Imperium
1990 computer games PC gamesAtari ST gamesAmiga games
4X gameseconomy gamesstrategy gamesgrand strategypolitical games
Improved version of classic space exploration games from 8-bit computers - as leader of galactic empire you set out to take over the Universe... for no particular reason.
Space conquest and exploration games have 3 main features: they all are the same, their target group were always the people with too much time in their hands, and they all are the same. I know that point 1 and 3 are actually the same one repeated, but I’ve done it to show how unoriginal usually space conquest and exploration games really were. Imperium is not exactly an exception - as leader of an empire, you start an expansion of your empire from Earth as a home planet. You will have to compete with other empires that will try to take over as many planets as they can.
We start only with 5 planets close to the Sun, and we have to build up the economy of our empire, take care of the defence forces, build space fleets to explore and invade other systems, use trade, diplomacy or brutal force to deal with other empires. We have plenty of tools to prepare for the conquest - from building industry on the planets, through options to define our spaceships (their size, speed, loading capacity, etc) and population growth. To make things a bit more complicated, we also have to, from time to time, call the election and face our citizens. Another interesting bit was the staff list - we have a number of positions to fill and a list of people to choose from. Basing on their skills, charisma and loyalty we have to appoint them to be fleet commanders, ambassadors, planet leaders, but just like in real life there isn’t enough good people to cover them all, so... we have to choose from those crappy ones.
A very complexed grand strategy game, which could be seen as a strong point, but also as a flaw. While the data were split into different windows, it was easy to put all the data we need simultaneously on the screen, but at the same time it was challenging to deal with all the aspects of running an empire.
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