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From: Ulrich Hannemann <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: rec.games.empire
Subject: rec.games.empire FAQ
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Date: 29 Oct 2004 15:55:27 +0200
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Summary: This FAQ describes the amazing internet game called
        Empire. It provides precise instructions explaining
        how new players can get in a game.
User-Agent: Gnus/5.09 (Gnus v5.9.0) Emacs/21.3
Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu rec.games.empire:32193

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Last-modified: 2004/10/29

      -=[ Empire FAQ ]=-


rec.games.empire is a newsgroup for discussion and hints about
Empire. This FAQ answers the basic questions on the game in general,
the technical requirements to play, and the first steps in the game.


==Description==
  * What is Empire?
  * Do I need direct internet access ("telnet") to be able to play?
  * What kinds of machines can I play from?
  * Are there "turns" in this game?
  * How long does a typical game last?
  * Where can I find out more about the game?
  * Sounds neat! How do I play?

==Connecting==
  * Where do I get a client for my machine?
  * The client asks me  to specify "host", "port",
    "country" and "password"--what should I put for these four
    things?
  * Where can I find a game to play in?
  * What long term games are going on right now, and is
    there a way I could peek in on them?

==Playing==
  * I'm keen, I can connect to a blitz, but I haven't a clue what to do! How
    do I learn how to play?
  * What's a Representative?
  * What is a BTU and how do I get more?
  * There seem to be a million commands! What are the basic commands I should
    read about first?
  * How do I build a ship?
  * How do I load stuff on a ship?
  * How do I get civilians to another island?
  * Where do you make land units?
  * Why aren't my ships/planes/units gaining efficiency?
  * How do I get oil out of ocean sectors?
  * Who can help me get started playing Empire?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

==Description==

What is Empire?
    It is a strategy wargame played by a number of people (usually between 4
    and 100) on the internet connected to an Empire Server. If you've ever
    seen the game "Civilization", Empire is a lot like it, except it is more
    detailed, and of course multi-player. As the leader of a nation which
    consists of certain sectors on a large hexagonal grid, you decide (based
    on resources) what each sector's "designation" should be. This way, you
    obtain food, iron, gold, oil, uranium. You distribute these raw materials
    to factories to convert them into more useful things. You manage a
    civilian and slave populace for producing goods, and a military populace
    for defence and conquest. You also have the tricky job of balancing a
    budget. As the technology level of your country increases, you are able to
    build more and more advanced units: for example, in a typical game, at
    tech 0 you can build fishing boats and frigates, at tech 50 you can build
    planes, cruisers, and infantry, and by tech 300 you can build satellites,
    jet planes, and nuclear weapons.

    NOTE: rec.games.empire has nothing at all to do with the commercial PC
    games called "Empire Deluxe", "Ages of Empire", and "Empire
    Earth",  nor the PC version of an
    old VAX classic called "Empire: Wargame of the Century" which came out in
    the 80's. The newsgroups microsoft.public.ageofempires
    alt.games.empire-deluxe and comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic concern
    themselves with games like these. However, people who enjoy those
    single-user games would certainly enjoy the multi-user kind of empire we
    play here even more!

Do I need direct internet access ("telnet") to be able to play?
    Yes. It is a "real-time" game. You can not play by mail.

What kinds of machines can I play from?
    You can play from a Unix, VMS, VM/CMS, Macintosh, or PC (MS Windows or
    OS/2) machine that is directly connected to the internet (via LAN, SLIP,
    or PPP).

Are there "turns" in this game?
    Most aspects of the game are "real-time" (i.e. it isn't like risk or
    diplomacy where there are turns), for example you sail ships, march
    armies, and fly planes in real-time--so if you type fast, then you will
    have an advantage. The aspect of the game that has turns is economic:
    goods are produced, population grows, and arms are constructed only at a
    specific time (called "updates").

How long does a typical game last?
    This depends on how often updates occur. There are two types of games: A
    "blitz" has updates every ten minutes. They last about 24 hours. A "long
    term" game usually has one update every day or every few days. They last
    2-6 months. To learn the basics of empire, it is highly recommended that
    you first try "blitzing" a few times.

Where can I find out more about the game?
    The main clearinghouse for empire information is the Wolfpack Empire Page
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/). Here you will find all current
    client and server software, information texts and links to other sites.

Sounds neat! How do I play?
    Well, you can play right now if you want! All you need to do is get a
    client program onto your computer, and then connect to a game.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

==Connecting==

Where do I get a client for my machine?

    Most Empire clients are located on the World Wide Web at the
    Wolfpack Empire Page  (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/) on the
    clients page (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/clients.html). You
    can get some clients also on the empire development page
    (http://www.sourceforge.com/projects/empserver/).

    The standard Empire client has been ported to:
       * UNIX (various variants)
       * Windows 95/98/NT
       * older versions exist for other systems.
         (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/Downloads/clients/)
         (http://sourceforge.net/projects/showfiles.php?group_id=24031)
         Current version is v4.2.14.

   The basic unix client is, well, basic. There are more
   sophisticated clients available.

       *  WinAce is a Windows  client that runs on all 32-bit Windows
          OSes. You can find the most recent version at
          http://www.sourceforge.com/projects/winace/
          and on http://www.sourceforge.com/projects/empserver/
          Current version is 2.4.18.

       *  ptkei is a python/tk empire interface client.  ptkei will
          run on all  platforms where python (>1.5) and tk run. This
          includes Win95/98/NT/..., Unix and Macintosh. You can find the most
          recent version at the maintainer's webpage
          (http://www.lfmm.org/ptkei/)
           or at http://www.sourceforge.com/projects/empserver/
          Current version is 1.18.1

       *  pei is an Empire client written in perl, with lots of nice
          features and many built-in tools. The latest version of pei
          (version 2.9.3) can be obtained at
          http://www.sourceforge.com/projects/empserver.
          Unfortunately, it is not available at this moment  on the
          Wolfpack site.

          Currently, Roman M. Paparov is rewriting pei. While not
          having most of the neat tools (yet), the new version will
          be friendlier towards developers and GUIs. You can obtain
          version 3.0.1 at http://empire.tau.ac.il/~romm/emp or at
          https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=24031&package_id=40182


       *  If you're looking for a UNIX client that's something
          in-between the standard client and pei, then try out eif,
          offering aliasing and some script facilities.
          (http://www.stack.nl/~marcolz/empire/). Current version is
          1.3.4.

       *  LAFE is Latency Free Empire, a simple client combining the
          readline editing and aliases of eif with emp_client's
          asynchronous speed. The latest version of LAFE is 1.0.  Get
          it from
          http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/e/empire-lafe/
          or any other Debian mirror.

       *  Other clients exist (like the two X-windows clients xemp
          and myxec), but either they have not been maintained for
          years, or their current status has not been reported. Feel
          free to look at them at
          (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/Downloads/clients/others/).


The client asks me  to specify "host", "port", "country" and
"password"--what should I put for these four things?

    What you are really asking is "How do I connect to a game?".
    In order to do so, you have to know first where the game is running,
    i.e., on which machine the server is running (host) and how to
    reach it there (port). Next, you need to log in as one of the
    countries of that game, and, of course, you need a password for this.


Where can I find a game to play in?

    There are blitz games up and running even as you read this post. The
    "Zebra Blitz" resets every Sunday at 6:00pm EST (so if you want to play
    competitively, you should connect at that time), but you can connect to it
    and play any time. The host is "blitz.wolfpackempire.com"
    (216.162.200.183), and  the port is 5678. For country, use a
    number from 1 to 20, and use the  same number for the password.

    As mentioned before, your client requires the basic parameters of
    the game to connect as a particular country. Please have a look
    at the documentation you obtained with your client how to specify
    these settings. As an example, you can connect to country number
    9 of the "Zebra blitz" using:

    host    :  blitz.wolfpackempire.com
    port    :  5678
    country :  9
    password:  9

    Note that if country number 9 is already in use when you try to
    connect, then you should just try a different number from 1 to 20.

    Immediately after successfully connecting to a blitz, you should change
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/change.html) your country name
    and representative (password). This prevents others from using the same
    country and adds texture to the game. Nobody likes to be attacked by a
    number! If you quit a blitz and don't intend to return, be sure to change
    the country number and representative back to the original state.

    Another blitz game, which resets daily, runs also on host
    "blitz.wolfpackempire.com", on port 6789. Updates are every ten minutes,
    reset is at 07:00pm (EST), options vary from day to day. See also
    http://www.wolfpackempire.com/blitzes.html for a list of
    currently available blitz games.


    To get in a long term game, you need to keep watching this
    newsgroup rec.games.empire for game announcements. You can
    also check the "New Games Starting Up" section of the EMPIRE NEWS
    (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/news.html) and the webpage on new
    and running games
    (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/newgames.html).

Just out of curiosity, what long term games are going on right now, and is
there a way I could peek in on them?

    Most long term games have "visitor" countries (country "visitor" or
    "Visitor" with the same name for a password) that you can use to log into
    the game. Check the Wolfpack
    Page  (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/newgames.html) for a list of
    the current long term games.
    Once you connect to one of these games as visitor, you can have a
    look at what's going on by typing power
    (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/power.html) or news
    (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/newspaper.html).
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    ==Playing==

I'm keen, I can connect to a blitz, but I haven't a clue what to do!
How do I learn how to play?

     Read the info pages, play around with the commands. And ask
     your fellow players in that blitz game. Most Empire players
     are happy to answer newbie questions--heck the more players
     we have the better!  There is lots of material on Empire
     that you can read. You have to be careful with the
     documentation or the examples, though, because the game is
     always changing, and sometimes the information material is
     out of date, sometimes the examples represent a very unique
     situation. The surest way to get the most up-to-date info is
     using the "info" command in empire. The entire Empire "info"
     docs are on the Wolfpack Page
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/TOP.html). The first info
     pages you should read are "info Sector-types" and "info
     Products".  To get an overview and the spirit of the game, I
     would also recommend having a look at "What Is Empire"
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/empdesc.html) by Geoff Cashman.  One
     part of  the information documents  is the  "Guide to Empire"
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/Guide.html), which has been
     written 11 years ago, but still contains a lot of useful
     information. Drake Diedrich's harmless guide to Empire used
     to be a nice place to start.  You can find it (in its state
     of 1996(?)) on
     http://www.stack.nl/~marcolz/empire/emp-harmless.html. Bob
     Dalton has  written an illustrated tutorial to start with WinACE
     in the "Changeling" blitz. It can be found on Bob's site
     (http://www.digitallogistics.com/private/empire/EmpPg3.htm).  A
     list  of things to keep in mind when starting a game has been
     collected on
     http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Hangar/6344/tutorial.htm.


There seem to be a million commands! What are the basic commands I
should read about first?

     Use the "info" command to read about these commands:  change
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/change.html), to change your
     country name and password;  break
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/break.html), to start playing;
     map     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/map.html), to get some
     visual information about your country; ann
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/announce.html), to write a
     message to all players; wire
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/wire.html), to read all
     announcements; tel
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/telegram.html), to send a
     message to one player only;  read
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/read.html), to read these
     personal messages; expl
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/explore.html), to explore the
     surroundings of your country; move
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/move.html), to move your
     citizens and materials from one place to another;  res
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/resource.html), to see which
     resources are available in your sectors;  cen
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/census.html), to get an overview
     of the population of your sectors; dist
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/distribute.html), to get your
     goods distributed over your country; thresh
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/threshold.html),  to have the
     right amounts of goods in the right places; lev
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/level.html),  to check
     distribution of goods; com
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/commodity.html), to see the
     amount of commodities  in your sectors; prod
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/production.html), to see what
     you will produce at the update; and  budget
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/budget.html), to see how much
     money you will make or lose at the update.

What is a Representative?
     A confusing name for `password'.  Also an Empire tradition, and
     that's why we keep the name despite it is confusing.

What's a BTU and how do I get more?
     A BTU is a "Bureaucratic Time Unit". Most Empire commands
     require BTU's. In a blitz, you don't need to worry about
     BTU's. In a long term game, BTU's are generated by civilians in
     "capital" sectors in the following way: every time you log on,
     the server gives you a number of BTU's corresponding to the
     length of time since the last time you logged on and the number
     of civs in your capital.

How do I build a ship?
     You can make ships using the build
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/build.html) command in a "h"
     sector, a harbour . The sector has to be at least 60%
     efficient, you need lcms and hcms for the actual 'build'
     command as well as some workforce (`avail'). Note that a ship
     gets only built up to 20% then, it gains further efficiency at
     the update only.

How do I load stuff on a ship?
     Using the load  (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/load.html)
     command.

How do I get civilians to another island?
     nav  (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/navigate.html) a ship with
     mil up to the island and look
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/lookout.html) with the ship to
     get the coordinates of a land sector. Then assault
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/assault.html) the sector with
     about 20 mil. designate
     (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/designate.html) the sector to be
     a "h". Then next update, this harbour should be 2% efficient and
     you will be able to navigate  a ship carrying civs into this
     harbour and unload (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/unload.html)
     them.

Where do you make land units?
     In a "!" sector, a headquarter. The sector has to be at least
     60% efficient, you need lcms and hcms for the actual 'build'
     command as well as some workforce ('avail'). Note that a unit
     gets only built up to 10% then, it gains further efficiency at
     the update only. Normally, you also have to have a certain tech
     level (e.g., in the standard settings, at least tech 30).

Why aren't my ships/planes/units gaining efficiency?
     Ships gain efficiency in "h" sector, planes in  "*" sectors,
     and units in  "!"  and "f" sectors. The sector needs sufficient
     workforce and materials (lcms and hcms). For planes also some
     mil might be necessary.

How do I get oil out of ocean sectors?
     While you're navigating a ship with "oiler"capacity, type "v"
     and you will get output like: [oil:82] oil derrick 1 (#297) @
     11,-1 0% sea which means that that sea sector has an oil content
     of 82.  If you have sufficient crew aboard this oil derrick, you
     will drill oil out of the ocean - like all production of raw
     materials, this takes place automatically at the update.

Who can help me get started playing Empire?
     A number of the questions above  and other questions have been
     collected (with answers!) by Bob Dalton. His player's FAQ
     addresses various detailed issues. It can be found on
     http://www.digitallogistics.com/private/empire/EmpPlayerFAQ.htm.
     Please keep in mind that this list is no longer updated and
     refers to the server version 4.2.10 at best.

     Before asking anyone, please try to find your answer:
       * in this FAQ,
       * in the documentation that came with your client,
       * in the "info (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/infopages/TOP.html) "
         command in the game,
       * on the Wolfpack Server Page (http://www.wolfpackempire.com/),
       * on the other empire information pages mentioned above,
       * by checking the archived postings at Google
         (http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=&btnG=Google+Search&meta=group%3Drec.games.empire).
     Then go on
       * by asking fellow players in a blitz,
       * or as last resort, by posting your question to
         rec.games.empire.




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