                             EMPIRE



                  (The Wargame of the Century)







                    Written by Walter Bright

                Copyright (c) 1982, 1983, 1984 by



                       Northwest Software

                       13928 129th Ave NE

                       Kirkland, WA 98034

                         (206) 823-5388





    This software is furnished under a license for use only by 

    the purchaser. This software may not be copied or made 

    available to any other persons. Title and ownership of the 

    software shall remain at all times in Northwest Software.



    Northwest Software assumes no liability for the use or misuse 

    of its software. Liability for any warranties implied or 

    stated is limited to the replacement of the distribution 

    floppy disk should it be determined to be defective within 

    thirty days of its purchase.





INTRODUCTION



    Congratulations! You have purchased one of the most popular 

    games on mainframe computers, now made available on the 

    personal computer by Northwest Software. Empire was 

    originally written by Walter Bright for a PDP-10 at Caltech. 

    The game has since been converted to run on a DEC VAX, and 

    has been played for years at Caltech, MIT and at VAX 

    installations. Empire was rewritten from scratch to run on 

    smaller computers.



    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.

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REQUIREMENTS



    The following hardware and software is required to run 

    Empire:



    o     8088 or 8086 based computer (such as IBM PC or XT).



    o     PC-DOS or MS-DOS version 1.1 or later.



    o     5 1/4" floppy disk drive capable of reading MS-DOS 

          format floppy disks.



    o     128kb of memory.



    o     IBM monochrome display adapter with IBM monochrome 

          display.



                                -OR-



          IBM color display adapter with color or b/w display.



                                -OR-



          One of the following terminals as the console device:



          ANSI Standard compatible

          DEC VT100

          DEC VT52

          Heath/Zenith H19/Z19

          Lear Siegler ADM-3A (capable of lower case)

          ADDS Viewpoint

          Televideo 925

          Hazeltine 1500



    o     An extra serial port and terminal for each additional 

          live player desired (2 maximum).



    o     EMPIRE distribution floppy with the following files on 

          it:



          EMPIRE.EXE     EMPIRE2.EXE    (backup copies)

          A.MAP          A2.MAP

          B.MAP          B2.MAP

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GETTING STARTED



    Perform the following steps to get EMPIRE running on your 

    computer:



    1)    Follow your computer's instructions to boot up MS-DOS.



    2)    Make a backup copy of your EMPIRE distribution disk. 

    (EMPIRE is copyrighted, but is not copy-protected, so you can 

    make backups (for your personal use only) using the normal 

    MS-DOS copy command.)



    3)    Place your EMPIRE distribution disk in the default 

    drive.



    4)    Type EMPIRE. The drive light will come on for a few 

    seconds, after which this will appear on your display:



    Empire version x.x



    Copyright (c) 1983, 1984 by Northwest Software



    Written by Walter Bright



    Do you want the speaker turned on (Y or N)? N 



    5)    Press the Y key if you would like sound. Press N or 

    RETURN if not. Note: Press N if you are not running EMPIRE on 

    an IBM PC.



    6)    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 on the default drive. If it 

    is not there, this step will be skipped.



    7)    EMPIRE will ask how many players are playing. Two or 

    three can play, but you can designate the computer to run any 

    or all of the players if you don't have someone to play 

    against. Note that you will need an extra serial port and 

    terminal for each human opponent.



    8)    Now come a series of questions about each player. You 

    must decide for each player whether he is real or is played 

    by the computer, and what he has for a display (computer 

    players don't need a display).



    9)    If you select a player to play off of com1: or com2:, 

    you must have these serial ports installed and a terminal 

    attached to them. The characteristics of com1: and com2: must 

    also have been set up prior to running EMPIRE by using the 

    MS-DOS MODE command. There is more information about setting 

    up the serial ports at the end of this booklet.



    10)   The display option 'Conform to MS-DOS protocol' is used 

    when you are running MS-DOS from a terminal. This option is 

    also useful if your machine does not have IBM PC compatible 

    display hardware, but can emulate a terminal.



    11)   Computer players can be set to 'No display'. Use this 

    option if you don't have a com1: or com2: to display them on.



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

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

    off the power.



    13)   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



    For your first game, pressing A for armies is recommended.



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

    section for how to play the game.

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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

    B          battleship



    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

    8          battleship



    The display is the same for the IBM monochrome display, 

    except that the land is shown as a block. For the color 

    display, OAFDTSRCB is used for each player, but Player 1 is 

    yellow, Player 2 is red and Player 3 is purple. Also, the 

    land is green, the sea is blue and unconquered cities are 

    black.

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

    it. Beware, however, that you cannot detect enemy pieces 

    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

          troop transport     3

          submarine           2

          cruiser             8

          aircraft carrier    8

          battleship          12



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

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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, Cruisers, Battleships:



    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.

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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 letters QWEADZXC represent directions of movement, as if 

    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.



    If you have an IBM PC keyboard, the arrow keys may be used 

    instead.



    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. 

          This will put you in the From To mode. See FUNCTIONS.



    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.



    J     Turn the sound on/off.



    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 Break   This is used to exit the program and return 

          to DOS.



    <     Decrease delay time by 1/4 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 1/4 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     Using G when the cursor is on a city sets the FIPATH of 

          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 

    piece for the first time. The continuing time is the number 

    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.

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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 

                    location. When it arrives, it will return to 

                    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.

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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 

    shown may not be accurate, as they probably moved since you 

    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, 

    the message at the top of the screen will show whether a 

    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.

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SETTING UP SERIAL PORTS





     Setting up the serial ports to work with another terminal 

     can be confusing and frustrating. Here is a scheme which 

     should work in most cases (Northwest Software does not 

     guarantee that it will work).



     Wire up an interconnecting cable as shown:



     pin              pin

      1-+------------+-1

        |            |

      7-+            +-7



      2----------------3



      3----------------2



      4-+            +-4

        |            |

      5-+            +-5

        |            |

      8-+            +-8



      6-+            +-6

        |            |

     20-+            +-2



     Set up the serial port with the following command:



          mode com1:96,n,8,1



     which sets it up to 9600 baud, no parity, 8 data bits, 1 

     stop bit. Set up the terminal to match. The connection can 

     be verified by typing:



          copy con: com1:



     Type a few characters on the PC, ending with a few ^Zs and 

     RETURNs. The characters should show up on the terminal. To 

     check communications the other way, type:



          copy com1: con:



     And type a few characters on the terminal, ending with a few 

     ^Zs and RETURNs. The characters should show up on the 

     console. If these checks work, then EMPIRE should. 

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