-protected, therefore it can easily be copied to a hard disk. For the Atari ST version, all EMPIRE files except "EMPIRE.PRG" should be in a sub-directory (or sub-folder) named "\EMPIRE". The files may also be in the same directory as "EMPIRE.PRG", but EMPIRE looks in the "\EMPIRE" sub-directory first. If you keep "EMPIRE.PRG" in another directory , then "\EMPIRE" should be a sub-directory to the directory where "EMPIRE.PRG" is stored. The program will save any games in the same directory as your program files, or any other directory you specify in the file selection box. The setup for the Amiga version is similar, except that the files EMPIRE and EMPIRE.INFO should be placed in the target directory, three sub-directories (data, sound, and pics) need to be created, and all files from the corresponding directories on the original disk copied. A batch script file is included in the "S" directory to assist in the installation. At the CLI prompt, type: EXECUTE HDinstall Path where "path" is the full directory and path name (ending in a "/" or ":") of the target directory. SYMBOLS The unit symbols used on your display are: City *///^ Destroyer Tank = Army// Submarine Tents w/flags = Army on Sentry Duty plane = Fighter/ Cruiser Troop Transport (empty)/ Battleship Troop Transport (armies on board) Aircraft Carrier (empty /// Aircraft Carrier (fighters on board). * NOTE: Cities with units in them will be shaded. The colors used in EMPIRE are given in Table 1. You can change these colors on the Atari ST with the control panel accessory (see your user's manual). TABLE 1 COLORS USED IN EMPIRE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Item | Amiga | Atari ST | Monochrome |.| Land | Green | Green | Dark Grey |.| Sea | Blue | Blue | Light Grey |.| Unexplored Area | Black | Black | Black |.| Neutral Cities | Lt. Green on Black | Black on White | White on Grey |.| Player 1 Units* | White | White on Black | White on Black|.| Player 2 Units | Red | Green on Black | Black on White|.| Player 3 Units | Black | Blue on Black | Black on Grey | * NOTE: Player's units include conquered cities as well as armies, fighters and ships THE COMBAT UNITS There are eight different combat units (or pieces) in EMPIRE: armies, fighters, troop transports, submarines, destroyers, cruisers, aircraft carriers, and battleships. Armies can only move on land. Fighters can move over land and water. Ships can move at sea, or dock in occupied cities . Each combat unit has its own attack and defense factor. These factors are multipliers to the combat efficiency set during the start of game. The attack and defense factors are normally both equal to one, which means the unit will attack and defend with the combat efficiency set during the game startup. An attack factor of 1/2 means the unit attacks with one-half the set combat efficiency. Likewise, a defense factor of 1/2 means the unit defends with one-half the set combat efficiency. Each of the playing pieces will now be described. Armies: Armies are of primary importance. Only armies can capture cities and conquer continents. Armies move on land at a rate of one space per turn. Movement across water is done by boarding a troop transport. To board a troop transport, simply move the army onto it. Armies will be destroyed after receiving one damage point from an enemy unit. Armies attack enemy units with one damage point per hit. Armies have normal attack and defense factors, which are one and one, respectively. However, armies have a defense factor of 1/2 when bombarded by a cruiser or battleship. To produce your first army in any city normally requires six turns. After that only five turns are required to produce an army. FIGHTERS: Fighters are fighter-bomber aircraft which are suited for multiple roles, including reconnaissance, attacking armies and ships, and air-to-air combat against enemy fighters. Fighters can move over land and sea at a rate of five spaces per turn. They have a maximum range of 20 spaces before they must be refueled. Fighters are refueled by landing in any of your cities or on one of your aircraft carriers. Attempting to land in a city which is not yours is futile. If a fighter runs out of fuel while in flight, it will crash. Fighters will be destroyed after receiving one damage point from an enemy unit. Fighters attack with one damage point for each hit on enemy units. Fighters have attack and defense factors of one and one, respectively. Fighters cannot detect enemy submarines when located in an adjacent square, but will attack one if the fighter tries to move onto the square where an enemy submarine is located. To produce your first fighter in any city normally requires 12 turns; after that only 10 turns are required to produce a fighter. Troop Transports: Troop transports are used to carry armies from one continent or island to another. They can carry a maximum of six armies, less if they are damaged. Troop transports move two spaces per turn. Troop transports will be destroyed after receiving three damage points from enemy units. Each damage point suffered by a transport reduces the number of armies it can carry by two. Thus a transport with one damage point can only carry four armies (refer to Table II). Any excess armies over the ship's capacity when it is hit will be destroyed. Your transports attack the enemy with one damage point per hit. Transports have attack and defense factors of 1/2 and 1/2, respectively. Transports cannot attack armies, and cannot see submarines in an adjacent square. TABLE II TRANSPORT'S CARRYING CAPACITY // . | Damage Points | Maximum Number |. | 0 | 6 |. | 1 | 4 |. ., | 2 | 2 |. | 3 | Destroyed | To produce your first troop transport in any city normally requires 30 turns; after that only 25 turns are required to produce one. Submarines: Submarines are underwater craft armed with torpedoes. They are undetectible by armies, fighters, troop transports, aircraft carriers, and battleships when located in an adjacent square. Besides being hard to detect, they are particularly strong in attack, but weaker in defense. When a submarine scores a hit against an enemy ship, three damage points worth of damage is done instead of the usual one point. This is enough to sink the smaller ships (such as troop transports) with a single hit. Only the battleship is as powerful in attack as the submarine. Submarines move at the rate of two spaces per turn. Submarines will be destroyed after receiving two damage points from enemy units. They have attack and defense factors of one and 1/2, respectively. Submarines cannot see or attack armies, and cannot see adjacent fighters. Note that cities can detect submarines. To produce your first submarine in any city normally requires 24 turns; after that only 20 turns are required to produce a submarine. Destroyers: Destroyers are small, fast, and highly maneuverable warships armed with guns, torpedoes, and depth charges. Because of their speed and maneuverability, they move at a rate of three spaces per turn. These ships are often used to protect your own troop transports, menace the enemy's ships, and find submarines. Destroyers make excellent scout troops, especially early in the game. Simply move one or more destroyers in different directions away from your home island or continent. Destroyers are fast moving, and can quickly scout an island or continent shoreline, showing the coastal cities. In addition, you may find the enemy's location before they find yours. Destroyers can withstand three damage points from enemy units before being destroyed. They attack the enemy with one damage point per hit. Destroyers have attack and defense factors of one and one, respectively. Destroyers can see all combat units, including submarines, but cannot attack armies. To produce your first destroyer in any city normally requires 24 turns; after that only 20 turns are required to produce each destroyer. Cruisers: Cruisers are fast and powerful warships of medium size but with less firepower and armor than a battleship. Cruisers move at a rate of two spaces per turn. These ships are typically used to protect your shipping lanes, attack enemy ships, and bombard enemy armies on land. Cruisers will be destroyed after receiving eight damage points from enemy units. They attack the enemy with two damage points per hit. Cruisers have attack and defense factors of one and one, respectively. Cruisers can see and attack all combat units, including submarines and armies. To produce your first cruiser in any city53 normally requires 42 turns; after that only 35 turns are required to produce each cruiser. Aircraft Carriers: These are extremely large vessels designed as mobile air bases at sea. Aircraft carriers can carry and refuel fighters. They can carry a maximum of eight fighters, less if they are damaged. Each damage point suffered by a carrier reduces the number of fighters it can carry by one. Thus a carrier with three damage points can only carry five fighters (8-3=5). Any excess fighters over the ship's capacity when it is hit will be destroyed. Aircraft carriers move two spaces per turn. Aircraft carriers will be destroyed after receiving eight damage points from enemy units. They attack the enemy with one damage point per hit. Carriers have attack and defense factors of 1/2 and one, respectively. Aircraft carriers cannot see adjacent submarines, and cannot attack armies. To produce your first aircraft carrier in any city normally requires 48 turns; after that only 40 turns are required to produce each one. Battleships: Battleships are large, heavily armored warships of destruction. They possess the largest guns and most firepower of any sea vessel. They move at a rate of two spaces per turn. These ships are best used to attack enemy shipping and to bombard enemy armies on land. Battleships are especially effective in attack enemy cruisers and aircraft carriers. Battleships will be destroyed after receiving twelve damage points from enemy units. They attack the enemy with three damage points per hit. Battleships have attack and defense efficiencies of one and one, respectively. Battleships cannot see submarines in an adjacent square. To produce your first battleship in any city normally requires 60 turns; after that only 50 turns are required to produce each battleship. Table III provides a brief summary of each combat unit. Army Fighter Troop Sub Destroyer Cruiser Aircraft Battle Transport Marine Carrier Ship Speed 1 5 2 2 3 2 2 2 Hits to destroy 1 1 3 2 3 8 8 12 Damage per hit 1 1 1 3 1 2 1 3 Attack Factor 1 1 1/2 1 1 1 1/2 1 Defense 1 Factor 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1 1 1 1 Bombardment No No No No No Yes No Yes Cargo Six Eight Capacity Armies Fighters Cannot Subs Armies See (1) Subs Subs Fighters Subs Subs Initial Prod(2) 6 12 30 24 24 42 48 60 Cont Prod(2) 5 10 25 20 20 35 40 50 Notes: Against bombardment only. : 1 Abbreviation for "Submarines". 2 The production turns given are for a production efficiency of 50 percent. PRODUCTION All your combat units are produced by your cities. The initial production turns are longer because time is required to build the factories and set up the production line. Each city will continue to produce the same type of unit until you change it (refer to the Set Production command). Inland cities can only produce armies or fighters. Coastal cities (port) can produce; armies, fighters, and ships. The computer will not allow your inland cities to produce ships. At the beginning of each turn, you will be informed by a pop-up window of each unit whose production was just completed during that turn. The screen will show the section of the world map in which the unit was produced. The window will have two selections available. Select "Production" to change the production of the city that just produced the unit, or "Continue" if you want the city to continue producing the same type of units. All army and fighter units will be given a unit designation (e.g., 5th army, 143rd fighter) by your computer. As each of your ships is produced, you will be given a change to name it. Simply type the name in the box provided, and click the "Continue" box once with the left mouse button or press [RETURN]. Names can be up to 16 characters long and consist of more than one word (e.g."Sea Vixen"). If you do not wish to name the ship, simply click the "Continue" box; your computer will name the ship for you. MOVEMENT Each of the combat units can be moved in any of eight directions according to the diagram below: \|/ --------- /|\ Each combat unit is moved by issuing commands (or orders) through the pull-down menus, keyboard, or clicking the unit on the screen with the mouse During a turn each combat unit will try to execute its current orders. Your combat units will attempt to move around obstacles, but if the unit cannot easily do so, it will stop and wait for you to give it a single move command (movement is described in detail on p.30 and 45). If the unit has orders and cannot move or it is not sure if it should continue moving (as when next to an enemy unit or city), your computer will flash the unit's symbol and wait for you to give the unit a move command or new orders. This is called "waking up", and it allows you to command an attack, move around an obstacle (e.g. water), or continue with its current orders. Each combat unit will wake up if it encounters an enemy unit. The computer will not allow you to run your ships aground, or drown your armies. If you try to make an illegal move, your computer will "ping", and wait for a valid response. There can only be one combat unit in a square at a time, except for the following: 1. Any number of units may be in a city, such as several fighters, armies, and/or ships under repair. However, these units DO NOT help the city's defense factor and will be destroyed if the city is captured by the enemy. 2. Up to six armies may board a troop transport (less if the transport is damaged). If the transport is destroyed while carrying armies, then will be lost along with the ship. 3. Up to eight fighters may board an aircraft carrier (less if the carrier is damaged). If the carrier is sunk while carrying fighters, they will be lost along with the ship. Fighters, troop transports, aircraft carriers, and battleships cannot detect enemy submarines when located in an adjacent square, but can attack on if they try to move onto the square where the enemy submarine is located. Armies also cannot detect submarines, but unlike the units mentioned previously, armies can never attack enemy submarines. Armies can, however attack all other enemy ships. Submarines cannot detect armies and fighters, but will defend themselves from fighter attacks. Ship's movement is reduced to one space per turn if it is damaged 50 percent or more (e.g., a cruiser with four damage points out of a possible eight will have its movement reduced to one space per turn). COMBAT Combat Between Units You attack an enemy unit by attempting to move one of your units onto it. Damage points are traded off for each hit until one unit is totally destroyed. Only one of the units will survive the conflict. Each unit can withstand only so many "Damage points" before it is destroyed. Damage points are registered whenever a unit suffers a hit. For example, three damage points are required to sink a destroyer. These damage points could be three hits from a fighter or fighters, or one hit from a submarine (submarines give three damage points per hit). If you attack an enemy destroyer with one of yours, "hits" will be traded until on of them receives three damage points. That destroyer is sunk, but if your ship took tow "hits", then one more from any other enemy combat unit (including an army!) will sink your destroyer. Damage sustained by a unit is cumulative until it is either destroyed or repaired. The number of damage points that each unit can take is given in Table IV. Once the number in Table IV is reached, the unit is destroyed. TABLE IV MAXIMUM DAMAGE POINTS PER UNIT //Unit/Maximum Damage Points /Army// 1 /Fighter/ 1 /Destroyer/ 3 /Troop Transport/ 3 /Submarine/ 2 /Cruiser/ 8 /Aircraft Carrier/ 8 /Battleship/ 12 The probability of a combat unit receiving a hit is based on the owning player's combat efficiency rating. The higher a player's combat efficiency, the greater the chance that player will survive the conflict. A 50 percent combat efficiency is normal. Repairing Ships Your ships can be repaired by docking them in one of your ports (i.e. moving them onto one of your cities next to the sea). One damage point will be restored for each turn the ship remains docked. Ships carrying armies or fighters will automatically unload when they dock. Attacking Cities A city is attacked by attempting to move one of your armies onto it. Your army's chances of conquering the city is a function of your combat efficiency. Capturing cities is crucial to building up your production base and destroying your opponent(s). ONLY ARMIES CAN CAPTURE CITIES. The army itself will be dispersed as a garrison to control and defend the city once it is captured. Bombardment Your battleships and cruisers can bombard enemy armies on land. To be bombarded, the enemy army must be in an adjacent square on a coast. To start the bombardment, click the adjacent army symbol as if you wanted to move the ship onto it. Do not worry, your ship will NOT run aground. The bombardment is like a normal unit attack, except that after the army is destroyed, your ship will not move onto its space. The bombardment takes the place of moving one space, so you can either move two spaces, bombard two armies, or move one space and bombard one army. Cruisers and battleships docked in a city can still bombard armies that come next to the city. STARTING EMPIRE Atari ST Version IMPORTANT Your screen attributes MUST be set to MEDIUM (for color) or HIGH (for monochrome) RESOLUTION for EMPIRE to run. The EMPIRE disk contains the following files: EMPIRE.PRG: The main program. EMPIRE2.RSC: Resource file for medium resolution mode. EMPIRE3.RSC: Resource file for high resolution mode. EMPIRE1.PI1: A title screen. EMPIRE2.PI1: Another title screen. EMPIRE.CMD: Player file to record game results. nnnnnnn.MAP: An assortment of world maps README.DOC Contains information/corrections not included in this manual. There are two ways to start EMPIRE. They are: Method 1 Place the EMPIRE disk in any drive, select the drive icon by double-clicking on it, and double-click on theM EMPIRE.PRG icon. Method 2: Place the EMPIRE disk into disk drive A, turn on your computer, and double-click on the EMPIRE.PRG icon. Amiga Version The EMPIRE disk contains the following files: Main Directory /EMPIRE The main program EMPIRE.info The icon for the program. EMPIRE:data/nnnnnnnnn.MAP An assortment of world maps. EMPIRE.CMD Player file to record game results. nnnnnnnnn.EMP Default storage area for saved games. EMPIRE:sound /nnnnnnnnn.8svx Sampled sound files needed by EMPIRE. EMPIRE:pics /nnnnnnnnn.pic Title screens needed by EMPIRE. There are three ways to start EMPIRE. Method 1: (recommended for systems with 512K memory). Insert the EMPIRE disk in the internal drive of your computer, and press [Control] and both AMIGA keys simultaneously. Method 2: From the Workbench, place the EMPIRE disk in any drive, select that disk icon by double-clicking on it, and double-click on the EMPIRE program icon. Method 3: From the CLI environment, change your current directory ('cd' command) to the directory containing the EMPIRE program Enter the command "stack 8000" (or larger), then enter the command "empire". EMPIRE SECURITY SYSTEM After starting the game, the INTERSTEL logo and EMPIRE title screen will appear on your monitor. Press any key or the left mouse button to stop the music during either screen. You will automatically be passed to the security system after the music stops. To protect your EMPIRE game against unauthorized use, a security system has been installed. This appears after the title and credit screens have been shown, and requires you to enter a certain word obtained from this manual per the instructions given on your screen. The security screen is shown below in Figure 1. The following rules apply when looking up the security words. 1. Page # is as printed at the bottom of the page (e.g., this is page 14). 2. A line is any row with typing on it, including titles. Lines in figures do not count, but the lines in tables do count (i.e., this is line 5). 3. A word is any unbroken string of characters with a blank at either end; i.e., bexampleb, where b denotes a blank. However, punctuation marks do not count. 4. The security words are taken from this EMPIRE manual. The changes contained in any supplement or change sheets are not counted. EXAMPLES: a) Find word 2 in line 7 on page 16 - the correct word is "commands" b) Find word 5 in line 12 on page 44 - the correct word is "at". After entering the security word, move the cursor arrow to the "OK" box and click the left mouse button (or press [RETURN]). You can use the backspace key to correct spelling errors. If you only want to run a demonstration game, move the cursor arrow to the "Run Demo" box and click the left mouse button. You do not need to enter a security word to run the demonstration game. The demonstration game will run until one of the computer opponents wins. You can stop the demonstration game by pressing any key. After the current player's turn is finished, you will be placed in View mode where you can look at the world, check each player's status, or quite. To continue the demonstration game, just enter Move mode (see p.45). Once past the security screen, you will be asked to proceed with your planetary landing. Move the cursor arrow to the "CONFIRMED" box and click the left mouse button or press [RETURN]. STARTING/RESUMING THE GAME All EMPIRE commands can be executed from pull-down menus. Some commands can be executed for the keyboard. The keys are show to the right of the command in its menu. These keystrokes are described later in the individual command descriptions. To execute a command from its menu on the Atari ST, move the cursor arrow to the menu title (e.g. "Reports"), then move the cursor arrow down the command (or orders) list to the one you want and click the left mouse button once. To show the menus on the Amiga, use the right mouse button, and while holding the right button, move the pointer to the desired menu item and release the button. After passing the security check, the screen will clear and the opening EMPIRE Desktop will appear. There are six top level pull-down command menus on this screen. They are: Desk* File* Reports Orders Commands Other About Empire New Game ZX Sound Load Delay Map Editor Commanders Quit *NOTE: The Amiga version combines the Desk and File menus into on menu named Project. Only those commands you can execute from the EMPIRE Desktop are shown above. For Amiga users, the keyboard command equivalents are shown in the menus with the key letter, preceded by the "^" symbol to denote Control-key combinations (e.g., "^C" for the [Control][C] combination), and the "\" symbol to denote ALT-key combinations (e.g., "\C" for the [ALT][C] combination). To start a new game, move the cursor arrow down to New Game and click the left mouse button. To continue a previously saved game, move the cursor arrow down to Load and click the left mouse button. More on starting saved games is found in the Load command description on p. 44. File Selection Several commands require that you enter or select a file name. These commands include: Save As, Load, selecting a particular map during game startup, Load Map, and Save Map As. The file selection boxes for the Atari ST and Amiga are shown in Figure 2a and Figure 2b. The Atari ST File Requester The file selection box had the following four sections: Section 1: Directory Path - This line allows you to specify a disk drive, and/or directory path other than the default. The default path is the one you used to start EMPIRE. To change the path, move the cursor arrow to the dashed line and click the left mouse button. A vertical cursor line will appear at the end (on the right of "EMP" in Figure 2a). Move the cursor line using the left or right cursor arrows, or use the [Backspace] key to delete keys to the left as you move, and type the new path name. Section 2: File Box - The files in the directory specified above will be listed in this box. If you change the default directory, you will have to place the cursor arrow inside this box and click the left mouse button for the new list to appear. To select a file name, move the cursor arrow to it and click the left mouse button. The name will change to reverse video and appear in the selection line. You can remove the current directory path from the box by clicking the clear button on the upper left corner of the file box. You can move the file list up or down by using the scroll bar on the right of the file box. Simply drag the scroll box with the cursor arrow, or click the up- or down-pointing arrows to move the list up or down, respectively. Section 3: Selection Line - When you select a file name, it will appear here. You can change the file name (as described in the Directory section) as needed. If you want to create a new file, just type the name on this line. Section 4: OK/Cancel Boxes - After selecting a file name, move the cursor arrow to the box labelled "OK" and click the left mouse button. The file you selected will either be loaded into memory from the directory path, or saved in the directory, depending on the command using the file selection box. To cancel the command, move the cursor arrow to "CANCEL" and click the left mouse button. The Amiga File Requester The file selection box has the following five sections: Section 1: Device Gadget - The drive which data is to be saved to or retrieved from may be selected by clicking the appropriate device gadget located on the right side of the file requester box. The current drive will be indicated in the Directory Path. Section 2: Directory Path - This line will display the current drive and directory. Section 3: Selection Line - When you select a file name, it will appear here. If you want to create a new file name, just type in the name on this line. Section 4: File Box - The files in the directory indicated in the directory path will be listed in this box. To select a file name, move the cursor arrow to it and click the left mouse button. The name will change to reverse video and appear in the selection line. You can move the file list up and down by using the scroll bar on the right side of the file box. Simply drag the scroll box bar on the right of the file box with the cursor arrow, or click the up- or down- arrows to move the list up or down, respectively. Directories contained within the current directory will be displayed in the file box in grey text. You can make any of these directories the current directory by selecting it as you would select a file name. The new directory will be displayed in the directory path. To exit a directory, click on the Parent gadget located above the file box. Section 5: OK/Cancel Gadgets - After selecting a file name, move the cursor arrow to the box labeled "OK" and click the left mouse button. The file you selected will either be loaded into memory from the directory path, or saved in the directory, depending on the command using the file selection box. To cancel the command, move the cursor arrow to the "Cancel" gadget and click the left mouse button. PLAYER SELECTION You will now be asked to select the number of players and whether they will be human or computer controlled. This is done in the Today's Opponents Screen shown in Figure 3. To select the players, move the cursor arrow to either the "Human" or the computer ("Standard" or "Expert") opponents boxes and click the left mouse button once. Selected players will be highlighted. If you want to battle only one opponent, then player 3 should be "NONE". Otherwise, select whether you want another human or computer opponent. If you will be playing against any human opponents, you can click the "PBM" box to play-by-mail or modem (See p. 21). When you have completed your selections, move the cursor arrow to "OK" and click the left mouse button. To cancel your selections, click the "CANCEL" box. Cancelling this command will return you to the EMPIRE Desktop and you will have to execute the New Game command again. Computer Opponents Computer players selected as "Standard" will have a slightly higher overall rating, whereas an "Expert" computer opponent has the same rating as a human opponent. An "Expert" computer opponent is much smarter, and thus harder to defeat. If you decide to battle two computer opponents, they will not know of each other. The two computer opponents will battle each other just as they would fight you. If you are fortunate, they will fight and weaken each other, or one will be eliminated, and you can (easily?) defeat the remaining computer opponent. However, they may just as easily involve you in a deadly "two-front" war. Remember what that did to Nazi Germany?? It is thus recommended you select only one computer opponent until you have played the game a few times. If you specified all the players to be run by your computer (i.e., a demonstration game), EMPIRE will run until one of the players wins or you stop the game. If you press any key, at the end of the current player's turn the game will stop. You will then be placed in View mode where you can look at the world, check each player's status, or quit. To restart the demonstration game, just enter Move mode (described on p. 45). The computer operated player(s) play by the same rules and under the same conditions that you do. Your computer has no special advantages, though it may appear otherwise at times. Multiple Human Players Two or more human players can play the game on one computer or via mail. If playing on the same computer, after player 1 completes his/her turn(s), the screen will blank and a message box will appear asking if player 1 has completed his/her turn. Move the cursor arrow to the box labelled "Yes" if you are finished, and click the left mouse button. If you click the box labelled "No", you will be placed in Survey mode (described on p. 31), where you can then go around that portion of the world you have explored changing orders, production demands, etc. To complete your turn, enter Move mode. Player 2 will then be asked to report. After clicking the "OK" box, the map for player 2 will appear. Each player will have to "turn his/her back" while their opponent completes their turn(s). After player 2 completes his/her turn(s), the process will repeat again and the map for player 1 (or player 3) will appear. And so it goes until one player defeats the other(s). Near the beginning of a multiple human player game, before any enemies are found, the turns are very short. Up to about turn 100 your computer, will allow each player to do several turns in a row, avoiding a lot of rapid chair swapping. However, as soon as one player encounters an opponent, the computer will stop allowing multiple turns. You will then have to change places after each turn. Play-By-Mail (PBM) If you select to play one or more human opponents by mail (i.e. clicking the "PBM" box on the Today's Opponents Screen), you will be asked a password after each turn, and the program will automatically save the game at the end of every turn. This file, named by you the first time the game is saved, should then be sent to your opponent(s) mail or modem. The next player starts the same game using the Load command, completes his/her turn, then sends the file back or to the next player (if three). Files can be transmitted to each player via the postal service, or modem. YOU CANNOT INTERACTIVELY PLAY EMPIRE VERSION 2.0 OVER A MODEM (look for this feature in a future version). Note that Amiga and Atari ST PBM files are entirely compatible, so opponents may play on different machines. After selecting your opponent(s) you will proceed to the New Game Options Display to set the combat and production efficiencies for each player. SETTING THE EFFICIENCY RATINGS Production Efficiency City production is proportional to the set production efficiency. That is, a setting of 100 percent produces units at twice the normal rate (50 percent); whereas 25 percent produces units at half the normal rate. For example, fighters normally require 10 turns to manufacture. If your production efficiency is 25, 50 (normal), or 100 percent, it will take 20, 10 or 5 turns to complete each fighter, respectively. Remember, increasing the production efficiency will produce units faster, whereas decreasing the production efficiency will require more turns to produce each unit. Combat Efficiency Your combat efficiency is the probability of hitting your opponent. If both opponents have 50 percent combat ratings, then each has an even chance to cause damage to or destroy his opponent (i.e. your 50% divided by their 50% = 1). The player with the higher combat efficiency has a better change of inflicting damage on his opponent (i.e. your 75% divided their 50% = 1 1/2 times your opponent's chances). The strength of the hits does not change with the combat efficiency. The New Game Options Display is shown in Figure 4 for two players. In this Figures, player 2 is your computer set to "Standard". If you select the computer opponent as "Expert", then both overall ratings will start at 50 percent. To increase or decrease the efficiencies, move the cursor arrow to the scroll bar of the item you want to change, and draw the scroll box to the right or left to increase or decrease the efficiency, respectively. To change the efficiency in one percent increments, click the left or right arrows next to the drag bars with the left mouse button to decrease or increase the efficiency, respectively. Holding down the left mouse button will cause the efficiency to continuously increase or decrease by one percent (to 100 or 0 percent) until you release the button. To change the efficiency in ten percent increments, click the cursor arrow in the grey shaded areas to the left or right of the drag bars. Higher efficiencies make the player stronger. Be careful: as you increase your combat and production efficiencies, your overall rating goes down, and as you decrease your combat and production efficiencies, your overall rating goes up. As your overall rating changes, so does your opponent's, so that the total approximately equals 100 percent. Because in Figure 4 the computer opponent is "Standard", the only way to play with equal overall ratings is to lower your production and/or combat efficiency. Doing this will raise your overall rating, and reduce the overall rating of the "Standard" opponent. You should not change the efficiency ratings until you are familiar with the game. Otherwise, you could put yourself at such a disadvantage that you will not enjoy the challenge of EMPIRE. The New Game Options Display is shown in Figure 5 for three players. In this figures, player 1 is human (you), player 2 is a "Standard" computer opponent, and player 3 is an "Expert" computer opponent. You change the combat and production efficiencies on this screen the same way as on the one with only two players. As before, higher efficiencies make a player stronger, and as you increase your combat and production efficiencies, your overall rating goes down. Likewise, as you decrease your combat and production efficiencies, your overall rating goes up. As your overall rating changes, so does each of your opponent's. A player's rating is based on his/her own production and combat efficiencies, and the production and combat efficiencies of the stronger of his/her opponents. For example, if you adjust your (player 1) combat and production efficiencies such that your overall rating is 40 percent, BOTH of your opponents will have overall ratings of approximately 60 percent (if "Expert" computer or "Human" opponents). In addition, if you change the efficiencies of player 2 such that its overall rating is 40 percent, the overall ratings of player 1 (you) and player 3 will be approximately 60 percent. Again, you should not change the efficiencies until you are familiar with the game. After you finish making changes (if any), move the cursor arrow to the "OK" box in the upper left corner and click the left mouse button. To cancel your changes, move the arrow to the "CANCEL" box and click the left mouse button. Cancelling this command will return you to the Desktop. WORLD MAP SELECTION After you leave the New Game Options Display, you will be asked if you wish to select a particular world map, or have one chosen at random. If you wish to select a map, move the cursor arrow to "Select" and click the left mouse button. The file selector (described on p. 16) will appear and allow you to choose the appropriate " MAP" file. Clicking the box labelled "Random" will cause the program to randomly select a " MAP" file from your EMPIRE directory or playing disk. Randomly selecting a world is more fun because you will not know what it looks like (unless you have played on it several times before and recognize it). After selecting a map, you will be told how many cities there are in the entire world. The number of cities usually varies between 60 and 70, depending on the layout of the continents. SIGNING ON You will now be asked to enter your last name. Your name will be used to keep a service record of your success at playing EMPIRE. In addition, the records of all other players using your disk will be stored. Players' names are used to create a Commanders Report. This report is described in the Commanders command on p. 38. After typing you name, move the cursor arrow to "OK" and click the left mouse button. Names can be up to 16 characters long. You can use the [Backspace] key to correct any typing errors. If, after typing your name, EMPIRE cannot find it in the commanders file, you will be asked if you are a new player. If so, click the box labelled "Yes Sir." If you are not a new player, click the box labelled "No, Sir," and you will be asked to type your name again. After passing the name check, you will be told to report to your command post. Click the box labelled "OK" to continue with the game. INITIAL PRODUCTION DEMANDS After entering your name, you will be asked for your initial city production demands (you start with one city). This is done through the City Production Selection Menu, shown in Figure 6. To select your production demands, move the cursor arrow onto the line with the symbol and name of the unit you want (the column where the check mark is located in Figure 6) and click the left mouse button. After making your selection, move the cursor arrow to the box labelled "OK" and click the left mouse button. City production is described in detail on p. 8 and p. 49. It is recommended you start with armies until you are familiar with the game. On the Amiga version, the item selected can also be changed by using the UP-arrow and DOWN-arrow on the keyboard. Pressing [RETURN] will enter the current selection. After selecting your initial city production demands, you can begin your planetary conquest. THE PLAYING SCREEN The world is shown on your screen as a map of 60 rows by 100 columns. The rows are numbered 0 to 59, the columns 0 to 99. However, the outer rows and columns are not accessible to the combat units for movement, so to avoid confusion they have been shaded grey. All coordinates are given as row, column; e.g. 32, 78 means row 32, column 78. Location 0,0 is the upper left corner of the map. After completing your initial production selection, your screen will show a portion of the world map that is 20 rows by 36 columns. A sample playing screen is shown in Figure 7. The playing screen consists of the following sections: Section 1: Command Menus - This row shows the command pull-down menus. To execute a command, move the cursor arrow to the menu title (e.g."Reports"), and after the menu appears move the cursor arrow down the command (or orders) list to the one you want and click the left mouse button once. On the Amiga, these will only show when the right mouse button is held down. More on executing commands is in the Commands and Orders Section. Section 2: Mode Indicator - This indicator tells you which mode you are in. Modes are described in the Playing The Game section. Section 3: Turn Counter - This counter is increased by one each time a turn is completed. One turn is completed after all the combat units have had a chance to move. As seen in Figure 7, turn 63 is in progress. Section 4: Message Line - This line is where you will receive messages and command acknowledgements from EMPIRE. For example, in Figure 7, the cursor is currently over the troop transport named Fearless. As you are prompted to give each unit a command or order, the unit name, location, and any current orders will be displayed on this line. An example message is "Your 5th Army at 32, 17 Moving to 28,16". Section 5: Map Display - This is the map area of your screen. Because of the resolution and size limitations of your monitor, only 20 rows and 36 columns can be displayed at a time during moves. You can move the map display to see more of the world (see below). The screen moves automatically to the unit to be moved. Section 6: Row Numbers - This far left column gives the map row number 31. This page is blank in the manual. These row numbers will scroll and change with the map. Section 7: Row Scroll Bars - To move the map up or down, move the cursor arrow to the scroll bar in the far right column and drag it up or down, respectively. If you wish to move the map one row at a time, click the up or down arrow at the top and bottom of the column with the left mouse button. To move the map a screen at a time (Atari ST version moves a half screen), click the cursor arrow in the grey shaded area above or below the drag ba rs to move the map up or down, respectively. Section 8: Column Numbers - this bottom row gives the map column numbers. These column numbers will scroll and change with the map. Section 9: Column Scroll Bars - To move the map left or right, move the cursor arrow to the scroll bar below the column numbers and drag it left or right, respectively. If you wish to move the map one column at a time, click the left or right arrow at the left or right ends of the row with the left mouse button. To move th e map a screen at a time (Atari ST version moves a half screen), click the cursor arrow in the grey shaded area left or right of the drag bars to move the map left or right, respectively. PLAYING THE GAME Except for the spaces adjacent to your initial city, the entire world map is unknown (blank) until you start to explore it. You cannot detect enemy units unless one of yours is next to them. The actual map you see on your screen is a summary of all the most recent information that you have about the world. BE CAREFUL!! The enemy unit symbols shown on the map are their last known /locations, These locations may not be accurate, as they have /probably moved since you detected them! Remember that the map /displays only the most recent information you have. The basic time unit of EMPIRE is the turn. Each turn consists of the following phases: 1) production, and 2) movement/combat. These phases are repeated for each player in turn. Normally, player 1 goes first, player 1 goes second, and player 3 goes third. The player order may differ in multiple human-player games. When a new game is started, it may take as many as 100 to 200 turns of play before you discover the other player(s), or they discover you. Be patient, the enemy is out there. You are playing on a large world. The first part of the game should be spent exploring and expanding your production base. EMPIRE will prompt you to move each unit which does not have any active orders or cannot move. The prompt consists of a short message in the message line of your screen (see Section 4 of Figure 7), and a blinking cursor will be positioned over the piece to be moved on the map. Completion of one turn occurs when each combat unit has either executed its orders or had a chance to move. You will receive a message with the results of each combat involving any of your units. The last computer opponent will attempt to surrender when you have beaten it to the point where it can no longer win. You do have the option of refusing their surrender and continuing until you have completely wiped them out. THE GAME MODES EMPIRE has ten different modes. The screen shows which game mode you are in. The modes are: Move Survey Group Survey Direction Move To Escort Patrol To Mark FIPth Production View To mode indicator is located to the left of the turn counter in the upper right corner of your screen (see section 2 of Figure 7). Move Mode Most of the game will be spent in move mode. In fact, the entire game can be played without ever leaving it. In this mode, a blinking cursor will be positioned over the combat unit, and the message line of the display will show the unit identification, its grid location, and any orders previously received. You can enter either a move or an order (such as Load Ship or Sentry). There are three ways to move a combat unit. The first is to press one of the four "arrow" keys indicating the direction you want the unit to go in, either left, right, up, or down. The problem with this method is that you are limited to those four directions. The second method is to use the numeric key pad on the keyboard. This method allows you to move in all eight directions according to Figure 8. The third method is to place the cursor arrow on one of the eight squares surrounding the unit, and click the left mouse button. If you do not want the unit to move, press the [Space} bar or select the Wait order. Combat units can only attack by giving a Move command. Orders will never cause one unit to attack an enemy unit. Move mode can be entered through the "Commands" menu, keystroke, or pressing the right mouse button when in survey or group survey mode. Survey Mode This mode allows you to travel around and look at the current map of the world, alter the orders assigned to your units, change the production demands of your cities, etc. It is entered by pressing [V] from move mode, executing the Survey command in the "Commands" pull-down menu, or, on the Atari ST only, pressing (not clicking) the right mouse button while in move mode. A special cursor shows you are in survey mode (see Figure 16 on p. 50). You move the cursor around the map by using the direction keys, or by simply placing the cursor arrow over the desired location and pressing the left mouse button. Each time you move the cursor over one of your units or cities, information about that unit or city will be displayed. Note that orders in Survey mode operate only on the unit under the cursor. For instance, you cannot operate on any armies aboard a troop transport from the Survey mode, except to wake them up to move off the transport (see the Unload command). Group Survey This is the same as Survey mode except that you can assign the same command to many units at once. A detailed description of this mode is found under the Group Survey command on p. 42. Be careful of whether you are in MOVE mode or (GROUP)SURVEY mode. Entering any commands in move mode when you thought you were in Survey mode can send units in the wrong direction, cancel wanted commands, and may cause you to waste the unit's turn. Direction Direction mode is entered whenever you request a unit to move in a particular direction, such as up or down. Direction mode is described in detail in the Go Direction command on p. 41. Move to Move To mode is entered whenever you request a unit to move to a particular location. Move To mode is described in detail in the Move To command on p.45. Escort Escort mode is entered whenever you request a ship to escort another ship. Escort mode is described in detail in the Escort Ship command on p. 39. Patrol to Patrol To mode is entered whenever you request a unit to patrol between two selected locations. Patrol mode is described in detail in the Patrol To command on p. 47. Mark FIPth This is short for "Mark Flight Path". Flight paths apply only to fighters, and are described in detail on p. 40. Production This mode is entered whenever you view the Production Map (described on p. 47). To change a city's production, place the cursor arrow over the city and click the left mouse button. The production menu will appear, allowing you to change the production demands (city production is described on p. 49). View This mode is entered when the computer is playing itself or in a demonstration game, and you stop the game. It is also entered at the end of one of your games. View mode allows you to view the current world map, examine the computer player's units, or quit the game. The View command is described on p. 53. COMMANDS AND ORDERS All EMPIRE commands and unit orders can be executed from pull-down menus. Commands apply to game functions, like save, center screen, survey mode, etc. Orders apply to combat units, e.g. sentry, move, unload ship, etc. To execute a command or give an order on the Atari ST, move the cursor arrow to the menu title, then move the arrow down the commands (or orders) list to the one you want and click the left mouse button. On the Amiga, use the right mouse button, and while holding the right button, move the pointer to the desired menu item and release the button. As you move the arrow down the menu, commands/orders that you can execute will change to reverse video. Commands/orders you cannot execute will be light grey, and will not change to reverse video when the cursor arrow passes over them. On the Atari ST, to remove a pull-down menu from the screen (i.e., you changed you mind and do not want to execute a command), simply click the left mouse button with the cursor arrow outside the menu. On the Amiga, simply release the right mouse button. All command menus are shown below. File*/ Reports/Orders/Commands New Game/ World Map/Go Home/Move Mode Load/ Status/Go Direction/Survey Mode Save/ Combat Report/Go Random/Group Survey Save As/ Info /Move to/Wait Exit Game Ship Report/Patrol To/Flight Paths Map Editor Set Production/Escort Ship/Activate Quit/ Production Map/Sentry/Center Screen ///Clear Orders ///Load Ship ///Unload Ship ///Skip move. Other Sound Delay Commanders View *NOTE: On the Amiga, this menu is named Project. Commands and orders can be executed from the keyboard. The keys are shown to the right of the command/order in its menu. These keystrokes are given in the individual command descriptions, and are summarized in Table V along with the command's menu. TABLE V COMMANDS AND ORDERS USED IN EMPIRE COMMAND/ORDER/MENU/KEYSTROKE(S) About Empire. /Desk/Project/Alt E Activate//Commands/A Center Screen/Commands/C Clear Orders/Orders/O Combat Report/Reports/Alt R Commanders/Other/Alt C Delay//Other/Alt D Escort Ship/Orders/E Exit Game/!File/Project/CTRL E Flight Paths/Commands/F Go Direction/Orders/D Go Home//Orders/H Go Random/Orders/R Group Survey Command/Commands/G Information/Reports/ALT I Load//File/Project/CTRL L Load Ship/Orders/L Map Editor/File/Project/CTRL M Move Mode Command/Commands/M Move To//Orders/T New Game//File/Project/CTRL N Patrol To/Orders/P Production " Map/Reports/ALT X Quit//File/Project/CTRL Q Save//File/Project/CTRL S Save As//File/Project/CTRL A Sentry//Orders/S Set Production/Reports/X Ship Report/Reports/ALT H Skip Move /Orders/Space Sound//Other/ALT O Status//Reports/ALT S Survey Mode Command/Commands/V Unload Ship/Orders/U View//Other/ALT V Wait//Commands/W World Map/Reports!/ALT W Not all commands and orders are available in all game modes. Table VI lists all the commands and orders, and indicates which commands/order can be executed in each game mode. In Table VI, those commands and orders which can be executed without exception (i.e., can be given to all your combat units), are indicated by "o". Some commands have exceptions, and these are listed as notes at the end of the table. TABLE VI COMMANDS VERSUS GAME MODES GAME MODES COMMAND/ORDER/DK Mv Sur Dir MT Pto MkF Es GrSr Prd View About Empire/o o o o o o o o o o o Activate/ 7 Center Screen/ o o o o o o o o o o Clear Orders/ o 1,2,3 o Combat Report/ o o o Commanders/o o o o o Delay//o o o o o o o o o o o Escort Ship/ 2 2 o Exit Game/ o o o o o o o o o o Flight Paths/ 5 5 o Go Direction/ o 1,2,3 Go Home/ / 1,2 1,2 o Go Random/ 2,3 2,3 o Group Survey Cm/ o o Information/ o o o Load//o Load Ship/ 4 4 o Map Editor/o Move Mode Cmd/ o o o o o o o o o Move To// o 1,2,3 o o New Game//o Patrol To/ o 1,2,3 o Production Map/ o o o o Quit//o o o o o o o o o o o Save// o o o o Save As// o o o o Sentry// 6 6 o Set Production/ 5 5 )' o 5 Ship Report/ o o o Skip Move/ o Sound//o o o o o o o o o o o Status// o o o o o o o o o o Survey Mode Cmd/ o o o o o o o o Unload Ship/ 4 4 o ( View// o Wait// o World Map/ o o o o o o o o o o GAME MODE Abbreviations - DK = Desktop: MV = Move: Sur = Survey: Dir = Direction Mt = Move To: PTo = Patrol To: MKF = Mark FIPth: Es = Escort: GrSr = Group Survey Pro = Production: View = View + Notes for TABLE VI: 1. Active only when the cursor is on a fighter. 2. Active only when the cursor is on a ship. 3. Active only when the cursor is on an army. 4. Active only when the cursor is on a troop transport or aircraft carrier. 5. Active only when the cursor is on a friendly city. 6. Active only when the cursor is on an army, ship or fighter aboard an aircraft carrier. 7. Active only when the cursor is on a friendly unit which has movement available this turn. Each of the individual command will now be described. The commands and orders are listed in alphabetical order for easy reference. Command: ABOUT EMPIRE Menu:/Desk (ST)/Keystroke: [Alt][E] /Project (Amiga) Executing this command displays the EMPIRE copyright notice and version number. To return to the game, move the cursor arrow to the box labelled "OK" (EMPIRE logo on the Amiga) and click the left mouse button. Command: Activate Menu:/Commands/Keystroke:[A] This command allows you to make any friendly unit the active move unit. It is available only in SURVEY MODE. If the command is given while the survey cursor is over a unit WHICH STILL HAS MOVES FOR THE CURRENT TURN, its orders will immediately be cleared, and the game will revert to MOVE MODE with that unit the current active move unit. The purpose of the command is to allow you to move a specific unit without having to cycle through all the other units. Command: Center Screen Menu:/Commands/Keystroke: [C] This command centers the screen about the current cursor position as much as possible. To center the screen about a combat unit, press [C] when prompted to move the unit. You can also enter survey mode, place the cursor arrow over any square, click the left mouse button, and press [C] to center the map. Executing this command does not affect moving the unit, nor any other command or order you can give the combat unit. Order: Clear Orders Menu:/Orders/Keystroke:[O]. This order cancels any orders given previously to the unit. This order is especially useful in changing orders, or removing a unit from sentry duty. After executing this command, "Orders Cleared" will appear in the message line of the screen. If given while in SURVEY MODE with the cursor on a city, all units in the city will have their orders cleared. Command: Combat Report Menu:/Reports/Keystroke:[Alt][R] This command will replay all attacks which occurred on your units in the last turn. This "instant replay" is especially important when there is more than one human player, since you may not know about battles which happened during your opponent's turn. A message will be displayed if you were not attacked on the last turn. Command: 20 Commanders Menu:/Other/Keystroke:[Alt][C] This command lists the service record of all the current players, showing how well they have done playing EMPIRE. A sample commanders report is shown in Figure 9. This report presents the number of wars (or games played), wins, losses and average game difficulty for each player. To remove the list from your screen, move the cursor arrow to the box labelled "OK" and click the left mouse button. If the list is longer than what can be shown on your screen at o1ne time, you can move the list up and down by moving the scroll bar on the right up and down, respectively. Command: Delay Menu:/Other/Keystroke:[Alt][D] This command allows you to modify the message and battle time delays. The delay screen is shown in Figure 10. You can increase or decrease the time between messages or battles by moving the scroll bars. Move the scroll bars to the right to increase the delay time, move them to the left to decrease the delay time. When finished, move the cur53sor arrow to the box labelled "OK" and click the left mouse button. Click the box labelled "CANCEL" to cancel the command. If you do not want to have the completion of each new army and fighter reported to you, move the cursor arrow to the box labelled "OFF" at the bottom of the delay screen and click the left mouse button. Order: Escort Ship Menu:/Orders/Keystroke:[E] This order can be given to ships only, and allows you to assign a ship to escort another (target) ship. The escort ship will fol4low the target ship as the target ship moves. With the cursor on the escorting ship, execute the Escort Ship order, then move the cursor to the ship to be escorted and click the left mouse button. If you used the keyboard to move the cursor, execute the Escort Ship order again after selecting the ship to be escorted. After selecting Escort Ship, the screen will change to Escort mode, and any current escort assignments in the screen area will show as bold white lines going from the escorting ship to the ship being escorted. For example, suppose you want your destroyer Destruc86tor to escort your troop transport Salvation. When prompted to give a command to the Destructor, press [E]. The move cursor will disappear as the screen goes into Escort mode. Place the cursor arrow over the Salvation and click the left mouse button or use the cursor keys to move the line to the Salvation and select [E] again. A line will be drawn from the Destructor to the Salvation. Until its orders are changed, the destroyer will move towards the troop transport and stay within two spaces BEHIND it. If you want the Destructor to LEAD the Salvation (e.g. to clear a path for it), you must assign the troop transport to escort the destroyer. However, beware of having a destroyer lead another type of ship. Destroyers can move three spaces per turn, whereas all the other ships move only two spaces per turn. If you are not careful, the destroyer will soon leave the following ship far behind. Command: Exit Game Menu:/File (ST)/Keystroke:[Control][E] /Project (Amiga) This command allows you to exit the current game without leaving EMPIRE. You will be returned to the main EMPIRE Desktop where you can start a new game, get information, or quit. If the current game has developed far enough, the results will be recorded in the commanders log. If you resume the game later (i.e., you saved it first), th new results will overwrite the old results in the commanders log. Command: Flight Paths Menu:/Commands/Keystroke:[F] This command sets a flight path from one city to another. Once designated, any fighter landing or created in a city with a flight path will automatically accept orders to fly to the destination city of the flight path. You can only assign flight paths between your cities. Flight paths appear as bold white lines with an arrowhead pointing to the destination city of the path. Upon executing this command, you will enter Mark Flight Path (Mark FIPth) mode and all existing flight paths will appear on your screen. When the blinking cursor is on the city which you want the flight path to start from (either when the fighter is at the city or you are in survey mode), press [F] or use the menu to execute this command. Then designate the target city using the cursor keys or the mouse by clicking on the city. If you use the keyboard direction keys to select the target city, execute this command again to accept the target. To remove or cancel a flight path, just target any non-city square after selecting the Flight Paths command on the city where the flight-path starts. Flight paths are very useful when cities are producing fighters far from the battle front; the fighters can be "chained" from city to city to the front without having to give them orders every turn. You cannot set a flight path that will exceed a fighter's fuel supply (20 spaces). Order: Go Direction Menu:/Orders/Keystroke:[D] This order gives the unit orders to move in a specified direction. After executing this order, a direction cursor will appear over the unit. This symbol is shown in Figure 11. Press either the up, down, right, or left arrow key on your keyboard, click one of the eight squares surrounding the unit in the direction you want it to go, or use the numeric keypad to specify the direction. Once moving, the unit will temporarily wake up if its route is blocked or it moves next to an enemy unit or city. When a fighter is ten spaces out, it will temporarily wake up to give you a chance to return it to a city or aircraft carrier for refueling. The Go Home command comes in handy here. The Go Direction command is especially useful for sending a destroyer or another ship in a set direction to see if it encounters land, or the enemy. Order: Go Home Menu:/Orders/Keystroke:[H] This orders applies to fighters and ships only. In move mode, this order applies only to the unit currently under the blinking cursor, whereas in survey mode it applies to the unit currently under the survey cursor (see Survey Mode on p.52). In group survey mode, it applies to all units in that group. Executing this order gives the fighter or sA?hip orders to automatically find the nearest friendly city or aircraft carrier (for fighters) and move to it. Fighters will not move to a city that is out of fuel range, and will follow aircraft carriers as they move. Be careful in sending a fighter to an aircraft carrier!! It is possible that the carrier could move out of the fighter's fuel range between the time the fighter starts moving towards the carrier and when it should arrive. In such a case, the fighter pilot will be most unappreciative of the carrier's actions as his fighter crashes into the sea. Order: Go Random Menu:/Orders/Keystroke:[R] This order commands the unit currently under the blinking cursor to move in a random pattern. The unit will temporarily wake up if it moves next to an enemy combat unit or city. You cannot give this order to a fighter (lest it run out of fuel). The unit will move at random subject to the following conditions: 1. The unit will not do anything that may cause it to be destroyed. 2. If the unit is an army, it will board a partially or unloaded troop transport. Command: Group Survey Menu:/Commands/Keystroke:[G] This command allow you to select a block of combat units to give a single order or command to at the same time. You designate the units by forming a box around them. Then select the ONE command or order to give to ALL the units in the box. When you execute this command, the box will appear around the unit currently under the cursor. To enlarge the square, put the cursor arrow on the box, press and hold the left mouse button, drag the cursor arrow such that the enlarged box encloses all the units you wish, then release the mouse button. You can also enlarge the box with the cursor arrow keys. You can change the fixed corner of the box by clicking elsewhere and dragging the box again. When you have the box around the combat units, you can execute a SINGLE order (like Clear Orders, Go Random), and that order will affect ALL combat units in the box to which the order could apply. Be careful that you do not change orders on a unit you did not want to change. One excellent use of this command is loading a troop transport. After selecting a group of armies, you can issue a single Move to order to all of the armies in the group, sending them to a troop transport. Command: Info(rmation) Menu: /Reports/Keystroke:[Alt][I] This command gives information on the designated unit or square. Press [Alt][I] or use the pull-down menu when the blinking cursor is over the unit or city (including the enemy's!) in either move or survey modes. A sample information display is shown in Figure 12. You can also obtain information by double-clicking the square during move and survey modes. When executed over a combat unit, you will be given the unit name, map location, and current orders (if any). Pressing [Alt][I] over a city (or double-clicking the city icon with the left mouse button) gives the city name and status of name). o View// o Wait// o World Map/ o o o o o o o o o o GAME MODE Abbreviations - DK = Desktop: MV = Move: Sur = Survey: Dir = Direction Mt = Move To: PTo = Patrol To: MKF = Mark FIPth: Es = Escort: GrSr = Group Survey Pro = Production: View = View End status of production. You can change a city's production while the production selection menu is present (see p. 24). You can also select any non-unit or city square, and be given its map coordinates and whether it is land or sea. This command can also be executed by single-clicking a location on the world map display. After you have completed viewing the information, move the cursor arrow to the box labelled "OK" and click the left mouse button. This causes the information box to disappear. If you move one of your fighters next to an enemy city, it will perform a photo reconnaissance. You will then know the production of that enemy city. After that, you can always view the information again by executing this command over the same enemy city. Be aware that this information is like a snapshot and is valid only at the time your fighter flew past. The enemy could change the city's production without you knowing it. To get a production update, you will have to send a fighter back to the same enemy city and execute this command again. Command: Load Menu:/File (ST)/Keystroke:[Control][L]/Project (Amiga) This allows you to resume a previously saved game. The file selector box (described previously on p. 16) will appear. Select the file by clicking the file name once with the left mouse button or typing in the name. No file extension is needed because EMPIRE requires ".EMP" as an extension for all saved games and your computer will automatically include the extension. You will be returned to where you saved the game. Command: Load Ship Menu:/Orders/Keystroke:[L] This order commands the designated troop transport or aircraft carrier to go on sentry duty until fully loaded with armies or fighters, respectively. Whenever an army moves next to a loading troop transport, it will automatically be taken aboard. If you move a troop transport next to armies on sentry, executing this command will cause the transport to load those armies adjacent to the transport, even though the armies are on sentry. When the ship if fully loaded, it will automatically wake up and wait for your next command. Armies boarding a ship will automatically go on sentry. When a troop transport has any armies aboard, a small lighted bar will appear on the ship symbol. Aircraft carriers have "tick marks" on the deck when fighters are aboard. These indicators disappear when the last army or fighter leaves the ship. When a transport or carrier leaves a city, it will automatically board any available units in the city up to its load limit. As mentioned in the Group Survey command description, you can issue a single Move to order to send several armies in a group to a troop transport. Command: Map Editor Menu:/File (ST)/Keystroke:[Control][M]/Project (Amiga) This command allows you to build a world of your own, edit an existing world, or let the computer generate a new world in addition to those on your original purchased disk. Building worlds is described in detail in the Creating Your Own Worlds section starting on p. 59. Command: Move Mode Menu:/Orders/Keystroke:[M] This command will remove you from the current mode, aborting any commands you are in the process of entering, and set you in move mode for the next combat unit to be moved. If the combat unit is not on the current screen,the display will recenter about the unit. Commands executed in move mode only apply to the current unit under the blinking cursor. Pressing the right mouse button (Atari ST version only) will also change you to move mode, unless you are already in move mode. If you are already in move mode, then pressing the right mouse button takes you to survey mode. Order: Move To Menu:/Orders/Keystroke:[T] This order commands the current unit to move to a designated target square. The un it will temporarily wake up if it moves next to an enemy unit or city, or is blocked from reaching its target. If this order is given to a fighter and the target is an aircraft carrier, the fighter will chase down the carrier. There are three methods by which you can give a unit orders to move to a specific location. The reason for the different methods is that this is one of the most used orders in EMPIRE, and so the order was made as convenient as possible. The three methods are: Method 1: This can be done in survey or move mode. Place the cursor arrow over the unit to which you wish to give the Move To order to, press (not click!) the left mouse button, and drag the cursor arrow to the target square. A thin line will follow from the unit to the target square. Then release the left mouse button. The map will scroll if you select a target location off the current screen. Note that in move mode, the unit you give the order to does not have to be the unit which is flashing. Method 2: In move mode ONLY, press the left mouse button while the cursor arrow is NOT over another friendly unit. Your computer will automatically assume you want to give the current flashing unit a Move To order and will draw a thin line from the flashing unit to the cursor arrow location. Drag the cursor arrow to the target square (if not already there) and release the mouse button. Method 3: In either move or survey mode with the flashing cursor over the current unit to be moved, execute Move To from the pull-down menu or keyboard. Then using the keyboard direction keys, move the thin line to the target square. Select Move To again to execute the order. For all three methods, as the thin line follows the cursor arrow, the distance to the current arrow location will be displayed in the message line of your screen. The combat unit will continue to move until it reaches its target location. You will not be prompted to give the unit another order until it reaches its destination or comes in contact with an enemy unit or obstacle. If you change your mind, you will have to enter survey mode to cancel the order. You can abort this order before execution by designating the current combat unit location to be the target square (i.e. a distance of zero). If something is in the way that prevents the unit from easily moving around (e.g. water), you will be asked to move the unit. Once around the obstacle, the unit will continue to its target location. When the combat unit arrives at its target location, you will be asked to give it a new order. If you are giving this order to a fighter, the new location's distance from the fighter cannot exceed the fighter's existing fuel supply. Command: New Game Menu:/File (ST)/Keystroke:[Control][N] /Project (Amiga) This command allows you to start a new game. You will be asked to select the number of players and whether they will be human or computer controlled. You can select your computer opponent(s) to be "Standard" or "Expert". A display will then be presented where the combat and production efficiencies of each player can be individually selected. The game will then start, asking each human player his/her name, then initial production. For more information on starting a new game, refer to the Starting/Resuming The Game section on p. 15. Order: Patrol To Menu:/Orders/Keystroke:[P] This order commands the unit to repeatedly patrol between its current location and a designated target square, for as long as the order is in effect. When this order is executed, all current patrol routes will be drawn on the map. Select the target square by moving the cursor arrow to the target square and executing Patrol To again, or hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor arrow to the target square, then release the mouse button. To cancel a patrol route, enter survey mode over the unit and execute Clear Orders. When this order is given to a fighter, it must be in a city or on an aircraft carrier. Fighters are restricted to a range of ten squares. Fighters on patrol from an aircraft carrier are restricted to a range of six squares. This is so they can always return to the carrier. In addition, the target square is always kept relative to the carrier's position. For example, a patrol route straight up (north) will always remain straight up as the carrier moves. Command: Production Map Menu:/Reports/Keystroke:[Alt][X] This command changes the current map to show the production of each of your cities. All combat units will disappear from the screen, and only cities will be sown. Each of your city symbols will be replaced by the icon of the combat unit it is producing. A sample map is shown in Figure 13. Cities can be selected and have their production changed while the production map is displayed by double clicking the left mouse button over the city. The city production selection menu will then appear. Changing production of a city is described in the Set Production command. You must return to move mode to continue the game. Command: Quit Menu:/File (ST)/Keystroke:[Control][Q] /Project (Amiga) This command allows you to quit your current game and leave EMPIRE. If you are currently playing a game, the game results will be recorded in the commanders file. Command: Save Menu:/File (ST)/Keystroke:[Control][S] /Project (Amiga) This command allows you to save the current game If you have previously saved or loaded the current game, the last file name you entered will be used. If no file name is available, you will be taken directory to the Save As command. After saving the game, you will be returned to the game in progress. The file size of a saved game will vary. If your disk has insufficient space for the file, you will get an error message from EMPIRE. If so, replace this disk with another emptier disk and try again. Remember, the disk you use must already be formatted! Command: Save As Menu:/File (ST)/Keystroke: [Control][A] /Project (Amiga) This command is identical to Save except you will always be asked for a file name using the file selection box described on p. 16. DO NOT ADD AN EXTENSION TO THE FILE NAME! EMPIRE will add the extension ".EMP" to the file for you. This extension is required to start the game later. Order: Sentry Menu:/Orders/Keystroke:[S] This order commands the designated unit to go on sentry duty. The unit will not move, nor will you be asked to give it an order until the unit is ordered off sentry duty or wakes up. Units will wake up whenever an enemy combat unit moves next to them. Your armies on sentry duty will appear as tents, but ship symbols do not change when they are put on sentry duty. Armies boarding a ship will automatically go on sentry duty. Fighters cannot be placed on sentry duty unless they are on an aircraft carrier or in a city. To remove a unit from sentry duty, you must enter either survey or group survey mode and execute Clear Orders over the unit. Armies in troop transports and fighters on aircraft carriers require the Unload Ship order to wake up. Command: Set Production Menu:/Reports/Keystroke: [X] This command displays the current assigned production for a city and allows you to change the production demands. The city production selection menu is shown in Figure 6 on p. 25. You can select a city during move mode by placing the cursor arrow over it and double clicking the left mouse button. The production times for a production efficiency of 50 percent are given in Table VII. TABLE VII COMBAT UNIT PRODUCTION TIMES Combat Unit/Start Production/Continue Production Army// 6/ 5 Fighter// 12/ 10 Destroyer/ 24/ 20 Troop Transport/ 30 / 25 Submarine/ 24 / 20 Cruiser/ / 42/ 35 Aircraft Carrier/ 48/ 40 Battleship/ 60/ 50 The start time is the number of turns required to produce a unit for the first time. The continuing time is the number of turns required to produce subsequent units. If you change production demands of a city before it has completed its current unit, the partially completed unit will be discarded. To select your production demands, move the cursor arrow onto the line with the symbol and name of the unit you want (the column with the check mark in Figure 6) and click the left mouse button. After making your selection, move the cursor arrow to the box labelled "OK" and click the left mouse button. When finished with this command, move the cursor arrow to the box labelled "OK" and click the left mouse button. If the message "Over Population" appears in an alert window on your screen, the game is saturated with too many units. All city production will stop until some existing units are destroyed. Command: Ship Report Menu:/Reports/Keystroke: [Alt][H] This command will give a list of all your ships, their names, current positions, and damage. If you have more than ten ships, use the scroll bar on the right to move the list up and down. A sample ship report is shown in Figure 14. To remove the report from your screen, move the cursor arrow to the box labelled "OK" and click the left mouse button. Command: Skip Move Menu:/Other/Keystroke: [Space] Pressing the [Space] bar tells the unit not to move this turn. You will not be asked to give the unit another command until the next turn. Command: Sound Menu:/Other/Keystroke: [Alt][O] This command is a toggle switch used to turn the game sounds on and off. Executing this command the first time will turn the game sounds off, while exe cuting it a second time will turn the sounds on. When sound is on, a check mark will appear to the left of the command. No check mark means the sound is off. Command: Status Menu: /Reports/Keystroke: [Alt][S] This command opens a status window presenting you with a War Report. A sample window is shown in Figure 15. This report gives you the number of cities you have captured and their production status. It also tells you how many enemy units you have destroyed, and how many units you have lost. Note that the number of armies lost includes the armies lost in unsuccessfully attacking cities, but not those armies that capture and occupy the cities. These latter armies become the garrisons that defend the cities. They never take to the field again as a mobile army. To leave this display and return to the game, move the cursor arrow to the box marked "OK" and click the left mouse button. Command: Survey Mode Menu:/Commands/Keystroke: [V] This command takes you out of your current mode and allows you to move about the world giving orders to any of your units or cities. Upon entering survey mode, the blinking cursor will change to the survey cursor (shown in Figure 16). To select a unit to give an order, just move the cursor arrow to the unit and click the left mouse button. More on survey mode is found on p. #31. If you are in move mode, you can enter survey mode by pressing (press, not click) the right mouse button (Atari ST only) or [V]. Pressing [M] or the right mouse button again will return you to move mode. Order: Unload Ship Menu:/Orders/Keystroke: [U] This order wakes up (i.e., clears orders) all the armies or fighters aboard the designated troop transport or aircraft carrier. You will then be asked to give each army or fighter an order. The army/fighter will blink over the current ship location. Be careful, do not mistake this for moving the ship! Whenever a transport is next to land, press [U] when asked to give the transport a move command. You will receive a message telling you the armies are preparing to unload. You may have to press [Space] to stop moving the transport if it is where you want to unload. Command: View Menu:/Other/Keystroke: [Alt][V] Using this command, you can change your "view" of the world. View allows you to see the whole world or see the world as one of your opponents. Upon completion of a game, you will automatically be placed in view mode. This is the ONLY time YOU as a player can execute this command while you are playing. However, you can stop demonstration games and games between computer opponents and execute this command to check on the status of those players. Command: Wait Menu:/Commands/Keystroke:[W] This command tells your computer that you want to wait before giving the combat unit an order this turn. After all other units have asked for an order, your computer will return to this unit for its orders. Command: World Map Menu:/Reports/Keystroke: [Alt][W] This command will open a window showing you the entire world as you currently know it. This is a smaller display which will appear in the center of your screen, as shown in Figure 17. Your cities and combat units will appear as small white dots, whereas your enemy (if known) and unknown cities or locations will appear as black dots. (On the Amiga, cities and units will appear in their corresponding player's colors. You close the map by clicking the closure button in the upper left corner of the map, or by executing this command again from the menu or keyboard. The Information command can be executed from the world map. To select the city or unit, place the cursor arrow over the city or unit and click the left mouse button. The Information box will be displayed on your screen. The following commands are available while the world map is displayed on your screen: About Empire, Exit Game, Quit, World Map, Ship Report, Sound, Information, and Delay. These commands can be executed through the pull-down menus or keyboard. STRATEGY, TACTICS, AND OTHER HINTS This section includes some tips on strategy and tactics to help you in playing EMPIRE. The flow was purposely written to follow a typical game profile. These tips are no substitute for playing the game - we encourage you to develop techniques of your own. After all, with the map builder, the world possibilities are virtually endless. However, if you wish to play EMPIRE without any help, then skip this section. The Demonstration Game Running a demonstration game will go a long way in showing you how to play EMPIRE. As a bonus, you will learn something about how the computer opponents play. You need not watch a demonstration game until it ends, watching about 50 - 100 turns will be enough to help you get started. Initial Production For the first couple of games, you should use armies as your very first city production. But let's face it, moving at one space per turn, armies are terribly slow. It can take many turns for them to just move the length of a land mass. And searching for additional cities can take what seems like an eternity. To speed up your search for more cities, set your first city's production demands to fighters. Then after you produce one or two fighters, change the city production to armies. Now you have a fast moving unit to do your initial exploration, followed by armies to capture the cities you find. To be effective, you should send the fighter(s) out in all directions, like spokes on a wheel. This way you will get a general layout of your home continent, plus discover additional cities to conquer (with armies). You may even discover another land mass nearby. As you capture more cities, you can send your fighter outward to find even more neutral cities to conquer. Be Careful!! DO NOT move your fighter more than ten spaces from any city, and have them come straight home (using the Go Home order). Running your fighter(s) out of fuel is not the best way to start your planetary conquest. Troop Transports You will start out on an island or continent. You MUST build troop transports to get your armies across the sea to other land masses in order to expand. The sooner you start producing transports, the better. Usually you should have the first coastal city captured produce transports. Then start moving armies towards the city so that when the transport is finished, you will have armies nearby to board it. You can then send the loaded troop transport to the nearest land mass (usually discovered by your fighter). Troop transports should be the first ship type you produce. They are the most valuable ship. There is no way you can win the game without troop transports. Initial Expansion Your initial expansion is important, and is the backbone of your planetary conquest. With your fighter(s) leading the way, you should start with a few cities producing armies and at least one producing transports. The first order of business is to explore the land mass you start on and capture as many cities as possible. Since armies are slow and are necessary to conquer cities, newly captured inland cities should produce more armies. As an inland city gets further away from the front, its production can be changed to make the faster fighters. As soon as you get a loaded tra31nsport, start shipping your armies to nearby land masses. The first city you capture on any new land mass (unless it is a small island) should produce armies. This will help strengthen your hold on the land until reinforcements arrive by ship. Exploration One of the first ports captured should produce destroyers. These fast ships are especially good for exploring the coastal outlines of land masses. You might even send one destroyer on a long-range reconnaissance mission using Go Direction until 42it finds something. This "something" can be another land mass, or even the enemy. Building Ships After exploring your initial land mass and capturing several cities, you are ready to begin production on the larger ships. One strategy sometimes used is to start building a battleship as soon as possible, maybe with your second or third port city. This will get a powerful warship into the battle sooner, but at the cost of a city being nonproductive for many turns. After destroyers, you should produ3ce submarines, cruisers, battleships, and aircraft carriers. Always try to have at least two cities producing transports since heavy transport losses can leave your armies stranded where you do not want them, or prevent an invasion from being reinforced at a critical time. However, keep in mind that your primary fighting units are armies and fighters. Do not sacrifice these units as the expense of heavy ships. Large Scale Expansion As you expand, you will be moving outwards in all directions from your home continent. As you do so, your army, fighter, and destroyer or submarine production should lead; change your rearward coastal cities to making the other ships. The flight path command is perfect for getting fighters to the battle front. Remember to leave a few armies behind on sentry dut75y near your cities producing ships. They will provide immediate defense in case the enemy sneaks a troop transport to your rear area. You can also have forward cities producing warships and transports. But be careful, cities close to the front are more likely to be attacked by the enemy. Invasions You will eventually come in contact with the enemy. Either you will find them first, or one of their units will suddenly show up next to one of yours. Taking and holding enemy land masses is not easy, 86especially since both of you will contact each other on heavily populated battle fronts - lots of armies, fighters, and supporting ships. When you invade the enemy's land, he will do everything possible to push you back into the sea. His armies and fighters will counter attack your armies, and his ships will try to sink your transports bringing over reinforcements. Conducting a successful major invasion of an enemy land mass is the most important and complex operation in EMPIRE. A large invasion is a combined arms operation that requires careful planning and coordination. You need transports to land and reinforce your troops, warships to soften up the beaches and protect your transports, and fighters for close-air support and attacking enemy reserves. You will need fighters (and possibly aircraft carriers), destroyers, and submarines to clear a path and escort your transports. Cruisers and battleships should bombard enemy beaches to clear the way for your armies to unload. Fighters are great for attacking inland enemy armies that could be used to counterattack your invasion, and protecting the beachhead against enemy fighters. Troop transports can carry up to six armies, but six is usually not enough to capture and hold an enemy land mass. You should plan on using at least two or three transports loaded with six armies each for a full scale invasion. Hold back leading transports so that all armies unload near the same turn (in other words, swamp'em). Unload the armies and get those transports away from the battle and back to pick up reinforcements. If you have enough transports, try and have a second wave to quickly follow the first. On an enemy land mass, you should always start producing armies first. Chain fighters to your newly captured cities. Be prepared for a fight - your invasion may be hotly contested. Other Hints Games are sometimes started with the enemy in a land mass next to yours. These games are wild and usually end quickly (less than 150 turns). Other games can last several hundred turns. Here are a few more hints to remember. 1. Submarines are powerful enough to destroy cruisers, battleships, and aircraft carriers by themselves. They attack with three damage points per hit, but they are weak on defense. 2. Armies can attack all ship types except submarines when the enemy ship is in an adjacent space. Attacking ships with armies is usually a losing proposition - count on losing the attacking army. However, sometimes the army will get lucky and destroy a small or heavily damaged ship. 3. Never attack with a troop transport or aircraft carrier. Their attack factors are halved, and transports are too valuable. 4. Fighters can destroy more than one enemy unit per turn, especially armies and fighters. This is because the fighter can move up to five spaces per turn, and can attack up to five units as it moves. Fighters are also great for harassing enemy ships. You may lose a lot of fighters, but destroying an enemy transport loaded with six armies near one of your land masses or a large and expensive warship could make it a worthy expense. There is always the chance that the ship is damaged to start with. 5. You can hide your combat units in your own cities. This is a good way for transports to escape enemy warships and fighters. The big disadvantages are that a loaded transport will unload, and if your city is captured you will lose the ship. 6. If you encounter the enemy on a different land mass fairly early in the game, do not spend all your efforts on trying to invade him. Keep sending some transports and armies away from the enemy to capture neutral cities. This will enable you to increase your production base and gather enough strength to eventually attempt a full-scale invasion of the enemy. 7. Keep the enemy off balance - in other words, keep the initiative. Do not always attack the enemy at the front. Try sending a couple of escorted troop transports around to attack the enemy in the flank or rear. He will have to shuffle forces around to meet your threat. Your armies might also capture enemy cities that were producing major warships. 8. Use judgement, and be prepared for anything. You are playing on a large world. CREATING YOUR OWN WORLDS One important additional feature of EMPIRE is the ability for the player to create his/her own worlds. This map generator can also be used to modify worlds supplied with the purchased disk. The tool for building maps will be described shortly, but first some philosophy on map (world) creation. Any type of map you want can be created with the map generator, but in order to not confuse your computer (who is a simple soul) during a game, some general rules should be followed. These are: 1. Keep the number of pieces between 1,000 to 2,000 squares, out of the total 5,684 available squares on the map. 2. A large number of smaller land masses work better than a few large ones. 3. Single square island cities and empty land masses are acceptable. Otherwise, have at least two cities on all land masses, at least one of which should be a port (i.e. next to the ocean). 4. Do not put cities next to lakes (i.e. bodies of water with no connection to the oceans). These are general rules to creating a "standard" type EMPIRE world (rules 3 and 4 are REQUIRED). However, there is nothing wrong with experimenting there are even some unusual maps supplied with your EMPIRE disk (see the "README" file). As an example, you may design a world which is mostly land with just a few rivers and lakes. In this type of world, aircraft carriers are nearly useless, but battleships and cruisers become mobile forts bombarding the shorelines. BUILDING A WORLD You enter the map editor by executing the Map Editor command in the EMPIRE desktop. The available map pull-down menus are shown below. File/Project* Pieces Growths Other Load Map Sea Grow Land Mass Validate Cities Save Map Land Blotch Center Screen Save Map As City Sprinkle Cities World View Clear Map Build a World Fill Map Watch Build Exit Editor *NOTE: This menu is named File on the Atari ST, Project on the Amiga. Some map commands can be executed from the keyboard. The keys are shown to the right of the command in its menu. These keystrokes are given in the individual command descriptions, and are summarized in Table VIII along with the menu in which the command appears. TABLE VIII EMPIRE WORLD BUILDING COMMANDS MAP COMMAND/MENU/KEYSTROKE(S) Blotch//Growths/B Build a World/Growths/W Center Screen/Other/C City//Pieces/X Clear Map/File/Project/CTRL C Exit Editor/File/Project/CTRL E Fill Map//File/Project/CTRL F Grow Land Mass/Growths/G Land//Pieces/L Load Map//File/Project/CTRL L Save Map//File/Project/CTRL S Save Map As/File/Project/CTRL A Sea//Pieces/S Sprinkle Cities/Growths/K Validate Cities/Other/V Watch Build/Growths/A World View/Other/ALT W Each command in the map editor will now be described. Command: Blotch Menu:/Growths/Keystroke: [B] Press [B] will cause a land mass to be "blotched" (i.e. land mass is spotted around) starting from the current cursor position. The land mass will stop growing after a few moments; you need not stop it. Command: Build a World Menu: /Growths/Keystroke: [W] Your computer will try to build a world and then lay cities on it. The quality of the world varies, so it is a good idea to go over it and modify it where you do not like it. Of course doing this will spoil the surprise of a randomly created new world. Perhaps you could trade worlds with your friends. This process will take several minutes to complete. You can stop it at any time by pressing any key. After the land masses have been built, you will be asked if you wish to sprinkle cities or not. Command: Center Screen Menu:/Other/Keystroke: [C] This command centers the screen about the current cursor position. Command: City Menu:/Pieces/Keystroke: [X] Pressing [X] will change the square under the cursor to a city. Command: Clear Map Menu:/File/Project/Keystroke: [Control][C] Executing this command will remove all land masses on the current map and replace the entire world with sea. Command: Exit Editor Menu:/File/Project/Keystroke: [Control][E] This command removes you from the map editor. Be sure to save your world first! Command: Fill Map Menu:/File/Project/Keystroke:[Control][F] Executing this command will remove all water on the current map and replace the entire world with land. Command: Grow Land Mass Menu:/Growths/Keystroke: [G] This command causes a land mass to start growing from the current cursor position. The land will continue to grow until you press any key to stop. Command: Land Menu:/Pieces/Keystroke:[L] Pressing [L] will change the square under the cursor to land. Command: Load Map Menu:/File/Keystroke:[Control][L] This command allows you to load an existing map into your computer. After executing the file selector box will appear, and you should only select a file named with the convention "nnnnnnnn.MAP". Command: Save Map Menu:/File/Keystroke:[Control][S] This command allows you to save the current map with the current map name. The file selector box will only appear if there is no current may name. Before saving the map to disk, the computer has to process the city's information (see Figure 12). This will take a few seconds. Command: Save Map As Menu:/File/Keystroke:[Control][A] This command allows you to save the current map using the file selection box. When naming a map, DO NOT USE AN EXTENSION. EMPIRE will automatically add the file extension ".MAP". Command: Sea Menu:/Pieces/Keystroke: [S] Pressing [S] will change the square under the cursor to sea. Command: Sprinkle Cities Menu:/Growths/Keystroke: [K] Pressing [K] will cause cities to be randomly sprinkled on ALL current land masses until 60 to 70 cities have been assigned. Your computer will then try to validate each city, moving and removing cities it does not like. Pressing any key will stop the process. Command: Validate Cities Menu:/Other/Keystroke: [V] Your computer will cycle through each city trying to validate that the city's position is acceptable. A message will be displayed if your computer does not like a city's location. The rules your computer uses are: 1. A city must either be a one square island or have another city on the same land mass. 2. There must be at least one port city on each land mass which has cities. 3. Cities cannot be by lakes. The process continues until all cities have been checked, or you press any key. Command: Watch Build Menu:/Growths/Keystroke: [A] Pressing [A] will allow you to view the world as it is created. This command is a toggle switch, pressing [A] will turn the command off, and pressing [A] again will turn it on. If the switch is on, then the computer will put on screen the section of the world on which it is working. If the switch is off, the current screen position will not change, but any activity within the screen area will be shown. When Watch Build is turned off, worlds are created faster. Command: World View Menu:/Growths/Keystroke: [Alt][W] This command will open a window showing you the world as it currently exists. This is a smaller display which will appear in the center of your monitor. A sample world view is shown in Figure 18. FINAL WORD Interstel has gone to great strides to ensure the software product you purchased is as error free as possible. However, due to the extreme diversity and complexity of the game, it is not possible to text every conceivable situation. If a bona-fide error is found, Interstel is not under obligation to notify any persons or organization; nor is Interstel required to release anUS updated version of EMPIRE, but may choose to do so. If you think you have found a program error, we ask you write and tell us about it. Give as much information as possible, i.e., what happened, what computer you are using, the command you were executing, what you were trying to do, etc. Send us a printout of the screen if possible. DO NOT SEND US YOUR DISK(S). Please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope. After receiving your letter we will look at the problem and send a reply. To obtain information of new game or version releases by Interstel, you must send us the registration card included with this manual. CREDITS: Game Author:/Walter Bright Game Development:/Walter Bright and Mark Baldwin Atari ST version:/Mark Baldwin Amiga Conversion:/Bob Rakosky Game Documentation:/Robert L Winkler Cover Art:/David Dorman Illustrations:/Richard Launius Typesetting:/Robert L. Winkler and Karen Smith Printing:/Bay Area Printing, Houston Texas Box Manufacture:/Carton Sales, Houston, Texas Box Layouts:U/Craficus, Houston, Texas Playtesters Atari ST version:/Ron Abramson, Jim Brezden, //Roger Damon, Darel Finley //Erin Green, Arlon Harris, Jeannie Hieb, //Robert Jones, Jr., Dan Moore, //Bruce Runnels, John Sobernheim, //MYSTERY PERSON IN PENNSYLVANIA Amiga version:/Colin Barnhorst, Van Collins, Robert Jones, Jr., //Nicholas Mesloh, Randy Quintana, //Bruce Runnels, Dan Skelton Project Managers:/Trevor C. Sorensen, Robert Jones, Jr. BACKGROUND INFORMATION For those of you who are interested, here is some history and technical information about the creation of EMPIRE. EMPIRE was first written in FORTRAN-10 by Walter Bright while he attended Caltech between the years of 1976 and 1979. In 1981, Walter wrote an ASSEMBLY language version for the PDP-11 and a version for the LSI-11 in 1983. In 1984, EMPIRE was translated to the C programming language for the IBM PC. This version (1.0) was marketed by Northwest Software between 1984 and 1987. A version of EMPIRE for the VAX computer has been distributed by DECUS since 1980. The Atari ST version of the program was written in C using the Megamax C compiler. Development was also done using the Mark Williams C Compiler, the Micro EMACS editor, and Beckemeyer MICRO C-Shell and utilities. The sounds were generated using Synthetic Software's G.I.S.T sound utilities. The title screens were prepared on Batteries included DEGAS Elite. The Atari ST version and Version 2.0 upgrade was written by Mark Baldwin. The program source code is approximately 18,700 lines long (700 Kbytes), and overlaid in 22 files. The Amiga version was written in C and 68000 assembler. Tools employed were lattice C and assembler, Innovatronics, Inc.'s Power Windows 2.0, Metadigm's MetaScope debugger, and Scotto's pizza. The program consists of over one megabyte of source code. Mark Williams C is a registered trademark of Mark Williams Company. MICRO C-Shell is a registered trademark of Beckemeyer Development Tools. Lattice C is a registered trademark of Lattice, Inc Powerwindows is a registered trademark of Innovatronicis, Inc. MetaScope is a trademark licensed to Metadigm. Atari ST is a registered trademark of the Atari Corporation. Amiga is a registered trademark of Commodore Electronics, Ltd. IBM is a registered trademark of the International Business Machines Corporation. AUTOBIOGRAPHIES Walter Bright Walter Bright was born at an early age in 1959 in Phoenix, Arizona. He went to Caltech in 1975, where he wrote the original version of EMPIRE. In 1979, he graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and went to work for Boeing designing gearboxes for the 757. In 1982, he left to work for Data I/O. He rewrote EMPIRE in C for the IBM PC. Deciding that he could write a better C compiler, he wrote one which is now sold as the Datalight C compiler. Mark Lewis Baldwin Rumor has it that Mark was born on the three hundred and twenty-second planet of Beteligeuse where in his second year he was stolen away by space gypsies. Other stores say that he was born right here on earth in Detroit, Michigan in 1952, but those stories are had to believe Anyway, Mark spent a semi-normal life growing up in Michigan, Indiana, Alabama, Japan, Georgia, Germany, and Florida. It was during this time that he picked up an interesting strategy games of which he claims that he now has over 500. College was next on the agenda, where Mark received both Bachelors and Masters degrees in engineering in 1974 from Purdue University. It was also during this time that Mark picked up his interest in computers. This was due to the fat that as a freshman, one could avoid taking drafting by taking a computer class. Since Uncle Sam had paid for Mark's four years at Purdue, Mark had to return the favor at SAC headquarters in Omaha Nebraska for the next four years doing various analyses on both U.S..and Soviet ICBM's. However, seeing that a life in a blue suit was not for him, Mark left the Air Force in 1979 to work on the Space Shuttle Program in Houston, Texas. Mark spent the next seven years happily producing shuttle mission designs. During this time, Mark also started a consulting firm mostly working with various software designs for the petroleum industry. It was here also that friends of his started a software publishing company originally called Cygnus, but now known as Interstel. Mark go his first computer, an Atari 800, in 1982 and published several articles about the computer over the years. In late 1984, Mark's "friends" at Cygnus prevailed on him to convert Star Fleet 1 from the IBM to the Atari. A year later it was published and Mark was bitten by the publishing bug. To finish a long but boring story, Mark left Houston and the space program in January, 1986, to move to Colorado where today he is wasting away on the computer and spending his free time in the mountains panning for gold. Interstel PRODUCT WARRANTY The disk(s) on which your Interstel program is recorded is warranted to be free of defects in materials and workmanship under normal use for a period of one year (365.25 Earth days) from the date of purchase. This warranty applies only to the original purchaser and only to the purchased disk(s), not to the software or information encoded on it. PRODUCT REPLACEMENT Interstel will replace your purchased disk(s) free of charge if it proves defective during the warranty period only. In order to receive warranty replacement, you must have registered your product with Interstel, or provide proof of purchase or the registration card with your claim. Photocopies or similar reproductions of the registration card will NOT be accepted. PRODUCT UPGRADE/UPDATE PLAN This plan allows you to purchase any enhanced version of your Interstel product at a special reduced price, or free updates of your current version. Interstel may periodically release new versions of products, incorporating new or improved features. When a new version of a game becomes available, registered product owners will be informed via a product upgrade notice. This notice details the enhancements available in the upgraded version, the product costs, and ordering information. Interstel may also make new releases of the current version in order to correct any bugs found. You can return your original disk(s) at any time for a free update to the latest release of your version. PRODUCT REGISTRATION To take advantage of Interstel's warranty and Product Upgrade Plan, you must first register your product with Interstel. The product registration card in included with this software. We encourage you to complete the card and mail it promptly. Product registration gives you the following benefits: 1. Interstel Product Replacement allows you to replace any defective purchased disk(s) during the warranty period only. 2. Interstel Product Upgrade Plan allows you to purchase new versions of your product as they are released, at reduced prices. 3. As a registered product owner, you will be informed of new and updated software releases by Interstel.