kevin@crash.cts.com (Kevin Hill) (03/07/91)
COuld anyone give me a breif description of empire builder? It sounds interesting and I would like to know more about it before I buy it. Thanks.
phaedrus@milton.u.washington.edu (Mark Phaedrus) (03/07/91)
I've been playing around with the Empire Builder somebody posted to
comp.binaries.mac, but I don't have FullWrite so I can't read the manual.
Could somebody please explain to me how you use fighters and destroyers and
so on to attack things? Better yet, could someone with FullWrite save the
Empire Builder manual as a text file and mail it to me?
Thanks in advance for the help.
--
Internet: phaedrus@u.washington.edu (University of Washington, Seattle)
The views expressed here are not those of this station or its management.
"If you can keep your head while those about you are losing theirs,
consider an exciting career as a guillotine operator!"jca@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (John Anderson) (03/07/91)
In article <17890@milton.u.washington.edu> phaedrus@milton.u.washington.edu (Mark Phaedrus) writes: > > I've been playing around with the Empire Builder somebody posted to >comp.binaries.mac, but I don't have FullWrite so I can't read the manual. >Could somebody please explain to me how you use fighters and destroyers and >so on to attack things? Better yet, could someone with FullWrite save the >Empire Builder manual as a text file and mail it to me? I don't know anything about Empire Builder, but if you have Word 4.0 try holding down the shift key as you click on the file menu. This should bring up the "open any file" option, which can often open files created in other formats. You'll see the text of the files, surrounded by a lot of junk (control characters and other formatting). jca@casbah.acns.nwu.edu
bonar@math.rutgers.edu (Doug Bonar) (03/07/91)
I tried downloading the files for Empire Builder Demo from comp.bianarys.mac yesterday. No luck, I got a checksum error when I tried to un .sit the file. Has anyone managed to downlead and unstuff those files? Doug bonar@math.rutgers.edu
ted@cs.utexas.edu (Ted Woodward) (03/08/91)
In article <17890@milton.u.washington.edu> phaedrus@milton.u.washington.edu (Mark Phaedrus) writes: > > I've been playing around with the Empire Builder somebody posted to >comp.binaries.mac, but I don't have FullWrite so I can't read the manual. >Could somebody please explain to me how you use fighters and destroyers and >so on to attack things? Better yet, could someone with FullWrite save the >Empire Builder manual as a text file and mail it to me? > Thanks in advance for the help. #define FLAME Yes, I'd like to thank the person who decided to put the manual in FullWrite format...wake up, you dolt! NOBODY uses FullWrite format except FullWrite! The standard format for docs is either TeachText or MacWrite 5.0! EVERYBODY can read those... #undef FLAME Now, would someone please either: a) send me a copy of the manual in another format, preferably MacWrite II, or b) send me a FullWrite translator for MWII. -- Ted Woodward (ted@cs.utexas.edu) "Mad scientists HATE shopping for shoes!" -- Peaches
bkuo@girtab.usc.edu (Benjamin Kuo) (03/08/91)
Take it easy. Do what I do (lowly user who had to live with MacWrite 1.2 for a LONG TIME, and learned how to read text the hard way...) :-) USE RESEDIT, DISKTOP, DESKZAP, MACTOOLS, etc. etc. etc to change the file type from fullwrite, word, etc. to TEXT, zap the creator field, and open with your favorite (or in my case, only) word processor. Everything is usually readable (save the pictures, and word fast-saved files), and everyone's happy. But I do agree, use MacWrite (NOT II version, older versions...) or the best, TeachText. Benjamin Kuo
careyk@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Carey Kinoshita) (03/08/91)
In article <7834@crash.cts.com> kevin@crash.cts.com (Kevin Hill) writes: > > COuld anyone give me a breif description of empire builder? It sounds interesting and I would like to know more about it before I buy it. Thanks. Isn't Empire Builder a shareware game? If it isn't has it been previously release on other computers? I heard of a similar game on an Amiga. I played the demo and it looks very similar to Strategic Conquest and the playing pieces look more detailed than Strategic Conquest, but the movement and animation looked very crude.
klaus@diku.dk (Klaus Ole Kristiansen) (03/08/91)
I have unstuffed the file. There is the game, a sounds file and a doc file that can not be read by any of the programs/DAs that I have tried (ASLEdit+, Quill, MacWriteII). The game itself is a conquer the world game. I have not been able to get off the starting island, I have buildt transports and used the load command, this crashes the machine. The buildt in help is very unsatisfactory. There is a description of each unit type, but no hints as to what to do or what each command does. Klaus Kristiansen
dave@cprmtn.UUCP (Dave Heinen) (03/09/91)
I got the demo off of comp.sys.mac.binarys and it all works fine but the sounds wont work. Are they suppost to and if so how do I make them? I have a plain old Mac II if that helps any. Thanks ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Dave Heinen Cooper Mountain R&D 16340 SW Nora Rd. Beaverton Oregon 97007 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
sbeitzel@wet.UUCP (Stephen Beitzel) (03/11/91)
Empire Builder is the good old IBM empire done with better land shapes and with bombers. True, the built in help isn't particularly helpful, but if you are familiar with empire or Strategic Conquest you don't need all that much assistance. The choices are fairly self-explanatory, and a little experimentation should resolve your difficulties: sleep puts a piece to sleep, wake wakes it up, etc. For explore, try putting a fighter on explore. Watch as it goes eagerly toward the black uncharted wasteland. Wonder in amazement as it moves from town to town, not content to search out a single frontier. The choice that is missing, that really should be included, is a path command, so that units produced in a city will automatically head for some other point as soon as they are completed.
kem@h.gp.cs.cmu.edu (Kenneth Mohnkern) (03/11/91)
OK, I've played the demo for some time now, and like it. Here's the poop, as I know it: If you didn't get all parts from a .binaries. group, I seem to recall that it's available from anonymous ftp to sumex-aim.stanford.edu. I found my version hanging around in a Public Folder here at CMU. My strategy is to first create armies or a fighter. Have the fighter Explore the island, or send the armies around looking for more cities. The destroyers are also good for exploring, since they move quickly. To attack, move your piece onto the opposing piece. The only way to conquer a city is to attack it with an army. Once you have some armies, you can create a transport. If a transport leaves a city which contains armies, the armies will automatically be put into the transport. A transport carries up to 8 armies. Remember - it's a Macintosh game. Just fool around with it. Try things out. I don't know all the intricacies of it, but I've managed to figure it out enough to enjoy playing without cracking the manual. I'm willing to give more hints and help where I can. ken
t-ericg@microsoft.UUCP (Eric GORR) (03/12/91)
I keep reading a lot about this empire builder game, but have yet to read about what the game acutally is. Can someone please post a message here (as I am sure others are interested) explaining the game in a much detail as possible as well as where exactly one can get a retail version of it. If you know of any, please post known bugs. I am interested in the game, but want more complete information about it. thanx... g
ebert@parc.xerox.com (Robert Ebert) (03/12/91)
If you like the Empire Builder demo, you'll also be interested in Strategic Conquest, now from Delta Tao. (The same folks who are doing Spaceward Ho!) Strategies and play are very similar to Empire Builder. I would guess that Empire Builder is a follow on to the original Strategic Conquest, since it includes some things that are improvements, but also makes things more complicated. (Why you'd care what the name of a city is is beyond me.) Strategic Conquest doesn't offer as much control over the various nuances of city production and piece orders, but it provides a much smoother look and is (IMHO) easier to control your pieces. In StratCon, you end up hand moving pieces more often, but you also don't worry about them going off and doing strange things. I also prefer the graphics in Strategic Conquest. They look, well, more polished, and the screen is much less busy. You see what you need to see, and not much else. When I tried the Empire Builder demo, I couldn't stick with it because it seemed overcomplicated. The same thing happened when I tried XConq. (A game for X/UNIX) Strategic Conquest makes good use of the Mac interface. I don't remember what the shareware fee was for Empire Builder, but Strategic Conquest goes for something like $35, it's not copy protected, and comes with a cool manual. (Hardcopy, NOT FullWrite...) You can order from Delta Tao at (408) 730-9336. [They'll even send you the game with a SASE and an invoice, and then you send them the money. No COD hassles. Lots better than ShareWare.] --Bob P.S. I have no relationship with Delta Tao other than as a *very* satisfied customer.
carl@udwarf.tymnet.com (Carl Baltrunas & Cherie Marinelli 1.0.4a) (03/12/91)
In article <ingemar.668685301@stuart>, ingemar@isy.liu.se (Ingemar Ragnemalm) writes: > ajauch@bonnie.ics.uci.edu (Alexander Edwin Jauch) writes: > >I have recently happened on to a discussion of Empire Builder here. What's > >up with this? > >I have played a commercial game on the Mac called Strategic Conquest and > >although version 3.0 is good, there is a game called Empire on the PC that > >is even better. I am hoping that Empire Builder is the Mac port of Empire. > >Can anyone confirm this? > >Thanks in advance. > > *ALL* these games are ports of the old VAX/VMS game Empire. (I think that is > the original source for the game. Am I right?) I cannot confirm Strategic Conquest, but after seeing the first post, I pulled out the comp.binaries.mac archive of EmpireBuilder Demo 1.6.1 and tried it out. It is indeed a port (or complete re-write) of the game for the VAX/VMS and the prior PDP-11 and PDP-10 FORTRAN versions of the game EMPIRE. I spent many many weeks/(months?) playing the game on a DEC-10 and often spent entire weekends doing nothing but playing a single game started late Friday night. It has been spruced up a bit, the Mac interface is nice, it also accepts keypad movement commands and some other keyboard commands as well as the mouse commands. Improvements it could use would be the ability to redefine the command keys, as some of us die-hards from EMPIRE keep trying to use the QWE-ASD-ZXC keys for the movements described on the keypad 789-456-123 keys. If Chris wants suggestions, I'll be willing to contribute. It also has the ability to define your own parameters and you own vehicles for combat so you can change the game to make it more challenging. THIS IS GREAT! (But I think it doesn't work in the Demo - I haven't tried yet.) I also ran into a bug on my IIx having to do with an illegal index of some sort which caused the game to loop forever in a dialogue-box loop so I had to reboot the machine but that's a side story and not germain to the initial question. I haven't played many of the Mac games, but considering the effort for the port and the interface, I think it's well worth the $25 ($15 student) price. As soon as I get a chance, I'll probably be sending in my $$). -Carl Carl A Baltrunas - Catalyst Art Cherie Marinelli - Bijoux Internet: {carl or cherie}@udwarf.tymnet.com {carl or cherie}%udwarf@tardis.tymnet.com UUCP:{sumex,apple}!oliveb!tymix!tardis!udwarf!{carl or cherie}
t-ericg@microsoft.UUCP (Eric GORR) (03/13/91)
could someone please send me an address of where I can get a complete version of empire builder?
stanger@otago.ac.nz (Nigel Stanger) (03/13/91)
In article <01010048.ll19b1@cprmtn.UUCP>, dave@cprmtn.UUCP (Dave Heinen) writes: > > I got the demo off of comp.sys.mac.binarys and it all works fine but All right, that does it! I've been waiting around here for days for the rest of the Empire Builder demo. What happened to parts 6-9?? I got parts 1-5 no problem. Were the rest posted to comp.binaries.mac when I wasn't looking? They certainly aren't there now (well *I* can't see them anyway). Can someone either mail me parts 6-9, or tell me where I can get them from? Thanks in advance. See ya Nigel. /******************************************************************************\ * "If I had a quote, I'd be wearing it." * Internet: stanger@otago.ac.nz * * -- Dylan Thomas (I think) * SnailMail: Information Science, * * * University of Otago, * * "Say no MORE!!!" * P.O. Box 56, * * -- Eric Idle * Dunedin, NEW ZEALAND. * \******************************************************************************/
ted@cs.utexas.edu (Ted Woodward) (03/13/91)
I prefer StratCon, but there are a few things about empire builder that I like. I like the ability to produce a certain number of things (like transports) and then have the city ask what to build. And I like the explore command, but it doesn't work. My fighter kept waking up when there was still black space in range. I also like the refuel command. But I don't like the graphics, even on a friend's ci, and especially on my SE. I ESPECIALLY don't like the fact that there is no "don't move this turn" command, at least one that I could find. I don't have the docs because the manual is in fullwrite format...I also don't like the lack of command key equivalents for the commands; sure there are key equivs, but what is the equivalent for 'load transport'? If there were command key equivs in the menu, I could tell. -- Ted Woodward (ted@cs.utexas.edu) "Mad scientists HATE shopping for shoes!" -- Peaches