Imperium Copy Protection --------------------------------------------------------------------------- What the statistics are is listed below. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Security Code 2. Travel Code. 3. Quasar grade. 4. IQ. 5. Heart Rate. 6. Weight. 7. Height. 8. Age. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here are the player stats and visual descriptions. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seargent Stovvius, suarish face, dark glasses, moustache, small beard. 1 = 131661, 2 = 7, 3 = 569, 4 = 79, 5 = 39, 6 = 123, 7 = 182, 8 = 29 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cadet Loretius, Black helmet, clear glasses, big beard and moustache. 1 = 766432, 2 = 9, 3 = 771, 4 = 132, 5 = 71, 6 = 81, 7 = 178, 8 = 78 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cadet Eno the Third, bald, big beard and moustache. 1 = 762333, 2 = 8, 3 = 622, 4 = 123, 5 = 54, 6 = 68, 7 = 166, 8 = 48 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proffesor Ajax, clear glasses, moustache, frail face, receeding hairline. 1 = 855420, 2 = 7, 3 = 688, 4 = 121, 5 = 43, 6 = 63, 7 = 147, 8 = 76 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Master Gallus, glasses with black frames, bald, side burns, moustache, goattie beard. 1 = 778341, 2 = 2, 3 = 1159 , 4 = 119, 5 = 50 , 6 = 89 , 7= 178, 8 = 31 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cadet Clovis, bald, moustache. 1 = 96744, 2 = 9, 3 = 912, 4 = 109, 5 = 58, 6 = 89, 7= 203 , 8 = 42 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cadet Ixion, glasses, moustache, square face, thick beard, short hair. 1 = 167922, 2 = 6, 3 = 499, 4 = 101, 5 = 69, 6 = 49 , 7= 144, 8 = 77 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Capatain Aquinius, square face, long hair, has fringe, beard and moustache. 1 = 991165, 2 = 12, 3 = 1211, 4 = 98, 5 = 45, 6 = 98, 7= 164, 8 = 54 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cadet Kato Maximus, big forehead, moustache, square chin. 1 = 125679, 2 = 7, 3 = 1002, 4 = 128, 5 = 52, 6 = 51, 7= 165, 8 = 56 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cadet Aulus, helmet, clean shaven face. 1 = 733341, 2 = 9, 3 = 677, 4 = 134, 5 = 67, 6 = 78, 7 = 184, 8 = 34 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Apologies for not having the character protection removed, but these stats are vital when playing the game. L8s from Death Bringer. Greets to Zelfuk haters, Paradox, Hysteria, VF, Tristar, Scoopex. Imported by Midnight Maniac & Mayday of P A R A D O X ============================================================================ R A N D O M presents: ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^^^^^^^^^ ====-==== ! ! ====-==== M P E R I U M from Electronic Arts DOCUMENTATION MANUAL Typed by Eclipse & Winter Mute in July 1990 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Message to all: This game is a really great game!! If you really like the game a lot and intend on playing it more than 5 minutes, go out and buy the game! Its only like $30 and with that you get this massive manual that we just typed out. The game is well worth the money and your $$ contribution will help ensure more games in the future from software companies. I thought it was an excellent game and well worth my $30. By the way, this ENTIRE manual was typed by hand, we didn't use a text scanner or anything. Yes, we did it the 'old' way but it worked!! -Eclipse Also..If any of you dudes gets any good at this fucking game, call my bbs and tell me.. I am decent at it.. But shit, it can be a bugger if your a novice eh? Typed in 75 column text mode, so ya can hole punch it after ya print it. Typed in with CED v2.2. Keep your Drive clean and you HD to the grind stone. -Winter Mute/Random. ================================================================== TUTORIALS ================================================================= Page:4 You have just been elected as the leader of Earth's empire. Your job is to lead the empire to pre-eminence in the galaxy by a careful combination of economic controls, diplomatic skill, and military action. To help you there, are a group of subordinate characters, who become your ambassadors, fleet captains, and planetary leaders. But watch out, they are your political enemies too! All elements of the game are inter- connected, so success or failure in, say, economics, will heavily affect your empire's overall performance. You have help in the shape of optional computer controlled intelligent advisers who can control parts of the game. If you wish, you can put the computer in charge of the military, diplomatic or economic sides of the game, leaving you free to concentrate on one or two main areas. o Remain popular so that you win elections, and are not overthrown. o Learn the correct military strategies and tactics to defeat aggressive enemy empires that threaten your survival. o Keep your population happy by keeping down inflation, and ensuring a regular supply or commodities for them. o Encourage trade, so that your empire may become rich. o Make friends with other empires quickly, and enemies slowly, but remember Palmerston's maxim "we have no permanent friends and no permanent enemies." o Colonize enough planets to sustain the expansion of your empire. o Maintain supplies of the life-extending drug - Nostrum - to keep you and your favored henchmen alive while you achieve all the above. Ultimately, you can win by surviving for a thousand years, or by conquering all the other empires. The former is probably more difficult than the latter, so we would advise you to initially choose an aggressive strategy. Imperium has been designed so that you can access all the data in the game and make all your decisions in the simplest way possible. Using a custom designed windowing system, Imperium is at your fingertips. Once you have learned the basic skills needed for controlling the game you Page:5 will be free to explore it and make your own decisions. To help, this manual is divided up into three main sections: 1. A tutorial section for those people who want to play the game without reading much of the manual. This consists of The User Interface and Quick Start Guide. 2. A copy of an Intelligence Report which each Cadet is given during training at the Imperial Academy. 3. The Imperial Reference Manual, which takes you through all of the menu items and explains in detail how to use them. Use this when you get stuck. First Steps ----------- First of all start the game referring to the Imperium Reference Card for loading instructions. You will see the Imperium Configuration window appear on the screen. For now just select the OK button. The Imperium Configuration window allows you to set various difficulty levels and rename your characters. The functions of this window are covered in greater detail in the Imperial Reference section page 27. At the top of the screen there is a row of sixteen icons. The one on the far right moves you to the map screen, whilst the others produce menus or reports for you to control your empire. These are as follows: (left to right) 'GAME' 'GAME CONTROL PANEL' 'ALLIANCE CONSTRUCTION' 'EMBARGO' 'SET TAXATION LEVELS' 'TREASURY MENU' 'POLITICS MENU' 'SUBORDINATE DISPLAY' 'MILITARY MENU' 'CREATE ARK SHIP' 'REPORTS' 'CLIPBOARD' 'NEWS' 'GAME TURN' 'MAP' (far right) It is recommended that you first read the sections overview to learn how the user interface works, and then run through the quick-start section to get a feel for the game. Page:6 THE USER INTERFACE This section will teach you how the Imperium user interface works. Once you learn how the interface works, you can apply the same techniques to different parts of the game. For example, a button in the Alliance Construction window will work in the same way as a button in the Embargo window. Anatomy of a window ------------------- A window is a self-contained entity that appears on the screen. It has a title bar, contains a variety of items, and can be moved, collapsed, and closed. A menu is a special kind of window that only contains a list of items to select. You can open several window on screen at once and arrange them around the work area to suit your needs. Occasionally if you try to open too many windows, the program will stop you and ask you to close some. If this happens, close the warning window, then close any windows that you are not using and carry on. o Opening a Window: Open the Alliance Construction window by clicking on the ALLIANCE CONSTRUCTION icon. o Moving the window: Move the pointer over the blank title bar, press and hold down the left mouse button. The window will turn into a frame. Move the mouse to re-position the window and release the left mouse button when the window is in the desired position. Page: 7 o Collapsing the window: Collapse the window down to just its title bar by clicking on the collapse box. Expand the window to its original size by pressing the collapse box again. o Closing the window: Close a window by clicking in its close box or, if available, by pressing the button labelled CLOSE. All windows associated with a particular icon can be closed by pressing that icon again to "pop" it out. o Moving a window to the front: Click on any part of a window to bring it to the front of all overlapping windows. Inside windows you will find the following things: -------------------------------------------------- Buttons: These act just like the icons at the top of the screen. When you press them they either: bring up a list for you to make a choice from; perform an immediate direct action or act as on/off switches. Switches fall into two types; radio buttons which become blank when selected and tick boxes which show a tick when selected. Various icons are repeated throughout the game to signify a particular function. For instance, the EMPIRES icon always bring up a list of empires. Here are the most common buttons: EMPIRE PLANET FLEET SUBORDINATE COMMODITIES AWARDS APPOINTMENTS Data Fields: These are dark grey boxes, which are automatically updated by the computer. Text Fields: These are white boxes which can be typed into. Click on the white box to type into it and if necessary use the DEL key to change the entry. Press RETURN, ENTER or the right mouse button to return to the arrow cursor. +------------------------------------------+ ! DURATION ! 150 ! <- text field ! ! STATUS ! Offered by you ! <----!-- Computer filled data field +------------------------------------------+ Page: 7 Scrolling lists: The planet list produced by the PLANETS icon is an example of a scrolling list. If there are more items in the list than there is space to display them all, then the list will display up and down arrows that will let you page through the list to find the item you are looking for. Press on the up arrow to page up and the down arrow to page down through the list. If you type in the first three letters of the name you are searching for, the name will move to the top of the list automatically. For example, to bring the planet SMOYAS to the top of the list, type SMO. To reset the search, press ESC. Sliders: Press the SET TAXATION LEVELS icon to look at a slider. When the window appears, click on the EMPIRES icon to select an empire on which to set a taxation level. Select an empire on which to set a taxation level. Select an empire from the list that appears. You can now alter the sliders in one of two ways: either by clicking on the thumb (the small square with a dimple in the middle) and dragging it to the left or right, or by clicking directly on to the scale. The number in the data field to the right of the scale will change correspondingly. +--------------------------------------------------+ +---------+ ! * ! ! 80 ! ! * ! ! 23 ! ! * ! ! 22 ! ! * ! ! 27 ! +-----------------------^--------------------------+ +----^----+ ! ! Thumb: Click in this Number showing value area and hold to move slider selected Page: 9 QUICK START This section will show you how to make a few decisions and play one game turn. Use the Map ----------- Press the MAP icon to call up the Map screen. This shows all the solar systems in your galaxy. You can use it to get information about your empire, and spy on your enemies. The screen is divided into four sections. On the top left there are eight icons that allow you to manipulate the map, and get information from it. In the middle is a scrollable list, which starts off blank, but can be used to select different items on the map, like different empires or space fleets. On the top right are three text fields: Solar System, Planet and Item. The dark areas to the right of each of these titles display the currently selected Solar System, Planet and Item (if one is selected). An item is a planet of fleet, which you can send to the clipboard using the SEND ITEM TO CLIPBOARD button below the text fields. The clipboard is a feature of Imperium that lets you transfer information from the Map screen to the Main screen. When you start the game, the map is still. The flashing star is the solar system Phresys, and is the currently selected solar system (it is shown in the top right text field). It is also the solar system that contains Earth, the home planet of your empire. o You can use the icons to control the galactic map. Use the ROTATION ARROW icons to rotate the map. Clicking on one rotates the map in that direction until you click it again, or click the other direction icon. Click on the SOLAR SYSTEM icon. This will zoom in on the currently selected solar system to show you to the planets there. Page: 10 o You can rotate planets around their star using the two ROTATION ARROW icons, just as you can with the whole galaxy. o Click directly on the planets to see their names in the text field. Note that the yellow planet is the star and will not show up in the ITEM data field. Before you leave the solar system, click on the planet Earth in the three-dimensional display (the blue/white planet), and when you see EARTH appear in the ITEM data field, press the SEND ITEM TO CLIPBOARD button, so that you can look at it later. You can move back to the galactic map by pressing the Solar System icon again. o To leave the Map screen and go to the Main screen either press the RETURN TO MAIN SCREEN icon or press the right mouse button. A SAMPLE TURN You will now be on the Main screen. For this sample turn, you will get a report from an ambassador, another about planet Earth, give your home fleet some orders and activate the computer controlled economics and diplomatic adviser. Get Report from Ambassador -------------------------- To get the ambassadors report: o Press the NEWS icon. This will bring up the news control menu. This menu has two items on it NEWS CONTROL and NEWS REPORT. o Press the NEWS REPORT button. This brings the News Report itself. You will use this to find out what happens in the game, and to get reports from your subordinates. When there are too many reports to fit on the screen, scroll through the items by using the up/down arrows above and below the list. o Select the item that says 2020 AMBASSADOR. It will turn black when selected. o Select the GET REPORT button to see the news item you just selected. A News Details report will appear at the bottom of the screen, and a tune will be played. Click a mouse button to stop the music. When you have read the report, selected the CLOSE Page: 11 button. o The window will disappear, revealing the News Report window underneath it. Once you have read a report you can delete it by clicking the DELETE button. Do this now, while the report you just read is still selected. DELETE ALL deletes every item on the list, regardless of whether you have read the items or now. Use with care as this is irreversible! Close the News Report window by clicking on the CLOSE button and close the News Control menu by clicking on its close box. Get Report on Earth ------------------- Press the CLIPBOARD icon at the top of the screen. This will open the Clipboard window which looks similar to the News window, and the buttons REPORT, CLOSE, DELETE, and DELETE ALL work in the same way, as does the window's close box. The ORDERS button will be used later to give orders to a space fleet. o Select EARTH from the list, and press the REPORT button on the right. This will bring up a comprehensive report on Earth showing various statistics. Wealth, Population, and Stability are the most immediately important factors. Technology Level and Material Infrastructure are almost as important in the long term, and the other information is used to complete the picture and to help make specific decisions, such as whether to colonize or decolonize the planet. Note: the leader on Earth is Amarillus. He is the leader of the empire, in other words YOU. o Click on the CLIPBOARD icon to "pop" it out and close all of the clipboard windows in one go. Give Fleet Orders ----------------- You will now be able to use the clipboard to give orders to a fleet, but first you need to bring up a Fleet Report. o Press the MILITARY icon. This will present the military menu. Select the button marked FLEET REPORT. When you see the Fleet Page: 11 Report, it is blank, because no fleet has been selected. To select a fleet click on the FLEET icon. This will bring up a menu of all the existing fleets - at this time only the HOME FLEET exists, so select that. This will then fill in the report with information on the home fleet, including its leader, and the number of ships in it - none at the moment. You add ships to a fleet using the ship transfer icons. The pool is your stock of ships awaiting assignments at the currently selected location, which in this case is Earth. You start the game with two scouts in Earth orbit (in the pool). o Select the POOL TO FLEET icon. This icon brings up a menu of the ships in the pool. Click on both SCOUT 0 and SCOUT 1 - they will both turn black, indicating that they are selected. Then click on the OK button on the Fleet Report, this is to say that you want to make these changes. (If you don't want to confirm something in the game, just close a window without pressing OK). The Fleet Report shows that the two ships have been transferred by updating the STRENGTH, DEFENCE, and NUMBER OF SHIPS text fields. Click on the POOL TO FLEET icon again to remove the Select Ship menu. For the time being ignore the troop transfer section of the report, and CLOSE the Fleet Report window. o Press the GIVE FLEET ORDERS item on the military menu. (You may need to move the windows around so that they are all in view.) When the Fleet Orders window appears, click on the FLEET icon and select HOME FLEET from the menu that appears. The orders list on the left contains the five blank steps of an orders sequence. For example, it allows you to program your fleets to first fly somewhere, then wait five years, then fly elsewhere and invade a planet. In this instance you will just order the fleet to fly to Mars. o To input the first order, select the top space on the order list. Press the MOVE TO order button so that MOVE TO appears in the order list. Select the PLANETS icon to bring up a list of destination planets. Select MARS. Now that everything is set, click on OK to confirm your selections and CLOSE the window. Finally put away the Military menu either by closing it, or by clicking on the Military icon at the top of the screen. Page: 13 SET TAXATION AND DIPLOMACY TO AUTOMATIC Before you finish this turn, you must give economic orders, and diplomatic instructions to your ambassadors, because each of these helps to improve your empire's wealth and stability. In order to make things easy, the game provides intelligent computer controlled advisers to run parts of the empire for you and for this you can invoke them to help you. o Press the GAME CONTROL PANEL icon. When the window appears, select the DIPLOMACY and ECONOMICS tick boxes. When you do this a little tick mark will appear to tell you that this particular area of the game is now subordinated. Later you can take back control by unchecking these tick boxes. Press OK to confirm the changes, and CLOSE the window. Next Turn --------- Now that everything is set for your first turn: o Press the NEXT TURN icon. The Game Turn window will appear containing a text field for you to enter the length of turn and another showing the date. Press the button marked NEXT TURN to move on one year. All the orders you made for the selected period will be put into action. On your first game turn you will have to enter some confidential data to validate your access at this stage and before your next turn can commence. The computer will spend a few moments updating all the data and recording all the changes that have taken place (no small task with over 100 planets, and several other empires to manage). When the game turn is over, the news report will automatically appear, and show some of the events that happened in that turn. To view these events, click on the relevant report and then select the GET REPORT button. Once you have read the report, CLOSE the News Details window and repeat the process for the remaining reports in the list. For the first turn this will usually consist of all your ambassadors reporting information about other empires. At this point you may like to investigate the windows to see what effect the above actions have had on your money supplies, fleet location and commodity levels. Page: 14 WHERE NOW? You have completed your first turn of Imperium. What next? You should read through the next section, Intelligence Report (by Emperor Colinus + 2019), which will go through the various vital concepts in the game, such as what a full Game Turn actually consists of. Basic strategies for continuing the game are as follows: o You will need to build up your monetary supplies, since this will affect all other areas of the game. To do this you will need to assess your economic strategy. Experiment with alliances and set your taxation levels. The Historical Wealth chart under the Treasury Menu is a good indication of how well you are doing. o Subsidise planets (using the Imperial treasury) under your control in order to maximize their productivity. Productivity is measured by the various planets' Technology Levels, Material Infrastructures and Planetary Defences, which will all need to be increased in the long term. Look at the Planetary Report to view these levels. o Set up Embargoes to protect commodities vital to your empire. Running out of these will affect your popularity and production capacity. Check your Imperial commodity levels in the Treasury menu to monitor your progress. o Building troops will enhance your military powers, and protect planets under your control. Troops are vital when invading enemy empires. The size of garrisons can be checked on the Planetary Report. o Build ships and create fleets in order to claim planets. Take over control of planets to increase your commodity levels. Controlling planets to increase your commodity levels. Controlling planets with Nostrum, the life preserving drug, is vital to your survival. In order to colonize a planet and make it productive you will need to send an Ark Ship to increase the population. You can find all relevant information on any of the above in the Reference section. We wish you happy colonizing! Page: 15 ================================================================= INTELLIGENCE REPORT Filed by Emperor Colinus Just before his demise in the year 2019 ================================================================ Page: 16 PLANETS, SOLAR SYSTEMS AND THE GALAXY The galaxy contains a number of stars, each forming the centre of a solar system. Each solar system contains from one to five planets each capable of supporting life. The level of habitability of each planet is affected by its star's type, its distance from the start, the planetary type and its atmosphere. EMPIRES An empire is the overriding political, military and economic force that holds any number of planets together. The planetary leader of the home world is responsible for both that planet and the empire as a whole. Within the game there are two types of eco-political unit; the planet and the empire. The empire is a body that is treated separately to its planets. For example, there are planetary and Imperial treasuries. TREASURIES The concept of the Imperial treasury and planetary treasury is the key to understanding the way the economics of the game work. A planet's treasury is the total amount of money the planet has in its 'Bank' and the planet cannot go overdrawn. Unlike a planetary treasury, the Imperial treasury can go overdrawn, attracting interest, which is shown as an increasingly large negative value. Some areas will affect the amount of money in the Imperial treasury to a greater extent than others. For example, ship building and Imperial subsidies require a lot of capital expenditure. THE GAME TURN A game turn consists of manipulating six areas which should be played in the following order: 1 Imperial Finance For example, paying interest on overdrafts. Page: 17 2 Main Economics For example, resolving trade between planets and empires. 3 Main Diplomacy For example, offering and responding to alliances. 4 Main Military For example, conflict resolution. 5 Population For example, lowering the stability factor and adjusting the population growth. 6 Effects For example, subsidising planets, shipbuilding, sending Ark Ships and constructing antenna. The order in which issues are resolved can be important in certain situations in the game. For example, Economics problems should be resolved before Military problems, so planet defences are increased through trade before a fleet invades in a given year. DEFINITION OF UNITS Money 1 unit = 100,000 Imperial Zongs (credits) Population 1 unit = 100,000 people Tonnage 1 unit = 100 tonnes TRADE AND ECONOMICS Page: 18 A planet produces, trades and has a demand for twenty different commodities. Planets trade with one another within their empires, then with planets from other empires. Excess stock will be sold to the merchant fleet. The merchant fleet are a mysterious impromptu band of interstellar traders, who will purchase commodities from planets that have a surplus. A surplus in a commodity is defined as any quantity between 200 to 250 depending on the type of planet. A planet that needs to buy commodities from outside its empire will look at a number of factors before selecting a planet to purchase from. It will look at the distance between itself and other planets and consider the price of the commodity, the level of taxation between the planets and the diplomatic situation between the empires governing them. A planet will not be able to trade if it is blockaded or in a state of war. A planet will trade to a minimum commodity level of 10, thus allowing itself a degree of margin on its own supply and demand. It will not let itself get into an out of stock situation, thus a planet will never trade to a negative commodity level. PRODUCTION, THE PRINCIPLES Every planet is assumed to produce the correct level of commodities to satisfy the needs of its current population. A planet produces commodities to support up to a maximum population level of 25,000 units. Above this level, the demand for commodities is greater than the planet can produce under normal circumstances. There are various factors that will affect the productivity of a planet. These are the type of atmosphere it has, the type of planet, the star that it is orbiting, and the planet's distance from the star. Page: 19 Two other factors affect productivity: -------------------------------------- Material Infrastructure A high level of material infrastructure will assist a planet's productivity as it covers services such as road and rail networks education, hospitals and health care - the physical backbone of the planet. Stability A low stability factor will assist a planet's productivity as it represents the attitude and political state of the population. An example of a producive planet would be an agricultural one with a nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere in the 5th orbit around a G7 star having a high material infrastructure and low stability factor. Distortion A report on another empire or planet, that is not part of your empire will contain a degree of distortion. The level of distortion reflects the amount of error existing in the figures displayed. For instance a report that has 100% distortion is effectively useless, whilst a report showing 10% distortion is close enough to the truth to be valuable. Distortion is determined by whether or not the target falls within the catchment area of an antenna. If the planet is within the antenna catchment, then the distortion is 0%, outside of the maximum range the distortion increases with distance. If two empires have an information alliance, they both have a 0% distortion level for planets within the two empires and also share antenna catchment areas. If a fleet is within a solar system, then all of its planets will have 0% distortion as long as that fleet remains in the system. Combat There are four types of combat occurring in the game: o Deep Space o Solar System o Planetary Bombardment o Ground Assault All these combat situations can arise with more than one opponent at a time. For example, three empires could be fighting for possession of one planet. Combat is resolved by comparing the strengths of each side and applying casualties to the forces involved until one side withdraws or is defeated. Deep Space or Opportunity Fire This occurs when different empires' fleets travel near enough to one another to allow them to engage in combat. The damage done by the fleets is inversely proportional to the distance between them. Fleets of different empires will always take the opportunity to fire at each other even if they are in an alliance. (This type of combat will not affect the alliance state between them). Deep space combat is not very common, because space is so immense and fleets tend not to pass close to each other. Solar System Combat This occurs when unfriendly fleets are in the same solar system. The damage inflicted is not affected by distance, as the fleets are close together. Solar system combat is resolved as follows: o The strengths of the opposing forces are calculated, this is equal to the total of each fleets' strength. o Tactics are chosen by each side. Each Fleet Commander selects a tactic for his side. This tactic applies to solar system combat and to any invasion that may follow: The Fleet Commander's competence and charisma influences the outcome of the conflict by the tactics he chooses. o The tactics are compared and the fleet strength modified according to each tactic's suitability. o The modified strengths are then compared and damage is inflicted. Page: 21 Planetary Bombardment --------------------- Before an invasion fleet can deploy troops onto the planet surface, all of the planet's defences must be completely defeated. The invasion fleet must fight the defence force until it is destroyed. If there are other planets belonging to the empire within the same solar system, these other planets add 20% of their defence strength to the planet under attack. The other planets are not damaged in this combat. Planetary bombardment is resolved as follows: o The strengths of the combatants, the strength of the fleet and the planet's defences are calculated. o The invasion tactics are chosen, if they have not previously been selected in solar system combat they are selected now. The Fleet Commander's competence and charisma influences the outcome of the conflict. o If the invasion planet falls within the antenna range of your empire then there is a 10% bonus added to your strength. This bonus is because you have the advantage of knowing the lay of the land and the defence positions. o If there is an alliance between your empire and the empire you are attacking then you get a 10% strength bonus for surprise and suddenness of the attack. o The total strengths are then compared and damage is inflicted. Ground Assault This can only occur after the invasion fleet has destroyed all the planet's defences through bombardment. At this point, the fleet automatically deploys its troops onto the planet to do battle. The main attacking force of the fleet is its drop troops as they can attack at full efficiency during the turn in which they invade. Infantry and armoured troops have Page: 22 their efficiency halved in the turn the invasion starts, because they are less suited to this operation than drop troops. After the first year of the battle, the infantry and armoured units are at full efficiency and drop troops fight at the same level as the infantry. Ground assault combat is supported through the use of indirect fire from the fleet in orbit around the planet, 50% of the fleet's weapon strength can be brought to bear as indirect fire. Ships in the fleet cannot take damage while providing indirect fire. The planet's defending forces receive aid from the planet militia - a weak force that is called upon to defend a planet against invasion. A militia force of 1% of the population can be mobilized at the start of a conflict, at a starting efficiency of 25% + 0.1% per unit of militia arms on that planet. EFFICIENCY Efficiency is the percentage of the troops that are ready for combat and able to fight. The efficiency of troops is used to calculate the strength they contribute to the battle. As a battle progresses, the efficiency level will fall, as troops become disorganized, tired and run out of supplies. To represent this, the efficiency of each troop type is reduced by 5% per year that the conflict lasts. A troop's efficiency cannot fall to below 20%. In peace-time, the efficiency of a troop type is slowly increased until it reaches its maximum. COMBAT STRATEGIES AND EFFECTS During Ground Assault Combat: o The strength of each opposing force is calculated. o The effect of the selected tactics is applied - the same tactics that were chosen for the invasion apply to ground combat. o The total strength of each force is compared and the damage applied. Effects of Ground Assault Combat: o Production on the planet is halved. o The planet is blockaded and there can be no trade with that planet. o The Moral Infrastructure is reduced by 5 for each year the conflict lasts. o The stability factor is increased by 10 for each year the conflict last which causes instability. o The planet's defences cannot be rebuilt while there is combat on that planet. o The population is reduced according to the number of troops involved in the conflict. Ground Assault Combat Results ----------------------------- When two forces engage in battle the strength totals are added together and then compared to give a ratio. The ratio determines the amount of damage that each side takes in the battle. The strengths of each side are calculated by multiplying the number of troops by their current efficiency rating. The attacking force adds the indirect fire to the total strength. If the forces have a 10-1 difference then the larger side will totally destroy the smaller suffering only slight damage themselves. If the forces have a ratio of 5-1 then the large side will win taking only light casualties. At ratios below 5-1, the larger side will take more substantial damage in defeating their opponents. Damage to Fleets ---------------- The total damage inflicted on a fleet is not all targeted at one ship, but is spread throughout the fleet. A part of the total damage is allocated to each of the ships in the fleet. If the damage inflicted to an individual ship is greater than its current armour level the ship is destroyed. If it less than the current armour total then the damage done is subtracted from the armour level. Page: 24 If a ship is destroyed, the total carrying capacity of the fleet is reduced, if the current troop level is greater than the new carrying capacity of the fleet then the excess troops are lost. Tactics ------- When a fleet engages in either solar system combat or planetary invasion, the commanders of the fleets and/or the planet leader select a general tactic that the fleet will take. The leader will select a tactic based upon a combination of their competence and their charisma: the better their qualities are, the stronger their decision-making skills will be. By selecting good tactics, a leader can turn a battle in your favor. The tactics selected for planet invasion also apply to ground assault. There are five basic forms of tactic that a leader can select; Sweep, Patrol, Assault, Blocking and Envelopment. The tactics are compared and the modifiers are applied to each side's strength to get a result. Read the left column against the top row to get the resultant modification for each combination of maneuvers. Page: 25 Blockades --------- A planet with an enemy in its orbit is termed as "under blockade". A blockaded planet cannot trade with any other planets and can not receive ark ships; it is isolated for the period of the blockade. Planets can free themselves by removing the fleets in their orbit, which can be achieved in a number of ways. For instance, the enemy fleet is automatically exposed to fire from the blockaded planet's defences, although only a portion of the defences can be brought to bear on the fleet. If the enemy fleet is only small, the planetary defences may be able to destroy it or force the enemy fleet to withdraw by damaging it. A blockade can also be removed if a friendly fleet can be in to destroy the enemy fleet or force it to withdraw. REPORT END Page: 26 ============================================================= REFERENCE SECTION ============================================================= Introduction This section itemizes all of the procedures which you will need to implement during your reign. It assumes that you have worked your way through the Tutorial section. (If you have not done this, you are advised to go back and refer to it now before continuing). You should use this section as a reference, not as compulsory reading. You will find a chapter for each of the menu bar titles. Each chapter has separate headings for all items listed. These give the function and purpose of each of the items, together with any procedures that you should be aware of. You will also find hints and examples (in italics), which will help deepen your knowledge of the points covered. Page: 27 IMPERIUM CONFIGURATION This window appears each time you start a new game and governs the settings for the entire game session. You can use this menu to enter your character's name in this game and also to give a name to your empire. Note: changing names is purely optional. The difficulty level of the game is also determined using this menu. To change the name of your character and empire o Select the name field o Delete the current name by backspacing through it. o Type your new name o Press RETURN of the right mouse button to enter the new name o Select the empire name field o Delete the current name by backspacing through it o Type your new empire name o Press RETURN or the right mouse button to enter the new name. Difficulty Levels ----------------- A low settings will mean that the game is easier to play than at a high setting. The various categories are as follows: -------------------------------------- Wealth Starting size of the Alien empires' treasuries. Technology Starting level of the Alien empires' technology level. Army Size Starting size of the Alien planetary garrisons and the number of ships in the alien fleets. The size of the these ships is defined by the starting technology level for the empire. Empire Size The number of planets in the Alien empires. To change the difficulty level of the game ------------------------------------------ o Move the slides to the desired levels to set the starting configuration for this game o Press OK to confirm these settings Press: 27 GAME Click on the GAME icon to reveal the following items. About Game ---------- This gives information on the people involved in the creation of Imperium. Rename ------ You can give new names to planets, empires, solar systems or subordinates. To rename a subject: o Select the type of subject to rename (i.e.: planet) o Select the subject icon that appears in the Rename window (i.e.: the SUBORDINATE icon.) o Select the item to rename from the list o Select the text field o Delete the name and enter a new one o Click on OK to complete the selection and CLOSE the window. Load/Save --------- Refer to the Reference Card for details on loading and saving games. Quit Game --------- This exits from the game and starts a new game. You will be asked to confirm this action by clicking either YES or NO. Page: 29 GAME CONTROL PANEL Click on the GAME CONTROL icon to reveal the following categories. Game Sound ---------- Select the tick box to switch the news report tunes on or off Subordinate ----------- Selecting the box (tick will appear) next to a subordinate (a computer-controlled adviser) gives that subordinate complete authority to make decisions on your behalf. To select a subordinate controlled area: o Select the tick box for the area that you wish to subordinate. o Click OK and then CLOSE the window Computer control can be delegated to the following area: Military -------- The military subordinate controls all the elements of shipbuilding, troop movement and fleet control. Diplomacy --------- The diplomacy subordinate negotiates with other empires. He will also deal with alliance offers from the other empires. Economics --------- The economics subordinate deals with setting taxes, overproduction, Imperial subsidies and transferring wealth. He also manages the construction of antenna and building and sending ark ships. If you have all of the subordinates switches on, they will deal with most of the elements of the game. You will need to deal with subordinate control and politics. As a position becomes available a subordinate is Page: 30 automatically brought from the pool of subordinates and allocated to the position without reference to their abilities. You should always go back and manually select and appropriate subordinate for these positions. (see the section on subordinates for more details.) ALLIANCE CONSTRUCTION The Alliance Construction window has two functions: firstly the receipt of alliance offers and secondly creating and offering new alliances. You will need to exercise your diplomatic skills in building alliances. Click on the ALLIANCE CONSTRUCTION icon to open the window. To create a new alliance: o Select the WITH EMPIRE icon o Select the empire you want the alliance with, from the list that appears. o Enter either the amount of money to be paid by you, or to be received by you in the appropriate text entry box. This is a yearly payment that will continue until the alliance ends. o Select the type of alliance that you wish to offer (ie: information, defensive of offensive, by clicking in the radio buttons adjacent and if it is offensive; enter in enter in the percentage terms of the trade barrier if you wish to apply this sanction. o Selecting an offensive alliance means that you have to select an empire that you and the allied empire are to be united against. To do this select the AGAINST EMPIRE icon, and choose the empire from the list that appears. Page: 31 o Enter the duration of the alliance in the text entry box (in years) o When you have an alliance proposal you are happy with, select the OFFER button to send the message through to the relevant Ambassadors. The following year the empire will respond to your offer. To respond to an alliance offer from an empire: o Select the WITH EMPIRE icon o Select the empire the offer has come from, from the list that appears o Look at the offer and decide whether to accept or reject it. Then select the ACCEPT or REJECT button accordingly. o If you wish to modify the offer then follow the instructions to create a new alliance (overleaf). To offer a new alliance to an empire with whom you already accepted an alliance: o Select the WITH EMPIRE icon o Select the empire to view the current alliance o Change the alliance to the new conditions you wish to offer and OFFER it. If the new alliance offer is not accepted then the old one will not be affected. When you are offered an alliance it can only be accepted the year in which it is offered. After that time the offer is withdrawn, but any previous alliances still stand. Types of Alliance Available Trade Barrier ----------------------------------------- A trade barrier sets the allied empires' export tax rate against another empire. (See Set Taxations Levels) Setting a high export tax rate allows you to restrict the trade flow between empires. For instance the Throygon and Droygon Empires ally against the Kroygon empire setting an 80% Trade barrier. Page: 32 This will make it very expensive for the Kroygon empire to trade with Throygon or Droygon. Economic Treaty --------------- This sets the tax rates between allied empires. It has the same effect as altering the tax rates under Set Taxation Levels. Defensive --------- A defensive alliance affects the expansion policies of the allied empire. When that empire selects planets to invade, a defensive alliance will sway their choice away from your planets. Offensive --------- An offensive alliance is agreed between two empires, against another. When the allied empire is selecting planets to invade, an offensive alliance will sway their choice towards the empire you are allied against. The percentage terms you enter into the trade barrier will be applied to the empire which the offensive alliance is made against. (Although this percentage can be zero (i.e.: no trade barrier)) Page: 33 Information ----------- An information alliance is formed to allow the free trade of information between the two empires. The distortion factors are reduced to 0% on all allied empire reports. Your empire has access to the allied empire's antenna and the extra information that these provide. An alliance is broken if either party takes military action other than 'opportunity fire' against the other party. All benefits will be lost, and the relationship between the two empires will also be affected. Page: 34 EMBARGO An embargo is a trade and commerce barrier, that can be set against other empires to restrict the movement of certain commodities. Click on the EMBARGO icon to open the window. To create an embargo: o Select the NEW to create a new Unnamed embargo o Select the EMPIRE icon and select the empire of ALL EMPIRES for the embargo to affect o Select the COMMODITIES icon and select the commodities that you wish to select ALL COMMODITIES or or just some of them. o Click on OK when you are happy with the details of the embargo o Select the COMMAND icon and select SHOW DETAILS, this displays the specific details of the embargo. CLOSE the Embargo Details window. o Select RENAME EMBARGO from the commands list, select the text field and backspace through Unnamed (or the current name) and type in the new name for the embargo. o Click on OK and CLOSE the Embargo window when you are satisfied with the embargo o Click on the EMBARGO icon at the top of the screen to close all the Embargo sub-windows An embargo will stop the trade of specific commodities with specified empires. An embargoed commodity will not be sold to the selected empire, although it will be purchased from them if required. Page: 35 SET TAXATION LEVELS You can set an import and export tax level with each empire in the galaxy. The tax rates apply to all of your empire's planets. Click on the SET TAXATION LEVEL icon to open the window To set new taxation levels: o Select the EMPIRE icon o Select an empire from the list that appears o Set each slider to represent the level of tax required for imports and exports o Click OK before continuing Import Tax: Is the level of tax that your planets have to pay to your Imperial treasury when they buy commodities from an alien empire. You can set a negative tax (a subsidy), in which case your Imperial treasury will pay your planets a subsidy when they buy commodities from an alien empire. For example:- If Earth bough commodities at a cost of 100 from an alien empire and you had set an import tax of -15%, then the Earth would pay 100 to the selling alien planet from Earth's own planetary treasury. Additionally, Earth's planetary treasury would be paid 15 from your Imperial Treasury. Page: 36 Export Tax: Is the level of tax that an alien Imperial treasury pays to your Imperial treasury when one of your planets exports good to one of that Alien empire's planets. Again, you can set a negative tax rate in which case your Imperial treasury will pay the alien Imperial treasury when one of your planets exports good to one of that Alien empire's planets. For example:- If Earth sells commodities at a cost of 100 to an alien empire and you had set an Export tax of -15%, then Earth's planetary treasury would receive 100 from the selling alien planet. Additionally, your Imperial treasury would pay 15 to the alien Imperial Treasury. Both Import and Export taxes can be used to either stimulate or to restrict trade between empires, but the Import tax only has the effect of moving money between your Empire's planets and the Imperial treasury. Export tax transfers money between the different Empire's Imperial treasuries. TREASURY MENU This covers general finance, including commodities and commodity control. Click on the TREASURY MENU icon to open the window. Transfer Wealth --------------- Transfer wealth allows you to make an immediate cash transfer between your empire's planets and the Imperial treasury, or vice versa. Page: 37 To transfer cash: o Select the PLANET icon and select the planet you wish to transfer cash to or from. o Enter the amount to transfer in the text field. o Select either TO PLANET or FROM PLANET button, to transfer the cash between the planet and the Imperial treasury. o Select the BALANCE button to even out the planet treasury levels of all of your planets. Historical Wealth ----------------- This displays your total wealth, which consists of the combined wealth of all your planets' treasuries and Imperial treasury. The total for the previous four years is also displayed. Historical Price Index ---------------------- This shows the historic price index for your empire. The actual values are not given, but general trends can be seen from the bar charts. The price index is an average of the percentage change in commodity prices between this year and last. Imperial Commodity Levels ------------------------- This displays the cumulative total of your empire's commodities. Only this year's commodity levels are shown - no historical information is stored. Page: 38 Each planet can only hold a maximum commodity level of between 150 to 250 depending on commodity and planet. At levels above this, the surplus is traded to the Merchant fleet at current market prices. The Imperial commodity level of a specific commodity represents the total of all your planets' current levels. So with six well stocked planets (each planet has an average of 200 units), the Imperial commodity level will be around 1,200 units, and yet for ten poorly stocked planets (each planet has an average of 100 units) the commodity level will be around 1,000 units. If the Imperial commodity level is negative, this means there is a shortage of this commodity. It also means that the shortfall has not been met through trade. If the commodity level is zero it means that the shortfall has been met through trade and the demand satisfied. A surplus will not be created through trade, only demand will be satisfied. Imperial Production ------------------- You can use an Imperial directive to alter the balance of commodity production levels. To set the Imperial production levels: o Set the four sliders to the balance of production required. (Up to plus or minus 10%) o Use ZERO to reset all the sliders to zero if needed o Click on OK and CLOSE the window Page: 39 Areas of Production are as follows: ----------------------------------- Consumer Items Consumer Goods Food Water Atmosphere Military Planetary Defences Militia Arms Space Ship equipment Personnel Heavy Arms Technology Rare Earth Elements Information Communications Equipment Computers Robots Industrial Building Equipment Heavy Plant Power Supplies Raw Materials Material Infrastructure Page:40 Imperial Subsidy: ----------------- This is an Imperial budgeting system allowing you to allocate cash to support specific planets. Making payments to a planet over a period of time allows you to slowly increase the levels of technology, material infrastructure and planetary defences. There is a limit of 100 units of cash to be spent on technology and 10,000 credits on material infrastructure and planetary defences. To set an Imperial subsidy: o Select the planet icon o Select the planet you wish to subsidise. o Enter into each text field the yearly payment for Technology Level, Material Infrastructure and Planetary Defences. o Enter the DURATION for which this subsidy will last. The number of years the subsidy has left will be reduced annually until it reaches zero, at which point the subsidy has finished. o Click on OK and CLOSE the window. Spending on the technology level will affect it slowly. Material Infrastructure and planetary defences are commodities that can and will be traded with other planets through normal trading. Material infrastructure is not bought on a linear pricing scale; as the level of infrastructure grows, the cost of maintaining and increasing it will rise at a greater rate. It is possible to alter a subsidy before its duration is finished. To do this click on the appropriate text field, alter the amount and then click on OK. Setting up subsidies for each of your planets allows you to research and build on the technology levels of the planets. It is not possible to increase the technology level, this can only be done through slow and constant spending. The material infrastructure and planet defences can be increased relatively quickly, but can be reduced just as rapidly through trade and war. Page:41 Imperial Volume of Trade: ------------------------- This displays the relative levels of trade between your empire and all other empires in the game. The difference in the level of imports and exports shows the balance of trade for your empire. If you are importing goods you know that your empire is not producing the correct quantity of commodities to satisfy its demand. If your empire is exporting goods then you know that there is a surplus of commodities and that the economy of your empire is healthy. P O L I T I C S Click on the Politics icon to open this window. The Politics menu offers the election options and population control. Politics, by its nature is a more tangible force in the galaxy, and is therefore a less controllable area of the game. Elections can be a major stumbling block to a planet leaders career, if his or her policies and leadership are not popular. ELECTION: --------- An election is a crucial event in the career of an Emperor. Every 50 years, the home planet leader's position comes up for re-election. It us possible to have an election before the 50 year period is up. This happens either through a vote of no confidence, or by the home planet leader calling an election when he/she feels that the time is right. Note: If you fail to win a full majority in the election, your game will end! The election window displays the years remaining to the next election and the current popularity of the planet leader. To call and election: o Select ELECTION from the menu. o Enter the amount of cash that you wish to spend on the roadshow and campaign, in the Election Campaign Fund Field. o Select CALL ELECTION to proceed to the Election day. o The votes are received planet by planet throughout the empire. Each canidate's percentage of the vote is displayed on the graph. o When the final votes are counted, the result is displayed in the Election Winner field. The game can only continue if your home planet leader is elected again. There are three possible results to an election. If the voting is in your favor and you receive more than 50% of the vote then the game continues. If one of the other subordinates wins votes of greater than 50% then they are voted the new planetary leader of your home planet and your game is over. If the vote splits without a clear majority then there is a hung vote, you no longer have control and your game is over. An election requires three candidates: planet leader of the home planet (YOU), a member of your cabinet who aspires to the position of planet leader of the home world and a member of the pool of subordinates. The opposition are chosen for their qualities and their lack of loyalty to you. The current planet leader has some advantages as he is judged on historical popularity, on his cabinet's abilities and on his own personal qualities. Election results and politics in general are strongly influenced by the media and promotional cash injections. Spending on the campaign fund allows the planet leader to gain the advantage of an extensive and expensive political road show to sway the voting public with ritz and glamour. The selection of your subordinates can be a vital factor at election time, if you have neglected your cabinet and your subordinates then at election time you could easily find yourself with some very promising opposing candidates. PAGE:43 Population Control: ------------------- You can modify the population growth rate by offering incentive programs to all planets within your empire. To set population growth: o Set the slider to the population control value required. (Up to plus or minus 10%). The figure you set is displayed next to the slider. o Click OK and CLOSE the window. Every planet has a basic population growth rate. This modified by the general posperity of that planet and by the population control value. If a planet has a strong growth rate, a negative population control value will lower the growth rate rather than decrease the population. Planets that have a very low level of population will ignore any negative directives and expand at the normal rate. Planets as a rule prefer to increase their native populations and the leaders's integrity will be affected if there is not a steady population growth. On the other hand the planet will soon over populate if left to expand over a period of years. This can cause a massive economic and political burden for the empire if it has to bolster a planet's flagging resources to support its swollen population. Sending an Ark Ship can be a solution to this problem. (See Create Ark Ship section on page 56.) Page 45: SUBORDINATE DISPLAY Click on the Subordinate icon to open the window. Subordinates are your eyes and ears in an extensive empire. You need to trust your subordinates to report any information available to them and to make decisions in your absence. Each subordinate has a level of competence, trustworthiness and charisma. These levels effect the subordinate's dealings with the tasks under their command. For instance, and Ambassador will need to have a good strong personality and high charisma to work effectively with other empires' diplomats and ambassadors. To keep each individual in your service and reliably under your influence it is necessary to pay them in cash, give them promotional awards and Nostrum - the life preserving drug. To Promote a Subordinate: o Select the Subordinate Names icon. o Select a subordinate from the list. o Select the Appointments icon. This lists the three appointment categories, select the one required. o A list will be displayed, select the planet, empire or fleet required. o If you wish to promote this subordinate then select the Awards icon. o Select either MILITARY or CIVILIAN awards and then select a specific award from the list. You can make awards to one person from both lists. o Select the MONEY text field and enter the yearly payment you wish to give them. o Select the NOSTRUM text field and enter their yearly allocation. See Nostrum in the Reports section for more details. o Click OK and CLOSE the window. For instance, Subordinate Octavius is selected to be the Ambassador with the Droygon empire. He is promoted to Legion Commander and awarded the position of Tribune. He is allocated 12 units of Nostrum per year and is paid 12 imperial zongs per a year. Subordinate's characteristics do change with time and careful promotion. So someone disloyal can be shown that loyalty is well rewarded. Awards and promotions are a way to lead a subordinate in the right direction, as well as reward those who perform well. You must have a subordinate as planet leader on each of your planets. You must also have a fleet commander for each fleet that you have and an ambassador for each other empire in the game. When you conquer a new planet, you will always need a planet leader to rule over that planet. There will be an automatic selection of planet leader to rule over that planet. There will be an automatic selection of planet leader as you conquer a planet, although the leader will not be chosen for his qualities. (See subordinate control page 29) There is also automatic selection of an Ambassador when a new empire is formed. Fleet commanders have a great influence on the fleets and troops that they command. A competent and charismatic leader will inspire his forces to do well, with both personal appeal and leadership, but also with wise and skillful decision making. The planet leader can affect the defence of his planet when it comes under attack, again a charismatic and competent leader will be an advantage. Slow progress over a period of time will have a better effect on the subordinate than a short and rapid rise to fame. A percentage increase over time is more important than an instant rush of riches, however in desperate situations a subordinate may respond well to a heavy handed promotion. You would be well advised to choose the subordinates that you want as planet leaders and Ambassadors after the automatic selection is done. Page 46: MILITARY MENU Click on the Military Menu icon to open the window. The Military Menu covers all aspects of ship, troop and fleet construction as well as their deployment and usage. Ships are built on a deployment planet, and once constructed, they join the pool of ships on that planet awaiting inclusion into a fleet. Troops are created on the planet in a similar way to ships, except that they join the garrison on that planet until they are transferred to a fleet. If a planet is under attack the garrison will count towards the defence of that planet, however the ships in the pool will not. There are a number of restrictions that apply to the military aspects of the empire. o There can only be one shipbuilding order processed by your empire at any one time. o There can only be a certain number of troops recruited at a planet in a given year, but there is no limit to the number of troops recruited throughout the empire. o Up to TEN fleets can be controlled by each empire. o Up to EIGHTY ships can be built and controlled by each empire. Select Deployment Planet: ------------------------- All construction must be completed on the deployment planet. The default deployment planet is your home Planet. To Select a Deployment Planet: o Select the Planet Icon. o Select a new deployment planet from the list. o Click on OK and CLOSE the window. Create Spaceship Class: ----------------------- Ships can be built to any specification, however certain constraints are placed by the average technology level of your planets. This affects the maximum tonnage your ship can have (See Below). You can create a maximum of twenty different classes of ship. Use your allocation wisely. Once created, you can then build that class of ship without having to specify the size and weight of its components. At the start of the game, only the SCOUT class is defined. When building ships, you will need to create and name all other classes. If you have a Military Adviser, he will automatically create and name the other classes. ______________________________________________________________ |Gross Weight | Description | Base Defence | Min. Tech. Level| |-------------|-------------|--------------|-----------------| | 1-100 | Scout | 1 | 5 | | 101-200 | Patrol Boat | 2 | 15 | | 201-300 | Corvette | 3 | 20 | | 301-400 | Frigate | 8 | 40 | | 401-500 | Heavy Frigat| 10 | 50 | | 501-600 | Destroyer | 20 | 60 | | 601-700 | Cruiser | 30 | 70 | | 701-800 | Heavy Cruise| 50 | 100 | | 801-900 | Battle Cruis| 80 | 120 | | 901+ | Dreadnought | 100 | 200 | |_____________|_____________|______________|_________________| Table of Ship Class used by the Military Advisor. Each ship will have a base defence rating which is rated by its tonnage. This is used with the weight of armor to calculate the defence of the ship. Defence is equal to the base defence of the ships plus one unit of defence for each ten units of armor. The strength of a ship is calculated at one point per ten units of weapons. The speed of a ship is calculated by the percentage of the engine weight compared to the gross weight divided by ten. Page 48: For instance a 300 unit weight ship that has 100 units of weapons, 50 units of armor and 100 units of engine requires a minimum average technology level of 20 and will have : 100/10 = 10 units of strength (50/10)+3 = 8 Units of defence ([100/300] x 100) / 10 = 3 units of speed (3.3 rounded down) To create a spaceship design: o Select the CREATE SPACESHIP CLASS button. o Select the name field, delete the current class name by backspacing though it and enter the name of this class of ship. o Set the slider to the Gross Weight that you require. o Set the slider to show the level of Weaponry that you require. o Set the slider to show the level of Armor that you require. o Set the slider to show the level of Engines that you require. o Click on OK and CLOSE the window. After setting the gross weight, the ranges of the three other areas of the ship design are set within the limits of the gross weight. The sliders show the balance of components. The data fields on the right side display the actual value of the components. The cost and any unused weight is displayed at the bottom of the window. Create Fleet: ------------- A fleet is a military or tactical unit consisting of a single ship or group of ships. It has a starting deployment planet from which you can transfer troops to and from the garrison, and ships to and from the planet's pool. A fleet can also be used to transfer troops and ships to and from their current location. To Create a fleet: o Select the CREATE FLEET button. o Select the name field, delete Unnamed by backspacing through it and enter a new fleet name. o Select GET LEADER: this will bring up the subordinate window. o Select the subordinate that you want to command the fleet. (See Subordinate display for more information). o Select FLEET COMMANDER as his appointment. o Select UNNAMED fleet. The fleet that is currently being created will always be called unnamed so that you can find it on the list. Until you have OK'd the Create Fleet window the fleet is unnamed. o OK the subordinate window and CLOSE it. o Select the GET DEPLOYMENT PLANET button if you wish to change the fleet's deployment planet. (See Select Deployment Planet on Page 46) o Click on OK. The fleet will be added to the pool and a new Unnamed fleet will appear in the text box enabling you to create another new fleet. o CLOSE the Create Fleet window. Page 50: Create Troops: -------------- There are three classes of troops which you can create; infantry, armored and drop troops. You can recruit a draft of upto 1% of the deployment planet population in any given year (the units of population are significantly greater than that of the military). By changing the deployment planet, you can create troops on each of the planets within your empire. To Create Troops: o Select the GET DEPLOYMENT PLANET button if you wish to change the troop's planet. (See Select Deployment Planet). o Select the troop type that you wish to recruit (Infantry, Armored, or drop troops). o Set the slider to the strength level required. o Click on OK and CLOSE the Create Troops window. If you have not recruited the maximum of troops then you can continue selecting all other troop types until the total number of troops left is zero. ________________________________________________________________________ | Troop Type |Cost per Strength |Initial Efficiency |Weight to Transport| |------------|------------------|-------------------|-------------------| | Infantry | 1 | 40% | 3 | | Armored | 3 | 50% | 1 | | Drop Troops| 5 | 75% | 0* | |____________|__________________|___________________|___________________| Troop Table * The drop troops have their own transport and travel as part of a fleet rather than taking up any space within that fleet. Drop troops can only be part of a fleet and can never form without a fleet of at least one ship. A unit's strength is calculated by multiplying the efficiency of troop type by the number of troops. Page 51: The efficiency of a unit will fall each year the unit is in combat. In a turn when troops are dropped onto a planet to invade it, both infantry and armoured troops have their efficiencies halved for that first year. Drop troops are used in the first year of invasion. They are tough assault troops who suffer no loss of efficiency in the first year, but later their efficiency is reduced to that of an infantry unit. BUILD SHIPS: ------------ You can only process one order for ships within your empire at any given time. To build a number of ships: o Select the GET DEPLOYMENT PLANET button to change the planet where the ship order will be processed. (See Select Deployment Planet Page 46) o Select the class of the ship you wish to build. o Select the number field. o Enter the number of ships to be built. (Max of 10 at time). o Select BUILD to place the ship building order and CLOSE the window. A class of ship is defined on the Create Spaceship Class menu (see page 47). Once it is defined, you can build this type of spaceship, without giving the exact specifications of that ship again. There is a fixed construction cost associated with every ship built of a certain class. Ship building orders also require varying quantities of certain commodities depending upon the size of the ships being built. Commodities must be purchased at the current market cost by the Imperial treasury. If the demand for the commodity cannot be fulfilled from you planets, your empire will attempt to buy the commodities from another empire. Ship building requires the following commodities per 100 units of gross weight being built: __________________________________________________ | Commodity | Amount | Commodity | Amount | |----------------|--------|-------------|--------| | Building Equip | 5 | Heavy Plant | 5 | | Power Supply | 10 |Rare Earth El| 10 | |Space Ship Equip| 25 | Information | 10 | |Communicat Equip| 15 |Raw Materials| 25 | | Personnel | 20 | Heavy Arms | 5 | | Computers | 10 | Robots | 2 | |________________|________|_____________|________| Once you have placed an order to build ships you cannot place another until the first one is complete. you cannot cancel the order that is being built, so committing to building a number os ships is an irreversible decision. Shipbuild Status: ----------------- This displays the current status of ships under construction. It also allows you to pay outstanding costs and to see how long the ships will take to complete. Allocate money to ship building o Enter any cash you wish to allocate towards the total cost of construction in the Money to Allocate field. o Click on OK and CLOSE the window. The Remaining Build Time figure is the estimated construction time for the ships assuming a full stock of commodities. If at any time the there is a shortfall of commodities, the construction time is increased. The following table shows the estimated build time for ships by gross weight, the construction time is reduced by the (Tech level / 5)%. Page 53: _____________________________________________________________________ | Gross Weight Construction time| Gross Weight Construction time| | in years | in years | |---------------------------------|---------------------------------| | 1 - 100 1 | 501 - 600 8 | | 101 - 200 2 | 601 - 700 10 | | 201 - 300 3 | 701 - 800 12 | | 301 - 400 4 | 801 - 900 14 | | 401 - 500 6 | 901 + 16 | | | | | +1 per add'l 100 units | | |_________________________________|_________________________________| Fleet Report: ------------- The fleet report gives details of the various fleets within your empire. To view or alter a fleet: o Select the Fleet icon and then select the fleet from the list displayed o Select the Pool to Fleet icon to show a list of ships in the pool that can be transferred. o Highlight the ships that you want to transfer and press OK on the fleet report to transfer the ship(s). o Set the troop slider levels to transfer as many or few of each troop type from the garrison to the fleet as required. Reducing the number of ships reduces the number of troops able to be carried. o Click on OK and CLOSE the window. Ships can be transferred from the fleet to the pool in the same way: o Select the Fleet icon and then select a fleet from the list displayed o Select the Fleet to Pool icon to list the ships in the fleet that can be transferred from the fleet to the pool. o Highlight the ships you want to transfer and press OK. Page 54: o Set the troop sliders to new levels to transfer troops to or from the garrison o Click on OK and CLOSE the window. A fleet must be at a planet within your empire to transfer its troops or ships to or from that planet. For example, you will need to move your fleet to Mars before transferring troops from Mars of from the fleet. The maximum number of troops that can travel on a fleet is determined by the tonnage of the ships in the fleet. If you want to take a fleet out of commission that fleet must be empty of both troops and ships. To de-commission a fleet: o Select the Fleet icon and then select a fleet from the list displayed o Select the DE-COMMISSION button. If a fleet is de-commissioned, it will be removed from active service and the fleet commander retired. A fleet that has no ships cannot move or have troops transferred to it. You may wish to de-commission a fleet, if it is created on a planet with no ships, or if all its troops and ships have been transfered to another fleet. Give Fleet Orders: ------------------ Fleets can be given up to five sets of instructions they will then carry out. To give a fleet its orders: o Select the GIVE FLEET ORDERS button. o Select the Fleet icon. o Select a fleet from the list that appears. o Highlight first empty space on the orders list. Page 55: o Select an order from the list of Invade, Move To, Hold 1yr or Hold 5yr. (HOLD means hold position for the allocated amount of time). o Select the Planets icon (or use the clipboard as explained below). o Select the destination planet from the list that appears. If you wish to send additional orders, repeat this process, by highlighting the next available space on the orders list and follow the same steps. They will be carried out sequentially on a yearly basis where applicable. If you select MOVE TO or INVADE you must select a destination planet. o Click on OK and CLOSE the window. If you wish to use the clipboard to order your fleet, follow these instructions: o Open the Clipboard o Instead of selecting the Planets icon, highlight the planet name on the clipboard list. o Select the ORDERS button on the clipboard. o To send additional orders repeat this process, by highlighting the next available space on the fleet orders list and follow the same instructions o Click on OK and CLOSE the Fleet Orders window. You can alter or change instructions at any time by highlighting and editing the order concerned. Page 56: CREATE ARK SHIP An ark ship is a large and cheap vessel, designed to transport large numbers of people and commodities between planets. Click on the Create Ark Ship icon to open the window. To create an Ark Ship: o Select the Destination Planet icon. o Select a destination planet from the list that appears. o Select the Source Planet icon. o Select a source planet from the list that appears. o Set the commodities slider to the desired level. The cost will rise as the percentage of the planet's commodities you want to send increases o Set the population slider to the desired level. The cost will rise as the percentage of the planet's population you want to send increases. You can only allocate 20% of the source planet's population to be sent on an Ark ship. o Select the Ark Ship To Move Home Planet tick box, if you wish to move your home planet to the destination planet. A tick will appear in the box to confirm this order. o Click on OK and CLOSE the Create Ark Ship window. The cost falls after the window has been OK'd, because the total population and commodity stock has fallen. There can only be five ark ships in space at any one time. An ark ship is a slow vessel which will take longer than your fleets to travel between source and destination planets. The number of remaining ark ships is shown in the window. It should be noted that shipping people off to an exciting and new world is a good method of lowering total population of the planet they leave. Page 57: CREATE ANTENNA An antenna is a large communications device similar to a spy satellite. An antenna can vary in size according to the technology level of the planet where it is under construction. The size of the antenna directly affects the range of that antenna, and the catchment area around the planet. A solar system falling within an antenna's catchment area has a zero distortion rate applied to all information received from planets within that system. Outside the range of the antenna, the distortion level degrades with distance from the edge of the antenna's maximum range. Click on the Create Antenna icon to open its window. To create an Antenna: o Select the Planet icon. o Select a planet where the antenna will be constructed, from the list that appears. o Set the slider to the range you want. o The Solar System Encatchment are shows how many solar systems fall within the range of this antenna. o The Cost of the antenna is displayed and varies as the range changes. o Click on OK and CLOSE the window. The technology level of the planet will affect the cost and range of the antenna. It will take five years for an antenna to be built. It is only necessary to build one antenna within a solar system since the antenna works on a solar system scale, not a planetary one. It is best to build at the highest technology level planet within a solar system, to get the largest range antenna. Page 58: REPORTS Click on the REPORTS icon to open its window. You can call up reports from any empire or planet, which means you can monitor all activity in the known galaxy. Empire Report: -------------- The empire report allows you to examine the status of your and other empires. To view an empire report: o Select the Empire icon. o Select an empire from the list that appears. The Imperial treasury balance and total population is then displayed, these figures are distorted by the percentage shown. (See the Create Antenna section for more details on distortion.) To view an inter-empire relationship o Select the bottom Empire icon. o Select an empire from the list that appears. The relationship of the first empire with the second is shown. This is not always an equal relationship, with empires regarding each other very differently. To view the relationship between your empire and another, it is necessary to look at that empire's relationship to you. This is because your opinion as a player is your choice and it is not stored within the computer. Planet Report: -------------- The planet report is the largest report within the game. This shows the status of individual planets, their financial status and the population's stability. o Select the Planet icon. o Select a planet from the list that appears, scrolling up or down if necessary with the up/down arrows. Page 59: Each planet has a range of information consisting of: Planet The current planet name. Empire Which empire the planet belongs to. Leader The current leader name. Solar System The name of the solar system is in. Star Type The type of star affects the ability of the planet to produce commodities. Planet Type The type of planet affects the ability of the planet to produce commodities. Atmosphere The atmosphere affects the ability of the planet to produce commodities. Conflict The level of conflict on this planet. Wealth This is the current level of the planet's treasury. Population The current population levels. Antenna The current range of an antenna on this planet. If this planet does not have an antenna the range is zero. Defences The current level of planet defences. This is a commodity and can be traded with other planets in the same way as any other commodity. The planet defences can be increased by Imperial Subsidy, and decreased through planetary bombardment as part of an invasion. Garrison The current number of troops in the garrison. There is no distinction made between the types of troops when they are in the garrison. Ship Pool Size The number of ships currently in planet's pool of ships. Technology Level The current technology level of the planet. The technology level can be slowly increased through an Imperial Subsidy. The higher the Page 60: value the better the level of technology the planet has, therefore affecting the cost and potential of anything you wish to construct within the game. For instance, Antennas are larger and cheaper and ships can be larger and proportionally less expensive with higher technology levels. Material Infrastructure The current level of the material infrastructure of the planet. This is a commodity and can be traded to and from the planet. Material infrastructure can be increased through the Imperial Subsidy and covers services such as road and rail networks, education, hospitals, and health care. It is the physical backbone of a planet's capacity to sustain life. Moral Infrastructure Is the people's moral strength and attitude. Yearly Nostrum Growth Shows the yearly growth of the life-sustaining drug Nostrum. Distortion Shows the level of distortion to these reports. Stability The stability represents the attitude and political state of the population on this planet. The higher the value the more volatile and unstable the population. Integrity The integrity is a value representing the level of support the leader of the home planet has. The higher the value, the better the level of belief and support. The integrity is affected by the actions of the empire. For instance, if empire decolonises a planet then the leader of the home planet is send to be responsible for that action and receives a decrease in integrity. Loyalty Current level of Loyalty to the empire ruling the planet. Page 61: To decolonise a planet o Select the planet to be decolonised. o Select the DECOLONISE button. o You will then be prompted to confirm or cancel by selection YES or NO. You can decolonise any planet within your empire, with the exception of your home planet. The decolonisation of a planet will move all of the planetary treasury to the Imperial treasury and will take half of the population and ships splitting them equally to all planets within the empire. All commodities, garrisons, antennas and ships in the pool will be lost. NOSTRUM REPORT -------------- The Nostrum report simply shows you the stock of Nostrum your empire has. It also shows you the level of Nostrum your empire currently consumes, its allocation and estimated yearly growth. Nostrum is a life-preserving drug that is found on certain planets within the galaxy. Nostrum is a special chemical compound which can only be harvested from certain planets and cannot be produced by man-made chemicals. Nostrum reduces the effects of ageing when allocated to a subordinate. The quantity of Nostrum allocated slows the ageing process as follows: Quantity of Nostrum per year Effect ----------------------------------- 1-10 The subordinate ages a year for every two years that pass. 11-49 The subordinate ages a year for every ten years that pass 50+ The passing of time has no effect on the subordinates age. Popularity Report ----------------- The popularity report shows the popularity level of the home planet leader over the last ten years. This is shown in graphical form, and is a percentage representation indicating the popularity of your politics and actions to date. Page: 62 CLIPBOARD The clipboard is used to pass information between the map screen and the main screen. Click on the CLIPBOARD icon to open its window. To use the clipboard: o Use the Map screen to select and send Items to the clipboard. o Select the item from the list in the clipboard o Select REPORT to get a report on that item o Select DELETE to get rid of the highlighted item or DELETE ALL to delete all the items from the clipboard. To use the clipboard to order fleets: o Follow the GIVE FLEET ORDERS section (see page 54) until you need to give the fleet a destination planet. o Highlight the planet's name on the list of items in the clipboard. o Select ORDERS. o The planets name will now be transferred to the Give Fleet Orders window. o Click on OK and CLOSE the Fleet Orders window. Page: 63 NEWS Click on the NEWS icon to open the window. The news reports keep you updated on the progress of the galaxy around you. For instance, confirming that your ships have arrived at their destination, that your ambassador has received a diplomatic message or that a major famine has struck on one of your agricultural planets. News Control ------------ You have two levels of control over the news that you receive. You can either stop the present game turn at the end of the next year to receive news, or you can flag the news to be announced at the end of that chosen game turn. To set news control level o Select either flag or stop. A tick will appear in the box to confirm the action. o Click on OK and CLOSE the window You can select the following news items: Hostilities Reports any aggressive actions, for instance, an invasion or colonisation of a planet. Unrest Reports any situations of revolt or public unrest, for instance, anarchy and revolution. Treaties Reports any diplomatic alliance news, for instance, an empire responding to an alliance offer. Deaths Reports of any of your subordinates who have died and their position in the empire. Ark Ships Reports when an ark ship arrives at its destination. Page: 64 Disasters Reports any natural disasters that occur, for instance, a major plague on a planet. Ambassador Reports any ambassadorial activity, for instance, an empire has taken an aggressive stance and is building spaceships. Miscellaneous Reports any other news, for instance, a completed shipbuilding order or an election due in 5 years. Relics: Reports any relics that are found while colonising a planet, for instance, Gold found on the planet prompting a destabilizing rush. The game will force certain events onto your news report, it is not possible to isolate yourself completely from the galaxy around you. The news report will also appear when the list is full, to prompt you to read and delete a report. News Report ----------- The news report shows the various items of news that you have received To look at news report o Select the item of news by clicking on it o Select GET REPORT to see the item of news in detail o Select DELETE to get rid of the highlighted item of news. o Select DELETE ALL to delete all of the item s of news. Page: 65 GAME TURN Click on the GAME TURN icon to open its window. A game turn effectively carries out all of your commands set in that year and those that are outstanding. As such it is a very powerful command and should only be used once you have checked all of your commands and are satisfied with them. You can select the number of years that any given game turn lasts. To set game turn length o Click on the text entry box if you want to alter the current length of turn backspace through the existing turn length and enter your own choice (Up to a maximum of ten years.) o Select NEXT TURN to proceed with the turn The game turn is stopped if there is any news which requires your attention. Selecting NEXT TURN will close all of the other windows. The current year is displayed counting from the starting year of 2020. The game lasts up to one thousand years from this date ending when the date is 3020. MAP Click on the MAP icon to move to the Map screen. This shows you the whole galaxy and from here you can directly select solar systems, planets and fleets. The flashing solar system is the one you have currently selected. Page: 66 Directional Arrows ------------------ o Select either arrow icon to rotate the map to the left or right. Select the same arrow icon again to stop the map rotating. Return to Main Screen --------------------- o This returns you to the main screen. Zoom ---- o Select the solar system by clicking on it directly with the cursor on the Map screen. o Select the ZOOM icon to view the selected solar system in greater detail. You can use the arrow icons to rotate the zoomed map. At this level you can select specific planets within the solar system. o Select the ZOOM icon again to return to the Map screen. Empire ------ o Select the EMPIRE icon. o This displays a list of all of the empires currently in play. Select the empire name in the list to highlight all solar systems that that empire has a presence in. The systems under the empire's control will be shown in blue. Fleet ----- o Select the EMPIRE icon and select an empire from the list that appears. o Select the FLEET icon, this lists all of the selected empires fleets and highlights them on the map. You can select a fleet as an item from the map directly, then fleet name will appear in the item field. Page: 67 Known Stars ----------- o Select the KNOWN STARS icon. o This highlights in blue all solar systems that an empire has a presence in, from owning just one planet to owning the whole system. These will be highlighted in blue to indicate ownership. Antenna ------- o Select the EMPIRE icon and select an empire. o Select the ANTENNA icon, this will display in blue any antenna that the selected empire has. If there is more than one antenna in any one solar system, only the largest is shown. Any solar systems within the catchment range of the antennas are highlighted. Send Item to clipboard ---------------------- o Select either a planet, fleet or empire. The item selected will appear in the Item field. o Select SEND ITEM TO CLIPBOARD to send this item to the clipboard by clicking on the button. Once an item has been send to the clipboard you can get reports on it and give orders from within the clipboard menu on the main screen. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End. (Game Over Dude -WM)