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1992-07-04
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These are the screens that the user sees when playing the game
Galactic Empires version 1.02 Beta.
Program Copyright (C) 1987,1992 Andrew J. Mead
All Rights Reserved.
Original Apple ][ version copyright (C) 1979 Thomas G. Cleaver
BBS Onliner Interface version 1.30.
Copyright(C) 1990 Andrew J. Mead
GALACTIC EMPIRES
Galactic Empires is a game of intergalactic imperialism. The galaxy is a
20x20 grid containing 45 planets. Each player starts with one home world
that produces 10 ships per turn. Each turn you can launch fleets of one
or more ships to other planets. Each fleet moves a distance of two spaces
the first turn and three every turn thereafter until reaching their dest-
ination. It takes 10 turns to go from corner to corner. If there are ships
defending the planet, a battle ensues until one side or the other is dest-
royed. Once a fleet is launched, it can not be recalled from or contacted
in hyperspace.
Each game has between 4 and 9 players. The game progresses until only one
player remains. This can take anywhere from 30 turns to 300. You will not
know who your opponents are until after the game starts. You will not be
able to leave a game (without being conquered) before the 15th turn.
Main Menu help
Instructions - will get you this display.
Start New Game - if you are not in a game, this will initialize a new game.
1..8 Go to a Specific Game -
If you are in the game selected, and the game has begun play, you will
join the game in progress. If the game has not yet started, you will
be told how many players are currently in the game and asked if you
wish to leave the game or return to the main menu.
If you are not in the game selected, and the game has not started play,
you will be added to the game (if you are not currently playing another
game). If the game has begun play, you will join the game as Fleet
Admiral Null. You will not be able to move any fleets, but you will
be able to look around and read the log.
Game Options
[S]end Fleet - allows you to send fleets from a world you own to any other
world in the galaxy.
[L]og - displays the fleet activity log. You view parts with the following
C)omplete - view the complete log.
L)ast turn - view the activity for the last turn only.
S)ince - view all fleet activity since you last played.
1..9 - view all fleet activity for the last 1 to 9 turns.
[W]orld Data - will re-display the main screen. The top line tells you how
many fleets you have launched, and how many ships are in those fleets.
Planet lists the planets number.
Cont lists the number of the player who controls the planet.
Prod is how many ships this planet produces each turn.
Ships is how many ships were on the planet at the beginning of the turn.
If you own the planet, this number is the actual number of ships on
the planet. If you launch ships, then this number is updated.
[M]ap - will display the current map. Your planets will be highlighted.
[P]layer List - this option will list each player in the game, and how many,
worlds are currently controlled by each.
[I]nstructions - will get you this display.
[T]ime Remaining - 1this option will say how much time you have left.
Options not listed on the screen -
E[X]it game - if the game is more than 15 turns old, this allows you to
surrender. Your planets will be given to Fleet Admiral Null, and your
fleets will become rougues. This option is not recommended.
[C]olor Toggle - this option toggles the mono/color display.
[D]istance Calculator - calculates the distance in both spaces and turns
between two worlds.
[G]alaxy Map - sends a copy of the map designed to be captured by
your log, and printed at 16 characters per inch.
Game Strategy (questionable) and other Arcana
The Game Itself - was written in 1979 by Thomas G. Cleaver in Apple Basic.
In 1987, it was rewritten in Turbo Pascal 3.0 on an MSDOS-PC by Andrew
J. Mead, who wrote this BBS version in 1990 in Turbo Pascal 5.5.
The home version of this game which allows up to 400 planets, and 20K
players is floating around BBSland as a shareware program. An upgraded
version of the home game will be available in January 1991. The home
game does make an excellent solitaire or 2 or 3 player game.
Production - every player's homeworld is a 10 producer. The rest of planets
are unknown at the beginning of the game. The production values for
the other worlds will generally be between 0 and 3, but each game will
usually contain three or four worlds in the 6 to 9 range. There is no
upper limit, but if a planet producing 12 or more ships a turn is not
captured in the first few turns, it will generally be left alone.
Early Strategy - :the beginning of the game can be very important. You need
to capture the worlds near your homeworld, but you need to keep enough
ships on your homeworld to defend against rougue players. You can attack
another player immediately, but generally all that accomplishes is to
weaken both yourself and your victim.
It is very important to capture some planets that produce ships early
in the game. If all you do is attack, and not build any ships, you will
run out of ships very quickly.
Patience and a War of Attrition - once the early expansion period
slows down, the game shifts into its strategic phase. The key to winning
is to out-produce the other players, and get them to attack eachother
instead of you. The player that has the highest production total has a
large advantage. If this is you, it is generally best to sit and grow
and let the other players weaken themselves. If you find yourself on the
short end of the production stick, the game is by no means lost. By
selectively attacking your larger opponent in situations where you out-
number him, you can destroy a large number of his ships with only minor
losses to your own fleet.
Scouting - early in the game, you can tell the production of other planets
by sending fleets of 1 ship each on successive turns to the same planet.
By analyzing the difference in the number of ships defending the planet,
you can tell which planets are the big producers. However, your enemies
can read your reports, too.
Attacking - generally the attacking fleet should outnumber the defending
fleet 2 to 1 to ensure victory. The defenders have the advantage, but
only when the fleets are relatively close in size. The larger the
size difference in fleets, the more complete the massacre.
Distances - it is to your advantage to be aware of how far apart
two worlds are, and how long it takes to get from one to the other. At
one turn a day, it takes a week and a half to go from corner to corner.
Text Map - the game generates a text map that the SysOp may make available
for download. If not you can capture the map by using the [G] option.
this map is designed to printed at 16 characters per inch.