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V2.0 by Chris Gray Empire Players Manual V2.1w by David Wright
Empire 2.1w
Manual ver 2.0w
Just a quick word of thanks to Chris Gray for his
continuing efforts in producing excellent public domain
software for the Amiga. His newest version of the Draco
compiler is one of the best software development systems I
have seen on any computer at any price.
If you have been looking for a compiled language for
your Amiga, but can't afford to spend $200 for a C
compiler, you should consider using the Draco compiler and
sending Chris a donation so that he can continue to
produce excellent software for the Amiga. Don't let anyone
tell you you have to buy a compiler to be able to use all
the Amiga functions. Empire uses just about every unique
feature of the Amiga, message ports, multitasking modules,
shared libraries, etc. And produces object modules that
can be linked with "standard" C or assembly hunks.
David Wright
About this version of Empire
Almost half of the changes I made to bring 1.0 up to 2.1w came
from users and players of Empire. If you have any suggestions, bug
reports, or criticisms of either Empire or the manual, please write
to me at the address below:
David Wright
4262 Bennington
Brunswick, OH
44212
What is Empire?
Empire is a rich simulation of international politics, economics
and war, which is played over a period of a few of months by 2 or
more people. The Empire world is made of a toroidal grid of sectors
consisting of wilderness, mountains and water. Players govern
countries, which start out as a pair of adjacent sectors and soon
spread into large areas requiring much management and protection.
Various sector types can be created to build ships, bridges, guns,
shells, airplanes, and research labs that make medical and
technological breakthroughs. Others are things like radar stations,
weather stations, fortresses, highways, warehouses, etc. A typical
Empire game is only over when just one country or alliance remains.
A special country, the Deity, is available, which has godlike powers
to modify sectors, ships, etc. The Deity has the responsibility of
fixing up any problems which occur.
Page 1
V2.0 by Chris Gray Empire Players Manual V2.1w by David Wright
How to Connect to Empire
Players can run their countries from the normal Amiga keyboard,
or can connect via a modem at 300 to 2400 baud. Either 8 bits no
parity or 7 bits even parity is accepted. Hit a few RETURNs to get
your parity recognized and to start things up.
Getting Started
When a country first starts out, it will have 2 adjacent sectors,
both designated as sanctuaries. Sanctuaries cannot be attacked or
fired upon by other countries, so the late starter is protected from
aggressive neighbors. Each sanctuary will have 64 civilians, 64
military, 64 tons of ore, 100 mobility units, and will be 100
percent efficient. The first command will usually be
map # (The map command will be discussed later)
to produce a small map of the sectors around your sanctuaries. Next
will come 'move' commands to move civilians and/or military into the
neighboring sectors to claim them. As soon as you move people out of
the sanctuary sectors, the sectors will be designated as capitals.
Census commands will then show the mineral and gold deposits in the
land sectors; additional map and move commands will explore and
claim more territory. Once you own a sector it can be designated as
a bank, harbor, mine, gold mine, etc. This first phase of the game
is one of exploration, development, and setting up management
(delivery routes). Soon, however, two countries will meet, and the
possibility of conflict will arise. (It must, or there would be no
point in playing the game!)
Concepts
An efficient government (I haven't seen one of those for a long
time!) doesn't waste time or effort. To encourage this, Empire has
the concept of Bureaucracy Time Units (BTU's) which are required to
execute many commands. While the game is waiting for a command the
game prompt consists of '[', followed by the number of remaining
BTUs, a ':', the number of remaining minutes of time for the day,
']' and the prompt "Command:" ([96:45] Command:). As you play, keep
an eye on the two numbers, and make sure you get the important
things done. BTUs are created by your active capital in accordance
with the number of civilians there and the efficiency of the
capital. Connect time is reset at midnight.
Money is needed to build ships and bridge spans, for upkeep of
various types of sectors, for military payroll, etc. It can be
earned as interest on gold bars at banks, by contracting production
of appropriate sectors (Not all types of sectors can be contracted),
selling goods or making loans to other countries.
Technology level controls your technology factor, which
influences the range of guns, airplanes, ships, etc. Technology
level is increased by the efforts of technology center sectors.
Research level, in combination with technology level, affects
your likelihood of catching the plague. Research level is increased
Page 2
V2.0 by Chris Gray Empire Players Manual V2.1w by David Wright
by the efforts of research institute sectors.
Both technology and research levels go up 1 for every 25 units of
production available. They also decay away at the rate of 1% per
day.
Sector Types
Following is a list of the possible sector types:
. - sea
Ships can sail here, other land-based operations can't
happen. You can't own or designate more of them.
^ - mountain
These are land sectors, but you can't designate them into
anything. Because they are equivalent to forests they cost a
LOT of mobility to move onto.
- - wilderness
Most of the usable world starts out this way. They are the
default type of land sector. They cost more to move onto than a
developed sector.
s - sanctuary
You start with 2 of these. They cannot be attacked and you
can't designate more of them.
c - capital
Your active capital is the center of your coordinate
system, and supplies you with BTUs. Defends itself harder than
most sectors and it can do anti-aircraft fire.
u - urban area
With Ore yields increased civilians, which are bundled in
units of 10.
d - defense plant
With Ore yields production which is converted to guns.
i - shell industry
With Ore yields production which is converted to shells.
m - mine
Over time yields production in relation to the ore level of
the sector, which is converted to ore.
g - gold mine
Gold deposits are removed to yield production which is
converted to gold bars.
h - harbor
With Ore yields production which can be used to build ships
(via build command).
w - warehouse
Stores ore, shells and guns in bundles of 10.
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V2.0 by Chris Gray Empire Players Manual V2.1w by David Wright
* - airfield
With Ore yields production which is converted to airplanes.
It can do anti-aircraft fire and is the only sector type
airplanes may take off from.
t - technology center
With Ore yields production which can result in
technological breakthroughs.
f - fortress
It can fire guns and defend other sectors. It fights harder
and can do anti-aircraft fire.
r - research lab
With Ore yields production which can result in medical
breakthroughs.
+ - highway
A 100% highway costs nothing to move onto. Other countries
can use highways too, unless they are checkpointed.
) - radar station
It can see ships at sea and into other sectors near it.
! - weather station
It is used to map and predict weather near it.
# - bridge head
With Ore yields production which can be used to build
bridge spans in orthogonal directions (via build command).
= - bridge spans
Allows you to move goods like a highway, but extends over
water.
b - bank
Allows you to collect interest on gold bars, which are
stored in units of 4. Defends itself harder, and can do
anti-aircraft fire.
a - army boot camp
Will convert civilians into military automatically. You
must have at least 30 civilians in the sector. It will enlist
military in classes of up to 100, and stores all military and
civilians in units of 10.
x - exchange
Holds goods for sale in international trade. Prices of
goods in the sector are set with the price command.
You can type HELP <sector type name> for more info on each sector
type. Ex: help bank
Page 4
V2.0 by Chris Gray Empire Players Manual V2.1w by David Wright
Ships
Each player can have many ships or fleets. Both are moved via the
navigate command. Ships are built via the build command. You must
have a harbor with sufficient production units to build a ship.
Ship Types
type name cost sp vis rng civ mil sh gun plns ore bars vrng
------------------------------------------------------------------
p PT boat 30 50 6 1 - 10 10 1 - - - 4
s submarine 70 25 1 2 - 25 27 2 - - - 3
b battleship 127 25 25 8 - 127 127 4 - - - 6
d destroyer 60 35 15 3 - 80 40 2 - - - 4
f freighter 80 20 20 - 127 5 127 127 5 127 127 3
m minesweeper 50 20 20 1 - 25 10 1 - - - 3
t tender 100 30 20 1 - 100 127 30 2 - - 3
c carrier 127 25 25 2 - 60 60 3 127 - - 4
cost)
number of production units needed. You also need cost * 9
dollars
sp)
speed factor
vis)
how visible the ship is to radar and lookout
rng)
twice the maximum gun firing distance
civ)
number of civilians it can carry
mil)
number of military it can carry
sh)
number of shells it can carry
gun)
number of guns it can carry/fire (tender can fire one,
freighter 0)
plns)
number of planes it can carry
ore)
number of tons of ore it can carry
bars)
number of gold bars it can carry
vrng)
how far it can see (radar and lookout) - subs are special
Submarines can launch torpedoes and have sonar to see other subs.
It takes 3 shells to fire one torpedo. Destroyers can drop mines and
depth charges and have sonar so they can see submarines.
Minesweepers remove mines when they move into a sector. Tenders can
resupply other ships at sea. Carriers are like mobile airfields.
Ships must be at least 60% efficient before they can sail. If
they drop below 20% efficient (as a result of shelling, torpedoes,
etc.) they will sink. You can type HELP <shipname> for more info on
that class of ship, or DOC SHIPS for info on ships in general.
Page 5
V2.0 by Chris Gray Empire Players Manual V2.1w by David Wright
Updating (For the Advanced Player Only)
This section is quite detailed, and is provided so that those who
want to run their country optimally can see what happens during
updates. Others (especially beginners) should just ignore this
section until they have played for a while, at which point they
should scan it to get a feel for how things happen.
The sector update algorithm is central to Empire, and is based on
steady change over periouds of time known as "Empire Time Units" or
ETUs. One ETU is normally set to 30 minutes. Following is a section
of pseudo-Draco source code for the update routine (values are
either for the sector being updated or for the owner country of the
sector; all calculations are integral):
NOTE: The Deity can change most of the magic numbers.
proc makeProduction():
q := min(work * efficiency / 100, ore);
if <sector not contracted> then /* player wants production */
if money > 0 then /* no production if player is broke */
q := min(q, 127 - production);
production := production + q;
fi;
else
q2 := q * priceInNickels / 20; /* increase money instead */
money := money + q2;
fi;
ore := ore - q;
corp;
/* in an urban center, people are lazy, so every 10 counts as 1 here */
workForce := civilians + military / 5;
if lastUpdate = 0 or lastUpdate > CurrentTime then
lastUpdate := CurrentTime;
fi;
deltaTime := CurrentTime - lastUpdate;
if deltaTime > 256 then
deltaTime := 256;
fi;
work := deltaTime * workForce;
if work >= 100 and (<I own this sector> or work > 48 * 2 * 100) then
if weather <= -9 then /* no update ^^ for 2 days */
/* hurricane */
damageSector(random(21) + 70);
elif weather <= -8 then
/* no construction happens */
else
q := 0;
if weather <= -7 then
if money > 0 then
q := min(work / 200, 100 - efficiency);
fi;
mobility := min(127, mobility + deltaTime / 2);
else
if money > 0 then
q := min(work / 100, 100 - efficiency);
fi;
mobility := min(127, mobility + deltaTime);
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V2.0 by Chris Gray Empire Players Manual V2.1w by David Wright
fi;
efficiency := efficiency + q;
money := money - q;
fi;
/* civilian growth */
q := deltaTime * civilians;
if designation = <urban area> then
q := min(127, civilians + min(q / 100, ore)) - civilians;
civilians := civilians + q;
ore := ore - q;
elif designation = <bridge span> then
civilians := civilians - q / 400; /* some drunks fell off */
elif civilians > 31 and civilians < 97 then
civilians := min(127, civilians + q / 200);
else
civilians := min(127, civilians + q / 400);
fi;
/* mobility increase */
mobility := min(127, mobility + deltaTime);
lastUpdate := lastUpdate + deltaTime; /* NOTE THIS!!! */
/* military supplies */
q := military / 32 * deltaTime / 8;
money := money - q;
if <this is owner's active capital> then
BTUs := min(96, BTUs + deltaTime * civilians * efficiency / 5000);
researchLevel := researchLevel - researchLevel * deltaTime / 4800;
techLevel := techLevel - techLevel * deltaTime / 4800;
fi;
case plaguestage:
incase 3:
/* terminal plague stage */
<kill some people off>;
<send telegram, make news>;
if plaguetime <= deltaTime then
plaguestage := 0;
else
plaguetime := plaguetime - deltaTime;
fi;
incase 2:
/* infectious stage */
if plaguetime <= deltaTime then
plaguestage := 3;
plaguetime := random(33) + 32;
else
plaguetime := plaguetime - deltaTime;
fi;
incase 1:
/* gestational stage */
if plaguetime <= deltaTime then
plaguestage := 2;
plaguetime := random(33) + 32;
<send telegram, create news>;
else
plaguetime := plaguetime - deltaTime;
fi;
incase 0:
/* not infected - see if it should become so */
plagueFactor :=
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V2.0 by Chris Gray Empire Players Manual V2.1w by David Wright
((civilians + military) / 254) *
((techLevel + ore + 100) /
(researchLevel + efficiency + mobility + 100));
if random(100) < plagueFactor then
plaguestage := 1;
plaguetime := random(33) + 32;
fi;
esac;
/* note that 'move', and deliveries will pass the plague when it is
in the infectious stage */
<do any deliveries out of this sector - special handling is done
when delivering civilians or military into a sector that hasn't
been updated for a long time>
if efficiency >= 60 then /* NOTE THIS!!! */
case designation
incase <bank>:
/* interest */
money := money + deltaTime * goldBars / 2;
incase <capital>:
incase <radar station>:
incase <weather station>:
/* utilities */
money := money - deltaTime;
incase <technology center>:
incase <research institute>:
/* utilities */
money := money - deltaTime;
if money > 0 then
q := production / 25;
production := production - q * 25;
if designation = <technology center> then
techLevel := techLevel + q;
else
researchLevel := researchLevel + q;
fi;
fi;
makeProduction();
incase <defense plant>:
if money > 0 then
q := min(production / 10, 127 - guns);
production := production - q * 10;
guns := guns + q;
fi;
makeProduction();
incase <shell industry>:
if money > 0 then
q := min(production / 2, 127 - shells);
production := production - q * 2;
shells := shells + q;
fi;
makeProduction();
incase <airfield>:
if money > 0 then
q := min(production / 25, 127 - planes);
production := production - q * 25;
planes := planes + q;
fi;
makeProduction();
Page 8
V2.0 by Chris Gray Empire Players Manual V2.1w by David Wright
incase <harbour>:
incase <bridge head>:
makeProduction();
incase <gold mine>:
q := min(production / 5, 127 - goldBars);
production := production - q * 5;
goldBars := goldBars + q;
q := min(goldSample * work * efficiency / 1000000, goldSample);
if <sector not contracted> then
if money > 0 then
q := min(q, (127 - production) / 2);
production := production + q * 2;
fi;
else
q2 := q * 2 * priceInNickels / 20;
money := money + q2;
fi;
goldSample := goldSample - q;
incase <mine>:
q := mineralSample * efficiency * work / 10000;
if <sector not contracted> then
if money > 0 then
ore := min(127, ore + q);
fi;
else
q2 := q * priceInNickels / 20;
money := money + q2;
fi;
esac;
fi;
fi;
Ship updates are much simpler:
if lastUpdate = 0 or lastUpdate > CurrentTime then
lastUpdate := CurrentTime;
fi;
deltaTime := CurrentTime - lastUpdate;
if deltaTime >= 3 then
lastUpdate := lastUpdate + deltaTime;
if weather <= -9 and shipType ~= 's' then
damageShip((random(21) + 10) * shipDamageFactor(shipType));
elif weather <= -8 and shipType ~= 's' then
/* bad weather halts construction */
else
if weather <= -7 and shipType ~= 's' then
/* bad weather delays construction */
deltaTime := deltaTime / 2;
fi;
mobility := min(127, mobility + deltaTime);
efficiency := min(100, efficiency + deltaTime);
fi;
fi;
Page 9
V2.0 by Chris Gray Empire Players Manual V2.1w by David Wright
Command Syntax
All commands will prompt for their needed arguments, so if you
are unsure of how to use a command, just enter the command with no
arguments to get prompts.
Some syntactic elements:
A value enclosed in angles means to substitute a value of that
type. A vertical bar | means you can pick one of the given options.
Values enclosed in braces {} are optional, and need not be given.
<country>
A country name (in full, case significant) or country
#. Note: if the name contains spaces, you must use the
# instead.
<sector>
A sector specified as row,column
<sectors>
A region given as:
toprow:bottomrow,leftcolumn:rightcolumn
optionally followed by '?' and a set of conditions
'and'ed together with '&'. Conditions test things in
the sector against each other or against constants.
Operators are '=', '#', '<' and '>'. A realm number (#
followed by 0 - 4, or just # for #0) can be used
instead of the row/column range. Either range can be a
single number. E.g.
census #
will do a census of realm #0, E.g.
map -5:5,-5:6
will map the region around your capital. E.g.
designate -3,1:5 f
will designate a row of 5 sectors into fortresses.
E.g.
des -10:10,12?designation=-&minerals>50&civ>99 m
will designate all wilderness in the region which have
a mineral sample larger than 50 and more than 99
civilians as a mine.
The units in a sector which can be tested are:
efficiency, mobility, defended, military, planes,
minerals, production, contracted, shells, ore, gold,
checkpoint, civilians, guns, bars, designation and
owner. The last is only useful for the Deity. As a
special case, a '/' followed by a designation code can
be used as a condition to select all sectors of that
Page 10
V2.0 by Chris Gray Empire Players Manual V2.1w by David Wright
designation. E.g.
des #2/- +
will turn all wilderness in realm 2 into highways.
<ship>
The number of a ship
<fleet>
A fleet letter (a-z, A-Z, or * for the default fleet)
<ships>
A designation of a group of ships. Can be a fleet
letter, a <sectors> range or a list of ship numbers
separated by '/'s. Optionally followed by a condition
as above, but which is applied to the ships instead.
You can test a ship's tech level by using "tl" in the
conditions.
Almost all commands can be shortened to 3 or 4 letters, I.E.:
attack can be entered as "att" etc..
It is often desireable to interrupt the actions or output of
commands which process several sectors or ships. This can be done by
typing a control-C, a DEL, or by sending a BREAK. The computation
done by the 'power' command can also be stopped this way. Online
help is available by typing HELP <cmd> where <cmd> is the 3 or 4
letter version of the command (ACC, BOA, READ, etc.).
Command List
accept <loan #>
If the indicated loan is an outstanding loan offer to you,
then you can accept, decline, or postpone it. The loaner will
be informed and a news item generated. Beware of not paying
back loans promptly. See also: ledger, lend, repay, collect.
assault <sector> <ship>
Attempt to take over the sector with military from the ship.
Costs BTUs for each life taken/lost. The sector may fire back
and may be defended. The assaulting troops are at a
disadvantage with the defenders. Also, capitals and forts fight
twice as hard against assault as other sectors. See 'attack'
for more details on fighting.
attack <sector>
Attempt to take over a sector with military from orthogonal
sectors. Costs mobility and BTUs for each life taken/lost. The
sector may be defended. For each orthogonal sector you own,
you will be asked how many of the military there you wish to
commit to the attack. Troops from a 100% efficient fort have a
4 to 1 defending advantage, and troops from 100% efficient
capitals or banks have a 2 to 1 advantage. Troops attacking
from a 100% efficient fort have a 2 to 1 advantage. Attacks
cost BTUs at the rate of .15 per attacking troop killed. Also,
mobility is used up in the attacking sectors depending on the
terrain types as follows:
Page 11
V2.0 by Chris Gray Empire Players Manual V2.1w by David Wright
type of sector being attacked
attacking from (+) (?) (-) (^)
(+) highway .125 .208 .291 21.3
(?) others .167 .250 .333 21.3
(-) wasteland .208 .291 .375 21.4
(^) mountain 10.7 10.8 10.9 31.9
The running battle will be displayed using '*'s, '!'s and
'@'s. A '!' indicated a defender has died, an '@' indicates an
attacker has died, and a '*' indicates an entire attacking
sector has run out of attackers.
board <ship> <ship>
Attempt to board the first ship with military from the
second. You can only board a freighter if there are no ships in
the same fleet in the same sector which have military on board
build <sectors> <what>
Build ships (give the letter) at harbors or bridge spans
(give one of <udlr> for direction) at bridge heads. Costs
production units and money. Bridge spans require 127 production
units and $2000.
buy <lot #>
The specified lot, if it is still for sale, will be shown to
you, and you will be given a chance to purchase it. If the lot
is a ship, the purchase is straightforward. If the lot is items
at an exchange, you will be asked how many of each item to buy
and which exchange of yours to deliver the items to. See also:
price, report.
bye
Exit Empire. You should ALWAYS use this to disconnect or you
may lose data or someone may use your account. Wait for Empire
to drop the carrier, do not hang up early!
Page 12
V2.0 by Chris Gray Empire Players Manual V2.1w by David Wright
census <sectors>
Prints a detailed census for the specified sectors.
Some entries:
* - checkpointed - allows others access if they know
the code
cmsgpob - delivery direction for item - 0 is up, go
clockwise
c = Civilians 7 0 1
m = Military \|/
Item-> s = Shells 6- -2 ---> Direction
g = Guns /|\
p = Planes 5 4 3
o = Ore
b = Gold Bars
$ - sector's production is contracted
% - sector is defended by a fort
Ex: cmsgpob
4 2 This shows shells are delivered down and
ore is delivered right
change country <country>
change name
change password
change notify [message|telegram|both]
Switch to another country, or change this country's name or
password. Note that some system owners do not allow players to
change to another country without hanging up. If the notify
option is given, Empire will let you change what happens to
automatic messages generated by the Empire program, such as
when people attack you. You can have the information sent as a
direct message (only when you are logged on, if you are not
logged in you will receive a telegram), stored as a telegram,
or both.
chat
Enter a simple on-line CB mode. Exit chat mode by typing a
line containing only a period. In chat mode, all lines you type
will be sent to all other players in chat mode.
checkpoint <sectors>
Set checkpoint codes at <sectors>. 0 means no checkpoint.
You will be asked for your country's password as authorization.
Sectors which are checkpointed can be moved onto (navigated
into for harbors) by other countries, if they know the
checkpoint code. Note that highways and bridge spans can be
moved onto UNLESS they are checkpointed. (If someone moves
things onto your highway or bridge span and leaves them there,
they become yours.) The presence of a checkpoint code is
indicated by a '*' in the census listing.
collect <loan #>
If the given loan is an outstanding defaulted loan owed to
you, you will be given the opportunity to confiscate a sector
from the debtor in full or partial payment of the loan. Empire
uses some magic to determine the "value" of a sector, which
must not be too much greater than what you are owed. Note that
you can only confiscate sectors that are orthogonally adjacent
to a sector that you own. If the country that owes you money
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V2.0 by Chris Gray Empire Players Manual V2.1w by David Wright
should be destroyed, you will have the option of collecting 80%
of the balance, without interest. The loan will then be
considered PAID IN FULL. See also: accept, ledger, lend,
repay.
contract <sector>
Production in shell industries, defense plants, airports,
harbors, bridge heads, ore mines, gold mines, research
institutes and technology centers can be contracted. You will
be offered a price per production unit. If you accept, then you
will earn money as appropriate when the sector is updated, and
you will not receive any production units or goods from that
sector. If you decline, the sector is left uncontracted. The
presence of a contract is indicated by a '$' in the census
listing.
country [on]
List the countries in the world, sorted by name, along with
some information about them. If a "*" appears by the "last on
time" column, the country is currently online. The "on" flag
will limit the list to countries that are logged in. Usefull
when you are looking for someone to chat with. If a country is
in chat mode, a "<" will appear instead of the "*".
Note that the "last access" field may not be correct for
users who are presently logged in.
declare war|alliance|neutral <country>
Determines what happens to spys from that country who are
caught and whether to fire on aircraft from that country that
fly overhead.
defend <sectors> {%|<sector>}
If the '%' is given, then you will be asked for your
password, and, if correct, the defender for any defended sector
in the specified area is displayed. Otherwise, you need to
enter the location of a fort to defend the given sectors. If no
defender is given on the command line, you will be asked for
the defender for each sector in the specified area. When a
defended sector is attacked, assaulted or fired on, the
defending fort will attempt to fire on the attacker. A '%' in
the census listing indicates a sector is defended.
deliver <what> <sectors> {(<threshold>)} {<sector>} {+<thrshld>}
{-}
After playing Empire for a while, you will notice that
moving various supplies from sector to sector on a regular
basis takes up too much time and too many BTU's. Automatic
deliveries are the cure for this problem. Civilians, military,
shells, guns, planes, iron ore and gold bars can be
automatically delivered from a given sector to any neighboring
sector (orthogonal or diagonal). The 'deliver' command is used
to set up and query delivery settings. Delivery directions
will also show up on the 'census' listing. In its simplest
form, a delivery is specified as in this example:
deliver c 0,0 (50) -1,0
Page 14
V2.0 by Chris Gray Empire Players Manual V2.1w by David Wright
This specifies that whenever sector 0,0 is updated, and it
contains more than 50 civilians, the excess civilians should be
moved to sector -1,0 (subject to the player owning sector -1,0
and sector 0,0 having enough mobility). The threshold (50) can
be omitted, in which case a threshold of 0 is used. A more
complex example:
deliver o -2:0,-3:-1 (20)
Here, Empire will prompt for each owned sector in the specified
region, as to where to deliver ore to. Again, the threshold can
be omitted. Also, on the individual replies to the prompts, the
destination sector can be followed by a threshold in
parentheses which will be used for that particular delivery. If
the form
deliver b -10:10,-10:10 +50
is used, then the thresholds for, in this case, gold bars, will
be changed without changing any delivery destinations. The
final form:
deliver s -5:5,-2:7 -
will simply print out the delivery destinations and thresholds
for each sector in the region which has a delivery set up.
Deliveries are performed whenever sectors are updated. A
message of the form "delivery walkout between r,c & r,c"
indicates that a sector was trying to deliver to a sector you
don't own. See also: route.
designate <sectors> <what>
Designate sectors to be a new type. The efficiency and
production in the sectors will be set to zero unless the sector
was already of the given designation. Your current capital
cannot be redesignated as anything else. The LAST sector
designated as a capital will be your current capital, which is
at 0,0 in your co-ordinate system.
discharge <sectors> <total-required>
Offers early retirement to military in <sectors>. Not more
than 50%, none in boot camp sectors. For a sector to be
eligable for early retirement there must be at least 25
civilians and more than 5 military already present. The total
will be spread fairly uniformly over the eligible sectors.
dissolve
Dissolve allows you to remove your country from the game if
you wish to no longer be an active player in the current game,
but don't want your sectors getting taken over immediately. All
of your sectors will be torn down and may be contaminated with
the plague. All ships will be ordered to blow up, and a news
item will be generated. This is considered an extremely
cowardly action, and should be used with care, as it is
irreversible. You must enter your password to verify this
action.
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doc {<subject> ... <subject>}
Attempt to print out a doc file on the given subject(s).
Note that doc files are normally considerably longer than help
files. They were made available on-line because it was easy to
do so - it is recommended that you get a printed version of the
doc files. The hosting system may not have all doc files (or
all help files for that matter) on line. The printout can be
aborted with a control-C.
drop <target-sub> <dropping-destroyer>
Drop a depth charge on a submarine from a destroyer. If the
submarine is able, it will fire a torpedo back (which might
miss anyway). The two must be in the same sector. Each charge
costs 2 shells. The mobility drops to 0 with the first charge,
and by 5 for each additional charge.
dump <sectors>
Dumps sector information in a very compact, hexadecimal
format. Useful for those who want to set up tools to display
more useful maps, etc. The format is as follows:
rrccdCCmmppMMeessggPPoobbddiiGG[dt*7]OK
where
rr - row, 0 => size of world
cc - column, 0 => size of world
d - designation character
CC - civilian count
mm - military count
pp - production
MM - mobility
ee - efficiency
ss - shell count
gg - gun count
PP - plane count
oo - iron ore count
bb - gold bar count
dd - relative location of defender
(rowDelta + 8, colDelta + 8)
ii - iron mineral deposit
GG - gold mineral deposit
dt - delivery direction and threshold for
civilians, military, shells, guns, planes, ore, gold bars
O - 0/1 indicating sector is contracted
K - 0/1 indicating sector is checkpointed
The sector output will be preceeded by a line giving the
time and date of the dump. Note that some sectors "bundle" some
items - urban centers bundle civilians, warehouses bundle
shells, guns and ore, and banks bundle gold bars. The counts
shown are the number of bundles. Bundles are bundles of 10,
except for gold bars which are bundles of 4 in banks.
enlist <sectors> <total-required>
Turn civilians into military. Not more than 50% of the
civilians in any one sector, and none in urban areas. The
enlistment will be spread fairly uniformly over the eligible
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sectors.
enumerate <sectors>
Counts the number of sectors that match the <sectors>
specification. For example, the command:
enumerate #0?des=g&prod<10&gold<5
could count how many gold mines in your realm #0 are ready to
be turned into something else. To actually see the sectors, you
can apply the same condition on a 'census' or 'map' command.
fire <sector>|<ship> <sector>|<ship>
Fire gun(s) at sector or ship from fortress or ship. If the
target is a fortress it will try to fire back. If the target is
any land sector that is defended, the defending fort will try
to fire back. If the target is a ship, any ships belonging to
the same country which are in the same fleet will attempt to
fire back. The amount of damage done depends on how many guns
are fired (from a ship), and on the type of the target ship.
fleet <fleet> <ships>
Add the ships to the given fleet. All start out in fleet
'*'. Valid fleets are A-Z and a-z. The first ship specified
will be the flagship of the fleet - when it can no longer
navigate, the entire fleet will stop. For non-flagship ships in
a fleet which is moving, the ship will drop behind if it can't
move. A ship can be removed from a fleet by adding it to the
'*' fleet. Typing fleet and giving a fleet name, but no ships,
will display all the ships in that fleet.
fly <ship>|<sector> <plane-count> <bomb-count> <directions>
Fly planes (possibly with bombs) from ship or airfield.
Directions are:
u - up
/r - up right \l u /r
r - right l e r
\r - down right /l d \r
d - down
/l - down left
l - left
\l - up left
e - end of flying (land or crash)
v - view sector below
b - drop some bombs
Movement prompt is:
<fuel left:planes:bombs each:position>
Fuel comes from the mobility of the starting airfield or
carrier. Landing chances can vary greatly. Watch out for
anti-aircraft fire. Fuel units per plane is calculated as:
fuelAvailable := sectorOrShipMobility * 4;
fuelUsed := min(fuelAvailable, 32); /* fuel tank size */
fuelUnits := techFactor * fuelUsed;
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Note that these, as well as most other "magic" constants can be
changed by the Deity. In good weather, when carrying no bombs,
planes can fly one orthogonal sector per fuel unit. Fuel used
rises by 1 for each bomb rack required (each rack can hold 3
bombs) and by 0.2 for each bomb carried. Diagonal flying takes
1.414 times as much fuel.
forecast <sector> <time>
Forecast weather near the given weather station for the
given number of half-hours into the future (max is the number
of civilians there). The range of the forecast depends on the
efficiency of the station.
grant <sector> <country>
Grant a sector to a country it is beside.
headlines {days}
Print newspaper headlines for the given number of days
(default 3).
help {topic}
?
List commands and their BTU costs. Type 'HELP TOPICS' for a
list of help topics, and 'HELP <topic>' for more info on that
topic.
info [what]
[?]
Give info about various counts and factors in the current
world. If no 'what' is given, only some general information is
given. 'what':
production, mobilities, plague, costs, scales, updates,
fighting, sea, air, miscellaneous, flags, naval
'naval' must be followed by one of:
cost, size, lrange, shrange, capacity, speed, damage
If 'what' is '?' then a summary of all the info topics will
be displayed. The output format is not pretty - it is exactly
the same as is used when a deity is editing the same values.
ledger
Lists outstanding loans and loan offers that you are a
participant in. See also: accept, collect, lend, repay.
lend <country>
Offer a loan to someone. You get to pick the amount,
interest rate and term. A telegram is sent to <country>
informing them of the offer. See also: accept, collect, ledger,
repay.
load <ship> <percent>
Load items onto a ship in a harbor. If no <percent> is
supplied, you will be prompted for each item type. <percent> is
percent of ships capacity to load. Ship capacities are listed
above with other ship information.
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lookout <ship>|<sector>
Visual lookout - reports on nearby ships and sectors. In
good weather, orthogonal and diagonal land sectors can be seen;
in bad weather, only orthogonal neighbors.
map <sectors> {compressed} {!}
Shows the designation of the sectors you, a country allied
with you, or god owns within the region. A sector owned by a
country that is at war with you shows up as 'W', while sectors
owned by a country that is neutral to you show up as '?'. You
can also see sectors next to ones you or a country allied with
you owns. Beware of angering God, or you may find yourself
surrounded by fog...
Using the options "compressed" or "!" will produce a map
with no extra spaces.
message <country> <text>
Send a message to the given country. If <text> is not
given, it will be prompted for with the usual editing
capabilities. If the country is not logged in, you will be
asked if you want to send a telegram. Messages appear on the
target country's terminal just before their next command
prompt.
mine <ship> <count>
Drop mines from a destroyer. When ships move into a mined
sector, they may hit them, doing damage. When a minesweeper
moves into a mined sector, it can remove up to 5 mines. Subs do
not hit mines.
move <what> <sector> <count> <directions>
<what> is cmsgpob. <sector> is where to move from. <count>
is how many to move (watch out for bundling). <directions> are
as above, but with no 'b'. Movement prompt is
<mobility:position>. Mobility costs vary with sector type,
weather, and what is being moved. Costs for an orthogonal move
onto a "standard" sector in good weather are:
c - 1 mobility per 5 civilians
m - 1 mobility per 5 military
s - 2 mobility per 5 shells
g - 2 mobility per gun
p - 4 mobility per plane
o - 1 mobility per 5 tons of ore
b - 10 mobility per gold bar
(for armored cars, guards, etc.)
Some sectors are better at moving some items than others.
For example, warehouses can move ore, guns and shells in
bundles of 10 for the cost of 1 unit; banks can move gold bars
in bundles of 4. Also, moving onto a 100% efficient highway
costs no mobility.
nation
Shows some info about your country
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navigate <ship>|<fleet> <directions>
Sail ships. <directions> are as in FLY, but no 'b' or 'v'.
Costs vary with ship type and technology level. Watch out for
mines. Movement prompt is:
<flagship mobility:minimum mobility:position>
If fleet is '*', then the flagship is the lowest numbered
ship in fleet '*', otherwise the flagship is the first ship
given when the fleet was set up. When the flagship can no
longer navigate, the whole fleet stops. Sailing into a
hurricane can damage your ships. Ships use less mobility for
navigating as their tech factor increases.
newspaper {days}
Print headlines and detailed news for the given number of
days (default 1). A bulletin from the system operator may be
printed before the headlines. The headlines default to 3 days.
If you want only todays headlines, type 'NEW 1'.
power {force} {use} {all}
Display summary of each countries status. The report can be
rebuilt by using the option "force". It will also be rebuilt if
Empire can't find the power report where it expects it to be,
or if the report is over 2 days old. If 'all' is specified then
every country, even those that are dead or have quit, will be
displayed. If the power report is out of date, but you don't
want to wait until a new one is generated, you can use the
option "use" to display the old file. Power is calculated
based on the following magic formula:
(a*g+d)/3 + (b+c+e+ii)/10 + j/100 + f+i+h*5
where
a - number of sectors
b - number of civilians
c - number of military
d - number of guns
e - number of shells
f - number of planes
g - average sector efficiency
h - number of gold bars
i - number of ships
ii - total ship tonnage
j - money
price <ship> {<price-per-ton>}
price <sector> <what> {<new-price-per-unit>}
Set the sale price on a ship or on the goods at an exchange.
Each ship for sale will be a new lot, and each exchange with
things for sale will be a new lot. Your offering will be
visible on the trade report, and is open to anybody who are
allied or neutral to. Purchasers may buy however much they want
of whatever is offered at your exchange. See also: buy,
report.
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radar <ship>|<sector>
Do a radar scan from a ship or a radar station. Shows the
ships you find and a small map of what the radar sees. Range
varies with ships and with sector efficiency. Note that
submarines do not show up on radar (destroyers and submarines
have sonar, however), and that PT boats are very hard to see.
Also, radar does not show ownership of sectors it displays, so
beware of relying on radar to see an enemy approaching
overland. Enemy sectors will sometimes show up as 'W', allied
sectors as 'A', and everything else as '?' if the range or
weather is good enough.
read
Read your telegrams. You will be able to reread each
message, and to reply to each one before going on to the next
one. After reading all the telegrams you will be asked if you
wish to delete them. Answering yes will clear out your mailbox,
while answering no will allow you to keep ALL the messages. If
your mailbox is over 6k, you will _n_o_t be able to receive new
public messages (but you may still receive private messages),
so you should clear out old messages as soon as possible.
realm <number> {<sectors>}
(No '?' pattern allowed.) Set the realm (0 - 4) to the
indicated rectangle of sectors. Realm 0 (written as #0 or #) is
also set by the update command. You should use realms so that
you aren't in danger of mistyping a sector range. Typing realm
with no arguments will display the settings for all realms.
refurbish <ship>
Refurbish a ship at a harbor. Refurbishing brings the
ship's technology level up, possibly to your nation's
technology level if the harbor has sufficient production units.
Ship technology levels drop over time, but normally much slower
than your country's does.
repay <loan-number>
Repay some or all of a loan you owe money on. See also:
accept, collect, ledger, lend.
report {naval|land}
Produce a trade report showing what is for sale by who, and
for how much. You will only be shown lots that are for sale by
countries that are allied or neutral to you. 'naval' will
restrict the report to ships, 'land' will restrict it to offers
at exchanges. See also: buy, price.
route <what> <sectors>
Like map, but shows delivery routes for <what>, and doesn't
show things you don't own. The delivery directions are shown as
follows:
^?^ - deliver to sector above this one
?/ - deliver to sector up-right
?> - deliver to sector to the right
?\ - deliver to sector down-right
v?v - deliver to sector below this one
/? - deliver to sector down-left
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<? - deliver to sector to the left
\? - deliver to sector up-right
ships {<ships>}
Like census, but displays info for ships. If <ships> is not
given, all of your ships will be displayed.
spy <sectors>
Attempt to spy on the sectors from any neighboring ones of
yours with military in them. The owner's relationship to your
country determines what happens to spies who are caught. The
chances of your spy being caught is dependent on the number of
military guarding the sector you are spying on.
telegram <country> {<country> ... <country>}
Sends a telegram to another country. A telegram is ended by
an end-of-file marker (control-backslash) or by a period (.) on
a line by itself. Private telegrams are sent by giving a
single country name or number (a number _m_u_s_t be used is the
country name has spaces in it). A public message can be sent by
entering '*' for the country name. This will send a copy of the
message to every _a_c_t_i_v_e player that has _l_e_s_s _t_h_a_n 6k in their
mailbox (they can still receive private mail). Remember, this
sends a COPY of the file, not just a pointer as on a BBS, so if
you send a 1k message, the system will need to make up to 45
copies (45k), and this could take up time.
You may also send telegrams to countries based on your
diplomatic relations to them. Using & will send a copy of the
telegram to all countries that you are ALLIED with, using !
will send a copy of the telegram to all countries you are at
WAR with, and using @ will send a copy of the telegram to all
countries you are neutral towards.
If you specify more than one country on the command line, a
copy of the telegram will be sent to each of those countries.
See also: READ
tend <ship> <ship>
Tend a ship from a tender in the same sector. This allows
items to be transferred at sea. As for most naval operations,
the weather must be good enough. You can't tend freighters or
carriers.
torpedo <ship> <ship>
Launch a torpedo against a ship from a submarine. Maximum
range is less than 2 sectors. Destroyers in your sector may
drop depth charges on you. Each torpedo costs 3 shells from the
submarine. The chances of the torpedo hitting drop greatly as
the distance increases. To prevent submarines from being too
powerful, a penalty is imposed for using the torpedo command -
the sub's mobility drops to 0, and by a further 5 for each
torpedo fired.
unload <ship> <percent>
Like load, but the other way around.
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update <sectors> {verbose|quiet}
Perform the update operation on the given sectors. Other
commands that need to change a sector will do an update too.
Order of access is from top-to-bottom, left-to-right. This can
affect how you want to set up deliveries, since this is when
they are done. The 'verbose' option will supply more messages
than you would normally get about the updating, while 'quiet'
will suppress nearly all update messages.
weather <sectors>
Display a map of the current weather over the given
rectangle and indicate the current location of the high and low
extremes.
Realms
Realms are a short-cut to entering a set of sectors over and
over. They allows you to get a complete map of all of the sectors
you own by simply entering:
map # (realm 0 can be abbreviated as #, all other realms are
referenced as #1, #2 etc...)
Any time you need to enter a <sectors> (note <sectors>, not
<sector>) list you may enter a realm number. Realms may be set using
the realm command. Any changes you make to a realm will remain in
effect from call to call. This allows you to define a realm to
contain one of your enemies and then refer to that realm instead of
having to manually enter the sector co-ords to bomb etc.
Afterward
Empire Etiquette
Please keep in mind that users may have paid for this service,
just as you might have, and deserve some respect. Anyone who
continues to send telegrams to a user that the user objects to will
be warned and then have their subscription terminated. Following is
a list of guidelines you should follow to be a courteous Empire
player.
1) Always use "bye" to log out and wait until the game disconnects
before you hang up. If you do not do this, someone _M_A_Y call
right in and use your account.
2) Never give anyone your password. God can always get it and would
not ask for it.
3) If the system seems to "hang", try sending a BRK, typing a
CTRL-Q, a CTRL-C, or a RETURN.
4) As you become more experienced you will find it takes less time
for you to make your moves. If possible, do not call unless you
have some more moves to make. This will leave more time for the
less experienced players.
5) If you call and the system appears to be locked up, try typing
CTRL-Q, sending a BRK, a CTRL-C, or calling at other baud rates
and typing those characters. If line noise knocks you off, call
back immediately and type BYE.
6) If at all possible create your telegrams offline and upload them
as text files. This will result in less online time, better
looking messages, and allow you to edit them with your favorite
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text editor.
7) If you are offered a loan, type ACCEPT <loan #>. This will show
you the details on the loan. If it is acceptable type accept. If
not type decline. If you are not sure, type postpone. It is very
rude to tie up someone's money without telling them what you are
doing. When you are told that someone has offered you a loan,
you should do the above immediately.
8) If you suspect someone is a new player, go a little easier on
them. This doesn't mean to leave them alone if they taunt you,
but as you move your fleets of doom around the world, don't
squash a little 10 sector village under foot. This game depends
on repeat players to be any fun, and stomping on a new player is
a good way to discourage them from playing again.
9) Instead of doing multiple maps and census reports, do one at the
beginning of a call, store them in a capture buffer, and then
hang up. Decide what you want to do, call back, and enter the
moves. You will find it best to turn the capture or review
buffer on at the start of a call, since there is no way to pause
output from Empire.
Playing Tips
1) Be careful when buying or selling ships. If possible you should
send an escort ship to pick it up. A boat with no crew is a
sitting duck for pirates, and useless if you have to sail it
half way around the world to load it up. Be especially wary of
loaded freighters for sale. These are usually placed for sale
while just out of radar range is a destroyer waiting to board it
(after you have bought it, of course).
2) Remember, anyone can buy a ship, even someone who may turn into
an enemy, so don't leave a fully loaded ship that is for sale
right in your harbor.
3) Harbors can be linked to form long canals that ships can sail
through.
4) Practice "scorched-earth" warfare if you must retreat. Move
everything out of the sectors and designate them as forts.
5) Try to have at least 1 out of 5 or 6 sectors be a fort (once you
are up and running of course).
6) Set up defenders for every sector, including forts. Always
defend from the inside out or sideways.
7) Do not enlist many military in the start of the game. They will
only cost you money and you aren't in any danger of being
attacked.
8) Start out by making as many gold bars as you can, and as soon as
the sector goes dry, turn it into something else. Bars in the
bank will earn you money for the rest of the game, and having
them early on can prevent the financial crush of improving
sectors when you expand rapidly.
9) Try to keep 33-95 civilians in any sector other than urban
areas. This will keep civilians at maximum growth.
Common questions about Empire
1) What happens if I can't get on to make my moves?
If you have everything set up right, very little will go
wrong if you don't call in for a day or two. It is essential to
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set up delivery routes and sector defenses. Without these you
won't last long even if you call every hour.
2) What happens to ships when I am not online?
They stay right where they are. It is important to put ships
in fleets, and to try and keep the fleet in one sector. When one
of your ships is fired upon, all the other ships in that fleet
will try and fire back.
3) Does having more than one capital make BTUs faster?
No. Only the capital at 0,0 makes BTUs. However, having
another capital will help save time and $ if your active capital
should be taken over.
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Table of Contents
About this version of Empire................................ 1
What is Empire?............................................. 1
How to Connect to Empire.................................... 2
Getting Started............................................. 2
Concepts.................................................... 2
Sector Types................................................ 3
Ships....................................................... 5
Sector and Ship Updating.................................... 6
Command Syntax.............................................. 10
Command List................................................ 11
Realms...................................................... 23
Afterward................................................... 23
Empire Etiquette............................................ 23
Playing Tips................................................ 24
Common questions about Empire............................... 24
-I-
Amiga Empire Version 2.1w Players Manual
by
David Wright
April 16th, 1990
(In Conjunction with Chris Gray)
Manual Version 2.0w
