carlton@genrad.UUCP (Carl Hommel) (09/18/84)
I have been playing the VMS version of empire, and have some general comments
to make about it.
1. The difficulty level it mentions at startup is computed on the basis
of how many citys are on your starting island, versus the number on the
computer's island.
2. One of the first port cities you capture should be set to producing troop
transports. Once you capture all the cities on your home, you need to go
adventuring elsewhere, to build up your production base.
3. One city close to your troop transport city should make armies solely for
the troop transport. When one TT is built, there will be 5 armies hanging
around, waiting to get on board.
4. Another port city should be set to making destroyers. They should search
out unowned coastal cities for your TTs to assault, and to go looking
for the enemy.
5. Your first military priority is to SINK THE ENEMY'S TRANSPORTS. If the
computer determines that your production is overwhelmingly superior to his,
it throws in the towel. If you sink his transports, he cannot expand.
6. The first few units any city produces should be armies. This way, when
you are invaded, there will be a home guard to kill off the mauraders
armies before they take over cities.
7. The above points revolve about one signifigant rule: armys are the only
units that can take cities. Thus, I think that fighters are much less
important than someone else's (sorry, I have my listing at home) article
would make them appear.
Is this the appropriate newsgroup? Maybe we need a net.games.emp.vms :-)
Carl Hommel
Wife: Are you playing empire again?
Husband: This is a different empire! Really!wade@nmtvax.UUCP (09/20/84)
Now I have a few comments about your comments: > The difficulty level it mentions at startup is computed on the basis > of how many citys are on your starting island, versus the number on the > computer's island. The IBM PC version of the game has no such thing mentioned at startup, probably because all countries can be run by players (if you hook up more terminals). But the standard version on the DEC-20 here at tech doesn't have it either. > Another port city should be set to making destroyers. They should search > out unowned coastal cities for your TTs to assault, and to go looking > for the enemy. It works much better to produce submarines rather than destroyers. Sure it takes a little longer to make them and they have one less hit, but they do THREE TIMES THE DAMAGE when they hit. A submarine can sink a transport or destroyer with one hit where it takes a destroyer three hits to do the same. A wolfpack of three or four submarines can handle just about anything, even a battleship, because even battleships do only one point of damage when they hit whereas a submarine does three. > Your first military priority is to SINK THE ENEMY'S TRANSPORTS. If the > computer determines that your production is overwhelmingly superior to his, > it throws in the towel. If you sink his transports, he cannot expand. I agree fully, sea power is the key to the whole game. If you have one coastal city cranking out transports, one making cruisers, and all other coastal cities producing submarines, you should do well. As soon as possible you should through a blockade of submarines around enemy territory. Sit a couple submarines outside every coastal city to catch enemy shipping as it is produced, place submarines to watch openings into bay type areas that have coastal cities in them, and pretty soon he'll be out of a navy. Your transports can move in at will, but should be escorted by a submarine or two in case a few enemy ships are still loose. > The first few units any city produces should be armies. This way, when > you are invaded, there will be a home guard to kill off the mauraders > armies before they take over cities. Whenever I invade a new island, I have every city crank armies until I have the island fully explored and the enemy fully rooted out. I then change the coastal cities over to submarines and leave the inland cities producing armies to create a strong defensive force and to have a loading area for transports hitting nieghboring islands. > The above points revolve about one signifigant rule: armys are the only > units that can take cities. Thus, I think that fighters are much less > important than someone else's (sorry, I have my listing at home) article > would make them appear. I find it is good to have one backwater city producing fighters so they will be there when you need them. You can set up flight paths from city to city so they will automatically be delivered to the front. Fighters are very good at destroying armies, so I use up all the fighters I currently have in the area to hit an enemy defensive force real hard just before my transports hit dirt. Using this strategy, I have no problem cleaning up in the 'one player vs the computer' game. But the 'one player vs two computer run countries' game gets tough, anyone out there have any strategical hints for the three way war? Richard Wade nmtvax!wade