IMPERIUM

 Lately, we've seen all too many games that "push the hardware to its limits."
Such technological feats seem to invariably detract from actual design, which
means the computer game industry has been producing more and more eye- and
ear-candy, and fewer and fewer thoughtful, thought-provoking, intriguing,
original games.

 As if in complete rebellion against this trend, Matthew Stibbe has come up with
a game designed mostly in shades of gray, without much in the way of sound
effects or music, and with virtually no animation. The result is simply one of
the best computer games ever to appear, bar none. IMPERIUM is a fascinating,
complex, interstellar strategy and resource-management simulation that is so
flexible, it can be used to model almost any military, diplomatic, or economic
situation you might imagine.

 Drawing upon such games as REACH FOR THE STARS and STELLAR CRUSADE, IMPERIUM
goes well beyond the parameters of those designs, without sacrificing their
degree of playability. On the contrary, I'd say that IMPERIUM overcomes the
problems and limits of the previous games in this genre, and sets the standard
against which all future military/economic simulations will be measured. (This
review is based on the Amiga version)

 One of the most significant strengths of the design is the windowing interface.
Stibbe and Wilson have created a series of menus, windows, and sliders that work
better than any GUI I've yet encountered. Both Apple and Commodore could learn
much from this interface: It is economical, intuitive, uncluttered, and flexible
in ways none of the major GUIs have been. For instance, when menus are opened,
and then sub-menus are opened from those, the relation between the different
menus is organized simply, so that making a choice from a sub-menu requires a
minimum of pointer movement and consideration. Menu windows can also be
temporarily closed, so that they take up no more room on the screen than half
the average Amiga string gadget, making it possible to move quickly from menu to
menu without having to overlay one menu on top of another.

 Within menus, choices are made using a combination of text, numerical, and
mouse input, depending on the information the simulation needs. In certain cases
(such as the Imperial Production window, or Create Spaceship Class window),
sliders are relative: Increasing one slider decreases all the related sliders a
relative amount, so that the overall balance of surplus and deficit in
production is maintained. For instance, if the player increases the balance of
military production in the overall economy, this reduces the percentage of
technological, industrial, and consumer production. If both military and
industrial production are increased relative to technology and consumer
production, the latter two are reduced all the more. This provides a quick and
effective means of perceiving the relationships between such variables in the
game design. Choices have both benefits and costs, which are clearly linked.

 To describe the game more generally, IMPERIUM is not unlike REACH FOR THE STARS
in its essentials. Your goal is to start out with one empire (consisting
initially of Mars, Earth, Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter), and to expand it into as
much of the local universe as possible, by conquering and developing as many
planets and solar systems as you can. Meanwhile, the computer is running four
other empires of different sizes, strengths, and locations that are attempting
to do the same thing. As all the empires expand, conflicts invariably ensue, and
the results reflect the overall relative strengths and weaknesses of the
empires. Success comes either when you have defeated all the other empires, or
when you have managed to survive a thousand years (or, in other words, a
thousand game turns...!). Neither kind of success is anywhere near as easy to
achieve as in RFTS.

 In comparison with REACH FOR THE STARS, though, IMPERIUM contains much more in
the way of economic development and competition, military strategy and
construction, and perhaps most importantly, diplomacy. The other empires in the
game are active, complex presences from the very beginning, and what the player
does in terms of managing trade relations, import and export taxes, military
alliances, and information alliances has substantial effects on the other
aspects of the game.

 There are twenty different commodities that are potentially traded between
planets and empires, and each planet has greater or lesser capacities for
manufacture of the various kinds of commodities. Agricultural planets are good
for producing foodstuffs, mineral planets are useful for industry, and so on.
Trade is affected by player-controlled embargoes (which can be customized to
include any combination of the twenty commodities, or all of them, within a
particular empire, or with all other empires); the setting of import and export
taxes or subsidies; the building of spaceships or defensive antennae; the size
and growth of each empire; interstellar wars; and the particular mix of
planetary resources available to each empire. It is possible, for instance, to
make your empire a big exporter of a particular important commodity that all the
other empires come to rely on, and then to manipulate the other empires'
economies by taxing, subsidizing, or restricting trade on that commodity. Of
course, cutting off the supply of a crucial export could trigger war with one of
the computer-controlled empires.

 Trade affects the overall economics of the empire; without the necessary
restrictions, players may find their planets trading away to other empires those
goods crucial for the continued expansion and development of their own empire.
On the other hand, too many trade restrictions can cause a player's empire to
wither on the vine. The empire's treasury and each individual planet's treasury
are separate, which makes it possible to balance resources available from planet
to planet. Finances can be withdrawn from planets to pay off Imperial debt
(deficit spending is all too possible in the game design, especially for
beginners!), or be allocated from richer to poorer planets. The empire can
finance different aspects of a planet's development (material infrastructure,
planetary defenses, R&D) with a yearly payment, which can be allocated for any
period of time. All of this has effects on production of the commodities
available for trade.

 Overall population levels can also be controlled positively or negatively with
a single slider, though setting negative growth rates will not restrict the
expansion of underpopulated planets within the empire (which is necessary if
population must be controlled on a burgeoning, rich planet, without restricting
the growth rate of a smaller or newer planet in the empire). Ark Ships can be
built at any time to transfer up to 20% of a planet's population, and up to 98%
of its commodities, to another planet. Up to five Ark Ships can be sent out for
such purposes at any time, so it is possible to remove all of a planet's
population and commodities. Planets can be decolonized completely, which has a
negative impact on the player's overall popularity; under certain circumstances,
decolonization can become necessary or desirable, however.

 The planetary reports provide some of the most extensive information available
in the game. Planets have a wide range of features and variables, all too
numerous to elaborate here. Loyalty, Stability, and Integrity are all affected
by how well or poorly a planet is managed (as well as by war); they are prime
determinants in the collective popularity of the player throughout the empire.
Infrastructure, Defenses, Troop garrisons, Technology Level, and more are all
presented for each planet within the empire. Reports on planets outside the
empire can be more or less reliable, depending on whether such planets are
within the range of a defensive antenna, a scout ship, or within an empire with
which the player has an information alliance.

 The diplomatic side of IMPERIUM involves the regulation and maintenance of a
pool of literally hundreds of subordinates, some of whom are chosen to run
planets, take charge of fleets, and serve as ambassadors to the other empires.
Success or failure in the game depends heavily on the effective handling of
subordinates. Each subordinate has three characteristics -- Loyalty, Competence,
and Charisma -- and each characteristic can be affected by promotions,
assignments, salaries, and other things. Subordinates live normal lifespans,
die, and have to be replaced with new subordinates; the game continually
generates new subordinates for the Pool as things progress. Sometimes
subordinates will even defect and set up new empires (I've had as many as eight
new ones -- along with the default four -- to contend with during gameplay), and
disloyal subordinates can often be a major challenge during Elections. Elections
can be held anytime, and will end the game unless the player comes up with a
majority of votes. They must be held every fifty years, if the player doesn't
choose to hold them sooner.

 Subordinate control includes control of the player's own in-game
"representative," the leader of planet Earth. (Initially, though, you can move
the leader and Imperial Home Planet to whichever planet you choose.) Since this
character, like all the others in the game, has a normal lifespan, something has
to be done to extend life beyond normalcy. Nostrum, the immortality drug, is the
solution to the problem, and can be found only on certain planets. Nostrum is an
_extremely_ valuable commodity, in short supply, and has significant effects on
subordinates. Discovery and control of the Nostrum supply in the game is a
crucial issue the player will have to resolve early on.

 The military component of the design is as sophisticated, extensive, and yet
simple to handle as the other aspects of IMPERIUM. One of the first priorities
is to create useful types of spaceships. Different mixes of Gross Weight,
Engine, Armor, and Weaponry can be determined using the relative sliders, which
work like those used for Imperial Production (as described above). Gross Weight
is an overall determinant of the other three factors in the design, and
increases as your average technology level increases within the empire, so
better ships can be designed as an empire develops. Ship building takes a
certain number of years, also dependent on technology level, resources
available, and funds allocated from the Imperial Treasury for the project. The
ships you can build at the start of the game have primarily exploratory
abilities, but not much capacity in the way of defense or offense. True
offensive military power only develops later in the game.

 Players can choose the planet they wish to build ships on, and when ships are
completed, fleets of any size (up to ten) can be created and subordinates
assigned. Troops can be loaded from garrisons on the planet the ship was built
on, or on any other planet within the empire. Fleets can be decommissioned and
reconstructed elsewhere. Fleets are then given orders for invasion, exploration,
defense, or offense; they engage in any one of five different kinds of maneuvers
against other ships and planetary defenses, depending on strength, subordinate
effectiveness, and enemy capabilities.

 Troops can be created on each planet, and the player can choose between
infantry, armoured, or drop troops (the latter take up no space within the ships
in a fleet). The number of troops that can be gathered per turn on a planet
depends on population size; as in real life, garrisons take some time to build
up to an effective strength. Troops either remain on-planet for defensive
purposes (important during times of war), or can be uploaded to fleets for
invasion or defensive purposes.

 Combat goes through four stages, again much like REACH FOR THE STARS.
Opportunity fire can occur (rarely) when enemy fleets encounter each other in
space. When an antagonist fleet first enters a system, Solar System Combat
occurs; if successful, Planetary Bombardment next takes place, affecting
planetary defenses and material infrastructure (and producing some troop
losses). Finally, the Ground Assault phase begins, which is where troop
garrisons become significant factors in the game. Wars can take many years to
get through, and sap an empire's resources in the extreme; the player's
popularity decreases rapidly, planets quickly become economic disasters,
treasuries all go into huge deficits, and recovery can take a long time, if a
player is lucky enough not to have to face an election during (or any time soon
after) an unsuccessful war. Beginning players will want to stick with fairly
defensive strategies until they get a good grasp of how to manage the game.

 IMPERIUM sounds potentially daunting; fortunately, everything except
subordinate control can be allocated to a "computer subordinate," which will
manage your economic, diplomatic, and military strategies, thereby vastly
simplifying the game. It won't be long before you'll want to get your hand in
and take over from the computer, though! Computer control can be enabled and
disabled at any point during the game. Watching how the computer handles the
military and economic sides of IMPERIUM is a good way to learn how things work.

 The names of planets, empires, and subordinates can be changed to anything you
like upon startup: Name the Phroygons "Iraq," the Throygons "USA," the Droygons
"Egypt," and the Shoygons the "Soviet Union," and voila! You have a potential
simulation of a mid-east crisis, for instance. Better yet, starting levels of
the computer-controlled empires can be altered for games of varying difficulty:
Starting Wealth, Technology Level, Army Size, and Empire Size can all be
adjusted with sliders to change the difficulty level of the game (all computer
empires are affected simultaneously). You could start with four large (but poor
and primitive) computer empires; or four small (but rich and technologically
advanced) empires; or four highly-defended, high-tech (but poor) empires, and so
on. The variations made possible by the four sliders that control initial
conditions are almost endless, and make for huge variations in the kind of play
that will ensue.

 The game comes on one copyable disk, and runs on A1000s, A500s, and A2000s. (I
didn't get a chance to test it on an A3000, but it looks like it should work
without any problems.) A mouse is used for most input, with the keyboard used
for text and numeric input. The game can be installed on a hard drive with some
finagling (use ASSIGN DF0: DH0: to get the game to recognize the hard drive),
though it may require disabling the standard boot-up configuration. I wish
Electronic Arts had included HD installation procedures in the manual.

 IMPERIUM goes on, and on, and on. This review is just a small taste of the
game; yet, with as much as there is to do per turn, the game plays fast, and is
easy to learn: Easy to learn how to play, but a real challenge to learn how to
play _well_. I give IMPERIUM as many stars as there are present in the game;
it's simply a superb bit of fun, which will keep you entranced for many
thoughtful hours. At a potential thousand turns per game, with an almost
infinite number of different games possible, IMPERIUM could easily last a
lifetime.

 IMPERIUM is published and distributed by Electronic Arts.

*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253