1 .TH Introduction "User's Guide to Empire"
2 .NA Guide "User's Guide to Empire"
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31 User's Guide to Empire 1
33 Preface to the Wolfpack Edition
35 This is Geoff Cashman's venerable User's Guide to Empire. It was written
36 in 1991, and Empire has evolved quite a bit since then. Nevertheless, many
37 players have found it useful through the years, so here it is. We
38 reproduce it verbatim except for this preface and corrections of a few
44 Copyright (C) 1991-2010 Geoff Cashman. This is free documentation; see the
45 source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for
46 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
47 .\" See COPYING in the root of the source tree for details.
50 User's Guide to Empire 2
54 This guide's intended audience is the beginning player and those players
55 who have played a game or three and would like to have some insight on some
56 more subtle aspects of the game. Some experienced players may find some
57 benefit from reading this guide as well. While you may feel you are an
58 expert, it is always possible to learn. Nothing in this guide is intended
59 to be difficult to understand, and every effort has been made to make this
60 guide an easy learning tool.
62 This publication is current to Berkeley version 1.1 patch level 5
67 User's Guide to Empire 3
71 It has been over a year now since I first sat down and thought in a serious
72 way about writing this guide. It has been a long trip with many interesting
73 turns and developments. When I first started, the version of Empire that
74 this guide has ultimately been written for had not yet been released. Now,
75 with this project nearing release I find that yet another new version of
76 Empire is coming out. I look on in near despair as I realize that this guide
77 may very well soon be outdated. Nevertheless, I feel compelled to release
78 this information in what might be considered a final form.
80 However, I hope that this is not the final form. With new versions of
81 Empire coming out in the very near future I hope that some other potential
82 author steps forward and takes up the banner of educating the new player.
83 I caution you though that such a work as this takes quite an effort.
85 To the reader and any critics or even cynics that might be reading, I say
86 that I am not writer. I never was, and I never intend to be. There are
87 certainly enough writers in the world to write almost everything the world
88 could want to know about in print. I was never skilled in the art of proper
89 style for any sort of writing. Please, be kind and keep this in mind.
91 I wrote this guide because I felt there was a great need for something of
92 this nature. I have watched so many players come to the network looking
93 for information on Empire, such as the rules, or information on how to play.
94 One can get information about the various commands available to oneself
95 within the game, but to understand how to use those commands effectively
96 and get skilled at running a country is a far greater task. Many new
97 players have despaired after playing their first game for lack of the
98 requisite knowledge to play effectively. Some come back fighting hard
99 in the next game, but many just disappear never to be heard from again.
100 This guide was written with the hope that if the new player is supplied
101 with the basics, they can advance in skill more quickly than previously
102 possible and not despair at their first defeat.
104 I am hoping that within the near future two other companion guides to
105 this one will be written and released to the net. These two guides will
106 be intended to make the average player a better player or even expert,
107 and to teach fledgling deities how to compile and establish a, solicit
108 entries for , and effectively run, a game. Some people have commented
109 to me that the time spent on these guides would be better spent if I
110 were to spend time programming for Empire instead. It is my belief that
111 in teaching players to be better players, and teaching deities how to be
112 a deity should that guide be released, the potential pool for
113 programmers of Empire will increase.
115 I can not take credit for the idea of this guide. The need for such
116 a guide I think was painfully obvious to a great many players. Some in
117 fact did engage in projects to fill that need. Every such attempt has
118 fallen short, in my humble opinion. Witness the large number of people
121 User's Guide to Empire 4
123 who still ask the network, "How do I play?" and even more importantly
124 the lack of sufficient answer to such people's questions. In my highest
125 hopes, I dream that someday soon that answer will be "Get a copy of the
126 User's Guide to Empire, which is available via FTP from xx.xx.xx".
128 This work was made possible by the contributions of several Empire players.
129 This work would not have been completed without the insights and assistance
130 of many Empire players and deities. To the Empire community as a whole,
131 I say thank you for your priceless contributions.
136 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
139 User's Guide to Empire 5
145 1. What is Empire? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
146 2. How to get into a game of Empire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
147 3. The primitive basics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
148 4. Geography in Empire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
149 5. The beginning phases of Empire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
150 6. Diplomacy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
151 7. Setting up your defenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
152 8. Nuclear warfare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
153 9. Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
154 10. The economy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
155 11. War. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
156 12. Other helpful or not so helpful hints. . . . . . . . . . . . 57
157 13. Some tricks and subtle tactics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
158 14. Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
167 1. Sample of how to FTP and compile a client program
168 2. Killing a process on a remote Empire host
169 3. Example of an Empire map
170 4. Realistic version of an Empire map
171 5. Table of sector types and designations
172 6. Unexplored island prior to breaking sanctuary
173 7. Island showing exploration using theory 1
174 8. Island showing exploration using theory 2
175 9 Island showing exploration using theory 3
176 10. Results from 'show planes capability'
177 11. Results from a 'nation' report
178 12. Map of region hit by nuclear weapon
179 13. Table of types of commodities in Empire
180 14. Sample output of 'prod' command
181 15. Results of a 'census' command of a library
182 16. Map of area requiring some distribution
183 17. Results of a distribution command
184 18. Map of an area requiring delivery path
187 User's Guide to Empire 6
189 Chapter 1 :-: What is Empire?
191 Empire is a game in which you are pitted against several other
192 players in a country vs. country format. There are economies to
193 run, armies to support, policies to generate, and allies and
194 enemies to make. The game supports various features that make
195 certain aspects of the game seem to parallel the "realistic"
196 world. These include satellites, planes, banks, parks, etc.
198 Empire, in the version herein described, is a very complex
199 game. The closest game that most people will know that is
200 analogous to it is the game known as Risk. However, Empire is
201 more complex by a factor of at least one hundred. Nevertheless,
202 as a result of the computer aiding you every step of the way, the
203 game is not difficult to play, though it can be difficult to
204 learn. If you read this guide thoroughly, and use it as a
205 continuing resource, you can help make learning this game a lot
208 It should be noted that in learning to play this game, you
209 may become frustrated or feel daunted by its complexity.
210 Several players have noted that they almost gave up on Empire,
211 until one day when everything seemed to start to make sense.
212 I call it the "threshold level of understanding" after which
213 learning the art of Empire becomes several grades easier, and
214 players learn substantially faster. I urge you to stay with
215 it until you get to that level. It may take some time, but it
216 is well worth the effort. This guide is intended to get you
217 to that threshold level of understanding.
219 Games usually take two to three months depending on various factors
220 that are changeable by the person who runs the game prior to its
221 inception. Some games, known as blitz games, last a day or three
222 and will wear out your finger tips from typing too much, will cause
223 your family and loved ones to be tremendously upset with you for
224 missing breakfast, lunch and dinner for three days straight, will cause
225 your stomach to argue constantly with you about its right to
226 food, and are a tremendous amount of fun. Blitz games are not
227 for the light of heart nor are they meant for the beginner.
229 For more information concerning the basic scope of Empire,
230 refer to the game itself. Within the game, there are
231 various help entries accessible through the command 'info'.
232 This guide is intended to go well beyond the scope of help
233 available from 'info'.
235 Empire, the game, has evolved through many different forms
236 over the last decade. There are still numerous versions
237 for various computers around. The version herein discussed
238 is BSD Empire, written for the most part by Dave Pare along
239 with a lot of help from net people. As release time approaches
240 I am aware that Mr. Pare is working on BSD Empire V2.0.
241 This guide is only current to version V1.1.5 of BSD. I wish
244 User's Guide to Empire 7
246 the future author of the guide to V2.0, whomever that might be,
247 the best of luck and bequeath that person a family size bottle
248 of aspirin for personal use.
250 Summary: Empire is a very complex game that has a rather steep learning
251 curve. Most of the complexity of the game can be handled by
252 the commands available to you, the game server itself, or tools
253 that you use to better your country. Tools are described later
257 User's Guide to Empire 8
259 Chapter 2 :-: How to get into a game of Empire.
261 The most common way of finding about about games that are about to
262 happen is by monitoring the newsgroup rec.games.empire on your local
263 news reading program. Other ways are via e-mail by getting to know
264 several players with whom you correspond over the network. Some
265 games are by invitation only but these are few and far between as
266 usually a game is better with more people in it. If you do not know
267 how to use your local news reading program, ask a local site consultant
268 or find a brochure about the news programs available. One of the most
269 common newsreaders can be reached by typing 'rn' from your Unix
270 prompt. If you have VMS for an operating system this may not be true.
271 To go directly to the rec.games.empire newsgroup you could type in
272 'rn rec.games.empire'.
274 Before entering a game of Empire, consider the amount of time that
275 you have available to play the game. Two hours a day for a four
276 update per day game is usually the norm. If you are inexperienced,
277 and have not fought in wars before, that two hours will dramatically
278 increase should war break out between you and another country.
280 Note that it is easy to get addicted to the game. The player should
281 be aware of this prior to playing. Play in moderation. This is
282 obviously not meant to scare you off. It is merely a word of caution
283 to some people. Remember to play in moderation.
285 If you do decide to join in an upcoming game of Empire, then you will
286 have the pleasure of playing one of the best games around. Empire has
287 been described as being the most complicated game ever created.
288 Despite the fact that the game was created for computers and has
289 been in existence for several years, as yet no robot player has been
290 developed nor is it anticipated. It is possible to build such a
291 robot, but it would be a huge task. Do not be dismayed though.
292 Most of the complexity of Empire is handled by the server and client.
293 There is a fair amount of what is called "micro-managing" that may
294 need to be done to be a highly successful nation. However, it is
295 not a necessary thing to do. Furthermore, there are many tools
296 (described later) that can handle the micromanaging aspects to
299 After you find out about a game, and decide that you do want to
300 play in that upcoming game, you need to contact the "Deity". The
301 "Deity" is the person who runs the game. You should mail him/her
302 with information about yourself and your country. A customary
303 basic form for registering your country to play might contain
304 the following information:
306 Country name: (any name you like, from Brianville to USofA)
307 Rep: (this is your *password*)
308 Net address: (the address at which you can be contacted over the net)
309 Skill level: (1-10..10 being the best, 1 being beginner)
311 It might be necessary depending on the Deity to include all addresses
314 User's Guide to Empire 9
316 from which you might be playing. With the proliferation of suns as
317 general user machines this is becoming more and more a chore, and
318 few deities require it. It might suffice to say "mickey@*.buffalo.edu"
319 which might cover all machines you play from if you played from
320 SUNY-Buffalo. Mickey, of course, is just an arbitrary username chosen
323 Empire players connect to games in progress through a program known
324 as a "client". This program handles communication between your
325 computer and the computer that the game is running on.
327 There are several versions of clients available. Some are more
328 "capable" than others in that they can make decisions easier for
329 you or make the decisions themselves. They are intended to reduce
330 the amount of work you have to do to maintain your country though
331 in some cases they actually increase the amount of work you have
332 to do. I have listed places from which you can get other types
333 of clients from in the FTP listings in appendix C.
335 Sources for basic client program is available by FTPing to
336 ucbvax.berkeley.edu. For the user's benefit, I have included
337 a copy of a session in which a user FTPs to ucbvax, retrieves the
338 source, compiles the source and establishes the appropriate
339 environment variables to connect to a game.
341 Note that the following example will work ONLY on a Unix,
342 Ultrix, or other flavor of Unix operating system. This will
343 not work for the VMS client.
345 -----------------------------<begin sample>---------------------------------
347 (PLEASE NOTE: Walk through comments in this sample will be enclosed
348 in [** and **]. They are not part of what actually appeared on screen
349 in collecting this sample. They are meant only as guides.)
351 [** First, I create a directory to put the client in. I then cd into that
352 directory and then proceed with the ftp to ucbvax. **]
354 autarch{tmp}!>mkdir myclient
355 autarch{tmp}!>cd myclient
356 autarch{myclient}!>ftp ucbvax.berkeley.edu
357 Connected to ucbvax.berkeley.edu.
358 220 ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU FTP server (Version 5.30 Tue Mar 28 18:11:37 PST 1989) ready.
359 [** Type in anonymous for your name **]
360 Name (ucbvax.berkeley.edu:mickey): anonymous
361 [** Send your real identity for the password **]
362 331 Guest login ok, send ident as password.
364 230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.
365 [** I am now logged in to ucbvax's public access FTP area. Now
366 I cd into the "pub" directory, then the "games" directory, and then
367 the "bsd-empire" directory where I know the Empire client source
371 User's Guide to Empire 10
374 250 CWD command successful.
376 250 CWD command successful.
378 250 CWD command successful.
379 [** Now, I set my file transfer mode to "binary" and set hash on so that
380 I can see transmit progress on screen (# = 1024 bytes.) **]
384 Hash mark printing on (1024 bytes/hash mark).
385 [** Now, I view the directory listing to confirm the name of the client
388 200 PORT command successful.
389 150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for ..
397 [** ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ it's this one. **]
401 226 Transfer complete.
402 143 bytes received in 0.03 seconds (4.7 Kbytes/s)
403 [** Now, I "get" the file and the transmission to my directory begins. **]
404 ftp> get empclient-1.1.tar.Z
405 200 PORT command successful.
406 150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for empclient-1.1.tar.Z (20859 bytes).
407 #########################################
408 226 Transfer complete.
409 local: empclient-1.1.tar.Z remote: empclient-1.1.tar.Z
410 20859 bytes received in 1.8 seconds (11 Kbytes/s)
411 [** The client source now resides in my directory, so I log out of Berkeley **]
414 [** I next confirm that the client is in my directory. **]
415 autarch{myclient}!>ls
417 [** Next, I have to uncompress the file (the Z postfix means it is in
418 compressed format). I again ls to confirm it's presence. **]
419 autarch{myclient}!>uncompress empclient-1.1.tar.Z
420 autarch{myclient}!>ls
422 [** Next, I have to tar the file (tar postfix means it's in tar format).
423 Again, I ls to confirm operation completed. **]
424 autarch{myclient}!>tar -xf empclient-1.1.tar
425 autarch{myclient}!>ls
428 User's Guide to Empire 11
430 client/ empclient-1.1.tar
431 [** Ah, ok. I tar'ed the file and it created a directory for itself.
432 So, I cd into that directory and ls it. **]
433 autarch{myclient}!>cd client
435 Makefile empire.6 host.c main.c saveargv.c
436 README expect.c hpux.c misc.h servercmd.c
437 bit.c fnlist.h ioqueue.c proto.h serverio.c
438 bit.h globals.c ioqueue.h queue.c termio.c
439 dtable.c handle.c login.c queue.h termlib.c
440 [** There's the README file up there. That will tell me what to do next. **]
441 autarch{client}!>more README
446 This is the empire client for BSD Empire.
448 To make the program, edit globals.c and change localhost to
449 point at the machine where the game is running.
453 You can change hosts on-the-fly by using environment variables -- see
454 the man page for details.
456 [** Simple enough. I don't bother modifying globals.c since I can modify
457 the environment variables using the Unix command 'setenv'. So now,
458 I just type 'make' and hope everything goes ok. NOTE: This was done
459 on a sun4. Your results may vary slightly. **]
460 autarch{client}!>make
461 [** Now, it does the compilation automatically without me having to
462 do it by hand, I just typed the make and it does it by itself. **]
464 cc -g -sun4 -c dtable.c
465 cc -g -sun4 -c expect.c
466 cc -g -sun4 -c globals.c
467 cc -g -sun4 -c handle.c
468 cc -g -sun4 -c host.c
469 cc -g -sun4 -c hpux.c
470 cc -g -sun4 -c ioqueue.c
471 cc -g -sun4 -c login.c
472 cc -g -sun4 -c main.c
473 cc -g -sun4 -c queue.c
474 cc -g -sun4 -c saveargv.c
475 cc -g -sun4 -c servercmd.c
476 cc -g -sun4 -c serverio.c
477 cc -g -sun4 -c termio.c
478 cc -g -sun4 -c termlib.c
479 cc -g -o empire bit.o dtable.o expect.o globals.o handle.o host.o hpux.o
480 ioqueue.o login.o main.o queue.o saveargv.o servercmd.o serverio.o termio.o
485 User's Guide to Empire 12
487 Makefile expect.c hpux.c misc.h serverio.c
488 README expect.o hpux.o proto.h serverio.o
489 bit.c fnlist.h ioqueue.c queue.c termio.c
490 bit.h globals.c ioqueue.h queue.h termio.o
491 bit.o globals.o ioqueue.o queue.o termlib.c
492 dtable.c handle.c login.c saveargv.c termlib.o
493 dtable.o handle.o login.o saveargv.o
494 empire* host.c main.c servercmd.c
495 empire.6 host.o main.o servercmd.o
496 [** Walla, it compiled, and now there is a file in the directory called
497 'empire' with a * next to it (meaning it's an executable. Not all
498 ls's will do this, see 'man ls' for further info on parameters for ls).
499 That file is the client. I could delete all of the '.c', '.h', and
500 '.o' files right now to clean things up, but I am anxious to get into
501 the Empire game that is already in progress. So, I next setup my
502 environment variables so my client knows which computer to call and
503 which port to use on that computer. **]
504 autarch{client}!>setenv EMPIREHOST oleander.cs.odu.edu
505 autarch{client}!>setenv EMPIREPORT 1617
506 [** EMPIREHOST and EMPIREPORT variables will have been given to you by
507 the deity running the game.
508 With that done, I can now run my client and connect to the game. **]
509 autarch{client}!>empire
510 Country name? [** I type in my country name **]
511 Your name? [** And my password, NOT my real name. **]
515 You have six new telegrams waiting...
518 [** And you are now connected to the game and are ready to play dictator **]
522 Sample of how to FTP and compile a client program
524 -------------------------------<end sample>-----------------------------------
527 Since you are playing across a network of computers, it is possible
528 that there will be problems along the way in connecting to the server
529 from the computer you play on. What follows are some common connection
533 autarch{client}!>empire
534 connect: Connection refused
536 Problem This generally means that you have either set your environment
537 variables wrong (see 'setenv' from earlier in this chapter), or
538 the server at the host site is not currently running.
539 Solution (1) Check your environment variables by issuing a 'setenv' command.
542 User's Guide to Empire 13
544 (2) Wait for the server to come up.
547 autarch{client}!>empire
548 connect: Connection timed out
550 Problem This generally means that there is a network outage somewhere
552 Solution (1) You can monitor the network by using two Unix commands located in
553 /usr/etc on most Unix systems. These are 'ping' and 'traceroute'.
554 /usr/etc/ping 128.205.7.3 for instance will send a ping at the
555 host with IP address 128.205.7.3. If that machine can be reached
556 from your machine across the network it will return:
558 traceroute 128.205.7.3 will request responses from each site along
559 the way. This is useful for seeing which site along the way is
561 (2) This solution is easier, but more frustrating. Wait.
564 autarch{client}!>empire
565 Country name? <your country name>
566 Your name? <your password>
569 3 country in use by mickey@lictor.acsu.buffalo.edu (pid=5797)
571 Problem This one is potentially nasty. It means that another process is
572 logged into your country. This could be from multiple sources.
573 1: Your friend who is playing your country as well.
574 2: A process of yours that got accidentally hung.
575 3: The network hung your remote process even though your local
576 process is now terminated.
577 Solution (1) Go kick your friend in the head :-)
578 (2) Kill your process 'nicely'. To find the process execute a
579 'ps -x' command and find the appropriate process number:
581 PID TT STAT TIME COMMAND
582 3555 t1 S 0:00 -usr/new/csh (csh)
584 3559 ? S 0:00 -usr/new/csh (csh)
585 3560 ? S 0:00 (empire)
586 The offending process number in this list is 3560. To kill it,
587 simply type the command 'kill 3560'. After that, all should be
588 well. Try entering the game again.
589 (3) If your process is hung on the server machine, you can
590 do one of two things. First, you can mail the Deity with the
591 "pid", or process identification number. This number is listed
592 in the original error message and in our case is 5797. Secondly,
593 you can log in to the remote site and kill the process yourself
594 via the process illustrated below. Note that in the first line
595 of the illustrated process that the name storm.tamu.edu is the
596 host site for the particular game I am using for this example.
599 User's Guide to Empire 14
601 Also, 1617 is the port on that machine that Empire is being run
602 through. Commands that you should type in are indicated
603 by a "<----" at the end of the line.
605 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
607 % telnet storm.tamu.edu 1617 <----
608 Trying 128.194.15.98 ...
609 Connected to storm.tamu.edu.
610 Escape character is '^]'.
611 2 Empire server ready <---- [** your country name in quotes **]
613 0 country name Terminus
614 pass "busyemperor" <---- [** your password in quotes **]
616 kill <---- [** this terminates the hung process **]
617 3 process 1056 (from mickey@autarch.acsu.buffalo.edu) terminated
618 [** next type in 'ctrl-]' and then type 'close' **]
625 Killing a process on a remote Empire host
627 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
629 Your process is now unhung, and your country should be ready to play
633 autarch{myclient}empire
634 Country name? <your country name>
635 Your name? <your password>
639 Problem The server does not accept the password you typed as being correct.
640 Solution Try typing it again. Try using capital letters at the beginning of
641 the password as well, or the entire password in caps. If this does
642 not work, mail the Deity and inform him or her of the problem
643 and what the password should be.
646 autarch{myclient}empire
649 Problem Your connection to the server is not responding.
650 Solution The delay time for waiting for a response that is built into
651 the client is not exceedingly long. The theory behind this being
652 that if it is taking you that long to get a response from the
653 Empire server then it is not worth playing, since response times
656 User's Guide to Empire 15
658 for information from the game are going to be pretty unbearable.
659 Keep trying is probably the best solution.
662 These are most of the problems that you will encounter in connecting to
663 the game server. There are some more problems that you might
664 encounter, but generally they are not common. If you can not reach
665 your game server for more than a day, contact your deity and let
666 him/her know that you can not connect.
668 Summary: Getting into a game of Empire is not terribly difficult. Setting up
669 a client program should be a fairly painless task. If it is not,
670 do not be dismayed. Get help from a consultant or another player
671 if you can. Some problems with the network may temporarily prevent
672 you from playing. Be patient, the network is a horse that should
673 be shot, but generally it comes around after a while.
676 User's Guide to Empire 16
678 Chapter 3 :-: The primitive basics.
681 There are a few basic commands and ideas that will help you get
682 acquainted with Empire. These are here summarized.
685 All players begin a game of Empire in what is known as a sanctuary.
686 While you are in a sanctuary state you can not be attacked, overrun, or
687 otherwise hurt. However, while you are in sanctuary you can not do
688 very many things. In order to really begin playing the game you need
689 to do what is known as "break sanctuary". You can do this using the
690 \&'break' command. When you do this, your two sanctuary sectors (which
691 everyone starts with) will become capital sectors. You are no longer
692 protected from attacks from enemy countries.
694 Concept: Movement in Empire.
695 Paths of movement are indicated by several keys. Path indicators
696 exist in a hex shape around the letter H on your keyboard. Thus, y means
697 travel North-West, u for North-East, j for East, n for South-East, b for
698 South-West, and g for West. Also, h means "stop" which terminates movement
699 of whatever you are moving. There is one other key, v which "views" the
700 sector you are currently moving through. Thus if I gave a movement path
701 of gggvgh the game would move whatever I am moving three sectors West, view
702 the sector at three sectors west of my starting point, then move one more
703 sector west and then stop.
706 Empire games have "turns" known as updates. When an update occurs,
707 your country goes through economic growth or decline, interests are paid
708 on gold bars, military costs are paid for, mobility increases in your
709 sectors, etc. You can do a great many things between updates, an update
710 merely does book keeping more or less, at a predetermined time. To find
711 out when the next update is going to happen, you can type 'update' as
714 Command: map -10:10,-7:7
715 This command will give you a map of the area immediately surrounding
716 your beginning two sectors. Specifically, it will give you a map from ten
717 sectors West of your 0,0 to ten sectors East and from seven sectors North to
718 seven sectors South of your 0,0.
720 Command: explore civ 0,0 1
721 This command allows you to move one civilian from your 0,0 and
722 "explore" into wilderness and mountain sectors.
724 Command: info commands
725 This command will list the various commands available in Empire.
726 It is a very good idea to go through the information on each command
727 by typing 'info <name of command>'. This will help you get more acquainted
728 with the game. Though this guide shows many commands and how to use them,
729 it is no substitute for the game's help itself.
732 User's Guide to Empire 17
734 Command: designate 1,1 +
735 This command will enable you to designate a sector you own into
736 whatever you desire. Usually, in the beginning of the game you will designate
737 sectors that you will not be using actively for a while into highways.
738 The above shown example of the command will designate your 1,1 sector into
741 Command: telegram <country name>
742 Countries in Empire communicate with each other via telegrams.
743 These are private letters sent just like a telegram would be. They have
744 a size limit, but there is usually more than enough room to say what you
745 want to say. There is no limit to the number of telegrams you may send.
748 Countries broadcast to the world via the command 'announce'. These
749 announcements are similar to telegrams except instead of one country reading
750 the telegram the entire world can read it.
753 This command allows you to read any incoming telegrams or
754 announcements. Empire will notify you when you have new incoming traffic.
756 Command: news {x number of days}
757 This command will allow you to peruse the Empire newspaper. It does
758 not make for great reading. However, it is useful for intelligence gathering.
759 If you just enter 'news' as a command, it will print all the news since you
760 last read the news. Entering 'news 3' will give you the news for the last
761 three days. In big games, the news file gets quite large.
763 Summary: These are the basic ideas and commands of Empire. Empire has a great
764 many commands however, and the player should endeavor to learn them.
765 Empire can be played with only a few commands but the additional
766 commands are there for your best interests. If you do not understand
767 a command shown here, simply type 'info <command>' while in the
771 User's Guide to Empire 18
773 Chapter 4 :-: Geography in Empire.
775 Maps in Empire are based on a simple hex design. For example:
778 ---------------------------------- There are three basic sector types in
779 Empire (note: "type" is different than
780 / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ "designation". Designation refers to what
781 / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ that sector has on it, a factory or school
782 -4 | . | ^ | - | ^ | . | for example. Type refers to what it is
783 \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / built on). There are:
784 \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / seas : .
785 -3 | - | - | . | . | mountains : ^
786 / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ wilderness : -
787 / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ When using the Empire map, you use an "X,Y"
788 -2 | . | - | - | - | . | system. The X coordinate refers to how far
789 \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / along the horizontal you are, the Y referring
790 \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / to the vertical. Thus, there are seas on
791 -1 | - | - | . | . | example map at 5,-1 7,-1 0,-2 8,-2
792 / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ 5,-3 7,-3 0,-4 and 8,-4. Negative X is
793 / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ to the left (to the East) of 0,0 just as
794 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 in your high school math courses. However,
795 negative Y is above (to the North of) 0,0.
796 Figure 3 This is different from high school math.
797 Example of an Empire map Why the maps have coordinates in this way
798 is one of the great mysteries of Empire.
799 ----------------------------------
802 Figure 4 below is a real map of Empire, in its real size and form.
803 Figure 3 is "zoomed in". Note that the '?' marks on the right part of
804 the map belong to a neighboring country. In this figure all wilderness
805 type sectors have been designated into something other than a
806 wilderness There are several mountains, and a lot of ocean visible as
811 User's Guide to Empire 19
813 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
815 [309:112] Command : map #1
816 33333322222222221111111111---------00000000001111111111222222
817 5432109876543210987654321098765432101234567890123456789012345
818 -3 + + + + + . . . . . . . . + . . . . . . . -3
819 -2 a ^ + m ^ + . . . . o . + . . . . . . . . -2
820 -1 + + + + + + + + . . . a o a . + + + . . . . -1
821 0 + + + + + + + g o o o + + + . + o c m . . . 0
822 1 + + ^ o + a j m g w g ^ ^ m + j j + . + . . . 1
823 2 + + a + + + + + + + + . b j + m + w + . . . . . . 2
824 3 + a . a a + b + m o j + t + + + + + + . + . + + + . . ? ? ? 3
825 4 . . . . . a g + ^ + m + + l ^ ^ ^ + o + + + + + + + + ? + ? 4
826 5 + . . + + + + + ^ + ^ m + j ^ ^ c + m + + + + + + + ^ + + + ^ 5
827 6 . . . + + ^ + + + + m + + o o + k + + + + + + ^ ^ + + + + 6
828 7 . + + + + + + + + o m + a o + e + + + ^ ^ a + + + + + ? 7
829 8 . + + + + a + ^ + g d m + w m + m + + + + + ^ + + + + ? 8
830 9 . + + + + + + + + + + + k + g t + + + + + + + + ? ? ? ? 9
831 10 . . + + + + ^ + ^ ^ g + + + p g + i g + + + + ? 10
832 11 . + + + + + ^ + + + ^ + + m + g o + g + + + + + ? ? ? ? 11
833 12 . + + + + + + + + + + + g g + + + + g + + + + + + + + ? 12
834 13 . + + + + + + + + + + + + + g + g m + w + + + + + + + + ? 13
835 14 . . . + + + + + + + + + + + g + + m + + + + + + + + + + 14
836 15 . + + + + + + a + + + + + + + + m + + + + + + + a + + + + 15
837 33333322222222221111111111---------00000000001111111111222222
838 5432109876543210987654321098765432101234567890123456789012345
841 Realistic version of an Empire map
843 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
845 The following listing is taken directly from the command
846 'info sector-types' in the game. There is a lengthy description of
847 each sector type also in this command, but I have omitted it here
851 User's Guide to Empire 20
854 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
857 BASICS INDUSTRIES MILITARY / SCIENTIFIC
858 . sea d defense plant t technical center
859 ^ mountain i shell industry f fortress
860 s sanctuary m mine r research lab
861 / wasteland g gold mine n nuclear plant
862 - wilderness h harbor l library/school
863 c capital w warehouse e enlistment center
864 p park u uranium mine
865 COMMUNICATIONS * airfield FINANCIAL
866 + highway a agribusiness b bank
867 ) radar installation o oil field
868 j light manufacturing
869 # bridge head k heavy manufacturing
870 = bridge span % refinery
873 Table of sector types and designations
875 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
877 As you can see, there are a wide variety of sector types in Empire.
878 However, until your country becomes populated the most useful sector
879 is the highway ('+'), for it allows you to move things around easier,
880 even if the highway has only begun being constructed
883 Summary: Empire maps are based on a simple hex design, with the movement
884 keys based similarly around the letter h on standard keyboards.
885 These movement keys are a basic tool in Empire and must be learned.
888 User's Guide to Empire 21
890 Chapter 5 :-: The beginning phases of Empire.
893 Typically a game starts with a `speed' phase. If it does not, then
894 initial play can get boring quickly. A `speed' opening also demands
895 more time for the period when the updates are frequent, but hopefully,
896 that will be balanced by your efficient country and the less time
897 spent running it when your classes/real life demand more time.
899 There are several opening strategies for Empire players. I am going
900 to go through a few of them here. If you feel you can make a better
901 strategy feel free to do so.
903 Basically, all strategies for the opening phases revolve around a
904 few basic ideas. First, you want to secure as much land for yourself
905 as possible. Secondly, if you share an island with some other person,
906 you want to leave yourself in a strategically advantageous position
907 against your opponent, optimally to surround him/her before s/he breaks
908 sanctuary. These two ideas are the most important things to consider
909 prior to the first update. There are other things to consider, which
910 will be reviewed later.
912 It is highly important for you, the player, to begin playing the game
913 as soon as the game begins. If you do not, you risk being surrounded
914 before the first update. Furthermore, not breaking sanctuary prior to
915 the first update can cost you a great deal in terms of population
916 growth and the establishment of your economy.
918 Some players will use tools, which are reviewed in chapter 14, to
919 break sanctuary and occupy land from the beginning. There are other
920 means to aid your land occupation as well. If you have a programmable
921 terminal, or terminal program, you can program a key to contain a
922 particular command such as "explore civ 0,0 1 jjjujuuu". This could
923 be a path along a line of land that you have already occupied, and
924 wish to expand beyond. If you had to repeatedly type in that command
925 and path you would take a much greater amount of time to occupy land.
926 This can also be done through X windows, using the mouse and cut/paste
929 There are a few different theories on how to explore out from your
930 sanctuaries to claim as much land as possible for yourself.
932 In the following maps, the square island shown is entirely wilderness
933 except for the two sanctuaries in the middle. It is important to note
934 that prior to exploring the entire island, the only thing you would
935 be able to see on your map would be this:
938 User's Guide to Empire 22
949 It is your job to explore the island, while occupying, or securing for
950 yourself, as much land as possible. Note that for the sake of
951 simplicity I have not placed another country on this example island.
952 If a sector is a "+","c", or "s" it is an occupied (by you) sector.
953 If it's a "-" it's a wilderness sector, and if you can move into it,
954 it is unoccupied. This is an important piece of information. If you
955 can note move into a wilderness sector it means that it is occupied by
956 another country. Note that "." are seas, as indicated in chapter 5.
957 The basic commands to complete this exploration are 'explore' and
958 'designate'. Learn about those commands either from chapter 4 or
959 the game before attempting these theories.
961 First, I show the entire island prior to your breaking sanctuary and
964 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
966 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
967 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
968 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
969 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
970 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
971 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
972 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
973 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - s s - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
974 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
975 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
976 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
977 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
978 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
979 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
980 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
981 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
984 Unexplored island prior to breaking sanctuary
986 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
988 Next, I show theory 1, occupying in a concentric circle.
989 Note that once you have broken sanctuary (using the 'break'
990 command) that your two sanctuary sectors immediately become
991 capitals, with your real capital at 0,0.
994 User's Guide to Empire 23
997 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
999 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1000 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1001 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1002 . - - - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1003 . - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1004 . - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - .
1005 . - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - .
1006 . - - - - - - - - + + + + + c c + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - .
1007 . - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - .
1008 . - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - .
1009 . - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1010 . - - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1011 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1012 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1013 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1014 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1017 Island showing exploration using theory 1
1019 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1021 So far, 84 sectors have been occupied. Now I show theory 2,
1022 occupying in spokes with concentric hexes spaced every few sectors
1025 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1027 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1028 . - - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1029 . - - - - - - - - - + + - - - - - + + - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1030 . - - - - - - - - - + - + - - - - + - + - - - - - - - - - - - .
1031 . - - - - - - - - + - - + + + + + - - + - - - - - - - - - - - .
1032 . - - - - - - - - + - - + + - - + + - - + - - - - - - - - - - .
1033 . - - - - - - - + - - + - + + + - + - - + - - - - - - - - - - .
1034 . - - - - - - - + + + + + + c c + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - .
1035 . - - - - - - - + - - + - + + + - + - - + - - - - - - - - - - .
1036 . - - - - - - - - + - - + + - - + + - - + - - - - - - - - - - .
1037 . - - - - - - - - + - - + + + + + - - + - - - - - - - - - - - .
1038 . - - - - - - - - - + - + - - - - + - + - - - - - - - - - - - .
1039 . - - - - - - - - - + + - - - - - + + - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1040 . - - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1041 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1042 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1045 Island showing exploration using theory 2
1047 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1051 User's Guide to Empire 24
1053 Now, 84 sectors have once again been occupied. However, an additional
1054 56 sectors are now within the borders of your country. Thus, securing
1055 a total of 140 sectors for yourself. The disadvantage? You have three
1056 lines of occupation ( the "+" sectors) between the center of your
1057 country and unsecured wilderness. In theory 1, the same number of
1058 sectors provides for 4 lines for most of the country. Another
1059 disadvantage is that it costs more mobility to use theory 2. The more
1060 lines of occupation you have between the central areas of your
1061 country and the unexplored wilderness or an enemy the easier it is
1062 to defend your country.
1064 A third theory is the idea of coastal occupation as a means of securing
1065 a large island. The idea being to secure the land immediately around
1066 you and then explore in one direction until you find seas, and then
1067 proceed to occupy the coast:
1069 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1071 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1072 . + + + + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1073 . + - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1074 . + - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1075 . + - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1076 . + - - - - - - - - - - - + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1077 . + - - - - - - - - - - + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1078 . + - - - - - - - - - - + + c c + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - .
1079 . + - - - - - - - - - - + + + + + - - - - - + - - - - - - - - .
1080 . + - - - - - - - - - - - + + + + - - - - - - + - - - - - - - .
1081 . + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - .
1082 . + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - .
1083 . + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - .
1084 . + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - .
1085 . + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + - - - - - .
1086 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1089 Island showing exploration using theory 3
1091 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1093 Here, once again, 84 sectors have been occupied. In addition, 179
1094 sectors of wilderness have been secured, ie cut off from another
1095 country. This brings a total of 263 sectors occupied or secured.
1096 This is obviously impressive. However, it has its drawbacks as well.
1097 If there was a country bordering this country, that country would
1098 need only to attack and occupy one of your sectors and then they
1099 could explore into all of the "secured" sectors. In addition, there
1100 are only 2-3 lines of occupied sectors between the borders and the
1101 center of the country. This also costs more in terms of mobility than
1102 either theory 1 or 2.
1104 The next section contains a strategy submitted by Scott Yelich. Scott
1105 adheres in this summary to theory 1 as his method of exploration:
1108 User's Guide to Empire 25
1111 "Designate one of the two initial [sanctuary] capital sectors to
1112 an agricultural center. Then move a civ out from either sector to
1113 either 1,-1 or 1,1 and designate it a +. Then, I continue to move out
1114 one civilian at a time from both of my initial sectors. Only move
1115 the civ one spot into the wilderness and then I designate that sector
1116 as a highway (+). Then, do a map to see if there is anything
1117 especially interesting... such as, a mountain, more land or ANOTHER
1118 PLAYER. Of course, Only do that map at certain times... it's not
1119 necessary to do a map after EVERY explore since explore will show you
1120 a one sector radius!
1122 [Editor's note: exploring with one civilian across a wilderness sector
1123 takes .8 mobility. Across a highway, even a 0% highway, it will cost
1124 only .2 mobility. Thus, the reason for designating new land as soon
1125 as you occupy it. You will conserve mobility if you only explore into
1126 lands bordering your new highways.]
1128 "Here is where quick action comes into play. If you spot any controlled
1129 sectors (?) or a (-) that can't be entered (if you can note move into the
1130 sector it is occupied by someone else! hurry!), try to make a boarder as
1131 quick as possible by following the pattern above... move one civ, look,
1132 repeat. If you don't find any controlled sectors, simply [try] to
1133 AVOID MOUNTAINS at ALL costs... especially during the first couple of
1134 updates. Typically, from 30 to 70 sectors can be grabbed this way
1135 within the first minute or two.
1137 "To sum up, the strategy for this is: 1) You want to see who is out there,
1138 2) You want to see what land is out there, 3) when you take more sectors
1139 during the initial updates, you will get more mobility each update
1140 (typically 8, 'version' will tell...). Anyway, the more sectors you grab
1141 with the first update, the more you can grab the second. It's like an
1142 exponential function."
1145 This next section is a strategy submitted by Geoff Cashman. Geoff
1146 adheres in this summary to theory 2 as his method for exploration:
1148 "The basic strategy of moving one sector into the wilderness and then
1149 designate them with a command such as this: designate #1 ?des=- + which will
1150 designate all sectors in realm #1 that are wilderness into highways, is a
1151 common one. Using it wisely is not always done. My personal method is to
1152 expand only in a few directions, ie 3-6 different directions from your 0,0 2,0
1153 area. The idea here being to make "spokes" of exploration radiating out from
1154 your 0,0 and 2,0 area. Using this method, you can use less mobility and see
1155 more land though not actually own more land until after the first update.
1156 Another advantage is you might reach an opponent before s/he reaches you. A
1157 weakness is that an opponent can explore inbetween your spokes. If I feel
1158 this is possible inbetween two spokes then I connect the spokes via concentric
1159 (on 2,0 0,0 ) arc several sectors out from the 0,0. If you do not use this
1160 method, then you would use up all of your mobility to achieve the same number
1161 of sectors by the second update.
1165 User's Guide to Empire 26
1167 "Why save mobility? Mobility in the 0,0 sector is especially critical.
1168 The reason is because the 0,0 starts out with 999 civs. If a sector has
1169 999 or more civs it will not give birth to more civilians. Half of the
1170 battle in winning Empire is population explosion at the beginning of the
1171 game...ESPECIALLY if you get involved in a low tech war with a neighbor
1172 early on. More population means more resources mined, more supportable
1173 military, and more taxpayers. If you are going to be a tech producer then
1174 it may be desirable to limit population, but early on I do not recommend
1175 it. So, with 999 civs in your 0,0 sector you need to be able to move out
1176 many civs (depends on the number of ETUs per update (see the version command)
1177 as to how many you should move out, see number of births per 1,000 civs per
1178 etu in the version command). Thus, my strategy is slightly different.
1179 I concentrate on getting a 100% highway built at 1,-1 or 1,1. Why those
1180 sectors? because I can then use the mobility in 1,-1 or 1,1 to move civs
1181 or products into 2,0."
1184 The use of the third theory requires a player with some experience
1185 to deal with its shortcomings. For the beginner, I do not recommend
1188 The following was submitted by another player to point out their means
1189 of establishing their production and the beginning stages of their
1192 "Setting up a distribution network, even with inefficient warehouses, is
1193 fairly critical early on. If you starve civilians in the beginning of the
1194 game, you will fall behind in production. It is not uncommon to lose
1195 contact with the game for a day or more due to net failures. Do not
1196 depend on your capability to connect to the game to feed your civilians.
1198 "Some people never leave their 0,0 or 2,0 designated as a capital during the
1199 beginning of the game. They check the resources in 0,0 and then determine if
1200 it's suitable for being a mine or a gold mine. If neither, then they designate
1201 2,0 into a mine. If mine, then 2,0 becomes a gold mine. Using this method
1202 they can get maximum production from their civilians that are essentially
1203 trapped for the time being in their 0,0 and 2,0 sectors due to lack of
1204 mobility. Note that in doing this that you must conserve BTUs. Having
1205 a 0% efficient capital somewhere else will cause a lack of production of
1206 BTUs. You must be careful not to run out of BTUs completely, or it could
1207 cause you a great deal of grief.
1210 "NOTE: IT IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TO LEAVE A CAPITAL ON THE COAST AFTER
1211 ANYONE PRODUCES A BOAT. Until that time, a capital on the coast is
1212 an advantage in some ways. It is easier to defend (less places that
1213 it can be attacked from). You MUST get some civilians into the capital
1214 at -2,0 (about 50) before the first update along with some food.
1215 In general, your capital will not produce BTUs for a while, but neither
1216 do you need them for a while. However, leave your 0,0 sector as your
1217 capital until JUST prior (like 2-4 minutes, make it 10 to be safe) to
1218 the update. Does this all sound complicated? Yep. But it works.
1222 User's Guide to Empire 27
1225 "After the first or second update I will occupy the remaining wilderness
1226 that I can see, using the mobility from the sectors that I explored into
1227 in the previous update. I will then continue to move civs out of 0,0 and
1228 into 1,-1 or 1,1 (the highway that I am trying to make 100%) and move from
1229 there. If I am not going for tech production then I don't need the library
1230 or parks (you can still make education, it helps in some regards, but for
1231 the most part you don't need it if you are not going the way of tech.
1233 You can then pretty much do as you please and work towards the goals you
1234 think are reasonable for your country. "
1236 One matter that can not be overlooked by any player is the simple
1237 fact that people need food to survive. If a sector has less than
1238 60 people in it total, including civs, soldiers, and uws, then it
1239 will not starve. But if after the update it has more than 60 total
1240 people will starve. Make sure to feed your people!
1242 Ultimately, you want to take over every sector on your island.
1243 If you have neighbors on your island, you will probably have to share.
1244 Just try to get a bigger portion of it than your neighbors do.
1246 Summary: There are several basic ideas expressed in this chapter:
1247 1) Break sanctuary as soon as the game begins.
1248 2) Secure as much land for yourself as possible.
1249 3) Use your civilians efficiently.
1250 4) Do not allow your 0,0 sector to have a lot of civs in it.
1251 5) Get a distribution system set up early (explained later).
1255 User's Guide to Empire 28
1257 Chapter 6 :-: Diplomacy.
1259 It's your own ruin or success. One of the best players of the game
1260 (who shall go un-named) has had severe problems due to lack of skill
1261 in diplomacy. Remember, there is another person on the other end of
1262 that telegram. They are human like you are, and like to be treated
1263 like it for the most part. There are jerks, and there are non-jerks.
1264 Determine for yourself and go along with what you think is best, but
1265 remember, it is ok to lose a few battles so long as you win the war.
1266 A diplomatic loss can be an overall victory.
1268 One of the most powerful weapons in the game is information.
1269 What types of information can you use to your benefit? Information on;
1270 the locality of other countries, the plans of opponents, the trading
1271 going on between certain countries, etc. There is also a very powerful
1272 tool right here in this document: how to play the game well. There
1273 was a classic case of a country (myself) who accidentally announced
1274 his attention to attack a bordering country. The bordering country
1275 happened to be on, an began an attack. The attack stalemated for the
1276 most part because of the obvious inexperience of the person running
1277 that country. I offered information to him on how to play the game
1278 better in exchange for his surrender and some other terms of agreement.
1279 I turned a horrendous diplomatic mistake into a diplomatic success
1280 within two hours. This is obviously the rare case (surprised me too),
1281 but is a good example of the power of information.
1283 Another aspect of diplomacy is style. You project a style in your
1284 telegrams and announcements whether it is intentional or not. If
1285 people like you they tend to side with you more than the next guy.
1286 Of course, if you are a jerk but a powerful one people tend to
1287 reluctantly side with you. Then again, they are more likely to
1290 While I am on that subject: Backstabbing is a bad idea in general.
1291 It leads to distrust of many players with regards to yourself and tends
1292 to give yourself backstabbist's wrist if you do it too much. Even if
1293 you change your country name from game to game people tend to pick
1294 out who the major jerks are and their previous names or even net
1295 addresses. Trust is important. If you have allies you can trust
1296 implicitly you will sleep a lot better at night and also have people
1297 who you can trust to run your country for you while you are away for a
1298 few days pursuing real world goals. If you are going to backstab
1299 someone crush them while you can and make sure their allies can not
1300 get at you. Furthermore, make the world see that the person was a
1301 fool for trusting you in the first place (like, due to previous war
1302 or some such). Sometimes, that extra attack you get without
1303 interference from automatic defenses due to a declaration of alliance
1304 with your opponent can be critical. You can also map an opponent
1305 country if you are allied with them and they will never know it.
1306 Thus another good reason why you should be trustable and can trust
1307 other close allies. Having allies is important, especially
1308 in the current market games.
1312 User's Guide to Empire 29
1314 A) What is diplomacy?
1315 The dictionary defines diplomacy as "1: The art and practice of
1316 conducting negotiations between nations. 2: Skill in handling
1317 affairs without arousing hostility." The second definition may
1318 not be entirely accurate in that in Empire, diplomacy can sometimes
1319 be used to cause battles, rather than avoid them, to gain a particular
1320 end. I will go into this later.
1322 B) What purpose, diplomacy?
1323 Since Empire is a multi-user game the diplomacy side of the game
1324 is one of the main factors inherent to its playing. Being able
1325 to interact with other players, make bargains, treaties, alliances,
1326 sales, war, etc. leads to an incredibly variety of possible
1327 scenarios among various countries. In asking, what purpose is
1328 there to diplomacy, it must first be realized that diplomacy in
1329 the game of Empire is virtually unavoidable. To what degree
1330 you involve yourself in diplomacy is the true measure.
1332 Diplomacy can be utterly disastrous for you. It can also be
1333 very beneficial. It can also be a mediocre tool that goes mostly
1334 unused. If you master the techniques of diplomacy you will find
1335 yourself with a very valuable and powerful tool. If you fail
1336 at grasping the basic concepts of diplomacy, then you may find
1337 yourself the quick victim of a diplomatic trick.
1339 C) General types of relations amongst nations in Empire
1340 1) No contact. The two countries have never been in contact.
1341 2) Allies. Several types:
1342 a) Old friends, or local site friends.
1343 b) People whom you trust more than other people
1344 in the game, but are not entirely comfortable with.
1345 Nevertheless, you ally with them for lack of allies.
1346 c) Enemy allies. People whom you ally with whom you
1348 d) Undeclared allies. You conduct a lot of business with
1349 the country, but you do not officially declare your
1351 3) Hostile. Generally speaking, any country who is unfriendly
1352 towards you. May not necessarily be declared hostile.
1353 4) At war. If you have not figured out what this means, stop
1354 reading, never play Empire, and go back to elementary school :-)
1355 5) Neutral. The broadest category. You've dealt with this person
1356 but have not decided one way or another your relations. It might
1357 be a person from a previous game or a total unknown.
1359 d) Types of diplomacy
1361 You interact with the country on a very high level. Whatever
1362 their relations with you, a lot of correspondence is going on.
1363 This is probably the easiest form of diplomacy to invoke.
1364 2) Passive diplomacy
1365 Low level contact only. In essence, you do not work with
1366 this country. Some goals served by this: Country in question
1369 User's Guide to Empire 30
1371 learns little about you; Country in question may give you more
1372 info than you give him or her; etc..
1373 3) Indirect diplomacy
1374 Diplomacy through a middle country to another country. This
1375 is most often seen in situations where a known friend is an
1376 ally of a country you want to be allied with. You attempt
1377 to use your friend to convince the prospective ally to ally
1380 Being the middle person in a triad or more of allies that
1381 may not be already allied. This can be a VERY dangerous
1382 position to be in. The other sides of the triad or more
1383 may have certain expectations of you, which go against what
1384 another country may want from you. This is essentially
1387 E) Some goals that can be achieved through diplomacy:
1388 1) Getting another country to ally with you so that you can
1389 overfly his country at will without planes scrambling.
1390 2) Getting two countries whom you dislike to go to war against
1392 3) Getting another country to perform an act that is beneficial
1393 to you or your allies.
1394 4) Getting a reduction in price of certain commodities or articles
1395 from another country.
1397 6) Assisting in destroying an enemy.
1401 One of the most dangerous means by which diplomacy can be used was
1402 written about in the book "Red Storm Rising" by Tom Clancy. If you
1403 have not already read this book and you are an Empire buff, it is
1404 strongly recommended reading. This method is referred to as "The
1405 Maskirovka" or "Masquerade". It is often referred to as the "big lie"
1406 by the victims of this trick. Essentially it works as follows:
1408 a) You wish to attack another country, but would like to have things
1409 sightly different before the attack begins.
1410 o You may want that person to be your ally before the attack
1411 so you can overfly him/her without being shot down.
1412 o You might want to get him/her to give you a loan prior to
1414 o You might want them to move their fleet off in another
1415 direction or in closer to your forts.
1416 o You might want them to give you certain materials of war
1417 that you can use in your attack against them.
1418 All of these things and much more can be accomplished with
1419 the concept of maskirovka. Decide what you want to achieve.
1420 b) You set out to give the impression to the target country that you
1421 are in a particular state of matters. This can be accomplished
1422 in various ways depending on what you are trying to achieve.
1423 You can have another country attack you for instance to make it
1426 User's Guide to Empire 31
1428 appear that you need military arms or supplies to hold them off.
1429 This is one small example of what can be done. Ensure that the
1430 image you are presenting can ultimately lead to getting what you
1431 want to achieve accomplished.
1432 c) You must be convincing in your impression. Use all means reasonable
1433 to ensure the target country is getting the right image. Using
1434 e-mail with collaborating countries to coordinate such matters
1436 d) As you begin feeling that you have achieved the correct image,
1437 begin asking the target country for whatever it is you are trying
1438 to achieve. Do not come right out and say it. That may cause
1439 the whole trick to collapse on you. Approach it sideways so to
1440 speak, and try to get the target country to offer whatever it is
1441 without you directly asking for it.
1442 e) If the country agrees to the transaction of events you are seeking,
1443 all is well and good. You have achieved your goal. Keep in mind
1444 that if you have played the maskirovka well, you have not yet
1445 committed yourself in any particular direction with any sense of
1446 strong commitment. At this point, you can always back down from
1447 your further goals for which the maskirovka was designed to help.
1448 The maskirovka at this point will have given you a more favorable
1449 situation without having committed yourself. It may also have
1450 enabled you to see more into the mind of your opponent, often
1451 a valuable commodity.
1452 f) If you have failed in your maskirovka, you may still have made
1453 some gains. You again might know more about your opponent than
1454 before. You might have reached some of your goals that the
1455 maskirovka set out to accomplish. Lastly, you have not committed
1456 yourself in any particular direction, yet you have tried to
1457 enhance your position. Not a bad proposition.
1459 There are many variations to maskirovkas. The guides listed above are
1460 very general at best, and are meant more to give you an idea of how to
1461 build a plan for maskirovka than anything else.
1463 Chess players who have ever played in matches or tournaments will
1464 probably feel right at home in scheming a maskirovka. You must try to
1465 get into the mind of your opponent, understand what s/he sees from
1466 his/her vantage point and get a feel for how you think s/he will
1467 respond. You must think as if you were your opponent. Understand
1468 their vantage point as best as you can. Do not think of what you
1469 would do in a given situation, think what they would do. Think
1470 consequences to every action you can take.
1472 This usage of diplomacy is "active diplomacy", sometimes mixed with
1473 "indirect diplomacy".
1475 Another oft seen ploy of sorts is one in which you befriend a dying
1476 rich country. They may be on there way out, and there may not be a
1477 whole hell of a lot you can do for them. However, befriending them
1478 towards the end may bring you gifts of money or lower market prices
1479 from them when they dissolve. Show sympathy for their situation.
1480 You can be sincere, or you may chose not to be. Sometimes a dying
1483 User's Guide to Empire 32
1485 country has no friends to whom they will leave their money. If your
1486 the first to show sympathy, they may be willing to give you much in
1487 return. This is an active form of diplomacy, but is rarely seen
1488 except after a long period of passiveness relative to that country.
1490 Posturing. Probably the most common form of diplomacy. This basically
1491 means presenting an image to a possible attacker that you are more
1492 capable than you appear. In general, people tend to believe it.
1493 Consider the simple fact that generally speaking a good Empire player
1494 spends a lot of time working on his or her country. Then, let them
1495 believe through posturing that they are at a greater risk than
1496 they actually are. They may tend to get possessive about their
1497 country and not want to risk its destruction and the eventual loss
1498 of so many sleepless nights and hours building the country in the
1502 Summary: Diplomacy is a powerful tool. Some players consider it the
1503 most powerful aspect of the game. In many ways that can be shown
1504 to be true. However, do not let other facets of your country
1505 decline and spend a huge amount of time building an excellent
1506 diplomatic situation. The success or failure of diplomacy depends a
1507 great deal on the other players perception of your words. If your
1508 diplomacy fails, you may find that you will be forced to back up what
1509 you say with military force.
1513 User's Guide to Empire 33
1515 Chapter 7 :-: Setting up your defenses.
1517 There are various means of "automatic" defense that Empire employs
1518 against enemy invaders. These can be outlined in three major areas:
1520 1: Home air defenses
1522 Empire has numerous planes and plane capabilities. The higher
1523 your tech level, the better the planes you can build. For
1524 automatic defenses you are concerned with planes that have the
1525 "intercept" capability listed next to them in the command,
1528 Generally speaking, as some games diverge from this list, the
1529 planes that have intercept capability are:
1530 a: Fighter 1 (also has VTOL capability)
1532 c: Escort 2 (in SOME games)
1534 e: Jet fighter 2 (also has VTOL capability)
1536 These planes are based out of airbases (except for the VTOL
1537 planes which can scramble from airbases and non-airbase
1538 sectors) and will automatically intercept incoming enemy
1541 notes: 1: Planes will only scramble if there is petrol in
1542 the sector they are scrambling from.
1543 2: Airbases must be at 60% or better efficiency to
1544 scramble. This does not apply to other sectors
1545 from which VTOL planes are scrambling, nor does it
1546 apply to VTOL planes in airports.
1548 In this version of Empire it is VERY important to have a good
1549 home air defense network. Having a great many planes with
1550 intercept capability without proper planning is not a good
1551 defense. You must learn to use the planes wisely.
1553 Hints for good home air defense:
1554 1: Have airports within intercept range of each other.
1555 A plane's intercept range is 1/2 of its range indicated
1556 in the command 'show planes c'. For example:
1559 User's Guide to Empire 34
1562 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1564 [513:36] Command : show planes c
1565 acc load att def ran fuel abilities
1566 Sopwith Camel, fight 30 1 3 2 6 1 tactical intercept VTOL light
1567 TBD-1 Devastator, lt 30 2 1 2 8 1 bomber tactical VTOL light
1568 C-56 Lodestar, trans 0 7 0 1 15 2 cargo
1569 B-26B Marauder, hvy 85 6 2 3 15 2 bomber
1572 Results from 'show planes capability'
1574 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1576 In this list of planes, only the Sopwith Camel plane is
1577 capable of interception. It has a range of 6, and thus
1578 it can intercept enemy planes up to 3 sectors away from
1579 the sector it is based in. Have your planes based in
1580 sectors that are three sectors away from each other.
1581 2: Always have a substantial number of military in your
1582 airports. It is all too easy for an enemy to track
1583 down your airport and capture it, thus possibly destroying
1584 all your planes, and in the very least taking them
1586 3: Ensure that all sectors that you have planes based in
1587 have a sufficient amount of petrol for them. Note that in
1588 the above figure, the Sopwith Camel uses 1 fuel per
1589 mission. Thus, having 10 or more petrol per Sopwith
1590 would be sufficient.
1591 4: Do not base your entire defense on non-VTOL capable
1592 interceptors. If you do, then your enemy can remove
1593 your air defenses just by taking out your airports.
1594 Sopwith Camels (Fighter 1s) and Jet Fighter 2s are
1595 the VTOL intercept capable planes. Sopwith Camels
1596 generally become useless for intercept duty as the
1597 game wears on. After all, a paper airplane can not
1598 put up with cannon fire from an F-15 for very long!
1599 5: It is a good idea to have each sector in your country
1600 covered by at least two airbases (or non airbases from
1601 which your are basing VTOL planes). This makes it more
1602 difficult for your enemy to locate where your airbases are.
1606 Forts will automatically fire on any enemy army units that
1607 attack land of the defending nation, assuming that the guns
1608 in the fort have the range to reach the aggressor. This
1609 also assumes that the fort has shells and military.
1611 Fort gun range is determined by multiplying the number of guns
1612 in the fort by the technology factor of the nation. This
1613 number can be found in the nation report [see command: nation].
1616 User's Guide to Empire 35
1618 Here's an example of calculating your gun range:
1620 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1622 [77:144] Command : nation
1624 Terminus Nation Report Sun Oct 20 18:27:08 1991
1625 Nation status is ACTIVE Bureaucratic Time Units: 144
1626 100% eff capital at -3,5 has 999 civilians & 0 military
1627 # 0 -70:-40,-30:-16 # 1 -35:25,-3:15 # 2 -30:15,-4:7
1628 # 3 -45:5,7:22 # 4 -45:5,7:17 # 5 -65:-20,-31:0
1629 # 6 -65:-20,-12:0 # 7 -80:-30,-5:10 # 8 -8:10,-5:5
1630 # 9 -32:32,11:22 #10 -50:18,-12:10 #11 -40:-10,-5:5
1631 #12 -38:29,-3:23 #13 -65:30,-18:6 #14 -20:20,16:22
1632 #15 -30:30,-3:23 #16 -40:20,7:25 #17 -80:30,-30:23
1633 The treasury has $57485.00 Military reserves: 1676
1634 Education.......... 17.78 Happiness....... 13.42
1635 Technology......... 52.78 Research........ 1.44
1636 Technology factor : 40.66% Plague factor : 1.51%
1639 Results from a 'nation' report
1641 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1643 To calculate the gun range, multiply the number of guns in
1644 the fort (up to a maximum of seven) by the number listed in
1645 "Technology factor" which is shown in this figure as 40.66.
1646 Then, divide the resulting number by one hundred and that
1647 is the number of sectors away the gun can fire at. In this
1648 case, if you have seven guns the resulting range is 2.85
1649 sectors. Effectively, the fort can fire just short of three
1652 There is an additional aspect of forts which make them
1653 useful as defensive sectors. Military forces inside of
1654 a fort have four times the defensive factor of military in
1655 most other sectors. Ie, 100 soldiers in a fort is equal to
1656 400 regular troops if they are defending the fort.
1658 Also note that forts can not be taken by paratroops dropped
1659 from planes. They can only be taken via amphibious assault
1660 and overland attack.
1662 Forts are generally useful along your border sectors early
1663 in the game and later on in the game throughout your country.
1664 Ensure that they each have sufficient (seven or more) guns
1665 and shells each, when you are able to devote that many guns
1666 and shells to them. Forts are sometimes very critical when
1667 your country is being over run.
1671 User's Guide to Empire 36
1675 Your navy will defend itself if it has the capability to do
1676 so. Ships do not automatically come with guns when they are
1677 built; they must be provided with guns and shells by loading
1678 them onto the respective ship. Most ships have the capability
1679 to fire guns. Should a ship of your nation be attacked, it
1680 will defend itself if it can. In addition, ships within range
1681 will also retaliate. Note that submarines will *not* fire
1682 no matter how often they are fired at.
1684 Ships will not defend your land sectors.
1686 If ships are attacked from the air, they will fire their
1687 anti-aircraft guns (which are the same as your regular guns,
1688 and again are not automatically installed upon their
1689 construction). Anti-aircraft guns on ships are pretty much
1690 worthless on defense. Additionally, if enemy planes fly
1691 over your ships but do not attack those ships, your ships
1692 will not fire on them. Thus having a line of ships as
1693 radar pickets will not work.
1695 In addition to these three major modes of automatic defense, there
1696 are a few more minor ones.
1698 Any gun in any sector of yours that is overflown by enemy planes
1699 will fire on those planes if it has shells, guns, and military
1702 Military in any sector of yours that is attacked will automatically
1703 fight back to the best of its ability. There is no such thing as
1704 retreat in automatic military fighting. In addition, there are three
1705 sectors which multiply the effectiveness of military within them.
1706 We have already mentioned forts in this capacity, in that they
1707 multiply the effectiveness of troops within them by four. Capitals
1708 and Banks multiply troops effectiveness by two, when on the defensive.
1710 Also note that Capitals and Forts, as previously mentioned, can not
1711 be taken by airborne paratroopers. Neither can mountains.
1713 Lastly, should sectors of yours be taken, the enemy will have to deal
1714 with your patriotic guerrillas. Guerrillas will attempt to retake
1715 sectors from the enemy every update until they are defeated (which
1716 takes some time). They are large in numbers, but have been known to
1717 reach strengths of a hundred or more soldiers, though this is rare.
1718 If they can not hope to retake the sector they may try to blow things
1719 up in the sector the enemy has conquered. This results in loss of
1720 efficiency to the sector as well as reduction in the work capability
1723 You have *no* control over your guerrillas whatsoever. They are
1724 completely automatic. Should guerrillas win a sector back from your
1725 enemy then the surviving guerrillas become members of your regular
1728 User's Guide to Empire 37
1730 military, and you can use them as such.
1732 If your guerrillas manage to take a sector back behind enemy lines
1733 it is possible for you to enlist reservists in that sector. In
1734 so doing, you may throw a major thorn into the side of your attacker.
1735 This is a major reason for maintaining a large amount of reserves.
1737 Summary: Automatic defenses in Empire are a critical part of every country.
1738 If your country can not defend itself then you can expect to be
1739 quickly over run. Use the automatic defenses described in this
1740 chapter, and you will become a more difficult opponent. Remember
1741 the three basic areas of automatic defense. In addition, keep in
1742 mind that your airforce is probably the most important component of
1743 your automatic defenses.
1747 User's Guide to Empire 38
1749 Chapter 8 :-: Nuclear warfare.
1751 Nuclear war in Empire is not currently the dreaded end of the world
1752 doomsday machine it is in the real world. Nuclear weapons in the
1753 standard release of Empire have no fallout, no radiation, no dust
1754 clouds, etc. Nuclear weapons in Empire are essentially big
1755 conventional bombs. They are "clean" weapons in that the only
1756 difference between them and conventional bombs is that they are
1757 bigger and create nuclear wasteland.
1759 As such, a nuclear war is much more survivable.
1761 There are several things that you need in order to wage nuclear
1762 war against an enemy. First, you need the nuclear warheads themselves.
1763 You will also need a missile or plane of sufficient type and range to
1764 launch the warheads on. Lastly, you need to have target information,
1765 ie where to land the nuclear warhead to cause the damage you want it
1768 Next, you need to decide if it is worth the cost to wage a nuclear
1769 war. Should the enemy country know where you are, and have the means
1770 to retaliate in kind, s/he will most likely do so. This can cause
1771 grave damage to your own country, and eliminate any gains you may have
1772 achieved by beginning a nuclear war.
1774 There is also the large chance of great diplomatic cost. Most
1775 countries do not tend to favor countries that rely on nuclear weapons
1776 for victory, since it is the "easy" way out.
1778 However, the scenario that the beginner needs to be most concerned
1779 about is being the victim of a nuclear attack. Most beginners never
1780 come close to achieving enough strength to have an effective nuclear
1781 force. It may take several games before you become practiced enough
1782 to maintain an economy and military that is capable of having the
1783 resources, etc. necessary for such a force. Nuclear weapons can be
1784 bought from larger powers, however the beginner still rarely tends
1787 In the event that you are attacked with nuclear weapons you need
1788 to take immediate steps in order to ensure your survival. You must
1789 first decide if it is in fact worth it for you to continue. Most
1790 nuclear attacks are survivable. In many cases, you may be hit by
1791 only one warhead. Depending on the size of your country, a small
1792 number of warheads hitting you is survivable. This all assumes the
1793 warheads are of the 5mt variety. 5mt warheads create a wasteland
1794 that is 5 sectors long from left to right. 3mt warheads create
1795 wasteland that is 3 sectors from left to right. Diameter in both
1796 cases is the same north-south as east-west. These are the only
1797 nuclear weapons that can really create serious problems for you.
1798 Other nuclear weapons cause problems, but are essentially nuisances
1799 that can be easily overcome.
1801 The following is a map of your -20:0,-10:3 region. You have been
1804 User's Guide to Empire 39
1806 hit with a 3mt nuclear warhead at your sector -12,-6. It wastelanded
1807 7 of your sectors and damaged nearly the entire area.
1810 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1812 21111111111----------
1813 098765432109876543210
1814 10 . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1815 9 . . ) . . h f . . . 9
1816 8 . . a m g o + m . . . 8
1817 7 . a + \ \ + * m . . 7
1818 6 = # + \ \ \ w b ) . . 6
1819 5 . . h \ \ + e f . . 5
1820 4 . . f + + c f l . . . 4
1821 3 . . k j + f m m . . 3
1822 211111111119876543210
1823 09876543210----------
1826 Map of area hit by 3mt nuclear warhead
1828 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1831 Here is a basic outline of what you will need to do should you be hit
1832 with one or more 3mt or greater warheads:
1834 1: Get food to the people in areas that need food. Especially areas
1835 that are partially or totally cut off from the rest of your country.
1836 ON THE MAP ABOVE: This would probably be necessary for all sectors
1837 east of -12 and/or north of -4.
1839 2: Distribution routes *will* be cut off by a nuclear hit. Redo your
1840 distribution routes around the nuclear wasteland areas. Make sure
1841 that your new distribution center has enough food to feed the people
1842 you are trying to support with it.
1843 ON THE MAP ABOVE: This would probably be necessary for all sectors
1845 3: Move people into the area affected by the blast. Get highways in
1846 the area back up to efficiency as soon as possible. This will
1847 allow for increased movement in the immediate area of the blast
1848 which could be critical to the survival of the people in that area
1849 as well as defense of the area.
1850 ON THE MAP ABOVE: You will probably need to restructure your
1851 highway system in the region. Move people in
1852 from the south-east (off the map).
1853 4: Lastly, try to get production back online in the area. This is
1854 not as critical as the first three things.
1856 Those are the essentials for recovering from a nuclear blast. The
1859 User's Guide to Empire 40
1861 first three items should be done as soon as possible top to bottom,
1862 ie number one is priority one.
1864 There are also defense considerations after you have been hit by
1865 a nuclear blast. Your air defenses in the area might be wiped out
1866 which would allow your opponent to take over your land in that area.
1867 There are also steps you can use to shore up your defenses in the
1868 area while you are getting the area back on its feet:
1870 1: Enlist military in the region. Looking at the map in figure 12,
1871 You might do something like:
1873 [23:210] Command: enlist -20:0,-10:3 -25
1875 That would enlist military in the region so that every sector had
1876 at least 25 military in it. Note that you can only enlist half of
1877 the population in a sector at one time, but you can enlist in the
1878 same sector over and over again.
1880 Doing this would hamper an enemy's progress should they attempt a
1881 paradrop assault in the region.
1883 2: Move undamaged or nearly undamaged VTOL fighter planes from the
1884 south-east (off the map) into the area. Do not put them on
1885 the airbase. Provide them with petrol as well. This will
1886 shore up your air defenses which were damaged by the blast. It
1887 will also make it much more difficult for an enemy power to attack
1888 by air in the region.
1890 3: Move guns and shells into the forts on the map if they are not
1891 already there. Make sure there is at least 7 guns and a lot of
1892 shells in each fort. Also make sure there are substantial military
1893 forces in each. This will help prevent extended military action
1894 on land by an enemy.
1896 4: Move naval forces into the region if possible. This will help
1897 to prevent amphibious assaults.
1899 If you do all of these things, recovery from the blast will not
1900 take long at all. These things will minimize the effect of the
1901 blast and get the area back on its feet again.
1903 Do not be dismayed by loss of resources etc. You *can* recover.
1904 I have been a victim of nuclear war probably half a dozen times,
1905 and so far have found only one case in which I was crippled by
1906 the effects. My entire homeland (of ~100 sectors) was
1907 wastelanded except for less than 10 sectors. No, I could no
1908 longer hope to win the game, but I did hang on long enough to
1909 purchase a nuclear warhead and missile and attack the person
1910 who nuked me. Doing something like this will make the player
1911 who nuked you respect you more in future games, and consider
1912 the consequences before pushing that button.
1916 User's Guide to Empire 41
1918 It has become fairly routine lately for games to end with a world
1919 wide nuke-off. Generally speaking, nations having nuclear weapons
1920 threaten the world with destruction if they are not acknowledged
1921 as victors. Other people protest of course, and nuclear war happens.
1922 A game that has taken eight weeks to evolve to that point can be
1923 destroyed in less than an hour in the hottest nuclear wars. This
1924 of course does not lead to any clear cut winner, and is rather
1925 pointless but people do it anyway. It is after all, a game, and
1926 people want to have fun. Nuclear war, to many people in Empire,
1929 Summary: Do not be demoralized by a nuclear attack. Powers using nuclear
1930 weapons expect their opponents to get demoralized. Recovery from a
1931 nuclear attack of larger degree is possible as well. It takes
1932 perseverance and sometimes hard work. Don't be dismayed by mass
1933 starvations. Populations can recover if you work at it. Your
1934 reputation may be greatly improved if you do recover from a nuclear
1939 User's Guide to Empire 42
1941 Chapter 9 :-: Technology.
1943 By most people's definitions technology or the means to purchase
1944 technological weapons from another country is one of the most
1945 critical elements in doing well in Empire.
1947 Having technology allows you to:
1948 1. Have increased ranges on your land based radar.
1949 2. Build higher capability planes.
1950 3. Build more advanced types of planes.
1951 4. Build higher capability ships (not as great an effect as in planes)
1952 5. Build more advanced types of ships.
1954 7. Build nuclear weapons.
1955 8. Have increased ranges on your guns in forts.
1957 Thus, having a high technology country is a very useful thing.
1958 However, attaining a high technology level is very difficult for
1959 the beginner. Running a country that has an economy balanced well
1960 enough to produce technology at a rate sufficient to stay in the
1961 technology race is a very difficult task, even for players who are
1962 more experienced and/or have a lot of allies supporting their
1965 Producing tech is expensive. It costs a lot in terms of money
1966 and materials. Not only do you have to produce tech, but you
1967 have to educate your people to a high enough degree that tech
1968 production can be done efficiently. Doing this takes a great
1969 many light construction materials (lcms) for education, and a
1970 large amount of oil, gold dust and lcms for tech production.
1972 It is not uncommon for tech nations to be one of the smallest
1973 and poorest nations around. Most of their time and resources
1974 have to be devoted to tech production rather than ships for
1975 exploration and military to defend outlying colonies.
1977 Do not fantasize. If you are a beginner, forget about producing
1978 tech no matter how good you think you are. You will be wasting
1979 your resources in doing so and crippling your economy while other
1980 countries will run far far ahead of you in production.
1982 In general, until you have played a few games it is far better to
1983 purchase high technology items from other players. Diplomacy,
1984 discussed at length in chapter 7, is an effective tool for
1985 purchasing technologically superior items.
1987 Should you decide to run tech, there are several things you should
1988 know. If you are able to take these into account, and balance these
1989 factors against each other you may be able to produce tech at a
1990 sufficient rate to stay with the leaders.
1992 Education is important to produce tech. You have to have an
1993 education level of at least five before you can produce any. However,
1996 User's Guide to Empire 43
1998 an education level of five will produce tech only in an inefficient
1999 manner. The higher your education level, the more efficiently tech
2000 will be produced. This means that a single tech center can produce
2001 more tech per update, and cost you less in raw materials, though it
2002 will cost the same per unit of tech produced. The savings in raw
2003 materials is critical.
2005 Some countries feel it is better to keep your population low when
2006 they are planning on having a high education level. The reasoning
2007 behind this is that it takes less effort to educate a small number
2008 of people and costs less money as well. There is a bad side to this
2009 plan though. With a small population it is hard to produce things
2010 in large quantities, and exploring into and occupying new lands is
2013 Technology production demands a large amount of resources. Especially
2014 oil. However, the higher tech you are the more oil you are able to
2015 refine per amount of crude oil in the ground. Thus, it is better to
2016 only take out of the ground what oil you need to keep your country
2017 running, and leave the rest for later on when you have higher tech,
2018 and get more per barrel of crude. Thus, if you were to do the
2021 [23:512] Command: resource 4,0
2023 You might see that your 4,0 sector has 100 units of oil in the ground.
2024 At tech 0 you'll be lucky if you get 500 barrels of oil out of that.
2025 However, at tech 100 you will probably get somewhere around 700-750.
2026 That's a big difference. So, only take approximately what oil you will
2027 need for each update out of the ground, and leave the rest for later.
2029 Tech production also requires gold dust. Gold dust mining is not
2030 affected by tech like oil wells are. Thus, mining the gold dust
2031 right away or saving it later has no impact on how much is produced
2032 per unit of gold dust in the ground. There are other considerations
2033 though. If you have a lot of gold dust sitting around in your
2034 warehouse or other storage place, other countries will see via the
2035 power report that you have a lot of dust. If they are low on dust they
2036 just might look at you as a possible target. So, if you are going to
2037 mine a lot of your dust right away you might want to consider putting
2038 a good portion of it into banks where the dust gets converted into
2039 bars, which will give you more money per update. This especially
2040 applies to the Kent State version of Empire, where you can grind up
2041 your gold bars into gold dust at a loss of 20% of the original amount
2042 of dust put into the bars.
2044 Uncompensated workers are also useful for tech production, as well
2045 as many other things. However, it has been noticed that a tech
2046 center with 999 uws will produce tech less efficiently than one with
2047 500 uws. The loss in efficiency is greater than what is expected
2048 from the tech limitation function, which is a non-linear function
2049 designed to limit fast tech production. Most players do not feel that
2050 the loss in efficiency is worth it for the greater amount of tech
2053 User's Guide to Empire 44
2055 production, especially in small countries where having two or even
2056 three tech centers is unrealistic due to the small amount of land
2059 As your technology increases, the possibility of there being an
2060 outbreak of plague in your country increases. This is not of great
2061 concern until such time as your plague factor (found by the command
2062 "nation") increases above a factor of 3.0 or more. Even if plague
2063 does break out in your country, if the plague factor is less than
2064 3.0 or so, the plague will have minimal effect on your country.
2065 During your first outbreaks of plague, you will lose some civilians
2066 but the birth rate of the civilians will be greater than the death
2067 rate. Thus, increasing your research level (by opening and operating
2068 a research center, which requires the same materials as a tech center)
2069 prior to your plague factor reaching 3.0 is actually a waste of
2070 resources, time, money and effort. This fact has been lost on a
2071 great many people and it is not uncommon to find many players
2072 boasting of a high research level long before you would have a
2073 plague factor of 3.0 without any research production. While we
2074 have emphasised "3.0" as a point at which things start getting
2075 bad with plague, that is a vague figure. Things start getting
2076 bad before that point, and get worse afterwards. Its a matter of
2077 how much you want to put up with civilians dying off.
2079 There is a command called "report" which will list other countries,
2080 their status, and their levels of tech, research, and education
2081 relative to you. If your tech is significantly higher than
2082 say a country called 'Canada' then report will indicate that
2083 Canada's technological level is 'backward' relative to you.
2084 If Canada's technological level is significantly higher, than
2085 report will indicate 'advanced', meaning Canada is advanced
2086 relative to you. If its roughly the same, 'similar' will be
2087 shown. There are two other possibilities, 'primitive' and
2088 'superior' which are used for extreme differences in levels.
2089 It should be noted that report is inaccurate at best, and only
2090 gives a very vague idea of levels.
2092 Summary: Technology is one of the basic aspects of having a country that
2093 lasts to the end of the game. Generally, the higher tech you are
2094 the greater chance of your survival. However, if you have a high
2095 technology friend, you chances of survival are still increased
2096 greatly. Empire is a classic case of cold war as far as
2097 technological development is concerned. As a beginner, you are
2098 probably better off not producing a great deal of tech until you
2099 become well versed in how to run a strong economy.
2103 User's Guide to Empire 45
2105 Chapter 10 :-: The economy.
2107 There are several products produced in Empire economies.
2109 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2112 1. Gold dust 8. Light Construction Materials (LCM) (3)
2113 2. Oil 9. Heavy Construction Materials (HCM) (3)
2114 3. Iron 10. Gold bars (1)
2115 4. Rads 11. Petrol (2)
2116 5. Food 12. Soldiers (6)
2118 7. Uncompensated workers
2121 13. Education (8) 17. Ships (8,9)
2122 14. Research (1,2,8,13) 18. Planes (8,9)
2123 15. Technology (1,2,8,13) 19. Bridges (9)
2124 16. Money (6 or 7 or 10) 20. Nuclear weapons (2,4,8,9) ????
2126 Special items: Bureaucratic Time Units (BTUs), Available work (Avail)
2130 Table of types of commodities in Empire
2132 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2134 Bureaucratic Time Units (BTUs) are used when executing a command, such
2135 as "build" for example. They are also used to shuffle paperwork
2136 around, say for soldiers killed in combat.
2138 Available Work (Avail) is used up by producing sectors and those
2139 sectors in which you build things (planes, for example). It is an
2140 indices of the amount of labor hours available for work.
2142 Running your economy efficiently as possible is one of the keys to
2143 being a good Empire player. Without a good economy it is impossible
2144 to wage a long lasting war, especially an offensive one. It is
2145 possible to last a long time defensively even with a weak economy
2146 but your chances are greatly increased if you have a strong economy.
2148 So, what defines an efficient and strong economy? An efficient
2149 economy is one in which the amount of a product being produced in a
2150 sector is nearly equal to the amount that the civilians can produce in
2151 one turn. For example, if a light construction materials (LCM) plant
2152 can produce two hundred LCMs an update, but is only producing one
2153 hundred, then fifty percent of the people in that plant are basically
2154 doing nothing. They could be used elsewhere on something that needs
2155 more civilians or you could put more iron into the LCM plant to allow
2156 the civilians to make more LCMs.
2160 User's Guide to Empire 46
2162 A strong economy is an economy that produces a lot of materials,
2163 resources, etc relative to the size of the country. If your country
2164 has only say ten thousand civilians but is producing a large amount
2165 of materials per update then your country may in fact be a strong
2166 country. This is a very unlikely scenario, but it is a good example.
2167 A strong economy is usually the result of an efficient economy,
2168 though there are other factors, those mainly referring to population
2169 growth. To find out how much work your civilians are going to perform
2170 at an update you can issue the "prod" command to get a production
2171 simulation. Using this you can see if all the civilians in a given
2172 sector will be making something or if some will be sitting around and
2173 doing nothing. Here is a sample output from a prod command:
2175 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2177 [138:250] Command: prod #1
2178 Mon Sep 30 20:18:37 1991
2179 PRODUCTION SIMULATION
2180 sect des eff wkfc will make- p.e. cost use1 use2 use3 max1 max2 max3 max
2181 -2,0 o 39% 422 39 oil 0.50 $0 39
2182 2,0 m 100% 807 387 iron 1.00 $0 387
2183 -10,2 b 100% 653 36 bars 1.00 $360 180d 310d 62
2184 -8,2 j 100% 576 138 lcm 0.50 $0 276i 276i 138
2185 -4,2 g 27% 615 79 dust 1.00 $0 79
2186 -11,3 t 100% 620 0.00 tech 0.00 $0 0d 0o 0l 0d 0o 0l 0.00
2187 -8,4 l 100% 499 40 edu 1.00 $360 40l 239l 239
2191 Sample output of the 'prod' command
2193 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2195 The important columns to note here are the "will" and "max" columns.
2196 If the number indicated in the "will" column is less than the "max"
2197 column by more than 1, then you have civilians who are sitting around
2198 doing nothing. The way you calculate the number of civilians you have
2199 sitting around is fairly simple. First, it is important to note that
2200 the number indicated in the "wkfc" column is the number of civilians
2201 and uncompensated workers (UWs) you will have in the sector *after* the
2202 next update. You need to reduce the number of civs and/or UWs in the
2203 sector to optimum *before* the next update.
2205 For this example, and for sake of ease, I am going to assume that
2206 there are no UWs or soldiers in this sector, which both produce work.
2207 We will assume that there are only civilians, and happy, content ones
2208 at that. Civilians that are starved, or recently starved do not work
2211 In the above shown production simulation there are two sectors which
2212 have civilians sitting around idle. These two sectors are the bank
2213 ('b') at -10,2, and the library ('l') at -8,4. We will use the library
2218 User's Guide to Empire 47
2220 The library is going to produce 40 education, but it is capable of
2221 producing 239. It doesn't have enough lcms (the only material needed
2222 to produce education) to produce 239 education. Thus, only the civs
2223 necessary to produce 40 education are actually working. The remaining
2224 number of civilians, as a percentage, is calculated by this simple
2227 ((# in max column) - (# in 'will' column)) / (# in max column)
2229 Thus, the percentage of civilians in the library not actually doing
2230 work is (239 - 40) / 239, or 83.26%. That's a large percentage! Now,
2231 to calculate how many civilians you can move out of the sector without
2232 reducing your production beneath 40 education in that sector, multiply
2233 .8326 * the number of civilians currently in that sector. So, you need
2234 to do a census command:
2236 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2238 [162:166] Command : cen -8,4
2239 Mon Sep 30 20:19:07 1991
2241 sect eff mob uf uf * civ mil uw food work avail ter fallout
2242 -8,4 l 100% 127 .. .0 403 0 0 49 100% 54 0 0
2245 Results of a 'census' command of a library
2247 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2249 There are 403 civilians listed in the 'civ' column for the library at
2250 sector -8,4. Thus, you multiply 403 by .8326 and you find that you can
2251 safely remove 355 civilians from that sector and still be producing
2252 40 education. That's 355 civilians that can be doing valuable work
2253 elsewhere instead of sitting around doing nothing!
2255 The other alternative to get the sector producing efficiently
2256 is to move lcms into the library up to the number that the library can
2257 possibly process with the current number of civilians. Once again, we
2258 refer to the production report and note the 'use1' and 'max1' columns.
2259 The library will use 40l (40 lcms) at the next update unless you put
2260 more lcms into the library. It can use up to 239 (239l in 'max1')
2261 lcms. Thus, it can process an additional 199 lcms. So, you find lcms
2262 somewhere else in your country and move the 199 lcms into the library.
2263 At the next update your library will produce 239 education. Once
2264 again, all of the civilians in the sector are now doing something.
2266 Of course, you can also use a combination of these two methods to
2267 achieve an equitable balance.
2269 There are other aspects to running an efficient economy as well.
2270 Ideally, you do not want to have an abundance of raw materials lying
2271 around especially in the early stages of the game. The best situation
2272 is to have your economy using the same amount of resources per update
2275 User's Guide to Empire 48
2277 as it is making, thus having a zero delta situation with respect to
2278 all materials in your economy, you neither gain nor lose surplus of
2279 materials. Keep in mind however that it is important to create and
2280 maintain a surplus of materials from which to draw on in times of war,
2281 especially later on in the game. Without spare materials, you can not
2282 wage war very effectively. In doing this you are getting the best
2283 balance of production, and are producing finished items at a faster
2284 pace then if you spent more work producing raw materials. If you
2285 spent more work producing finished materials, you would run out of
2286 raw materials, and find that you have to move your civilians around
2287 to produce more raw materials or have them sitting idle doing nothing
2288 while your other civilians produce sufficient raw materials for them
2289 to do work. The benefits of a balanced economy are obvious.
2291 There are additional tasks that are somewhat rewarding in running an
2292 efficient economy, but they become increasingly technical in nature
2293 and their impact as a whole against your economy is significantly less.
2295 As you become more experienced you will no doubt discover these thing
2296 yourself, or hear about them in a game or on the network. These basic
2297 elements are more than enough for you to run smooth production if you
2300 There are still more elements of an economy which, while very useful,
2301 are not exactly related to the strength or efficiency with which your
2302 economy is running. Your country, should it live for some time and
2303 develop a well balanced economy, will produce a huge amount of
2304 materials. It is impossible for you to keep track of everything in
2305 each and every sector of your country. Of course, the Empire creators
2306 realized this and have developed some critical commands for reducing
2307 by a very large amount the quantity of time you need to spend adjusting
2308 your economy. These are the 'distribute' and 'deliver' commands.
2310 'Distribute' and 'deliver' are commands in Empire which allow
2311 you to set up your economy to run automatically, with little
2312 intervention from yourself. Distribution is the most commonly used
2313 command in doing this. However, deliver has certain features which
2316 Distribute is based on the central warehouse scheme of production
2317 and consumption of materials. An iron mine produces iron, which it
2318 ships off to the central warehouse. A light construction materials
2319 plant needs iron to make lcms, and thus requests iron to be sent to it
2320 from the warehouse. The lcm factory produces lcms, and sends them
2321 off to the warehouse. A library plant needs lcms to produce
2322 education, and requests lcms from the warehouse to do so. The
2323 warehouse handles regional traffic for your economy. Some smaller
2324 countries only have one warehouse.
2326 Deliver is based on the local delivery truck idea. A nearby farm
2327 produces a certain amount of food per update, and sends it directly to
2328 the neighboring sector. You know that the neighboring sector can
2329 consume more food per update than that farm can produce (this is very
2332 User's Guide to Empire 49
2334 rarely true, this is just an example). So, the farm sends all the
2335 food it produces to the neighboring sector. The neighboring sector
2336 notes how much food has been delivered from the farm, and then requests
2337 from the warehouse enough food to feed the rest of the civilians in
2338 the sector. In so doing things in this manner, you are possibly saving
2339 mobility by not having the food automatically move to the warehouse
2340 from the neighboring farm and then to the neighboring sector. The same
2341 result would be achieved however, though as stated at a possible
2342 greater loss of mobility. Nevertheless, most people prefer to depend
2343 entirely on 'distribute' to handle automatic distribution of materials
2344 around their country.
2346 To set up a distribution system, or network, you have to set a
2347 distribution 'path' *from* every sector *to* the warehouse. I
2348 emphasize the direction that the path is moving in because all
2349 distribution paths go *to* the warehouse, not from the warehouse
2350 to the sector, though materials can and will go from the warehouse
2351 to the sector along that same path. The idea here is say a farm
2352 outside of St. Louis about 50 miles produces 500 units of food, the
2353 farm needs to know the route by which it should send its trucks to get
2354 to a warehouse in St. Louis before it can send the food to that
2355 warehouse (this of course being a real life scenario). The best path
2356 to choose is across highways. A 100% highway requires no mobility to
2357 move anything in to it. Obviously you don't want to travel the 50
2358 miles to St. Louis across dirt roads. You would prefer an interstate
2359 if you were a truck. In Empire, a 100% highway is essentially an
2360 interstate. Your goal is to have a distribution path from each sector
2361 to the warehouse travel the route over the least mobility cost path.
2362 The greater the percentage of that path that is 100% highways the
2363 better. It is important to note that distribution paths have a maximum
2364 length of 10 sectors. For example:
2367 User's Guide to Empire 50
2370 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2372 [529:32] Command : map -20:10,-3:6
2373 21111111111---------00000000001
2374 0987654321098765432101234567890
2375 -3 . . . . . ) . . . . . . . -3
2376 -2 . . . f . o . . . . . . . . -2
2377 -1 . . . a k a . a a h . . . . -1
2378 0 k l k a + + + . + + c m . . . 0
2379 1 m w o ^ ^ m + j j + . + . . . 1
2380 2 + + + + . b j + m + w + . . . . 2
2381 3 m j j + t + + + + + + . ) . + 3
2382 4 + ^ j m + + l ^ ^ ^ + * a a o m 4
2383 5 ^ + ^ m + j ^ ^ c + m m + + + 5
2384 6 + + + g m + + m b + k o + j w g 6
2385 21111111111---------00000000001
2386 0987654321098765432101234567890
2391 Map of area requiring some distribution
2393 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2395 Let's say that in the previous figure you wanted to set up a
2396 distribution path from the oil well at -15,1 (the 'o' sector left of
2397 the middle of the map) to the warehouse at 0,2 (the 'w' sector right
2398 of the middle of the map). The command to set up the distribution
2399 path from that oil well to the warehouse would be:
2401 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2403 [529:32] Command : distribute -15,1 nnnjujjjuj
2404 oil field at -15,1 has no distribution path.
2406 New path distributes to 0,2
2411 Results of a distribution command
2413 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2415 Now there is a path along highways from the oil well to the warehouse.
2416 If you do not understand the nnnjujjjuj command above, refer to chapter
2417 3 and the section under "movement in Empire".
2419 Next, you need to set thresholds for the sector. This sector is an
2420 oil well, and it produces, you guessed it, oil. So, you want the oil
2421 that is produced to be shipped to the warehouse. You have to tell the
2424 User's Guide to Empire 51
2426 people in the oil well that all oil over 1 unit is to be shipped.
2427 This is called a "threshold", a level at which any quantity of that
2428 unit over that amount if shipped to the warehouse. Note that the
2429 lowest threshold you can have and still have the item shipped is 1.
2430 If the threshold is 0, then it will not be shipped. The command to set
2431 the threshold in the sector -15,1 for oil is:
2433 [534:31] Command : threshold oil -15,1 1
2435 Next, you want to make sure that food gets out to the oil well. The
2436 other aspect of thresholds is that if there is less than the threshold
2437 of a commodity, then the warehouse will send out enough of that
2438 commodity to equal the threshold, assuming it has such commodities in
2439 the warehouse. The command to set the threshold for for in the sector
2440 so that food will go to the sector from the warehouse could be this:
2442 [534:30] Command: threshold food -15,1 50
2444 Which means at each update, the warehouse will attempt to ensure
2445 that there is 50 food in the oil well at -15,1 by sending enough
2446 food, if it can, to raise the stockpile of food in that sector to
2449 Again, distribution paths must be set up for every sector that you
2450 intend on doing anything with. Essentially, as the game progresses,
2451 this means all of your sectors. You must also set appropriate
2452 thresholds as well. Some sectors need iron from the warehouse to
2453 produce, and thus a threshold will be required for iron. Some need
2454 more than one commodity, so thresholds must be set for each of those
2455 commodities. EVERY sector should have a threshold value set for food.
2456 You do not want to starve your civilians! To find out what
2457 commodities a sector needs to produce an item, use the 'production'
2458 command discussed earlier in this chapter.
2460 Some things to note about distribute:
2462 1) No distribution path may be longer than 10 sectors.
2463 2) A distribution path must go through sectors controlled by you.
2464 3) Sometimes it may seem that the warehouse is not getting the commodities
2465 to the sectors requesting it. Empire updates sectors one at a time, and
2466 as such the warehouse may actually run out of a commodity, receive the
2467 request for that commodity, be unable to fill it and move on the the
2468 sectors it updates after that sector. Those sectors in turn may send
2469 commodities to the warehouse, thus giving it enough to fill the previous
2470 request. However, since it has already updated that sector, it will not
2471 fulfill the backlogged request. Empire updates the world left to right
2472 and top to bottom. Thus in a map of your country the most north-west
2473 sector gets updated first and the most south-east sector gets updated last.
2474 4) The warehouse has to spend mobility to send commodities to the requesting
2475 sectors. Warehouses do this at a great reduction in the cost to the
2476 normal mobility. However, if the warehouse runs out of mobility it
2477 will NOT distribute any more commodities for that update.
2478 5) Do NOT set thresholds for all commodities in a sector. Only set the
2481 User's Guide to Empire 52
2483 thresholds for the commodities you KNOW that sector will need. Distribute
2484 will not distribute commodities to sectors with the thresholds set for
2488 Deliver is much more basic. As a result however, it is much less
2489 powerful, though it is useful. Deliver works as explained earlier in
2490 that it does local deliveries of a specified commodity. Deliver is
2491 capable of delivering an item to only neighboring sectors. During the
2492 update, deliver is done before distribute. It is important to note
2493 that. Let's say that a farm has a lot of food to send to the
2494 warehouse. It may not have the mobility to send it all to the
2495 warehouse, and thus you get a large surplus left over in the farm.
2496 Eventually, the farm will not have room to store the surplus anymore.
2497 This is of course bad, since the farm will no longer produce very much
2498 food. It will produce only enough food to replace what was taken from
2499 the storage at the farm.
2501 The solution to this is to have the farm sends its surplus to a
2502 neighboring 100% efficient highway. This will cost the farm no
2503 mobility and will open up its storage areas for new production at the
2504 farm. The highway can then spend mobility sending the food to the
2505 warehouse. Once again, we use the map:
2507 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2509 [529:32] Command : map -20:10,-3:6
2510 21111111111---------00000000001
2511 0987654321098765432101234567890
2512 -3 . . . . . ) . . . . . . . -3
2513 -2 . . . f . o . . . . . . . . -2
2514 -1 . . . a k a . a a h . . . . -1
2515 0 k l k a + + + . + + c m . . . 0
2516 1 m w o ^ ^ m + j j + . + . . . 1
2517 2 + + + + . b j + m + w + . . . . 2
2518 3 m j j + t + + + + + + . ) . + 3
2519 4 + ^ j m + + l ^ ^ ^ + * a a o m 4
2520 5 ^ + ^ m + j ^ ^ c + m m + + + 5
2521 6 + + + g m + + m b + k o + j w g 6
2522 21111111111---------00000000001
2523 0987654321098765432101234567890
2526 Map of an area requiring delivery path
2528 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2530 Let's say the farm at -5,-1 (just north of the middle) has a huge
2531 surplus of food. You can send that surplus to the highway at -4,0 by
2532 issuing this command:
2534 [566:115] Command : deliver food -5,-1 n (50)
2538 User's Guide to Empire 53
2540 Which means, deliver all food in the sector at -5,-1 in excess of 50
2541 units in the 'n' direction. Note the deliver threshold in parentheses
2542 must be in parentheses and that deliver thresholds are different than
2543 distribute thresholds.
2545 While I have described how to use the basics of deliver, I do not
2546 recommend it for the beginner. Using a distribution network is quite
2547 sufficient for the beginning player, and you will not notice any great
2548 difficulty in running your economy without using the deliver command.
2549 In fact, some of the best players in Empire do not use deliver at all.
2552 Summary: The things discussed in this chapter may seem time consuming, and
2553 may seem to require a lot of detail. However, these things are
2554 important to you as an Empire player to learn and understand. They
2555 become easy to use after only a short while. Having a strong
2556 economy is the basic element in having a strong country. If you
2557 have not understood this chapter, read it again. Better yet, read
2558 it while experimenting with a couple of your own sectors in a game.
2559 While understanding 'deliver' is not very important, understanding
2564 User's Guide to Empire 54
2568 The art of waging war is certainly beyond the scope of this guide.
2569 There are a great number of books written on the history of man's wish
2570 to destroy themselves. In this chapter, I only intend to give the
2571 player some rudimentary basics for waging Empire style wars. Even more
2572 pertinent in the case of the beginner, how to defend against or
2573 hopefully repulse an invader.
2575 Keep in mind that as a beginner, you stand a very good chance of losing
2576 your first war. Consider it a learning experience. The person who
2577 defeated you is better than you are in most circumstances, and just by
2578 their actions you can learn how best to wage an offensive or defensive
2581 There are several things that you can do to defend your country
2582 in the event of an attack. However, it is always best to be prepared
2583 for an attack before it happens. There are some basics already
2584 discussed in this guide on these preparations. Refer to chapter 8
2585 for information on automatic defenses, and how they can help your
2586 country. I will review the essentials here.
2588 1) Have a strong airforce with many fighter planes with the intercept
2589 capability. Make sure they are used as indicated in chapter 8.
2590 2) Have forts with overlapping fields of fire.
2591 3) Have a large number of reserves (typically 1/10 of your population).
2592 4) Have at least two enlistment centers ready to produce more fresh
2593 recruits. Ie, at 100%. You can "shut off" enlistment centers, that
2594 is stop them from producing recruits, by leaving 1 civ in them
2595 or having a military population in the sector equal to one half
2596 of the civilian population. To turn them on, put in more civs or
2597 reduce the number of military.
2598 5) Have a strong navy to guard your coast.
2599 6) Mine your own coast. This prevents many amphibious assaults.
2600 It also helps to prevent people from mapping your coastline.
2601 7) Have a good highway network. This allows you to move materials
2602 and armies around your country quickly and with ease.
2603 8) Have more than one capital. If your real one is taken, you will
2604 need a back up immediately.
2605 9) Have a lot of food in all of your sectors if possible. This allows
2606 sectors that are cut off from your warehouse to be self sufficient
2607 at least with respects to feeding the people with food for a few
2608 updates until you can open up a path to them.
2610 These are just *basic* hints. Some more hints are given later in this
2611 guide. These are meant to get you started.
2613 Of course, it is better to not be attacked at all. But, how do you
2614 avoid being attacked? This is not simple, but there are some things
2615 that you can do to make yourself less of a target.
2617 One, do NOT allow people to map your coast using their ships,
2618 especially patrol boats. Maps of your coastline are deadly.
2621 User's Guide to Empire 55
2623 The opposing country knows where your country lies, and can furthermore
2624 send that information on to another player who might be interested
2625 in attacking you in exchange for some commodity or assistance.
2626 Maps are a critical piece of intelligence gathering. Some of the
2627 best players in the game sink ships on sight without warning. If you
2628 warn a ship off it might be able to use some of its mobility to
2629 make a final swing along your coast before going away, and seemingly
2630 out of your hair without having caused further trouble. Every piece
2631 of information about your coast is valuable military intelligence.
2632 Additionally, it is a good idea to try to map other people. Do not
2633 get upset when your ships get sunk. They will get sunk. Just consider
2634 them expendable commodities that are doing a temporary job with
2637 Two, if you appear tough people generally will not attack you.
2638 Posturing can be an effective tool. Furthermore, if you have a large
2639 airforce and/or army, people tend to avoid you. It does not matter if
2640 your airforce only has wimpy planes in it, your opponent can only
2641 tell the quantity of planes that you have, not the quality. They
2642 might have a general idea of the quality of your airforce, but a large
2643 airforce is still an intimidating presence.
2645 Three, do not make yourself a target by having a lot of valuable
2646 commodities showing up on your power report. Having lots of money
2647 in a money poor game for example makes you a juicy target. The same
2648 holds true with gold dust or oil. You need not worry about iron and
2649 food, since those are renewable resources. Try to use gold dust and
2650 oil as you make it. Having some surplus around is fine, but the more
2651 you have sitting around the more of a target you become.
2653 If you are attacked, it is always best if you are logged on to the game
2654 so that you can actively defend your country rather than relying
2655 entirely on automatic defenses. However, as can obviously be seen, you
2656 probably will not know that your enemy is going to attack you. Neither
2657 will s/he broadcast that they are going to attack unless they are very
2658 foolish or extremely confident.
2660 In light of this, your opponent will try to attack you at a time when
2661 they know you are not logged on. Thus, a great many Empire wars begin
2662 in the wee hours of the morning, when most people are asleep. What can
2663 you do to overcome this shortcoming? Have allies for one. If one of
2664 your allies is going to be up most of the night you can have them
2665 telephone you if you are being attacked. Of course, this is for the
2666 more diehard types :-)
2668 There are many tactics that an enemy will use against you. Again,
2669 these tactics are beyond the scope of this guide, but there are some
2670 general tactics that you should be aware of. An opponent may try one
2671 or more (usually more) of the following tactics:
2673 1) Remove your airforce as an effective retaliatory force.
2674 2) Remove your airforce as an effective defensive force.
2675 3) Take your capital (you lose half your money).
2678 User's Guide to Empire 56
2680 4) Take your banks (you could lose all your gold bars, very valuable!).
2681 5) Destroy your highway system.
2682 6) Take your warehouses (lose your stored commodities. OUCH!).
2683 7) Bomb your enlistment centers.
2684 8) Take your radar stations.
2687 In addition, your opponent may try to destroy your distribution and/or
2688 delivery system (if you so opt to use deliver). After you take a
2689 sector back from your enemy check the thresholds and distribution path
2690 in the sector. Sometimes if you take a great deal of sectors back it
2691 is best to just use the 'wipe' command and start from scratch.
2692 Remember to check your delivery thresholds as well, by issuing a
2693 'level' command. Your opponent will probably also redesignate the
2694 sector to something useless or even detrimental to you.
2696 It is important to be on around update times when you are at war,
2697 either defensively or offensively. Things can go very quickly right
2698 before and after an update.
2700 One of the best ways of being a good military tactician is to be
2701 imaginative. Think of ways to do things that might surprise your
2702 opponent. Think of ways to do things that will cost you less lives,
2703 or less resources than your original way.
2705 There is a saying that sometimes the best defense is a good offense.
2706 This can be very true in Empire. If you are attacked it might be a
2707 good idea to launch a counter attack against your opponent's homeland
2708 if you are able to. This will certainly surprise them, and may lead
2709 them to think you are stronger than you actually are. This can be a
2712 If you want to win the war, be resilient and tenacious. Fight as hard
2713 as you can with every last soldier and resource. If you make your
2714 enemy pay a heavy price they may withdraw. Sometimes breaking an
2715 opponent's will to fight is the most important factor in winning a
2716 tactical or strategic situation. Even if they do not withdraw, or you
2717 do not win, you may at least be helping to defend the future of your
2718 allies. That in itself is an honorable achievement. There is also the
2719 point that if you are a tenacious fighter your opponent will respect
2720 you more in future games than if you just roll over and play dead while
2721 his/her armies pillage your country. Reputation does count for a lot in
2722 Empire. You may lose now, but your defiance in losing can help you a
2723 great deal in future games. Some countries simply will not attack
2724 another country because they know that country's reputation as a good
2725 player. Alternatively, some countries have a poor reputation and
2726 are attacked in every game they play in!
2729 Summary: The art of Empire war is one that is different from the real life
2730 world that we live in. However, many tactics from the real world
2731 can be applied to Empire. Remember to be imaginative, learn from
2732 your mistakes. Learn from your allies and your opponents. Fight
2733 as if it was a real world nation, and you are the leader.
2738 User's Guide to Empire 57
2740 Chapter 12 :-: Other helpful or not so helpful hints:
2743 Here are some hints on how you might be better able to run
2744 your country. Note that a lot of these hints were garnered through
2745 many player years of play. You are free to disagree with them, and
2746 are certainly encouraged to come up with your own ideas. However,
2747 keep in mind these recommendations.
2749 - Build your military reserves to a reasonably high level
2750 (I try to aim for 5-10% of my total population). Reserves are
2751 not expensive to maintain, and it is a commodity that can not
2752 be destroyed by any military action.
2753 - As soon as someone starts building ships guard your coastal
2754 sectors with at least 1 military in each. This prevents an
2755 opponent from making landings in mass quantity on your homeland
2756 with measly cargo ships. If you have military in a coastal sector
2757 then opponent ships really need the "land" capability (see
2758 show ship capability command for further insight) in order to be
2759 truly effective. Guard harbors with more military, say 50 or
2760 so. Else an opponent can assault a harbor, move his or her invasion
2761 fleet in, unload the ships and walla several hundred foreign military
2762 are sitting in your former harbor.
2763 - As soon as planes start being built, try to get at least 10 military
2764 into every sector. This makes it more difficult for a country to
2765 wipe you out quickly. In this manner they usually need 2 or more
2766 transports to take a single sector. This makes it costly in air
2767 mobility for them and softens the blow of their attack. In addition
2768 reinforce capitals with a lot of military. Same with banks, airbases,
2770 - Do not base your entire air defenses on non-VTOL (vertical take off
2771 and landing) planes. Base your VTOL planes in non airport sectors.
2772 In doing this, you prevent your enemy from knocking out your airbases
2773 through any number of means and then flying at liberty over your
2774 country. There are two VTOL fighters. Fighter 1s, which are
2775 essentially biplanes with very brave souls in them and Jet Fighter 2s
2776 which are akin to the British Harrier jet. Fighter 1s are not
2777 necessarily a bad plane. Against low tech transports they do not
2778 fair too badly. There are two other means of air defense if your
2779 airbases are knocked out. Anti-aircraft guns exist in any sector
2780 that has guns and shells. They will fire if the sector in question
2781 is at war with the planes in question. They are mostly worthless.
2782 The other method is SAMs (surface to air missiles). These can be
2783 quite effective but are shoot once only weapons.
2784 - Forts are an integral part of any home auto-defense scheme. They
2785 will fire on any enemy aggressors that are within range whenever
2786 any sector of yours within range is attacked.
2787 - Naval units become essentially useless later on in the game except
2788 for some actions. Nevertheless, be careful to have naval units in
2789 appropriate places around your coast for coastal defense. Especially
2790 until you have planes that can pinpoint bomb well (jet lt bombers,
2791 jet f/bs, helicopters).
2792 - Always have several fake capitals in reserve.
2795 User's Guide to Empire 58
2797 - If you are not using planes that are 100% and are not planes used
2798 in air defense, get them off your airports. Otherwise they become
2799 easy targets for air assault and bombs.
2800 - Bridge span sectors are effective means of food production and
2801 are especially useful in that role in countries with few sectors
2802 or countries with limited fertility. They are usually somewhat
2803 expensive to build, but pay for themselves quickly.
2804 - Keep in mind that allies are important. You might want to go it
2805 alone, but at some point along the way you will need an ally or
2806 three. Allies can do many things for you, not the least of which
2807 is call you over the phone when you are under attack at four in the
2808 morning. Its nice to know that even though your country is not
2809 being played, someone is watching it from a distance and seeing
2810 whether it gets attacked or not. You sleep easier :-)
2811 - If you are positive there is no one else on your island with you
2812 at the beginning of the game then demobilise your military and
2813 put them on reserve. This will save you a lot of money, and help
2814 in population growth.
2815 - Never put airports, banks, or capitals on your coast. They are
2816 easy targets for your enemies if you do. Sometimes it is necessary
2817 to place an airport on your coast to get that extra one sector
2818 of range for your planes in an attack. If you do that, don't leave
2819 your planes in that sector for very long. You might be surprised.
2821 Summary: Many of these ideas can only be gained through experience. Do not
2822 be come distraught for lack of knowledge. Experience is a wonderful
2823 teacher. These hints cover some of the major pitfalls of beginners,
2824 and that is all. There are far more things to be learned that can
2825 only be taught through experience.
2828 User's Guide to Empire 59
2830 Chapter 13 :-: Some tricks and subtle tactics
2832 I have listed here some of the tricks used by the more advanced
2833 players in victimizing the beginning players. I divulge this hard won
2834 information because I feel it will make for a better Empire game for
2835 everyone. In reading these, I hope that you will be encouraged to
2836 develop tactics of your own. It is not hard to be imaginative.
2838 Note that not all tricks and subtle tactics will work as advertised.
2839 Some games have slightly different implementations that have a
2840 negative effect on these hints.
2842 - Sacking a warehouse. This is an old tactic that is useful
2843 only in those games that have a market. Essentially the trick is to
2844 take an opponent's warehouses or distribution points and sell off
2845 everything that is in the sector to the market. You don't need a
2846 buyer immediately, just sell everything off. If you want the items
2847 for yourself, sell them to the market at an exorbitantly high price
2848 and wait for a friend to buy them and sell them back.
2849 - Tracking an airbase. This is a less known trick. Non-VTOL planes
2850 intercept from airbases. They also intercept from airbases in a hex
2851 pattern. Ie, if the plane has a six sector intercept range it will
2852 intercept up to six sectors west, six sectors north-west, etc in all
2853 the six directions. If you can find two corners of that plane's
2854 interception hex you can triangulate to find the sector from which it
2855 is intercepting. This does work for VTOL planes as well, but isn't
2856 as useful since airbases usually have far more planes in them to be
2857 dealt with. Once you have tracked the originating sector of the
2858 intercepting planes, what you do to that sector is your option. Most
2859 often, a concerted effort will be made to crack the defensive fighter
2860 cover and blast the airbase. Sometimes countries will use their
2861 surface to surface missiles (which do not get intercepted) to take
2862 out the airbase. For non-VTOL planes taking out an airbase just
2863 means getting it below 60% efficiency.
2864 - Fort "walking". If you have a land border with a country, you can
2865 use your forts to demolish a bordering sector with that country.
2866 By demolishing it, your are completely destroying every living
2867 civilian and soldier in that sector. When that is accomplished you
2868 can explore into that sector as if it were wilderness. You can then
2869 designate that sector into a 0% fort, which it will become
2870 immediately, and then move guns and shells into that sector.
2871 Then, you can do the same thing to a sector bordering your new
2872 sector. In this manner you can slowly invade another country
2873 beyond a one sector advance in one update without the use of
2874 planes or ships. This costs A LOT of BTUs and shells, but in
2875 critical situations is very useful.
2876 - Fire base. This tactic has some relation to the tactic used in
2877 the Vietnam conflict by U.S. Forces. The idea is to take an enemy
2878 sector in an area that you want to wreak havoc on. Next, use your
2879 pinpoint bombing capable planes to bomb your own position's sector
2880 efficiency. You will have some collateral damage on your troops,
2881 but it is well worth it. When the efficiency drops below 5% you can
2882 then designate the sector into a 0% fort, place guns and shells
2885 User's Guide to Empire 60
2887 in it using air transports, and then have a base from which to
2888 blast away at your enemy without the use of much airpower. It is
2889 possible to use the fort walking tactic from this position.
2890 - Messing up a country's distribution paths and or thresholds.
2891 This is most often an "annoyance" tactic. Most players know about it
2892 and check the distribution paths and thresholds of sectors they take
2893 back from an invading country. The idea is to set the thresholds so
2894 that a lot of commodities will be distributed to the sector from the
2895 warehouse of your opponent after your opponent takes the sector
2896 back. Then you can take the sector again and get the commodities
2897 if s/he has not noticed they are there. Even if s/he notices it is
2898 a pain getting the commodities back to the warehouse.
2899 Alternatively, you can screw up the distribution path to run through
2900 a mountain and then to his warehouse, and also set the thresholds
2901 of the commodities quite high. This will cause mobility in her/his
2902 warehouse to be used in great quantities to get the commodities to
2903 the recaptured sector. Either of these ideas can get particularly
2904 nasty. Say you conquer a sector, and set the thresholds on food to
2905 9000 units. Your opponent takes back the sector, and neglects to
2906 reset the threshold. At the next update the warehouse moves 9000
2907 food (or at least as much as it can) into the sector. This might
2908 leave your warehouse without food to deliver to the rest of the
2909 country. Food stocks begin to drop, with obvious repercussions.
2910 - Messing up a country's delivery routes and thresholds.
2911 Same as above except using deliver. Many countries do not use
2912 deliver at all, and as a result are susceptible to this tactic.
2913 You can cause mass starvation in a country that you attacked, but
2914 no longer control without the leader ever knowing how.
2915 - Destroyer trap. Move a submarine near a destroyer, say one sector
2916 away. Lay some mines from the submarine, and then send out an active
2917 sonar ping using the "sonar" command. Enemy destroyer rushes over to
2918 see what it is and KAWHOMP! hits a mine. You can leave a sector that
2919 has mines in it safely but can not necessarily enter safely. Every
2920 mine laid in a sector increases the chance of a ship hitting a mine
2921 while entering that sector by five percent.
2922 - Determining if someone is on. You can get an idea of when someone
2923 is usually logged on by doing something like this:
2925 [65:255] Command : news 10 | grep <name of country you want to learn about>
2927 This will scan the news file from the server for the last ten days
2928 (or however many days up to ten are being preserved in the news).
2929 You can then get an idea of when your opponent is logged on.
2930 There are tools that can do this for you, but so far none has
2931 reached public distribution.
2932 - Attacking any sector with one soldier repeatedly. Within the code
2933 there is a small chance that against incredible odds a small
2934 collection of soldiers might win. Taken to the extreme, there is
2935 a chance for one soldier to win, even against 400 soldiers, or so
2936 says the game. Thus a player who wants a particular sector bad
2937 enough, may spend thirty minutes attacking a sector of yours
2938 over and over again with one military. They might win eventually,
2939 and if it is important enough then they have gained a major sector.
2942 User's Guide to Empire 61
2944 - A player might offer to sell you a type of commodity in several
2945 batches. Or, you might just start buying batches of a commodity
2946 from any given commodity. If the player you are buying from is on,
2947 they might change the price on you between batches that you are
2948 purchasing. For example, DoDo starts buying food in batches of
2949 9000 from WabbleHead at 10 cents per food. This costs DoDo $900
2950 per batch of food. Suddenly between DoDo's 2nd and 3rd purchase
2951 of 9000 food, WabbleHead changes the price on the food from 10 cents
2952 to 10 dollars per unit. DoDo never realizes it and pays $90,000
2953 for the 3rd batch of food. Moral: Don't purchase anything without
2954 checking the price first, and never buy in several batches at once.
2955 This applies to market and trade.
2956 - It is possible to move small quantities of a commodity across any
2957 sector in your country and not have it cost mobility. To do this,
2958 you have to have the commodity moving from a warehouse to whatever
2959 sector you want to move it to. The basic trick, is to move the
2960 commodity in batches of 5 or less. Note this does not work for
2961 bars, and some other commodities. It does work for food, shells,
2962 etc; items that do not take a great deal of mobility to move to
2963 begin with. This trick is very effective for getting supplies
2964 to a region cut off from your main area without highway access
2965 and possibly even a mountain range separating you from it.
2966 - Mine your coast. This prevents your opponents from effectively
2967 mapping your coast, and you can catch their ships in the act since
2968 a damaged ship moves a lot slower than a 100% ship. Some people
2969 might even scuttle the ship in question to avoid detection.
2970 - Be aware that submarines will try to map your coast. Use your
2971 submarines and destroyers to find them. Use minefields as a
2972 preventative measure.
2973 - Do not give out your net address to anyone except the Deity unless
2974 people offsite can not finger you, or you have an account on
2975 another machine, and can regularly play from it. People can finger
2976 you over the net to see if you are logged in or not. If you're not,
2977 it's a good time to attack probably.
2978 - Beware of people offering you loans. Make sure you know the terms
2979 of the loan. Someone might offer you a loan that looks nice, say
2980 for $30,000. But, the loan might expire in one day and have an
2981 interest rate of 127%. The lending country can collect sectors
2982 directly from you without your permission if you are in arrears
2984 - Defend your radar stations. Always have at least 20 military in
2985 each of your radar stations, especially ones that are on the coast.
2986 Otherwise a passing ship might decide to capture it and take a
2987 snapshot of your country.
2988 - If a sub attacks one of your ships, it is possible to wander around
2989 the area with a ship that is not capable of sonar or depth charging,
2990 and still find that sub. How? Try boarding the sub by its hull
2991 number. If a sub attacks you, you will get a message saying that
2992 sub number so and so did such and such to your ship. Use a ship
2993 in the area to wander from sector to sector trying to board the
2994 sub. If you find it, you will get a message saying that you can not
2995 board a sub. Walla, you have found the sub without sonar, which
2996 other ships can hear anyways. This is a nice quiet form of anti-
2999 User's Guide to Empire 62
3002 - You can load a missile cruiser full of anti-shipping missiles, and
3003 then create a script file with firing commands for every ship in
3004 existence. Remove your own ships of course. Then execute the
3005 script, and the missile cruiser will fire at only those ships
3006 that are in range, regardless of whether the ships are in radar
3007 range of the cruiser or not. They need only be in range of the
3008 anti-shipping missiles. This is an effective, if blundering, way
3009 of removing approaching fleets before you see them on your radars.
3010 Note: anti-shipping missiles are not available in standard BSD code,
3011 but are available in some other versions, namely the Kent State
3015 Summary: Be sneaky. Be imaginative. Think of tricks you can pull on your
3016 opponent. Quite often, they will in fact work. Most players of this
3017 game are not Rommels, Pattons, or Montgomerys. Many can be duped
3018 by very simple tricks.
3022 User's Guide to Empire 63
3024 Chapter 14 :-: Tools
3026 Tools are programs used by players on their local machines to
3027 assist them in developing their country, analyzing another country,
3028 conducting war on another country, etc. Tools are very powerful
3029 devices at times. As such, many players have tools that they consider
3030 to be military secrets and they do not release copies of them. As a
3031 result, many programs doing basically identical tasks have been
3032 written. I encourage those players that are reading this that have
3033 such secret tools to release them to an anonymous FTP site with a
3034 directory for Empire. Not only does this make the game better for the
3035 beginners, but it also helps to keep the experts on their toes, and
3036 give a challenge to those of us who have been playing for quite some
3039 Some players feel that playing with tools takes something away from
3040 the playing aspect of the game, and feel that in so doing they are not
3041 really playing the game anymore. This has lately turned into a
3042 religious war of sorts in the Empire community, with many people taking
3043 both sides of the coin.
3045 You do not need tools other than your client to play Empire.
3046 Empire is designed such that any player can play the game without
3047 hindrance without the use of a tool other than the basic client itself.
3049 What follows is a list of tools that are most commonly found
3050 among players of the game. Most of these are publicly available at
3051 an FTP site listed in Appendix C.
3054 autodist Automatically sets distribution paths for an entire
3055 country or realm within the country.
3056 autofeed automatically feeds the people in your country.
3057 pmvr,civmvr Automatically redistributes your population so that sectors
3058 will be able to have population growth rather than maxing
3059 out at the limit of 999 civilians.
3060 econ Provides an analysis of your country's economic progress
3062 GEET Gnu-Emacs Empire Tool. An Emacs interface for Empire that
3063 has a great many capabilities and functions. Provides for
3064 better automatic defenses as well.
3065 EIF A more advanced client than the basic client. Allows
3066 for aliasing commands, command editing, etc.
3067 XEMP Empire client for X windows. Provides many nice features
3068 including an on screen map constantly displayed. A very
3069 nice interface that unfortunately still has several bugs.
3071 These are just a few of the Empire tools out there. There are still
3072 many more programs not listed. Some cover news analyses, country
3073 analyses over several updates, etc.
3075 Most tools come with documentation on how to use them, and it is
3076 beyond the scope of this guide to illustrate how each one of them
3079 User's Guide to Empire 64
3083 There are other aids that are often called tools which are called
3084 scripts. Scripts can do a great many things for you. The most common
3085 of these applications are simply files containing a list of commands
3086 that you want to execute in Empire.
3088 For example, let's say that at each update you wanted to dump the
3089 current news into a file in your local directory, get a new power
3090 report and dump that into another file, and dump all current telegrams
3091 into yet another file. This would be three commands that you could
3092 consolidate into one command by doing this:
3094 Construct a file in your local directory that has the appropriate
3095 commands in it. In this case you could write a file with three lines:
3098 power new >>powerfile
3101 You could call this file update.do
3103 While in Empire you could then request the Empire client to access
3104 that file and execute those commands by using the exec command followed
3105 by the file name. Thus:
3107 [102:253] Command: exec update.do
3109 Building such a simple script is useful for doing a set of commands
3110 over and over again without typing it in each and every time.
3112 Lastly, remember to exercise wisdom in the use of tools. It is
3113 possible that the execution of a simple tool can damage your country
3114 irreparably. Use tools, especially those written by others, with
3115 caution. Try them out on small sections of your country first. Look
3116 at the source code prior to running it if you have access to the
3117 source code. It is theoretically possible for someone to write
3118 a tool that will scan the list of countries in a game, and if the
3119 author's country name is in that list, send valuable information
3120 about your country to him or her. Yes, it is true, some people
3121 have no morals believe it or not.
3124 Summary: Tools are very powerful items if used wisely. It is not necessary
3125 to have tools to play Empire effectively. Some experts of the game
3126 refuse to use tools of any type, and they remain among the best
3127 players. Tools are no replacement for skill. Be careful when using
3128 tools, they can ruin your country.
3132 User's Guide to Empire 65
3134 ******************************* Appendices ************************************
3137 Appendix A :-: Glossary of terms, names, and etc.
3139 Amphibious assault - Attacking a sector using ships, usually landing ships.
3140 Avail - A unit of measuring available labor hours in a sector.
3141 Backstab - To harm another country with whom you had prior treaties
3142 and or alliances that were in effect at the time of your
3143 harmful action. Usually a severe action.
3144 Blitz game - An implementation of an Empire game that is very fast paced.
3145 Usually these games last no more than two days.
3146 BSD - Berkeley Standard Distribution. A term borrowed from Unix.
3147 It indicates that the version is a release version from Berkeley,
3149 BTU - Bureaucratic Time Unit. A unit of government activity. Used
3150 by various commands as cost for executing that command.
3151 Capital - The government center of a country. BTUs are produced by
3152 only one capital in a country, regardless of how many are
3153 designated. Only the actual capital of the country produces.
3154 Client - A program that allows you to connect to the Empire server.
3155 Commodity - Just as in the real world; any of a plethora of raw and refined
3156 materials that can be traded, stolen, etc.
3157 Dave Pare - Not the original author of Empire, but the person who has
3158 made it possible for it to be what it is. THE major author
3159 of Empire. Also known as Mr. Frog.
3160 Deity - Person (yes, a real life human) who runs/referees a game.
3161 Deliver - A means of managing economic resource allocation via orders
3162 from neighboring sectors.
3163 Designation - What the sector has been ordered to be, ie a highway for example.
3164 Distribution- A means of managing economic resource allocation via a central
3165 warehouse scheme. Often referred to as a "distribution
3167 Education - Activity on the part of a country to raise the overall
3168 intelligence level of a country, to promote research and
3169 technological development.
3170 Eif - "Empire Interface". A version of the client with certain
3172 Empire host - The computer the server is running on.
3173 ETU - Empire Time Unit - A subdivision of an update. An update's
3174 value is measured in terms of ETUs.
3175 FTP - "File Transfer Program". This is a means of transferring
3176 files over the computer networks. Most computers are capable
3177 of using FTP. For more information you may refer to your
3178 host computer's help. For example, "man ftp" or "help ftp".
3179 GEET - Gnu-Emacs Empire Tool. An Emacs based client, also known
3180 (to the chagrin of the author of GEET) as GEEK.
3181 Guerrilla - A patriot behind enemy lines. They will attempt to do damage
3182 to the enemy's military or the sector the enemy is occupying.
3183 You can not control guerrilla actions.
3184 HCM - Heavy construction material. A unit of material used in
3185 Empire economies for bridges, planes, etc.
3186 KSU, Kent State code - refers to the version of Empire based on the Berkeley
3189 User's Guide to Empire 66
3191 release. There are several enhancements in this version, and
3192 many think it is better than the Berkeley release.
3193 LCM - Light construction material. A unit of material used in
3194 Empire economies for education, technology, research, planes,
3196 Megatons - A unit of measure of nuclear warhead yield. One megaton
3197 equals one million tons of TNT explosive power. Often
3198 represented as 'mt' as in '5mt'.
3199 Mobility - A number indices indicating the available amount of moving
3200 capability in a sector, for a plane, or for a ship.
3201 Plague - An all encompassing term representing disease in the Empire
3202 world. Can be kept in check by the country doing research.
3203 Representative,Rep - Your password for your country in the game. NOT your
3205 Research - Activity on the part of a country that keeps plague in check.
3206 Reserves - Civilian soldier. A soldier not on active duty who is paid
3207 a small sum to retain training in case of times of need.
3208 Sanctuary - Your starting area in any game. Usually comprised of two
3209 sectors. Can not be attacked, or otherwise affected by
3211 Script - A file containing several Empire commands that can be
3212 automatically run or run manually from the client.
3213 Sector - A unit of geography, comprising an area represented by a
3214 single character on maps.
3215 Server - The program (running usually at a remote site) that handles
3216 the functioning of the game. In essence, the game itself.
3217 Spy - A member of your military forces sent across neighboring
3218 country borders to gather information.
3219 Technology - The scientific development of a country. Relates most directly
3220 to a country's capability to create better weapons. Also known
3222 Threshold - A break off point for the 'deliver' and 'distribute' commands
3223 that indicates a quantity beyond which every unit of a
3224 specific commodity is moved automatically at an update.
3225 Tool - A program used on a player's local machine to aid in there
3227 Update - A 'turn' in Empire. Mobility is increased in sectors,
3228 civilians multiply and eat food, military is paid for, etc.
3229 UW - Uncompensated worker. A nicer name for slave.
3230 VTOL - Vertical Take Off and Landing capability for planes. Requires
3231 no runways or other developed airport like structures.
3232 Wasteland - A permanent sector designation caused by a nuclear blast of
3233 one megaton or larger. Can not be traveled across by land,
3234 but can be flown over.
3235 Warehouse - A central collection and distribution point for products
3237 Wilderness - Undesignated areas other than mountains and ocean. Represented
3238 by a '-' character on maps.
3239 XEMP - An X windows based client.
3243 User's Guide to Empire 67
3245 Appendix B :-: Known exploitable bugs
3247 As a result of Empire having several thousand lines of code, there
3248 are numerous bugs. Some are simply annoying, others you never notice. Some,
3249 like the following, are bugs that you can be used against you.
3251 a) "Intercept" bug - Non-VTOL planes can and will rise and intercept
3252 hostile planes from any sector as long as there is petrol in the
3253 sector, the plane has the intercept capability (see show plane c),
3254 it is at least 40% efficient, and it has mobility.
3256 b) "Escort" bug - Planes that are capable of escort duty can escort
3257 themselves on various missions, as long as they are capable of
3258 the mission in question (such as a bombing raid). Say for example
3259 that you want to fly a reconnaissance mission over enemy territory,
3260 but you know that enemy planes are going to intercept you.
3261 When the game asks you for the plane that will be doing the recon,
3262 you can give it plane 345 for example, which for the sake of
3263 this guide is a jet fighter. When it asks you for the planes
3264 that are going to escort it, you can say 345 again. The game will
3265 respond as if two planes are flying the mission when in fact only
3266 one is. Enemy planes will think there are two planes. Enemy planes
3267 will first do battle with the escort. Let's say they did 16% damage
3268 to the escort, and the escort did 14% damage to one of the enemy
3269 interceptors. Next, the enemy interceptor attacks the recon plane,
3270 which is the same plane, and inflicts 21% damage. The recon plane
3271 inflicts 13% damage on the interceptor, and the recon plane aborts
3272 the mission. It looks like you lost the dogfight. In actuality,
3273 you did not. The intercepting plane suffered a total of 27% damage.
3274 It looks like you suffered 37% damage. However, you actually only
3275 suffered the *last* damage inflicted, which was to the recon plane.
3276 Thus, you only suffered 21% damage and you won the dogfight.
3278 c) "Flying Bridge" bug - Say for example you have a 100% bridgehead
3279 sector with enough HCMs, workers, and avail to build a bridge.
3280 Normally, you would say "build bridge x,y" and then it would ask
3281 you for a direction to build the bridge. If after you built the
3282 bridge you were to redesignate the bridgehead, the bridge would
3283 collapse. However, if you redesignate the bridgehead sector
3284 before you build the bridge, the bridge will be built and will
3285 not collapse. At the next update, the bridgehead will become
3286 the sector you redesignated it to (say, a highway) and the bridge
3287 will still be there. Note: It is believed that most current
3288 games of Empire have a new patch that prevents this bug.
3290 d) "Resource sucker" bug - Let's say you have a sector with 23 gold
3291 content left, and it is a gold mine. Normally it might produce
3292 say, 111 gold dust at the next update. If you were to put 9000
3293 civilians into that sector, it would produce over 900 dust at
3294 the next update. The sector's resource content of gold will go
3295 to 0, but instead of getting a roughly 115 dust from the sector
3296 with the remaining content, you have gotten over 900 dust.
3297 Civilians reproduce quickly enough that losing 8000 civs this way
3300 User's Guide to Empire 68
3302 is really of no concern especially when you consider what you
3303 have gained. This bug works also for oil wells and uranium
3306 I have listed the bugs here because it is important that players
3307 know about these bugs in case they are used against them. I do not
3308 condone the use of these bugs, nor do many players of the game.
3309 Many deities (the people who run the game) take action against
3310 players using these bugs, such as taking away your technology or
3311 your money. Do not use them. Simply be aware that others may use
3312 them and come up with ways to counter their use. If you are aware
3313 that another player is using one of these bugs, report it to the
3314 deity of the game. S/he might give you a reward of some sort.
3316 Also note that since these bugs have been published> here, it is likely
3317 that some programmer has written bug fixes for these. Most, and
3318 possible all of these bugs might not work in a game you are
3323 User's Guide to Empire 69
3325 Appendix C :-: FTP sites and other sources for Empire related items
3327 Herein listed are the net address of computers that have files
3328 related to Empire in there anonymous FTP directories. An example of
3329 anonymous FTP is found in chapter 2 of this guide, and that method
3330 with appropriate substitutions for file names can be used to retrieve
3331 files off of these FTP sites. If you have trouble using anonymous FTP
3332 seek out your local site consultant for more information.
3334 Host Directory Files available
3335 ucbvax.berkeley.edu - pub/games/empire/bsd Empire client, server,
3336 various tools, this guide.
3337 empire.bbn.com - pub/Emp Various tools, VMS client,
3339 star.cs.vu.nl - xemp Xemp
3340 hylka.helsinki.fi - public/vax/games-etc/empireclient.dir
3342 uunet.uu.net - games Tools, server.
3343 alcazar.cd.chalmers.se - pub/emp Various tools, patches, eif
3347 User's Guide to Empire 70
3351 Agriculture centers 25,49,51 Naval operations
3352 Announcements 17 Defensive 36,54,57
3353 Avail 45 In mapping 55,61
3354 Backstabbing 28 Anti-submarine 61
3355 Banks 56 Amphibious 35,40,54,57
3356 Bridges 42,45,58,67 Mining 54,60,61
3357 BTUs 26,45 Nuclear weapons
3358 Capitals 16,26,36,54,55,57 Damage from 38
3359 Clients 9 Ending games 41
3360 Basic client 9 Getting 38,42
3361 Compiling 9-12 Recovering from 39
3362 Deliver 48,52-53,56,60 Defense of areas hit by 40
3363 Designate 17,21,25 Oil 42,43,45,50,54,55,67
3364 Diplomacy 28-32 Paratroops
3365 Distribution network 27,48-52,56,60 In nuclear war 40
3366 Education 42-43,44,45,47,48 Against capitals 36
3367 Empire Against forts 35,36
3368 Addictive 8 Against defended sectors 57
3369 Blitz games 6 Plague 44
3370 Compared to Risk 6 Planes
3371 Description 6 In defense 33-34,54,57
3372 Game length 6 In mapping 28
3373 Time needed to play 6 VTOL 33,34,40
3374 Enlistment 40,54 Out of airbases 33,34,59
3375 ETU, Empire Time Units 26 In nuclear war 38,40
3376 Exploring 16,21-25 Defending from 57
3377 Food in sectors 27,54 In escort 67
3378 Forts 30,34-35,40,54,57,59-60 Population 26,43
3379 FTP 9,63 Posturing 32
3380 Gold dust 26,42,43,45,54,55,67 Registering
3381 Guerillas 36-37 Hearing of games 8
3382 Guns 34-35,36,40 Standard registration 8-9
3383 HCMs 45,67 Rec.games.empire 8
3384 Help 16,17 "Red Storm Rising" 30
3385 Kent State Empire 43, 62 Research 44,45
3386 LCMs 42,45,47,48 Reserves 37,54,57
3387 Loans 30,61 Sanctuary 16,21,22,25,27
3388 Mapping 28,54,55,61 Scripts 64
3389 Maps 16,18-20 Sectors 20
3390 Maskirovka 30-31 Server, connecting problems 12-15,26
3391 Missiles Starvation 26,46,51,54
3392 In nuclear war 38 Technology 26,27,33,34,42-44
3393 Against planes 57 Telegrams 17
3394 Against airbases 59 Thresholds 50-53,56,60
3395 Against ships 62 Tools 7,8,21,63-64
3396 Mobility 24,25,26,49,51,61 Uncompensated workers 43,46
3397 Mountains 25,36 Updates 16,21,25,26,27,36,46,51,56
3398 Movement 16,20 Warehouse 26,43,48,49-51,56,59,60,61
3399 Wilderness 20,21,22,23,24,25
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