                             EMPIRE


                  (The Wargame of the Century)






                    Written by Walter Bright

                Copyright (c) 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985 by



                       Northwest Software

                       13928 129th Ave NE

                       Kirkland, WA 98034

                         (206) 823-5388





    EMPIRE for the VAX running 4.2BSD Unix is copyrighted, but

    the binaries may be given away but not sold. A version for

    the IBM PC is available from Northwest Software for $40.



    Please note that Northwest Software is unable to distribute

    source to EMPIRE, and is also unable to offer any support

    for this version.


INTRODUCTION



    This is an improved version of the EMPIRE game that has been

    distributed by DECUS for the VAX running VMS.



    Empire is a simulation of a global conflict between two to

    three implacable foes. No compromise is possible, each must

    strive to annihilate the other. The war is conducted over a

    large map, with land, sea and cities on it. Each player

    manipulates his armies, fighters and ships to try and smash

    the others, to reach the goal of total domination of the

    world. Empire is not a video arcade-type game. It is a

    thinking man's game, as it requires strategy and tactics

    instead of hand-eye coordination.



    Warning: Empire has been known to be addictive. Typical games

    can take several hours.



  GETTING STARTED

    Perform the following steps to get EMPIRE running on your

    computer:



    1)    Type empire.  A message will be printed to your screen telling

          your to type reset when you exit the game.  When you exit, your

          terminal will appear frozen, and nothing will echo to the screen.

          The command reset will correct this. (When you type reset, it will

          not appear on the screen.)  After you get used to typing reset,

          you can skip the warning by typing emp.  This will put you directly

          into the game.



    2)    Now you will see (if you have previously saved a game):



    Continuing a previous game (Y or N)? N



    Press the RETURN key if you are not, press Y if you are.  If

    you restored a previous game, you are now back where you were

    when you saved it. Otherwise, follow on. Note: games are

    saved in a file called empire.dat in your home directory. If it

    is not there, this step will be skipped.



    three can play, but only one can be human. The others are

    operated by the computer. You can also have the computer

    play against itself.



    4)   If you specified all the players to be run by the

    computer, EMPIRE will now run until somebody wins or you abort

    the program.



    5)   For each human player, you will be asked for your

    initial city production demands. Press one of the following

    keys selecting what you want your city to produce:



    A: Armies

    F: Fighters

    D: Destroyers

    T: Troop transports

    S: Submarines

    R: Cruisers

    C: Aircraft carriers

    B: Battleships





    14)   You're off and running! Please refer to the OPERATION

    section for how to play the game.

  GENERAL INFORMATION

    The game is played on a map of 60 rows by 100 columns. Row

    numbers are 0 to 59, column numbers are 0 to 99. Coordinates

    are shown as row,col.





    Characters displayed on the map are (for terminals):



    blank      unknown territory

    .          sea

    +          land

    *          unconquered city



    Player 1:

    O          conquered city

    A          army

    F          fighter

    D          destroyer

    T          troop transport

    S          submarine

    R          cruiser

    C          aircraft carrier



    Player 2:

    o          conquered city

    a          army

    f          fighter

    d          destroyer

    t          troop transport

    s          submarine

    r          cruiser

    c          aircraft carrier

    b          battleship



    Player 3:

    X          conquered city

    1          army

    2          fighter

    3          destroyer

    4          troop transport

    5          submarine

    6          cruiser

    7          aircraft carrier


      The entire map is unknown (blank) until you start to explore

    unless you are right next to them. The actual map that you

    see on the display is a summary of all the most recent

    information that you have about the world.



    Each of your cities can be assigned to produce one of the

    pieces (A,F,D,T,S,R,C or B). A city is attacked by moving an

    army onto it. The army has a 50% chance of conquering it.

    Capturing cities is crucial to destroying your opponents.



    An enemy piece is attacked by moving one of your pieces onto

    it. Hits are traded off (at a 50% chance of landing on one

    piece or the other) until one piece is totally destroyed.

    Only one of the pieces will survive the conflict. Each piece

    can withstand only so many hits before it is destroyed.

    Damage sustained by a piece is cumulative until it is either

    destroyed or repaired. The number of hits that each piece can

    take are:



          army                1

          fighter             1

          destroyer           3

          submarine           2

          cruiser             8

          aircraft carrier    8

          battleship          12



    Ships can be repaired by moving them into one of your cities.

  PIECES



Armies:



    Armies are of primary importance. Only armies can capture

    cities and take over continents. They move on land at a rate

    of 1 move per round. Movement across water is performed using

    a troop transport. To board a troop transport, just move your

    army onto it. Armies cannot move onto their own cities, they

    will be destroyed if they try. Armies drown when moving

    across water without the aid of a troop transport.



Fighters:



    Fighters are airplanes that can move over land or sea at the

    rate of 4 moves per round. They have a limited range,

    however, of 20 moves before they must refuel. Fighters can

    refuel by landing in conquered cities or on one of your

    aircraft carriers. Attempting to land in cities that aren't

    yours is futile.


Destroyers:


    Ships can move on sea, or can dock in captured cities. They

    move at 2 moves per round like all ships, unless they're

    heavily damaged. In this case movement drops to 1 move per

    round. Ships can be repaired by docking them (moving them

    into one of your cities). These ships are normally used to

    protect your own troop transports or to menace the enemy's.

    Ships run aground and sink if you move them onto dry land.



Submarines:



    Submarines are like the other ships except that if one should

    score a hit against an enemy ship, 3 hits worth of damage is

    done instead of 1 (enough to sink the smaller ships!).



Troop Transports:



    Troop transports are used to carry armies from one continent

    to another. They can carry up to 6 armies, less if they're

    damaged. Troop transport captains are very short-tempered and

    tend to deal abruptly with armies should too many get aboard.


Aircraft Carriers:



    Carriers can carry and refuel fighters. They can carry a

    maximum of 8, less if they're damaged.

  OPERATION


    The program will prompt you to move each piece. The prompt

    consists of a short message in the upper left corner of the

    screen, and the cursor will be positioned on the map. The

    message shows what mode you are in. The modes are:



    Move

    Survey

    Direction

    From To

    City Prod



    If no mode message is displayed, the program is not expecting

    a command. All commands consist of single keys. No carriage

    return is required.



    Direction keys:



    QWE

    A D        This is the layout of the direction keys

    ZXC        on a QWERTY keyboard.



    the cursor were situated on the letter S of your keyboard.

    For example, E means move upward and to the right. X means

    move straight down. The space bar indicates no movement.



    Each mode is explained below.



MOVE MODE



    Most of the game will be spent in move mode. In fact, the

    entire game can be played without ever leaving it. In this

    mode, the cursor will be positioned over where the piece is,

    and the top line of the display will show what the piece is.

    You can enter either a move or a command.



    A move is entered by pressing one of the direction keys

    indicating the direction that you want the piece to go in. If

    you don't want the piece to move, press the space bar.



    The following commands are available in MOVE mode:



    F     Set the piece to move towards a specified location.



    G     Set the piece (must be a fighter) moving towards the

          nearest owned city or aircraft carrier.



    H     Give the enemy 20 free moves. Do this if you feel the

          enemy is doing poorly and is not giving you a

          sufficient challenge.



    I     Set the piece to moving in a specified direction. This

          will put you in the Direction mode. See FUNCTIONS.



    K     Awaken the piece the cursor is on. See FUNCTIONS.



    L     Set the piece (a troop transport or aircraft carrier)

          in the Load Armies or Load Fighters function. See

          FUNCTIONS.



    N     Center the screen about the current position of the

          cursor.



    R     Set the piece to moving at random. See FUNCTIONS.


    S     Set the piece to be a sentry. See FUNCTIONS.



    U     If the piece is a troop transport or an aircraft

          carrier, wake up all the armies or fighters that are

          aboard.



    V     Save the game. The game will be saved in a file called

          empire.dat on the default drive. The file will be 31000

          bytes long. If your disk is too full for it, you will

          get an error mesasge. If so, insert an empty (but

          formatted) disk in and try again.



    Y     Enter SURVEY mode.



    Control C This is used to exit the program and return

          to unix.  After typing cntl C, you must type reset.



    <     Decrease delay time by 1 second. This delay time is

          the time that messages stay on the screen before the

          program moves on. The messages become redundant after a

          while, and can be speeded up with this command.


    >     Increase delay time by 1 second. Use if the messages

          flash by too fast.





SURVEY MODE



    This mode allows you to travel around and look at the map,

    alter the functions assigned to your pieces, change the

    production demands given to cities, etc. It is entered using

    the Y command from MOVE mode.



    The direction keys move the cursor around. Each time you move

    the cursor onto one of your pieces or cities, information on

    that piece or city will be displayed. Note that commands in

    SURVEY mode operate only on the piece displayed (for

    instance, you cannot operate on an army aboard a troop

    transport from the SURVEY mode).



    Most commands operate the same as in move mode. The

    differences are:



    G     that city to the nearest conquered city or aircraft

          carrier. See FIPATH.



    K     Using K when the cursor is on a city disables the

          city's FIPATH if it has one. See FIPATH.



    P     Assign new production demands to a city by putting you

          in the CITY PROD mode.



    U     Using U when the cursor is on a city awakens all the

          pieces that may be in that city.



    V,Y   Not available.



    esc   Return to MOVE mode.



DIR MODE



    This mode expects a direction key to be pressed. This will

    then assign the direction function to the piece that the

    cursor is on. See FUNCTIONS.

    Escape (the esc key) will abort this mode.





CITY PROD MODE



    This mode expects a key representing what you demand that

    your city produce be pressed. The keys are:



                                 Production Time



                        Key      Start    Continue

    armies               A         6         5

    fighters             F         12        10

    destroyers           D         24        20

    troop transports     T         36        30

    submarines           S         30        25

    cruisers             R         60        50

    aircraft carriers    C         72        60

    battleships          B         90        75



    The start time is the number of rounds required to produce a

    of rounds required to produce subsequent pieces. If you

    change the production demands of a city before it has

    completed its piece, the partially completed piece will be

    discarded.

  FROM TO MODE

    This mode is used to assign the MOVE TO function to a piece.

    Move the cursor until it is on the location that you wish to

    move the piece to, and press T (as in FROM location TO

    location).



    Note: If you are giving the MOVE TO function to a fighter,

          the cursor's distance from the fighter cannot exceed

          the fighter's fuel remaining. This also applies to

          setting the FIPATH of a city.



    Escape will abort this mode.

  FUNCTIONS



    In order to relieve the tedium of moving each piece each

    round, your pieces can be assigned various functions, under

    which they move automatically. The functions are:



    NONE            No function, or awake. You will be asked for

                    a move each turn.



    SENTRY          The piece will not move.



    RANDOM          The piece will move at random subject to the

                    following conditions:



                    1) The piece will not do anything to cause it

                    to be destroyed.



                    2) If it is an army, it will board an

                    unloaded troop transport and wake up if it is

                    next to one.



    MOVE TO         The piece is set to move towards a specified

                    the NONE function. If something is in the

                    way, you will be asked to move the piece

                    around the obstacle (this is called

                    temporarilly waking up).



    DIRECTION       The piece will move in a specified direction.

                    It will temporarilly wake up if something is

                    in its way.



    LOAD ARMIES     A troop transport can be assigned this

                    function, in which case it will go on sentry

                    duty until it is fully loaded with armies.



    LOAD FIGHTERS   Same as LOAD ARMIES, but for aircraft

                    carriers instead.



    In general, the following constraints apply:



    1) When a fighter is 10 moves out, it will temporarilly wake

    up to give you a chance to return it to a city or carrier for

    refueling. The G command comes in handy here.

    2) Armies always temporarilly wake up if they're next to an

    unconquered city.



    3) All pieces wake up if they're next to an enemy piece.

  FIPATH

    Each of your cities can be assigned a FIPATH. This is a

    location, which when a fighter lands in that city, is

    assigned to that fighter. It shows up as a MOVE TO function

    for the fighter. FIPATHS are assigned to cities from the

    SURVEY mode using the F and T commands. Clear the FIPATH

    using the K command. FIPATHs are very useful when cities are

    producing fighters far from the front, the fighters can be

    'chained' from city to city up to the front.





MISCELLANEOUS



    Other players' moves are performed while the computer is

    waiting for a command from you. This can be entertaining at

    times, like when a piece is destroyed while you are trying to

    move it! In any case, there is a 10 to 20 round maximum

    spread between players. If you exceed this limit, no more

    commands will be accepted until the other players have caught

    up a bit.



    Watch out on the map displays. The locations of enemy pieces

    detected them! Remember that the map displays only a history

    of what you have seen before.



    If the message OVERPOP should appear, the game is saturated

    with too many pieces. No more will be produced until some are

    destroyed.



    The computer operated players play by the same rules and

    under the same conditions that you do. It has no special

    advantages, though it may appear otherwise at times.



    When a new game is started, it may take 100 to 200 rounds of

    play before you discover the other players (or they discover

    you!). Be patient, it's a large map.



    Be careful of whether you are in MOVE mode or SURVEY mode.

    Entering many commands in MOVE mode when you thought you were

    in SURVEY mode can run ships aground and drown armies

    inadvertantly.



    When in MOVE mode, and the cursor is on a troop transport,

    transport is to be moved or an army that is aboard it. Moving

    the wrong one can run the transport aground or drown the

    army.

