Introduction : User's Guide to Empire
NAME
Guide - User's Guide to Empire
Level: Basic
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| By Geoff Cashman |
User's Guide to Empire 1
Preface to the Wolfpack Edition
This is Geoff Cashman's venerable User's Guide to Empire. It was written
in 1991, and Empire has evolved quite a bit since then. Nevertheless, many
players have found it useful through the years, so here it is. We
reproduce it verbatim except for this preface and corrections of a few
editing mistakes.
Copyright
Copyright (C) 1991-2007 Geoff Cashman. This is free documentation; see the
source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
User's Guide to Empire 2
Preface
This guide's intended audience is the beginning player and those players
who have played a game or three and would like to have some insight on some
more subtle aspects of the game. Some experienced players may find some
benefit from reading this guide as well. While you may feel you are an
expert, it is always possible to learn. Nothing in this guide is intended
to be difficult to understand, and every effort has been made to make this
guide an easy learning tool.
This publication is current to Berkeley version 1.1 patch level 5
User's Guide to Empire 3
Foreword
It has been over a year now since I first sat down and thought in a serious
way about writing this guide. It has been a long trip with many interesting
turns and developments. When I first started, the version of Empire that
this guide has ultimately been written for had not yet been released. Now,
with this project nearing release I find that yet another new version of
Empire is coming out. I look on in near despair as I realize that this guide
may very well soon be outdated. Nevertheless, I feel compelled to release
this information in what might be considered a final form.
However, I hope that this is not the final form. With new versions of
Empire coming out in the very near future I hope that some other potential
author steps forward and takes up the banner of educating the new player.
I caution you though that such a work as this takes quite an effort.
To the reader and any critics or even cynics that might be reading, I say
that I am not writer. I never was, and I never intend to be. There are
certainly enough writers in the world to write almost everything the world
could want to know about in print. I was never skilled in the art of proper
style for any sort of writing. Please, be kind and keep this in mind.
I wrote this guide because I felt there was a great need for something of
this nature. I have watched so many players come to the network looking
for information on Empire, such as the rules, or information on how to play.
One can get information about the various commands available to oneself
within the game, but to understand how to use those commands effectively
and get skilled at running a country is a far greater task. Many new
players have despaired after playing their first game for lack of the
requisite knowledge to play effectively. Some come back fighting hard
in the next game, but many just disappear never to be heard from again.
This guide was written with the hope that if the new player is supplied
with the basics, they can advance in skill more quickly than previously
possible and not despair at their first defeat.
I am hoping that within the near future two other companion guides to
this one will be written and released to the net. These two guides will
be intended to make the average player a better player or even expert,
and to teach fledgling deities how to compile and establish a, solicit
entries for , and effectively run, a game. Some people have commented
to me that the time spent on these guides would be better spent if I
were to spend time programming for Empire instead. It is my belief that
in teaching players to be better players, and teaching deities how to be
a deity should that guide be released, the potential pool for
programmers of Empire will increase.
I can not take credit for the idea of this guide. The need for such
a guide I think was painfully obvious to a great many players. Some in
fact did engage in projects to fill that need. Every such attempt has
fallen short, in my humble opinion. Witness the large number of people
User's Guide to Empire 4
who still ask the network, "How do I play?" and even more importantly
the lack of sufficient answer to such people's questions. In my highest
hopes, I dream that someday soon that answer will be "Get a copy of the
User's Guide to Empire, which is available via FTP from xx.xx.xx".
This work was made possible by the contributions of several Empire players.
This work would not have been completed without the insights and assistance
of many Empire players and deities. To the Empire community as a whole,
I say thank you for your priceless contributions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
User's Guide to Empire 5
*** Contents ***
Preface
Foreword
1. What is Empire? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2. How to get into a game of Empire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3. The primitive basics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4. Geography in Empire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
5. The beginning phases of Empire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
6. Diplomacy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
7. Setting up your defenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
8. Nuclear warfare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
9. Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
10. The economy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
11. War. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
12. Other helpful or not so helpful hints. . . . . . . . . . . . 57
13. Some tricks and subtle tactics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
14. Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Appendices
a) glossary
b) known bugs
c) ftp sites
Figures:
1. Sample of how to FTP and compile a client program
2. Killing a process on a remote Empire host
3. Example of an Empire map
4. Realistic version of an Empire map
5. Table of sector types and designations
6. Unexplored island prior to breaking sanctuary
7. Island showing exploration using theory 1
8. Island showing exploration using theory 2
9 Island showing exploration using theory 3
10. Results from 'show planes capability'
11. Results from a 'nation' report
12. Map of region hit by nuclear weapon
13. Table of types of commodities in Empire
14. Sample output of 'prod' command
15. Results of a 'census' command of a library
16. Map of area requiring some distribution
17. Results of a distribution command
18. Map of an area requiring delivery path
User's Guide to Empire 6
Chapter 1 :-: What is Empire?
Empire is a game in which you are pitted against several other
players in a country vs. country format. There are economies to
run, armies to support, policies to generate, and allies and
enemies to make. The game supports various features that make
certain aspects of the game seem to parallel the "realistic"
world. These include satellites, planes, banks, parks, etc.
Empire, in the version herein described, is a very complex
game. The closest game that most people will know that is
analogous to it is the game known as Risk. However, Empire is
more complex by a factor of at least one hundred. Nevertheless,
as a result of the computer aiding you every step of the way, the
game is not difficult to play, though it can be difficult to
learn. If you read this guide thoroughly, and use it as a
continuing resource, you can help make learning this game a lot
easier.
It should be noted that in learning to play this game, you
may become frustrated or feel daunted by its complexity.
Several players have noted that they almost gave up on Empire,
until one day when everything seemed to start to make sense.
I call it the "threshold level of understanding" after which
learning the art of Empire becomes several grades easier, and
players learn substantially faster. I urge you to stay with
it until you get to that level. It may take some time, but it
is well worth the effort. This guide is intended to get you
to that threshold level of understanding.
Games usually take two to three months depending on various factors
that are changeable by the person who runs the game prior to its
inception. Some games, known as blitz games, last a day or three
and will wear out your finger tips from typing too much, will cause
your family and loved ones to be tremendously upset with you for
missing breakfast, lunch and dinner for three days straight, will cause
your stomach to argue constantly with you about its right to
food, and are a tremendous amount of fun. Blitz games are not
for the light of heart nor are they meant for the beginner.
For more information concerning the basic scope of Empire,
refer to the game itself. Within the game, there are
various help entries accessible through the command 'info'.
This guide is intended to go well beyond the scope of help
available from 'info'.
Empire, the game, has evolved through many different forms
over the last decade. There are still numerous versions
for various computers around. The version herein discussed
is BSD Empire, written for the most part by Dave Pare along
with a lot of help from net people. As release time approaches
I am aware that Mr. Pare is working on BSD Empire V2.0.
This guide is only current to version V1.1.5 of BSD. I wish
User's Guide to Empire 7
the future author of the guide to V2.0, whomever that might be,
the best of luck and bequeath that person a family size bottle
of aspirin for personal use.
Summary: Empire is a very complex game that has a rather steep learning
curve. Most of the complexity of the game can be handled by
the commands available to you, the game server itself, or tools
that you use to better your country. Tools are described later
in this text.
User's Guide to Empire 8
Chapter 2 :-: How to get into a game of Empire.
The most common way of finding about about games that are about to
happen is by monitoring the newsgroup rec.games.empire on your local
news reading program. Other ways are via e-mail by getting to know
several players with whom you correspond over the network. Some
games are by invitation only but these are few and far between as
usually a game is better with more people in it. If you do not know
how to use your local news reading program, ask a local site consultant
or find a brochure about the news programs available. One of the most
common newsreaders can be reached by typing 'rn' from your Unix
prompt. If you have VMS for an operating system this may not be true.
To go directly to the rec.games.empire newsgroup you could type in
'rn rec.games.empire'.
Before entering a game of Empire, consider the amount of time that
you have available to play the game. Two hours a day for a four
update per day game is usually the norm. If you are inexperienced,
and have not fought in wars before, that two hours will dramatically
increase should war break out between you and another country.
Note that it is easy to get addicted to the game. The player should
be aware of this prior to playing. Play in moderation. This is
obviously not meant to scare you off. It is merely a word of caution
to some people. Remember to play in moderation.
If you do decide to join in an upcoming game of Empire, then you will
have the pleasure of playing one of the best games around. Empire has
been described as being the most complicated game ever created.
Despite the fact that the game was created for computers and has
been in existence for several years, as yet no robot player has been
developed nor is it anticipated. It is possible to build such a
robot, but it would be a huge task. Do not be dismayed though.
Most of the complexity of Empire is handled by the server and client.
There is a fair amount of what is called "micro-managing" that may
need to be done to be a highly successful nation. However, it is
not a necessary thing to do. Furthermore, there are many tools
(described later) that can handle the micromanaging aspects to
a great degree.
After you find out about a game, and decide that you do want to
play in that upcoming game, you need to contact the "Deity". The
"Deity" is the person who runs the game. You should mail him/her
with information about yourself and your country. A customary
basic form for registering your country to play might contain
the following information:
Country name: (any name you like, from Brianville to USofA)
Rep: (this is your *password*)
Net address: (the address at which you can be contacted over the net)
Skill level: (1-10..10 being the best, 1 being beginner)
It might be necessary depending on the Deity to include all addresses
User's Guide to Empire 9
from which you might be playing. With the proliferation of suns as
general user machines this is becoming more and more a chore, and
few deities require it. It might suffice to say "mickey@*.buffalo.edu"
which might cover all machines you play from if you played from
SUNY-Buffalo. Mickey, of course, is just an arbitrary username chosen
for this example.
Empire players connect to games in progress through a program known
as a "client". This program handles communication between your
computer and the computer that the game is running on.
There are several versions of clients available. Some are more
"capable" than others in that they can make decisions easier for
you or make the decisions themselves. They are intended to reduce
the amount of work you have to do to maintain your country though
in some cases they actually increase the amount of work you have
to do. I have listed places from which you can get other types
of clients from in the FTP listings in appendix C.
Sources for basic client program is available by FTPing to
ucbvax.berkeley.edu. For the user's benefit, I have included
a copy of a session in which a user FTPs to ucbvax, retrieves the
source, compiles the source and establishes the appropriate
environment variables to connect to a game.
Note that the following example will work ONLY on a Unix,
Ultrix, or other flavor of Unix operating system. This will
not work for the VMS client.
--------------------------------------------------------------
(PLEASE NOTE: Walk through comments in this sample will be enclosed
in [** and **]. They are not part of what actually appeared on screen
in collecting this sample. They are meant only as guides.)
[** First, I create a directory to put the client in. I then cd into that
directory and then proceed with the ftp to ucbvax. **]
autarch{tmp}!>mkdir myclient
autarch{tmp}!>cd myclient
autarch{myclient}!>ftp ucbvax.berkeley.edu
Connected to ucbvax.berkeley.edu.
220 ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU FTP server (Version 5.30 Tue Mar 28 18:11:37 PST 1989) ready.
[** Type in anonymous for your name **]
Name (ucbvax.berkeley.edu:mickey): anonymous
[** Send your real identity for the password **]
331 Guest login ok, send ident as password.
Password:
230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.
[** I am now logged in to ucbvax's public access FTP area. Now
I cd into the "pub" directory, then the "games" directory, and then
the "bsd-empire" directory where I know the Empire client source
resides. **]
User's Guide to Empire 10
ftp> cd pub
250 CWD command successful.
ftp> cd games
250 CWD command successful.
ftp> cd bsd-empire
250 CWD command successful.
[** Now, I set my file transfer mode to "binary" and set hash on so that
I can see transmit progress on screen (# = 1024 bytes.) **]
ftp> bin
200 Type set to I.
ftp> hash
Hash mark printing on (1024 bytes/hash mark).
[** Now, I view the directory listing to confirm the name of the client
source. **]
ftp> ls
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for ..
empire-1.1.tar.Z
empire-1.1.patch.5
empire-1.1.patch.4
empire-1.1.patch.3
contrib.tar.Z
client.tar.Z
empclient-1.1.tar.Z
[** ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ it's this one. **]
README
emptools.tar.Z
#
226 Transfer complete.
143 bytes received in 0.03 seconds (4.7 Kbytes/s)
[** Now, I "get" the file and the transmission to my directory begins. **]
ftp> get empclient-1.1.tar.Z
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for empclient-1.1.tar.Z (20859 bytes).
#########################################
226 Transfer complete.
local: empclient-1.1.tar.Z remote: empclient-1.1.tar.Z
20859 bytes received in 1.8 seconds (11 Kbytes/s)
[** The client source now resides in my directory, so I log out of Berkeley **]
ftp> quit
221 Goodbye.
[** I next confirm that the client is in my directory. **]
autarch{myclient}!>ls
empclient-1.1.tar.Z
[** Next, I have to uncompress the file (the Z postfix means it is in
compressed format). I again ls to confirm it's presence. **]
autarch{myclient}!>uncompress empclient-1.1.tar.Z
autarch{myclient}!>ls
empclient-1.1.tar
[** Next, I have to tar the file (tar postfix means it's in tar format).
Again, I ls to confirm operation completed. **]
autarch{myclient}!>tar -xf empclient-1.1.tar
autarch{myclient}!>ls
User's Guide to Empire 11
client/ empclient-1.1.tar
[** Ah, ok. I tar'ed the file and it created a directory for itself.
So, I cd into that directory and ls it. **]
autarch{myclient}!>cd client
autarch{client}!>ls
Makefile empire.6 host.c main.c saveargv.c
README expect.c hpux.c misc.h servercmd.c
bit.c fnlist.h ioqueue.c proto.h serverio.c
bit.h globals.c ioqueue.h queue.c termio.c
dtable.c handle.c login.c queue.h termlib.c
[** There's the README file up there. That will tell me what to do next. **]
autarch{client}!>more README
BSD Empire 1.1
This is the empire client for BSD Empire.
To make the program, edit globals.c and change localhost to
point at the machine where the game is running.
Type "make".
You can change hosts on-the-fly by using environment variables -- see
the man page for details.
[** Simple enough. I don't bother modifying globals.c since I can modify
the environment variables using the Unix command 'setenv'. So now,
I just type 'make' and hope everything goes ok. NOTE: This was done
on a sun4. Your results may vary slightly. **]
autarch{client}!>make
[** Now, it does the compilation automatically without me having to
do it by hand, I just typed the make and it does it by itself. **]
cc -g -sun4 -c bit.c
cc -g -sun4 -c dtable.c
cc -g -sun4 -c expect.c
cc -g -sun4 -c globals.c
cc -g -sun4 -c handle.c
cc -g -sun4 -c host.c
cc -g -sun4 -c hpux.c
cc -g -sun4 -c ioqueue.c
cc -g -sun4 -c login.c
cc -g -sun4 -c main.c
cc -g -sun4 -c queue.c
cc -g -sun4 -c saveargv.c
cc -g -sun4 -c servercmd.c
cc -g -sun4 -c serverio.c
cc -g -sun4 -c termio.c
cc -g -sun4 -c termlib.c
cc -g -o empire bit.o dtable.o expect.o globals.o handle.o host.o hpux.o
ioqueue.o login.o main.o queue.o saveargv.o servercmd.o serverio.o termio.o
termlib.o -ltermlib
autarch{client}!>ls
User's Guide to Empire 12
Makefile expect.c hpux.c misc.h serverio.c
README expect.o hpux.o proto.h serverio.o
bit.c fnlist.h ioqueue.c queue.c termio.c
bit.h globals.c ioqueue.h queue.h termio.o
bit.o globals.o ioqueue.o queue.o termlib.c
dtable.c handle.c login.c saveargv.c termlib.o
dtable.o handle.o login.o saveargv.o
empire* host.c main.c servercmd.c
empire.6 host.o main.o servercmd.o
[** Walla, it compiled, and now there is a file in the directory called
'empire' with a * next to it (meaning it's an executable. Not all
ls's will do this, see 'man ls' for further info on parameters for ls).
That file is the client. I could delete all of the '.c', '.h', and
'.o' files right now to clean things up, but I am anxious to get into
the Empire game that is already in progress. So, I next setup my
environment variables so my client knows which computer to call and
which port to use on that computer. **]
autarch{client}!>setenv EMPIREHOST oleander.cs.odu.edu
autarch{client}!>setenv EMPIREPORT 1617
[** EMPIREHOST and EMPIREPORT variables will have been given to you by
the deity running the game.
With that done, I can now run my client and connect to the game. **]
autarch{client}!>empire
Country name? [** I type in my country name **]
Your name? [** And my password, NOT my real name. **]
-=0=-
You have six new telegrams waiting...
[0:255] Command:
[** And you are now connected to the game and are ready to play dictator **]
Figure 1
Sample of how to FTP and compile a client program
------------------------------------------------------------------
Since you are playing across a network of computers, it is possible
that there will be problems along the way in connecting to the server
from the computer you play on. What follows are some common connection
errors.
Problem 1:
autarch{client}!>empire
connect: Connection refused
Problem This generally means that you have either set your environment
variables wrong (see 'setenv' from earlier in this chapter), or
the server at the host site is not currently running.
Solution (1) Check your environment variables by issuing a 'setenv' command.
User's Guide to Empire 13
(2) Wait for the server to come up.
Problem 2:
autarch{client}!>empire
connect: Connection timed out
Problem This generally means that there is a network outage somewhere
along the network.
Solution (1) You can monitor the network by using two Unix commands located in
/usr/etc on most Unix systems. These are 'ping' and 'traceroute'.
/usr/etc/ping 128.205.7.3 for instance will send a ping at the
host with IP address 128.205.7.3. If that machine can be reached
from your machine across the network it will return:
128.205.7.3 is alive
traceroute 128.205.7.3 will request responses from each site along
the way. This is useful for seeing which site along the way is
causing the outage.
(2) This solution is easier, but more frustrating. Wait.
Problem 3:
autarch{client}!>empire
Country name?
Your name?
-=O=-
3 country in use by mickey@lictor.acsu.buffalo.edu (pid=5797)
Problem This one is potentially nasty. It means that another process is
logged into your country. This could be from multiple sources.
1: Your friend who is playing your country as well.
2: A process of yours that got accidentally hung.
3: The network hung your remote process even though your local
process is now terminated.
Solution (1) Go kick your friend in the head :-)
(2) Kill your process 'nicely'. To find the process execute a
'ps -x' command and find the appropriate process number:
autarch{client}ps -x
PID TT STAT TIME COMMAND
3555 t1 S 0:00 -usr/new/csh (csh)
3575 t1 R 0:00 ps -x
3559 ? S 0:00 -usr/new/csh (csh)
3560 ? S 0:00 (empire)
The offending process number in this list is 3560. To kill it,
simply type the command 'kill 3560'. After that, all should be
well. Try entering the game again.
(3) If your process is hung on the server machine, you can
do one of two things. First, you can mail the Deity with the
"pid", or process identification number. This number is listed
in the original error message and in our case is 5797. Secondly,
you can log in to the remote site and kill the process yourself
via the process illustrated below. Note that in the first line
of the illustrated process that the name storm.tamu.edu is the
host site for the particular game I am using for this example.
User's Guide to Empire 14
Also, 1617 is the port on that machine that Empire is being run
through. Commands that you should type in are indicated
by a "<----" at the end of the line.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
% telnet storm.tamu.edu 1617 <----
Trying 128.194.15.98 ...
Connected to storm.tamu.edu.
Escape character is '^]'.
2 Empire server ready <---- [** your country name in quotes **]
coun "Terminus"
0 country name Terminus
pass "busyemperor" <---- [** your password in quotes **]
0 password ok
kill <---- [** this terminates the hung process **]
3 process 1056 (from mickey@autarch.acsu.buffalo.edu) terminated
[** next type in 'ctrl-]' and then type 'close' **]
^]
telnet> c
Connection closed.
%
Figure 2
Killing a process on a remote Empire host
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your process is now unhung, and your country should be ready to play
once again.
Problem 4:
autarch{myclient}empire
Country name?
Your name?
Bad password
Problem The server does not accept the password you typed as being correct.
Solution Try typing it again. Try using capital letters at the beginning of
the password as well, or the entire password in caps. If this does
not work, mail the Deity and inform him or her of the problem
and what the password should be.
Problem 5:
autarch{myclient}empire
Alarm clock
Problem Your connection to the server is not responding.
Solution The delay time for waiting for a response that is built into
the client is not exceedingly long. The theory behind this being
that if it is taking you that long to get a response from the
Empire server then it is not worth playing, since response times
User's Guide to Empire 15
for information from the game are going to be pretty unbearable.
Keep trying is probably the best solution.
These are most of the problems that you will encounter in connecting to
the game server. There are some more problems that you might
encounter, but generally they are not common. If you can not reach
your game server for more than a day, contact your deity and let
him/her know that you can not connect.
Summary: Getting into a game of Empire is not terribly difficult. Setting up
a client program should be a fairly painless task. If it is not,
do not be dismayed. Get help from a consultant or another player
if you can. Some problems with the network may temporarily prevent
you from playing. Be patient, the network is a horse that should
be shot, but generally it comes around after a while.
User's Guide to Empire 16
Chapter 3 :-: The primitive basics.
There are a few basic commands and ideas that will help you get
acquainted with Empire. These are here summarized.
Concept: Sanctuary.
All players begin a game of Empire in what is known as a sanctuary.
While you are in a sanctuary state you can not be attacked, overrun, or
otherwise hurt. However, while you are in sanctuary you can not do
very many things. In order to really begin playing the game you need
to do what is known as "break sanctuary". You can do this using the
'break' command. When you do this, your two sanctuary sectors (which
everyone starts with) will become capital sectors. You are no longer
protected from attacks from enemy countries.
Concept: Movement in Empire.
Paths of movement are indicated by several keys. Path indicators
exist in a hex shape around the letter H on your keyboard. Thus, y means
travel North-West, u for North-East, j for East, n for South-East, b for
South-West, and g for West. Also, h means "stop" which terminates movement
of whatever you are moving. There is one other key, v which "views" the
sector you are currently moving through. Thus if I gave a movement path
of gggvgh the game would move whatever I am moving three sectors West, view
the sector at three sectors west of my starting point, then move one more
sector west and then stop.
Concept: Updates
Empire games have "turns" known as updates. When an update occurs,
your country goes through economic growth or decline, interests are paid
on gold bars, military costs are paid for, mobility increases in your
sectors, etc. You can do a great many things between updates, an update
merely does book keeping more or less, at a predetermined time. To find
out when the next update is going to happen, you can type 'update' as
a command.
Command: map -10:10,-7:7
This command will give you a map of the area immediately surrounding
your beginning two sectors. Specifically, it will give you a map from ten
sectors West of your 0,0 to ten sectors East and from seven sectors North to
seven sectors South of your 0,0.
Command: explore civ 0,0 1
This command allows you to move one civilian from your 0,0 and
"explore" into wilderness and mountain sectors.
Command: info commands
This command will list the various commands available in Empire.
It is a very good idea to go through the information on each command
by typing 'info '. This will help you get more acquainted
with the game. Though this guide shows many commands and how to use them,
it is no substitute for the game's help itself.
User's Guide to Empire 17
Command: designate 1,1 +
This command will enable you to designate a sector you own into
whatever you desire. Usually, in the beginning of the game you will designate
sectors that you will not be using actively for a while into highways.
The above shown example of the command will designate your 1,1 sector into
a highway.
Command: telegram
Countries in Empire communicate with each other via telegrams.
These are private letters sent just like a telegram would be. They have
a size limit, but there is usually more than enough room to say what you
want to say. There is no limit to the number of telegrams you may send.
Command: announce
Countries broadcast to the world via the command 'announce'. These
announcements are similar to telegrams except instead of one country reading
the telegram the entire world can read it.
Command: read
This command allows you to read any incoming telegrams or
announcements. Empire will notify you when you have new incoming traffic.
Command: news {x number of days}
This command will allow you to peruse the Empire newspaper. It does
not make for great reading. However, it is useful for intelligence gathering.
If you just enter 'news' as a command, it will print all the news since you
last read the news. Entering 'news 3' will give you the news for the last
three days. In big games, the news file gets quite large.
Summary: These are the basic ideas and commands of Empire. Empire has a great
many commands however, and the player should endeavor to learn them.
Empire can be played with only a few commands but the additional
commands are there for your best interests. If you do not understand
a command shown here, simply type 'info ' while in the
game itself.
User's Guide to Empire 18
Chapter 4 :-: Geography in Empire.
Maps in Empire are based on a simple hex design. For example:
---------------------------------- There are three basic sector types in
Empire (note: "type" is different than
/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ "designation". Designation refers to what
/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ that sector has on it, a factory or school
-4 | . | ^ | - | ^ | . | for example. Type refers to what it is
\ / \ / \ / \ / \ / built on). There are:
\ / \ / \ / \ / \ / seas : .
-3 | - | - | . | . | mountains : ^
/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ wilderness : -
/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ When using the Empire map, you use an "X,Y"
-2 | . | - | - | - | . | system. The X coordinate refers to how far
\ / \ / \ / \ / \ / along the horizontal you are, the Y referring
\ / \ / \ / \ / \ / to the vertical. Thus, there are seas on
-1 | - | - | . | . | example map at 5,-1 7,-1 0,-2 8,-2
/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ 5,-3 7,-3 0,-4 and 8,-4. Negative X is
/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ to the left (to the East) of 0,0 just as
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 in your high school math courses. However,
negative Y is above (to the North of) 0,0.
Figure 3 This is different from high school math.
Example of an Empire map Why the maps have coordinates in this way
is one of the great mysteries of Empire.
----------------------------------
Figure 4 below is a real map of Empire, in its real size and form.
Figure 3 is "zoomed in". Note that the '?' marks on the right part of
the map belong to a neighboring country. In this figure all wilderness
type sectors have been designated into something other than a
wilderness There are several mountains, and a lot of ocean visible as
well.
User's Guide to Empire 19
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[309:112] Command : map #1
33333322222222221111111111---------00000000001111111111222222
5432109876543210987654321098765432101234567890123456789012345
-3 + + + + + . . . . . . . . + . . . . . . . -3
-2 a ^ + m ^ + . . . . o . + . . . . . . . . -2
-1 + + + + + + + + . . . a o a . + + + . . . . -1
0 + + + + + + + g o o o + + + . + o c m . . . 0
1 + + ^ o + a j m g w g ^ ^ m + j j + . + . . . 1
2 + + a + + + + + + + + . b j + m + w + . . . . . . 2
3 + a . a a + b + m o j + t + + + + + + . + . + + + . . ? ? ? 3
4 . . . . . a g + ^ + m + + l ^ ^ ^ + o + + + + + + + + ? + ? 4
5 + . . + + + + + ^ + ^ m + j ^ ^ c + m + + + + + + + ^ + + + ^ 5
6 . . . + + ^ + + + + m + + o o + k + + + + + + ^ ^ + + + + 6
7 . + + + + + + + + o m + a o + e + + + ^ ^ a + + + + + ? 7
8 . + + + + a + ^ + g d m + w m + m + + + + + ^ + + + + ? 8
9 . + + + + + + + + + + + k + g t + + + + + + + + ? ? ? ? 9
10 . . + + + + ^ + ^ ^ g + + + p g + i g + + + + ? 10
11 . + + + + + ^ + + + ^ + + m + g o + g + + + + + ? ? ? ? 11
12 . + + + + + + + + + + + g g + + + + g + + + + + + + + ? 12
13 . + + + + + + + + + + + + + g + g m + w + + + + + + + + ? 13
14 . . . + + + + + + + + + + + g + + m + + + + + + + + + + 14
15 . + + + + + + a + + + + + + + + m + + + + + + + a + + + + 15
33333322222222221111111111---------00000000001111111111222222
5432109876543210987654321098765432101234567890123456789012345
Figure 4
Realistic version of an Empire map
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following listing is taken directly from the command
'info sector-types' in the game. There is a lengthy description of
each sector type also in this command, but I have omitted it here
for brevity.
User's Guide to Empire 20
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BASICS INDUSTRIES MILITARY / SCIENTIFIC
. sea d defense plant t technical center
^ mountain i shell industry f fortress
s sanctuary m mine r research lab
/ wasteland g gold mine n nuclear plant
- wilderness h harbor l library/school
c capital w warehouse e enlistment center
p park u uranium mine
COMMUNICATIONS * airfield FINANCIAL
+ highway a agribusiness b bank
) radar installation o oil field
j light manufacturing
# bridge head k heavy manufacturing
= bridge span % refinery
Figure 5
Table of sector types and designations
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you can see, there are a wide variety of sector types in Empire.
However, until your country becomes populated the most useful sector
is the highway ('+'), for it allows you to move things around easier,
even if the highway has only begun being constructed
(ie, 0% efficient).
Summary: Empire maps are based on a simple hex design, with the movement
keys based similarly around the letter h on standard keyboards.
These movement keys are a basic tool in Empire and must be learned.
User's Guide to Empire 21
Chapter 5 :-: The beginning phases of Empire.
Typically a game starts with a `speed' phase. If it does not, then
initial play can get boring quickly. A `speed' opening also demands
more time for the period when the updates are frequent, but hopefully,
that will be balanced by your efficient country and the less time
spent running it when your classes/real life demand more time.
There are several opening strategies for Empire players. I am going
to go through a few of them here. If you feel you can make a better
strategy feel free to do so.
Basically, all strategies for the opening phases revolve around a
few basic ideas. First, you want to secure as much land for yourself
as possible. Secondly, if you share an island with some other person,
you want to leave yourself in a strategically advantageous position
against your opponent, optimally to surround him/her before s/he breaks
sanctuary. These two ideas are the most important things to consider
prior to the first update. There are other things to consider, which
will be reviewed later.
It is highly important for you, the player, to begin playing the game
as soon as the game begins. If you do not, you risk being surrounded
before the first update. Furthermore, not breaking sanctuary prior to
the first update can cost you a great deal in terms of population
growth and the establishment of your economy.
Some players will use tools, which are reviewed in chapter 14, to
break sanctuary and occupy land from the beginning. There are other
means to aid your land occupation as well. If you have a programmable
terminal, or terminal program, you can program a key to contain a
particular command such as "explore civ 0,0 1 jjjujuuu". This could
be a path along a line of land that you have already occupied, and
wish to expand beyond. If you had to repeatedly type in that command
and path you would take a much greater amount of time to occupy land.
This can also be done through X windows, using the mouse and cut/paste
capabilities.
There are a few different theories on how to explore out from your
sanctuaries to claim as much land as possible for yourself.
In the following maps, the square island shown is entirely wilderness
except for the two sanctuaries in the middle. It is important to note
that prior to exploring the entire island, the only thing you would
be able to see on your map would be this:
User's Guide to Empire 22
- - - - -
- - - - - -
- - - - - - -
- - - s s - - -
- - - - - - -
- - - - - -
- - - - -
It is your job to explore the island, while occupying, or securing for
yourself, as much land as possible. Note that for the sake of
simplicity I have not placed another country on this example island.
If a sector is a "+","c", or "s" it is an occupied (by you) sector.
If it's a "-" it's a wilderness sector, and if you can move into it,
it is unoccupied. This is an important piece of information. If you
can note move into a wilderness sector it means that it is occupied by
another country. Note that "." are seas, as indicated in chapter 5.
The basic commands to complete this exploration are 'explore' and
'designate'. Learn about those commands either from chapter 4 or
the game before attempting these theories.
First, I show the entire island prior to your breaking sanctuary and
exploring:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - - - - - s s - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Figure 6
Unexplored island prior to breaking sanctuary
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next, I show theory 1, occupying in a concentric circle.
Note that once you have broken sanctuary (using the 'break'
command) that your two sanctuary sectors immediately become
capitals, with your real capital at 0,0.
User's Guide to Empire 23
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - + + + + + c c + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Figure 7
Island showing exploration using theory 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So far, 84 sectors have been occupied. Now I show theory 2,
occupying in spokes with concentric hexes spaced every few sectors
apart:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. - - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - + + - - - - - + + - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - + - + - - - - + - + - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - + - - + + + + + - - + - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - + - - + + - - + + - - + - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - + - - + - + + + - + - - + - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - + + + + + + c c + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - + - - + - + + + - + - - + - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - + - - + + - - + + - - + - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - + - - + + + + + - - + - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - + - + - - - - + - + - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - + + - - - - - + + - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Figure 8
Island showing exploration using theory 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
User's Guide to Empire 24
Now, 84 sectors have once again been occupied. However, an additional
56 sectors are now within the borders of your country. Thus, securing
a total of 140 sectors for yourself. The disadvantage? You have three
lines of occupation ( the "+" sectors) between the center of your
country and unsecured wilderness. In theory 1, the same number of
sectors provides for 4 lines for most of the country. Another
disadvantage is that it costs more mobility to use theory 2. The more
lines of occupation you have between the central areas of your
country and the unexplored wilderness or an enemy the easier it is
to defend your country.
A third theory is the idea of coastal occupation as a means of securing
a large island. The idea being to secure the land immediately around
you and then explore in one direction until you find seas, and then
proceed to occupy the coast:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. + + + + + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. + - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. + - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. + - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. + - - - - - - - - - - - + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. + - - - - - - - - - - + + + + + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
. + - - - - - - - - - - + + c c + + + + + + + - - - - - - - - .
. + - - - - - - - - - - + + + + + - - - - - + - - - - - - - - .
. + - - - - - - - - - - - + + + + - - - - - - + - - - - - - - .
. + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - .
. + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - .
. + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - .
. + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - .
. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + - - - - - .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Figure 9
Island showing exploration using theory 3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here, once again, 84 sectors have been occupied. In addition, 179
sectors of wilderness have been secured, ie cut off from another
country. This brings a total of 263 sectors occupied or secured.
This is obviously impressive. However, it has its drawbacks as well.
If there was a country bordering this country, that country would
need only to attack and occupy one of your sectors and then they
could explore into all of the "secured" sectors. In addition, there
are only 2-3 lines of occupied sectors between the borders and the
center of the country. This also costs more in terms of mobility than
either theory 1 or 2.
The next section contains a strategy submitted by Scott Yelich. Scott
adheres in this summary to theory 1 as his method of exploration:
User's Guide to Empire 25
"Designate one of the two initial [sanctuary] capital sectors to
an agricultural center. Then move a civ out from either sector to
either 1,-1 or 1,1 and designate it a +. Then, I continue to move out
one civilian at a time from both of my initial sectors. Only move
the civ one spot into the wilderness and then I designate that sector
as a highway (+). Then, do a map to see if there is anything
especially interesting... such as, a mountain, more land or ANOTHER
PLAYER. Of course, Only do that map at certain times... it's not
necessary to do a map after EVERY explore since explore will show you
a one sector radius!
[Editor's note: exploring with one civilian across a wilderness sector
takes .8 mobility. Across a highway, even a 0% highway, it will cost
only .2 mobility. Thus, the reason for designating new land as soon
as you occupy it. You will conserve mobility if you only explore into
lands bordering your new highways.]
"Here is where quick action comes into play. If you spot any controlled
sectors (?) or a (-) that can't be entered (if you can note move into the
sector it is occupied by someone else! hurry!), try to make a boarder as
quick as possible by following the pattern above... move one civ, look,
repeat. If you don't find any controlled sectors, simply [try] to
AVOID MOUNTAINS at ALL costs... especially during the first couple of
updates. Typically, from 30 to 70 sectors can be grabbed this way
within the first minute or two.
"To sum up, the strategy for this is: 1) You want to see who is out there,
2) You want to see what land is out there, 3) when you take more sectors
during the initial updates, you will get more mobility each update
(typically 8, 'version' will tell...). Anyway, the more sectors you grab
with the first update, the more you can grab the second. It's like an
exponential function."
This next section is a strategy submitted by Geoff Cashman. Geoff
adheres in this summary to theory 2 as his method for exploration:
"The basic strategy of moving one sector into the wilderness and then
designate them with a command such as this: designate #1 ?des=- + which will
designate all sectors in realm #1 that are wilderness into highways, is a
common one. Using it wisely is not always done. My personal method is to
expand only in a few directions, ie 3-6 different directions from your 0,0 2,0
area. The idea here being to make "spokes" of exploration radiating out from
your 0,0 and 2,0 area. Using this method, you can use less mobility and see
more land though not actually own more land until after the first update.
Another advantage is you might reach an opponent before s/he reaches you. A
weakness is that an opponent can explore inbetween your spokes. If I feel
this is possible inbetween two spokes then I connect the spokes via concentric
(on 2,0 0,0 ) arc several sectors out from the 0,0. If you do not use this
method, then you would use up all of your mobility to achieve the same number
of sectors by the second update.
User's Guide to Empire 26
"Why save mobility? Mobility in the 0,0 sector is especially critical.
The reason is because the 0,0 starts out with 999 civs. If a sector has
999 or more civs it will not give birth to more civilians. Half of the
battle in winning Empire is population explosion at the beginning of the
game...ESPECIALLY if you get involved in a low tech war with a neighbor
early on. More population means more resources mined, more supportable
military, and more taxpayers. If you are going to be a tech producer then
it may be desirable to limit population, but early on I do not recommend
it. So, with 999 civs in your 0,0 sector you need to be able to move out
many civs (depends on the number of ETUs per update (see the version command)
as to how many you should move out, see number of births per 1,000 civs per
etu in the version command). Thus, my strategy is slightly different.
I concentrate on getting a 100% highway built at 1,-1 or 1,1. Why those
sectors? because I can then use the mobility in 1,-1 or 1,1 to move civs
or products into 2,0."
The use of the third theory requires a player with some experience
to deal with its shortcomings. For the beginner, I do not recommend
it.
The following was submitted by another player to point out their means
of establishing their production and the beginning stages of their
economy:
"Setting up a distribution network, even with inefficient warehouses, is
fairly critical early on. If you starve civilians in the beginning of the
game, you will fall behind in production. It is not uncommon to lose
contact with the game for a day or more due to net failures. Do not
depend on your capability to connect to the game to feed your civilians.
"Some people never leave their 0,0 or 2,0 designated as a capital during the
beginning of the game. They check the resources in 0,0 and then determine if
it's suitable for being a mine or a gold mine. If neither, then they designate
2,0 into a mine. If mine, then 2,0 becomes a gold mine. Using this method
they can get maximum production from their civilians that are essentially
trapped for the time being in their 0,0 and 2,0 sectors due to lack of
mobility. Note that in doing this that you must conserve BTUs. Having
a 0% efficient capital somewhere else will cause a lack of production of
BTUs. You must be careful not to run out of BTUs completely, or it could
cause you a great deal of grief.
"NOTE: IT IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TO LEAVE A CAPITAL ON THE COAST AFTER
ANYONE PRODUCES A BOAT. Until that time, a capital on the coast is
an advantage in some ways. It is easier to defend (less places that
it can be attacked from). You MUST get some civilians into the capital
at -2,0 (about 50) before the first update along with some food.
In general, your capital will not produce BTUs for a while, but neither
do you need them for a while. However, leave your 0,0 sector as your
capital until JUST prior (like 2-4 minutes, make it 10 to be safe) to
the update. Does this all sound complicated? Yep. But it works.
User's Guide to Empire 27
"After the first or second update I will occupy the remaining wilderness
that I can see, using the mobility from the sectors that I explored into
in the previous update. I will then continue to move civs out of 0,0 and
into 1,-1 or 1,1 (the highway that I am trying to make 100%) and move from
there. If I am not going for tech production then I don't need the library
or parks (you can still make education, it helps in some regards, but for
the most part you don't need it if you are not going the way of tech.
You can then pretty much do as you please and work towards the goals you
think are reasonable for your country. "
One matter that can not be overlooked by any player is the simple
fact that people need food to survive. If a sector has less than
60 people in it total, including civs, soldiers, and uws, then it
will not starve. But if after the update it has more than 60 total
people will starve. Make sure to feed your people!
Ultimately, you want to take over every sector on your island.
If you have neighbors on your island, you will probably have to share.
Just try to get a bigger portion of it than your neighbors do.
Summary: There are several basic ideas expressed in this chapter:
1) Break sanctuary as soon as the game begins.
2) Secure as much land for yourself as possible.
3) Use your civilians efficiently.
4) Do not allow your 0,0 sector to have a lot of civs in it.
5) Get a distribution system set up early (explained later).
User's Guide to Empire 28
Chapter 6 :-: Diplomacy.
It's your own ruin or success. One of the best players of the game
(who shall go un-named) has had severe problems due to lack of skill
in diplomacy. Remember, there is another person on the other end of
that telegram. They are human like you are, and like to be treated
like it for the most part. There are jerks, and there are non-jerks.
Determine for yourself and go along with what you think is best, but
remember, it is ok to lose a few battles so long as you win the war.
A diplomatic loss can be an overall victory.
One of the most powerful weapons in the game is information.
What types of information can you use to your benefit? Information on;
the locality of other countries, the plans of opponents, the trading
going on between certain countries, etc. There is also a very powerful
tool right here in this document: how to play the game well. There
was a classic case of a country (myself) who accidentally announced
his attention to attack a bordering country. The bordering country
happened to be on, an began an attack. The attack stalemated for the
most part because of the obvious inexperience of the person running
that country. I offered information to him on how to play the game
better in exchange for his surrender and some other terms of agreement.
I turned a horrendous diplomatic mistake into a diplomatic success
within two hours. This is obviously the rare case (surprised me too),
but is a good example of the power of information.
Another aspect of diplomacy is style. You project a style in your
telegrams and announcements whether it is intentional or not. If
people like you they tend to side with you more than the next guy.
Of course, if you are a jerk but a powerful one people tend to
reluctantly side with you. Then again, they are more likely to
backstab you.
While I am on that subject: Backstabbing is a bad idea in general.
It leads to distrust of many players with regards to yourself and tends
to give yourself backstabbist's wrist if you do it too much. Even if
you change your country name from game to game people tend to pick
out who the major jerks are and their previous names or even net
addresses. Trust is important. If you have allies you can trust
implicitly you will sleep a lot better at night and also have people
who you can trust to run your country for you while you are away for a
few days pursuing real world goals. If you are going to backstab
someone crush them while you can and make sure their allies can not
get at you. Furthermore, make the world see that the person was a
fool for trusting you in the first place (like, due to previous war
or some such). Sometimes, that extra attack you get without
interference from automatic defenses due to a declaration of alliance
with your opponent can be critical. You can also map an opponent
country if you are allied with them and they will never know it.
Thus another good reason why you should be trustable and can trust
other close allies. Having allies is important, especially
in the current market games.
User's Guide to Empire 29
A) What is diplomacy?
The dictionary defines diplomacy as "1: The art and practice of
conducting negotiations between nations. 2: Skill in handling
affairs without arousing hostility." The second definition may
not be entirely accurate in that in Empire, diplomacy can sometimes
be used to cause battles, rather than avoid them, to gain a particular
end. I will go into this later.
B) What purpose, diplomacy?
Since Empire is a multi-user game the diplomacy side of the game
is one of the main factors inherent to its playing. Being able
to interact with other players, make bargains, treaties, alliances,
sales, war, etc. leads to an incredibly variety of possible
scenarios among various countries. In asking, what purpose is
there to diplomacy, it must first be realized that diplomacy in
the game of Empire is virtually unavoidable. To what degree
you involve yourself in diplomacy is the true measure.
Diplomacy can be utterly disastrous for you. It can also be
very beneficial. It can also be a mediocre tool that goes mostly
unused. If you master the techniques of diplomacy you will find
yourself with a very valuable and powerful tool. If you fail
at grasping the basic concepts of diplomacy, then you may find
yourself the quick victim of a diplomatic trick.
C) General types of relations amongst nations in Empire
1) No contact. The two countries have never been in contact.
2) Allies. Several types:
a) Old friends, or local site friends.
b) People whom you trust more than other people
in the game, but are not entirely comfortable with.
Nevertheless, you ally with them for lack of allies.
c) Enemy allies. People whom you ally with whom you
intend to attack.
d) Undeclared allies. You conduct a lot of business with
the country, but you do not officially declare your
alliance.
3) Hostile. Generally speaking, any country who is unfriendly
towards you. May not necessarily be declared hostile.
4) At war. If you have not figured out what this means, stop
reading, never play Empire, and go back to elementary school :-)
5) Neutral. The broadest category. You've dealt with this person
but have not decided one way or another your relations. It might
be a person from a previous game or a total unknown.
d) Types of diplomacy
1) Active diplomacy
You interact with the country on a very high level. Whatever
their relations with you, a lot of correspondence is going on.
This is probably the easiest form of diplomacy to invoke.
2) Passive diplomacy
Low level contact only. In essence, you do not work with
this country. Some goals served by this: Country in question
User's Guide to Empire 30
learns little about you; Country in question may give you more
info than you give him or her; etc..
3) Indirect diplomacy
Diplomacy through a middle country to another country. This
is most often seen in situations where a known friend is an
ally of a country you want to be allied with. You attempt
to use your friend to convince the prospective ally to ally
with you.
4) Median diplomacy
Being the middle person in a triad or more of allies that
may not be already allied. This can be a VERY dangerous
position to be in. The other sides of the triad or more
may have certain expectations of you, which go against what
another country may want from you. This is essentially
sitting on a fence.
E) Some goals that can be achieved through diplomacy:
1) Getting another country to ally with you so that you can
overfly his country at will without planes scrambling.
2) Getting two countries whom you dislike to go to war against
each other.
3) Getting another country to perform an act that is beneficial
to you or your allies.
4) Getting a reduction in price of certain commodities or articles
from another country.
5) Gaining an ally.
6) Assisting in destroying an enemy.
One of the most dangerous means by which diplomacy can be used was
written about in the book "Red Storm Rising" by Tom Clancy. If you
have not already read this book and you are an Empire buff, it is
strongly recommended reading. This method is referred to as "The
Maskirovka" or "Masquerade". It is often referred to as the "big lie"
by the victims of this trick. Essentially it works as follows:
a) You wish to attack another country, but would like to have things
sightly different before the attack begins.
o You may want that person to be your ally before the attack
so you can overfly him/her without being shot down.
o You might want to get him/her to give you a loan prior to
your attack.
o You might want them to move their fleet off in another
direction or in closer to your forts.
o You might want them to give you certain materials of war
that you can use in your attack against them.
All of these things and much more can be accomplished with
the concept of maskirovka. Decide what you want to achieve.
b) You set out to give the impression to the target country that you
are in a particular state of matters. This can be accomplished
in various ways depending on what you are trying to achieve.
You can have another country attack you for instance to make it
User's Guide to Empire 31
appear that you need military arms or supplies to hold them off.
This is one small example of what can be done. Ensure that the
image you are presenting can ultimately lead to getting what you
want to achieve accomplished.
c) You must be convincing in your impression. Use all means reasonable
to ensure the target country is getting the right image. Using
e-mail with collaborating countries to coordinate such matters
is often best.
d) As you begin feeling that you have achieved the correct image,
begin asking the target country for whatever it is you are trying
to achieve. Do not come right out and say it. That may cause
the whole trick to collapse on you. Approach it sideways so to
speak, and try to get the target country to offer whatever it is
without you directly asking for it.
e) If the country agrees to the transaction of events you are seeking,
all is well and good. You have achieved your goal. Keep in mind
that if you have played the maskirovka well, you have not yet
committed yourself in any particular direction with any sense of
strong commitment. At this point, you can always back down from
your further goals for which the maskirovka was designed to help.
The maskirovka at this point will have given you a more favorable
situation without having committed yourself. It may also have
enabled you to see more into the mind of your opponent, often
a valuable commodity.
f) If you have failed in your maskirovka, you may still have made
some gains. You again might know more about your opponent than
before. You might have reached some of your goals that the
maskirovka set out to accomplish. Lastly, you have not committed
yourself in any particular direction, yet you have tried to
enhance your position. Not a bad proposition.
There are many variations to maskirovkas. The guides listed above are
very general at best, and are meant more to give you an idea of how to
build a plan for maskirovka than anything else.
Chess players who have ever played in matches or tournaments will
probably feel right at home in scheming a maskirovka. You must try to
get into the mind of your opponent, understand what s/he sees from
his/her vantage point and get a feel for how you think s/he will
respond. You must think as if you were your opponent. Understand
their vantage point as best as you can. Do not think of what you
would do in a given situation, think what they would do. Think
consequences to every action you can take.
This usage of diplomacy is "active diplomacy", sometimes mixed with
"indirect diplomacy".
Another oft seen ploy of sorts is one in which you befriend a dying
rich country. They may be on there way out, and there may not be a
whole hell of a lot you can do for them. However, befriending them
towards the end may bring you gifts of money or lower market prices
from them when they dissolve. Show sympathy for their situation.
You can be sincere, or you may chose not to be. Sometimes a dying
User's Guide to Empire 32
country has no friends to whom they will leave their money. If your
the first to show sympathy, they may be willing to give you much in
return. This is an active form of diplomacy, but is rarely seen
except after a long period of passiveness relative to that country.
Posturing. Probably the most common form of diplomacy. This basically
means presenting an image to a possible attacker that you are more
capable than you appear. In general, people tend to believe it.
Consider the simple fact that generally speaking a good Empire player
spends a lot of time working on his or her country. Then, let them
believe through posturing that they are at a greater risk than
they actually are. They may tend to get possessive about their
country and not want to risk its destruction and the eventual loss
of so many sleepless nights and hours building the country in the
first place.
Summary: Diplomacy is a powerful tool. Some players consider it the
most powerful aspect of the game. In many ways that can be shown
to be true. However, do not let other facets of your country
decline and spend a huge amount of time building an excellent
diplomatic situation. The success or failure of diplomacy depends a
great deal on the other players perception of your words. If your
diplomacy fails, you may find that you will be forced to back up what
you say with military force.
User's Guide to Empire 33
Chapter 7 :-: Setting up your defenses.
There are various means of "automatic" defense that Empire employs
against enemy invaders. These can be outlined in three major areas:
1: Home air defenses
Empire has numerous planes and plane capabilities. The higher
your tech level, the better the planes you can build. For
automatic defenses you are concerned with planes that have the
"intercept" capability listed next to them in the command,
'show planes c'.
Generally speaking, as some games diverge from this list, the
planes that have intercept capability are:
a: Fighter 1 (also has VTOL capability)
b: Fighter 2
c: Escort 2 (in SOME games)
d: Jet fighter
e: Jet fighter 2 (also has VTOL capability)
These planes are based out of airbases (except for the VTOL
planes which can scramble from airbases and non-airbase
sectors) and will automatically intercept incoming enemy
planes.
notes: 1: Planes will only scramble if there is petrol in
the sector they are scrambling from.
2: Airbases must be at 60% or better efficiency to
scramble. This does not apply to other sectors
from which VTOL planes are scrambling, nor does it
apply to VTOL planes in airports.
In this version of Empire it is VERY important to have a good
home air defense network. Having a great many planes with
intercept capability without proper planning is not a good
defense. You must learn to use the planes wisely.
Hints for good home air defense:
1: Have airports within intercept range of each other.
A plane's intercept range is 1/2 of its range indicated
in the command 'show planes c'. For example:
User's Guide to Empire 34
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[513:36] Command : show planes c
acc load att def ran fuel abilities
Sopwith Camel, fight 30 1 3 2 6 1 tactical intercept VTOL light
TBD-1 Devastator, lt 30 2 1 2 8 1 bomber tactical VTOL light
C-56 Lodestar, trans 0 7 0 1 15 2 cargo
B-26B Marauder, hvy 85 6 2 3 15 2 bomber
Figure 10
Results from 'show planes capability'
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In this list of planes, only the Sopwith Camel plane is
capable of interception. It has a range of 6, and thus
it can intercept enemy planes up to 3 sectors away from
the sector it is based in. Have your planes based in
sectors that are three sectors away from each other.
2: Always have a substantial number of military in your
airports. It is all too easy for an enemy to track
down your airport and capture it, thus possibly destroying
all your planes, and in the very least taking them
from you.
3: Ensure that all sectors that you have planes based in
have a sufficient amount of petrol for them. Note that in
the above figure, the Sopwith Camel uses 1 fuel per
mission. Thus, having 10 or more petrol per Sopwith
would be sufficient.
4: Do not base your entire defense on non-VTOL capable
interceptors. If you do, then your enemy can remove
your air defenses just by taking out your airports.
Sopwith Camels (Fighter 1s) and Jet Fighter 2s are
the VTOL intercept capable planes. Sopwith Camels
generally become useless for intercept duty as the
game wears on. After all, a paper airplane can not
put up with cannon fire from an F-15 for very long!
5: It is a good idea to have each sector in your country
covered by at least two airbases (or non airbases from
which your are basing VTOL planes). This makes it more
difficult for your enemy to locate where your airbases are.
2: Forts and guns
Forts will automatically fire on any enemy army units that
attack land of the defending nation, assuming that the guns
in the fort have the range to reach the aggressor. This
also assumes that the fort has shells and military.
Fort gun range is determined by multiplying the number of guns
in the fort by the technology factor of the nation. This
number can be found in the nation report [see command: nation].
User's Guide to Empire 35
Here's an example of calculating your gun range:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[77:144] Command : nation
Terminus Nation Report Sun Oct 20 18:27:08 1991
Nation status is ACTIVE Bureaucratic Time Units: 144
100% eff capital at -3,5 has 999 civilians & 0 military
# 0 -70:-40,-30:-16 # 1 -35:25,-3:15 # 2 -30:15,-4:7
# 3 -45:5,7:22 # 4 -45:5,7:17 # 5 -65:-20,-31:0
# 6 -65:-20,-12:0 # 7 -80:-30,-5:10 # 8 -8:10,-5:5
# 9 -32:32,11:22 #10 -50:18,-12:10 #11 -40:-10,-5:5
#12 -38:29,-3:23 #13 -65:30,-18:6 #14 -20:20,16:22
#15 -30:30,-3:23 #16 -40:20,7:25 #17 -80:30,-30:23
The treasury has $57485.00 Military reserves: 1676
Education.......... 17.78 Happiness....... 13.42
Technology......... 52.78 Research........ 1.44
Technology factor : 40.66% Plague factor : 1.51%
Figure 11
Results from a 'nation' report
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To calculate the gun range, multiply the number of guns in
the fort (up to a maximum of seven) by the number listed in
"Technology factor" which is shown in this figure as 40.66.
Then, divide the resulting number by one hundred and that
is the number of sectors away the gun can fire at. In this
case, if you have seven guns the resulting range is 2.85
sectors. Effectively, the fort can fire just short of three
sectors away.
There is an additional aspect of forts which make them
useful as defensive sectors. Military forces inside of
a fort have four times the defensive factor of military in
most other sectors. Ie, 100 soldiers in a fort is equal to
400 regular troops if they are defending the fort.
Also note that forts can not be taken by paratroops dropped
from planes. They can only be taken via amphibious assault
and overland attack.
Forts are generally useful along your border sectors early
in the game and later on in the game throughout your country.
Ensure that they each have sufficient (seven or more) guns
and shells each, when you are able to devote that many guns
and shells to them. Forts are sometimes very critical when
your country is being over run.
User's Guide to Empire 36
3: Naval support
Your navy will defend itself if it has the capability to do
so. Ships do not automatically come with guns when they are
built; they must be provided with guns and shells by loading
them onto the respective ship. Most ships have the capability
to fire guns. Should a ship of your nation be attacked, it
will defend itself if it can. In addition, ships within range
will also retaliate. Note that submarines will *not* fire
no matter how often they are fired at.
Ships will not defend your land sectors.
If ships are attacked from the air, they will fire their
anti-aircraft guns (which are the same as your regular guns,
and again are not automatically installed upon their
construction). Anti-aircraft guns on ships are pretty much
worthless on defense. Additionally, if enemy planes fly
over your ships but do not attack those ships, your ships
will not fire on them. Thus having a line of ships as
radar pickets will not work.
In addition to these three major modes of automatic defense, there
are a few more minor ones.
Any gun in any sector of yours that is overflown by enemy planes
will fire on those planes if it has shells, guns, and military
available.
Military in any sector of yours that is attacked will automatically
fight back to the best of its ability. There is no such thing as
retreat in automatic military fighting. In addition, there are three
sect