1 .TH Introduction "The Empire Users Guide"
2 .NA Guide "The Empire Users Guide"
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30 User's Guide to Empire 1
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38 . . . . ---------------------------------------------. . . . .
40 . . . . | This work copyright 1991, Geoff Cashman |. . . . .
41 . . . . .| All rights reserved except you may copy | . . . .
42 . . . . | this work using electronic methods. Non |. . . . .
43 . . . . .| electronic copying, hard copies for the | . . . .
44 . . . . | purpose of distribution and/or selling, |. . . . .
45 . . . . .| is strictly prohibited without author's | . . . .
46 . . . . | express written consent. No changes may |. . . . .
47 . . . . .| be made to the content of this edition. | . . . .
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57 User's Guide to Empire 2
61 This guide's intended audience is the beginning player and those players
62 who have played a game or three and would like to have some insight on some
63 more subtle aspects of the game. Some experienced players may find some
64 benefit from reading this guide as well. While you may feel you are an
65 expert, it is always possible to learn. Nothing in this guide is intended
66 to be difficult to understand, and every effort has been made to make this
67 guide an easy learning tool.
69 This publication is current to Berkeley version 1.1 patch level 5
74 User's Guide to Empire 3
78 It has been over a year now since I first sat down and thought in a serious
79 way about writing this guide. It has been a long trip with many interesting
80 turns and developments. When I first started, the version of Empire that
81 this guide has ultimately been written for had not yet been released. Now,
82 with this project nearing release I find that yet another new version of
83 Empire is coming out. I look on in near despair as I realize that this guide
84 may very well soon be outdated. Nevertheless, I feel compelled to release
85 this information in what might be considered a final form.
87 However, I hope that this is not the final form. With new versions of
88 Empire coming out in the very near future I hope that some other potential
89 author steps forward and takes up the banner of educating the new player.
90 I caution you though that such a work as this takes quite an effort.
92 To the reader and any critics or even cynics that might be reading, I say
93 that I am not writer. I never was, and I never intend to be. There are
94 certainly enough writers in the world to write almost everything the world
95 could want to know about in print. I was never skilled in the art of proper
96 style for any sort of writing. Please, be kind and keep this in mind.
98 I wrote this guide because I felt there was a great need for something of
99 this nature. I have watched so many players come to the network looking
100 for information on Empire, such as the rules, or information on how to play.
101 One can get information about the various commands available to oneself
102 within the game, but to understand how to use those commands effectively
103 and get skilled at running a country is a far greater task. Many new
104 players have despaired after playing their first game for lack of the
105 requisite knowledge to play effectively. Some come back fighting hard
106 in the next game, but many just disappear never to be heard from again.
107 This guide was written with the hope that if the new player is supplied
108 with the basics, they can advance in skill more quickly than previously
109 possible and not despair at their first defeat.
111 I am hoping that within the near future two other companion guides to
112 this one will be written and released to the net. These two guides will
113 be intended to make the average player a better player or even expert,
114 and to teach fledgling deities how to compile and establish a, solicit
115 entries for , and effectively run, a game. Some people have commented
116 to me that the time spent on these guides would be better spent if I
117 were to spend time programming for Empire instead. It is my belief that
118 in teaching players to be better players, and teaching deities how to be
119 a deity should that guide be released, the potential pool for
120 programmers of Empire will increase.
122 I can not take credit for the idea of this guide. The need for such
123 a guide I think was painfully obvious to a great many players. Some in
124 fact did engage in projects to fill that need. Every such attempt has
125 fallen short, in my humble opinion. Witness the large number of people
128 User's Guide to Empire 4
130 who still ask the network, "How do I play?" and even more importantly
131 the lack of sufficient answer to such people's questions. In my highest
132 hopes, I dream that someday soon that answer will be "Get a copy of the
133 User's Guide to Empire, which is available via FTP from xx.xx.xx".
135 This work was made possible by the contributions of several Empire players.
136 This work would not have been completed without the insights and assistance
137 of many Empire players and deities. To the Empire community as a whole,
138 I say thank you for your priceless contributions.
143 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
146 User's Guide to Empire 5
152 1. What is Empire? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
153 2. How to get into a game of Empire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
154 3. The primitive basics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
155 4. Geography in Empire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
156 5. The beginning phases of Empire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
157 6. Diplomacy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
158 7. Setting up your defenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
159 8. Nuclear warfare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
160 9. Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
161 10. The economy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
162 11. War. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
163 12. Other helpful or not so helpful hints. . . . . . . . . . . . 57
164 13. Some tricks and subtle tactics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
165 14. Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
174 1. Sample of how to FTP and compile a client program
175 2. Killing a process on a remote Empire host
176 3. Example of an Empire map
177 4. Realistic version of an Empire map
178 5. Table of sector types and designations
179 6. Unexplored island prior to breaking sanctuary
180 7. Island showing exploration using theory 1
181 8. Island showing exploration using theory 2
182 9 Island showing exploration using theory 3
183 10. Results from 'show planes capability'
184 11. Results from a 'nation' report
185 12. Map of region hit by nuclear weapon
186 13. Table of types of commodities in Empire
187 14. Sample output of 'prod' command
188 15. Results of a 'census' command of a library
189 16. Map of area requiring some distribution
190 17. Results of a distribution command
191 18. Map of an area requiring delivery path
194 User's Guide to Empire 6
196 Chapter 1 :-: What is Empire?
198 Empire is a game in which you are pitted against several other
199 players in a country vs. country format. There are economies to
200 run, armies to support, policies to generate, and allies and
201 enemies to make. The game supports various features that make
202 certain aspects of the game seem to parallel the "realistic"
203 world. These include satellites, planes, banks, parks, etc.
205 Empire, in the version herein described, is a very complex
206 game. The closest game that most people will know that is
207 analogous to it is the game known as Risk. However, Empire is
208 more complex by a factor of at least one hundred. Nevertheless,
209 as a result of the computer aiding you every step of the way, the
210 game is not difficult to play, though it can be difficult to
211 learn. If you read this guide thoroughly, and use it as a
212 continuing resource, you can help make learning this game a lot
215 It should be noted that in learning to play this game, you
216 may become frustrated or feel daunted by its complexity.
217 Several players have noted that they almost gave up on Empire,
218 until one day when everything seemed to start to make sense.
219 I call it the "threshold level of understanding" after which
220 learning the art of Empire becomes several grades easier, and
221 players learn substantially faster. I urge you to stay with
222 it until you get to that level. It may take some time, but it
223 is well worth the effort. This guide is intended to get you
224 to that threshold level of understanding.
226 Games usually take two to three months depending on various factors
227 that are changeable by the person who runs the game prior to its
228 inception. Some games, known as blitz games, last a day or three
229 and will wear out your finger tips from typing too much, will cause
230 your family and loved ones to be tremendously upset with you for
231 missing breakfast, lunch and dinner for three days straight, will cause
232 your stomach to argue constantly with you about its right to
233 food, and are a tremendous amount of fun. Blitz games are not
234 for the light of heart nor are they meant for the beginner.
236 For more information concerning the basic scope of Empire,
237 refer to the game itself. Within the game, there are
238 various help entries accessible through the command 'info'.
239 This guide is intended to go well beyond the scope of help
240 available from 'info'.
242 Empire, the game, has evolved through many different forms
243 over the last decade. There are still numerous versions
244 for various computers around. The version herein discussed
245 is BSD Empire, written for the most part by Dave Pare along
246 with a lot of help from net people. As release time approaches
247 I am aware that Mr. Pare is working on BSD Empire V2.0.
248 This guide is only current to version V1.1.5 of BSD. I wish
251 User's Guide to Empire 7
253 the future author of the guide to V2.0, whomever that might be,
254 the best of luck and bequeath that person a family size bottle
255 of aspirin for personal use.
257 Summary: Empire is a very complex game that has a rather steep learning
258 curve. Most of the complexity of the game can be handled by
259 the commands available to you, the game server itself, or tools
260 that you use to better your country. Tools are described later
264 User's Guide to Empire 8
266 Chapter 2 :-: How to get into a game of Empire.
268 The most common way of finding about about games that are about to
269 happen is by monitoring the newsgroup rec.games.empire on your local
270 news reading program. Other ways are via e-mail by getting to know
271 several players with whom you correspond over the network. Some
272 games are by invitation only but these are few and far between as
273 usually a game is better with more people in it. If you do not know
274 how to use your local news reading program, ask a local site consultant
275 or find a brochure about the news programs available. One of the most
276 common newsreaders can be reached by typing 'rn' from your unix
277 prompt. If you have VMS for an operating system this may not be true.
278 To go directly to the rec.games.empire newsgroup you could type in
279 'rn rec.games.empire'.
281 Before entering a game of Empire, consider the amount of time that
282 you have available to play the game. Two hours a day for a four
283 update per day game is usually the norm. If you are inexperienced,
284 and have not fought in wars before, that two hours will dramatically
285 increase should war break out between you and another country.
287 Note that it is easy to get addicted to the game. The player should
288 be aware of this prior to playing. Play in moderation. This is
289 obviously not meant to scare you off. It is merely a word of caution
290 to some people. Remember to play in moderation.
292 If you do decide to join in an upcoming game of Empire, then you will
293 have the pleasure of playing one of the best games around. Empire has
294 been described as being the most complicated game ever created.
295 Despite the fact that the game was created for computers and has
296 been in existence for several years, as yet no robot player has been
297 developed nor is it anticipated. It is possible to build such a
298 robot, but it would be a huge task. Do not be dismayed though.
299 Most of the complexity of Empire is handled by the server and client.
300 There is a fair amount of what is called "micro-managing" that may
301 need to be done to be a highly successful nation. However, it is
302 not a necessary thing to do. Furthermore, there are many tools
303 (described later) that can handle the micromanaging aspects to
306 After you find out about a game, and decide that you do want to
307 play in that upcoming game, you need to contact the "Deity". The
308 "Deity" is the person who runs the game. You should mail him/her
309 with information about yourself and your country. A customary
310 basic form for registering your country to play might contain
311 the following information:
313 Country name: (any name you like, from Brianville to USofA)
314 Rep: (this is your *password*)
315 Net address: (the address at which you can be contacted over the net)
316 Skill level: (1-10..10 being the best, 1 being beginner)
318 It might be necessary depending on the Deity to include all addresses
321 User's Guide to Empire 9
323 from which you might be playing. With the proliferation of suns as
324 general user machines this is becoming more and more a chore, and
325 few deities require it. It might suffice to say "mickey@*.buffalo.edu"
326 which might cover all machines you play from if you played from
327 SUNY-Buffalo. Mickey, of course, is just an arbitrary username chosen
330 Empire players connect to games in progress through a program known
331 as a "client". This program handles communication between your
332 computer and the computer that the game is running on.
334 There are several versions of clients available. Some are more
335 "capable" than others in that they can make decisions easier for
336 you or make the decisions themselves. They are intended to reduce
337 the amount of work you have to do to maintain your country though
338 in some cases they actually increase the amount of work you have
339 to do. I have listed places from which you can get other types
340 of clients from in the FTP listings in appendix C.
342 Sources for basic client program is available by FTPing to
343 ucbvax.berkeley.edu. For the user's benefit, I have included
344 a copy of a session in which a user FTPs to ucbvax, retrieves the
345 source, compiles the source and establishes the appropriate
346 environment variables to connect to a game.
348 Note that the following example will work ONLY on a unix,
349 ultrix, or other flavor of unix operating system. This will
350 not work for the VMS client.
352 -----------------------------<begin sample>---------------------------------
354 (PLEASE NOTE: Walk through comments in this sample will be enclosed
355 in [** and **]. They are not part of what actually appeared on screen
356 in collecting this sample. They are meant only as guides.)
358 [** First, I create a directory to put the client in. I then cd into that
359 directory and then proceed with the ftp to ucbvax. **]
361 autarch{tmp}!>mkdir myclient
362 autarch{tmp}!>cd myclient
363 autarch{myclient}!>ftp ucbvax.berkeley.edu
364 Connected to ucbvax.berkeley.edu.
365 220 ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU FTP server (Version 5.30 Tue Mar 28 18:11:37 PST 1989) ready.
366 [** Type in anonymous for your name **]
367 Name (ucbvax.berkeley.edu:mickey): anonymous
368 [** Send your real identity for the password **]
369 331 Guest login ok, send ident as password.
371 230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.
372 [** I am now logged in to ucbvax's public access FTP area. Now
373 I cd into the "pub" directory, then the "games" directory, and then
374 the "bsd-empire" directory where I know the Empire client source
378 User's Guide to Empire 10
381 250 CWD command successful.
383 250 CWD command successful.
385 250 CWD command successful.
386 [** Now, I set my file transfer mode to "binary" and set hash on so that
387 I can see transmit progress on screen (# = 1024 bytes.) **]
391 Hash mark printing on (1024 bytes/hash mark).
392 [** Now, I view the directory listing to confirm the name of the client
395 200 PORT command successful.
396 150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for ..
404 [** ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ it's this one. **]
408 226 Transfer complete.
409 143 bytes received in 0.03 seconds (4.7 Kbytes/s)
410 [** Now, I "get" the file and the transmission to my directory begins. **]
411 ftp> get empclient-1.1.tar.Z
412 200 PORT command successful.
413 150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for empclient-1.1.tar.Z (20859 bytes).
414 #########################################
415 226 Transfer complete.
416 local: empclient-1.1.tar.Z remote: empclient-1.1.tar.Z
417 20859 bytes received in 1.8 seconds (11 Kbytes/s)
418 [** The client source now resides in my directory, so I log out of Berkeley **]
421 [** I next confirm that the client is in my directory. **]
422 autarch{myclient}!>ls
424 [** Next, I have to uncompress the file (the Z postfix means it is in
425 compressed format). I again ls to confirm it's presence. **]
426 autarch{myclient}!>uncompress empclient-1.1.tar.Z
427 autarch{myclient}!>ls
429 [** Next, I have to tar the file (tar postfix means it's in tar format).
430 Again, I ls to confirm operation completed. **]
431 autarch{myclient}!>tar -xf empclient-1.1.tar
432 autarch{myclient}!>ls
435 User's Guide to Empire 11
437 client/ empclient-1.1.tar
438 [** Ah, ok. I tar'ed the file and it created a directory for itself.
439 So, I cd into that directory and ls it. **]
440 autarch{myclient}!>cd client
442 Makefile empire.6 host.c main.c saveargv.c
443 README expect.c hpux.c misc.h servercmd.c
444 bit.c fnlist.h ioqueue.c proto.h serverio.c
445 bit.h globals.c ioqueue.h queue.c termio.c
446 dtable.c handle.c login.c queue.h termlib.c
447 [** There's the README file up there. That will tell me what to do next. **]
448 autarch{client}!>more README
453 This is the empire client for BSD Empire.
455 To make the program, edit globals.c and change localhost to
456 point at the machine where the game is running.
460 You can change hosts on-the-fly by using environment variables -- see
461 the man page for details.
463 [** Simple enough. I don't bother modifying globals.c since I can modify
464 the environment variables using the unix command 'setenv'. So now,
465 I just type 'make' and hope everything goes ok. NOTE: This was done
466 on a sun4. Your results may vary slightly. **]
467 autarch{client}!>make
468 [** Now, it does the compilation automatically without me having to
469 do it by hand, I just typed the make and it does it by itself. **]
471 cc -g -sun4 -c dtable.c
472 cc -g -sun4 -c expect.c
473 cc -g -sun4 -c globals.c
474 cc -g -sun4 -c handle.c
475 cc -g -sun4 -c host.c
476 cc -g -sun4 -c hpux.c
477 cc -g -sun4 -c ioqueue.c
478 cc -g -sun4 -c login.c
479 cc -g -sun4 -c main.c
480 cc -g -sun4 -c queue.c
481 cc -g -sun4 -c saveargv.c
482 cc -g -sun4 -c servercmd.c
483 cc -g -sun4 -c serverio.c
484 cc -g -sun4 -c termio.c
485 cc -g -sun4 -c termlib.c
486 cc -g -o empire bit.o dtable.o expect.o globals.o handle.o host.o hpux.o
487 ioqueue.o login.o main.o queue.o saveargv.o servercmd.o serverio.o termio.o
492 User's Guide to Empire 12
494 Makefile expect.c hpux.c misc.h serverio.c
495 README expect.o hpux.o proto.h serverio.o
496 bit.c fnlist.h ioqueue.c queue.c termio.c
497 bit.h globals.c ioqueue.h queue.h termio.o
498 bit.o globals.o ioqueue.o queue.o termlib.c
499 dtable.c handle.c login.c saveargv.c termlib.o
500 dtable.o handle.o login.o saveargv.o
501 empire* host.c main.c servercmd.c
502 empire.6 host.o main.o servercmd.o
503 [** Walla, it compiled, and now there is a file in the directory called
504 'empire' with a * next to it (meaning it's an executable. Not all
505 ls's will do this, see 'man ls' for further info on parameters for ls).
506 That file is the client. I could delete all of the '.c', '.h', and
507 '.o' files right now to clean things up, but I am anxious to get into
508 the Empire game that is already in progress. So, I next setup my
509 environment variables so my client knows which computer to call and
510 which port to use on that computer. **]
511 autarch{client}!>setenv EMPIREHOST oleander.cs.odu.edu
512 autarch{client}!>setenv EMPIREPORT 1617
513 [** EMPIREHOST and EMPIREPORT variables will have been given to you by
514 the deity running the game.
515 With that done, I can now run my client and connect to the game. **]
516 autarch{client}!>empire
517 Country name? [** I type in my country name **]
518 Your name? [** And my password, NOT my real name. **]
522 You have six new telegrams waiting...
525 [** And you are now connected to the game and are ready to play dictator **]
529 Sample of how to FTP and compile a client program
531 -------------------------------<end sample>-----------------------------------
534 Since you are playing across a network of computers, it is possible
535 that there will be problems along the way in connecting to the server
536 from the computer you play on. What follows are some common connection
540 autarch{client}!>empire
541 connect: Connection refused
543 Problem This generally means that you have either set your environment
544 variables wrong (see 'setenv' from earlier in this chapter), or
545 the server at the host site is not currently running.
546 Solution (1) Check your environment variables by issuing a 'setenv' command.
549 User's Guide to Empire 13
551 (2) Wait for the server to come up.
554 autarch{client}!>empire
555 connect: Connection timed out
557 Problem This generally means that there is a network outage somewhere
559 Solution (1) You can monitor the network by using two unix commands located in
560 /usr/etc on most unix systems. These are 'ping' and 'traceroute'.
561 /usr/etc/ping 128.205.7.3 for instance will send a ping at the
562 host with ip address 128.205.7.3. If that machine can be reached
563 from your machine across the network it will return:
565 traceroute 128.205.7.3 will request responses from each site along
566 the way. This is useful for seeing which site along the way is
568 (2) This solution is easier, but more frustrating. Wait.
571 autarch{client}!>empire
572 Country name? <your country name>
573 Your name? <your password>
576 3 country in use by mickey@lictor.acsu.buffalo.edu (pid=5797)
578 Problem This one is potentially nasty. It means that another process is
579 logged into your country. This could be from multiple sources.
580 1: Your friend who is playing your country as well.
581 2: A process of yours that got accidentally hung.
582 3: The network hung your remote process even though your local
583 process is now terminated.
584 Solution (1) Go kick your friend in the head :-)
585 (2) Kill your process 'nicely'. To find the process execute a
586 'ps -x' command and find the appropriate process number:
588 PID TT STAT TIME COMMAND
589 3555 t1 S 0:00 -usr/new/csh (csh)
591 3559 ? S 0:00 -usr/new/csh (csh)
592 3560 ? S 0:00 (empire)
593 The offending process number in this list is 3560. To kill it,
594 simply type the command 'kill 3560'. After that, all should be
595 well. Try entering the game again.
596 (3) If your process is hung on the server machine, you can
597 do one of two things. First, you can mail the Deity with the
598 "pid", or process identification number. This number is listed
599 in the original error message and in our case is 5797. Secondly,
600 you can log in to the remote site and kill the process yourself
601 via the process illustrated below. Note that in the first line
602 of the illustrated process that the name storm.tamu.edu is the
603 host site for the particular game I am using for this example.
606 User's Guide to Empire 14
608 Also, 1617 is the port on that machine that Empire is being run
609 through. Commands that you should type in are indicated
610 by a "<----" at the end of the line.
612 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
614 % telnet storm.tamu.edu 1617 <----
615 Trying 128.194.15.98 ...
616 Connected to storm.tamu.edu.
617 Escape character is '^]'.
618 2 Empire server ready <---- [** your country name in quotes **]
620 0 country name Terminus
621 pass "busyemperor" <---- [** your password in quotes **]
623 kill <---- [** this terminates the hung process **]
624 3 process 1056 (from mickey@autarch.acsu.buffalo.edu) terminated
625 [** next type in 'ctrl-]' and then type 'close' **]
632 Killing a process on a remote Empire host
634 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
636 Your process is now unhung, and your country should be ready to play
640 autarch{myclient}empire
641 Country name? <your country name>
642 Your name? <your password>
646 Problem The server does not accept the password you typed as being correct.
647 Solution Try typing it again. Try using capital letters at the beginning of
648 the password as well, or the entire password in caps. If this does
649 not work, mail the Deity and inform him or her of the problem
650 and what the password should be.
653 autarch{myclient}empire
656 Problem Your connection to the server is not responding.
657 Solution The delay time for waiting for a response that is built into
658 the client is not exceedingly long. The theory behind this being
659 that if it is taking you that long to get a response from the
660 Empire server then it is not worth playing, since response times
663 User's Guide to Empire 15
665 for information from the game are going to be pretty unbearable.
666 Keep trying is probably the best solution.
669 These are most of the problems that you will encounter in connecting to
670 the game server. There are some more problems that you might
671 encounter, but generally they are not common. If you can not reach
672 your game server for more than a day, contact your deity and let
673 him/her know that you can not connect.
675 Summary: Getting into a game of Empire is not terribly difficult. Setting up
676 a client program should be a fairly painless task. If it is not,
677 do not be dismayed. Get help from a consultant or another player
678 if you can. Some problems with the network may temporarily prevent
679 you from playing. Be patient, the network is a horse that should
680 be shot, but generally it comes around after a while.
683 User's Guide to Empire 16
685 Chapter 3 :-: The primitive basics.
688 There are a few basic commands and ideas that will help you get
689 acquainted with Empire. These are here summarized.
692 All players begin a game of Empire in what is known as a sanctuary.
693 While you are in a sanctuary state you can not be attacked, overrun, or
694 otherwise hurt. However, while you are in sanctuary you can not do
695 very many things. In order to really begin playing the game you need
696 to do what is known as "break sanctuary". You can do this using the
697 'break' command. When you do this, your two sanctuary sectors (which
698 everyone starts with) will become capital sectors. You are no longer
699 protected from attacks from enemy countries.
701 Concept: Movement in Empire.
702 Paths of movement are indicated by several keys. Path indicators
703 exist in a hex shape around the letter H on your keyboard. Thus, y means
704 travel North-West, u for North-East, j for East, n for South-East, b for
705 South-West, and g for West. Also, h means "stop" which terminates movement
706 of whatever you are moving. There is one other key, v which "views" the
707 sector you are currently moving through. Thus if I gave a movement path
708 of gggvgh the game would move whatever I am moving three sectors West, view
709 the sector at three sectors west of my starting point, then move one more
710 sector west and then stop.
713 Empire games have "turns" known as updates. When an update occurs,
714 your country goes through economic growth or decline, interests are paid
715 on gold bars, military costs are paid for, mobility increases in your
716 sectors, etc. You can do a great many things between updates, an update
717 merely does book keeping more or less, at a predetermined time. To find
718 out when the next update is going to happen, you can type 'update' as
721 Command: map -10:10,-7:7
722 This command will give you a map of the area immediately surrounding
723 your beginning two sectors. Specifically, it will give you a map from ten
724 sectors West of your 0,0 to ten sectors East and from seven sectors North to
725 seven sectors South of your 0,0.
727 Command: explore civ 0,0 1
728 This command allows you to move one civilian from your 0,0 and
729 "explore" into wilderness and mountain sectors.
731 Command: info commands
732 This command will list the various commands available in Empire.
733 It is a very good idea to go through the information on each command
734 by typing 'info <name of command>'. This will help you get more acquainted
735 with the game. Though this guide shows many commands and how to use them,
736 it is no substitute for the game's help itself.
739 User's Guide to Empire 17
741 Command: designate 1,1 +
742 This command will enable you to designate a sector you own into
743 whatever you desire. Usually, in the beginning of the game you will designate
744 sectors that you will not be using actively for a while into highways.
745 The above shown example of the command will designate your 1,1 sector into
748 Command: telegram <country name>
749 Countries in Empire communicate with each other via telegrams.
750 These are private letters sent just like a telegram would be. They have
751 a size limit, but there is usually more than enough room to say what you
752 want to say. There is no limit to the number of telegrams you may send.
755 Countries broadcast to the world via the command 'announce'. These
756 announcements are similar to telegrams except instead of one country reading
757 the telegram the entire world can read it.
760 This command allows you to read any incoming telegrams or
761 announcements. Empire will notify you when you have new incoming traffic.
763 Command: news {x number of days}
764 This command will allow you to peruse the Empire newspaper. It does
765 not make for great reading. However, it is useful for intelligence gathering.
766 If you just enter 'news' as a command, it will print all the news since you
767 last read the news. Entering 'news 3' will give you the news for the last
768 three days. In big games, the news file gets quite large.
770 Summary: These are the basic ideas and commands of Empire. Empire has a great
771 many commands however, and the player should endeavor to learn them.
772 Empire can be played with only a few commands but the additional
773 commands are there for your best interests. If you do not understand
774 a command shown here, simply type 'info <command>' while in the
778 User's Guide to Empire 18
780 Chapter 4 :-: Geography in Empire.
782 Maps in Empire are based on a simple hex design. For example:
784 ---------------------------------- There are three basic sector types in
785 Empire (note: "type" is different than
786 / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ "designation". Designation refers to what
787 / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ that sector has on it, a factory or school
788 -4 | . | ^ | - | ^ | . | for example. Type refers to what it is
789 \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / built on). There are:
790 \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / seas : .
791 -3 | - | - | . | . | mountains : ^
792 / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ wilderness : -
793 / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ When using the Empire map, you use an "X,Y"
794 -2 | . | - | - | - | . | system. The X coordinate refers to how far
795 \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / along the horizontal you are, the Y referring
796 \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / to the vertical. Thus, there are seas on
797 -1 | - | - | . | . | example map at 5,-1 7,-1 0,-2 8,-2
798 / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ 5,-3 7,-3 0,-4 and 8,-4. Negative X is
799 / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ to the left (to the East) of 0,0 just as
800 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 in your high school math courses. However,
801 negative Y is above (to the North of) 0,0.
802 Figure 3 This is different from high school math.
803 Example of an Empire map Why the maps have coordinates in this way
804 is one of the great mysteries of Empire.
805 ----------------------------------
807 Figure 4 below is a real map of Empire, in its real size and form.
808 Figure 3 is "zoomed in". Note that the '?' marks on the right part of
809 the map belong to a neighboring country. In this figure all wilderness
810 type sectors have been designated into something other than a
811 wilderness There are several mountains, and a lot of ocean visible as
816 User's Guide to Empire 19
818 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
820 [309:112] Command : map #1
821 33333322222222221111111111---------00000000001111111111222222
822 5432109876543210987654321098765432101234567890123456789012345
823 -3 + + + + + . . . . . . . . + . . . . . . . -3
824 -2 a ^ + m ^ + . . . . o . + . . . . . . . . -2
825 -1 + + + + + + + + . . . a o a . + + + . . . . -1
826 0 + + + + + + + g o o o + + + . + o c m . . . 0
827 1 + + ^ o + a j m g w g ^ ^ m + j j + . + . . . 1
828 2 + + a + + + + + + + + . b j + m + w + . . . . . . 2
829 3 + a . a a + b + m o j + t + + + + + + . + . + + + . . ? ? ? 3
830 4 . . . . . a g + ^ + m + + l ^ ^ ^ + o + + + + + + + + ? + ? 4
831 5 + . . + + + + + ^ + ^ m + j ^ ^ c + m + + + + + + + ^ + + + ^ 5
832 6 . . . + + ^ + + + + m + + o o + k + + + + + + ^ ^ + + + + 6
833 7 . + + + + + + + + o m + a o + e + + + ^ ^ a + + + + + ? 7
834 8 . + + + + a + ^ + g d m + w m + m + + + + + ^ + + + + ? 8
835 9 . + + + + + + + + + + + k + g t + + + + + + + + ? ? ? ? 9
836 10 . . + + + + ^ + ^ ^ g + + + p g + i g + + + + ? 10
837 11 . + + + + + ^ + + + ^ + + m + g o + g + + + + + ? ? ? ? 11
838 12 . + + + + + + + + + + + g g + + + + g + + + + + + + + ? 12
839 13 . + + + + + + + + + + + + + g + g m + w + + + + + + + + ? 13
840 14 . . . + + + + + + + + + + + g + + m + + + + + + + + + + 14
841 15 . + + + + + + a + + + + + + + + m + + + + + + + a + + + + 15
842 33333322222222221111111111---------00000000001111111111222222
843 5432109876543210987654321098765432101234567890123456789012345
846 Realistic version of an Empire map
848 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
850 The following listing is taken directly from the command
851 'info sector-types' in the game. There is a lengthy description of
852 each sector type also in this command, but I have omitted it here
856 User's Guide to Empire 20
859 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
862 BASICS INDUSTRIES MILITARY / SCIENTIFIC
863 . sea d defense plant t technical center
864 ^ mountain i shell industry f fortress
865 s sanctuary m mine r research lab
866 / wasteland g gold mine n nuclear plant
867 - wilderness h harbor l library/school
868 c capital w warehouse e enlistment center
869 p park u uranium mine
870 COMMUNICATIONS * airfield FINANCIAL
871 + highway a agribusiness b bank
872 ) radar installation o oil field
873 j light manufacturing
874 # bridge head k heavy manufacturing
875 = bridge span % refinery
878 Table of sector types and designations
880 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
882 As you can see, there are a wide variety of sector types in Empire.
883 However, until your country becomes populated the most useful sector
884 is the highway ('+'), for it allows you to move things around easier,
885 even if the highway has only begun being constructed
888 Summary: Empire maps are based on a simple hex design, with the movement
889 keys based similarly around the letter h on standard keyboards.
890 These movement keys are a basic tool in Empire and must be learned.
893 User's Guide to Empire 21
895 Chapter 5 :-: The beginning phases of Empire.
898 Typically a game starts with a `speed' phase. If it does not, then
899 initial play can get boring quickly. A `speed' opening also demands
900 more time for the period when the updates are frequent, but hopefully,
901 that will be balanced by your efficient country and the less time
902 spent running it when your classes/real life demand more time.
904 There are several opening strategies for Empire players. I am going
905 to go through a few of them here. If you feel you can make a better
906 strategy feel free to do so.
908 Basically, all strategies for the opening phases revolve around a
909 few basic ideas. First, you want to secure as much land for yourself
910 as possible. Secondly, if you share an island with some other person,
911 you want to leave yourself in a strategically advantageous position
912 against your opponent, optimally to surround him/her before s/he breaks
913 sanctuary. These two ideas are the most important things to consider
914 prior to the first update. There are other things to consider, which
915 will be reviewed later.
917 It is highly important for you, the player, to begin playing the game
918 as soon as the game begins. If you do not, you risk being surrounded
919 before the first update. Furthermore, not breaking sanctuary prior to
920 the first update can cost you a great deal in terms of population
921 growth and the establishment of your economy.
923 Some players will use tools, which are reviewed in chapter 14, to
924 break sanctuary and occupy land from the beginning. There are other
925 means to aid your land occupation as well. If you have a programmable
926 terminal, or terminal program, you can program a key to contain a
927 particular command such as "explore civ 0,0 1 jjjujuuu". This could
928 be a path along a line of land that you have already occupied, and
929 wish to expand beyond. If you had to repeatedly type in that command
930 and path you would take a much greater amount of time to occupy land.
931 This can also be done through X windows, using the mouse and cut/paste
934 There are a few different theories on how to explore out from your
935 sanctuaries to claim as much land as possible for yourself.
937 In the following maps, the square island shown is entirely wilderness
938 except for the two sanctuaries in the middle. It is important to note
939 that prior to exploring the entire island, the only thing you would
940 be able to see on your map would be this:
943 User's Guide to Empire 22
954 It is your job to explore the island, while occupying, or securing for
955 yourself, as much land as possible. Note that for the sake of
956 simplicity I have not placed another country on this example island.
957 If a sector is a "+","c", or "s" it is an occupied (by you) sector.
958 If it's a "-" it's a wilderness sector, and if you can move into it,
959 it is unoccupied. This is an important piece of information. If you
960 can note move into a wilderness sector it means that it is occupied by
961 another country. Note that "." are seas, as indicated in chapter 5.
962 The basic commands to complete this exploration are 'explore' and
963 'designate'. Learn about those commands either from chapter 4 or
964 the game before attempting these theories.
966 First, I show the entire island prior to your breaking sanctuary and
969 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
971 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
972 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
973 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
974 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
975 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
976 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
977 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
978 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - s s - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
979 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
980 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
981 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
982 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
983 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
984 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
985 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
986 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
989 Unexplored island prior to breaking sanctuary
991 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
993 Next, I show theory 1, occupying in a concentric circle.
994 Note that once you have broken sanctuary (using the 'break'
995 command) that your two sanctuary sectors immediately become
996 capitals, with your real capital at 0,0.
999 User's Guide to Empire 23
1002 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1004 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1005 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1006 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1007 . - - - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1008 . - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1009 . - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - .
1010 . - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - .
1011 . - - - - - - - - + + + + + c c + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - .
1012 . - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - .
1013 . - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - .
1014 . - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1015 . - - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1016 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1017 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1018 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1019 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1022 Island showing exploration using theory 1
1024 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1026 So far, 84 sectors have been occupied. Now I show theory 2,
1027 occupying in spokes with concentric hexes spaced every few sectors
1030 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1032 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1033 . - - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1034 . - - - - - - - - - + + - - - - - + + - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1035 . - - - - - - - - - + - + - - - - + - + - - - - - - - - - - - .
1036 . - - - - - - - - + - - + + + + + - - + - - - - - - - - - - - .
1037 . - - - - - - - - + - - + + - - + + - - + - - - - - - - - - - .
1038 . - - - - - - - + - - + - + + + - + - - + - - - - - - - - - - .
1039 . - - - - - - - + + + + + + c c + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - .
1040 . - - - - - - - + - - + - + + + - + - - + - - - - - - - - - - .
1041 . - - - - - - - - + - - + + - - + + - - + - - - - - - - - - - .
1042 . - - - - - - - - + - - + + + + + - - + - - - - - - - - - - - .
1043 . - - - - - - - - - + - + - - - - + - + - - - - - - - - - - - .
1044 . - - - - - - - - - + + - - - - - + + - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1045 . - - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1046 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1047 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1050 Island showing exploration using theory 2
1052 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1056 User's Guide to Empire 24
1058 Now, 84 sectors have once again been occupied. However, an additional
1059 56 sectors are now within the borders of your country. Thus, securing
1060 a total of 140 sectors for yourself. The disadvantage? You have three
1061 lines of occupation ( the "+" sectors) between the center of your
1062 country and unsecured wilderness. In theory 1, the same number of
1063 sectors provides for 4 lines for most of the country. Another
1064 disadvantage is that it costs more mobility to use theory 2. The more
1065 lines of occupation you have between the central areas of your
1066 country and the unexplored wilderness or an enemy the easier it is
1067 to defend your country.
1069 A third theory is the idea of coastal occupation as a means of securing
1070 a large island. The idea being to secure the land immediately around
1071 you and then explore in one direction until you find seas, and then
1072 proceed to occupy the coast:
1074 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1076 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1077 . + + + + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1078 . + - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1079 . + - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1080 . + - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1081 . + - - - - - - - - - - - + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1082 . + - - - - - - - - - - + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
1083 . + - - - - - - - - - - + + c c + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - .
1084 . + - - - - - - - - - - + + + + + - - - - - + - - - - - - - - .
1085 . + - - - - - - - - - - - + + + + - - - - - - + - - - - - - - .
1086 . + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - .
1087 . + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - .
1088 . + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - .
1089 . + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - .
1090 . + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + - - - - - .
1091 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1094 Island showing exploration using theory 3
1096 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1098 Here, once again, 84 sectors have been occupied. In addition, 179
1099 sectors of wilderness have been secured, ie cut off from another
1100 country. This brings a total of 263 sectors occupied or secured.
1101 This is obviously impressive. However, it has its drawbacks as well.
1102 If there was a country bordering this country, that country would
1103 need only to attack and occupy one of your sectors and then they
1104 could explore into all of the "secured" sectors. In addition, there
1105 are only 2-3 lines of occupied sectors between the borders and the
1106 center of the country. This also costs more in terms of mobility than
1107 either theory 1 or 2.
1109 The next section contains a strategy submitted by Scott Yelich. Scott
1110 adheres in this summary to theory 1 as his method of exploration:
1113 User's Guide to Empire 25
1116 "Designate one of the two initial [sanctuary] capital sectors to
1117 an agricultural center. Then move a civ out from either sector to
1118 either 1,-1 or 1,1 and designate it a +. Then, I continue to move out
1119 one civilian at a time from both of my initial sectors. Only move
1120 the civ one spot into the wilderness and then I designate that sector
1121 as a highway (+). Then, do a map to see if there is anything
1122 especially interesting... such as, a mountain, more land or ANOTHER
1123 PLAYER. Of course, Only do that map at certain times... it's not
1124 necessary to do a map after EVERY explore since explore will show you
1125 a one sector radius!
1127 [Editor's note: exploring with one civilian across a wilderness sector
1128 takes .8 mobility. Across a highway, even a 0% highway, it will cost
1129 only .2 mobility. Thus, the reason for designating new land as soon
1130 as you occupy it. You will conserve mobility if you only explore into
1131 lands bordering your new highways.]
1133 "Here is where quick action comes into play. If you spot any controlled
1134 sectors (?) or a (-) that can't be entered (if you can note move into the
1135 sector it is occupied by someone else! hurry!), try to make a boarder as
1136 quick as possible by following the pattern above... move one civ, look,
1137 repeat. If you don't find any controlled sectors, simply [try] to
1138 AVOID MOUNTAINS at ALL costs... especially during the first couple of
1139 updates. Typically, from 30 to 70 sectors can be grabbed this way
1140 within the first minute or two.
1142 "To sum up, the strategy for this is: 1) You want to see who is out there,
1143 2) You want to see what land is out there, 3) when you take more sectors
1144 during the initial updates, you will get more mobility each update
1145 (typically 8, 'version' will tell...). Anyway, the more sectors you grab
1146 with the first update, the more you can grab the second. It's like an
1147 exponential function."
1150 This next section is a strategy submitted by Geoff Cashman. Geoff
1151 adheres in this summary to theory 2 as his method for exploration:
1153 "The basic strategy of moving one sector into the wilderness and then
1154 designate them with a command such as this: designate #1 ?des=- + which will
1155 designate all sectors in realm #1 that are wilderness into highways, is a
1156 common one. Using it wisely is not always done. My personal method is to
1157 expand only in a few directions, ie 3-6 different directions from your 0,0 2,0
1158 area. The idea here being to make "spokes" of exploration radiating out from
1159 your 0,0 and 2,0 area. Using this method, you can use less mobility and see
1160 more land though not actually own more land until after the first update.
1161 Another advantage is you might reach an opponent before s/he reaches you. A
1162 weakness is that an opponent can explore inbetween your spokes. If I feel
1163 this is possible inbetween two spokes then I connect the spokes via concentric
1164 (on 2,0 0,0 ) arc several sectors out from the 0,0. If you do not use this
1165 method, then you would use up all of your mobility to achieve the same number
1166 of sectors by the second update.
1170 User's Guide to Empire 26
1172 "Why save mobility? Mobility in the 0,0 sector is especially critical.
1173 The reason is because the 0,0 starts out with 999 civs. If a sector has
1174 999 or more civs it will not give birth to more civilians. Half of the
1175 battle in winning Empire is population explosion at the beginning of the
1176 game...ESPECIALLY if you get involved in a low tech war with a neighbor
1177 early on. More population means more resources mined, more supportable
1178 military, and more taxpayers. If you are going to be a tech producer then
1179 it may be desireable to limit population, but early on I do not recommend
1180 it. So, with 999 civs in your 0,0 sector you need to be able to move out
1181 many civs (depends on the number of ETUs per update (see the version command)
1182 as to how many you should move out, see number of births per 1,000 civs per
1183 etu in the version command). Thus, my strategy is slightly different.
1184 I concentrate on getting a 100% highway built at 1,-1 or 1,1. Why those
1185 sectors? because I can then use the mobility in 1,-1 or 1,1 to move civs
1186 or products into 2,0."
1189 The use of the third theory requires a player with some experience
1190 to deal with its shortcomings. For the beginner, I do not recommend
1193 The following was submitted by another player to point out their means
1194 of establishing their production and the beginning stages of their
1197 "Setting up a distribution network, even with inefficient warehouses, is
1198 fairly critical early on. If you starve civilians in the beginning of the
1199 game, you will fall behind in production. It is not uncommon to lose
1200 contact with the game for a day or more due to net failures. Do not
1201 depend on your capability to connect to the game to feed your civilians.
1203 "Some people never leave their 0,0 or 2,0 designated as a capital during the
1204 beginning of the game. They check the resources in 0,0 and then determine if
1205 it's suitable for being a mine or a gold mine. If neither, then they designate
1206 2,0 into a mine. If mine, then 2,0 becomes a gold mine. Using this method
1207 they can get maximum production from their civilians that are essentially
1208 trapped for the time being in their 0,0 and 2,0 sectors due to lack of
1209 mobility. Note that in doing this that you must conserve BTUs. Having
1210 a 0% efficient capital somewhere else will cause a lack of production of
1211 BTUs. You must be careful not to run out of BTUs completely, or it could
1212 cause you a great deal of grief.
1215 "NOTE: IT IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TO LEAVE A CAPITAL ON THE COAST AFTER
1216 ANYONE PRODUCES A BOAT. Until that time, a capital on the coast is
1217 an advantage in some ways. It is easier to defend (less places that
1218 it can be attacked from). You MUST get some civilians into the capital
1219 at -2,0 (about 50) before the first update along with some food.
1220 In general, your capital will not produce BTUs for a while, but neither
1221 do you need them for a while. However, leave your 0,0 sector as your
1222 capital until JUST prior (like 2-4 minutes, make it 10 to be safe) to
1223 the update. Does this all sound complicated? Yep. But it works.
1227 User's Guide to Empire 27
1230 "After the first or second update I will occupy the remaining wilderness
1231 that I can see, using the mobility from the sectors that I explored into
1232 in the previous update. I will then continue to move civs out of 0,0 and
1233 into 1,-1 or 1,1 (the highway that I am trying to make 100%) and move from
1234 there. If I am not going for tech production then I don't need the library
1235 or parks (you can still make education, it helps in some regards, but for
1236 the most part you don't need it if you are not going the way of tech.
1238 You can then pretty much do as you please and work towards the goals you
1239 think are reasonable for your country. "
1241 One matter that can not be overlooked by any player is the simple
1242 fact that people need food to survive. If a sector has less than
1243 60 people in it total, including civs, soldiers, and uws, then it
1244 will not starve. But if after the update it has more than 60 total
1245 people will starve. Make sure to feed your people!
1247 Ultimately, you want to take over every sector on your island.
1248 If you have neighbors on your island, you will probably have to share.
1249 Just try to get a bigger portion of it than your neighbors do.
1251 Summary: There are several basic ideas expressed in this chapter:
1252 1) Break sanctuary as soon as the game begins.
1253 2) Secure as much land for yourself as possible.
1254 3) Use your civilians efficiently.
1255 4) Do not allow your 0,0 sector to have a lot of civs in it.
1256 5) Get a distribution system set up early (explained later).
1260 User's Guide to Empire 28
1262 Chapter 6 :-: Diplomacy.
1264 It's your own ruin or success. One of the best players of the game
1265 (who shall go un-named) has had severe problems due to lack of skill
1266 in diplomacy. Remember, there is another person on the other end of
1267 that telegram. They are human like you are, and like to be treated
1268 like it for the most part. There are jerks, and there are non-jerks.
1269 Determine for yourself and go along with what you think is best, but
1270 remember, it is ok to lose a few battles so long as you win the war.
1271 A diplomatic loss can be an overall victory.
1273 One of the most powerful weapons in the game is information.
1274 What types of information can you use to your benefit? Information on;
1275 the locality of other countries, the plans of opponents, the trading
1276 going on between certain countries, etc. There is also a very powerful
1277 tool right here in this document: how to play the game well. There
1278 was a classic case of a country (myself) who accidentally announced
1279 his attention to attack a bordering country. The bordering country
1280 happened to be on, an began an attack. The attack stalemated for the
1281 most part because of the obvious inexperience of the person running
1282 that country. I offered information to him on how to play the game
1283 better in exchange for his surrender and some other terms of agreement.
1284 I turned a horrendous diplomatic mistake into a diplomatic success
1285 within two hours. This is obviously the rare case (surprised me too),
1286 but is a good example of the power of information.
1288 Another aspect of diplomacy is style. You project a style in your
1289 telegrams and announcements whether it is intentional or not. If
1290 people like you they tend to side with you more than the next guy.
1291 Of course, if you are a jerk but a powerful one people tend to
1292 reluctantly side with you. Then again, they are more likely to
1295 While I am on that subject: Backstabbing is a bad idea in general.
1296 It leads to distrust of many players with regards to yourself and tends
1297 to give yourself backstabbist's wrist if you do it too much. Even if
1298 you change your country name from game to game people tend to pick
1299 out who the major jerks are and their previous names or even net
1300 addresses. Trust is important. If you have allies you can trust
1301 implicitly you will sleep a lot better at night and also have people
1302 who you can trust to run your country for you while you are away for a
1303 few days pursuing real world goals. If you are going to backstab
1304 someone crush them while you can and make sure their allies can not
1305 get at you. Furthermore, make the world see that the person was a
1306 fool for trusting you in the first place (like, due to previous war
1307 or some such). Sometimes, that extra attack you get without
1308 interference from automatic defenses due to a declaration of alliance
1309 with your opponent can be critical. You can also map an opponent
1310 country if you are allied with them and they will never know it.
1311 Thus another good reason why you should be trustable and can trust
1312 other close allies. Having allies is important, especially
1313 in the current market games.
1317 User's Guide to Empire 29
1319 A) What is diplomacy?
1320 The dictionary defines diplomacy as "1: The art and practice of
1321 conducting negotiations between nations. 2: Skill in handling
1322 affairs without arousing hostility." The second definition may
1323 not be entirely accurate in that in Empire, diplomacy can sometimes
1324 be used to cause battles, rather than avoid them, to gain a particular
1325 end. I will go into this later.
1327 B) What purpose, diplomacy?
1328 Since Empire is a multi-user game the diplomacy side of the game
1329 is one of the main factors inherent to its playing. Being able
1330 to interact with other players, make bargains, treaties, alliances,
1331 sales, war, etc. leads to an incredibly variety of possible
1332 scenarios among various countries. In asking, what purpose is
1333 there to diplomacy, it must first be realized that diplomacy in
1334 the game of Empire is virtually unavoidable. To what degree
1335 you involve yourself in diplomacy is the true measure.
1337 Diplomacy can be utterly disastrous for you. It can also be
1338 very beneficial. It can also be a mediocre tool that goes mostly
1339 unused. If you master the techniques of diplomacy you will find
1340 yourself with a very valuable and powerful tool. If you fail
1341 at grasping the basic concepts of diplomacy, then you may find
1342 yourself the quick victim of a diplomatic trick.
1344 C) General types of relations amongst nations in Empire
1345 1) No contact. The two countries have never been in contact.
1346 2) Allies. Several types:
1347 a) Old friends, or local site friends.
1348 b) People whom you trust more than other people
1349 in the game, but are not entirely comfortable with.
1350 Nevertheless, you ally with them for lack of allies.
1351 c) Enemy allies. People whom you ally with whom you
1353 d) Undeclared allies. You conduct a lot of business with
1354 the country, but you do not officially declare your
1356 3) Hostile. Generally speaking, any country who is unfriendly
1357 towards you. May not necessarily be declared hostile.
1358 4) At war. If you have not figured out what this means, stop
1359 reading, never play Empire, and go back to elementary school :-)
1360 5) Neutral. The broadest category. You've dealt with this person
1361 but have not decided one way or another your relations. It might
1362 be a person from a previous game or a total unknown.
1364 d) Types of diplomacy
1366 You interact with the country on a very high level. Whatever
1367 their relations with you, a lot of correspondence is going on.
1368 This is probably the easiest form of diplomacy to invoke.
1369 2) Passive diplomacy
1370 Low level contact only. In essence, you do not work with
1371 this country. Some goals served by this: Country in question
1374 User's Guide to Empire 30
1376 learns little about you; Country in question may give you more
1377 info than you give him or her; etc..
1378 3) Indirect diplomacy
1379 Diplomacy through a middle country to another country. This
1380 is most often seen in situations where a known friend is an
1381 ally of a country you want to be allied with. You attempt
1382 to use your friend to convince the prospective ally to ally
1385 Being the middle person in a triad or more of allies that
1386 may not be already allied. This can be a VERY dangerous
1387 position to be in. The other sides of the triad or more
1388 may have certain expectations of you, which go against what
1389 another country may want from you. This is essentially
1392 E) Some goals that can be achieved through diplomacy:
1393 1) Getting another country to ally with you so that you can
1394 overfly his country at will without planes scrambling.
1395 2) Getting two countries whom you dislike to go to war against
1397 3) Getting another country to perform an act that is beneficial
1398 to you or your allies.
1399 4) Getting a reduction in price of certain commodities or articles
1400 from another country.
1402 6) Assisting in destroying an enemy.
1406 One of the most dangerous means by which diplomacy can be used was
1407 written about in the book "Red Storm Rising" by Tom Clancy. If you
1408 have not already read this book and you are an Empire buff, it is
1409 strongly recommended reading. This method is referred to as "The
1410 Maskirovka" or "Masquerade". It is often referred to as the "big lie"
1411 by the victims of this trick. Essentially it works as follows:
1413 a) You wish to attack another country, but would like to have things
1414 sightly different before the attack begins.
1415 o You may want that person to be your ally before the attack
1416 so you can overfly him/her without being shot down.
1417 o You might want to get him/her to give you a loan prior to
1419 o You might want them to move their fleet off in another
1420 direction or in closer to your forts.
1421 o You might want them to give you certain materials of war
1422 that you can use in your attack against them.
1423 All of these things and much more can be accomplished with
1424 the concept of maskirovka. Decide what you want to achieve.
1425 b) You set out to give the impression to the target country that you
1426 are in a particular state of matters. This can be accomplished
1427 in various ways depending on what you are trying to achieve.
1428 You can have another country attack you for instance to make it
1431 User's Guide to Empire 31
1433 appear that you need military arms or supplies to hold them off.
1434 This is one small example of what can be done. Ensure that the
1435 image you are presenting can ultimately lead to getting what you
1436 want to achieve accomplished.
1437 c) You must be convincing in your impression. Use all means reasonable
1438 to ensure the target country is getting the right image. Using
1439 e-mail with collaborating countries to coordinate such matters
1441 d) As you begin feeling that you have achieved the correct image,
1442 begin asking the target country for whatever it is you are trying
1443 to achieve. Do not come right out and say it. That may cause
1444 the whole trick to collapse on you. Approach it sideways so to
1445 speak, and try to get the target country to offer whatever it is
1446 without you directly asking for it.
1447 e) If the country agrees to the transaction of events you are seeking,
1448 all is well and good. You have achieved your goal. Keep in mind
1449 that if you have played the maskirovka well, you have not yet
1450 committed yourself in any particular direction with any sense of
1451 strong commitment. At this point, you can always back down from
1452 your further goals for which the maskirovka was designed to help.
1453 The maskirovka at this point will have given you a more favorable
1454 situation without having committed yourself. It may also have
1455 enabled you to see more into the mind of your opponent, often
1456 a valuable commodity.
1457 f) If you have failed in your maskirovka, you may still have made
1458 some gains. You again might know more about your opponent than
1459 before. You might have reached some of your goals that the
1460 maskirovka set out to accomplish. Lastly, you have not committed
1461 yourself in any particular direction, yet you have tried to
1462 enhance your position. Not a bad proposition.
1464 There are many variations to maskirovkas. The guides listed above are
1465 very general at best, and are meant more to give you an idea of how to
1466 build a plan for maskirovka than anything else.
1468 Chess players who have ever played in matches or tournaments will
1469 probably feel right at home in scheming a maskirovka. You must try to
1470 get into the mind of your opponent, understand what s/he sees from
1471 his/her vantage point and get a feel for how you think s/he will
1472 respond. You must think as if you were your opponent. Understand
1473 their vantage point as best as you can. Do not think of what you
1474 would do in a given situation, think what they would do. Think
1475 consequences to every action you can take.
1477 This usage of diplomacy is "active diplomacy", sometimes mixed with
1478 "indirect diplomacy".
1480 Another oft seen ploy of sorts is one in which you befriend a dying
1481 rich country. They may be on there way out, and there may not be a
1482 whole hell of a lot you can do for them. However, befriending them
1483 towards the end may bring you gifts of money or lower market prices
1484 from them when they dissolve. Show sympathy for their situation.
1485 You can be sincere, or you may chose not to be. Sometimes a dying
1488 User's Guide to Empire 32
1490 country has no friends to whom they will leave their money. If your
1491 the first to show sympathy, they may be willing to give you much in
1492 return. This is an active form of diplomacy, but is rarely seen
1493 except after a long period of passiveness relative to that country.
1495 Posturing. Probably the most common form of diplomacy. This basically
1496 means presenting an image to a possible attacker that you are more
1497 capable than you appear. In general, people tend to believe it.
1498 Consider the simple fact that generally speaking a good Empire player
1499 spends a lot of time working on his or her country. Then, let them
1500 believe through posturing that they are at a greater risk than
1501 they actually are. They may tend to get possessive about their
1502 country and not want to risk its destruction and the eventual loss
1503 of so many sleepless nights and hours building the country in the
1507 Summary: Diplomacy is a powerful tool. Some players consider it the
1508 most powerful aspect of the game. In many ways that can be shown
1509 to be true. However, do not let other facets of your country
1510 decline and spend a huge amount of time building an excellent
1511 diplomatic situation. The success or failure of diplomacy depends a
1512 great deal on the other players perception of your words. If your
1513 diplomacy fails, you may find that you will be forced to back up what
1514 you say with military force.
1518 User's Guide to Empire 33
1520 Chapter 7 :-: Setting up your defenses.
1522 There are various means of "automatic" defense that Empire employs
1523 against enemy invaders. These can be outlined in three major areas:
1525 1: Home air defenses
1527 Empire has numerous planes and plane capabilities. The higher
1528 your tech level, the better the planes you can build. For
1529 automatic defenses you are concerned with planes that have the
1530 "intercept" capability listed next to them in the command,
1533 Generally speaking, as some games diverge from this list, the
1534 planes that have intercept capability are:
1535 a: Fighter 1 (also has VTOL capability)
1537 c: Escort 2 (in SOME games)
1539 e: Jet fighter 2 (also has VTOL capability)
1541 These planes are based out of airbases (except for the VTOL
1542 planes which can scramble from airbases and non-airbase
1543 sectors) and will automatically intercept incoming enemy
1546 notes: 1: Planes will only scramble if there is petrol in
1547 the sector they are scrambling from.
1548 2: Airbases must be at 60% or better efficiency to
1549 scramble. This does not apply to other sectors
1550 from which VTOL planes are scrambling, nor does it
1551 apply to VTOL planes in airports.
1553 In this version of Empire it is VERY important to have a good
1554 home air defense network. Having a great many planes with
1555 intercept capability without proper planning is not a good
1556 defense. You must learn to use the planes wisely.
1558 Hints for good home air defense:
1559 1: Have airports within intercept range of each other.
1560 A plane's intercept range is 1/2 of its range indicated
1561 in the command 'show planes c'. For example:
1564 User's Guide to Empire 34
1567 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1569 [513:36] Command : show planes c
1570 acc load att def ran fuel abilities
1571 Sopwith Camel, fight 30 1 3 2 6 1 tactical intercept VTOL light
1572 TBD-1 Devastator, lt 30 2 1 2 8 1 bomber tactical VTOL light
1573 C-56 Lodestar, trans 0 7 0 1 15 2 cargo
1574 B-26B Marauder, hvy 85 6 2 3 15 2 bomber
1577 Results from 'show planes capability'
1579 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1581 In this list of planes, only the Sopwith Camel plane is
1582 capable of interception. It has a range of 6, and thus
1583 it can intercept enemy planes up to 3 sectors away from
1584 the sector it is based in. Have your planes based in
1585 sectors that are three sectors away from each other.
1586 2: Always have a substantial number of military in your
1587 airports. It is all too easy for an enemy to track
1588 down your airport and capture it, thus possibly destroying
1589 all your planes, and in the very least taking them
1591 3: Ensure that all sectors that you have planes based in
1592 have a sufficient amount of petrol for them. Note that in
1593 the above figure, the Sopwith Camel uses 1 fuel per
1594 mission. Thus, having 10 or more petrol per Sopwith
1595 would be sufficient.
1596 4: Do not base your entire defense on non-VTOL capable
1597 interceptors. If you do, then your enemy can remove
1598 your air defenses just by taking out your airports.
1599 Sopwith Camels (Fighter 1s) and Jet Fighter 2s are
1600 the VTOL intercept capable planes. Sopwith Camels
1601 generally become useless for intercept duty as the
1602 game wears on. After all, a paper airplane can not
1603 put up with cannon fire from an F-15 for very long!
1604 5: It is a good idea to have each sector in your country
1605 covered by at least two airbases (or non airbases from
1606 which your are basing VTOL planes). This makes it more
1607 difficult for your enemy to locate where your airbases are.
1611 Forts will automatically fire on any enemy army units that
1612 attack land of the defending nation, assuming that the guns
1613 in the fort have the range to reach the aggressor. This
1614 also assumes that the fort has shells and military.
1616 Fort gun range is determined by multiplying the number of guns
1617 in the fort by the technology factor of the nation. This
1618 number can be found in the nation report [see command: nation].
1621 User's Guide to Empire 35
1623 Here's an example of calculating your gun range:
1625 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1627 [77:144] Command : nation
1629 Terminus Nation Report Sun Oct 20 18:27:08 1991
1630 Nation status is ACTIVE Bureaucratic Time Units: 144
1631 100% eff capital at -3,5 has 999 civilians & 0 military
1632 # 0 -70:-40,-30:-16 # 1 -35:25,-3:15 # 2 -30:15,-4:7
1633 # 3 -45:5,7:22 # 4 -45:5,7:17 # 5 -65:-20,-31:0
1634 # 6 -65:-20,-12:0 # 7 -80:-30,-5:10 # 8 -8:10,-5:5
1635 # 9 -32:32,11:22 #10 -50:18,-12:10 #11 -40:-10,-5:5
1636 #12 -38:29,-3:23 #13 -65:30,-18:6 #14 -20:20,16:22
1637 #15 -30:30,-3:23 #16 -40:20,7:25 #17 -80:30,-30:23
1638 The treasury has $57485.00 Military reserves: 1676
1639 Education.......... 17.78 Happiness....... 13.42
1640 Technology......... 52.78 Research........ 1.44
1641 Technology factor : 40.66% Plague factor : 1.51%
1644 Results from a 'nation' report
1646 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1648 To calculate the gun range, multiply the number of guns in
1649 the fort (up to a maximum of seven) by the number listed in
1650 "Technology factor" which is shown in this figure as 40.66.
1651 Then, divide the resulting number by one hundred and that
1652 is the number of sectors away the gun can fire at. In this
1653 case, if you have seven guns the resulting range is 2.85
1654 sectors. Effectively, the fort can fire just short of three
1657 There is an additional aspect of forts which make them
1658 useful as defensive sectors. Military forces inside of
1659 a fort have four times the defensive factor of military in
1660 most other sectors. Ie, 100 soldiers in a fort is equal to
1661 400 regular troops if they are defending the fort.
1663 Also note that forts can not be taken by paratroops dropped
1664 from planes. They can only be taken via amphibious assault
1665 and overland attack.
1667 Forts are generally useful along your border sectors early
1668 in the game and later on in the game throughout your country.
1669 Ensure that they each have sufficient (seven or more) guns
1670 and shells each, when you are able to devote that many guns
1671 and shells to them. Forts are sometimes very critical when
1672 your country is being over run.
1676 User's Guide to Empire 36
1680 Your navy will defend itself if it has the capability to do
1681 so. Ships do not automatically come with guns when they are
1682 built; they must be provided with guns and shells by loading
1683 them onto the respective ship. Most ships have the capability
1684 to fire guns. Should a ship of your nation be attacked, it
1685 will defend itself if it can. In addition, ships within range
1686 will also retaliate. Note that submarines will *not* fire
1687 no matter how often they are fired at.
1689 Ships will not defend your land sectors.
1691 If ships are attacked from the air, they will fire their
1692 anti-aircraft guns (which are the same as your regular guns,
1693 and again are not automatically installed upon their
1694 construction). Anti-aircraft guns on ships are pretty much
1695 worthless on defense. Additionally, if enemy planes fly
1696 over your ships but do not attack those ships, your ships
1697 will not fire on them. Thus having a line of ships as
1698 radar pickets will not work.
1700 In addition to these three major modes of automatic defense, there
1701 are a few more minor ones.
1703 Any gun in any sector of yours that is overflown by enemy planes
1704 will fire on those planes if it has shells, guns, and military
1707 Military in any sector of yours that is attacked will automatically
1708 fight back to the best of its ability. There is no such thing as
1709 retreat in automatic military fighting. In addition, there are three
1710 sectors which multiply the effectiveness of military within them.
1711 We have already mentioned forts in this capacity, in that they
1712 multiply the effectiveness of troops within them by four. Capitals
1713 and Banks multiply troops effectiveness by two, when on the defensive.
1715 Also note that Capitals and Forts, as previously mentioned, can not
1716 be taken by airborne paratroopers. Neither can mountains.
1718 Lastly, should sectors of yours be taken, the enemy will have to deal
1719 with your patriotic guerillas. Guerillas will attempt to retake
1720 sectors from the enemy every update until they are defeated (which
1721 takes some time). They are large in numbers, but have been known to
1722 reach strengths of a hundred or more soldiers, though this is rare.
1723 If they can not hope to retake the sector they may try to blow things
1724 up in the sector the enemy has conquered. This results in loss of
1725 efficiency to the sector as well as reduction in the work capability
1728 You have *no* control over your guerillas whatsoever. They are
1729 completely automatic. Should guerillas win a sector back from your
1730 enemy then the surviving guerillas become members of your regular
1733 User's Guide to Empire 37
1735 military, and you can use them as such.
1737 If your guerillas manage to take a sector back behind enemy lines
1738 it is possible for you to enlist reservists in that sector. In
1739 so doing, you may throw a major thorn into the side of your attacker.
1740 This is a major reason for maintaining a large amount of reserves.
1742 Summary: Automatic defenses in Empire are a critical part of every country.
1743 If your country can not defend itself then you can expect to be
1744 quickly over run. Use the automatic defenses described in this
1745 chapter, and you will become a more difficult opponent. Remember
1746 the three basic areas of automatic defense. In addition, keep in
1747 mind that your airforce is probably the most important component of
1748 your automatic defenses.
1752 User's Guide to Empire 38
1754 Chapter 8 :-: Nuclear warfare.
1756 Nuclear war in Empire is not currently the dreaded end of the world
1757 doomsday machine it is in the real world. Nuclear weapons in the
1758 standard release of Empire have no fallout, no radiation, no dust
1759 clouds, etc. Nuclear weapons in Empire are essentially big
1760 conventional bombs. They are "clean" weapons in that the only
1761 difference between them and conventional bombs is that they are
1762 bigger and create nuclear wasteland.
1764 As such, a nuclear war is much more survivable.
1766 There are several things that you need in order to wage nuclear
1767 war against an enemy. First, you need the nuclear warheads themselves.
1768 You will also need a missile or plane of sufficient type and range to
1769 launch the warheads on. Lastly, you need to have target information,
1770 ie where to land the nuclear warhead to cause the damage you want it
1773 Next, you need to decide if it is worth the cost to wage a nuclear
1774 war. Should the enemy country know where you are, and have the means
1775 to retaliate in kind, s/he will most likely do so. This can cause
1776 grave damage to your own country, and eliminate any gains you may have
1777 achieved by beginning a nuclear war.
1779 There is also the large chance of great diplomatic cost. Most
1780 countries do not tend to favor countries that rely on nuclear weapons
1781 for victory, since it is the "easy" way out.
1783 However, the scenario that the beginner needs to be most concerned
1784 about is being the victim of a nuclear attack. Most beginners never
1785 come close to achieving enough strength to have an effective nuclear
1786 force. It may take several games before you become practiced enough
1787 to maintain an economy and military that is capable of having the
1788 resources, etc. necessary for such a force. Nuclear weapons can be
1789 bought from larger powers, however the beginner still rarely tends
1792 In the event that you are attacked with nuclear weapons you need
1793 to take immediate steps in order to ensure your survival. You must
1794 first decide if it is in fact worth it for you to continue. Most
1795 nuclear attacks are survivable. In many cases, you may be hit by
1796 only one warhead. Depending on the size of your country, a small
1797 number of warheads hitting you is survivable. This all assumes the
1798 warheads are of the 5mt variety. 5mt warheads create a wasteland
1799 that is 5 sectors long from left to right. 3mt warheads create
1800 wasteland that is 3 sectors from left to right. Diameter in both
1801 cases is the same north-south as east-west. These are the only
1802 nuclear weapons that can really create serious problems for you.
1803 Other nuclear weapons cause problems, but are essentially nuisances
1804 that can be easily overcome.
1806 The following is a map of your -20:0,-10:3 region. You have been
1809 User's Guide to Empire 39
1811 hit with a 3mt nuclear warhead at your sector -12,-6. It wastelanded
1812 7 of your sectors and damaged nearly the entire area.
1814 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1816 21111111111----------
1817 098765432109876543210
1818 10 . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1819 9 . . ) . . h f . . . 9
1820 8 . . a m g o + m . . . 8
1821 7 . a + \ \ + * m . . 7
1822 6 = # + \ \ \ w b ) . . 6
1823 5 . . h \ \ + e f . . 5
1824 4 . . f + + c f l . . . 4
1825 3 . . k j + f m m . . 3
1826 211111111119876543210
1827 09876543210----------
1830 Map of area hit by 3mt nuclear warhead
1832 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1834 Here is a basic outline of what you will need to do should you be hit
1835 with one or more 3mt or greater warheads:
1837 1: Get food to the people in areas that need food. Especially areas
1838 that are partially or totally cut off from the rest of your country.
1839 ON THE MAP ABOVE: This would probably be necessary for all sectors
1840 east of -12 and/or north of -4.
1842 2: Distribution routes *will* be cut off by a nuclear hit. Redo your
1843 distribution routes around the nuclear wasteland areas. Make sure
1844 that your new distribution center has enough food to feed the people
1845 you are trying to support with it.
1846 ON THE MAP ABOVE: This would probably be necessary for all sectors
1848 3: Move people into the area affected by the blast. Get highways in
1849 the area back up to efficiency as soon as possible. This will
1850 allow for increased movement in the immediate area of the blast
1851 which could be critical to the survival of the people in that area
1852 as well as defense of the area.
1853 ON THE MAP ABOVE: You will probably need to restructure your
1854 highway system in the region. Move people in
1855 from the south-east (off the map).
1856 4: Lastly, try to get production back online in the area. This is
1857 not as critical as the first three things.
1859 Those are the essentials for recovering from a nuclear blast. The
1862 User's Guide to Empire 40
1864 first three items should be done as soon as possible top to bottom,
1865 ie number one is priority one.
1867 There are also defense considerations after you have been hit by
1868 a nuclear blast. Your air defenses in the area might be wiped out
1869 which would allow your opponent to take over your land in that area.
1870 There are also steps you can use to shore up your defenses in the
1871 area while you are getting the area back on its feet:
1873 1: Enlist military in the region. Looking at the map in figure 12,
1874 You might do something like:
1876 [23:210] Command: enlist -20:0,-10:3 -25
1878 That would enlist military in the region so that every sector had
1879 at least 25 military in it. Note that you can only enlist half of
1880 the population in a sector at one time, but you can enlist in the
1881 same sector over and over again.
1883 Doing this would hamper an enemy's progress should they attempt a
1884 paradrop assault in the region.
1886 2: Move undamaged or nearly undamaged VTOL fighter planes from the
1887 south-east (off the map) into the area. Do not put them on
1888 the airbase. Provide them with petrol as well. This will
1889 shore up your air defenses which were damaged by the blast. It
1890 will also make it much more difficult for an enemy power to attack
1891 by air in the region.
1893 3: Move guns and shells into the forts on the map if they are not
1894 already there. Make sure there is at least 7 guns and a lot of
1895 shells in each fort. Also make sure there are substantial military
1896 forces in each. This will help prevent extended military action
1897 on land by an enemy.
1899 4: Move naval forces into the region if possible. This will help
1900 to prevent amphibious assaults.
1902 If you do all of these things, recovery from the blast will not
1903 take long at all. These things will minimize the effect of the
1904 blast and get the area back on its feet again.
1906 Do not be dismayed by loss of resources etc. You *can* recover.
1907 I have been a victim of nuclear war probably half a dozen times,
1908 and so far have found only one case in which I was crippled by
1909 the effects. My entire homeland (of ~100 sectors) was
1910 wastelanded except for less than 10 sectors. No, I could no
1911 longer hope to win the game, but I did hang on long enough to
1912 purchase a nuclear warhead and missile and attack the person
1913 who nuked me. Doing something like this will make the player
1914 who nuked you respect you more in future games, and consider
1915 the consequences before pushing that button.
1919 User's Guide to Empire 41
1921 It has become fairly routine lately for games to end with a world
1922 wide nuke-off. Generally speaking, nations having nuclear weapons
1923 threaten the world with destruction if they are not acknowledged
1924 as victors. Other people protest of course, and nuclear war happens.
1925 A game that has taken eight weeks to evolve to that point can be
1926 destroyed in less than an hour in the hottest nuclear wars. This
1927 of course does not lead to any clear cut winner, and is rather
1928 pointless but people do it anyway. It is after all, a game, and
1929 people want to have fun. Nuclear war, to many people in Empire,
1932 Summary: Do not be demoralized by a nuclear attack. Powers using nuclear
1933 weapons expect their opponents to get demoralized. Recovery from a
1934 nuclear attack of larger degree is possible as well. It takes
1935 perseverance and sometimes hard work. Don't be dismayed by mass
1936 starvations. Populations can recover if you work at it. Your
1937 reputation may be greatly improved if you do recover from a nuclear
1942 User's Guide to Empire 42
1944 Chapter 9 :-: Technology.
1946 By most people's definitions technology or the means to purchase
1947 technological weapons from another country is one of the most
1948 critical elements in doing well in Empire.
1950 Having technology allows you to:
1951 1. Have increased ranges on your land based radar.
1952 2. Build higher capability planes.
1953 3. Build more advanced types of planes.
1954 4. Build higher capability ships (not as great an effect as in planes)
1955 5. Build more advanced types of ships.
1957 7. Build nuclear weapons.
1958 8. Have increased ranges on your guns in forts.
1960 Thus, having a high technology country is a very useful thing.
1961 However, attaining a high technology level is very difficult for
1962 the beginner. Running a country that has an economy balanced well
1963 enough to produce technology at a rate sufficient to stay in the
1964 technology race is a very difficult task, even for players who are
1965 more experienced and/or have a lot of allies supporting their
1968 Producing tech is expensive. It costs a lot in terms of money
1969 and materials. Not only do you have to produce tech, but you
1970 have to educate your people to a high enough degree that tech
1971 production can be done efficiently. Doing this takes a great
1972 many light construction materials (lcms) for education, and a
1973 large amount of oil, gold dust and lcms for tech production.
1975 It is not uncommon for tech nations to be one of the smallest
1976 and poorest nations around. Most of their time and resources
1977 have to be devoted to tech production rather than ships for
1978 exploration and military to defend outlying colonies.
1980 Do not fantasize. If you are a beginner, forget about producing
1981 tech no matter how good you think you are. You will be wasting
1982 your resources in doing so and crippling your economy while other
1983 countries will run far far ahead of you in production.
1985 In general, until you have played a few games it is far better to
1986 purchase high technology items from other players. Diplomacy,
1987 discussed at length in chapter 7, is an effective tool for
1988 purchasing technologically superior items.
1990 Should you decide to run tech, there are several things you should
1991 know. If you are able to take these into account, and balance these
1992 factors against each other you may be able to produce tech at a
1993 sufficient rate to stay with the leaders.
1995 Education is important to produce tech. You have to have an
1996 education level of at least five before you can produce any. However,
1999 User's Guide to Empire 43
2001 an education level of five will produce tech only in an inefficient
2002 manner. The higher your education level, the more efficiently tech
2003 will be produced. This means that a single tech center can produce
2004 more tech per update, and cost you less in raw materials, though it
2005 will cost the same per unit of tech produced. The savings in raw
2006 materials is critical.
2008 Some countries feel it is better to keep your population low when
2009 they are planning on having a high education level. The reasoning
2010 behind this is that it takes less effort to educate a small number
2011 of people and costs less money as well. There is a bad side to this
2012 plan though. With a small population it is hard to produce things
2013 in large quantities, and exploring into and occupying new lands is
2016 Technology production demands a large amount of resources. Especially
2017 oil. However, the higher tech you are the more oil you are able to
2018 refine per amount of crude oil in the ground. Thus, it is better to
2019 only take out of the ground what oil you need to keep your country
2020 running, and leave the rest for later on when you have higher tech,
2021 and get more per barrel of crude. Thus, if you were to do the
2024 [23:512] Command: resource 4,0
2026 You might see that your 4,0 sector has 100 units of oil in the ground.
2027 At tech 0 you'll be lucky if you get 500 barrels of oil out of that.
2028 However, at tech 100 you will probably get somewhere around 700-750.
2029 That's a big difference. So, only take approximately what oil you will
2030 need for each update out of the ground, and leave the rest for later.
2032 Tech production also requires gold dust. Gold dust mining is not
2033 affected by tech like oil wells are. Thus, mining the gold dust
2034 right away or saving it later has no impact on how much is produced
2035 per unit of gold dust in the ground. There are other considerations
2036 though. If you have a lot of gold dust sitting around in your
2037 warehouse or other storage place, other countries will see via the
2038 power report that you have a lot of dust. If they are low on dust they
2039 just might look at you as a possible target. So, if you are going to
2040 mine a lot of your dust right away you might want to consider putting
2041 a good portion of it into banks where the dust gets converted into
2042 bars, which will give you more money per update. This especially
2043 applies to the Kent State version of Empire, where you can grind up
2044 your gold bars into gold dust at a loss of 20% of the original amount
2045 of dust put into the bars.
2047 Uncompensated workers are also useful for tech production, as well
2048 as many other things. However, it has been noticed that a tech
2049 center with 999 uws will produce tech less efficiently than one with
2050 500 uws. The loss in efficiency is greater than what is expected
2051 from the tech limitation function, which is a non-linear function
2052 designed to limit fast tech production. Most players do not feel that
2053 the loss in efficiency is worth it for the greater amount of tech
2056 User's Guide to Empire 44
2058 production, especially in small countries where having two or even
2059 three tech centers is unrealistic due to the small amount of land
2062 As your technology increases, the possibility of there being an
2063 outbreak of plague in your country increases. This is not of great
2064 concern until such time as your plague factor (found by the command
2065 "nation") increases above a factor of 3.0 or more. Even if plague
2066 does break out in your country, if the plague factor is less than
2067 3.0 or so, the plague will have minimal effect on your country.
2068 During your first outbreaks of plague, you will lose some civilians
2069 but the birth rate of the civilians will be greater than the death
2070 rate. Thus, increasing your research level (by opening and operating
2071 a research center, which requires the same materials as a tech center)
2072 prior to your plague factor reaching 3.0 is actually a waste of
2073 resources, time, money and effort. This fact has been lost on a
2074 great many people and it is not uncommon to find many players
2075 boasting of a high research level long before you would have a
2076 plague factor of 3.0 without any research production. While we
2077 have emphasised "3.0" as a point at which things start getting
2078 bad with plague, that is a vague figure. Things start getting
2079 bad before that point, and get worse afterwards. Its a matter of
2080 how much you want to put up with civilians dying off.
2082 There is a command called "report" which will list other countries,
2083 their status, and their levels of tech, research, and education
2084 relative to you. If your tech is significantly higher than
2085 say a country called 'Canada' then report will indicate that
2086 Canada's technological level is 'backward' relative to you.
2087 If Canada's technological level is significantly higher, than
2088 report will indicate 'advanced', meaning Canada is advanced
2089 relative to you. If its roughly the same, 'similar' will be
2090 shown. There are two other possibilities, 'primitive' and
2091 'superior' which are used for extreme differences in levels.
2092 It should be noted that report is inaccurate at best, and only
2093 gives a very vague idea of levels.
2095 Summary: Technology is one of the basic aspects of having a country that
2096 lasts to the end of the game. Generally, the higher tech you are
2097 the greater chance of your survival. However, if you have a high
2098 technology friend, you chances of survival are still increased
2099 greatly. Empire is a classic case of cold war as far as
2100 technological development is concerned. As a beginner, you are
2101 probably better off not producing a great deal of tech until you
2102 become well versed in how to run a strong economy.
2106 User's Guide to Empire 45
2108 Chapter 10 :-: The economy.
2110 There are several products produced in Empire economies.
2112 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2115 1. Gold dust 8. Light Construction Materials (LCM) (3)
2116 2. Oil 9. Heavy Construction Materials (HCM) (3)
2117 3. Iron 10. Gold bars (1)
2118 4. Rads 11. Petrol (2)
2119 5. Food 12. Soldiers (6)
2121 7. Uncompensated workers
2124 13. Education (8) 17. Ships (8,9)
2125 14. Research (1,2,8,13) 18. Planes (8,9)
2126 15. Technology (1,2,8,13) 19. Bridges (9)
2127 16. Money (6 or 7 or 10) 20. Nuclear weapons (2,4,8,9) ????
2129 Special items: Beaurocratic Time Units (BTUs), Available work (Avail)
2133 Table of types of commodities in Empire
2135 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2137 Beaurocratic Time Units (BTUs) are used when executing a command, such
2138 as "build" for example. They are also used to shuffle paperwork
2139 around, say for soldiers killed in combat.
2141 Available Work (Avail) is used up by producing sectors and those
2142 sectors in which you build things (planes, for example). It is an
2143 indices of the amount of labor hours available for work.
2145 Running your economy efficiently as possible is one of the keys to
2146 being a good Empire player. Without a good economy it is impossible
2147 to wage a long lasting war, especially an offensive one. It is
2148 possible to last a long time defensively even with a weak economy
2149 but your chances are greatly increased if you have a strong economy.
2151 So, what defines an efficient and strong economy? An efficient
2152 economy is one in which the amount of a product being produced in a
2153 sector is nearly equal to the amount that the civilians can produce in
2154 one turn. For example, if a light construction materials (LCM) plant
2155 can produce two hundred LCMs an update, but is only producing one
2156 hundred, then fifty percent of the people in that plant are basically
2157 doing nothing. They could be used elsewhere on something that needs
2158 more civilians or you could put more iron into the LCM plant to allow
2159 the civilians to make more LCMs.
2163 User's Guide to Empire 46
2165 A strong economy is an economy that produces a lot of materials,
2166 resources, etc relative to the size of the country. If your country
2167 has only say ten thousand civilians but is producing a large amount
2168 of materials per update then your country may in fact be a strong
2169 country. This is a very unlikely scenario, but it is a good example.
2170 A strong economy is usually the result of an efficient economy,
2171 though there are other factors, those mainly referring to population
2172 growth. To find out how much work your civilians are going to perform
2173 at an update you can issue the "prod" command to get a production
2174 simulation. Using this you can see if all the civilians in a given
2175 sector will be making something or if some will be sitting around and
2176 doing nothing. Here is a sample output from a prod command:
2178 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2180 [138:250] Command: prod #1
2181 Mon Sep 30 20:18:37 1991
2182 PRODUCTION SIMULATION
2183 sect des eff wkfc will make- p.e. cost use1 use2 use3 max1 max2 max3 max
2184 -2,0 o 39% 422 39 oil 0.50 $0 39
2185 2,0 m 100% 807 387 iron 1.00 $0 387
2186 -10,2 b 100% 653 36 bars 1.00 $360 180d 310d 62
2187 -8,2 j 100% 576 138 lcm 0.50 $0 276i 276i 138
2188 -4,2 g 27% 615 79 dust 1.00 $0 79
2189 -11,3 t 100% 620 0.00 tech 0.00 $0 0d 0o 0l 0d 0o 0l 0.00
2190 -8,4 l 100% 499 40 edu 1.00 $360 40l 239l 239
2194 Sample output of the 'prod' command
2196 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2198 The important columns to note here are the "will" and "max" columns.
2199 If the number indicated in the "will" column is less than the "max"
2200 column by more than 1, then you have civilians who are sitting around
2201 doing nothing. The way you calculate the number of civilians you have
2202 sitting around is fairly simple. First, it is important to note that
2203 the number indicated in the "wkfc" column is the number of civilians
2204 and uncompensated workers (UWs) you will have in the sector *after* the
2205 next update. You need to reduce the number of civs and/or UWs in the
2206 sector to optimum *before* the next update.
2208 For this example, and for sake of ease, I am going to assume that
2209 there are no UWs or soldiers in this sector, which both produce work.
2210 We will assume that there are only civilians, and happy, content ones
2211 at that. Civilians that are starved, or recently starved do not work
2214 In the above shown production simulation there are two sectors which
2215 have civilians sitting around idle. These two sectors are the bank
2216 ('b') at -10,2, and the library ('l') at -8,4. We will use the library
2221 User's Guide to Empire 47
2223 The library is going to produce 40 education, but it is capable of
2224 producing 239. It doesn't have enough lcms (the only material needed
2225 to produce education) to produce 239 education. Thus, only the civs
2226 necessary to produce 40 education are actually working. The remaining
2227 number of civilians, as a percentage, is calculated by this simple
2230 ((# in max column) - (# in 'will' column)) / (# in max column)
2232 Thus, the percentage of civilians in the library not actually doing
2233 work is (239 - 40) / 239, or 83.26%. That's a large percentage! Now,
2234 to calculate how many civilians you can move out of the sector without
2235 reducing your production beneath 40 education in that sector, multiply
2236 .8326 * the number of civilians currently in that sector. So, you need
2237 to do a census command:
2239 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2241 [162:166] Command : cen -8,4
2242 Mon Sep 30 20:19:07 1991
2244 sect eff mob uf uf * civ mil uw food work avail ter fallout
2245 -8,4 l 100% 127 .. .0 403 0 0 49 100% 54 0 0
2248 Results of a 'census' command of a library
2250 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2252 There are 403 civilians listed in the 'civ' column for the library at
2253 sector -8,4. Thus, you multiply 403 by .8326 and you find that you can
2254 safely remove 355 civilians from that sector and still be producing
2255 40 education. That's 355 civilians that can be doing valuable work
2256 elsewhere instead of sitting around doing nothing!
2258 The other alternative to get the sector producing efficiently
2259 is to move lcms into the library up to the number that the library can
2260 possibly process with the current number of civilians. Once again, we
2261 refer to the production report and note the 'use1' and 'max1' columns.
2262 The library will use 40l (40 lcms) at the next update unless you put
2263 more lcms into the library. It can use up to 239 (239l in 'max1')
2264 lcms. Thus, it can process an additional 199 lcms. So, you find lcms
2265 somewhere else in your country and move the 199 lcms into the library.
2266 At the next update your library will produce 239 education. Once
2267 again, all of the civilians in the sector are now doing something.
2269 Of course, you can also use a combination of these two methods to
2270 achieve an equitable balance.
2272 There are other aspects to running an efficient economy as well.
2273 Ideally, you do not want to have an abundance of raw materials lying
2274 around especially in the early stages of the game. The best situation
2275 is to have your economy using the same amount of resources per update
2278 User's Guide to Empire 48
2280 as it is making, thus having a zero delta situation with respect to
2281 all materials in your economy, you neither gain nor lose surplus of
2282 materials. Keep in mind however that it is important to create and
2283 maintain a surplus of materials from which to draw on in times of war,
2284 especially later on in the game. Without spare materials, you can not
2285 wage war very effectively. In doing this you are getting the best
2286 balance of production, and are producing finished items at a faster
2287 pace then if you spent more work producing raw materials. If you
2288 spent more work producing finished materials, you would run out of
2289 raw materials, and find that you have to move your civilians around
2290 to produce more raw materials or have them sitting idle doing nothing
2291 while your other civilians produce sufficient raw materials for them
2292 to do work. The benefits of a balanced economy are obvious.
2294 There are additional tasks that are somewhat rewarding in running an
2295 efficient economy, but they become increasingly technical in nature
2296 and their impact as a whole against your economy is significantly less.
2298 As you become more experienced you will no doubt discover these thing
2299 yourself, or hear about them in a game or on the network. These basic
2300 elements are more than enough for you to run smooth production if you
2303 There are still more elements of an economy which, while very useful,
2304 are not exactly related to the strength or efficiency with which your
2305 economy is running. Your country, should it live for some time and
2306 develop a well balanced economy, will produce a huge amount of
2307 materials. It is impossible for you to keep track of everything in
2308 each and every sector of your country. Of course, the Empire creators
2309 realized this and have developed some critical commands for reducing
2310 by a very large amount the quantity of time you need to spend adjusting
2311 your economy. These are the 'distribute' and 'deliver' commands.
2313 'Distribute' and 'deliver' are commands in Empire which allow
2314 you to set up your economy to run automatically, with little
2315 intervention from yourself. Distribution is the most commonly used
2316 command in doing this. However, deliver has certain features which
2319 Distribute is based on the central warehouse scheme of production
2320 and consumption of materials. An iron mine produces iron, which it
2321 ships off to the central warehouse. A light construction materials
2322 plant needs iron to make lcms, and thus requests iron to be sent to it
2323 from the warehouse. The lcm factory produces lcms, and sends them
2324 off to the warehouse. A library plant needs lcms to produce
2325 education, and requests lcms from the warehouse to do so. The
2326 warehouse handles regional traffic for your economy. Some smaller
2327 countries only have one warehouse.
2329 Deliver is based on the local delivery truck idea. A nearby farm
2330 produces a certain amount of food per update, and sends it directly to
2331 the neighboring sector. You know that the neighboring sector can
2332 consume more food per update than that farm can produce (this is very
2335 User's Guide to Empire 49
2337 rarely true, this is just an example). So, the farm sends all the
2338 food it produces to the neighboring sector. The neighboring sector
2339 notes how much food has been delivered from the farm, and then requests
2340 from the warehouse enough food to feed the rest of the civilians in
2341 the sector. In so doing things in this manner, you are possibly saving
2342 mobility by not having the food automatically move to the warehouse
2343 from the neighboring farm and then to the neighboring sector. The same
2344 result would be achieved however, though as stated at a possible
2345 greater loss of mobility. Nevertheless, most people prefer to depend
2346 entirely on 'distribute' to handle automatic distribution of materials
2347 around their country.
2349 To set up a distribution system, or network, you have to set a
2350 distribution 'path' *from* every sector *to* the warehouse. I
2351 emphasize the direction that the path is moving in because all
2352 distribution paths go *to* the warehouse, not from the warehouse
2353 to the sector, though materials can and will go from the warehouse
2354 to the sector along that same path. The idea here is say a farm
2355 outside of St. Louis about 50 miles produces 500 units of food, the
2356 farm needs to know the route by which it should send its trucks to get
2357 to a warehouse in St. Louis before it can send the food to that
2358 warehouse (this of course being a real life scenario). The best path
2359 to choose is across highways. A 100% highway requires no mobility to
2360 move anything in to it. Obviously you don't want to travel the 50
2361 miles to St. Louis across dirt roads. You would prefer an interstate
2362 if you were a truck. In Empire, a 100% highway is essentially an
2363 interstate. Your goal is to have a distribution path from each sector
2364 to the warehouse travel the route over the least mobility cost path.
2365 The greater the percentage of that path that is 100% highways the
2366 better. It is important to note that distribution paths have a maximum
2367 length of 10 sectors. For example:
2370 User's Guide to Empire 50
2373 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2375 [529:32] Command : map -20:10,-3:6
2376 21111111111---------00000000001
2377 0987654321098765432101234567890
2378 -3 . . . . . ) . . . . . . . -3
2379 -2 . . . f . o . . . . . . . . -2
2380 -1 . . . a k a . a a h . . . . -1
2381 0 k l k a + + + . + + c m . . . 0
2382 1 m w o ^ ^ m + j j + . + . . . 1
2383 2 + + + + . b j + m + w + . . . . 2
2384 3 m j j + t + + + + + + . ) . + 3
2385 4 + ^ j m + + l ^ ^ ^ + * a a o m 4
2386 5 ^ + ^ m + j ^ ^ c + m m + + + 5
2387 6 + + + g m + + m b + k o + j w g 6
2388 21111111111---------00000000001
2389 0987654321098765432101234567890
2394 Map of area requiring some distribution
2396 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2398 Let's say that in the previous figure you wanted to set up a
2399 distribution path from the oil well at -15,1 (the 'o' sector left of
2400 the middle of the map) to the warehouse at 0,2 (the 'w' sector right
2401 of the middle of the map). The command to set up the distribution
2402 path from that oil well to the warehouse would be:
2404 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2406 [529:32] Command : distribute -15,1 nnnjujjjuj
2407 oil field at -15,1 has no distribution path.
2409 New path distributes to 0,2
2414 Results of a distribution command
2416 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2418 Now there is a path along highways from the oil well to the warehouse.
2419 If you do not understand the nnnjujjjuj command above, refer to chapter
2420 3 and the section under "movement in Empire".
2422 Next, you need to set thresholds for the sector. This sector is an
2423 oil well, and it produces, you guessed it, oil. So, you want the oil
2424 that is produced to be shipped to the warehouse. You have to tell the
2427 User's Guide to Empire 51
2429 people in the oil well that all oil over 1 unit is to be shipped.
2430 This is called a "threshold", a level at which any quantity of that
2431 unit over that amount if shipped to the warehouse. Note that the
2432 lowest threshold you can have and still have the item shipped is 1.
2433 If the threshold is 0, then it will not be shipped. The command to set
2434 the threshold in the sector -15,1 for oil is:
2436 [534:31] Command : threshold oil -15,1 1
2438 Next, you want to make sure that food gets out to the oil well. The
2439 other aspect of thresholds is that if there is less than the threshold
2440 of a commodity, then the warehouse will send out enough of that
2441 commodity to equal the threshold, assuming it has such commodities in
2442 the warehouse. The command to set the threshold for for in the sector
2443 so that food will go to the sector from the warehouse could be this:
2445 [534:30] Command: threshold food -15,1 50
2447 Which means at each update, the warehouse will attempt to ensure
2448 that there is 50 food in the oil well at -15,1 by sending enough
2449 food, if it can, to raise the stockpile of food in that sector to
2452 Again, distribution paths must be set up for every sector that you
2453 intend on doing anything with. Essentially, as the game progresses,
2454 this means all of your sectors. You must also set appropriate
2455 thresholds as well. Some sectors need iron from the warehouse to
2456 produce, and thus a threshold will be required for iron. Some need
2457 more than one commodity, so thresholds must be set for each of those
2458 commodities. EVERY sector should have a threshold value set for food.
2459 You do not want to starve your civilians! To find out what
2460 commodities a sector needs to produce an item, use the 'production'
2461 command discussed earlier in this chapter.
2463 Some things to note about distribute:
2465 1) No distribution path may be longer than 10 sectors.
2466 2) A distribution path must go through sectors controlled by you.
2467 3) Sometimes it may seem that the warehouse is not getting the commodities
2468 to the sectors requesting it. Empire updates sectors one at a time, and
2469 as such the warehouse may actually run out of a commodity, receive the
2470 request for that commodity, be unable to fill it and move on the the
2471 sectors it updates after that sector. Those sectors in turn may send
2472 commodities to the warehouse, thus giving it enough to fill the previous
2473 request. However, since it has already updated that sector, it will not
2474 fulfill the backlogged request. Empire updates the world left to right
2475 and top to bottom. Thus in a map of your country the most north-west
2476 sector gets updated first and the most south-east sector gets updated last.
2477 4) The warehouse has to spend mobility to send commodities to the requesting
2478 sectors. Warehouses do this at a great reduction in the cost to the
2479 normal mobility. However, if the warehouse runs out of mobility it
2480 will NOT distribute any more commodities for that update.
2481 5) Do NOT set thresholds for all commodities in a sector. Only set the
2484 User's Guide to Empire 52
2486 thresholds for the commodities you KNOW that sector will need. Distribute
2487 will not distribute commodities to sectors with the thresholds set for
2491 Deliver is much more basic. As a result however, it is much less
2492 powerful, though it is useful. Deliver works as explained earlier in
2493 that it does local deliveries of a specified commodity. Deliver is
2494 capable of delivering an item to only neighboring sectors. During the
2495 update, deliver is done before distribute. It is important to note
2496 that. Let's say that a farm has a lot of food to send to the
2497 warehouse. It may not have the mobility to send it all to the
2498 warehouse, and thus you get a large surplus left over in the farm.
2499 Eventually, the farm will not have room to store the surplus anymore.
2500 This is of course bad, since the farm will no longer produce very much
2501 food. It will produce only enough food to replace what was taken from
2502 the storage at the farm.
2504 The solution to this is to have the farm sends its surplus to a
2505 neighboring 100% efficient highway. This will cost the farm no
2506 mobility and will open up its storage areas for new production at the
2507 farm. The highway can then spend mobility sending the food to the
2508 warehouse. Once again, we use the map:
2510 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2512 [529:32] Command : map -20:10,-3:6
2513 21111111111---------00000000001
2514 0987654321098765432101234567890
2515 -3 . . . . . ) . . . . . . . -3
2516 -2 . . . f . o . . . . . . . . -2
2517 -1 . . . a k a . a a h . . . . -1
2518 0 k l k a + + + . + + c m . . . 0
2519 1 m w o ^ ^ m + j j + . + . . . 1
2520 2 + + + + . b j + m + w + . . . . 2
2521 3 m j j + t + + + + + + . ) . + 3
2522 4 + ^ j m + + l ^ ^ ^ + * a a o m 4
2523 5 ^ + ^ m + j ^ ^ c + m m + + + 5
2524 6 + + + g m + + m b + k o + j w g 6
2525 21111111111---------00000000001
2526 0987654321098765432101234567890
2529 Map of an area requiring delivery path
2531 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2533 Let's say the farm at -5,-1 (just north of the middle) has a huge
2534 surplus of food. You can send that surplus to the highway at -4,0 by
2535 issuing this command:
2537 [566:115] Command : deliver food -5,-1 n (50)
2541 User's Guide to Empire 53
2543 Which means, deliver all food in the sector at -5,-1 in excess of 50
2544 units in the 'n' direction. Note the deliver threshold in parentheses
2545 must be in parentheses and that deliver thresholds are different than
2546 distribute thresholds.
2548 While I have described how to use the basics of deliver, I do not
2549 recommend it for the beginner. Using a distribution network is quite
2550 sufficient for the beginning player, and you will not notice any great
2551 difficulty in running your economy without using the deliver command.
2552 In fact, some of the best players in Empire do not use deliver at all.
2555 Summary: The things discussed in this chapter may seem time consuming, and
2556 may seem to require a lot of detail. However, these things are
2557 important to you as an Empire player to learn and understand. They
2558 become easy to use after only a short while. Having a strong
2559 economy is the basic element in having a strong country. If you
2560 have not understood this chapter, read it again. Better yet, read
2561 it while experimenting with a couple of your own sectors in a game.
2562 While understanding 'deliver' is not very important, understanding
2567 User's Guide to Empire 54
2571 The art of waging war is certainly beyond the scope of this guide.
2572 There are a great number of books written on the history of man's wish
2573 to destroy themselves. In this chapter, I only intend to give the
2574 player some rudimentary basics for waging Empire style wars. Even more
2575 pertinent in the case of the beginner, how to defend against or
2576 hopefully repulse an invader.
2578 Keep in mind that as a beginner, you stand a very good chance of losing
2579 your first war. Consider it a learning experience. The person who
2580 defeated you is better than you are in most circumstances, and just by
2581 their actions you can learn how best to wage an offensive or defensive
2584 There are several things that you can do to defend your country
2585 in the event of an attack. However, it is always best to be prepared
2586 for an attack before it happens. There are some basics already
2587 discussed in this guide on these preparations. Refer to chapter 8
2588 for information on automatic defenses, and how they can help your
2589 country. I will review the essentials here.
2591 1) Have a strong airforce with many fighter planes with the intercept
2592 capability. Make sure they are used as indicated in chapter 8.
2593 2) Have forts with overlapping fields of fire.
2594 3) Have a large number of reserves (typically 1/10 of your population).
2595 4) Have at least two enlistment centers ready to produce more fresh
2596 recruits. Ie, at 100%. You can "shut off" enlistment centers, that
2597 is stop them from producing recruits, by leaving 1 civ in them
2598 or having a military population in the sector equal to one half
2599 of the civilian population. To turn them on, put in more civs or
2600 reduce the number of military.
2601 5) Have a strong navy to guard your coast.
2602 6) Mine your own coast. This prevents many amphibious assaults.
2603 It also helps to prevent people from mapping your coastline.
2604 7) Have a good highway network. This allows you to move materials
2605 and armies around your country quickly and with ease.
2606 8) Have more than one capital. If your real one is taken, you will
2607 need a back up immediately.
2608 9) Have a lot of food in all of your sectors if possible. This allows
2609 sectors that are cut off from your warehouse to be self sufficient
2610 at least with respects to feeding the people with food for a few
2611 updates until you can open up a path to them.
2613 These are just *basic* hints. Some more hints are given later in this
2614 guide. These are meant to get you started.
2616 Of course, it is better to not be attacked at all. But, how do you
2617 avoid being attacked? This is not simple, but there are some things
2618 that you can do to make yourself less of a target.
2620 One, do NOT allow people to map your coast using their ships,
2621 especially patrol boats. Maps of your coastline are deadly.
2624 User's Guide to Empire 55
2626 The opposing country knows where your country lies, and can furthermore
2627 send that information on to another player who might be interested
2628 in attacking you in exchange for some commodity or assistance.
2629 Maps are a critical piece of intelligence gathering. Some of the
2630 best players in the game sink ships on sight without warning. If you
2631 warn a ship off it might be able to use some of its mobility to
2632 make a final swing along your coast before going away, and seemingly
2633 out of your hair without having caused further trouble. Every piece
2634 of information about your coast is valuable military intelligence.
2635 Additionally, it is a good idea to try to map other people. Do not
2636 get upset when your ships get sunk. They will get sunk. Just consider
2637 them expendable commodities that are doing a temporary job with
2640 Two, if you appear tough people generally will not attack you.
2641 Posturing can be an effective tool. Furthermore, if you have a large
2642 airforce and/or army, people tend to avoid you. It does not matter if
2643 your airforce only has wimpy planes in it, your opponent can only
2644 tell the quantity of planes that you have, not the quality. They
2645 might have a general idea of the quality of your airforce, but a large
2646 airforce is still an intimidating presence.
2648 Three, do not make yourself a target by having a lot of valuable
2649 commodities showing up on your power report. Having lots of money
2650 in a money poor game for example makes you a juicy target. The same
2651 holds true with gold dust or oil. You need not worry about iron and
2652 food, since those are renewable resources. Try to use gold dust and
2653 oil as you make it. Having some surplus around is fine, but the more
2654 you have sitting around the more of a target you become.
2656 If you are attacked, it is always best if you are logged on to the game
2657 so that you can actively defend your country rather than relying
2658 entirely on automatic defenses. However, as can obviously be seen, you
2659 probably will not know that your enemy is going to attack you. Neither
2660 will s/he broadcast that they are going to attack unless they are very
2661 foolish or extremely confident.
2663 In light of this, your opponent will try to attack you at a time when
2664 they know you are not logged on. Thus, a great many Empire wars begin
2665 in the wee hours of the morning, when most people are asleep. What can
2666 you do to overcome this shortcoming? Have allies for one. If one of
2667 your allies is going to be up most of the night you can have them
2668 telephone you if you are being attacked. Of course, this is for the
2669 more diehard types :-)
2671 There are many tactics that an enemy will use against you. Again,
2672 these tactics are beyond the scope of this guide, but there are some
2673 general tactics that you should be aware of. An opponent may try one
2674 or more (usually more) of the following tactics:
2676 1) Remove your airforce as an effective retaliatory force.
2677 2) Remove your airforce as an effective defensive force.
2678 3) Take your capital (you lose half your money).
2681 User's Guide to Empire 56
2683 4) Take your banks (you could lose all your gold bars, very valuable!).
2684 5) Destroy your highway system.
2685 6) Take your warehouses (lose your stored commodities. OUCH!).
2686 7) Bomb your enlistment centers.
2687 8) Take your radar stations.
2690 In addition, your opponent may try to destroy your distribution and/or
2691 delivery system (if you so opt to use deliver). After you take a
2692 sector back from your enemy check the thresholds and distribution path
2693 in the sector. Sometimes if you take a great deal of sectors back it
2694 is best to just use the 'wipe' command and start from scratch.
2695 Remember to check your delivery thresholds as well, by issuing a
2696 'level' command. Your opponent will probably also redesignate the
2697 sector to something useless or even detrimental to you.
2699 It is important to be on around update times when you are at war,
2700 either defensively or offensively. Things can go very quickly right
2701 before and after an update.
2703 One of the best ways of being a good military tactician is to be
2704 imaginative. Think of ways to do things that might surprise your
2705 opponent. Think of ways to do things that will cost you less lives,
2706 or less resources than your original way.
2708 There is a saying that sometimes the best defense is a good offense.
2709 This can be very true in Empire. If you are attacked it might be a
2710 good idea to launch a counter attack against your opponent's homeland
2711 if you are able to. This will certainly surprise them, and may lead
2712 them to think you are stronger than you actually are. This can be a
2715 If you want to win the war, be resilient and tenacious. Fight as hard
2716 as you can with every last soldier and resource. If you make your
2717 enemy pay a heavy price they may withdraw. Sometimes breaking an
2718 opponent's will to fight is the most important factor in winning a
2719 tactical or strategic situation. Even if they do not withdraw, or you
2720 do not win, you may at least be helping to defend the future of your
2721 allies. That in itself is an honorable achievement. There is also the
2722 point that if you are a tenacious fighter your opponent will respect
2723 you more in future games than if you just roll over and play dead while
2724 his/her armies pillage your country. Reputation does count for a lot in
2725 Empire. You may lose now, but your defiance in losing can help you a
2726 great deal in future games. Some countries simply will not attack
2727 another country because they know that country's reputation as a good
2728 player. Alternatively, some countries have a poor reputation and
2729 are attacked in every game they play in!
2732 Summary: The art of Empire war is one that is different from the real life
2733 world that we live in. However, many tactics from the real world
2734 can be applied to Empire. Remember to be imaginative, learn from
2735 your mistakes. Learn from your allies and your opponents. Fight
2736 as if it was a real world nation, and you are the leader.
2741 User's Guide to Empire 57
2743 Chapter 12 :-: Other helpful or not so helpful hints:
2746 Here are some hints on how you might be better able to run
2747 your country. Note that a lot of these hints were garnered through
2748 many player years of play. You are free to disagree with them, and
2749 are certainly encouraged to come up with your own ideas. However,
2750 keep in mind these recommendations.
2752 - Build your military reserves to a reasonably high level
2753 (I try to aim for 5-10% of my total population). Reserves are
2754 not expensive to maintain, and it is a commodity that can not
2755 be destroyed by any military action.
2756 - As soon as someone starts building ships guard your coastal
2757 sectors with at least 1 military in each. This prevents an
2758 opponent from making landings in mass quantity on your homeland
2759 with measly cargo ships. If you have military in a coastal sector
2760 then opponent ships really need the "land" capability (see
2761 show ship capability command for further insight) in order to be
2762 truly effective. Guard harbors with more military, say 50 or
2763 so. Else an opponent can assault a harbor, move his or her invasion
2764 fleet in, unload the ships and walla several hundred foreign military
2765 are sitting in your former harbor.
2766 - As soon as planes start being built, try to get at least 10 military
2767 into every sector. This makes it more difficult for a country to
2768 wipe you out quickly. In this manner they usually need 2 or more
2769 transports to take a single sector. This makes it costly in air
2770 mobility for them and softens the blow of their attack. In addition
2771 reinforce capitals with a lot of military. Same with banks, airbases,
2773 - Do not base your entire air defenses on non-VTOL (vertical take off
2774 and landing) planes. Base your VTOL planes in non airport sectors.
2775 In doing this, you prevent your enemy from knocking out your airbases
2776 through any number of means and then flying at liberty over your
2777 country. There are two VTOL fighters. Fighter 1s, which are
2778 essentially biplanes with very brave souls in them and Jet Fighter 2s
2779 which are akin to the British Harrier jet. Fighter 1s are not
2780 necessarily a bad plane. Against low tech transports they do not
2781 fair too badly. There are two other means of air defense if your
2782 airbases are knocked out. Anti-aircraft guns exist in any sector
2783 that has guns and shells. They will fire if the sector in question
2784 is at war with the planes in question. They are mostly worthless.
2785 The other method is SAMs (surface to air missiles). These can be
2786 quite effective but are shoot once only weapons.
2787 - Forts are an integral part of any home auto-defense scheme. They
2788 will fire on any enemy aggressors that are within range whenever
2789 any sector of yours within range is attacked.
2790 - Naval units become essentially useless later on in the game except
2791 for some actions. Nevertheless, be careful to have naval units in
2792 appropriate places around your coast for coastal defense. Especially
2793 until you have planes that can pinpoint bomb well (jet lt bombers,
2794 jet f/bs, helicopters).
2795 - Always have several fake capitals in reserve.
2798 User's Guide to Empire 58
2800 - If you are not using planes that are 100% and are not planes used
2801 in air defense, get them off your airports. Otherwise they become
2802 easy targets for air assault and bombs.
2803 - Bridge span sectors are effective means of food production and
2804 are especially useful in that role in countries with few sectors
2805 or countries with limited fertility. They are usually somewhat
2806 expensive to build, but pay for themselves quickly.
2807 - Keep in mind that allies are important. You might want to go it
2808 alone, but at some point along the way you will need an ally or
2809 three. Allies can do many things for you, not the least of which
2810 is call you over the phone when you are under attack at four in the
2811 morning. Its nice to know that even though your country is not
2812 being played, someone is watching it from a distance and seeing
2813 whether it gets attacked or not. You sleep easier :-)
2814 - If you are positive there is no one else on your island with you
2815 at the beginning of the game then demobilise your military and
2816 put them on reserve. This will save you a lot of money, and help
2817 in population growth.
2818 - Never put airports, banks, or capitals on your coast. They are
2819 easy targets for your enemies if you do. Sometimes it is necessary
2820 to place an airport on your coast to get that extra one sector
2821 of range for your planes in an attack. If you do that, don't leave
2822 your planes in that sector for very long. You might be surprised.
2824 Summary: Many of these ideas can only be gained through experience. Do not
2825 be come distraught for lack of knowledge. Experience is a wonderful
2826 teacher. These hints cover some of the major pitfalls of beginners,
2827 and that is all. There are far more things to be learned that can
2828 only be taught through experience.
2831 User's Guide to Empire 59
2833 Chapter 13 :-: Some tricks and subtle tactics
2835 I have listed here some of the tricks used by the more advanced
2836 players in victimizing the beginning players. I divulge this hard won
2837 information because I feel it will make for a better Empire game for
2838 everyone. In reading these, I hope that you will be encouraged to
2839 develop tactics of your own. It is not hard to be imaginative.
2841 Note that not all tricks and subtle tactics will work as advertised.
2842 Some games have slightly different implementations that have a
2843 negative effect on these hints.
2845 - Sacking a warehouse. This is an old tactic that is useful
2846 only in those games that have a market. Essentially the trick is to
2847 take an opponent's warehouses or distribution points and sell off
2848 everything that is in the sector to the market. You don't need a
2849 buyer immediately, just sell everything off. If you want the items
2850 for yourself, sell them to the market at an exhorbinately high price
2851 and wait for a friend to buy them and sell them back.
2852 - Tracking an airbase. This is a less known trick. Non-VTOL planes
2853 intercept from airbases. They also intercept from airbases in a hex
2854 pattern. Ie, if the plane has a six sector intercept range it will
2855 intercept up to six sectors west, six sectors north-west, etc in all
2856 the six directions. If you can find two corners of that plane's
2857 interception hex you can triangulate to find the sector from which it
2858 is intercepting. This does work for VTOL planes as well, but isn't
2859 as useful since airbases usually have far more planes in them to be
2860 dealt with. Once you have tracked the originating sector of the
2861 intercepting planes, what you do to that sector is your option. Most
2862 often, a concerted effort will be made to crack the defensive fighter
2863 cover and blast the airbase. Sometimes countries will use their
2864 surface to surface missiles (which do not get intercepted) to take
2865 out the airbase. For non-VTOL planes taking out an airbase just
2866 means getting it below 60% efficiency.
2867 - Fort "walking". If you have a land border with a country, you can
2868 use your forts to demolish a bordering sector with that country.
2869 By demolishing it, your are completely destroying every living
2870 civilian and soldier in that sector. When that is accomplished you
2871 can explore into that sector as if it were wilderness. You can then
2872 designate that sector into a 0% fort, which it will become
2873 immediately, and then move guns and shells into that sector.
2874 Then, you can do the same thing to a sector bordering your new
2875 sector. In this manner you can slowly invade another country
2876 beyond a one sector advance in one update without the use of
2877 planes or ships. This costs A LOT of BTUs and shells, but in
2878 critical situations is very useful.
2879 - Fire base. This tactic has some relation to the tactic used in
2880 the Vietnam conflict by U.S. Forces. The idea is to take an enemy
2881 sector in an area that you want to wreak havoc on. Next, use your
2882 pinpoint bombing capable planes to bomb your own position's sector
2883 efficiency. You will have some collateral damage on your troops,
2884 but it is well worth it. When the efficiency drops below 5% you can
2885 then designate the sector into a 0% fort, place guns and shells
2888 User's Guide to Empire 60
2890 in it using air transports, and then have a base from which to
2891 blast away at your enemy without the use of much airpower. It is
2892 possible to use the fort walking tactic from this position.
2893 - Messing up a country's distribution paths and or thresholds.
2894 This is most often an "annoyance" tactic. Most players know about it
2895 and check the distribution paths and thresholds of sectors they take
2896 back from an invading country. The idea is to set the thresholds so
2897 that a lot of commodities will be distributed to the sector from the
2898 warehouse of your opponent after your opponent takes the sector
2899 back. Then you can take the sector again and get the commodities
2900 if s/he has not noticed they are there. Even if s/he notices it is
2901 a pain getting the commodities back to the warehouse.
2902 Alternatively, you can screw up the distribution path to run through
2903 a mountain and then to his warehouse, and also set the thresholds
2904 of the commodities quite high. This will cause mobility in her/his
2905 warehouse to be used in great quantities to get the commodities to
2906 the recaptured sector. Either of these ideas can get particularly
2907 nasty. Say you conquer a sector, and set the thresholds on food to
2908 9000 units. Your opponent takes back the sector, and neglects to
2909 reset the threshold. At the next update the warehouse moves 9000
2910 food (or at least as much as it can) into the sector. This might
2911 leave your warehouse without food to deliver to the rest of the
2912 country. Food stocks begin to drop, with obvious repercussions.
2913 - Messing up a country's delivery routes and thresholds.
2914 Same as above except using deliver. Many countries do not use
2915 deliver at all, and as a result are susceptible to this tactic.
2916 You can cause mass starvation in a country that you attacked, but
2917 no longer control without the leader ever knowing how.
2918 - Destroyer trap. Move a submarine near a destroyer, say one sector
2919 away. Lay some mines from the submarine, and then send out an active
2920 sonar ping using the "sonar" command. Enemy destroyer rushes over to
2921 see what it is and KAWHOMP! hits a mine. You can leave a sector that
2922 has mines in it safely but can not necessarily enter safely. Every
2923 mine laid in a sector increases the chance of a ship hitting a mine
2924 while entering that sector by five percent.
2925 - Determining if someone is on. You can get an idea of when someone
2926 is usually logged on by doing something like this:
2928 [65:255] Command : news 10 | grep <name of country you want to learn about>
2930 This will scan the news file from the server for the last ten days
2931 (or however many days up to ten are being preserved in the news).
2932 You can then get an idea of when your opponent is logged on.
2933 There are tools that can do this for you, but so far none has
2934 reached public distribution.
2935 - Attacking any sector with one soldier repeatedly. Within the code
2936 there is a small chance that against incredible odds a small
2937 collection of soldiers might win. Taken to the extreme, there is
2938 a chance for one soldier to win, even against 400 soldiers, or so
2939 says the game. Thus a player who wants a particular sector bad
2940 enough, may spend thirty minutes attacking a sector of yours
2941 over and over again with one military. They might win eventually,
2942 and if it is important enough then they have gained a major sector.
2945 User's Guide to Empire 61
2947 - A player might offer to sell you a type of commodity in several
2948 batches. Or, you might just start buying batches of a commodity
2949 from any given commodity. If the player you are buying from is on,
2950 they might change the price on you between batches that you are
2951 purchasing. For example, DoDo starts buying food in batches of
2952 9000 from WabbleHead at 10 cents per food. This costs DoDo $900
2953 per batch of food. Suddenly between DoDo's 2nd and 3rd purchase
2954 of 9000 food, WabbleHead changes the price on the food from 10 cents
2955 to 10 dollars per unit. DoDo never realizes it and pays $90,000
2956 for the 3rd batch of food. Moral: Don't purchase anything without
2957 checking the price first, and never buy in several batches at once.
2958 This applies to market and trade.
2959 - It is possible to move small quantities of a commodity across any
2960 sector in your country and not have it cost mobility. To do this,
2961 you have to have the commodity moving from a warehouse to whatever
2962 sector you want to move it to. The basic trick, is to move the
2963 commodity in batches of 5 or less. Note this does not work for
2964 bars, and some other commodities. It does work for food, shells,
2965 etc; items that do not take a great deal of mobility to move to
2966 begin with. This trick is very effective for getting supplies
2967 to a region cut off from your main area without highway access
2968 and possibly even a mountain range separating you from it.
2969 - Mine your coast. This prevents your opponents from effectively
2970 mapping your coast, and you can catch their ships in the act since
2971 a damaged ship moves a lot slower than a 100% ship. Some people
2972 might even scuttle the ship in question to avoid detection.
2973 - Be aware that submarines will try to map your coast. Use your
2974 submarines and destroyers to find them. Use minefields as a
2975 preventative measure.
2976 - Do not give out your net address to anyone except the Deity unless
2977 people offsite can not finger you, or you have an account on
2978 another machine, and can regularly play from it. People can finger
2979 you over the net to see if you are logged in or not. If you're not,
2980 it's a good time to attack probably.
2981 - Beware of people offering you loans. Make sure you know the terms
2982 of the loan. Someone might offer you a loan that looks nice, say
2983 for $30,000. But, the loan might expire in one day and have an
2984 interest rate of 127%. The lending country can collect sectors
2985 directly from you without your permission if you are in arrears
2987 - Defend your radar stations. Always have at least 20 military in
2988 each of your radar stations, especially ones that are on the coast.
2989 Otherwise a passing ship might decide to capture it and take a
2990 snapshot of your country.
2991 - If a sub attacks one of your ships, it is possible to wander around
2992 the area with a ship that is not capable of sonar or depth charging,
2993 and still find that sub. How? Try boarding the sub by its hull
2994 number. If a sub attacks you, you will get a message saying that
2995 sub number so and so did such and such to your ship. Use a ship
2996 in the area to wander from sector to sector trying to board the
2997 sub. If you find it, you will get a message saying that you can not
2998 board a sub. Walla, you have found the sub without sonar, which
2999 other ships can hear anyways. This is a nice quiet form of anti-
3002 User's Guide to Empire 62
3005 - You can load a missile cruiser full of anti-shipping missiles, and
3006 then create a script file with firing commands for every ship in
3007 existence. Remove your own ships of course. Then execute the
3008 script, and the missile cruiser will fire at only those ships
3009 that are in range, regardless of whether the ships are in radar
3010 range of the cruiser or not. They need only be in range of the
3011 anti-shipping missiles. This is an effective, if blundering, way
3012 of removing approaching fleets before you see them on your radars.
3013 Note: anti-shipping missiles are not available in standard BSD code,
3014 but are available in some other versions, namely the Kent State
3018 Summary: Be sneaky. Be imaginative. Think of tricks you can pull on your
3019 opponent. Quite often, they will in fact work. Most players of this
3020 game are not Rommels, Pattons, or Montgomerys. Many can be duped
3021 by very simple tricks.
3025 User's Guide to Empire 63
3027 Chapter 14 :-: Tools
3029 Tools are programs used by players on their local machines to
3030 assist them in developing their country, analyzing another country,
3031 conducting war on another country, etc. Tools are very powerful
3032 devices at times. As such, many players have tools that they consider
3033 to be military secrets and they do not release copies of them. As a
3034 result, many programs doing basically identical tasks have been
3035 written. I encourage those players that are reading this that have
3036 such secret tools to release them to an anonymous FTP site with a
3037 directory for Empire. Not only does this make the game better for the
3038 beginners, but it also helps to keep the experts on their toes, and
3039 give a challenge to those of us who have been playing for quite some
3042 Some players feel that playing with tools takes something away from
3043 the playing aspect of the game, and feel that in so doing they are not
3044 really playing the game anymore. This has lately turned into a
3045 religious war of sorts in the Empire community, with many people taking
3046 both sides of the coin.
3048 You do not need tools other than your client to play Empire.
3049 Empire is designed such that any player can play the game without
3050 hindrance without the use of a tool other than the basic client itself.
3052 What follows is a list of tools that are most commonly found
3053 among players of the game. Most of these are publically available at
3054 an FTP site listed in Appendix C.
3057 autodist Automatically sets distribution paths for an entire
3058 country or realm within the country.
3059 autofeed automatically feeds the people in your country.
3060 pmvr,civmvr Automatically redistributes your population so that sectors
3061 will be able to have population growth rather than maxing
3062 out at the limit of 999 civilians.
3063 econ Provides an analysis of your country's economic progress
3065 GEET Gnu-Emacs Empire Tool. An emacs interface for Empire that
3066 has a great many capabilities and functions. Provides for
3067 better automatic defenses as well.
3068 EIF A more advanced client than the basic client. Allows
3069 for aliasing commands, command editing, etc.
3070 XEMP Empire client for X windows. Provides many nice features
3071 including an on screen map constantly displayed. A very
3072 nice interface that unfortunately still has several bugs.
3074 These are just a few of the Empire tools out there. There are still
3075 many more programs not listed. Some cover news analyses, country
3076 analyses over several updates, etc.
3078 Most tools come with documentation on how to use them, and it is
3079 beyond the scope of this guide to illustrate how each one of them
3082 User's Guide to Empire 64
3086 There are other aids that are often called tools which are called
3087 scripts. Scripts can do a great many things for you. The most common
3088 of these applications are simply files containing a list of commands
3089 that you want to execute in Empire.
3091 For example, let's say that at each update you wanted to dump the
3092 current news into a file in your local directory, get a new power
3093 report and dump that into another file, and dump all current telegrams
3094 into yet another file. This would be three commands that you could
3095 consolidate into one command by doing this:
3097 Construct a file in your local directory that has the appropriate
3098 commands in it. In this case you could write a file with three lines:
3101 power new >>powerfile
3104 You could call this file update.do
3106 While in Empire you could then request the Empire client to access
3107 that file and execute those commands by using the exec command followed
3108 by the file name. Thus:
3110 [102:253] Command: exec update.do
3112 Building such a simple script is useful for doing a set of commands
3113 over and over again without typing it in each and every time.
3115 Lastly, remember to exercise wisdom in the use of tools. It is
3116 possible that the execution of a simple tool can damage your country
3117 irrepairably. Use tools, especially those written by others, with
3118 caution. Try them out on small sections of your country first. Look
3119 at the source code prior to running it if you have access to the
3120 source code. It is theoretically possible for someone to write
3121 a tool that will scan the list of countries in a game, and if the
3122 author's country name is in that list, send valuable information
3123 about your country to him or her. Yes, it is true, some people
3124 have no morals believe it or not.
3127 Summary: Tools are very powerful items if used wisely. It is not necessary
3128 to have tools to play Empire effectively. Some experts of the game
3129 refuse to use tools of any type, and they remain among the best
3130 players. Tools are no replacement for skill. Be careful when using
3131 tools, they can ruin your country.
3135 User's Guide to Empire 65
3137 ******************************* Appendices ************************************
3140 Appendix A :-: Glossary of terms, names, and etc.
3142 Amphibious assault - Attacking a sector using ships, usually landing ships.
3143 Avail - A unit of measuring available labor hours in a sector.
3144 Backstab - To harm another country with whom you had prior treaties
3145 and or alliances that were in effect at the time of your
3146 harmful action. Usually a severe action.
3147 Blitz game - An implementation of an Empire game that is very fast paced.
3148 Usually these games last no more than two days.
3149 BSD - Berkeley Standard Distribution. A term borrowed from Unix.
3150 It indicates that the version is a release version from Berkeley,
3152 BTU - Beaurocratic Time Unit. A unit of government activity. Used
3153 by various commands as cost for executing that command.
3154 Capital - The government center of a country. BTUs are produced by
3155 only one capital in a country, regardless of how many are
3156 designated. Only the actual capital of the country produces.
3157 Client - A program that allows you to connect to the Empire server.
3158 Commodity - Just as in the real world; any of a plethora of raw and refined
3159 materials that can be traded, stolen, etc.
3160 Dave Pare - Not the original author of Empire, but the person who has
3161 made it possible for it to be what it is. THE major author
3162 of Empire. Also known as Mr. Frog.
3163 Deity - Person (yes, a real life human) who runs/referees a game.
3164 Deliver - A means of managing economic resource allocation via orders
3165 from neighboring sectors.
3166 Designation - What the sector has been ordered to be, ie a highway for example.
3167 Distribution- A means of managing economic resource allocation via a central
3168 warehouse scheme. Often referred to as a "distribution
3170 Education - Activity on the part of a country to raise the overall
3171 intelligence level of a country, to promote research and
3172 technological development.
3173 Eif - "Empire Interface". A version of the client with certain
3175 Empire host - The computer the server is running on.
3176 ETU - Empire Time Unit - A subdivision of an update. An update's
3177 value is measured in terms of ETUs.
3178 FTP - "File Transfer Program". This is a means of transferring
3179 files over the computer networks. Most computers are capable
3180 of using FTP. For more information you may refer to your
3181 host computer's help. For example, "man ftp" or "help ftp".
3182 GEET - Gnu-Emacs Empire Tool. An emacs based client, also known
3183 (to the chagrin of the author of GEET) as GEEK.
3184 Geurilla - A patriot behind enemy lines. They will attempt to do damage
3185 to the enemy's military or the sector the enemy is occupying.
3186 You can not control guerilla actions.
3187 HCM - Heavy construction material. A unit of material used in
3188 Empire economies for bridges, planes, etc.
3189 KSU, Kent State code - refers to the version of Empire based on the Berkeley
3192 User's Guide to Empire 66
3194 release. There are several enhancements in this version, and
3195 many think it is better than the Berkeley release.
3196 LCM - Light construction material. A unit of material used in
3197 Empire economies for education, technology, research, planes,
3199 Megatons - A unit of measure of nuclear warhead yield. One megaton
3200 equals one million tons of TNT explosive power. Often
3201 represented as 'mt' as in '5mt'.
3202 Mobility - A number indices indicating the available amount of moving
3203 capability in a sector, for a plane, or for a ship.
3204 Plague - An all encompassing term representing disease in the Empire
3205 world. Can be kept in check by the country doing research.
3206 Representative,Rep - Your password for your country in the game. NOT your
3208 Research - Activity on the part of a country that keeps plague in check.
3209 Reserves - Civilian soldier. A soldier not on active duty who is paid
3210 a small sum to retain training in case of times of need.
3211 Sanctuary - Your starting area in any game. Usually comprised of two
3212 sectors. Can not be attacked, or otherwise affected by
3214 Script - A file containing several Empire commands that can be
3215 automatically run or run manually from the client.
3216 Sector - A unit of geography, comprising an area represented by a
3217 single character on maps.
3218 Server - The program (running usually at a remote site) that handles
3219 the functioning of the game. In essence, the game itself.
3220 Spy - A member of your military forces sent across neighboring
3221 country borders to gather information.
3222 Technology - The scientific development of a country. Relates most directly
3223 to a country's capability to create better weapons. Also known
3225 Threshold - A break off point for the 'deliver' and 'distribute' commands
3226 that indicates a quantity beyond which every unit of a
3227 specific commodity is moved automatically at an update.
3228 Tool - A program used on a player's local machine to aid in there
3230 Update - A 'turn' in Empire. Mobility is increased in sectors,
3231 civilians multiply and eat food, military is paid for, etc.
3232 UW - Uncompensated worker. A nicer name for slave.
3233 VTOL - Vertical Take Off and Landing capability for planes. Requires
3234 no runways or other developed airport like structures.
3235 Wasteland - A permanent sector designation caused by a nuclear blast of
3236 one megaton or larger. Can not be traveled across by land,
3237 but can be flown over.
3238 Warehouse - A central collection and distribution point for products
3240 Wilderness - Undesignated areas other than mountains and ocean. Represented
3241 by a '-' character on maps.
3242 XEMP - An X windows based client.
3246 User's Guide to Empire 67
3248 Appendix B :-: Known exploitable bugs
3250 As a result of Empire having several thousand lines of code, there
3251 are numerous bugs. Some are simply annoying, others you never notice. Some,
3252 like the following, are bugs that you can be used against you.
3254 a) "Intercept" bug - Non-VTOL planes can and will rise and intercept
3255 hostile planes from any sector as long as there is petrol in the
3256 sector, the plane has the intercept capability (see show plane c),
3257 it is at least 40% efficient, and it has mobility.
3259 b) "Escort" bug - Planes that are capable of escort duty can escort
3260 themselves on various missions, as long as they are capable of
3261 the mission in question (such as a bombing raid). Say for example
3262 that you want to fly a reconnaissance mission over enemy territory,
3263 but you know that enemy planes are going to intercept you.
3264 When the game asks you for the plane that will be doing the recon,
3265 you can give it plane 345 for example, which for the sake of
3266 this guide is a jet fighter. When it asks you for the planes
3267 that are going to escort it, you can say 345 again. The game will
3268 respond as if two planes are flying the mission when in fact only
3269 one is. Enemy planes will think there are two planes. Enemy planes
3270 will first do battle with the escort. Let's say they did 16% damage
3271 to the escort, and the escort did 14% damage to one of the enemy
3272 interceptors. Next, the enemy interceptor attacks the recon plane,
3273 which is the same plane, and inflicts 21% damage. The recon plane
3274 inflicts 13% damage on the interceptor, and the recon plane aborts
3275 the mission. It looks like you lost the dogfight. In actuality,
3276 you did not. The intercepting plane suffered a total of 27% damage.
3277 It looks like you suffered 37% damage. However, you actually only
3278 suffered the *last* damage inflicted, which was to the recon plane.
3279 Thus, you only suffered 21% damage and you won the dogfight.
3281 c) "Flying Bridge" bug - Say for example you have a 100% bridgehead
3282 sector with enough HCMs, workers, and avail to build a bridge.
3283 Normally, you would say "build bridge x,y" and then it would ask
3284 you for a direction to build the bridge. If after you built the
3285 bridge you were to redesignate the bridgehead, the bridge would
3286 collapse. However, if you redesignate the bridgehead sector
3287 before you build the bridge, the bridge will be built and will
3288 not collapse. At the next update, the bridgehead will become
3289 the sector you redesignated it to (say, a highway) and the bridge
3290 will still be there. Note: It is believed that most current
3291 games of Empire have a new patch that prevents this bug.
3293 d) "Resource sucker" bug - Let's say you have a sector with 23 gold
3294 content left, and it is a gold mine. Normally it might produce
3295 say, 111 gold dust at the next update. If you were to put 9000
3296 civilians into that sector, it would produce over 900 dust at
3297 the next update. The sector's resource content of gold will go
3298 to 0, but instead of getting a roughly 115 dust from the sector
3299 with the remaining content, you have gotten over 900 dust.
3300 Civilians reproduce quickly enough that losing 8000 civs this way
3303 User's Guide to Empire 68
3305 is really of no concern especially when you consider what you
3306 have gained. This bug works also for oil wells and uranium
3309 I have listed the bugs here because it is important that players
3310 know about these bugs in case they are used against them. I do not
3311 condone the use of these bugs, nor do many players of the game.
3312 Many deities (the people who run the game) take action against
3313 players using these bugs, such as taking away your technology or
3314 your money. Do not use them. Simply be aware that others may use
3315 them and come up with ways to counter their use. If you are aware
3316 that another player is using one of these bugs, report it to the
3317 deity of the game. S/he might give you a reward of some sort.
3319 Also note that since these bugs have been published> here, it is likely
3320 that some programmer has written bug fixes for these. Most, and
3321 possible all of these bugs might not work in a game you are
3326 User's Guide to Empire 69
3328 Appendix C :-: FTP sites and other sources for Empire related items
3330 Herein listed are the net address of computers that have files
3331 related to Empire in there anonymous FTP directories. An example of
3332 anonymous FTP is found in chapter 2 of this guide, and that method
3333 with appropriate substitutions for file names can be used to retrieve
3334 files off of these FTP sites. If you have trouble using anonymous FTP
3335 seek out your local site consultant for more information.
3337 Host Directory Files available
3338 ucbvax.berkeley.edu - pub/games/empire/bsd Empire client, server,
3339 various tools, this guide.
3340 empire.bbn.com - pub/Emp Various tools, VMS client,
3342 star.cs.vu.nl - xemp Xemp
3343 hylka.helsinki.fi - public/vax/games-etc/empireclient.dir
3345 uunet.uu.net - games Tools, server.
3346 alcazar.cd.chalmers.se - pub/emp Various tools, patches, eif
3350 User's Guide to Empire 70
3354 Agriculture centers 25,49,51 Naval operations
3355 Announcements 17 Defensive 36,54,57
3356 Avail 45 In mapping 55,61
3357 Backstabbing 28 Anti-submarine 61
3358 Banks 56 Amphibious 35,40,54,57
3359 Bridges 42,45,58,67 Mining 54,60,61
3360 BTUs 26,45 Nuclear weapons
3361 Capitals 16,26,36,54,55,57 Damage from 38
3362 Clients 9 Ending games 41
3363 Basic client 9 Getting 38,42
3364 Compiling 9-12 Recovering from 39
3365 Deliver 48,52-53,56,60 Defense of areas hit by 40
3366 Designate 17,21,25 Oil 42,43,45,50,54,55,67
3367 Diplomacy 28-32 Paratroops
3368 Distribution network 27,48-52,56,60 In nuclear war 40
3369 Education 42-43,44,45,47,48 Against capitals 36
3370 Empire Against forts 35,36
3371 Addictive 8 Against defended sectors 57
3372 Blitz games 6 Plague 44
3373 Compared to Risk 6 Planes
3374 Description 6 In defense 33-34,54,57
3375 Game length 6 In mapping 28
3376 Time needed to play 6 VTOL 33,34,40
3377 Enlistment 40,54 Out of airbases 33,34,59
3378 ETU, Empire Time Units 26 In nuclear war 38,40
3379 Exploring 16,21-25 Defending from 57
3380 Food in sectors 27,54 In escort 67
3381 Forts 30,34-35,40,54,57,59-60 Population 26,43
3382 FTP 9,63 Posturing 32
3383 Gold dust 26,42,43,45,54,55,67 Registering
3384 Guerillas 36-37 Hearing of games 8
3385 Guns 34-35,36,40 Standard registration 8-9
3386 HCMs 45,67 Rec.games.empire 8
3387 Help 16,17 "Red Storm Rising" 30
3388 Kent State Empire 43, 62 Research 44,45
3389 LCMs 42,45,47,48 Reserves 37,54,57
3390 Loans 30,61 Sanctuary 16,21,22,25,27
3391 Mapping 28,54,55,61 Scripts 64
3392 Maps 16,18-20 Sectors 20
3393 Maskirovka 30-31 Server, connecting problems 12-15,26
3394 Missiles Starvation 26,46,51,54
3395 In nuclear war 38 Technology 26,27,33,34,42-44
3396 Against planes 57 Telegrams 17
3397 Against airbases 59 Thresholds 50-53,56,60
3398 Against ships 62 Tools 7,8,21,63-64
3399 Mobility 24,25,26,49,51,61 Uncompensated workers 43,46
3400 Mountains 25,36 Updates 16,21,25,26,27,36,46,51,56
3401 Movement 16,20 Warehouse 26,43,48,49-51,56,59,60,61
3402 Wilderness 20,21,22,23,24,25
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