Empire Deluxe Enhanced Edition
Game Rules and Concepts
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Unit Classifications and Unit Types
Units are generally classified into four groups, corresponding to the four World Levels in the game.
The four classes are:
Orbital Units - These units can be found protecting from high above the map in orbit. More details on this group are located here.
Air Units - These units 'fly' through the air, ignoring the normal terrain effects of the ground below.
Ground Units - These units are based on the surface of the planet. The ground class has three sub classes associated with it. These are:
Sea Units - units that can only traverse the waters
Land Units - units that can only operate on dry land
Surface Units - units that can travel both on some sea and land squares
Sub-Surface Units - Also known as sub-ground units, units of this type travel deep below the ground level.
Units also have a Unit Type, which defines the aspects of the unit. Examples of unit types are Bomber, City, Armor and Sea Bees. These types are defined in a Unit Database, which had been constructed before the game began. It is possible to edit the unit database for variations on game play.
City Types - City type units are at the core of Empire. These are the coveted prizes of the game.
Producers - Producer units are units that can produce other units.
Constructors - Constructors are units that build other units.
The game has four "World Levels" which units can pass through. These levels are stacked on top of each other. It is possible to have a unit in each level of a square at one time.
The level of a unit affects its ability to be seen and engaged in combat.
The levels are
Orbital Level - This is the plane high above the battlefield. Units at this level cannot do battle with units at any other level. The one exception to this is if a unit is in Re-Entry, that unit may be vulnerable ranged fire from ground units.
Air/Overflight Level - This is the level for flying machines. Units at this level can engage units in both the Air level and the Ground level.
Ground Level - This is the level where non-flying units exist. Units at this level can engage units in the Air, Ground, and Sub-Ground levels.
Sub-Ground Level - This is the level deep under the ocean. Units at this level can engage units in the Ground and Sub-ground levels.
Stacking And World Levels
There are cases where Air units can be at ground level (two planes in the same square), and ground units can be at the Air level (a truck has just dropped another unit). These conditions are temporary, and that unit will seek its natural level as soon as it is able. The Orbital and Sub-Ground levels can only have one unit each at a time in a square.
When stacking occurrings (two ground units on a road for example), the air and the ground level are considered full, and no further air or land units may attempt to pass through this location until the units make room in that square.
Unit Movement and Terrain Effects
The units in the game, just like pieces in chess, can only move a maximum number of squares each turn. This number of maximum squares varies with each unit, and is hereafter referred to as that unit's "Move" or "Movement Points". A unit does not have to move its full Move if the player doesn't wish it to. In fact it doesn't have to move at all. Movement is from square to adjacent square as well as any adjacent diagonal square. This gives a unit eight basic directions it may move in. Units with a Move greater than one square per turn do not have to move in a straight line. They may zigzag, weave or even double back and go back the way they came.
Air units have a limited number of squares they may go before they must land to refuel. This limited number of squares is referred to as "Range". Refueling is accomplished by entering the same square as a friendly unit that can transport them. Missiles also have range, but cannot refuel. Units that move their full range without refueling, crash and burn.
Units with Range that are not being carried by a friendly unit will expend movement points every turn, regardless of whether or not they have moved. The exception to this is ground based units and units that have landed.
Units that have no movement points will not be able to move on their own, and can only be moved by being transported by an appropriate unit.
A player will be warned that a fighter is about to move beyond
its range and will be unable to safely return under current conditions. The
message SHORT ON FUEL appears in the Unit Info and Message Bar and asks the
player to confirm the order. This warning is very subtle, and possibly could be
missed. A more overt warning, the Aircraft Out of Range Warning, can be toggled
from the preferences menu to prevent you from overlooking this situation.
Some units are not able to enter certain types of squares. Land units may only move into land squares. Sea units may only move into water squares. No unit can enter an edge square. A unit may not be able to enter a square occupied by another friendly unit, even if it is to get to a square that is on the other side of that unit. The following are some of the common cases a unit may enter a square occupied by a friendly unit:
The moving unit is either able to load or be loaded by the unit already in the square.
The unit is an air unit and there is only one other air or ground unit in that square
The unit is an orbital unit and there is not a unit at the orbital level in that square
The unit is a sub-surface unit, and there is not another sub-surface unit in the square, and the ground level units in the square allow sub-surface units underneath them.
Both units are ground units and the square has a road in it.
Individual terrain types have a cost for ground and sub-ground units to enter. Air and Orbital units will experience a one movement point cost regardless of the terrain, though there are some impassible terrain types for certain air units (Helicopters cannot enter Peak squares, for example). The lowest cost to enter a square should always be 1 movement point.
The purpose of roads in the game is to offer increased mobility in the theater of operations. Roads allow units to negate the effects of terrain, and even make some previously impassible terrain passable.
Note that roads do not increase the speed of a unit. They increase a unit's mobility. A unit on a road will not have increased speed. However, the terrain cost for entering the square with the road is now only 1.
If a unit is on a road on an otherwise impassible square, that unit can only exit via the road network.
Roads also allow ground units to pass over each other. Up to two ground units may be in a square where there is a road.
Roads negate the movement effects of Rain.
Engineers, Sea Bees, Cities, and Oil Facilities can build roads. The amount of time required to build a road depends on the underlying terrain and the unit itself.
Some units are capable of destroying roads. These units will never fail to destroy the road, but will always experience a cost of one movement point to perform that action. Range fire attacks directed at the open ground may also destroy roads, though there is a chance the attack will fail.
Orbital Units and Re-Entry
Orbital Units are units that traverse the Orbital Plane. They are not capable of normal movement outside of this plane.
Most Orbital units do not start out in the orbital plane, however. They require launching. Once launched, an orbital unit is capable of moving around the map.
Some orbital units, missiles for example, are able to re-enter the planet's atmosphere. This could cause them to be vulnerable to range fire from ground units.
An Orbital Unit that has not been launched should display the message "AWAITING LAUNCH SEQUENCE".
Take-Off /Landing /Diving / Rising
Air Units are capable of "Take Off", which is a vertical move from the ground level to the air level. The movement cost for this is one movement point.
Subsequently, air units can also "Land" on another unit underneath them at the ground level, provided that unit can transport the air unit. This also costs one movment point. Some air units, the Helicopter for example, can land on open ground. While landed, the unit will not lose movement points due to range. If it cannot load onto the unit, it will then try to fly over the transporting unit.
The Submerged Submarine may be capable of "Diving" in a square. When diving, the unit will move from the ground level to the sub-surface level. In the case of the Submerged Submarine, it will also change into a Deep Submarine to cope with the new conditions. The Deep Submarine may move back to the ground level by "Rising". In this case, the Deep Submarine would change into a Submerged Submarine.
Some unit types are capable of "changing" or "morphing" into new unit types. For example, an Infantry unit can turn itself into an Airbase. A unit must not have moved that turn in order for it to morph.
A unit cannot both move and change during the same turn. A unit that changes may not move for the remainder of the turn.
The name of the unit may change when the unit changes. This all depends on the unit's specifications.
Unit Transportation: Loading, Unloading, Dropping, Picking Up
Some units are able to carry other units. If this is possible, then the unit doing the carrying is referred to as the Host Unit.
If a unit is being carried, it can also be said that that unit is being hosted. Some units are only able to perform a particular action while hosted.
A Host Unit will have a Portage Capacity. This specifies the amount of cargo the unit can carry. This value can be "Unlimited".
Each hosted unit will have a Portage Value. This is the amount of space the unit takes up. A host unit sums up its hosted units' Portage costs. This value can never exceed its Portage value. In other words, it cannot fill up beyond capacity.
When being hosted, some units will have limited capabilities. They may not be able to move, scan or conduct range fire. This depends on the unit type of both the host and the hosted.
Loading is the process where a unit becomes hosted by another unit. In this case, the hosted unit will have to expend movement points to be loaded. In some cases, the unit can become hosted by moving onto the host unit. (Sometimes this is not allowed depending on the unit - Example - one unit cannot be walking onto a flying air unit).
Loading can also occur when two units share a common host, a load command is issued to one, and the other unit will become hosted by that unit. This has no movement cost. For example, a Truck and an Infantry are both hosted by a city. The Truck issues the Load Command, and the Infantry will load onto the Truck at no cost.
Unloading occurs in a similar fashion as loading. In one situation, the hosted unit can exit the host, costing movement points to enter the adjacent square. This may not always be allowed, depending on the unit types (Example - An Infantry cannot walk off an Air Transport).
Unloading can also occur when the host unit is hosted. It may be possible for the host unit to issue an unload command, and the hosted unit can exit the on host, causing the two units to share a host. (Example: A Transport in a City can unload an Infantry...They now share the same host - The City). This has no movement cost.
Dropping is different from unloading. The entire action occurs in the same square. A unit that is hosted may only be dropped when its host is a ground or air unit, the host is not itself hosted, and there is no other ground unit in the square. (Example: A Heavy Artillery in a Truck can be dropped in the open, or an Infantry in an Air Transport can be dropped on an open square). In a drop, the host unit does not experience any movement cost, but the dropped unit is not able to move the remainder of the turn.
Picking Up is different from loading. The entire action occurs in the same square. The unit picking up must be a ground unit, and must be above the unit to be picked up. The unit to be picked up must not have previously moved that turn. If picked up, the picked up unit cannot move again for the turn. The host does not experience a movement cost.
Combat is the meat of conquest and thus a very important part of the game. The exact mechanics of combat are quiet complicated. If you wish to know more about them, read Combat Mechanics.
There are four ways to engage the enemy in combat. These are
Combat by movement is quite simple. If you wish to attack an enemy unit or city, just like chess, all you need do is move the unit you wish to do the attacking, into the same square as the unit you wish to attack. Unlike chess, the results of this attack are not a foregone conclusion, but instead are determined randomly using a calculation of odds. But like chess, someone's piece will be removed from the game as a result.
Be aware that the unit's World Level does play a part in whether or not a unit can engage another unit in combat.
There are several different types of combat that can occur, depending on the type of units involved and the terrain in the defender's square. These types are
The attacker, if victorious, will enter the square. The defender is destroyed, along with all of the units it carried. If there is a unit at both the air level and the ground level, it will only engage the air level unit and not enter the square.
The attacker, if victorious, will capture the defending unit. The attacking unit will be lost, also called "Consumed", or it may change into another unit. (Example - Armor that captures a city without any loss of hit points will be consumed, but leave an Infantry Unit in the captured city).
Note that some units within a captured unit may be destroyed or captured as well.
The attacker expends movement, but does not enter the square. The enemy unit is either captured or killed.
This attack is used when trying to disrupt a city's production or kill a unit inside the city. The attacker expends movement, but does not enter the square. If a unit inside the city is hit, it is destroyed. If the defending city is hit, it will have to restart its production. Some units can also cause damage to the city's production efficiency when a city's production is hit.
Siege combat is generally conducted against Forts. With this attack, the attacker must first fight each unit inside the fort until they are all destroyed. Then the attacker engages the fort itself for either a capture or kill. Some units get a defensive bonus for fighting inside of a Fort.
Ranged Fire Combat is fairly simple as well. A unit must have ranged capability against its target, and be within range of that target. Units that have already moved during the current turn cannot conduct range fire.
Range fire is accomplished by selecting the appropriate action button or menu item, and then selecting the target square where the fire is to take place. If the unit is capable of firing at that moment, it will attempt to hit the unit in the target square. If the attacking unit loses, it suffers no damage.
Units may only conduct range fire once per turn, and only if they have not moved. If attacking a fort, the units inside the fort must be destroyed before the range fire will attack the fort itself. Some ranged fire units can also bomb cities.
Most ranged fire units can fire beyond their sighting range. It is possible to fire at a unit in a square and not see the combat results (or even know if the unit was still there to be hit).
Ranged fire from ground based ranged fire units like Light Artillery or Cruisers may also be conducted against roads and mines.
Combat By Defensive (Ranged) Fire
Some ranged fire units, like the Anti-Aircraft Unit, can also perform Defensive Fire Attacks. These attacks take place while it is not the owning player's active turn.
In order for a unit to be able to perform defensive fire, the following conditions must be true:
The unit is capable of defensive fire (Artillery units are not)
The unit did not move or fire during the previous active turn
The target of the defensive fire is performing a movement action within the range of the firing unit.
When defensive fire occurs, the firing unit will automatically engage the target unit. The firing unit will not be able to conduct defensive fire again in that turn. It will, however, be able to fire again during its regular turn.
Missiles do not directly engage the enemy as much as they explode their ordinance in the square they occupy. This is called detonation attack. For the detonation attack to occur, the missile must be in the same square as the target, having re-entered from the Orbital Level.
The player will invoke the "Detonate" action, and the unit will explode. A detonation is not a sure thing, and the unit may still miss its target. A successful nuclear detonation will destroy all units at the Over-flight and Ground levels, and possibly leave Wasteland behind.
The outcome of combat can be influenced by various conditions met by either the attacker or defender. Some of these conditions are
The unit types of the attacker and defender.
The defender's terrain for defending ground units.
The Unit Combat Effectiveness of both units.
If the defender is "dug - in".
If the defender is "landed".
If the attacker is "crippled".
Either player's combat handicap.
A unit becomes crippled when it has lost at least half of its hit points. This will cause the unit to attack less effectively. The crippled nature of a defender does affect combat.
A crippled unit will also have its movement capability reduced by half.
To regain hit points, a unit must be repaired. Units can be repaired by entering a friendly unit that has the capability to repair them (For example, a City or Port can repair a Battleship). The unit to be repaired must rest, doing nothing for the entire turn.
An Engineer Unit inside a Fort can repair the Fort. The Engineer must be instructed to do the repairs, for it will not do so automatically. This is called "Hosted Repair", where the unit is able to repair its host.
Some ground unit types have the capability to "Dig-In". When dug-in, the unit will not be able to move, but if attacked, will defend better than it would otherwise. It takes a turn for a unit to either "dig-in" or "dig-out".
To dig in, a unit must not move for an entire turn. To dig out, the unit must wait one turn.
Some units in siege situations will receive a dig-in bonus just for being hosted by unit being attacked.
Combat / Production / Neutral Handicaps
Handicaps are used in a game to either even the playing field between commanders of different strategic capability, or to change the pace of the game.
Handicaps are based on a number, with 100 being the average. The lower the handicap number, the better the advantage for the player. So a value of 50 would give a player more advantages than a player with a value of 100, and conversely, a value of 200 would have less advantage than a player with a value of 100.
There are three handicap values in the game:
Combat Handicap - Adjusting this will directly influence the probability of success for a combat round.
Production Handicap - Adjusting this will directly influence the time it takes to produce units or increase production efficiency of a city when it is not producing anything.
Neutral Handicap - This is a combat handicap that is applied towards combat with neutral cities and units.
Unit Combat Effectiveness and
Experience
In combat, the defender and attacker's unit combat effectiveness ratings are
compared to yield a slight advantage/disadvantage from normal combat conditions.
Units will wear down after being in each combat, and lose some effectiveness. In
order to regain effectiveness, a unit must rest - doing nothing for that turn. There are
six effectiveness levels. These are (highest to lowest):
Fresh
Rested
Ready
Used
Tired
Exhausted
After each successful combat, a unit gains a little bit of experience. If a unit gains enough experience, it improves in its ability to be effective.
The experience levels for units are (highest to lowest):
Hardened
Proven
Green
All new units start with the experience level of "Green". At this level, the maximum unit effectiveness available will be "ready". For "Proven" units, it will be "Rested", and for "Hardened" units, it will be "Fresh".
Be aware that in combat, only the difference in effectiveness is considered. Experience does not directly play a factor. So for example, two "Exhausted" units will fight with no advantages/penalties, even if one is "Proven" and the other "Green". And a Used Green unit will have some advantages against a 'Tired Hardened' unit.
There are four "Exploration Modes" in the game. These modes determine how much terrain and what units are visible to you at any point in time during the game.
All terrain is marked as unexplored at the beginning of the game and no units other than your own will be visible. Unexplored terrain appears as solid black squares. It is not truly a terrain type, but is used to obscure those squares that the player has not yet explored. Exploring a square is done by moving a unit close enough to the square to be within the unit's base ground scanning range. Unexplored terrain can be looked at as a set of black tiles covering the map. Each time a player moves one of their pieces next to one of these tiles, it is removed and the true terrain type underneath it is revealed. Each player must explore the map separately. You may benefit from another player's exploration if you enter into an Explore Treaty with him.
At the beginning of the game, you can see all the terrain on the map, but have no idea where cities and other units are. (Note: the Standard AI is currently not able to play games of this mode).
Terrain and City-Types Visible
The terrain can be seen, and any city units will be initially displayed as neutrals, including your opponent's cities. When you are able to see them with your own units, they will reveal their true ownership.
All terrain and all units and their rightful owners will always be visible.
With the exception of the "Terrain and All Units Visible" exploration mode, your units must be able to physically spot your opponents units to maintain the enemy's location.
Spotting a unit depends on the unit types and the levels involved, as well as other factors such as weather.
Sightings appear on your map, and are not removed until you have a unit that can confirm there is no longer an enemy unit at that location.
Various types of weather may affect the visibility of a unit. See the weather section for more details.
Cities are able to produce new units. The production of a unit takes time measured by game turns. A city can never instantly produce a unit. It must always take at least one turn.
Cities that continue to produce the same type of unit may gain a production benefit to represent that they do not have to retool their factories. If a city produces the same exact type of unit consecutively, every unit past the first one produced has its production time reduced. This bonus only lasts as long as the city continues to produce that unit consecutively.
Several factors can impact a citiy's ability to produce. These include the city's production efficiency and its unit specialization, the player's production handicap, use of supply units, and the resource drain.
Some cities may have a production specialization in one particular type of unit. A city that is specialized for a particular unit type, produces the unit in 20% less time than it normally would. Unfortunately, it will take that city 10% more time to produce any other type of unit.
Example: Fred's city of New Orleans is specialized in Fighters. The first time Fred produces a Fighter at New Orleans it will only take him 10 (12 minus 20% of 12 which is approximately 2) turns instead of 12. Each consecutive Fighter will only take 8 turns instead of the usual 10. Fred, however, has decided to produce a Battleship at New Orleans next. Fred's first Battleship will take him 66 (60 plus 10% of 60) turns to complete. Any Battleships he produces consecutively after that will take him 55 turns to produce.
Each city in the game has a Production Efficiency rating. This Production Efficiency is a measure of how good that city is at producing units and is expressed as a percentage. This percentage may range from 1% and up, with 100% being the average. A city with a 100% Production Efficiency produces units in the normal times listed for them to be produced. A city with a Production Efficiency lower than 100% is less efficient and takes more time to produce a unit. A city with a Production Efficiency greater than 100% is more efficient and will take less time to produce a unit. The exact effect on time depends on the exact Production Efficiency. As a general guideline, a city with a Production Efficiency of 50% will take twice as long to produce a given unit; a city with a Production Efficiency of 150% will take 1/3rd less time to produce a given unit. Production Efficiencies are reduced by one-tenth of their value each time the city is successfully attacked by a Bomber.
Production Efficiency for a city can be improved by selecting "No Production" as the production option. Every turn a city spends in "No Production" mode, increases the production efficiency based on its current efficiency as specified below:
|
If the City's current Production Efficiency is: |
It will take this many turns to improve the Production Efficiency by 1%: |
|
Up to 104% |
1 turn |
|
105%-114% |
2 turns |
|
115%-124% |
3 turns |
|
125%-134% |
4 turns |
|
135%-144% |
5 turns |
|
145%-154% |
6 turns |
|
155%-164% |
7 turns |
|
165%-174% |
8 turns |
|
175%-184% |
9 turns |
|
185%-194% |
10 turns |
| etc. | etc. |
Production Supply Opportunities
Supply units can also aid in the production of units. A supply unit that is used towards unit production can reduce the turns to complete by one. When a supply unit is used in this fashion, it is consumed. Remember that a city can never instantly produce a unit, so do not waste more supply that you can use.
Resource Drain and the "Units Before Resource Drain" Value
What is the Resource Drain?
Unfortunately in real life, war materials are not just expended on creating new units, but also in supporting, repairing and supplying those that already exist. To simulate this effect, the number of units a player may have on the board before his production of new units is affected is limited. This number is determined by the number of cities the player currently owns. As the ratio of friendly units to cities increases, the amount of time it takes to produce a new unit also increases. The exact effect it has on production is too complicated to describe here in, but begins to affect production capability when the ratio of units to cities roughly exceeds 2 to 1.
So, having a large force can cause a drain on your future ability to produce
units. This is termed the "Resource Drain". The result of the resource
drain is increased production time for a producer.
Whether or not you will experience a resource drain is determined at the beginning of your turn, before any units are produced or constructed in that turn.
The barometer to gauge whether or not you are about to experience a resource drain is called the "Units Before Resource Drain Value" or "Drain Value". Its value is the number of units that can be produced before the resource drain begins to take effect. If the number is negative, on the next turn all of your cities will experience production penalties when they begin to produce a unit unless it is adjusted.
The resource drain does not affect construction times.
Adjusting the Resource Drain Value
There are numerous ways to adjust your Units Before Resource Drain Value. These are:
Switch cities In Production To No Production - cities in no production mode are able to better apply themselves to reducing the resource drain, regardless of production efficiency.
Capture more Cities - the more cities, the more units you can build without experiencing the resource drain.
Reduce your number of units - either through combat, gifting or disbanding...If you reduce your total number of units, you will positively affect your Drain Value. Be aware that the drain value represents the likelihood of the Resource Drain coming into effect for the following turn. So it is possible that through your normal combat operation your number of units will drop to an acceptable level.
Exploiting Resources - Oil Facilities that exploit resources will behave as a city with no production.
Applying Supply Units To Adjust The Drain Value - every supply unit applied to the resource drain will act as a city in no production. Be aware that this is a stopgap measure, for the supply unit is consumed. To be used, the supply unit must be in a city.
Enter into a beneficial Supply Treaty with another player - You will also be able to adjust your drain value through supply treaties with other players. Be aware that this can be a double-edged sword, and can adversely affect your Drain Value if your treaty partner is needy.
Resources represent areas where mineral deposits are. These mineral deposits, when exploited by an appropriate unit (The Oil Facility for example), will be beneficial to a player's units before resource drain value.
Resources can be either set to infinite or limited during the game setup. If limited, each resource has a resource value that is reduced by one every turn that resource is exploited. When a resource value reaches 0, that resource can no longer be exploited.
Engineers and Sea Bees are able to construct units. Construction is similar in production in that it takes a certain amount of time to construct a unit.
However, unit construction is a bit simpler than unit production. There is no efficiency, drain, or capability of other units to influence construction.
When a unit is constructed, the constructing unit is elevated to the over-flight level on top of the constructed unit, or if possible, it becomes hosted by the constructed unit. If neither situation is possible, the constructed unit is lost.
Wasteland is the result of the use of Nuclear weapons. It makes a square impassible for ground and sub-ground units for the remainder of the game.
Air units and Orbital Units are not affected by wasteland.
There is no command to "clean" or remove wasteland. Its effects are permanent.
Mines can be laid and removed by Engineers and Sea Bees. Mines essentially fight as an infantry unit on clear terrain. Laying Mines and Clearing them takes time.
When a ground unit encounters a mine, combat begins immediately. If the unit wins the combat, the mine is destroyed. If the unit loses, the unit is destroyed and the mine loses a charge. Mines begin with two charges. When all of the charges for a mine are gone, that mine is removed from play.
Although they are placed by a player during a game, mines have no allegiances. Therefore, they do not "spot" for anyone, and they will damage any ground level unit that enters the mine's location..
Just because a mine is destroyed, does not mean it will disappear from the map. A player must be able to confirm visually that a mine does not exist with units that can spot mines before its symbol is removed from the map.
Unit Gifting
Players may be allowed to give units to another player. The gifting process is
not instant, but takes a turn to complete. The units gifted are lost to the
giving player, regardless of whether or not his gift is accepted.
When a unit is given to a player, it becomes neutral, and remains that way until
it is the receiving player's turn. At that time, the receiving player will be
notified that he has pending gifts, and he may accept them or reject them. If
rejected, the unit remains neutral.
If accepted, the receiving player immediately owns the unit. It will have
whatever movement points and capabilities it had when it was given. (A unit
that was given with zero movement left will still have zero movement when received).
Units that are gifted will automatically bring their transported units with
them. Gifting cannot be initiated with a unit if it has a
host (is being
transported).
Gifts cannot be made early in PBM games until the
rapid turn sequencing is
completed.
Treaties
Treaties are considered agreements between two parties. Except for stack
treaties and teams, treaties do not prevent combat from taking place between the
parties.
Note: The "StandardAI" and "ScriptedAI" computer players do not use or consider accepting treaties.
With the exception of teams, having a treaty with a player that has the same type of treaty with another player does not mean you have a treaty with the other party. Treaties are only honored between players that have explicitly set them up.
Treaty Types
Sight - If your partner spots a unit, you will see it to. You will not see sightings received by him from another player via a treaty. Only the ones his units specifically see.
Reveal - Your partner's unit position are revealed to you. You cannot see what his units are transporting.
Explore - All map squares visible to your partner are visible to you. As your partner discovers more terrain, so shall you.
Supply - Your production excess/deficit is combined with your partners, and you both share the result. If you have multiple supply partners, your excess/deficit is equally divided before the results are calculated.
Stack - Your units can pass over your partner's on a road without combat. You can never carry your opponents units.
Teams - Teams are unique from the other treaties, in that
if you are a team member with player A, and he is a team member with player B,
you are also a team member with player B. However, if your team treaty is broken
with A, it is also broken with B.
Players on a team will combine their individual scores, and enjoy the benefits
of all of the other treaties.
Making A Treaty
One player initiates a treaty during his active turn. On the other player's
active turn, a treaty proposal is presented to him. He has his entire turn to
consider the treaty. If he accepts it, at the end of his turn the treaty becomes
active. If he rejects it or ignores it, the treaty will not become active and
play continues normally.
Treaties cannot be formed early in PBM games until the
rapid turn sequencing is
completed.
Weather can throw a wrench in the cogs of any general's plans. Weather affects both movement and sighting, but a sharp eye can help reduce the risk of fighting in unfriendly weather by studying the forecast, and observing weather system movements.
There are several types of weather, and there are two play styles available.
Weather Types
There are six types of weather:
Clear - There are no movement or sighting effects.
Fog - Surface units in fog cannot see or be seen.
Clouds - Air units in clouds cannot see or be seen. Orbital units also cannot see ground units in cloudy squares.
Rain - Rain behaves as clouds for spotting purposes. Rain adds 1 to the movement cost of the ground or air unit entering the square. This makes most terrain impassible to infantry, except on roads, where rain movement effects are negated.
Storms - Storms behave as clouds for spotting purposes. Movement in storm squares for surface and air units is not possible.
Solar Flares - Orbital units in a square with solar flares cannot see or be seen. Solar flares do not affect movement.
Weather Styles
There are two styles of weather play, these are:
Global Weather - The weather for the turn will affect every square on the map. So when the current weather is rain, it will be as if there is rain in every square. The forecast is predetermined for approximately 30 turns out, so you should not be caught unprepared.
System Weather - The weather for an individual square depends on the state of roaming weather systems throughout the map. The forecast for only the following turn for that square is available, and it is based on probabilities, not certainties. Weather systems do move, but will only move at a speed of one square per turn. The systems can change direction each turn. They also can expand and contract from turn to turn.
Some starting conditions allow for players to select their cities at start up. In this case, all cities are visible, and each player gets to choose which ones he will begin with.
Some starting conditions allow for buy points. In this situation, the player is able to "purchase" units before the game begins, and then place them on the map.
Unused Buy Points are lost. You only can buy and place units at the start of the game.
Victory Conditions And Game Type Details
New to the Empire Series are multiple ways to play out a game of Empire. When a player loses, if he still has units on the map, they will retain his colors, but he no longer controls them.
The following are new game variations for you to experiment with:
In these games, a player can win or lose when other players lose all their units or capabilities. These are
Annihilation Victory - This is the classic last man standing situation. If you have no opponents left, you win. But every enemy unit must be destroyed, even those that cannot take cities.
No "City Kill" Capability - A player is considered defeated when he has no more units that can capture cities, and no more units that can change into or produce/construct units that can capture cities.
Annihilation Loss - The player loses if all of his units are destroyed. Without this condition, players could remain in the game, with hopes they will be given more units by another player.
In these types of games, the player must control a certain number of cities for a specified number of turns to win. These are
Controlled Cities - This condition will declare a winning player when he or his team control a certain percentage of cities for a certain number of turns.
Important Cities - Cities marked with a Silver Star are considered important, and if a player achieves a specified percentage of these for a specified number of turns, he will win.
Games With A Measured Objective
In these games, the player has a goal level that he is either trying to reach to win, or stay above to avoid losing. Most also must be sustained for a period of time. These are
Average Production Efficiency - The player tries to achieve a specified Average Production Efficiency.
Total Production Efficiency Games - The player tries to achieve a specified cumulative production efficiency.
Unit Damage Strength - The player achieves a specified cumulative damage strength total.
Number Of Units - The player achieves a specified total number of units.
Reduced Average Production Efficiency - A player will lose if he fails to sustain a certain average production efficiency level.
These are games or game styles that require a capital. A yellow star demotes a player's capital. If a player's capital is captured, it is not a capital for the other player. If a player recaptures his capital, it becomes a capital again.
Neutral Gambit - Neutral Gambit is a game style where a player loads a map that has some neutral capitals on it. When the game begins, his first city will be one of those neutral capitals.
Capital Kill - A player will lose if his capital is captured.
Capital Bombing - A player will lose if his capital production efficiency drops below a certain amount for a specified period of time.
Regicide Defeat - The specified unit, typically The General, must remain in play. If all of that unit type have been destroyed, the player will lose. The units start in the player's capital.
Capture The Flag - A Flag Unit is in the game, and both sides try to capture it and take it back to their capital to score points. The flag appears at pre-defined spawn points after it is successfully returned to a capital, or after it is killed.
King of the Hill is a quest to control a specified area. The player is assumed to have control when only his units occupy the area. In this case, he receives points every turn. The Hill area is a set of locations that do not have to be next to each other. All of the specified locations are considered to be one area for control and scoring purposes.
At times you have had enough of playing a game, and want to see it played back or your enemy's position without completing the game. You do have an option to end the game early, though no winner will be declared.
We all like to win, but sometimes we either cannot win, or choose to exit gracefully while we still can. There are two options available to the player in this case. These are
Resignation - In this situation, all of your units will become neutral and you will no longer be in control of them.
Abdication - In this situation, you have decided to allow the computer player to play the game for you.
The exact algorithm (computer calculation) for combat results in the game is quite involved. Below is a rough description of how it works.
For combat, a unit type has one "Combat Type" against an opponent. These can be one of the types briefly described below:
Cannot Attack - The attacker unit type cannot engage the defender's type in combat.
Kill - The attacker unit type will move kill the defender type if it can move into the square
Capture - The attacker unit type will capture the defender's type.
Kill Or Bombard - The attacker unit type will first try to move kill, or bombard the defender.
Bomb - The attacker unit type will bomb the defender.
Bombard Kill - The attacker unit type can bombard the defender to kill it.
Kill Or Bombard (Land) - The attacker unit type will first try to move kill, or bombard the defender if the defender is landed.
Bombard Capture - The attacker unit type can bombard the defender to capture it.
Siege Kill - The attacker unit type will engage the unit in siege combat to kill it.
Siege Capture - The attacker unit type will engage the unit in siege combat to capture it.
Siege Bombard Kill- The attacker unit type will engage the unit in siege combat via bombardment to kill it.
Range Kill - The attacker unit type will conduct range fire at the defender to kill it.
Range Kill Landed - The attacker unit type will conduct range fire at the defender if it is landed to kill it.
Range Bomb - The attacker unit type will conduct range fire at the defender to bomb it.
Range Siege Kill - The attacker unit type will conduct range fire in a siege combat attack at the defender to ultimately kill it.
The attacker unit type has a combat probability associated with each attack. This will be referred to as the "base probability".
Both units have the following attributes that are used as well:
A damage value, representing the number of hits damage it does every time it hits the other unit
A hit point (or strength) value, representing the strength of the unit
Combat can be described as taking place in a series of invisible mini-turns, or Rounds. These Rounds do not actually exist but are used here to illustrate a point. When combat is initiated, the attacker's (the unit that moved into the other unit and thus started the combat) base probability is modified in various ways by terrain combat modifiers, if applicable, and various other combat conditions, such as the combat handicap for each player, dig-in status of the defender, and the crippled status of the attacker. This yields an "adjusted probability".
The adjusted probability will be at least 1% and never greater
than 99%. There are no absolutes in combat in the game. The adjusted probability
is an expression of the odds that the attacker will hit the defender during a
Round, instead of the defender hitting the attacker. Only one of the two units
involved in a combat will score a hit during any given combat Round. When a hit
is scored, the unit that is hit takes damage equal to the Damage Value of the
scoring unit. This damage is cumulative. When the total damage taken from hits
equals or exceeds the Damage rating of that particular unit, that unit is
destroyed and removed from the game. The rounds of combat continue until one of
the two units has been destroyed. Damage received from a combat remains on that
unit until it is repaired.
For range combat, the attacker's hit points are always considered to be 1, so the combat will end when the unit 'misses'. Range Fire combat cannot damage the attacker.
The game and Unit Database Editor both have a "Battle Odds Calculator", which can be used to calculate the adjusted probability of combat between unit types.
Here are a couple of examples, showing how the "mini-rounds" function and how damage is applied. The term "roll" is used to describe the actual random number generation to be applied to that round.
Armor vs. Infantry - Normal
The armor unit is going to attack an infantry unit on Clear Terrain. Both Units are of "Ready" effectiveness. The adjusted probability for such an attack is 50%. The "roll" for the round comes out to 45, which scores a hit for the Armor Unit. The Armor does 1 point of damage, reducing the Infantry's hit points to 0, thus killing the Infantry Unit.
Armor vs. Infantry - Infantry Dug -In
This is the same scenario as before, except that the Infantry is dug-In, setting the adjusted probability at 34%. With the "roll" at 45, this time the Infantry would score a hit on the Armor. It does 1 point of damage, reducing the Armor's hit points from 2 to 1. Then, in the second mini-round, the "roll" is a 28. The Armor does 1 point of damage, reducing the Infantry's hit points to 0, thus killing the Infantry Unit. The armor unit is now crippled, but do note that the crippling of that unit did not affect the adjusted probability. The adjusted probability is only calculated before any combat begins. However, in this unit's next engagement, it will suffer from the effects of this crippling.
A 'Ready' Cruiser vs. A 'Tired' Battleship
In this example, the Battleship is fully repaired, but is tired from a few previous engagements. The adjusted probability in this scenario is 56%. Since both of these units have many hit points (Cruiser 8, the Battleship 12), this will last several rounds. The Battleship does 3 points of damage on a hit, while the Cruiser does 2.
In round one, the "roll is a 50, scoring a hit for the Cruiser, reducing the Battleship from 12 to 10 hits.
In round two, the "roll" is a 37, scoring a hit for the Cruiser, reducing the Battleship from 10 to 8 hits.
In round three, the "roll" is a 68, scoring a hit for the Battleship, reducing the Cruiser from 8 hits to 5.
In round four, the "roll" is a 52, scoring a hit for the Cruiser, reducing the Battleship from 8 to 6.
In round five, the "roll" is a 78, scoring a hit for the Battleship, reducing the Cruiser from 5 hits to 2.
In round five, the "roll" is a 60, scoring a hit for the Battleship, reducing the Cruiser from 2 hits to 0, destroying the Cruiser.
Range Fire with Cruiser vs. Armor (in Forest)
In this example, both units are "Ready" with the Armor Unit in a forest. The Cruiser has chosen to conduct range fire, and the adjusted probability for this type of attack is 34%. Since this is a range fire situation, the Cruiser is assumed to have 1 hit point. The Cruiser's Range Fire Damage is 1.
In round one, the roll is a 31, scoring a hit for the Cruiser, and reducing the Armor unit from 2 to 1.
In round two, the roll is a 39, scoring a hit for the Armor, ending the combat. The Cruiser is not damaged.