Games PC IMPERIALISM II-AGE OF EXPLORATION User Manual

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Page 1

IMPERIALISM

GE OF

XPLORATION

™

PRESENTED BY

FROG CIT Y SOFTWARE, INC.

AND

STRATEGIC SIMULATIONS, INC.

Page 2

IMPERIALISM II: Contents

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Fast Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

How to Use the Tutorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Comparison: IMPERIALISM and IMPERIALISM II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

GETTING STARTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Installing the Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Starting the Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Uninstalling the Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Using the Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Saving Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

BEGINNING A GAME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Starting a Single Player Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Loading and Saving Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Starting a Multiplayer Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Difficulty Settings and Game Variants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Setting Game Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

HOW TO GET HELP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Help Briefings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Warnings From Your Advisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

The Game Information Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Other Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

MPERIALISM II BASICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

An Introduction to the Terrain Map and Orders Screens . . . . . . . . . . . 21

What Order Do Things Happen In? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Political Organisation in Imperialism II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

How the Economy Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

How to Win . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

WHAT HAPPENS ON THE TERRAIN MAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Establishing a Capital City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

The Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Terrain Map Screen Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

The Cycle of Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Map Cursors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

CIVILIAN UNITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Toolbar for Civilians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Types of Civilian Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

NAVAL UNITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Ordering Your Fleets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Missions, Movement and Cursors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Toolbar for Fleets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Ship Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Types of Warships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Your Home Fleet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Checklist: Conducting an Overseas Invasion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

MILITARY FORCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Ordering Your Land Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Moving and Attacking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Toolbar for Regiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Regiment and Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Regiment Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Regiment Abilities and Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Emplaced Artillery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

FIGHTING BATTLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Choosing a Method of Resolving Combat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Tactical Battle Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Sieges and Fortifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

PEACEFUL CONTROL OF OTHER NATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Civilians Working Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Competing for Control of Minor Nations and Tribes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

THE TRANSPORT NETWORK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

How Transport Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Using the Transport Network Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Possible Commodities to Transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Town Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

INDUSTRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Information in Panel Borders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Using the Warehouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Using the Production Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Using the Unit Construction Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Using the Labour Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

TRADE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Giving Trade Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Receiving Trade Offers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

DIPLOMACY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Using the Diplomacy Screen for Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Diplomatic Overtures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Foreign Aid and Bribery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Trade Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Control of the Old World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Receiving a Diplomatic Offer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Understanding the Technology Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Using the Technology Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Benefits of Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

STRATEGY IDEAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

TROUBLESHOOTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

HOT KEY LIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

CREDITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

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IMPERIALISM II: Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Improved Infantry Tactics.

An increased understanding of infantry tactics permits the recruitment of Calivermen, and the upgrading of peasant levies. These new regiments are adept at drawing enemy fire and using terrain for concealment.

IMPERIALISM II: Introduction

Fast Start.

1. Double click on the game icon to start the game. (In Windows®95 or 98 you can also start from the Programs menu). When the introductory sequence ends, you are in your Study, a screen depicting your office.

2. Click on the globe on the desk in the Study. Ignore the recommendation to play the tutorial, although you should return and play it, if the game proves difficult or confusing.

3. In the Map Room, wait for the globe to stop spinning, then either accept the preselected country, outlined in white, or choose a different coloured country by clicking on the large map.

4. Select Introductory as the difficulty setting.

5. Click on the up arrow button at the bottom of the Difficulty Level panel to start the game.

6. You are now playing I

MPERIALISM II. Each screen includes a help briefing in a dialog

box, accessible by clicking on the question mark button. Use these briefings to get going. For more information on using the help, see page 19.

How to Use the Tutorial.

<<CALL IN S_TUTORI.EPS W/CO>>

Hot Text Area

In IMPERIALISM II: Age of Exploration you rule one of the colonial powers of Europe in the period 1500-1850. Your goal is military or diplomatic domination of the Old World. For players of I

MPERIALISM many of the game concepts and much of the interface will

seem familiar. However, the game plays very differently, requiring a balancing of different forces and consideration of different problems. The colonial and mercantile periods did not witness the rapid industrial changes that were such an important part of I Players of I

MPERIALISM II must be concerned with establishing colonies, conquering or

MPERIALISM.

befriending native populations, and developing their nations using the riches and commodities found only in the New World. Once these benefits are brought home, your Great Power can attempt to dominate the greater and lesser states of the Old World.

For installation information, see the section Getting Started, which begins on page 5. To start playing I discussed below. For a brief list of the important differences between I

MPERIALISM II turn to page 3. If you want to start your own game without further reading,

MPERIALISM II: AGE OF EXPLORATION right away, try the Tutorial

MPERIALISM and

follow these steps for a fast start:

Return to Study

Resume Saved Tutorial

Begin Tutorial

From the Study screen where the game begins, click on the scrolls to start a new tutorial or resume a tutorial you saved previously. The tutorial is played on one of several possible maps that all provide easy access to the resources you need at the beginning of the game.

The tutorial presents you with a series of episodes, each with a goal that must be achieved. Once a goal is met, the next episode begins. Since the tutorial is not balanced for long-term play, it is best to begin a new game once you have mastered the skills required for the episodes.

Page 4

IMPERIALISM II: Introduction

Comparison: IMPERIALISM and IMPERIALISM II.

There are many differences between IMPERIALISM and IMPERIALISM II. The items listed below are changes to the game that might catch I

How to Win.

The council of governors found in IMPERIALISM is gone. Players win by controlling over one-half of the Old World. Control can be obtained by military or diplomatic means.

Since the New World does not directly help a Great Power win, good players will tend to invest in New World development only so far as it leads to greater power in the Old World. This is the model for victory appropriate to the era.

Feeding Everybody.

Agriculture was a more important part of the economy in the sixteenth century than it was in the nineteenth. You will find it a very important element of I agricultural productivity acts to limit the size of your army, navy, and labour force. Everyone must eat a unit of meat (fish or cattle) or grain every turn. There is no canned food in I

MPERIALISM II, but raw foods may be stockpiled in your warehouse.

The Transport Network.

This area of the game probably changed more than any other. On land, every tile of road counts as a depot; so no depots ever need to be built. To connect a mine, for example, build a road from the capital into any terrain tile adjacent to the mine. It is still necessary to construct ports in order to move commodities over the water.

Another important change is the elimination of land transport capacity. All items moving only over roads (or later, rail) move for free each turn to the capital. Anything that moves anywhere along its route across water must be transported in the cargo holds of your empire’s ships. The same ships are used for exploration, war, and trade, and are subject to hostile interception. Transport is no longer safe—at least across water.

One consequence of the new system is the reduced amount of player micro-management of transport. Your land connections arrive automatically. These commodities are displayed on the transport screen, but you do not need to order them to be moved. Of course, you do have to decide how many ship cargo holds to allocate to sea transport, how many to save for trade, and how many to patrol the seas of the world.

Exploration.

When the game begins one-half of the map is covered. In order to conduct trade, diplomacy or war with the New World you have to uncover it first. For peaceful relations you need to find tribal capitals. To invade the New World, any uncovered land will do. There are two effective ways to explore. A ship placed in a coastal sea zone reveals all the coast tiles of adjacent lands. Once a coast tile is revealed an Explorer unit may be deployed to the New World. Explorers reveal all the terrain adjacent to their location.

MPERIALISM veterans unaware.

MPERIALISM II. Your

Developing Minor Nations and the New World.

In IMPERIALISM, developments outside your country did not have to be connected by road to a port. In I

MPERIALISM II, there is no distinction between development at home and

abroad. A nation or Tribe can only trade or transport commodities that are connected within its borders.

The Merchant unit, who resembles the developer from I

MPERIALISM, can protect a Tribe

from invasion by purchasing land from the Tribe. Once this is done, other Great Powers can invade only after they declare war on the Power who owns the land.

Riches.

There are now five types of resources that convert directly to cash when transported to your own country. All of them are found only in the New World. In most games you will need to find and exploit these riches as a permanent source of funds. In a game representing the colonial and mercantile period, there are fewer opportunities to make cash by selling commodities than was the case in the nineteenth century world of I

MPERIALISM.

New World Resources.

The special luxury resources of sugar, tobacco, and furs are required to produce consumer luxuries for trained workers. The level of training of a nation’s labour force is limited by the amount of New World resources it can acquire.

Technology Tree.

In IMPERIALISM II each monarch has the opportunity to direct his empire’s researchers along particular research paths. You can craft your empire building strategies according to the new technologies you expect to gain. A technology tree is provided on the enclosed reference card.

Turn-Based Tactical Combat.

Tactical land combat remains an optional game element. If you choose to f ight your battles in I

MPERIALISM II, you will f ind that the initiative system for moving and attacking

is gone. You are able to move all your units in any order you desire and then watch your foe do the same. Additionally, melee and firing are now two different forms of combat. This means that in melee combat, the defender strikes back even on the attacker’s turn.

Since forts and siege combat were critical in the Old World during this era, you will find artillery essential to your success. Non-artillery units can fire only at enemies posted along the wall, and purely melee units (all those with a range of one) cannot attack a wall or any units in a fort in any way.

A deployment limit is applied to all battles. This begins the game at 10 regiments. If you gain the Nationalism technological advance this limit is increased to 12. A general present in a garrison or an attacking force increases this one additional unit for every medal earned by the general.

This limit in no way affects the number of units that may be stationed in a province. Extra units will not be deployed in battle and will retreat if the battle is lost.

Page 5

IMPERIALISM II: Getting Started

Cost of Attacking.

Monarchs during the era covered by this game had an extraordinarily difficult time funding their armies, especially during offensive operations. While you are on the defensive, your troops require only food. If you decide to attack there is a signif icant cash cost. Don’t declare war without a large cash reserve.

No More Goods.

Although there are more commodities in IMPERIALISM II, the goods that were such an important part of the I

MPERIALISM economic model are no more. Players must balance

the development use of a material like bronze or lumber directly against the need for cash obtained by trade. This new model seems to fit the earlier time period of the game. Players need to directly exploit the New World for riches instead of investing in factories and mills at home.

Major Changes to Interface.

Although many screens are different, the two that changed the most are industry and the newspaper.

The Industry screen in I

MPERIALISM required a mouse-click on each separate production

building before the players could give production orders. This is now combined on one screen with (up to) 10 production sliders.

The newspaper of I

MPERIALISM has been replaced with a Turn Summary which reports

only events that are important to you. Random events, both good and bad, occur and are reported on the Turn Summary.

GETTING STARTED

This section should provide all the information you need to install IMPERIALISM II and begin playing the game. If you encounter difficulties, you can find troubleshooting information starting on page 117.

NOTE: This game is not supported on Windows® NT systems. Multitasking is not recommended when playing I

MPERIALISM II.

In addition to the basic system requirements, the game requires that DirectX 6 be installed to your hard drive. The option to install DirectX 6 appears during the game installation. For network play, you need a DirectPlay compatible network adaptor.

At the end of installation, you are prompted to register I

MPERIALISM II electronically.

MACINTOSH:

• PowerMac 7500 or better

• Macintosh Operating System 7.5.2 or better

• 32MB of RAM or better

• An Uncompressed hard drive with at least 110MB free for the install

• 8X CD-ROM

• 28.8K or better Modem or TCP/IP LAN (for Multiplay)

Installing the Game.

You must install I II CD in your CD-ROM drive to play this game.

To install the game on an IBM PC or Compatible:

Insert the CD into the CD-ROM drive. When the pop-up window appears, click on the Install option. If you have disabled the Windows 95/98 Autorun, or if it does not function, explore the CD and double-click on the Autorun icon. Follow all on-screen prompts to complete the installation.

To install the game on a Macintosh:

Insert the CD into the CD-ROM drive. When the game CD icon appears, double-click on the icon, then select the Install Imperialism II option. Follow all on-screen prompts to complete the installation.

MPERIALISM II game files to your hard drive and have the IMPERIALISM

System Requirements.

To play IMPERIALISM II, be sure your system meets the following minimum system requirements:

IBM PC AND COMPATIBLES:

• Pentium 100 MHz IBM PC or compatible (Pentium 166 or better recommended)

• 32 MB of RAM

• Windows® 95 or 98

• An Uncompressed hard drive with at least 110MB free for the install

• 8X CD-ROM drive or faster

• A SVGA video adaptor with at least 1 MB of memory and a Colour SVGA Monitor

• A 100% Microsoft (or Logitech) compatible mouse

• Microsoft mouse driver version 9.00 or higher or Logitech mouse driver version 6.24 or higher

• 28.8K or better Modem or TCP/IP LAN (for Multiplay)

Page 6

IMPERIALISM II: Getting Started

Starting the Game.

To start the game on an IBM PC or Compatible:

The IMPERIALISM II Autorun program displays a menu with the options to run the game, install DirectX 6, install Quicktime, uninstall the game, view or install other SSI demos, or view the README.TXT file, every time the CD-ROM drive is closed with the CD in

MPERIALISM II can also be started by opening the Start menu, selecting Programs,

place. I choosing the folder where I

MPERIALISM II program item.

Note: It is recommended that your computer be set to high colour 800x600 colour

MPERIALISM II was installed and double-clicking on the

mode in the Windows Settings window. Screen saver utilities should be turned off before starting to play I

MPERIALISM II.

To start the game on a Macintosh:

Imperialism II can be started by opening the folder where Imperialism II was installed and double-clicking on the Imperialism II program icon.

For complete and specific “how to play” information, please refer to the rest of the manual. Some changes were made too late to include in this manual. Be sure to read the README.TXT file in your game directory for details on these changes and troubleshooting information.

Uninstalling the Game.

To uninstall the game on an IBM PC or Compatible:

Select the uninstall option from the Autorun menu, or choose Settings from the Windows Start menu, and select Control Panel. In the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Programs,

click on I

MPERIALISM II, and click on the Add/Remove button. The game and all of

its components are then removed from your hard drive, except for your saved games and preferences.

To uninstall the game on a Macintosh:

To uninstall the game, drag the I

MPERIALISM II application folder into your trash and

empty it. The game and all of its components are then removed from your hard drive, including your saved games.

Using the Mouse.

If you are using an IBM PC or Compatible:

In this manual, the term click means moving the mouse pointer to the desired area on the screen and pressing the left mouse button. There are two ways to info-click, either rightclick or shift-click. Right-click means moving the mouse pointer to the desired area and pressing the right mouse button. Shift-click means moving the mouse pointer to the desired area, holding down the Shift key and pressing the left mouse button.

If you are using a Macintosh:

In this manual, the term click means moving the mouse pointer to the desired area on the screen and pressing the mouse button. On the Macintosh, info-click means shift-click. Shift-click means moving the mouse pointer to the desired area, holding down the Shift key and pressing the mouse button.

Saving Games.

IMPERIALISM II requires space on your hard drive for saved games and temporary files. Each saved game can take up to 400KB of hard drive space.

saved game with someone, it is important to note which slot it occupied since it will overwrite any other saved game in that slot.

The Autosave Feature.

As you play IMPERIALISM II, your game is saved automatically at the beginning of each new turn. If you want to save during your turn, or after you have entered all your orders, you must save the game yourself to one of the other save slots. In a multiplayer game, there is an autosave at the beginning of the turn, and a second one when players click on the End Turn button.

BEGINNING A GAME

<<CALL IN S_STUDY.EPS W/CO>>

Hot Text Area

Go to Preferences Screen

Start New

Single Player Game

Load Saved

Single Player Game

Play Tutorial

MPERIALISM II begins with an opening cinematic. You can press any key or the mouse

button to bypass this brief movie. The Study screen appears after the cinematic finishes. There are several items in your Study, depicting various game features. Hot text describing each item’s function appears in the centre of the screen. Click on the globe to play a new single player game. Clicking on the scrolls allows you to select the tutorial. To load a saved game, click on the red chest. The battling horsemen statue provides access to multiplayer games, including starting and hosting new games, joining a new game, or restoring a saved multiplayer game. The small picture to the left of the hot text window opens the game preferences menu.

You can exit I

MPERIALISM II by clicking on the doorway out of the room.

Note: If you exchange a

View Credits

Exit Game

View High Scores

Go to Multiplayer Connection Screen

Page 7

IMPERIALISM II: Beginning a Game

Starting a Single Player Game.

<<CALL IN S_MAPRM.EPS W/CO>>

Hot Text Area

Exit Map Room

Generate New Map

Open Map

Generation Key Panel

When you click on the globe in the Study you bring up the Map Room. On this screen, hot text appears on a panel in the upper left of the screen. You can exit the Map Room and return to the Study without starting a new game by clicking on the medallion to the left of the hot text panel.

Generating a World.

As you enter the Map Room, the large globe on the stand is spinning to indicate that a new world is being generated. When the world is complete, a map appears on the right side of the Map Room screen. The map shows the political boundaries of the countries. The selected Great Power is outlined in white. A list of the terrain found in this country appears next to the map. If you prefer to play a different Great Power, click on that country on the map. Great Powers appear in colour; the other countries are Minor Nations. When you change countries, new terrain information appears. You can generate a different world by clicking on the Map Room globe.

Using a Historical Europe.

Underneath the map are two oval buttons, which control whether the Old World is randomly generated or not. By default, the button to the right is selected. This selection means that both the Old World and the New World are generated randomly whenever you click the large globe.

If you click on the button to the left under the map, the Old World is no longer random. Instead it will be a map of Western Europe depicting the Great Powers most involved in colonial expansion in the Americas. You can generate more maps with this selection as well. All the worlds created have the same historic Old World, but have randomly created New Worlds.

Old World Map

Use Historical Old World

Generate Random Old World

Selected Country

Go to Diff iculty Settings Screens

Start Game

Using a Known World.

You can choose to play on a world you already know, rather than a random one. Click on the small key next to the globe to bring up the Map Generation Key panel. Any word typed in this panel functions as a seed for the map generator. This means if you type in the same word for each new game, you will end up with exactly the same world. If you generate a map you particularly like by clicking on the globe, enter the Map Generation Key panel to find out the name of that world. You can then add this name to your list of favourite worlds. You can f ind out the seed name for a map after you have started playing by holding down the control key and clicking on the Zoom button at the top of the Terrain Map toolbar. Below are listed some recommended words to enter into the panel. These words were found to generate maps that provide a particularly fun game for the recommended countries. When you enter the name of a world, it must be typed exactly as written.

ECOMMENDED WORDS FOR MAP GENERATION KEY:

Recommended Maximum

Name of World. Number of Human Players. Recommended Great Powers.

Caugi ............................ 2 ............................................................ Holland, France

Rhymnerdi .................... 2............................................................ Sweden, Spain

Cewys ............................ 2............................................................ England, Holland

Mella ............................ 2............................................................ France, Portugal

Iostavigarthyr ................ 4 ............................................................ Portugal, Holland, Sweden, Spain

Pig ................................ 3 ............................................................ Portugal, France, Spain

Llesti.............................. 4............................................................ Portugal, Sweden, France, England

Cineg ............................ 3............................................................ France, Sweden, Spain

Nansollaff ...................... 2 ............................................................ Portugal, England

Manta............................ 2 ............................................................ France , Portugal

Dintag Memrys ............ 6 ............................................................ (all okay)

Ciy ................................ 2 ............................................................ Holland, Portugal

Kernaegh ...................... 4............................................................ England, Portugal, France, Holland

Astenidas ...................... 2............................................................ Sweden, Holland

Sworriy.......................... 4............................................................ England, Spain, France, Portugal

Cauyorthyr.................... 2............................................................ England, Spain

Rhon.............................. 5 to 6 .................................................... (Holland is worst)

Cordigh ........................ 3............................................................ Holland, Spain, Sweden

Egininerk ...................... 4............................................................ England, Holland, France, Portugal

Allormonawys .............. 4 to 6 .................................................... (Holland and Portugal are worst)

Starting Your New Game.

When you have a map, and have selected a Great Power, choose a Difficulty Level from the panel below the map. You also set play variants from this panel; see page 15 for more about difficulty levels and customising your game. To begin the game, click on the arrow button at the bottom of the Difficulty Level panel.

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IMPERIALISM II: Beginning a Game

Loading and Saving Games.

To load a saved game, click on the red chest located on top of the desk in the Study. This brings you to the Chest Room. When you enter the Chest Room to load a saved game the autosave is selected. To load this game, simply click the Load Saved Game button at the top of the chest. To load other saved games follow these steps:

From the Study screen:

• Click on the red chest

• In the Chest Room, click on the save slot you wish to load. The map of this game appears on the lid of the chest.

• Click on the Load Saved Game button at the top of the chest.

You can also load saved games during play from the Terrain Map screen:

• Click on the Game Controls button, marked with a computer icon.

• In the dialog box, click on the Load Saved Game button. The Chest Room screen

appears.

• In the Chest Room, click on the save slot you wish to load. The map of this game

appears on the lid of the chest.

• Click on the Load Saved Game button.

Saving a Game.

IMPERIALISM II provides nine slots for your saves. There is also an extra slot (the tenth) for the autosave game. Multiplayer and tutorial saved games use different slots.

To save your game follow these steps:

• From the Terrain Map screen, click on the Game Controls button marked with a

computer icon at the top of the toolbar.

• On the dialog box, click on the Save Game button. A screen that looks like a large

open chest of scrolls appears.

• There are nine scrolls representing your nine save slots and an autosave slot. Click on

one of the scrolls.

• Type a name for your game.

• Click on the Save Game button at the top of the chest.

If you want to exit the Chest Room without saving, click on the medallion to the left of the screen.

More Than Nine Single Player Saves.

If you want to keep more than nine saved games, go to your Imperialism II saved games folder before you start the game and move old saves into a separate folder. Normal saves are labelled as slotX.imp, where the X represents a number 0-8. The autosave is labelled slotA.imp, the tutorial save is labelled slotT.imp, and all your multiplayer saved games are labelled multX.imp. Once you move your old saves out of the Imperialism II saved games folder they will not appear in the Chest Room and new saves can be placed in those slots.

Starting a Multiplayer Game

<<CALL IN S_CONNEC.EPS W/CO>>

Create New

Join Multiplayer

Game

Return to

Study Screen

MPERIALISM II supports LAN and Internet multiplayer games of up to six players. To create

I or join a multiplayer game, click on the battling horsemen statue from the Study screen. This brings up the Connection screen. Here you may decide to join someone else’s game by clicking on the statue. If you are playing over a Local Area Network you shouldn’t need to enter an IP address; I

MPERIALISM II automatically scans the network for available

games and provides a list for you to choose from. However, if the game you wish to join does not appear, you can still manually enter the host’s IP address. If you are playing over the Internet, enter the host’s IP address. The host of the game can find their IP address by holding the mouse over the ruler portrait in the Multiplayer Lounge. The IP address is shown in the hot text area. You can also find out your IP address before entering the game by running the Winipcfg.exe utility. This can be found in your Windows folder.

To host a game of your own, click on the map to start a new game or the red chest to load a previously saved game.

Multiplayer Game

Play on Mplayer.com

Load Saved Multiplayer Game

Page 9

IMPERIALISM II: Beginning a Game

Joining a Multiplayer Game.

<<CALL IN S_MPLOUN.EPS W/CO>>

Exit Multiplayer

Lobby

Old World Map

Player Country Player Name Player StatusStart Game

Hot Text Area Display IP Address

Open Chat Box

Once you join a game you enter the Multiplayer Lounge, which includes a map display of the game you chose. In the foreground of the screen are panels displaying the six Great Powers in the game. To choose a Great Power, click either on the map or on the panel. Any panel with a computer icon is available. If the panel has a green check mark, another player has already selected that country.

Hosting a Multiplayer Game.

If you are hosting a game, you leave the Connection screen by loading a multiplayer save or by hosting a new game. Each of these options starts up a game in much the same way as the single player game of the same type, except that other players are able to join the game you begin after the world is formed or restored.

Once you have created (or loaded) your game you enter the Multiplayer Lobby. As host, you choose your Great Power first, and then wait, while other players join your game by selecting their Great Powers. When everybody has joined up, you click on Begin Game.

You can chat with other players while waiting for your game to begin. Once you have selected your country, click on the right-hand bell pull to bring up a chat box.

Difficulty Settings and Game Variants

<<CALL IN S_CUSTDI.EPS W/CO>>

Hot Text Area

Exit Diff iculty

Settings Screens

Indication of

Relative Difficulty

There are five pre-set difficulty settings. It is also possible to customise the difficulty setting using a wide variety of options. The point values listed after each level on the Map Room Difficulty Level panel express an estimate of the relationship of each level to the others.

If you click on the arrow button found to the right of the words Custom on the panel, you can view all the settings that create each difficulty level. Changing these settings is called customising the difficulty level of the game. Each setting is explained in the customising section below.

Although you cannot change any of these settings once the game begins, you may check them for reference using the Show Difficulty Settings button in the Game Controls panel. The Game Controls button can be found in the upper right portion of the Terrain Map toolbar.

Difficulty Levels.

Introductory.

This level is designed primarily as a learning game. It is usually winnable for new players because there is plenty of time for mistakes. The computer players are severely disadvantaged in almost every variable in the game. Still, if you click buttons randomly, or actively try to lose, you will eventually be defeated.

Get Help

Difficulty Settings

Go To Next Page

Easy.

Beginners may have a tough time playing on this setting. Even though there are advantages, until a player really understands the game the computer AI is capable of catching up and surpassing the human.

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IMPERIALISM II: Beginning a Game

Normal.

On Normal, humans and the computer AI are playing essentially the same game. This is the level most players should choose once they have learned how to play. If you don’t have any idea what to do, try an easier setting first.

Hard.

This provides significant advantages for the computer AI, in most ways a mirror image of the Easy level. Unless you are a proficient player, it will be common for the computer to defeat you.

Nigh-On Impossible.

If you must try to play I

MPERIALISM II on this setting, choose your country and your city

site with great care. Your only hope of catching up before your nation is invaded and destroyed lies in choosing to play the best country on the map. Be willing to give up and start again, if things don’t go well at the beginning.

Customising Difficulty Settings.

You reach the Difficulty Settings screens by clicking on the arrow button found to the right of the words Custom. There are four pages to the customising screen, and you may page through them using the red arrows in the lower corner of each page. Hot text describing each setting can be found in the panel at the top of the screen. To return to the map room click on the arrow found on the candle on the left side of the screen.

Game Play.

On the first page at the top of the screen, you may decide the Gameplay option of choosing your own capital city site or allowing the computer to choose it for you. You can also decide to turn Random Events On or Off.

Food and Luxury Economies.

Under the heading Difficulty Settings on the first page you see two economic settings that can be either Simple or Complex. If you play on Easy or Introductory settings these are set to Simple automatically. The AI plays the same way regardless of these settings so, for the most part, Simple setting only makes it easier for the human players in the game.

Simple means that any food satisfies a food demand, or that any luxury satisfies a luxury demand. This makes it much easier to keep your labour force fed and happy during the game. You don’t have to worry as much about creating an empire with access to diverse commodities. The Complex setting means that a worker who demands a particular food or luxury must receive that exact item or he does no work. Even on the Complex setting, workers never die if given the wrong food or luxury. They merely perform no work that turn. On both settings, workers eventually starve if fed no food at all.

Five Level Difficulty Settings.

The rest of the settings on pages 1 and 2 of the Customising screen control game elements including diplomatic relationships (friendliness to other nations), faster technology research ability, beginning the game with extra technology already learned, beginning the game with extra military forces, extra commodities, extra cash, and a larger negative spending limit.

The five settings found in each of these categories correspond to the five difficulty settings available in the Map Room. For instance, if you play at Normal difficulty, all of these categories are set to Normal. Normal means no advantages to either computer or human.

If you find Normal too easy, but find Hard too difficult, use these settings to craft a challenging game for yourself. For instance, if your problems on the Hard level seem related to technology, change the technology categories to Normal, and leave the rest of the settings on Hard.

Game Variants.

On the third and fourth pages you will find a number of Game Variants. Most of these options have no effect on the difficulty of the game and are included here for convenience. Use these variant settings to decide what kind of a world you would like to play in, not how difficult the game will be.

Computer Player Personalities: If the AI personality is By Country, the Great Powers use strategies loosely based on history. For instance Spain will play a “Cortez” strategy in the New World; England will research naval technology and build privateers. If you choose to randomise this, the strategies selected are unpredictable.

Foraging Rules: This variant makes food gathering much easier for all the Great Powers. If this setting is on, a number of units of population eat for free each turn equal to the number of provinces owned by a given empire. Although this might seem to make the game easier, the AI benefits as well, and tends to become more aggressive earlier in the game.

Cost of Attacking: Altering this setting can make a game more peaceful or more violent. It effects all Great Powers, and so does not affect game difficulty directly.

Old World Minors’ Military Strength:

A strong military in the Old World makes it more difficult for all the Great Powers to win by conquest. This tends to cause a more diplomacy-based game.

New World Military Strength: A strong New World (Tribal) military encourages the use of Merchants by the Great Powers. A weak New World military encourages rapid invasion and conquest of the New World.

Native Horsemen: This variant controls the beginning date and rate at which native units acquire firearms and horses and upgrade their military units. Native Tribes in which a Great Power establishes an embassy begin to upgrade their old units to horsemen when the Great Power learns how to build light artillery. If this is set to Early, this happens when the Great Power discovers Horse Artillery. The other settings mean that the Tribe does not upgrade its troops until a later type of light artillery is discovered. The effect of this setting is to control the rate of conquest of the New World.

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IMPERIALISM II: Beginning a Game

Special AI Rules: This variant affects only Great Powers under computer control so it does have an impact on difficulty. In the Development Game the AI is hesitant to use violence to get what it wants. In the Aggressive Game it is unlikely to consider other options before attacking.

Adjustment to Relationship Penalty for Humans Getting Province: This variant effects only human controlled Powers so it does have an effect on game difficulty. In Not Modified games all players suffer a similar penalty to their diplomatic relationships whenever they gain an Old World Province. This is basically intended to force weaker nations together against the winning Power. If you change this setting you are adding to or reducing this penalty for human controlled countries only.

Computer Player New World Exploration Advantage:

This setting governs the speed of which computer controlled Great Powers discover and evaluate provinces in the New World.

Setting Game Preferences.

<<CALL IN S_PREFER.EPS W/CO>>

Hot Text Area

Exit Preferences

Screen

Get Help

Automatically Produce Materials:

If this is turned On, the computer uses your available unassigned labour to produce materials when you end your turn.

Warnings: You can turn Off only non-dire warnings. Your advisor warns you about dire events such as an upcoming attack on the capital regardless of your preferences. Turn this preference Off if you do not need advisor reminders about less urgent matters. For more information about these warnings, see page 20.

Help Briefings: You may click On this preference to automatically see briefings on every screen. Of course, even with the preference Off, you can access the briefings through the Help and Information dialog. For more information see below.

Audio: These slider bars allow you to set volume. Drag the mouse left and right, while pressing and holding the mouse button, to raise and lower volume. If the entire bar is dark, the volume is completely muted.

Animations: You may choose to turn Off the animations on the battlef ield and for working civilian units. Sometimes it is difficult to tell if a civilian unit is working or available if the animations do not play.

Random or Historical Names: This setting is self-explanatory. Even on the Historical setting, however, many of the historical names are not really based strictly on history. This is especially true in the New World.

HOW TO GET HELP

On all game screens where you make decisions, a question mark button appears. It is in the lower part of the toolbar on the main Terrain Map, and on most other screens the question mark is found in the upper right. This button always supplies a help briefing related to the screen you are on.

Go To Next Page

To set preferences before starting or loading a game click on the small picture on the Study screen. To set preferences within the game, click on the Set Preferences button at the top of the Terrain Map screen. This button has a check mark icon on it. The Preferences screen saves your selections, so that next time you play, your preferences are restored. The following options are available:

Army Battles: When this preference is set to Manual resolution, each battle you fight takes place on a battlefield, where your regiments manoeuvre individually against those of the enemy. If this preference is set to Automatic resolution, the battle is fought automatically, and a result displayed when you click the End Turn button. For more information on tactical battle, see page 59.

Help Briefings.

The briefings provide basic information on several topics for each new screen. Both information on strategy and on basic functions of the screens are included. Additional briefings are provided on the Terrain Map screen because more action takes place there. Only one briefing is provided for the other screens.

Using the Briefings.

In each briefing dialog you see the title of the briefing and a list of blue underlined topics. Click on a topic, and the list of topics is replaced by text about the topic you selected. Once you have read all the information, click on Show Topics to return to the selection of topics for the briefing. You can close the briefing by clicking on the button in the upper left corner of the briefing panel.

When you are learning to play, the briefings are best used by reading about one activity or interface and then putting the briefing aside while you try out what you have just read. If you close the briefing window, you can easily bring it back using the question mark button.

Page 12

IMPERIALISM II: Beginning a Game

IMPERIALISM II: How to get Help

Warnings From Your Advisor.

When your computer advisor believes your orders may have unfortunate results, it provides a warning. Your advisor explains the situation and often provides suggested changes to your orders. You can always choose to ignore the warning; after all, you rule the Great Power. In fact, on the Preferences screen you can prevent most of the warnings from appearing. Sometimes your advisor does not know all the facts of the situation. For example, it may report that your army is weaker than that of the other Great Powers. If you are trying a naval strategy this might not concern you. The most dire warnings involve the safety of the capital. If you lose the capital you lose the game. These warnings can still be ignored, at your own risk, but they cannot be eliminated via the Preferences menu option.

The Game Information Panel.

The upper right button on the Terrain Map screen toolbar brings up the Game Information panel. On the panel are eight buttons that access different game information. You can also reach this panel by pressing the F1 key.

Game Status: The Status button takes you to the Game Status screen which consists of various graphs charting the progress of the Great Powers. Click on the scrolls to the sides of the chart to look at different statistics. You can compare your country’s performance against the other Great Powers in such areas as Merchant Marine, World Exports, Industry, Labour, and Overseas Profits. The Military Strength statistic is a good indicator of how much danger you are in. Click on the Return to Map arrow in the upper left corner of the screen to exit the Status screen. You can also press F5 to access the Game Status Screen

Turn Summary: The Turn Summary appears at the start of every turn. Click on the Turn Summary button on the Information panel to review events for this turn. You can also press F6 to access the Turn Summary.

Battle Reports: You receive a Battle Report after you end a turn during which any Great Powers fight a battle or battles, on land or sea. Often, especially in a multiplayer game, you won’t have enough time between turns to review all the details in the report. If you want to look at the report again during your turn, click on the Battle Report button on the Information panel. You can also press F7 to bring up the Battle Report.

The Battle Report screen gives you the composition of the forces involved and the result. Use the arrows to cycle between multiple battles, or click on the map icon that marks each battle on the world map. If the battles fought involved your country, click on the Detailed Information button in the centre to see the details on the two armies or f leets that fought the battle. Details are not available if your forces were not involved in the battle.

The forces for both sides are displayed, along with their health after the battle. Eliminated regiments and ships are marked as KIA or SUNK. All regiments and ships also display their experience medals, including experience just earned in that battle. For naval actions you may also see cargo captured or lost when merchant ships are intercepted and captured or sunk. Sometimes, if you take a province, you receive plunder.

The Deal and Market Book: At the end of every turn, trade deals are made between your Great Power and other countries. After all deals have been made, a summary called the Deal Book appears for your review before the next turn starts. During your turn, you might want to look at these deals again, especially in a multiplayer game where other players may urge you to move swiftly to the next turn when the Deal Book is first shown. Click on the Deal and Market button for a review. For more on how to read the Deal Book, see page 90. You can also press F8 to access the Deal Book.

The Terrain Book: The Terrain Book provides a summary of the production and transport of resources and materials from all of your provinces. You may also use it to centre the map on a particular province, by clicking on the magnifying glass associated with that province in the Terrain Book. You can access the Terrain Book by pressing F9.

The Unit Books: Each of the three unit books supplies a complete list of all of your naval, military, or civilian units. These books can be used to centre the map on a particular unit, and they are also useful when you must upgrade a large number of your ships or regiments. You can access these books by pressing F10 for the Army Book, F11 for the Navy Book, and F12 for the Civilian Book.

Other Help.

Info-Click.

On the Terrain Map screen you can often obtain more information about something by info-clicking on it (holding down the Shift key and clicking). This is the best way to get the facts on a particular terrain tile or its contents. Each item in the tile has a separate definition.

Hot Text.

In the upper-right part of most screens, text is displayed as you move your mouse cursor across the screen. You can obtain useful information by placing the cursor over an icon, picture, or other object you are wondering about. For example, on the Industry screen, hot text identifies each production slider, and on the Trade screen, hot text identifies each commodity. Most items in the Terrain Map toolbar are defined here. On the Transport screen, hot text identifies commodities and shows industrial usage of them.

IMPERIALISM II BASICS

IMPERIALISM II: AGE OF EXPLORATION is a turn-based game in which you rule one of the world’s Great Powers. The game is played from the year 1500 until it ends. From 15001700, each turn takes two years. From 1700 until the game ends, turns take one year. Each new turn begins with a Turn Summary of events from the last turn.

Once you have read the Turn Summary, you go to the Terrain Map screen, your central command centre. During your turn, you command your military and civilian units, industrial workers, traders, diplomats, merchant vessels, and warships, as do the rulers of the other Great Powers. The rulers of each Great Power, be they a human player or a computer player, enter their orders simultaneously.

When all rulers have ended their turns, the commands entered by each Great Power during that turn are carried out simultaneously.

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IMPERIALISM II: How to get Help

An Introduction to the Terrain Map and Orders Screens.

You govern your empire using six screens: a central Terrain Map screen and five Orders screens accessed from the Terrain Map.

The Terrain Map screen is your command centre and consists of a map of the world and a toolbar. Each turn begins and ends on the Terrain Map screen. Here you access game controls to save your game or start a new one, set game preferences, and manage all your military and civilian units. For details on how to use the Terrain Map screen see page 28.

From the Terrain Map screen you access five Orders screens called the Transport, Industry, Trade, Diplomacy, and Technology screens. Their icons can be found on a ribbon at the bottom of the Terrain Map. You need not use all these screens every turn; most players use the Industry screen every turn, while the other four screens need to be visited only occasionally.

<<CALL IN R_TRANSP.EPS>>

Transport Screen.

This is where you order commodities to be moved from the rural and mining districts of territories you rule, to the industrial centers where the commodities can be used. The screen displays the total of all the commodities your empire can transport whether they move by land, by sea, or by both methods. However, since transport over land occurs automatically, you never need to use the Transport screen to change land transport orders. Visit this screen to check how many commodities your empire is moving and to assign ship’s cargo holds to sea transport. Each turn, when you click the End Turn button on the Terrain Map screen, the commodities you ordered transported move to the warehouse in the Industry screen for use during the next turn. You can access the Transport screen by pressing the 1 key. For more information on this screen, see page 73.

<<CALL IN R_INDUS.EPS>>

Industry Screen.

This screen consists of three separate panels. On the first, commodities you transport and commodities you trade for are used to produce more expensive or useful commodities. On the second panel, you build all your naval, military, and civilian units. On the third panel, you recruit laborers and manage your work force. Each turn, when you click the End Turn button on the Terrain Map screen, all the orders you entered on all three panels are carried out. The things you build are available next turn. You can access the Industry screen with the 2 key. For more information on this screen, see page 79.

<<CALL IN R_TRADE.EPS>>

IMPERIALISM II: Imperialism II Basics

Trade Screen.

This screen is where you offer commodities for sale and enter bids for commodities you hope to buy. Each turn, when you click the End Turn button on the Terrain Map screen, you may receive offers to buy some or all of the items you bid on. The items you offered for sale may be sold to other countries. If you accept an offer to buy, the commodities you bought appear for your use on the Industry screen during your next turn. Commodities you sell are deducted from the warehouse. Press the 3 key to access the Trade screen. For more information on this screen, see page 84.

<<CALL IN R_DIPLOM.EPS>>

Diplomacy Screen.

This is where you view information about the other countries in the game, declare war, take diplomatic initiatives, set trade policies, and grant foreign aid. Each turn, when you click the End Turn button on the Terrain Map screen, the policies you set are carried out. If you offered a treaty to another country, its ruler accepts or rejects your offer. If another country offered you a treaty or pact, you act on it. Any changes in diplomatic status take effect next turn. You can access the Diplomacy screen by pressing the 4 key. For more information on this screen, see page 91.

<<CALL IN R_TECHNO.EPS>>

Technology Screen.

This is where you decide which research projects to work towards and how much of your hard-earned cash to invest in research. You can also see what technologies other countries in the game know. Each turn, when you click the End Turn button on the Terrain Map screen, the investments you made result in a chance of success for each project you have begun. As time passes, and the overall amount of money spent on a project increases, the chances of success increase as well. If other Great Powers know a technology, your research project can succeed without spending money, since the knowledge will eventually find its way to your country. Spies can be used to increase your rate of progress. The Technology screen can be accessed by pressing the 5 key. For more information on this screen, see page 100. For more about Spies see page 40.

Page 14

IMPERIALISM II: Imperialism II Basics

What Order Do Things Happen In?

When all Great Powers have ended their turns the series of commands are always carried out in the same order:

• Diplomatic offers are exchanged and either accepted or rejected.

• Victory conditions are checked.

• Trade deals are offered and accepted or rejected.

• Naval interceptions take place.

• Military conf licts are resolved.

• Industrial production occurs.

• All commodities transported internally, or successfully delivered by traders, are placed

in the industrial warehouse for use on the next turn.

• Civilian units do their work on the map.

• Money is spent on technology research.

• Debts are collected and a bankruptcy check is made.

• Your Deal Book for the turn is displayed.

• Your game is autosaved, and the Turn Summary appears on the Terrain Map.

Cancelling Orders.

On the Terrain Map screen the End Turn button appears in the lower right, marked with an exclamation point on it. Until you click this button, you can cancel any of the orders you have entered (with the exception of disbanding troops). Almost nothing is permanent until you click the End Turn button.

Political Organisation in IMPERIALISM II.

Old World and New World.

In IMPERIALISM II there are two distinct regions in every world. The Old World is made up of Great Powers and Minor Nations whose provinces count toward victory. Old World Great Powers are actors in the game ruled by a human or by a wily computer foe. Old World Minor Nations serve as regions for exploitation and battle by the Great Powers.

The New World is different. It is hidden from view at the beginning of the game. Although the Tribes of the New World are frequently targets of great Power expansion, the provinces of the New World do not count toward victory. Tribes are exploited (whether economically or militarily) because they contain resources not found in the Old World. The riches found in the New World lead successful rulers to control of the Old World.

Neither Minor Nations nor Tribes in I can they win the game.

MPERIALISM II ever develop into Great Powers, nor

Countries and Control of Territory.

Tribes, Minor Nations, and Great Powers may be conquered by other Great Powers. When provinces are taken by conquest they become part of the conquering Great Power. The country that lost the land is smaller. Tribes, Great Powers, and Minor Nations can be eliminated from the game by conquest.

Tribes can be colonised by Great Powers. In I

MPERIALISM II, colonisation refers to a

“peaceful” takeover that could be the result of economic power over the Tribe, an unethical treaty, or bribery of the Tribe’s leaders. Colonies retain some independence and control over their own land. Minor Nations and other Great Powers do not become colonies in this way. When a Great Power takes over land in the Old World peacefully, it is as if the land was conquered. The Great Power gains total ownership and control of all the territory of the Old World state that joins its empire.

Although the methods used (primarily on the Diplomacy screen) to take lands peacefully are basically the same for Tribes, Minor Nations, and Great Powers, the consequences of success, and the difficulties along the way are quite different. Other Great Powers feel threatened by and hostile toward an empire that takes over land in the Old World because this land leads directly to victory.

All worlds contain six Great Powers, six Minor Nations, and ten Tribes.

Provinces and Victory.

A province is a political division of a Great Power, Tribe, or Minor Nation. Every province includes a capital city or a town which is the location of the garrison and fort (if any) that guards that province. Military conf lict happens at the province level. This means that each province has only one owner at the end of a turn; provinces are fought over but may not be divided. Each province counts as one space for military units. If anyone invades the province, the regiments and emplaced artillery in the province defend it.

Victory in I

MPERIALISM II depends solely on the number of provinces controlled in the

Old World. When one Great Power obtains control of one more than one-half of the Old World’s provinces, that Great Power wins the game. Control can be gained by conquest or by economic and diplomatic successes.

The number of provinces in a single country can vary a great deal. However, the Old World usually contains around 60 provinces. This means it is usually necessary to control over 30 Old World provinces to win the game.

Conquests with the Military.

Conquered territory functions in the game exactly like territory you start the game with; you may develop the terrain, build ports and forts, and station troops in it. Resources gathered at ports and by roads and rail in conquered territory appear in your transport network.

All territory you conquer must be taken province by province. Although you can eliminate a country by taking the province containing its capital, the remaining territory of the country does not join you; instead it enters into a state of anarchy. Provinces in a state of anarchy produce no resources, and regiments stationed there do not conduct attacks. However, these local forces will defend themselves if the province is invaded.

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IMPERIALISM II: Imperialism II Basics

No declaration of war is required to attack provinces that are in a state of anarchy. If you eliminate another country by taking its capital, other Great Powers may see this as an opportunity to grab the remaining provinces without paying costly declaration of war penalties.

Conquest by Peaceful Means.

Your empire can obtain all the territory of a Minor Nation or Great Power by convincing the rulers of that country to join your empire peacefully. Not only do you gain control of more than one province at a time, you also gain control of all the military forces of the other nation. This can be a mixed blessing since you may find it difficult to feed the military forces you suddenly gain.

These lands are just like land you start the game with or conquer; you may develop the terrain, build ports and forts, and station troops in them. Commodities gathered at ports or by roads and rail appear in your transport network.

Colonies.

Only Tribes can become colonies. When your Great Power gains a colony, the entire Tribe including all its provinces joins your empire at once. However, owning a New World colony is slightly different than owning conquered territory. Colonies retain a small amount of independence and the owning Great Power must develop the resources of the colony by purchasing land from the colony. For more information see page 67. The resources produced by colonies are traded on the world market and not directly added to your transport network. As owner of the colony, your country enjoys a right of first refusal on these resources.

How the Economy Works.

The success of the Great Powers in IMPERIALISM II depends on the ability of the rulers to overcome shortages and limited supply. You usually find yourself with insufficient money and insufficient commodities to do everything you wish, especially at the beginning of the game.

The Money Supply.

Each Great Power begins the game with a limited amount of cash that is totally inadequate to meet its needs. There are three ways to expand the cash available to your Great Power.

First, you must expand the trading might of your country. Every time you sell commodities to other countries you receive a cash payment for the sale.

Second, spices, silver, gold, gems, and diamonds are not traded. Instead, these commodities, often called riches, provide a cash bonus to you whenever you transport them to your capital. All riches are found only in the New World.

Third, you can receive profits from the activities of your Merchant units and other civilian units in those Minor Nations and Tribes where you have established embassies. These profits are added each turn to your cash reserves and are called Overseas Profits on your balance sheet.

It is difficult to be successful as an isolationist in IMPERIALISM II. There is no income from taxation. Exploitation of other lands is the easiest way to build a substantial treasury.

Classification and Value of Commodities.

All commodities in the game are classified as resources or materials.

<<CALL IN R_SPICE.EPS, R_GOLD.EPS, R_SILVER.EPS.EPSGEM.EPS, R_DIAM.EPS,

R_SUGCAN.EPS, R_TOBACC.EPS, R_COTTON.EPS, R_FUR.EPS,

R_TIMBER.EPS, R_ORE_I.EPS, R_ORE_C.EPS, R_ORE_T.EPS, R_COAL.EPS, R_FISH.EPS,

R_GRAIN.EPS, RCATTLE.EPS, R_WOOL.EPS, R_HORSES.EPS.EPS

Resources.

Resources are commodities that are grown, such as livestock, or mined, such as coal. They generally are the most common and least valued commodities. Certain resources can be obtained only in the New World. This classification includes all the riches: spices, silver, gold, gems, and diamonds. Also included are the products: sugar cane, tobacco, cotton, and furs. New World resources are critical both as a source of funds and as the means to supply trained workers with the consumer goods they require. Some of the resources present in the Old World are found in the New World as well. This includes timber, iron ore, copper, tin, coal, and fish. A few resources can only be found in the Old World: grain, livestock, wool, and horses.

<<CALL IN R_LUMBER, R_PAPER.EPS, R_BRONZE.EPS, R_IRON.EPS, R_STEEL.EPS, R_FABRIC.EPS, R_SUGAR.EPS, R_CIGAR.EPS, R_HAT.EPS>>

Materials.

Materials are used for production and for trading. Deciding when to sell and when to use materials for expansion is one of the difficult decisions a ruler faces. Materials are produced directly out of a resource or resources. Materials include lumber, paper, bronze, cast iron, steel, fabric, refined sugar, cigars, and fur hats.

How to Win.

Victory in IMPERIALISM II is obtained by control of the Old World. The number of provinces each player owns measures this control. When one player controls one more than half of all the Old World provinces in the game, his empire is victorious and the game ends. In most games this total is slightly more than 30 Old World provinces. The exact number required varies depending on the map, but you can find this number using the Diplomacy screen. See page 91 for details.

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IMPERIALISM II: Imperialism II Basics

The Map.

<<CALL IN S_TERRMAP.EPS W/CO>>

Hot Text AreaCurrent Funds

IMPERIALISM II: Imperialism II Basics

Game ControlsSet PreferencesZoom Map

Scouting.

Superior equipment and training of light cavalry forces permits the recruiting of Scout regiments and the upgrading of Hussars.

WHAT HAPPENS ON THE TERRAIN MAP.

The Terrain Map screen provides you with a central command centre for managing your growing empire. Although you make decisions each turn using a variety of screens and dialogues, you always return to the Terrain Map screen before advancing to a new turn.

Establishing a Capital City.

If you play on Normal, Hard, or Nigh-On Impossible settings, you build your own capital city upon starting a new game. The capital must be constructed on flat terrain with access to water. Your computer advisor warns you if you try to build on an illegal tile. While choosing a site for your capital city, scrolling is limited to spaces over your own country.

Generally, you should search for a tile near plentiful food with easy access to timber and wool to assist your early development. Capitals built on a river in a province with no coastline are much safer from seaborne invasions.

Current Year

Go To Orders

Screens

Help Briefings

Game Information

Mini Map

Unit Buttons

Selected Unit

End Turn

Tool Bar

The map provides a view of the entire world. You scroll by moving the mouse cursor to the edge of the screen. Holding down the Control key and clicking on the map centers the screen where you clicked. On randomly created worlds you may scroll around the world to the east or west, but you will be blocked in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.

Borders.

Countries are divided from each other either by sea or by a wide, coloured border if two countries appear on the same land mass. These borders include the colour of each country on that country’s side of the border. White lines between friendly provinces represent provincial borders. Borders in the sea divide the sea zones from each other.

Terrain Tiles.

Although for military units a province is considered one space, for the purposes of building and development, which are the realms of civilian units, a province is divided into terrain tiles. Each terrain tile is a space for a civilian unit to work in. Civilian workers function only in certain types of terrain tiles. Info-click on any terrain tile to find detailed information about the tile. Basic information can be obtained more quickly by placing your cursor over a tile and reading the hot text in the upper right part of the screen. For information about the resources and developments of each type of terrain tile see the table on page 39.

Towns.<<CALL IN TOWN.EPS>>

Each province contains one town, unless the capital of the country is located there instead. Towns supply no resources at the beginning of the game. Once the technology called National Bureaucracy is discovered by your empire, a Builder unit may upgrade a town or a capital city, if it is connected by road or rail.

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IMPERIALISM II: What Happens on the Terrain Map

An upgraded town produces materials based on the production of resources in its province. For instance, if a province produces 8 timber per turn, the town produces 2 lumber per turn. This does not replace any of the timber, it is in addition to the timber the province already makes. Four resources of the correct types in the province are needed for each material produced. As Builders increase the resource output of the province, the upgraded town produces more materials.

Towns produce these materials and then they appear in the transport network of the controlling Great Power. If the province where the upgraded town is still owned by a Minor Nation or Tribe the materials produced by the town become available for trade, just like all the other resources the country produces.

Capital Cities.<<CALL IN CAPITAL.EPS >>

Capitals are treated as towns for most purposes. However, capitals are never upgraded like towns and never produce extra materials. Remember that when a capital falls to an enemy, that nation is eliminated and its remaining provinces go into anarchy. If you lose your capital, the game ends.

Forts & Emplaced Artillery.<<CALL IN FORTTOWN.EPS >>

For much of the period covered by this game, military forces in the Old World were severely restricted by the difficulties in attacking forts. All large cities were fortified, and as engineers learned to design fortifications against cannon, it became increasingly difficult and time consuming to take large cities.

In I

MPERIALISM II, every town and capital in the Old World begins the game with a level

one fortification. A level one fort includes within it one piece of emplaced artillery. It can be extraordinarily difficult to take a fort without cannon of your own. As forts and emplaced artillery are upgraded, it can become even more difficult. You must take account of the level of fortification shown on the map when planning your military strategy. For more on fortifications see page 63.

Rivers and Coasts.

Rivers wind from mountain terrain tiles to the sea coast, passing through other terrain along the way. With two exceptions, a tile with a river is identical to a tile without one. First, a port may be constructed on a river tile by an Engineer. Ports may not be constructed in hill or mountain terrain. Second, rivers, like coasts, produce one unit of fish per turn for adjacent ports.

Sea Zones.

The world’s oceans are divided into sea zones just as the land is divided into provinces. In most respects, sea zones function for naval conflict in the same way that provinces work for land battles. However, the sea is a big place, and it is possible for more than one f leet, even hostile fleets, to occupy the same sea zone at the same time. Hostile f leets in a sea zone near a port may intercept transport and trade originating in or directed to the port.

Terrain Map Screen Toolbar.

The buttons of the toolbar change slightly depending on the type of unit (civilian, navy or army) currently selected. The buttons which are used to give orders to units and the central display area on the toolbar are discussed in their respective unit sections beginning on pages 36, 44 and 51. The rest of the buttons supply game functions and are always available on this screen.

The Top Buttons.

At the top of the toolbar you see four buttons: Zoom, Set Preferences, Game Controls, and Game Information.

The Zoom Button.<<CALL IN B_ZOOM.EPS>>

The Zoom button controls the zoom level of the Terrain Map. The default view is normally best, but when you are moving fleets or civilian units long distances, it can be useful to zoom out. There are two zoom levels.

The Set Preferences Button.<<CALL IN B_PREFER.EPS>>

The Set Preferences button takes you to the Preferences screen. See the section on preferences, starting on page 18, for information on how to use this screen.

The Game Controls Button.<<CALL IN B_GMECNT.EPS>>

Click on the Game Controls button to bring up the Game Controls panel. This allows you to save, load, quit, and start a new game. This panel also allows you to view the difficulty settings of the game, although these cannot be altered once a

game begins.

The Game Information Button.<<CALL IN B_INFO.EPS>>

The Game Information button accesses the Game Information panel. This is used to track the current state of the game. You may review battles, trades,

and the events of the past turn. You can also compare the strengths of the various Great Powers in the game and evaluate your empire’s progress. For more on how to use the Game Information panel, see page 20.

The Mini-Map.

When you look at the Mini-Map, you see in miniature approximately one-quarter of the world. The Mini-Map shows political and military control over the continents, but does not show any terrain. It provides the easiest method for moving vast distances. Click on the Mini-Map to jump to a new location on the Terrain Map. Note: The map often has

blackened out spaces, which represents unexplored areas.

Page 18

IMPERIALISM II: What Happens on the Terrain Map

The End Turn Button. <<CALL IN B_ENDTRN.EPS>>

The End Turn button appears only on the Terrain Map screen at the bottom of the toolbar. When you click here, you are committed. No orders can be cancelled or changed once you end your turn.

The Help Button.<<CALL IN B_HELP.EPS>>

The Help button appears on the Terrain Map screen at the bottom of the toolbar. On other screens it can be found in the upper right. Click here to access help briefings that explain the details of playing the game. For information on how to use the help system see page 19.

The Cycle of Units.

The Terrain Map screen provides a method for commanding all your units: civilian, military, and naval. Available units are selected for you one by one and shown both on the map and in the toolbar. As each unit appears, you have the opportunity to give it new orders. This process is called the units cycle.

The selected unit (or units in the case of fleets and garrisons) has a f lashing white outline on the Terrain Map. In the toolbar you see a picture of the unit or units you can currently command. On the map, army units are grouped into garrisons, naval units are grouped into fleets. When a garrison or fleet is selected, the toolbar breaks down the garrison or fleet into its component parts, showing the individual types of units in the group.

As the units cycle each turn, you may give orders using the toolbar buttons or by clicking directly on the map. Units that receive orders that take more than one turn to finish do not appear in the cycle while they are still working. Of course, you can seek them out, observe their actions, and, if you wish, cancel or change their orders. When a unit finishes its job, it returns to the cycle automatically.

Map Cursors.

A variety of cursors assist you in commanding your units, obtaining information, and selecting units.

COMMAND CURSORS:

Pictures of Cursors. Units Commanded. Gives Order to.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Builder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Improve production of tiles.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Engineer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Construct ports and forts.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scout military or steal technology.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Engineer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Build road into tile.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rail Builder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Build rail into tile.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Search for minerals.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Merchant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Buy the tile for future development.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . All Civilians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Deploy to tile, no work this turn.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Military Garrisons . . . . . . . . . . March to adjacent province.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Military Garrisons . . . . . . . . . . Deploy to distant province.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Military Garrisons . . . . . . . . . . Attack adjacent province.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fleets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Move to new sea zone.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fleets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patrol in current sea zone.

Command Cursors.

Command cursors are used when a unit, garrison, or fleet is already selected. As you move your mouse across the Terrain Map the cursor changes to reflect the command that will be given to the selected unit by clicking in different locations. If you click on a spot accidentally and give a unit the wrong command, you can cancel the order by running the cursor over the unit. Click when it changes to the question mark cursor. A window appears with two buttons. Click on Rescind Orders to cancel the command.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fleets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Blockade port in sea zone.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fleets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Move into a friendly port.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fleets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Establish a site for a landing on coast of

this sea zone

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IMPERIALISM II: What Happens on the Terrain Map

Selection Cursors.

These cursors are used to select a new unit either when another unit is already selected or when no unit is selected. By clicking on the unit indicated by the cursor, you select that unit and a flashing white outline appears. Since the unit cycle automatically selects each of your available units in turn, you need to use these selection cursors only when you want to command units in a different order, or when you have previously removed a unit from the cycle.

SELECTION CURSORS:

Pictures of Cursors. Units Commanded. Function of Cursor.

IMPERIALISM II: What Happens on the Terrain Map

...................................... All civilian units .............................. Select the indicated civilian.

...................................... All military land units .................... Select the indicated garrison.

...................................... All fleets .......................................... Select the indicated fleet.

Information Cursors.

Not surprisingly, these cursors provide information. The question mark cursor also allows you to cancel the orders once you see what they are.

NFORMATION CURSORS:

Pictures of Cursors. Units Commanded. Function of Cursor.

...................................... .................................................... Inform you that the selected units

...................................... .................................................... cannot move to, deploy to, or work

...................................... All your Units ..............................in that location.

...................................... .................................................... Obtain information on the indicated

...................................... All your Units ..............................unit, or cancel existing orders.

...................................... Adjacent enemy units ................ Delivers a scouting report on the

...................................... or provinces ................................ enemy area.

Propaganda.

Propaganda decreases the diplomatic penalties suffered when an empire declares war. This development leads to the growth of nationalism.

CIVILIAN UNITS

With the exception of the Spy, civilian units purchase, develop, and improve land and transportation on the Terrain Map screen. None of the civilians have any ability to attack or even defend themselves. If present in a province when the province is lost to a hostile Great Power, the civilian is automatically killed.

All civilians are constructed using paper and cash on the Unit Construction panel of the Industry screen. Unlike military and naval units, civilians do not eat food and do not require a unit of population for construction. Once ordered, civilians appear on the Terrain Map at the start of the next turn. For instructions on how to construct civilians see page 81.

All civilians may move any distance each turn. However, only a Spy can enter land controlled by other Great Powers. Only Explorers and Engineers can deploy to Minor Nations and Tribes prior to the existence of an embassy with that Nation or Tribe. Civilians can always deploy to land you own by conquest or colonisation, even if it is overseas. There is no need to conduct a landing or use any ships to get a civilian across water.

Toolbar for Civilians.

For the most part, you command your civilians on the Terrain Map using the map cursors. However, four toolbar buttons can be used whenever a civilian is selected. These buttons appear above the picture of the selected civilian unit on the toolbar.

Page 20

IMPERIALISM II: What Happens on the Terrain Map

IMPERIALISM II: Civilian Units

The Disband Command.<<CALL IN B_DISBAN.EPS>>

The first button on the left provides the option of disbanding the selected civilian. You do not recover the cost of cash and paper originally spent to make the civilian worker. When you click this button you must confirm that you want to

disband the unit. Unlike most orders, you cannot take this order back.

The Next Unit Command.<<CALL IN B_NEXTUN.EPS>>

The second button advances you from the currently selected unit to the next unit in the cycle. Use this button when you want to delay giving orders to this unit until later in the turn.

The Done Command.<<CALL IN B_DONE.EPS>>

The Done button is third in the row on the toolbar. This command, if given to a selected unit, tells the unit to do nothing for this turn only. The unit

will appear normally in the cycle next turn. You might use this button when a civilian temporarily has nothing to do, or when you lack the resources to pay for the civilian’s improvements.

The Sleep Command.<<CALL IN B_SLEEP.EPS>>

Like Done, the Sleep command ends the unit’s turn. However, ordering the

civilian to sleep removes it from the cycle of units for future turns as well. You

might decide to give this order when a civilian has nothing to do for a long time, but you expect to want him later. Once the unit is sleeping, you must use the selection cursor to restore the sleeping unit to the cycle. Since you still see the sleeping unit on the Terrain Map, it’s not difficult to find him and click on him with this cursor. You can also type W and use the Wake all Civilian Units keyboard shortcut, to wake up all sleeping units and return them to the cycle.

Types of Civilian Units.

You begin the game with one Builder, one Engineer, and one Explorer. Other civilians must be built, either right away or later, when you have the money and the required technology. When any civilian has been assigned to work you see an animation on the map. As long as the animation is continuing, the project you ordered is not finished. If you want to stop a project prior to completion click on the animating civilian with the question mark cursor. On the dialog that appears, click on Rescind Orders. Working civilians will not appear in the unit cycle.

Explorer.<<CALL IN CU_EXPLO.EPS>>

The Explorer is used to explore lands that are hidden as well as to search for minerals that can be exploited by the other civilians. Exploration and prospecting are always free.

To explore, an Explorer must go to the New World. This requires at least one terrain tile be revealed for deployment. This first terrain tile is uncovered when a ship enters a sea zone adjacent to the New World. Ships are capable of revealing all coastal land tiles, however, Explorers must be used to reveal the interior of the continent.

When an Explorer is deployed to a tile adjacent to hidden tiles, he spends the turn exploring. When the next turn begins, all the tiles adjacent to the Explorer are revealed. If the tile he is deployed to is also a possible site for minerals, the Explorer prospects at the same time as he explores.

Most resources on the Terrain Map are automatically revealed to you just by looking at the type of terrain tile. For instance, you know that cotton is present at every cotton plantation terrain tile. You need not search for it. However, minerals must be found by an Explorer before they can be exploited by your other civilians. This is true in your own country as well as in the rest of the world. The exception to this rule occurs when you choose the historical Old World map. In those games, the location of all the resources of every country in the Old World is known from the beginning of the game, and there is no need to prospect there.

With an Explorer selected, an eye cursor lets you know if the tile under your cursor is eligible for the selected Explorer to prospect. Since minerals are found only in swamp, desert, barren hill, and mountain tiles, the eye appears only over those tiles. If an Explorer of your Great Power has already searched the tile, you see a small pickaxe and an “x” on the tile when the Explorer is selected.

In the toolbar, you can see the number of tiles remaining to prospect in the country the Explorer is in. To find these remaining terrain tiles quickly, click on the small terrain icons in the toolbar, and the screen centers immediately on the next unprospected tile.

Engineer.<<CALL IN CU_ENGIN.EPS>>

The Engineer is used to construct roads, ports, and fortifications. Every time you use your Engineer, lumber and one sort of metal material is expended. For roads and ports, cast iron is used. For Level 1 and Level 2 forts, bronze is

required. For the Level 3 fort, the Engineer uses steel. The quantity of lumber and metal required for a construction depends on the type of construction, and is displayed in the toolbar when the Engineer is selected. Roads are the least expensive item, requiring but one lumber and one cast iron per tile of road.

When the Engineer is selected, two working cursors are available. With the cursor over tiles adjacent to the Engineer’s current location, you see the first cursor, a small piece of road. Clicking on one of these adjacent tiles orders the Engineer to spend the turn building a road between his present tile and the tile you clicked on.

Roads gather resources from their own tile and from all the tiles around them. At the beginning of the game the primitive roads can only gather one resource from each tile. Later roads can gather more. For more details on how roads work see page 71.

When your engineer is in a city or on a river and you place your cursor within the tile where the Engineer is located, you see the second working cursor, a hammer. This orders the Engineer to construct something in that tile. Click on the map with the hammer cursor showing. A window lets you select the type of construction. Choices

Page 21

IMPERIALISM II: Civilian Units

for construction are ports or fortifications. However, these may not be available. Ports require access to water, and cannot be built on hilly or mountainous terrain. Forts can be built only in towns and cities.

Like roads, ports gather resources from their own tile and the surrounding ones. Unlike roads, however, they are always capable of gathering the maximum number of resources (4) from a single tile. For a more details on how ports work see page 71.

If you want to build a port or a fort and the Engineer is not in the right tile to do so, you need to deploy your Engineer to the proper tile. The deployment cursor is a green arrow. Clicking on the map with the green arrow showing orders the Engineer to move to that location. The Engineer appears in the new tile but he does not animate since he is accomplishing no work this turn. Next turn you can begin construction of a port or fort.

Builder.<<CALL IN CU_BUILD.EPS>>

Builders are used to make terrain tiles productive. All tiles that are producing any resources have a small structure on them in the upper left part of the terrain tile. Other than the structures found adjacent to capital cities at the beginning of the game, Builders must be used to create all these productive structures.

Whenever a Builder is the selected unit, you will see a picture of the Builder on the toolbar. A hammer cursor will appear over any tile on the map that your Builder could improve. Click on the map with the hammer cursor and the Builder immediately moves to the tile and begins working. This is confirmed by seeing the animation of the Builder sawing some lumber.

Builders are used to improve all the terrain that can produce anything in the game. This includes mines in mountains, hills, deserts, and swamps, farms on grain tiles, ranches on the open range, horse f ields, or fertile hills, plantations that grow cotton, spices, tobacco, and sugar cane, and fur trading posts in the tundra. It also includes towns when towns can be upgraded.

There are some limits on the improvement of tiles. The two most important are technology and materials. At the beginning of the game your empire knows the technology to build most types of terrain to Level 1 (the main exception is coal). A Level 1 development created by a Builder always produces one resource every turn. The development costs one lumber and one cast iron to create.

As your nation researches new technology, some of the knowledge you gain allows your Builder to improve some types of terrain tile to Level 2. Technologies that have this result are grouped together under the heading “gathering” because they permit the gathering of more resources. Twice improved tiles produce 2 resources every turn. However, to improve tiles to Level 2 costs 4 lumber and 4 cast iron.

Later gathering technologies permit further upgrades to Level 3 and Level 4. Although each level produces one additional resource from the tile, the cost accelerates significantly. Level 3 developments cost 8 lumber and 8 cast iron, while the maximum-sized Level 4 developments cost 16 of each.

Terrain tiles developed beyond the capacity of the transport available to the tile gain nothing. For instance since a road (at the beginning of the game) can gather but one resource from each tile, it is pointless to develop a tile adjacent to a road to Level 2 until better roads are available. When you place a cursor over a terrain tile, the hot text in the upper right part of the screen informs you of both the transport level (how much you can gather) and the production level (how much is being made). For a detailed explanation on how the transport network gathers resources see page 71.

Some types of terrain always possess usable resources (like a grain tile) whereas other types must be prospected first to find out if any resources are present (mountains for instance) This chart list all types of terrain and provides the gathering limit for that type.

TERRAIN AND DEVELOPMENT:

Resources present, Old World, Maximum Level of

Type of Terrain. (always or sometimes). New World or Both. Development (Production Level).

Plains None Both None

Grain Farm Grain (always) Old World Level 4

Open Range Meat (always) Old World Level 4

Fertile Hills Wool (always) Old World Level 4

Horse Ranch Horses (always) Old World Level 1

Scrub Forest Timber (always) Both Level 1

Hardwood Forest Timber(always) Both Level 4

Sugar Plantation Sugar Cane (always) New World Level 4

Tobacco Land Tobacco (always) New World Level 4

Tundra New World None Level4

Furs (sometimes) Both

Cotton Plantation Cotton (always) New World Level 4

Spice Orchard Spices (always) New World Level 4

Barren Hills Iron, Coal, Both Level 4

Copper in both New World add Silver (sometimes)

Mountains Iron, Coal, Both Level 4

Copper in both New World add Gold and Gems (sometimes)

Desert Diamonds (sometimes) New World Level 4

Swamp Tin (sometimes) Both Level 4

Page 22

IMPERIALISM II: Civilian Units

Merchant.<<CALL IN CU_MERCH.EPS>>

Merchant units can be built only after your researchers have learned about Merchant Companies. Once you own a Merchant, you can purchase terrain tiles in Minor Nations and the New World for development, the first step in obtaining overseas profits.

One of the most important results of using a Merchant is that the purchase of land in a New World province protects that province from invasion unless the other Great Power is willing to declare war on the Great Power that bought the land.

A Merchant works abroad in Minor Nations and Tribes. Since his purpose is to purchase land for your Builders and Engineers to develop, there is no need of his services within your own borders.

To order a Merchant to buy land, hold the cursor over lands with resources in a minor nation or Tribe. When you see the coins cursor click on the map. A dialog appears informing you of the price of that piece of land. If you agree to spend the money, the Merchant deploys to that tile and spends the turn purchasing it. A Merchant can buy a town also. Towns can produce materials once a Builder upgrades the town. For information on how to gain materials from a town see page 29.

It is necessary to have an embassy in a Tribe or Minor Nation prior to buying land with the Merchant. For detailed step by step instructions for buying and developing land see page 69.

Spy.<<CALL IN CU_SPY.EPS>>

The Spy is used for three purposes. The first involves scouting the strength of an enemy garrison. Normally, to investigate the strength of a garrison, you place the mouse cursor over the enemy town or capital and look for a red question mark cursor. The dialog that appears when you click is highly

inaccurate, though it may bear some resemblance to the true garrison.

A Spy assigned to and working in that province may be used to obtain an accurate report. To assign a Spy, while the unit is selected, hold the cursor over the enemy province and click with the hammer cursor. The Spy moves to that province and animates, which indicates he is spying. The exact location of the Spy in the province is irrelevant. On the next turn, and for as long as the Spy survives, the information obtained when you scout that province will be accurate.

Spies are also used to increase the rate of progress of learning a new technology. Using the Technology screen, you can obtain information about which Great Powers in the game have already learned a technology you are interested in. For detailed instructions on how to do this see page 101. Once you know which countries possess valuable technology, the Spy can be assigned to them in the same way he is assigned to scout military forces. In fact, he performs both functions simultaneously.

No matter where in the territory of the other Great Power you send the Spy, he will gain information of benefit on all the technologies of the Great Power that you are currently researching. Spies supply no benefit on technologies you do not research, so you cannot learn a new technology merely by spying. You must establish the technology in a research slot using the Technology screen, even if no cash is available for investment.

The third use of a Spy is defensive. By assigning a Spy to work anywhere in your own country you greatly increase the chances of capturing or killing enemy Spies at work in your lands. The chances of being caught are also increased if there is a large military garrison in the province where the Spy is working, and if the Spy’s country is at war with the country he is spying on. Be aware of these factors when you assign your own Spies.

Spying, like exploring, is free. You pay no resources or cash to spy.

Rail Builder.<<CALL IN CU_RAILBU.EPS>>

Once you obtain the technology of the Early Steam Engine, you can convert

some of your roads to railroads. To do this a Rail Builder civilian unit is

required. Railroads, when completed, permit up to four resources to be

transported from a single tile. For a detailed explanation of how roads and rail gather resources see page 71.

A Rail Builder is assigned to work just like an Engineer building road. He builds rail from the tile where he is located into any adjacent tile where a road already exists. Rail can only be built where you already have road. Unlike other civilians, Rail Builders will continue to build more rail over road tiles, unless they come to a fork in the road, and require instruction on which way to go. If you decide you want to stop a Rail Builder from working, you need to select him and rescind his orders. Otherwise he continues to upgrade your roads to rails, as long as the requisite steel and lumber are available each turn.

Building rail costs steel and lumber for each tile.

NAVAL UNITS

Fleets are represented in two ways on the map. A fleet on station at sea is portrayed as a large ship with a wake. A f leet at anchor appears as a ship with furled sails near the port tile where the fleet is based. Often a fleet is shown with an accompanying icon, which tells you what type of mission the fleet is on.

Fleets can do two different things on the map: They can move from one sea zone to another or they can perform a mission in the sea zone where they are already located. It is not possible to order movement to a new sea zone and a mission at the same time. For the purposes of the game rules, a port is considered a sea zone. When a fleet moves to a port it is often called anchoring, but it is really the same action as moving to a different sea zone.

Ordering Your Fleets.

The first step in ordering movement or missions is to make sure that your fleet is selected. A selected fleet has no mission and no movement orders. Generally, any fleet shown on the map with an icon next to it already has a mission or movement order. You must click on the fleet using the question mark cursor and rescind the current orders before the fleet can be selected and made available for new orders.

When a fleet is selected, the ship icon has a f lashing white outline. The ships in this fleet appear in the toolbar display. The next step is to select the ships you want to assign to a mission or to move to a different sea zone. Normally, all the ships are selected by default.

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IMPERIALISM II: Civilian Units

IMPERIALISM II: Naval Units

If you want only a portion of your ships to perform a mission or to move, you can control which ships are selected with the arrows in the toolbar next to each ship type. Mission orders are carried out in the sea zone where the fleet is already located. Movement sends the fleet to a new location. Fleets cannot do both a mission and a move in the same turn.

When you give movement orders, the ships not contained in your selection remain behind. The toolbar arrows do not permit you to select particular ships of a single category. If you want to make a more specific selection of forces you can use the Fleet Book. For information on the Fleet Book see page 43. This would be necessary, for instance, if you wanted a particular veteran Ship-of-the-Line, among several present in the fleet, to conduct a mission.

Missions, Movement and Cursors.

Once you have made a selection of ships using the toolbar or the Fleet Book, use a map cursor to command it. The map cursors allow you to assign your selected fleet in four different ways: movement to another sea zone plus three kinds of missions.

Moving a Fleet.<<CALL IN C_WHEEL.EPS, C_ANCHOR.EPS, C_REDCRC.EPS>>

To move the fleet, click on a new sea zone with the ship’s wheel cursor or on a port with the anchor cursor. These

cursors do not appear in the fleet’s current sea zone. If the new zone is out of range you see a slashed circle cursor; you cannot move the fleet that far in one turn. Often using the zoomed out map makes fleet movement much simpler especially for ships that can move a long way.

Patrols.<<CALL IN C_TELESC.EPS>>

To order a f leet to patrol its current sea zone, click anywhere in the zone with the telescope cursor. Patrolling fleets try to intercept any hostile ships in the entire

sea zone. This can result in battles, or interception of trade and transport. A fleet assigned to patrol will no longer appear in the unit cycle. To give a fleet new orders you must select the ships by clicking on them and rescinding their current mission.

Blockades.<<CALL IN C_REDSHP.EPS>>

To order a fleet to blockade an enemy port, click on the port with the X and

ship cursor. Blockading fleets try to intercept any hostile ships that enter or leave

the port. Blockaders have a higher chance of interception than fleets simply on patrol, but they have no chance at all of intercepting fleets that do not enter or leave the port they are blockading. Interception can result in battles, or interruption of trade and transport. Enemy patrols can intercept blockading f leets. A f leet assigned to blockade will no longer appear in the unit cycle. To give a f leet new orders you must select the ships by clicking on them and rescinding their current mission.

Beachheads.<<CALL IN C_CANNON.EPS>>

To order a f leet to establish a site for troops to land , click on the province you want to invade with the cannon cursor. A fleet assigned to a beachhead will no longer appear in the unit cycle. To give a fleet new orders you must select the

ships by clicking on them and rescinding their current mission.

Because invasions take several steps, new players of I see how to get their troops overseas. For a step by step checklist for invading an overseas province, see page 48. It is never necessary to invade a province you already own. Troops can be deployed overseas to friendly provinces without any missions or movement of your fleets.

MPERIALISM II may not immediately

Battles

All fleet interceptions and subsequent naval battles are resolved strategically and then reported on the Battle Report screen. The abilities summarised on the Abilities of Warships table, on page 45, control the battle. Superior range is the usually the most important statistic. Ships that suffer damage in battle repair each turn, even at sea.

Toolbar for Fleets.

The Fleet Details Button.<<CALL IN B_FLEETB.EPS>>

The first naval command button brings up a detailed book on the selected fleet. You may also view this book by clicking with the question mark cursor directly on the picture of a selected fleet, or by pressing F11.

The Fleet Details Book shows you the details of the selected fleet; including the names, the health, and the medals of each ship. By clicking on the picture of a ship you may select or unselect it individually. Notice that the toolbar numbers of selected units change as you select units.

You may rename the ships using the Fleet Book. Click on the name to edit the name text.

The Next Fleet Button.<<CALL IN B_NEXTUN.EPS>>

The second button, advances you from the currently selected fleet to the next unit in your cycle. Use this button when you don’t know what orders to give, but you want another opportunity later in the turn.

The Done Button.<<CALL IN B_DONE.EPS>>

The Done button third in the row on the toolbar, commands the selected fleet, tells the fleet to remain in the same sea zone, trying to stay out of trouble for that turn.

You might use this button when you don’t want to do anything with your fleet this turn, but expect to have orders for it in the near future.

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IMPERIALISM II: Naval Units

The Defend Button.<<CALL IN B_DEFEND.EPS>>

Like Done, the Defend command ends the fleet’s turn. However, ordering the fleet to defend removes it from the cycle of units for future turns as well. You

might decide to give this order when you have decided a given fleet is a permanent defence force in a sea zone, but you do not want it to try to find enemy ships. Generally, this button should not be used for fleets. It is wiser to patrol with a low level of aggression.

Once a fleet is defending, you must use the selection cursor or the Wake all Naval Units keyboard shortcut (N) to restore the fleet to the unit cycle.

IMPERIALISM II: Naval Units

Aggression Levels.<<CALL IN B_AGGRES.EPS>>

Directly above the ship pictures in the toolbar are three buttons that enable you to establish the aggression level of

a fleet. The default button (in the middle) means that the fleet attempts to engage any enemy it encounters when the officer in charge of your fleet believes it to be inferior to his force.

This decision is important even if your ships are not looking for enemies on a patrol, because enemies may be looking for them. The commander of your fleet must decide whether to accept battle or try to flee based on this aggression setting.

The other two settings dramatically increase or decrease aggression. The high level means your commander engages all comers if he believes there is even a remote chance of victory. This setting is most useful for forces whose commander cares more about dealing out damage to others than preserving his own fleet. The most cautious setting means that the fleet tries to avoid battle unless the officer in charge believes he has an overwhelming advantage.

When deciding which level to set, remember that your officers can make errors in their estimates about the size of enemy forces. When in doubt, you should generally choose the more cautious setting, unless it is important to defend a particular zone.

Convoying.

The development of Convoying allows construction of Galleons. Although slow, these powerful, large vessels are ideal for transporting products from the New World.

Ship Statistics.

WARSHIP STATISTICS:

Ship Type FRP RNG ARM HULL CargoHolds MV Technology

Carrack

2 4 95 25 3 3 None

Fluyte

3 4 95 35 4 2 Hull Design

Sloop

4 4 95 25 1 4 Navigation

Galleon

Trader

Indiaman

7 4 85 50 6 2 Convoying

3 4 90 30 4 4 Improved Sails

4 5 90 55 8 3 Large Hulls

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IMPERIALISM II: Naval Units

Ship Type FRP RNG ARM HULL CargoHolds MV Technology

Frigate

6 5 90 35 2 5 Superior Hull

Ship-of-the-Line

12 6 80 65 4 3 Ships-of-the-

Clipper

2 5 90 35 6 7 Clipper Ships

Merchant Steamship

3 6 90 60 10 6 Merchant

Raider

6 7 80 35 0 6 Paddlewheels

Ironclad

12 7 45 60 1 6 Advanced

FRP: .................... Firepower establishes the strength of the ship’s attack.

RNG: .................... In naval combat range is the most important ability of the your ships. A ship with

greater range starts dealing out damage before its foes are able to respond.

ARM: .................... Armour determines the ship’s likelihood of taking damage.

HULL: .................. The size of the ship determines how long it will take to sink it once the

armour is penetrated.

MV: ...................... Movement judges the speed in battle and the number of sea zones that can be

covered in a turn. A fleet with the edge in movement can force the action or flee from the fight. A ship with both greater speed and greater range can often sink the enemy and take little or no damage itself.

Design

Line

Steamer

Ironworking

Flagships.

As a reward for naval expansion, you may acquire new flagships. Flagships are always the most powerful ships available at the time the reward is received.

Types of Warships.

All twelve types of ships that may be built are able to fight. However, generally, Carracks, Fluytes, Traders, Indiamen, Steamships, and Clippers should not be built for military duties. These vessels will most often lose when confronted with a ship of war. Often they are cheaper and have more cargo holds than do the warships.

The six ships in the game that are most useful in battle should be considered either fast ships or battle ships. Fa st ships (Sloops, Frigates, Raiders) are used primarily for intercepting, and blockading. To control a sea zone and destroy an enemy f leet the battle ships (Galleons, Ships-of-the-Line, Ironclads) are superior. Of course a fast ship of a later era may be victorious over an out-dated battle ship.

Sloops.

Although they are fast and cheap to construct, Sloops are useful for only a short period of the game. They can intercept and defeat Carracks, and sometimes Fluytes, but are unlikely to do well if they intercept a fleet containing any Galleons. Once other nations have Galleons, your intercepting fleets should contain a mixture of Galleons and Sloops.

Galleons.

Galleons are unusual in that they have a large cargo capacity and also a fearsome broadside. Early in the game Galleons can be used for war, trade, and transport. Although expensive and rather slow, Galleons are the best buy early in the game because your food supply cannot support a navy of too many different, more specialised, vessels.

Frigates.

Although nearly useless for trade and transport, the first empire to build Frigates has a significant edge in the balance of power. Frigates can outrun ships they cannot sink. Often several Frigates will decimate a merchant fleet made up of the once invincible Galleons.

Ships-of-the-Line.

Ships-of-the-Line remain competitive and useful throughout the game because the high cost of an Ironclad usually precludes construction of vast numbers of them. Ships-of-theLine are faster, larger, and much more powerful than Galleons, and can easily defeat or drive off Raiders, Frigates, and Sloops. Since they are built primarily for war, however, they lack the cargo capacity of the Galleon.

Raiders.

Raiders are the ideal ship for scouting, escorting, and raiding the Merchants of other Great Powers. They cannot contest control of the sea with Ships-of-the-Line or Ironclads however.

Ironclads.

The ultimate weapon at sea in IMPERIALISM II, these ships are incredibly expensive. You will need a large steel making capability to produce many Ironclads.

Obsolete Warships and Upgrading.

Sometimes, when technology makes a new warship available, it becomes possible to upgrade your old vessels. This really refers to taking the crew off the old vessel and placing them on a new ship, so the cost is always exactly the same as the cost of a new ship minus the cost of a new crew.

Your Home Fleet.

Your home fleet is a special example of a fleet at anchor. The home fleet is always located near the port that serves the capital city of your empire, unless you order all the ships to sea.

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IMPERIALISM II: Naval Units

Cargo Holds.

All ships have a carrying capacity that is referred to as the number of cargo holds on the ship. This number is especially important for ships in the home fleet because it determines how many commodities the ship can move (either transporting or trading) in a single turn.

New Construction.

Whenever you order a ship constructed it appears in the home fleet on the next turn. Newly built ships never appear anywhere else.

Transport.

Ships in the home fleet are available for transporting commodities using the Transport screen. No other ships in the game can be used to transport your Nation’s commodities. The firepower and other abilities of the ships assigned to transport help determine whether any of your transported commodities are intercepted by enemy ships. For details on how to use the home fleet for transport see page 47.

Trade.

Any ships in the home fleet that are not assigned to transport may be used for trade. No other ships in the game are used to carry the commodities you trade. On both the Trade screen and the Transport screen you see a breakdown of the cargo holds assigned to transport and the number remaining left over for trade. The only way to increase the amount you can trade or transport is to add more cargo holds (more ships) to the home fleet. You do this by building ships or by moving ships from other forces into the home fleet on the map. For details on using the home fleet for trade see page 47.

Checklist: Conducting an Overseas Invasion.

• Make sure you have a fleet in a sea zone adjacent to the province you want to invade.

• Make sure you are already at war with the owner of the province. This step is unnecessary if the owner

is a Tribe.

• Select the fleet. Ship pictures should appear in the toolbar, and the fleet should be flashing white on

the map.

• Use the arrows in the toolbar, if necessary, to make sure that all the ships you want are selected.

Normally the entire fleet is selected by default, so you probably won’t need to touch the arrows.

• Place your mouse cursor over the coastline of the enemy province. Click when you see a cannon

cursor. The fleet moves to a point near the coast and is shown with a cannon icon that lets you know it is establishing a beachhead.

• Make sure you have land forces somewhere in your empire in a province that has a port. Next turn,

only troops in ports will be able to invade. Your capital city is a port.

• If you have done everything else you wanted to this turn, end your turn now. You cannot conduct an

invasion in the same turn that you order a beachhead to be established.

• When you review the Battle Report, make sure enemy action did not damage or destroy your fleet.

• Select the land forces that you want to use to invade the enemy province. Their pictures should be in

the toolbar. Use the arrows in the toolbar to select a force of the right size. Fleets can land one regiment for every cargo hold they possess.

• With the troops selected, click on the enemy province with a crossed swords cursor. A red attack

arrow appears over the province that represents your invading forces.

• Battle is resolved when you end your turn.

MILITARY FORCES

Like naval units and civilians, your land forces are commanded on the Terrain Map. Land forces are always based in provinces, and are represented on the map by some small military tents near the towns found in each province.

Your land military forces consist of regiments and generals. There are 30 different types of military units in the game, organised into four eras. During the first era of the game, approximately 1500-1600 (50 turns) you may construct only the first seven regiment types. The length of this first era varies from game to game, and depends on the amount of effort the Great Powers place in their military research projects.

As you and the other Great Powers begin to accomplish these research projects in the mid to late 1500s, old regiment types are gradually replaced by new ones in the same generic categories, and new types of regiments are added. Once a new type of light cavalry, for example, is available to your empire, you cannot construct the older type of regiment. You may upgrade the older regiments to the new one within their category using the Army Book.

By 1715 (65 more turns), the Great Powers are again beginning to upgrade their regiments to the third era. The final era, which continues until someone wins the game, is well underway by around 1780 (65 more turns). These dates are at best approximate. Often a Great Power decides to research an expensive era three technology before it has discovered all of those from era two. The research and discovery of new technology depends on the military goals of the Great Power’s monarch.

Ordering Your Land Forces

When a land garrison is selected, the encampment of the garrison shows a flashing white outline. The units in the garrison appear in the toolbar display. The first step, using the toolbar, is to select the regiments you want. You are selecting units for movement orders; it is not necessary to give regiments orders to stay behind and defend. Any units remaining at the end of the turn will automatically defend the province from attack.

Normally, all the units in the garrison are selected for movement by default. If you want only a portion of your regiments to leave the province, you can control which units are selected with the arrows in the toolbar next to each unit type.

When you give movement orders, the units not included in your selection will remain behind. The toolbar arrows do not permit you to select particular regiments of a single category.

If you want to make a more specific selection of forces you can use the Garrison Book. See page 51. This is necessary, for instance, if you want a particular veteran regiment of heavy cavalry, among several present in the garrison, to conduct an attack.

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IMPERIALISM II: Military Forces

Moving and Attacking.

There are several different ways you can move your selected army on the map. The cursor shows the type of movement a click on a given province would order.

Deployment.<<CALL IN C_MARCH.EPS, C_CARRIA.EPS>>

If you want to move to an adjacent friendly province, click on that province with the marching soldier cursor. If you want to move the

selected army further, but still in friendly territory, click with the carriage cursor which appears over the distant friendly province. You can do this over the water as well. The only time you need to worry about using ships is when you are attacking an enemy province across the water.

Attacks.<<CALL IN C_CSWORD.EPS>>

To enter a province you do not own, you must first declare war on the owner of the province, unless the owner is a Tribe. Although you do not need to declare

war to attack a Tribe, a common problem for new players occurs when you are prohibited from attacking a Tribe due to investments in the target province by another Great Power. If you find yourself unable to attack a Tribe’s province, this is probably what has happened. The solution is not to declare war on the Tribe—that is never necessary. Instead you must declare war on the Great Power that has purchased land in the province you want to attack.

Any units in the province adjacent to the target may attack over land. Clicking on the target province with the crossed swords cursor orders the attack. The most dangerous movement is an attack across the water. Superficially, this seems exactly like an attack on an adjacent province. Once your fleets establish a beachhead, you select land forces and use the crossed swords cursor to order them to move directly across the seas to the enemy province. However, on the turn that this movement is ordered, your land forces are extremely vulnerable to hostile fleet interception. Any enemy fleets entering or present in the sea zone with the landing site automatically intercept and battle the landing f leets. If any of your ships are sunk, some of your land forces may be drowned. For more information on establishing a beachhead see page 49.

Toolbar for Regiments.<<CALL IN SGARRATT.EPS>>

Military Unit Command Buttons

Garrison Already on Invasion of Province

Number of Units Currently Selected for Garrison

The Garrison Details Button.<<CALL IN B_GARRBK.EPS>>

The first military command button brings up a detailed book on the selected garrison. You may also view this book by clicking with the question mark cursor directly on the garrison encampment.

The Garrison Details Book shows the state of the selected garrison, including the names, the health, and the medals of each regiment. By clicking on the picture of a unit you may select or unselect it individually. As you select a unit, its notation changes from Defending to Available The notation Available means that the regiment will be ordered to move or attack when you click on another province. Notice also that the toolbar numbers of selected units change as you select units on the screen.

<<CALL IN S_ARMYBK.EPS>>

Return to

Terrain Map

Hot Text Area

Unit Health

Upgrade Unit

Page 28

IMPERIALISM II: Military Forces

You also use the Garrison Details Book to upgrade units when available. If any upgrade is possible the upgrade button will appear in the book near the unit. You may rename a unit using the Garrison Details Book; simply click on the name to edit the name text.

The Next Unit Button.

The second button advances you from the currently selected garrison to the next unit in your cycle. Use this button when you don’t know what orders to give, but you want another opportunity later in the turn.

The Done Button.

The Done button tells the selected unit to do nothing for this turn only. The unit appears normally in the cycle next turn. You might use this button when you do not want to move your garrison, but you want to keep it in the unit cycle.

The Defend Button.

Like Done, the Defend command (a castle icon) ends the unit’s turn. However, ordering the garrison to defend removes it from the cycle of units for future turns

as well. You might decide to give this order when you have decided a given garrison is a permanent defence force. Once a garrison is defending, you must use the selection cursor or the Wake all Army Units keyboard shortcut (A) to restore the regiments to the unit cycle.

Experience.

Regiments gain experience, which is marked by a string of medals on the display. Experience is earned by participating in combat. Generally, participation in three victories or five defeats will earn one medal for the regiment. Experience is much less, however, if the regiment simply retreats without participating in a fight. Each medal affects firepower, melee strength and morale.

A regiment with one medal has its base firepower and melee numbers multiplied by 1.1. A two medal unit’s statistics are multiplied by 1.2. The most medals a unit can earn is four.

Normally a unit suffers a morale loss equal to the actual casualties suffered whenever it is damaged. This is shown in gray on the unit’s health bar during a battle. As a unit gains medals, the amount of morale loss suffered is reduced. A four medal unit suffers no loss of morale at all.

Regiments and Technology.

The following table shows which technologies are required to upgrade each category of regiment in each era.

REGIMENT TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS:

Category. First Era. Second Era. Third Era. Fourth Era.

Light Infantry Peasant Levies Calivermen Skirmishers Sharpshooters

Improved Infantry Early Rifles Long range Rifles Tactics

Regular Infantry Pikemen Halberdiers Regulars Rifle Infantry

Improved Iron Bayonet Needle gun Weapons

Heavy Infantry Arquebusiers Musketeers Grenadiers Guards

Improved Explosives Elite Training Workmanship

Bowmen Bowmen No unit available No unit available No unit available

Light Cavalry Squires Cossacks Hussars Scouts

Recruit Steppe Hussars Scouting Horsemen

Spear Cavalry Knights Lancers No unit available No unit available

Organised Regiments

Heavy Cavalry No unit available Harquebusiers Cuirassiers Carbine Cavalry

Improved Cavalry Improved Cavalry Repeating Cavalry Tactics Weapons Carbines

Light Artillery No unit available Horse Artillery Light Artillery Field Artillery

Horse Artillery Artillery tactics Field Artillery

Heavy Artillery Culverin Royal Artillery Heavy Artillery Siege Artillery

Siege Heavy Artillery High Grade Steel Engineering

Regiment Categories.

The information in this section should be used to assemble the best army possible depending on the nature of the force you are about to fight and whether you are attacking or defending. Knowledge of what each regiment can do is critical even if you decide to resolve the battles automatically. The automatic or strategic combat resolution resolves fights using the same tactical rules as the manual system except that the computer controls both sides. Since the make-up of your force is the only control you have over the battle you must be careful to assemble and deploy forces well suited to the task you have set them. The specifics of each unit’s abilities can be found in a table on page 56.

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IMPERIALISM II: Military Forces

Light Infantry.

Peasant Levies are nearly useless in battle, although quite cheap to construct. The other three types of light

infantry (Calivermen, Skirmishers, and Sharpshooters) are adept at using terrain for concealment and take reduced damage when fired upon. They are best used to draw fire from entrenched defenders giving heavier units a chance to approach unmolested.

Regular Infantry.

The first two units available, Pikemen and Halberdiers,

are useful early in the game, especially against Tribes.

Their lack of a ranged attack makes them useless against forts unless the defenders sortie. A sortie refers to an attack by the defenders who voluntarily leave their fortifications. In melee these units are powerful and should be used to protect more vulnerable pieces. With the invention of the bayonet, regular infantry gains a ranged attack (a musket) in addition to its melee abilities.

Heavy Infantry.

The first two types of heavy infantry, Arquebusiers and

Musketeers, are both quite slow due to the heavy

primitive firearms they must carry. Although they can be effective if used carefully, they should be protected by regiments of Pikemen, Halberdiers, or in a pinch, cavalry. Like other regiments with firearms, these units can fire at defenders on the wall of a fort, but cannot hit other defenders behind the walls. Later heavy infantry, Grenadiers and Guards, are expensive though valuable regiments. Build them if you can afford them. They have powerful melee and ranged attacks.

Bowmen.

Bowmen are one of the few Era 1 units with ranged capability, and they are relatively inexpensive. This makes them your best bet if you have to attack a

fort early in the game. Enough Bowmen shooting units on the walls can destroy the emplaced artillery, especially if there is only one present. However, because you can never upgrade Bowmen, try not to rely on them exclusively. If you fail to develop artillery and other ranged units, you will be helpless when advances in Military Science render your Bowmen obsolete.

Light Cavalry.

Light cavalry in all four eras is best used to draw the opportunity fire of an enemy cannon or line of

troops, allowing the rest of your forces to advance safely after the enemy fire is spent. The light cavalry then retreats to fight another day. Against forts, the early regiments are useless since defenders in a fort are unlikely to waste powder on units that cannot harm them. Later light cavalry (Hussars and Scouts) have firearms, and can be used to draw fire from forts as well, since these light cavalry can shoot defenders on the walls.

Spear Cavalry.

Knights and Lancers are in some ways the ideal pieces early in the game. Their power in melee is mighty, and it is coupled with decent

speed, especially the Lancers. Tribes have very little chance to stop spear cavalry, and small numbers can rout large numbers of the Tribe’s forces. Since Lancers can never upgrade, their use later in the game is minimal. They cannot harm forts. Sometimes they are useful driving away defenders who come out of a fort to attack the besieging artillery, though heavy cavalry is probably superior for this task.

Heavy Cavalry.

In melee, the later heavy cavalry (Cuirassiers, Carbine Cavalry) is unmatched, and all three units in this category

have a ranged (carbine) attack as well. Once a fort has been reduced by previous battles, so that combat is in the open field, heavy cavalry is the most effective way to destroy your foes. Use them especially to catch the enemy’s light artillery. They are also ideal for pursuing and annihilating a routed enemy.

Light Artillery.

Light artillery is in many ways the most important unit type in the game, once the provinces you hope to attack are all

fortified. Unlike heavy artillery, these units can move and shoot in the same turn of battle. This means they can approach a fort and do some damage on the way in. Like all artillery they can also shoot over the wall, striking foes who seek to cower in the background, and can damage the wall itself if desired. Light artillery has two flaws. Since heavy emplaced guns defend the forts, the light artillery is often in range of its enemies in the fort before it is able to shoot back. Secondly, light artillery is vulnerable. One or two hits from a heavy gun can finish it off. This means that to attack a fort you should strive to bring more regiments of light artillery than your enemy has artillery units defending the fort.

Heavy Artillery.

Heavy artillery is most useful on defence because its slow movement and inability to move and shoot on

the same turn can be impediments when advancing against your foes. However, on defence it is unmatched. It usually has the longest range and most destructive potential of any unit on the battlefield. By standing still and forcing attackers to move toward it, heavy artillery can break many attacks.

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IMPERIALISM II: Military Forces

Regiment Abilities and Comparison.

The table below provides ratings on the various unit types.

Regiment. FPN. FPM. RNG. DEF. MVR.

Peasant Levies................................0 ................3 ..................1 ....................3 ....................3

Pikemen ........................................0 ................5 ..................1 ....................5 ....................3

Arquebusiers ..................................5 ................1 ..................3 ....................3 ....................2

Bowmen ........................................3 ................1 ..................4 ....................2 ....................3

Squires ..........................................0 ................4 ..................1 ....................4 ....................6

Knights ..........................................0 ................6 ..................1 ....................6 ....................4

Culverin ........................................8 ................1 ..................5 ....................2 ....................2

Calivermen ....................................3 ................2 ..................5 ....................5 ....................4

Halberdiers ....................................0 ................7 ..................1 ....................6 ....................4

Musketeers ....................................7 ................2 ..................4 ....................4 ....................3

Cossacks ........................................0 ................5 ..................1 ....................5 ....................8

Lancers ..........................................0 ................8 ..................1 ....................5 ....................6

Harquebusiers................................2 ................6 ..................3 ....................5 ....................6

Horse Artillery ..............................5 ................2 ..................7 ....................2 ....................3

Royal Artillery ..............................9 ................2 ..................8 ....................2 ....................2

Skirmishers ....................................4 ................3 ..................5 ....................6 ....................6

Regulars ........................................7 ................7 ..................5 ....................5 ....................4

Grenadiers ....................................10 ................8 ..................5 ....................5 ....................4

Hussars ..........................................2 ................8 ..................3 ....................6 ....................11

Cuirassiers ....................................5 ................13 ..................3 ....................5 ....................9

L. Artillery ....................................8 ................3 ..................9 ....................3 ....................4

H. Artillery ..................................13 ................2 ..................10 ....................2 ....................3

Sharpshooters ................................5 ................4 ..................7 ....................7 ....................7

Rifle Infantry ................................9 ................9 ..................6 ....................6 ....................4

Guards ..........................................12................10 ..................6 ....................6 ....................4

Scouts ............................................5 ................11 ..................5 ....................6....................11

Carbineers ....................................7 ................17 ..................5 ....................5 ....................9

Field Artillery................................10 ................3 ..................11 ....................4 ....................5

Siege Guns ....................................17 ................2 ..................12 ....................3 ....................3

Emplaced Artillery.

Every fort built in IMPERIALISM II comes complete with its own emplaced artillery. Larger forts contain more cannon. You never need to construct these pieces, they appear automatically whenever a battle occurs in the province where the fort is built. If you learn a technology that improves the quality of emplaced artillery, the upgrade occurs automatically in all your forts. Unlike other units, emplaced artillery cannot be moved. If attacking forces destroys them, the fort is reduced one level even if the attackers are not victorious in the battle. These units do not count against the force size limits. See the tactical battle section on page 59 for more information.

At the beginning of the game, these emplaced artillery are the strongest cannon in the game. As the game progresses the strength of emplaced artillery is usually one era better than the best heavy artillery regiments currently available. So, for instance, since the best heavy artillery at the start of the game is the Culverin, the emplaced artillery during this period is basically equivalent to Royal Artillery (one era more advanced than the Culverin).

Of course, this can vary according to the research efforts of the various Great Powers. Just as technology leads to heavy artillery improvements, different technology leads to improvement of all emplaced artillery. Since the upgrading of emplaced artillery is immediate and costs nothing, try to research new technology for these units first, especially if you are on the defensive. At the beginning of the game all Great Powers can build Level 1 forts with one emplaced cannon. All emplaced guns are of Royal Artillery quality. Upgraded forts have more guns. Powers with Emplaced Artillery technology have better quality guns.

EMPLACED

Development. Benef its. Required Technology.

Level 2 forts Stronger wall, 1 additional Mine Engineering (must be built by Engineer) emplaced cannon (2 total)

Heavy Emplaced Artillery All Royal Artillery Heavy Emplaced Artillery

Emplaced Siege Guns All Heavy Artillery Emplaced Siege Guns

Level 3 forts(must be built by Stronger wall, 1 additional Modern Forts Engineer, steel required) emplaced cannon (3 total)

ARTILLERY AND FORTS:

automatically upgraded

FPN ..................Normal Firepower Rating, the Basic attack strength of the regiment.

FPM ..................Melee Attack Rating used only when the attacker is adjacent to the target.

RNG ..................Range is the maximum number of tiles the unit may fire. Emplaced artillery f ires one

tile further thant the heavy artillery of its era.

DEF ..................The number reflects a regiment’s ability to withstand enemy fire. The actual effect in

the game is calculated by comparing the number on the chart to 9; so the smaller the difference, the better the unit. This means for example that a regiment with a defence of 7 is twice as good as one with a defence of 5.

MVR..................The number of tiles a regiment can move on the tactical battlefield in one turn.

For more on emplaced artillery, see page 57.

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IMPERIALISM II: Military Forces

Recruit Steppe Horsemen.

Improvements in organisation, and the growth of herds, permit recruiting and training of steppe horsemen. These fast Cossack units are used for scouting and disrupting your foes. Later light cavalry units will develop from these forces.

FIGHTING BATTLES

This section provides the information you need to deploy and manage your military and either to resolve your battles tactically, or allow the computer to fight them for you.

Choosing a Method of Resolving Combat.

On the Preferences screen, reachable from the Terrain Map, you can choose to resolve land battles on a strategic level or by using tactical battlef ields. For the tactical option set Army Battles on the Preferences screen to Manual. For the strategic option, set this control to Automatic. Once you are on the battlefield using the manual option, you can still choose to resolve the tactical fights yourself or order your advisor to do so. Even if you give control to your advisor for part of the battle, you can take it back if necessary. Regardless of the mode of resolution, the same rules apply to all battles and a battle report is shown to you to check results after the fight.

In games with multiple human players, strategic resolution greatly reduces the waiting time between turns, and the tactical option is not available.

Strategic Resolution.

Combat values on the tactical tables found on page 56 are good guides for all combat resolution. The computer resolves battles using the same battlefields and rules used in the tactical game. The only difference between tactical and strategic resolution modes is the element of human brain power.

If you are experienced with the tactical option, you may find that the computer advisor resolving the battles strategically does not use your forces as effectively as you would. Generally it is a good idea to attack with slightly larger forces when using strategic combat resolution.

IMPERIALISM II: Fighting Battles

Tactical Battle.

Tactical combat is fought in turns and may be turned over to the computer for resolution at any time. Once you have entered the battlefield screen, however, you have to watch the pieces move and fire until one side is victorious, even if you assign the computer to control your side. For complete information on how to fight a tactical battle see the following sections.

Initiative.

Battles take place between two turns. After all Great Powers have ordered the movement of their troops, the movements and attacks take place simultaneously. However, when orders contradict each other, such as two battles planned in the same province, one battle must be resolved first. The order for resolving battles depends on the army initiative rating of the forces involved. Not surprisingly, this rating depends on the relative make-up of the army and the experience of the army leader, if any. These rules always apply, regardless of the mode of resolving the battle.

Example: Army Initiative.

If England and Spain invade a province of France on the same turn, the two forces trying to move into the same place are compared. Since the Spanish have more cavalry and a superior leader, their force gains initiative over the English. The battle between the Spanish and the French is resolved first with the Spanish victorious, in this example.

If the English are allied with or at peace with Spain, their invasion does not take place since the province has become Spanish. On the other hand, if the English are already at war with Spain, moving second provides an advantage. When they attack the Spanish, the Spanish may already be weakened from their battle with the French.

Failed Attacks and Retreating Armies.

There is always the chance that your army will retreat after they have been deployed to attack a highly defended fort. It is best to scout a province before an attack in order to compare forces and calculate outcomes. If your forces retreat without attacking, they will not be damaged physically. However, their morale will drop, and it will continue to decrease if they are repeated ordered to attack in the face of overwhelming odds.

Tactical Battle Basics.

Fighting your battles tactically gives you the best chance for a crushing defeat of your enemies. This option may be turned off using the Preferences screen at any time during your turn. Once you enter the Tactical Battlefield, you are committed to fighting there. However, you may choose to let your computer advisor handle the battle for you while you watch.

Tactical battles take place on a separate screen called the Tactical Battlefield. There are always two nations involved in a battle. The nation whose army is moving into the province is called the attacker, and the nation whose army is already stationed in the province is called the defender. Each battle determines ownership of a province, although it is possible for several battles to take place in the same province during the course of the turn. See the explanation of initiative above.

Once committed to the battlefield, regiments are manoeuvered individually, not as part of an army.

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IMPERIALISM II: Fighting Battles

Attacking Side

Fort Wall Defending Side

<<CALL IN S_TACT1.EPS>>

Emplaced Artillery

Selected Unit

End Turn

Get Help

Next Unit Done Retreat Autoplay

Unit

Information

Selected Unit

Lock-in

Autoplay

Footer Bar

Hot Text Area

Deployment.

When the battle begins, a dialog is displayed, with a small map showing you where in the world this battle is taking place. On this dialog you can choose to deploy units yourself, or delegate the job to the computer. If you deploy your own forces, green dots displayed on the battlefield show where you can place them. Click with the green arrow to deploy a unit to that location. To undeploy a unit, move the mouse cursor over the unit until a red arrow appears, anc click.

Using the Footer Bar.

The Footer bar displays the information about the selected regiment in a green box surrounded by a gold line. As you place your cursor over other items on the bottom bar, or on the map, the gray box supplies additional information. Placing your cursor over enemy units can give you a better idea about which enemies to attack first.

Cycling Units : Next Unit Button.<<CALL IN B_NEXTUN.EPS>>

Click on the Next Unit button during your turn to cycle through all friendly units.

Ending a Unit’s Turn: Done Button.<<CALL IN B_DONE.EPS>>

The Done button, ends the turn of an selected unit. If you choose to reserve your fire or to move only part of your movement points, you can to click here to advance the game to the next unit. Once a unit is done it may not be selected again this turn.

Retreat. <<CALL IN B_RETREA.EPS>>

The Retreat button orders all of your forces to retreat, not only the selected unit. You should click here only if the battle is lost and retreating might save the lives of some valuable regiments.

Auto-Play. <<CALL IN B_AUTOPL.EPS>>

The small button with a star on it orders the selected unit to move under computer control. If you want to fight the entire battle this way, click on the Lock button next to it. You can regain control by clicking on the Lock again.

Turn-Based Combat: Using Cursors.

Once both sides have deployed their forces, the attacker receives the first turn. Just as on the Terrain Map, there is a unit cycle that selects each unit in turn. You may choose to move your units in any order desired, however.

Selecting a Different Unit.

To select a unit out of the order presented, hold your mouse over the unit and click when you see the small flag and arrow cursor.

Moving a Unit.

On the map surrounding the selected unit you will see small dots (either red or green) Place your mouse over a dot and click when you see the soldier cursor. The selected unit immediately moves to the new location. Green dots mark areas that are currently safe, although the enemy may be able to attack those spaces on his turn. Red dots mark area that are unsafe, because the enemy is in range to attack.

Attacking: Ranged and Melee.

If your unit is in range of an enemy with firearms or cannon, a crosshairs cursor appears over the enemy unit. If your unit has already f ired, you see an unloaded gun. When you are next to an enemy a crossed swords (melee) cursor appears over the enemy unit. Clicking on an enemy unit attacks it.

Morale and the General. <<CALL IN GENERAL.EPS>>

The display for each regiment on the battlefield includes a green damage bar. The size of this bar tells you roughly how many of the regiment’s troops are able to fire. As the regiment is f ired upon, the bar turns partly gray and/or red. When there is no green anywhere on the bar the unit is considered broken.

It surrenders if surrounded, and otherwise flees from the battle as rapidly as possible.

Sometimes retreating is the best policy for a regiment. At least it will live to fight another day.

The length of the red area on the bar tells you what proportion of the force of this regiment are permanently (for this battle) out of action. These troops are killed, wounded or fled off the battlefield. If a bar turns entirely red (with no gray) the regiment is destroyed and cannot ever be reformed.

The length of the gray area tells you the proportion of troops that are still capable, but are no longer fighting due to poor morale. A General can rally these troops.

The length of the green area shows you what proportion of the troops are actually still effective, using their weapons when the regiment attacks. A damaged regiment’s f irepower (ranged and melee attack) is always modified by a multiplier equal to the percentage of forces that are effective. A damaged unit is not only closer to breaking, it is also weaker when it attacks.

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IMPERIALISM II: Fighting Battles

Most regiments flee from battle before they are destroyed. Generals are used to prevent this from occurring. When a General is the active unit, move him adjacent to any of your regiments who have suffered damage, and click on the General unit. Morale is restored to all units adjacent to the General according to the ability of the General.

Overuse of a General can cause a weakened regiment to be killed outright, since it remains in danger on the battlefield. You should consider letting a broken unit retreat if it’s near death.

Generals are automatically awarded to you as regiment and army size increases.

Opportunity Fire.

One of the most important concepts on the tactical battlefield is opportunity fire. Once you understand how this works you can predict what your opponent will do with a great deal of confidence.

The basic rule is that if a unit does not fire on its turn (or if it is a defender on the attacker’s first turn of battle) then it has reserved its fire for any opportunity that may occur during the other player’s turn. You can tell at a glance whether any units on the battlefield currently have reserved their fire by looking at the small coloured box near each unit. If that box has a white outline, it means the unit does have fire reserved for opportunities.

The definition of an opportunity during the move of the other player is any unit that comes in range and that has potential to attack this turn. This means that while you are moving your regiments, it is possible that enemies who have reserved their fire will fire on them. Your units automatically do the same thing to your foe during his turn.

If no units with any attacking potential present themselves as targets, the opportunity fire is directed at other units. This happens once the other player has ended his move, prior to the start of the new turn.

Non-Fortified Provinces.

On the Attack.

The best way to conduct an attack is concentration of force against a small number of defenders. Use light cavalry and light infantry to draw fire from stationary defenders, and then move in your heavy forces (heavy infantry and heavy cavalry are best) and destroy the line of enemies one by one. Use your artillery to weaken the better enemy defenders before your best regiments close with them. The most important rule is to concentrate your strength against one enemy (as far as possible) until that unit is out of action.

Defending Your Provinces.

On defence, in the absence of fortifications, you often must fight actively. Try to hit attacking artillery with light cavalry and reserve your artillery to hit the enemy grenadiers and heavy cavalry when they get close enough. Be willing to retreat and save your men for a counter-attack unless you are defending your capital.

Sieges and Fortifications.

In IMPERIALISM II much of the Old World is fortified and requires special strategies for successful attacks, from the beginning of the game. The Great Powers will eventually fortify important provinces in the New World as well.

Effects and Costs of Forts.

Forts are inexpensive to construct compared with the benefits of protection. A Level 1 fort, which can be built from the beginning of the game, costs three lumber and three bronze. A Level 2 fort requires Mine Engineering technology, as well as four lumber and four bronze. A Level 3 fort requires five steel and five lumber, and can only be built after the Great Power obtains the Modern Fort technology. Engineers always build forts on the town space found in each province.

Protection of the Walls.

A fort wall provides total protection against units with no guns. Attackers with firearms can attack only those defenders who are stationed on the wall (adjacent to a wall space on the battlefield) Attacking artillery can fire on anyone in the fort. However, all attacks on defenders in a fort (whether by artillery or firearms) are subject to a reduction of damage based on the level of the fort.

Each level of fort provides additional protection to the regiments stationed on the wall. All damage inflicted is decreased by a percentage which depends on the level of the fort. Any regiments you station behind a fort wall but not manning the wall (adjacent to it) are even safer. These units cannot be damaged at all except by enemy artillery. However, only your artillery can return f ire over the wall from these positions, so placing non-artillery units here merely to protect them is a questionable strategy unless your opponent has no artillery.

Bonus to Range.

Emplaced artillery built in to a fort gain an additional space of range due to the benefits of pre-arranged fields of fire, and the elevation of the walls. This applies only to emplaced artillery.

Emplaced Artillery.

The strength of the emplaced artillery in a fort depends on the technology for emplaced artillery, not on the fort’s level or the fort’s technology. However, the number of guns that are emplaced does depend on the fort level. A Level 1 fort always has one emplaced gun, a Level 2 fort has two emplaced guns and a Level 3 fort has three emplaced guns. For more information refer to page 57.

Gates of Forts.

Every fort has three gates through which friendly units can sortie, entering the battlefield. These units can also retreat from the battlefield into the fort using the gate. Enemy units can never use the gate. The walls must be destroyed before attackers can enter the fort.

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IMPERIALISM II: Fighting Battles

Attacking Forts.

There are certain methods of attacking forts that are more likely to be successful. Which method you should choose depends on what forces you have available and on the number of defenders and level of the fort you are trying to take.

Early in the game most forts are built as an attempt to defend a province quickly without constructing a lot of regiments that a Great Power cannot afford yet. These early forts are usually Level 1 (wood), but similar methods apply to Level 2 and Level 3 forts that are relying on only emplaced artillery for their defence.

The ideal force for an assault on a non-reinforced fort consists of light artillery and some light infantry (not Peasants) or other unit with a firearm such as a Caliverman or a Musketeer. The minimum amount for success is two Horse Artillery and one other unit. This force can usually take a wooden fort with the earliest form of emplaced gun, but victory is certain if three light artillery are used instead of two.

Because emplaced artillery cannot move, an attacker who brings the proper force to take an unoccupied fort can always win. The defender has no options except to fire his emplaced guns and wait to be destroyed. Even though forts might seem very strong when you first start to play, eventually forts need extra mobile units in them to be safe, especially extra heavy artillery.

Checklist for Taking an Unoccupied Fort.

• On your first turn after deployment, move all three units to the edge of the zone that the enemy emplaced gun can hit. This is marked on the battlefield by red dots. Be very careful not to enter the red dot zone with any units on your first move. Your units are all out of range at this point.

• The enemy cannot move his emplaced gun. On your second move, move only your extra (non-artillery) regiment, toward the fort into the red zone. You must move your unit into range of the enemy in the fort before the enemy will perceive it as a threat. Once your unit can harm units in the fort, the enemy shoots him with opportunity fire on your turn, and then on its turn shoots him again. You are using this regiment to draw the enemy fire and it does not matter if it is badly damaged at this point.

• Because the enemy has fired on your infantry on its second turn, on your third turn, the enemy emplaced artillery has no opportunity fire. Now you can advance and fire with your two Horse Artillery units. Move the first one as far forward as you can, directly toward the emplaced gun. After you move it, hold your cursor over the emplaced gun and f ire it. Then repeat the process with the other units.

The battle is over.

Taking Later Forts with More Emplaced Guns.

The strategy outlined with the checklist above works well against a Level 1 fort with the weakest sort of emplaced gun. However, the same basic strategy may be used against all unoccupied forts as long as the attacker changes the amount and type of regiments in the attack force according to the strength of the fort. Use this table as a guideline. Of course, it is always a good idea to bring extra forces, especially since the defender can reinforce his forts.

GUIDELINE FOR ATTACKING FORTS:

Level of Fort. Emplaced Guns. of Light Artillery. attacking regiments.

Wooden (1 gun) Royal................................. 2 Horse Artillery.......................1 Calivermen

Stone (2 guns) Royal................................. 3 Horse Artillery......................2 Calivermen

Modern (3 guns) Royal................................. 5 Horse Artillery...................... 3 Calivermen

Quality of Number and Type Number of other

Heavy................................ 2 Light Artillery or...................2 Calivermen or

3 Horse Artillery 1 Skirmisher

Heavy................................ 3 Light Artillery or...................4 Calivermen or

6 Horse Artillery 2 Skirmishers

Siege.................................. 3 Field Guns or........................2 Skirmishers or more

6 Light Artillery

Heavy................................ 8 Horse Artillery or..................6 Calivermen or

4 Light Artillery 3 Skirmishers

Siege................................. 8 Light Artillery or ................. 3 Skirmishers or more

4 Field Artillery

Other Strategies for Attacking Unoccupied Forts.

You may decide to try to take a fort even when you do not have the exact forces referred to on this table. Since your computer advisor for the most part uses the methods outlined in the chart, it is probably necessary to fight the battle yourself on the tactical battlefield if you attack with a different sort of army. Generally, the most important element of an attack on a fort is a plan. Your plan must deal with the fact that the defenders gain the benefit of opportunity fire and perhaps at least one turn in which their weapons are in range and yours are not. Your advantage against an unoccupied fort is that the defender has no mobility once the battle begins

Cavalry or Light Infantry Rush: One method that works well is an attack with a large number of cavalry, or light infantry regiments with firearms. The earliest units that can really be of use in this way are Hussars and Calivermen. Because cavalry regiments tend to have low firepower, you need a large number of them. On the other hand, they get in range fairly quickly due to their rapid movement. Light infantry (other than Peasants) has a high defence and can withstand a couple artillery hits.

Bowmen for Attacks Early in the Game: It can be exceptionally hard to take forts early in the game and usually its best to develop Horse Artillery, or Hussars or Skirmishers before you try to attack against a fort. If you must attack a fort with Era 1 units, your best bet is Bowmen. Because Bowmen can shoot units on the walls, enough of them can destroy the emplaced artillery, especially if there is only one present.

Strategies for Taking Well-Defended Forts.

Once you are in a war with another Great Power, you will soon learn that the best provinces contain forts with extra artillery and other units. It can be extraordinarily difficult to take these provinces. You have to experiment as you gain experience with

MPERIALISM II. Here are some ideas to consider.

Make the Enemy Divide his Forces: By threatening several valuable enemy provinces you can force the computer (and perhaps a human foe) to divide his defenders, or to leave one fort undefended.

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IMPERIALISM II: Fighting Battles

IMPERIALISM II: Peaceful Control of Other Nations

Emplaced Siege Guns.

When this technology is discovered, an empire's siege engineers automatically upgrade all emplaced artillery to Siege Guns, the most powerful artillery that can be constructed.

Approach Walls from One End: Sometimes it is possible to avoid fire from some of the artillery in a fort by concentrating all your forces at one end of the wall. Then, as you eliminate artillery, you can advance against the remainder. When an emplaced artillery is destroyed, so is the wall near it. This gives you an entrance to the fort to be used if you have the stronger non-artillery regiments at this battle.

Destroy or Reduce the Fort, Then Retreat: Since it is often easier to take a nonfortified province, attack on the first turn with sufficient force merely to destroy all emplaced artillery. Any survivors after you do this can retreat. Any time all the emplaced artillery are destroyed the fort is reduced one level or eliminated. You should have a second force standing by to attack on the next turn, before your enemy can repair the fort.

Technological Leads: Sometimes it is possible to gains an edge in technology over a foe. This is difficult because the technology for the emplaced guns is generally easier to get than for mobile guns. If you can achieve it, however, this type of advantage makes the enemy’s defenses obsolete. For instance, if you research heavy artillery before the enemy has heavy emplaced artillery, your guns can remain out of range of the emplaced guns, and can totally destroy them.

Batter the Walls, Then Attack: Sometimes it is possible to batter a hole in a wall, especially at one end, without moving your infantry and cavalry into range of the enemy’s guns. Even though your cannon may all be destroyed by the time you achieve this, once the gap exists, you can rush forces forward into the fort, destroying defenders at short range or in melee. This is useful especially if the enemy relies solely on artillery.

Reconsider Your Goals: Often an enemy is able to stop you in one place by building a big fort and putting most of his army in it. Sometimes you must be flexible. Consider taking his other provinces first. Consider blockade and piracy. If all else fails, consider a peace treaty followed by an extensive technology effort and military build-up. When the war starts again, perhaps you will be able to take that difficult province.

Printing Press.

The Printing Press increases the efficiency of all technological research and leads to later developments in military tactics, education, and labour.

PEACEFUL CONTROL OF OTHER NATIONS

In IMPERIALISM II you can use your diplomatic and trading skills and your civilian workers to help your empire gain control of Minor Nations and Tribes without the need for an invasion of their provinces.

Civilians Working Abroad.

Work performed by your civilian units in Minor Nations increases the production of resources by those nations once the developed resources are connected to a capital city or other port. This has two results, both beneficial to your Great Power.

First, this increased production increases the amount of that resource offered in trade each turn by the Minor Nation. Instead of wondering if a Minor Nation will sell coal, for example, you are guaranteed that the coal you developed and connected will be sold each turn. Although this extra coal is offered on the world market to all countries, if you are the favoured trading partner of the Minor Nation, and if you remember to enter a trade bid on coal, your Great Power is guaranteed the chance to purchase the coal ahead of the other Great Powers.

The second benefit is potential overseas profits. Normally, when a Minor Nation or a Tribe sells its resources, the nation or Tribe keeps all the money from the sale. However, when the resources have been made available on the world market due to development by a Great Power, that Great Power shares in the prof its for the sale, regardless of who buys the resources. The Great Power’s share increases (up to 100%) as the relationship between the two countries improves.

A third benefit applies only to Tribes, not Minor Nations. Once a Merchant purchases land in a Tribe’s province, that province is protected from Great Power invasion unless the invader is willing to declare war on the Great Power who bought the land. Since Tribes themselves are never protected by the rules of diplomacy that apply in the Old World, this is one good way to slow down the other Great Powers’ conquest of the New World.

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IMPERIALISM II: Peaceful Control of Other Nations

Checklist for Working Abroad.

• Send an Explorer abroad to look for valuable resources in other lands.

• Once you learn the Diplomatic Expertise technology, establish an Embassy with at least one Minor

Nation or Tribe that includes resources you want to purchase. This includes riches.

• Once you learn the Merchant Companies technology, build a Merchant.

• Send the Merchant to the Minor Nation or Tribe to purchase land with valuable resources,

including riches.

• To protect the Tribe from extinction by other Powers, purchase land in the capital city province first.

• Once land is purchased, deploy a Builder to the land, to increase its production, and connect the land to

a port using the Engineer.

• Bid on the Trade screen for the resources you’ve developed, or merely gain money when other Great

Powers buy those products.

• If you have developed riches, no trade bid is required. Your ships are assigned to move the riches to your

homeland during the trade phase.

• View the success of your overseas developments in the Deal Book every turn.

• Continue the process with additional Minor Nations and Tribes.

Investigating the Minor Nation or Tribe.

Explorers may go to any Minor Nation or Tribe in the game without the need for diplomatic efforts in advance. As soon as you can, deploy an Explorer into other nations to find valuable mineral resources, and in the case of the New World, to reveal hidden terrain. This is a first step to both invasion and to the peaceful use of a Merchant. In either case, you need to know the value of the other country. In addition, you cannot establish diplomatic relations with a tribe until you locate its capital.

Establishing Embassies.

All your civilians can perform useful work in Minor Nations and Tribes. No civilians, with the exception of the Explorer and the Spy, may go abroad until you establish an embassy in the foreign land. Once you have an embassy, other civilians may enter and leave the area freely. For information on establishing embassies see page 95.

Using the Merchant: Staking a Claim.

Once you have decided the sort of land and resources you wish to develop in other nations, it is time to use the Merchant. With your Merchant selected, move the cursor over the land you want to buy. You see a coins cursor. When you click on the tile under the cursor, the Merchant dialog appears. This gives you the price the Minor Nation asks for that parcel of land, and allows you to purchase it if you wish. You can buy land for the production of diamonds, gold, gems, silver, spices, coal, iron ore, copper, tin, timber, cotton, sugar, tobacco, wool, and furs. Merchants cannot buy food production tiles in other countries because food is not traded.

When the Merchant has purchased the land, you see a small flag in your Great Power’s colour posted on the tile. No other Great Power can use this land once you post a flag unless they conquer it. If a Tribe owns the province, no other Great Power can invade until it declares war on you. You may notice the purchase flags of other Great Powers in the Minor Nation and Tribes you hope to develop.

Buying, Connecting, and Building Developments.

Terrain you purchase in a Tribe or Minor Nation does your empire no good until you connect it and develop it using the Builder and Engineer. Of course, it is possible to purchase land next to a capital city that already has a development on it. You will still need to use your Builder to increase the tile’s output. Later in the game you may be able to purchase and develop land that is already connected by roads built by another Great Power.

Generally, the methods for connecting and developing land are the same all over the world. Builders and Engineers are always used; ports and road networks gather the resources from the developments made by a Builder. The only difference is that when you operate in another country, your Merchant must buy the land first.

Collecting Overseas Profits.

If another Great Power buys the resources you develop for the Minor Nation, you receive a percentage of the money paid. This cash appears at the end of the Deal Book summary as Overseas Profits. If you bid on the resource during trade and buy it yourself, you still pay full price on the offer sheet during trade; but at the end of trade the Minor Nation returns the overseas profits to you. This could potentially be a refund of the total amount you paid for the resources, if your relations with the Minor Nation improve to the highest possible level.

Competing for Control of Minor Nations and Tribes.

Eventually, trade and development will lead to the peaceful takeover of a Minor Nation or a Tribe. The results of such a takeover depend on whether it is a Tribe or a Minor Nation, although the methods for obtaining peaceful control are basically the same in both cases.

Minor Nations.

Although the initial benefits of overseas development are significant, your long- term goal must be to make the Minor Nations where you develop resources into part of your Great Power. Once a Minor Nation agrees to join your empire you connect its lands, including grain and livestock, directly to your transport system. Other Great Powers can no longer purchase the commodities from the area since it is now part of your nation. The resources produced in the area are no longer available for trade, you will find them in your transport network. Most importantly, the provinces of the (former) Minor Nation count toward your victory total of Old World provinces.

To gain control of a Minor nation in this peaceful way is a long-term effort. A large number of trade deals, coupled with a judicious use of bribery, helps you convince the Minor Nation to accept your invitation to join your empire.

A short cut to control sometimes occurs when a Minor Nation is attacked and asks you to defend it against the attacking Great Power, if you agree to intervene the grateful Minor Nation joins your empire. You gain immediate control over the defence forces of the Minor Nation. Of course, your declaration of war on another Great Power may not be wellreceived by the rest of the world. For more information see page 95.

Page 37

IMPERIALISM II: Peaceful Control of Other Nations

IMPERIALISM II: The Transport Network

Tribes.

Great Powers, including your own, can invade the provinces of Tribes without a declaration of war, or any formal diplomatic relations of any kind. Often provinces will be stolen before any of the Great Powers have even discovered the Tribe’s capital. In

MPERIALISM II invasions of this kind are quite likely early in the game because the Tribe’s

I lands are not protected by forts and because the Tribe’s military forces have no firearms, cavalry or artillery. Furthermore the Tribes all possess riches and resources the Great Powers need.

A Great Power that seeks to develop a Tribe peacefully faces a difficult challenge because of these incentives to aggression. Sometimes having Engineers build forts in tribal lands will slow down the other Great Powers, but the best way to do this is to protect each province of a Tribe by buying land there. Once land is purchased by a Great Power, any other Great Power that wants to take that province must declare war on the Great Power that purchased the land.

Once a Tribe is colonised, meaning they agree to join your empire, as their ruler you control the Tribe’s defence forces and they are converted to Old World troops. Additionally, a colony’s relationship to the homeland is always considered to be at the highest level, giving the Great Power 100% of the prof its from the sale of the developed resources.

Eventual Conquest.

When a Minor Nation’s or Tribe’s province, where Great Power Merchants have purchased land and other Builders and Engineers have improved, is conquered or colonised, the developments of the Great Powers remain. The conqueror controls all the territory in the land, including the land once considered purchased by the other Great Powers.

THE TRANSPORT NETWORK

All the agricultural, mineral, or industrial products of the countries of the world are called commodities. Some commodities are produced in rural districts; some are produced only by industry. Most may be traded on the world market. Commodities are divided into two sub-categories: resources and materials. Resources are commodities that are grown or mined and not produced industrially. At the beginning of the game, your transport network is concerned only with resources.

In the early part of the game, your empire obtains these resource commodities from the terrain tiles next to the capital city by transporting them. Each turn, when you click the End Turn button, the commodities produced in these terrain tiles move to your warehouse and become available for use on the next turn. Some commodities can be traded on the world market; some can be used to construct military units or warships.

As the needs of industry grow, so must the transport network. The Engineer constructs ports and roads perhaps far from the capital city. Each new construction adds the potential for more commodities to use the network. Builders develop terrain that is already connected to produce a greater quantity of commodities each turn.

How Transport Works.

Your goal in building a transport network is to gain more of the resources, and eventually materials, that your empire needs for expansion. Although it might seem that warships and armies are more important to success, this is not really true in I tend to be won by the Great Power that most rapidly builds a huge transport infrastructure, and expands its pool of labour to use these resources.

Connections.

Resources in your empire only show up on the Transport screen, and then in the warehouse, if the terrain tile the resource comes from is connected. Being connected means that a transport path may be traced from the terrain tile to your capital city. There are four different ways that a terrain tile can be connected.

Connection 1: Adjacent to Capital.

At the beginning of the game, some terrain tiles next to your capital city, and the capital city’s tile itself, are already connected. They also have developments on them. These tiles remain connected as long as you have your capital city. Resources produced in these terrain tiles always show up on the Transport screen and in your warehouse each turn. This type of connection is considered land transport. It is not necessary for you to assign ships to gain these resources, and the transport occurs automatically every turn with no intervention from you.

Connection 2: Road or Rail to the Capital.

To be connected by a road or rail to the capital a terrain tile must be on or adjacent to a road, and the road must stretch unbroken back to the capital city. It is not necessary to build road into the tile itself. It is sufficient to build next to the terrain tile. This type of connection is also considered land transport, and so the transport occurs automatically every turn. Roads cannot stretch over national boundaries, although once you control a territory you can connect road networks that were formerly separate.

Connection 3: Ports. <<CALL IN PORT.EPS>>

Your capital city is always a port. Any other ports you conquer or build are considered connected by water to the capital city port. This includes ports on rivers, on your own continent and in distant lands including the New World. This type of connection is considered water transport. In order to gain the resources from these ports you must assign ships using the

Transport screen. This transport does not occur automatically.

Connection 4: Road or Rail from a Port.

Roads and rail that you build out from ports (not your capital city) might seem like land transport connections. But the commodities gathered from these roads, even though they move over the land part of the way, must travel through a port and over the water to reach your capital city. This type of connection is considered water transport. Therefore, in order to gain the resources from these ports you must assign ships using the Transport screen. This transport does not occur automatically.

MPERIALISM II. Games

Page 38

IMPERIALISM II: The Transport Network

How Connections are Lost.

Connections are lost when a province somewhere along the line to the capital is taken; for example, when a province containing a road is taken, all the roads that needed to pass through that province to reach the capital are no longer connected. Resources from these unconnected roads no longer appear on the Transport screen, and do not show up in your warehouse each turn. If you retake the lost province, the connections are reestablished.

Sea ports cannot lose their connections. If an enemy fleet blockades a port, any commodities that must go through that port may be intercepted, but often many of them make it through the blockade. The sea port is still considered part of your network. The Transport screen warns you when commodities are endangered by hostile ships by a red bar.

Limits on Moving Commodities.

In addition to thinking about whether a terrain tile is connected or not, you must also consider limits on the quantity of resources that can be moved from a single tile. These limits are called the transport level and the production level. Whenever you place the cursor over a terrain tile under your control the hot text in the upper right part of the screen tells you the current production and transport levels for that terrain tile.

Transport Level.

If the transport level is 0, it means that the tile is not connected. Any other transport level (1, 2, or 4) tells you the greatest number of resources that can be moved from that tile in a single turn by your transport network.

For instance, if a grain tile has been developed to produce 2 units of grain per turn, but your transport network is using primitive roads, only one of the units of grain can be transported. In this case transport level is 1, and production level is 2. To gain the other unit of grain each turn, you would need to improve the transport level of that tile. That might be done by gaining a new technology, or by constructing a port.

TRANSPORT LEVEL FOR THE VARIOUS POSSIBLE ELEMENTS OF A TRANSPORT NETWORK:

Type of Transport On Technology Required or Adjacent to. Transport Level. for Upgrade.

Primitive Road............................ 1 unit for each terrain tile .................... None

Improved Road .......................... 2 units for each terrain tile .................... Road Construction

Port.............................................. 4 units for each terrain tile.................... None

Railroad ...................................... 4 units for each terrain tile.................... Early Steam Engine

There are three exceptions to the normal improvable tile: first, water tiles are always set to production level of 1 for fish and cannot be improved; second, scrub forest and horse tiles begin set to production level 0 and can be improved only to production level 1; and third, any tile that produces nothing at all such as a plains or a mountain with no minerals. For more information see the table on page 39.

Using the Transport Network Screen.

<<CALL IN S_TRANSP.EPS>>

Toggle Human

and Computer Control

Current Distribution of Ships

Current Commodity

Requirements

(food & luxuries)

Go To Orders Screens

From the Terrain Map toolbar click on the Give Transport Orders carriage icon on the gold ribbon at the bottom of the map to bring up the Transport screen. It is unnecessary to use this screen every turn. First of all, all road transport occurs automatically without your intervention. Second, if your Builders and Engineers have not altered your network on the map, there is no need to change your orders on this screen. Finally, you can set orders on this screen to (fully automatic) computer control. If you choose to do this you never need to visit this screen.<<CALL IN B_CNTLCM.EPS, B_CNTLHU.EPS>>

Computer Control of Transport: At the upper left of the Transport screen is a button that may be set to computer or to human control. If

you choose to set this to computer control your transport occurs automatically each turn. If you change the settings of the computer advisor, your orders are carried out on the turn that you enter them. However, if you leave the computer advisor in control, your orders will not last past one turn. On the next turn, the computer advisor once again sets transport as it thinks best.

Transport Status of Commodity

Number of Commodity Being Produced/Transported Each Turn

Type of Commodity

Production Level.

The production level of a tile is simply the number of resources that the tile produces each turn. A tile in I

MPERIALISM II can produce only one type of resource, except for fish

produced in a river tile. Most terrain tiles can be anywhere from production level 0 (no structures) to production level 4 (maximum production) depending on the level of technology available to your empire and the amount of work your Builders have done on the tile. All additions to a tile’s production are due to the efforts of Builder units.

How to Read and Use the Transport Sliders.

All the commodities that can be transported appear on the scroll, but only those commodities presently available to you are represented with colour icons. Next to each of the available commodities is a slider whose length represents the total amount of a given commodity that you can transport this turn. The numbers next to the slider indicate how much of the commodity is being transported compared to the total amount you have available. You can place your cursor over the commodities and read the hot text at the upper right to remind you what these commodities are.

Page 39

IMPERIALISM II: The Transport Network

Click on the gold arrows at either end of the sliders to increase or decrease the amount transported of each commodity. The amount of dark brown inside the slider bar increases as you increase the amount being transported. On either side of the brown slider interior are colour-coded strips, which inform you of the type of transport being ordered by that slider. If a slider is green for its entire length, for instance, it means that all the transport of that commodity is coming by land.

Note: For sliders that are all green, the arrows are disabled. This is because all land

transport is free and occurs without your intervention. It is not possible (or desirable) to reduce your land transport orders.

If a slider is all or partly blue in colour it means all or some of that commodity must be moved by water to the capital city. In this case, the more you transport, the more cargo holds of your home fleet are used. If any part of a slider is red in colour, this also represents water transport. In this case, however, it refers to water transport that is endangered by hostile blockading or patrolling f leets. If you order this transport to take place, some or all of the commodities may be lost or captured at sea. The worst case is when an enemy f leet is blockading your home port. When this happens, all of your water transport is endangered.

Industry and Worker Demands.

On the left side of the Transport screen is an area for up to five icons. Listed here are the current demands of your military, navy, and industrial workers for food and consumer products. Use these numbers to help you decide what to transport when you have choices to make. They also serve as a warning about developing problems. For instance, if your grain demand is higher than your amount of grain available for transport, you may need to put Engineers and Builders to work on the map developing and connecting more grain farms. In this way, the Transport screen’s display of what you have is useful, even if you cannot do anything on this screen (immediately) to change the situation.

By placing your cursor over the demand icons on the left side of the screen, you can see additional information in hot text (upper right). This text lets you know the state of your warehouse supply of these critical commodities. Even if you are transporting insufficient grain to feed everyone this turn, there is no real problem if you have a warehouse packed with extra grain.

The consumer luxury icons- refined sugar, cigars, and fur hats- represent products that are necessary to the continued productivity of more highly trained workers. Unlike food, however, the lack of luxuries never kills anyone. It is not possible to starve through want of a fur hat.

Frequently, the demand for consumer luxuries is much higher than the amount available for transport on this screen. This is the usual situation because your empire may trade for these commodities as well, or it may produce them from raw resources. It might be a good idea to look at the transportable supply of the raw resources that make fur hats, refined sugar and cigars. If you are also short of these raw resources (sugar cane, tobacco and furs) you may have a luxury shortage in your empire. The usual solutions are to trade for more, or to conquer and develop more land that has these products available.

Possible Commodities to Transport.

At the beginning of the game you may only transport resources from the countryside to industry. Later, your rural districts may develop small industries in the towns. This permits expansion of your transport network to include materials.

Old World Industrial Resources.

These resources move directly to the industry warehouse where they are available for production or trade the turn after you transport them. Since the world prices of industrial resources tend to be low, these commodities are most useful to you when you use them along with workers and industry to produce a more expensive material. Although these resources are found in the Old World, you can find many of them in the New World as well.

At the beginning of the game experienced monarchs tend to connect iron ore, wool and timber in roughly equal amounts so that lumber, cast iron and fabric can be produced by industry every turn.

Coal and Iron.

require it for fuel.

Wool.<<CALL IN R_WOOL.EPS>>

Your empire needs wool to make fabric very early in the game because fabric is required for all military units and to recruit any new industrial labour. Later in the game, you can start to make fabric from cotton (found in the New World) as

well.

Timber. <<CALL IN R_TIMBER.EPS>>

Scrub and hardwood forests produce timber. If you have the choice, connect hardwood forest first, since its production level can be improved later in the game, while scrub forest produces only one timber per turn.

Timber is used to make both lumber and paper. Lumber is required with cast iron for all your infrastructure improvements (including ports and roads). Lumber also allows production of new ships. Paper is used to produce civilian units and to train industrial workers.

to produce bronze. Bronze is your lowest priority at the beginning of the game. However, since bronze is used to make the best military units and warships, as well as new fortifications, you cannot put off connecting a supply of copper and tin for too long. Usually one or two sources of each is sufficient. Later in the game, steel replaces bronze for most of its uses, including unit construction.

<<CALL IN R_COAL.EPS, R_OREI.EPS>>

At the beginning of the game, iron is required to make cast iron. Later, along with coal, it is needed to make steel. Near the end of the game, you may find a great need for coal, when some of your ships

Tin and Copper. <<CALL IN R_ORET.EPS, R_OREC.EPS>>

Tin, found in swamps, and copper, found in hills or mountains, combine

Page 40

IMPERIALISM II: The Transport Network

Horses. <<CALL IN R_HORSE.EPS>>

Horses are used to build military units. Usually one source of horses is sufficient.

Even if your country has no horses, you can often trade for them, or conquer another nation that has some. Horse tiles are limited to a production level of one and are found only in the Old World.

Food Resources. <<CALL IN R_FISH.EPS, R_CATTLE.EPS,

R_GRAIN.EPS>>

Your empire’s consumption of food always equals the total number of workers in your city plus the number of ships in your navy plus the number of regiments in your army. There are three sources of food in the game; two of them, cattle and grain, are found only in the Old World. The other, fish, is found in any water tile (river or sea).

Since all units eat the same amount of food it is more efficient to have one powerful regiment rather than two weak ones, or to have one highly trained worker rather than two peasants.

When you play an Introductory or Easy game, the food economy is automatically set to simple. You can also choose to customise your difficulty settings by setting food economy to simple. A simple food economy means that the populations of all the Great Powers, including yours, can eat any type of food and remain productive. Complex food economy requires that meat (cattle or fish) and grain be delivered in balanced (roughly equal) amounts.

Even on the complex setting, no one starves if they are forced to eat the “wrong” type of food. On both complex and simple settings, your workers survive as long as the total amount of food required is available. Food is not traded. All types of food may be stockpiled and wise rulers try to keep some extra food on hand.

Luxuries are essential for any worker trained above the basic peasant level. If your luxury economy is set to simple, these workers can consume any luxury you have available. If the luxury economy is set to complex, each level of trained worker must consume a different particular luxury. These demands are usually consistent with the amount of the resource in the world. For example, the lowest level trained worker, called the apprentice, requires the most common luxury, sugar.

Cotton. <<CALL IN R_COTTON.EPS>>

Cotton serves as a replacement or addition to Old World wool. It is most useful for nations that have wool in limited supply.

New World Riches.<<CALL IN R_SPICE.EPS, R_GOLD.EPS, R_SILVER.EPS, R_GEM.EPS, R_DIAM.EPS>>

IMPERIALISM II models a period of history during which the Old World Powers attained

power by plundering valuable resources and shipping them back home. In most games you are unable to gain sufficient cash from trade alone. You need to find and take riches. Riches are any resources that convert directly to cash when they reach the home country.

The five riches in the game vary in price. Spices are the lowest valued riches at $50 per unit, and do not have to be found. All spice orchard terrain can produce spices if connected and developed. The other riches, silver (hills), gold and gems (mountains) and diamonds (desert) must be found first by a prospecting Explorer.

These riches appear on your Transport screen once you take the province where they are, develop the terrain tile with a Builder and connect it to a port with an Engineer. Riches appear during the trade offers phase of the game, if you purchase terrain tiles containing riches with your Merchant units.

New World Industrial Resources.

These resources are found only in the New World.

Resources to make Luxuries.

Your industrial labour force (except peasants) requires a luxury to consume each turn. These luxuries are produced out of New

World resources. In the New World you find terrain that can produce sugar cane, tobacco and furs. Once transported, these resources are used to produce the luxuries called refined sugar, cigars and fur hats.

Town Development.

Each province includes a town. At the beginning of the game, these towns produce nothing. Once you have learned the technology called National Bureaucracy, it becomes possible for a Builder to upgrade a town. Upgraded towns add materials to your transport network. The materials that are added to the network depend on the resources developed and connected in the province of that town. For every four resources of a given type, a material is produced. For instance, if the province contains tobacco plantations that produce a total of 4 units of tobacco, one cigar is produced in the town. This does not use up the tobacco; it is in addition to it. The same rules of transport apply to towns as to all other tiles.

Page 41

IMPERIALISM II: Industry

INDUSTRY

The Industry screen consists of three different panels, used respectively for commodity production, unit construction and management of labour. You control which panel you are on using the large icons at the top centre of the screen. The Industry screen is the Orders screen you will spend the most time in. Unlike transport, trade, diplomacy and technology, this screen demands frequent attention.

Each turn, when you click the End Turn button on the Terrain Map screen, all the production orders you entered on this screen are carried out. Whatever you build is available the following turn.

To go to the Industry screen from the Terrain Map screen, click on the Give Industry Orders factory icon on the gold ribbon at the bottom of the screen.

Information in Panel Borders.

Regardless of which panel you are using, some essential information is contained on the scrolls on either side of the screen. On the left scroll you see the workers in your city. The number beneath the labour icon (the arm with a hammer) decreases as you allocate labour to various tasks. The numbers beneath the worker icons stay constant throughout the turn; they show the types of workers that constitute your labour force. A peasant worker supplies one point of labour per turn. Apprentice workers supply more labour (four per turn); expert workers supply six per turn and the mighty master supplies eight units of labour per turn. Hot text in the upper right reminds you which type of worker is which.

All workers consume food every turn and some consume luxuries every turn. They consume directly from the warehouse stockpile. The amount of food demanded each turn appears on the right side of the screen. The food shown represents the ideal balanced diet. Workers eat any type of food to prevent their own starvation, however, if you are using a complex food economy, and if the workers do not get the type of food desired, they report sick and perform no labour that turn.

Below the food demand is the luxury demand. The ideal luxury requirement is reported. On the simple luxury economy setting, any luxury is sufficient. If you set luxury economy to complex, you must try to supply luxuries each turn exactly as these numbers demand, or again, your laborers report sick and refuse to work.

Using the Warehouse.

Regardless of which panel you are using, the warehouse remains available at the top of the screen on a blue background. This warehouse area tells you how much of each commodity you have available. These commodities are used up and produced on all the panels of the screen. The commodities in the warehouse are available for trade. When you go to the Trade screen, the commodities in the warehouse at that moment are what you can offer for sale.

Using the Production Panel.

<<CALL IN S_I_PROD.EPS>>

Toggle Between

Industry Screens

Return to

Terrain Map

Technology for Producing Material Not Yet Discovered

The Production Panel is where the commodities you transport and the commodities you trade for are used for production into more expensive or useful commodities.

Computer Control of Production: At the upper left of the Industry screen is a button that may be set to computer or to human control. If

you choose to set this to computer control, your production occurs automatically each turn. If you change the settings of the computer advisor, your orders are carried out on the turn that you enter them. However, if you leave the computer advisor in control, your orders will not last past one turn. On the next turn, the computer advisor once again sets production as it thinks best.

Note: It is not possible to delegate control of unit building or labour (the other panels of

the Industry screen to the computer. When you use these panels, the control button is gray to reflect its disabled status.

Understanding and using the Sliders.

Each slider on the Production Panel represents one type of your empire’s industry. To find out which slider does what, move your cursor over the slider and read the hot text in the upper right of the screen.

To increase production of a slider, click on the gold arrow to the right side of the slider, or click within the slider area itself. If it is not possible to produce more of a material the gold arrow is disabled. There are two reasons for a disabled arrow.

The first possibility is that all your labour has been assigned to work this turn. It takes one unit of labour for each resource used by a slider (so to make a material takes two units of labour). If you have no unassigned labour, the hammer and arm icon on the left side of the screen is shown with a red X over it and red text under it. If you still have available labour, a slider becomes disabled when you run of the resources required to supply it. Check the totals available in the warehouse at the top of the screen.

Commodities Warehouse

Get Help

Material to be Produced

Resources Needed

Page 42

IMPERIALISM II: Industry

Production.

Each slider makes one type of material. The wool and cotton sliders make the same material, fabric. All other materials are produced by only one slider. Some sliders appear only after technological discoveries have made production possible for the first time.

All production is on a two-for-one basis. For example, in the textile economy two cotton or wool are required to make one unit of fabric.

PRODUCTION SLIDERS:

Resources. Materials.

Textile Economy ........................ Wool or Cotton............................ Fabric (made by 2 cotton or wool)

Lumber Economy ...................... Timber ........................................ Lumber (made by 2 timber)

Paper Economy .......................... Timber ........................................ Paper (made by 2 timber)

Bronze Economy........................ Copper and Tin .......................... Bronze (made by 1 copper and 1 tin)

Iron Economy ............................ Iron ............................................ Cast Iron (made by 2 iron)

Steel Economy ............................ Iron and Coal .............................. Steel (made by 1 iron and 1 coal)

Sugar Economy .......................... Sugar Cane.................................. Refined Sugar (made by 2 sugar)

Tobacco Economy...................... Tobacco........................................ Cigars (made by 2 tobacco)

Furs Economy ............................ Furs .............................................. Fur Hats (made by 2 furs)

Using the Unit Construction Panel.

<<CALL IN S_I_UNIT.EPS>>

Toggle Between

Industry Screens

Return to

Terrain Map

Requirements to

Build Unit

Available Military Units

You reach the unit construction panel by clicking on the crossed f lags icon at the top of the Industry Screen.

Hot Text Area

Get Help

Available Ships

Available Civilian Units

Each of the three unit construction areas on the screen; the University, the Armoury and the Shipyard, builds a different sort of unit: respectively, civilians, land regiments and ships. All new units appear on the Terrain Map screen, and are announced in the Turn Summary, at the start of the next turn. New units start their first turn on the Terrain Map in the province of the capital or in the home port at the capital.

For all three types of construction, units are built in the same way. Click on the picture of the desired unit to select it. The unit appears in the construction area at the left side of the panel. The quantity to be built is controlled using the arrows underneath the unit picture in the construction area. The display provides information on each type of unit as that unit is selected.

Civilian Construction.

All civilian units require cash and paper. If you are short of one or more of these items, the icon appears in with a red X over it on the Construction panel. Civilian units can be built more freely than naval or military units because they are cheap, they don’t eat food and they don’t deduct labour from Industry.

At the beginning of the game you can construct only four types of civilians: the Explorer, Builder, Engineer and Spy. By investing in technology you can learn to build a Merchant and a Rail Builder unit as well.

Military Construction.

Regiments for your army require some fabric, some amount of a metal and a worker. Some require horses or lumber as well. If you are short of one or more of these items, the icon appears with a red X over it on the Construction panel. The greatest cost to you, especially in the long run, is the loss of workers. Regiments can be upgraded in the Army Book to a more advanced type of regiment as new military technology is learned.

The organisation of the units on the Armoury is by generic category of regiments, and resembles the organisation on the toolbar. This means that the best available regiment within a generic category at any given time is the only one you can construct of that category at that time. The generic categories are: light infantry, regular infantry, heavy infantry, bowmen, light cavalry, spear cavalry, heavy cavalry, light artillery and heavy artillery. Each category always appears in the same position on the Armoury panel. You can determine which category a unit belongs to by reading the hot text at the upper right of the screen.

During the game, rewards resulting from your military success can improve the Armoury, allowing you to construct troops who start with experience medals. For details on the different regiment categories see page 53.

Page 43

IMPERIALISM II: Industry

Naval Construction.

Ships require lumber for their hulls, metal for their guns and fabric or coal for motive power. They require a worker to be the crew. If you are short of one or more of these items, the icon appears in with a red x over it on the Construction panel. Since ships do require large amounts of precious commodities, over-construction can slow your early development. For details on the different types of ships, see page 45.

Using the Labour Panel.

<<CALL IN S_I_LABO.EPS>>

Toggle Industry Screens

Return to Terrain Map

Get Help

Current Labour Pool

Number of Peasants

Number of Apprentices

Number of Journeymen

Number of Master

Artisans

Number of Deaths

Number of Sick

Number of

Civilians

Number of

Land Military

Number of

Ships

You reach the labour panel by clicking on the hammer and hand icon at the top centre of the Industry screen.

The sliders on the production panel that produce commodities require labour. For example, you might have plenty of cotton or wool in your warehouse, but without some labour you cannot produce fabric. This panel is used to increase and improve your labour force.

Labour is symbolised by a hammer and hand icon in the panel on the left side of the screen. The two numbers shown with the arm tell you the total amount of labour supplied by all your available workers and the amount you still have available. Each turn, as you assign labour, this second number goes down, showing you the amount remaining.

Recruiting Workers.

Workers supply an amount of labour determined by their training level. When new workers are recruited using the slider at the top of the screen, their untrained efforts supply only one unit of labour per turn. Generally, you should recruit as fast as you can connect food to feed everyone you recruit. More workers, even peasants, mean more units and more production. Recruiting always takes fabric.

Food & Luxury Requirements of Labour Pool & Military

Training Workers.

At the beginning of the game you cannot train your workers. You need to research new technologies to improve your labour force. These technologies are eventually some of the most important to learn. However, trained laborers of all three types require luxuries from the New World. Apprentices demand refined sugar, Journeymen want cigars, and Master Artisans require fur hats. There is no reason to try to train large numbers of workers before you have the means to meet their needs.

If you played I was no downside to training. In a game of I

MPERIALISM, you probably learned to train as quickly as possible. There

MPERIALISM II the decision about when to

train requires more judgment. Due to the need for New World luxuries, you are unable to train all of your workers, even at the end of the game. Keep in mind that this game covers a time period when the majority of every country’s work force was of a fairly primitive level. Try not to train more workers than your empire has luxuries. Even on the simple luxury economy all trained workers require some luxury, in addition to their food. If a trained worker does not consume his luxury, he accomplishes nothing.

When you do learn a new training technology, the slider to train appears on this panel. Training costs a worker, paper and cash. If the amount of resources you have is insufficient, a red X appears over that icon. The labour value of each worker type is summarised on the chart in the lower right corner of the panel.

Training a worker takes him out of the labour pool for the turn. If you try to train after assigning all of your available labour to produce commodities, you cannot train. Of course, you can free up labour by reducing production on the production panel. Workers who eat the wrong type of food or who do not receive their luxuries can still be trained.

Feeding Workers.

To be worth any labour, all workers must eat one unit of food per turn; each worker has a preferred type of raw food that he wants to eat. If fed the wrong type of food, a worker gets sick and refuses to work. If fed no food at all, a worker starves and is removed from your industrial system. If the simple food economy is used, a worker can eat any type of food.

The population chart at the lower left of the panel breaks your total population into three groups. The total number of these three groups always equals the total amount of food demanded each turn.

Consumed food is deducted from the amount transported to industry when you click the End Turn button. If you do not transport sufficient amounts of the correct types of food for all your workers, the rest eat food of the desired type directly from your warehouse. Starvation eventually results if the warehouse is empty as well.

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IMPERIALISM II: Trade

TRADE

<<CALL IN S_TRADE.EPS>>

Return to Terrain Map

Commodity to be

Bought

Price of Commodity

Get Help

Amount of Commodity in Warehouse

IMPERIALISM II: Trade

Commodity to be Sold

Go To Orders

Screens

Allocation of Ships

Amount of Commodity to Offer on the Market

During each turn, all the Great Powers, Minor Nations and Tribes in the world attempt to buy and sell commodities on the world market. You need to trade to obtain cash, to provide your industries with rare resources and to develop economic control over Minor Nations and Tribes.

Using the Trade screen, you offer commodities for sale and enter bids for commodities you hope to buy. Each turn, when you click the End Turn button on the Terrain Map screen, you may receive offers to buy some or all of the items you bid on, and the items you offered for sale may be sold to other countries. If you accept an offer to buy, the commodities you buy appear for your use in the Industry screen text turn. Commodities you sell are deducted from the warehouse of your Industry screen.

From the Terrain Map screen toolbar click on the Give Trade Orders icon on the gold ribbon on the bottom of the screen.

<<CALL IN B_CNTLCM.EPS, B_CNTLHU.EPS>>

Computer Control of Trade: At the upper left of the Trade screen is a button that may be set to computer or to human control. If you choose

to set this to computer control, your trades occur automatically each turn. If you change the settings of the computer advisor, your orders are carried out on the turn that you enter them. However, if you leave the computer advisor in control, your orders will not last past one turn. On the next turn, the computer advisor once again sets trade as it thinks best.

The Trade Screen Display.

Each row on the Trade screen provides information about one commodity, represented by an icon at the left end of the row. When you place your mouse cursor over the icon, hot text in the upper right section of the screen identifies the commodity.

In the row you see a box for the current world price and for the amount of the commodity available in your warehouse after deduction of the commodities you’ve ordered for production on the Industry screen. You cannot sell items you do not own or that you’ve ordered industry to use this turn.

Discovery of Gems or Diamonds.

The discovery of Gems or Diamonds in the New World by an Explorer allows an empire's Builders to construct mines in mountains which contain these precious stones.

Understanding Trade.

The economy of I

MPERIALISM II involves shortages and competition for commodities.

Wanting a resource such as coal, for example, and bidding on it, does not guarantee that your Great Power receives coal that turn. Your success depends on the world price of coal, your Great Power’s trade policies toward coal-producing countries, and the diplomatic relationship between your Great Power and the other countries in the world.

Once all the Great Powers, Minor Nations and Tribes enter their offers to sell and bids to buy and all Great Powers end their turns, a list of the potential trade deals for this turn is created. The commodities for sale appear as offer sheets for the decisions of the rulers of all bidding countries. For more information see “Receiving Trade Offers” on page 88.

Example: Offer of a Trade Deal.

On a turn when the Minor Nation of Denmark decides to sell coal, all of the coal it offers first appears as an Offer Sheet to England, the most favoured trading partner of Denmark, which bid to buy coal this turn. If the ruler of England decides to buy only some (or none) of the offered coal, then the coal remaining (of Denmark’s offer) passes to the next coalbidding country on the list of Denmark’s favourite trading partners. This process continues until the bidders purchase all the offered coal or until there are no more coal bidders.

Your goal is to put your Great Power at the top of the favoured trading partner list of as many other countries as you can. Try to concentrate on potential trading partners that produce the commodities you most need. You must consider and work with a variety of factors including world prices, trade policies and diplomatic relationships.

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IMPERIALISM II: Trade

Prices.

The prices shown on the Trade screen are the world market prices for the commodities traded during the last turn. This price is a starting point for this turn’s price, which may be set higher or lower depending on supply and demand. If, during this turn, demand for a commodity is stronger than the supply, the price rises. If the reverse is true, the price falls. If supply and demand are closely matched, the price this turn remains much the same as last turn’s price.

All Minor Nations and Tribes offer for sale those items that are connected in their countries. Great Powers decide which of their products to offer for sale based in part on the world market price from last turn, and in part based on what they can spare.

When you enter your bids and offers, it is impossible to predict the final price for this turn, because the buy bids and sell offers which determine the price come from all the countries in the game, not just from your own Great Power.

Trade Subsidies.

Because obtaining scarce resources can be diff icult, especially at the beginning of the game, your traders may need the assistance of beneficial trade policies. You may choose to grant trade subsidies using the Diplomacy screen. For more information see page 99.

When your Great Power grants a trade subsidy to another country, the price of commodities traded between the two countries changes by the percentage amount of the subsidy. This favours the other country on both ends of trade deals with you. When your Great Power buys from that country, prices are higher, and when your Great Power sells to them, prices are lower.

This reduction of your profits usually pays for itself in the long run. Since other countries often decide to offer their products to the countries that pay them the most, your traders enjoy an advantage over all other bidders for the resources grown or mined by that country. Your competitors are the rulers of the other Great Powers, not the Minor Nations and Tribes. Offering subsidies to the Minor Nations or Tribe gives your Great Power an advantage over the competition in return for a marginal (and often temporary) reduction in profits.

Effects of Diplomacy on Trade.

Subsidised prices and improved diplomatic relations both affect the order in which countries receive offers to buy commodities. Countries with commodities to sell combine both factors to decide which country is the most favoured trading partner.

You improve diplomatic relations using the Diplomacy screen, but trade affects diplomacy, too. Each time your Great Power completes a deal with another country where you have established a trade consulate or an Embassy, the relationship with that country improves slightly. By choosing a few nations to be regular trading partners, you can focus the effects of your diplomacy and trade. Your diplomacy gets your trading off to a fast start; trade causes relations to improve more quickly, giving you more options in diplomacy.

Shipping and Cargo Holds.

The numbers on the right side of the Trade screen represents the total cargo holds available in all the ships owned by your Great Power. Each cargo hold can carry one unit of any trading commodity if it is not used for Transport and is not outside the home f leet, in the Navy. Each cargo hold can be used only once per turn.

Merchant Marine of other Great Powers.

No Minor Nation owns any ships. When you trade with a Minor Nation or Tribe, as either buyer or seller, you can be sure that your Merchant Marine, your trading vessels, is required. However, since the other Great Powers do own ships, your ships are sometimes not used when you trade with them.

The rule for trades between Great Powers is that the buyer always picks up the commodities. If a bidder has no remaining cargo holds available, the bidder is not permitted to accept the deal, and the items are offered to the next bidder on the list.

Commodity order.

To make planning ahead with your shipping possible, I

MPERIALISM II always uses an

established order when expending the Great Powers’ shipping for trade. This commodity order is shown on the Trade screen from top to bottom. Fabric deals, for example, are always considered prior to all other deals because fabric is the first item in commodity order. Reserving some cargo holds for later deals becomes an important skill.

Interceptions.

Once your Great Power declares war or is attacked by another Great Power, your ships can be intercepted, and sunk or destroyed. Of course, you can do the same to your enemies. You receive notifications of both successful interceptions of enemies’ merchants and losses among your own in the battle report. The more powerful the ships in the home fleet, the less likely it is that any of your commodities will be taken. You can help protect your trade vessels by giving them small, faster ships as escorts.

Giving Trade Orders.

Your traders need not be told what to do every turn. Once you have established your orders, you visit the Trade screen only to change them. Of course, if circumstances change, you might decide to visit the Trade screen to consider your new needs.

A buy bid instructs your traders to consider all available offers of the requested commodity. A sell offer includes information, from you, about the maximum amount you wish to sell. Your traders continue to offer the commodity to bidders until the amount you select is sold or until all bidders have rejected the remaining amount.

Wax Seals are used to mark your buy bids and sell offers. To enter a bid, click in the Bid column. The Bid Seal for that commodity appears. Enter sell offers using the offer column to the right of the bid column. When the Offer Seal appears, a slider and a sell quantity number appear in the Offer Amount column. Using the arrows to the right and left of this slider, you increase or decrease the amount of the commodity to offer.

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IMPERIALISM II: Trade

Deciding What to Bid On.

Generally you should bid on resources because they are less expensive than materials. Try to obtain resources from nations that you have trade consulates with, since relations improve with each trade. Try to obtain resources in short supply within your borders. You may bid on only three commodities each turn at the beginning of the game. The technology of Trade Fairs allows you to bid on six different commodities.

Deciding What to Offer for Sale.

Your challenge in offering items for sale lies in balancing the internal needs of your Great Power with the need for immediate profits from trade. For instance, fabric and lumber may be sold for money, but they are also essential for building ships, ports, roads, military units and for recruiting labour. For the most part, price levels create a situation where the most efficient commodities to sell are the materials. The Great Powers that purchase your materials can use them for industrial or military expansion.

You may offer for sale as many different commodities as you hold in your warehouse stockpile, unused by industry this turn. However, the quantity of each commodity offered cannot exceed the total number of cargo holds you have available for trade.

Receiving Trade Offers.

<<CALL IN S_OFFERS.EPS>>

Hot Text Area

Current Funds

Number of Cargo

Holds Remaining to

Transport Commodities

Go To Selected Commodity’s Market Information

As each offer is presented, you can accept any number up to the amount offered. Change the number in the box and then click on the accept seal shown on the offer sheet. To reject a deal, click on the reject seal. If you decide that you have purchased enough of a certain commodity, check the box No more offers of... (that commodity). You are presented with no more deals for that commodity this turn.

After you (the potential buyer) act on each offer, any commodities remaining are passed on to other countries that bid on those commodities. Of course, you might not be the first buyer in line. The offers you see may already have been passed up by other countries acting ahead of you.

The offer sheet itself appears on the left side of the screen. It provides simple information on each offer. By clicking on the commodity icons, on the scroll to the right of the screen, you obtain more information about the world market.

The Markets Scroll.

<<CALL IN S_T_MARK.EPS>>

Return to

Terrain Map

Nations Preferred

Trading Partner

Return to

Deal Book

Nations Offering

Commodity

Get Help

Selected Commodity

Nations Bidding on Commodity

Credit Report

Number of Units

To Buy

Reject Offer

Accept Offer

Accepting/Rejecting Offers.

Once all Great Powers end their turns, the world market opens. You now receive offers from countries selling the commodities you bid on using the Trade screen. You must accept or reject each offer as it is presented; though you are free to change the quantity to accept any lower amount. By placing your cursor over the picture of the commodity on the offer sheet you can see hot text in the upper-right which tells you the amount of that commodity in your warehouse.

Each commodity icon opens a detailed view of the market for that commodity. When the icon is selected, the scroll unrolls to a two-sided display. The left side lists the countries offering to sell a commodity, the quantity offered and the ranked order of all bidders. For example, the first flag shown under the name of an offering country is the f lag of the bidder who acts on that offer first. On the right side is a list of bidding countries with the amount of Merchant Marine currently available. A Great Power with no Merchant Marine available cannot accept any deals, regardless of its position in line.

You cannot review markets unless you have entered a bid on or offered a sale of that commodity. To return to the offer sheets, click on the leather tab on the left side of the screen.

Merchant Marine and Commodity Order.

A basic component of trade is the careful use of your Merchant Marine each turn. For example, on a turn when you plan to sell stockpiled fabric, consider carefully what items you can accept with the remaining cargo capacity, once the necessary amount is used for fabric. On a turn when you have very little to sell, bid on items that you normally would not have ships available to move.

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IMPERIALISM II: Trade

IMPERIALISM II: Diplomacy

Offers always occur in the same order, the commodity order shown on the Trade screen, and in the icons on the markets scroll. This means, for example, that if you desperately need iron, you may need to stop accepting all the wool you can get, in order to reserve some of your limited Merchant Marine capacity for the iron coming later. Use the iron tab on the Offer Sheet to look at the market in iron. If one of the countries selling iron shows your flag as its top bidder, you will definitely receive an iron offer this turn. Save some cargo holds for it.

The Deal Book.

<<CALL IN S_DEALBK.EPS>>

Hot Text AreaCurrent Year

Current Funds

Deals Made

Transaction

Report

Go To Commodity’s Market Report

Go To Next Page

At the end of every trade offers phase, before the new turn begins, the Deal Book is displayed. You may need to turn several pages to see all the deals you’ve concluded. If you want to look at the Deal Book during your turn, it can be brought up through the Game Information panel.

The Deal Book lists all your country’s trades, as well as potential deals that were not made because you rejected them or ran out of cargo holds.

Your Great Power’s Credit.

Sometimes you may spend too much money and end a trade offers phase in the red (negative balance). The Market Book tells you this and lists your borrowing limit. This limit is approximately equal to your average per turn income. If you go over this limit, you receive a warning about a forced sale of your warehouse stockpile. You receive about one-quarter the fair value in such a sale. Also, you cannot make purchases, nor can you give orders that require an expenditure during your turn, as long as your debt exceeds your limit.

Eventually, it is possible to go broke and lose the game. On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with borrowing as long as you stay within one-half of your credit limit. If you go over one-half the maximum allowed your interest rate starts to worsen until the money is paid back. Since the world banking community likes to have countries in debt, every time you repay the money you’ve borrowed, the interest rate for future loans improves. Your credit limit also improves as your national income rises. Additionally, two technologies improve your nation’s credit rating and gain you lower interest rates.

DIPLOMACY

<<CALL IN S_DIPLOM.EPS>>

Current Year

Current Funds

Toggle Human and

Computer Control

Return to

Terrain Map

Go To Orders

Screens

Hot Text Area

Toggle Diplomacy Screens

Getting Help

Map of Known World

Summary of Trading and Overseas Profits.

One page on the Deal Book includes a summary of all your trades. Eventually, your overseas prof its and liquidated riches add to the positive side on this balance sheet. Overseas profits are any money you make when another country sells a commodity that your country helped develop. The only way to earn this beneficial bonus is by purchasing land in a Minor Nation with a Merchant, and then increasing production of the land with your other civilian units. For more on how to do this see page 68. Liquidated riches are simply money you receive for transporting one or more of the five types of riches back to your home country. You can gain liquidated riches from land you conquer or from lands where your civilian units have assisted in development of the riches tiles.

Diplomacy provides a structure for your interaction with the other countries in the world. Also, the Diplomacy screen provides useful information for plotting your overall strategy. As with other activities in I

MPERIALISM II, the orders you give in diplomacy are carried

out simultaneously with other Great Powers’ orders at the end of the turn. Until you click the End Turn button you can take back any diplomatic orders you give. If important developments occur in the diplomatic world you are notified in the Turn Summary at the beginning of a new turn.

From the Terrain Map screen or any of the orders screens, click on the Give Diplomacy Orders icon that looks like a scroll.

<<CALL IN B_CNTLCM.EPS, B_CNTLHU.EPS>>

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IMPERIALISM II: Diplomacy

Computer Control of Diplomacy: At the upper left of the Diplomacy

screen is a button that may be set to computer or to human control. If you

choose to set this to computer control, your diplomatic orders occur automatically each turn. If you change the settings of the computer advisor, your orders are carried out on the turn that you enter them. However, if you leave the computer advisor in control, your orders will not last past one turn. On the next turn, the computer advisor once again sets diplomatic policy as it thinks best.

Using the Diplomacy Screen for Information.

The information icon is always selected when you bring up the Diplomacy screen. To give orders on the Diplomacy screen you must first click on one of the other icons at the top of the screen. Leave the information icon selected to examine the political and economic conditions of the world.

Information Icon.<<CALL IN B_D_INFO.EPS>>

Your own country is selected when you first open the Diplomacy screen. You see some facts about your military and industrial strength as well as the size of your empire, excluding colonies. Clicking on a different country on the map selects the new country.

By selecting the various Great Powers you review their size as well as military and industrial strengths. If you select a Minor Nation, the information is slightly different and includes a listing of the favourite trading partner and the Great Power with the best diplomatic relationship with the Minor Nation. These two may be different due to the effect of trade price subsidies. The favourite trading partner receives the first chance to sell to and buy from the Minor Nation, while the Great Power with the best relations is closest to gaining control of the Minor Nation.

This information about each country is called basic information. To obtain more details, you use the centre icons in the middle of the upper panel.

Obtaining More Information.

In the middle of the screen, three additional icons provide more information on any of the countries in the game. Regardless of which centre icon you select, you can always cycle through all the countries in the game by clicking on them on the map.

Treaty Status.

The treaty status icon appears as a small scroll. Click here to see a map display of the various treaties and wars of any nation in the game. It can be useful to see which Great Powers are allied with one another or to see which Minor Nations have joined larger empires.

Grants and Inf luence.

The small rectangular document (which represents a grant of foreign aid) brings up the relationship display for any country in the game. Unlike the Treaties display, the relationships shown do not imply any formal status between two countries. Instead you are viewing the relative levels of friendliness. Of course, a particular treaty status might

lead to more or less friendly relations. For instance, you would usually see a correlation between hostile feelings and the formal status of war on the treaty display.

Trade Policies.

The coin icon allows you to view the trade policies of any country. In the upper panel is a list of the top exports of the country. Use this listing to decide which Minor Nations to invade or to court diplomatically.

On the map you see the existence of any trade subsidies or boycotts between two countries. Both boycotts and subsidies are initiated by Great Powers. A subsidy means that the Great Power is paying more than market price for the trade commodities of the other country, as well as selling its own commodities at lower cost to the other country. A boycott means that no trade of any kind occurs between the two countries.

Diplomatic Overtures.

Next to the yellow “i” icon at the top of the screen is a scroll on a green background. Clicking on this icon brings up the Diplomatic overtures panel. Here you establish different sorts of formal relations between your nation and all the other nations and Tribes in the world.

How to Make an Overture.

The overtures map always displays the treaty status of your own country. To view information on treaties between other countries you must use the information icon. See above on page 92.

To make a new diplomatic overture click on one of the seven large scrolls in the upper panel. They are all labelled with the name of the overture represented by each scroll. When you click on the scroll, your cursor changes to represent the type of overture you are making. When you click on the country, an icon stays behind to mark that you made the overture.

To cancel the overture before the end of the turn, click on the icon on the country. It disappears confirming that you have rescinded that overture. If the overture costs money, the amount you spent is returned to your treasury upon cancellation.

War and Peace.

At the beginning of the game, your Great Power is at peace with everyone. The overture of a declaration of war may be made to any Great Power or Minor Nation. In I II a declaration of war is necessary before your empire is allowed to invade the lands of an Old World country. This works to provide a one turn warning before invasions can occur. Once you are at war with a country, the peace overture becomes available on this screen.

It is never necessary to declare war on a Tribe. However, if the Tribe has received investments by Merchants of another Great Power, you may have to declare war on the Great Power before you are permitted invade the lands of the Tribe.

MPERIALISM

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IMPERIALISM II: Diplomacy

Diplomatic Overtures to Minor Nations & Tribes.

At the beginning of the game, your possible diplomatic overtures to Minor Nations and discovered Tribes are limited. Sometimes one successful overture is required before another one can be attempted. At the beginning of the game, your first step is to establish trade consulates in some of the Minor Nations or Tribes. Later you may establish Embassies, offer non-aggression pacts and attempt to convince Minor Nations and Tribes to join your empire.

Since each game includes only six Old World Minor Nations competition for them can be fierce. Unlike the provinces owned by Tribes at the beginning of the game, Minor Nation provinces count toward victory.

Seed Drill.

The invention of the Seed Drill, which allows grain to be planted in rows, permits Builders to improve grain farms to produce 3 units of grain per turn.

A country cannot refuse a declaration of war. If you declare war on a country, it receives notification of the war as soon as you click the End Turn button, and the war begins on the next turn. You must declare war in order to conduct any type of hostile action on land or sea. Obviously, war worsens the relations between your country and those with whom you are at war.

Less obviously, whenever you declare war your relations with all countries in the game can change significantly. Countries that dislike the country you attacked are more friendly toward you after you declare war. Countries with good relations with your victim dislike you more after you declare war.

Minor Nations never refuse an offer of peace. They are always happy to have a Great Power stop attacking them. Great Powers, on the other hand, accept peace offers only when it is to their advantage to do so. Generally, if they have obtained what they wanted and are not able to take your capital at this time, they may accept your peace overtures. They are more likely to accept your proposals after losing provinces of ships in combat than they are directly after a victory or series of victories.

Tribes may be invaded by “civilised” states without the need for a formal declaration of war and there is no diplomatic penalty in the Old World for invading a Tribe unless other Great Powers have invested in the lands of a Tribe. However, Tribes near to the invaded Tribe will react to the invasion. They are less willing to trade with a Great Power that has began to conquer nearby lands.

Trade Consulates.

Both Minor Nations and Tribes always accept an overture to establish a trade consulate. The overture costs you $500 and the new consulate opens starting the turn after you make the overture. The most immediate benefit of a new consulate is the right to set trade policies toward that Minor Nation, policies such as subsidies to encourage trade. The coins icon at the top of the Diplomacy screen takes you to the Trade policies panel.

Once a new trade consulate is established in a nation or Tribe, each completed trade deal between your empire and this nation or Tribe improves your diplomatic relationship. If relations improve enough, their leaders could decide to join your empire peacefully as a colony provided you build an Embassy.

A trade consulate is required for the later construction of an Embassy.

Embassies.

Although your empire owns embassies with the other Great Powers at the beginning of the game, you must improve your diplomatic expertise through research before you can create new embassies. The technology called diplomatic expertise, available for research from the start of the game, permits construction of additional embassies.

Once your empire has learned this technology, and has built a trade consulate in a Minor Nation or a Tribe, you are able to offer to establish an Embassy as well. The Embassy overture costs $1000; so, at the beginning of the game, you need to be restrained in your offers. Nations and Tribes never refuse your request to establish an Embassy.

Embassies permit full-fledged diplomatic relations including grants of foreign aid, pacts and other treaties. In the Old World, an embassy permits the possibility of armed intervention if a Minor Nation is invaded.

Until you establish an Embassy with a Tribe or with a Minor Nation most of your civilian workers may not enter. To protect the lands of a Tribe from invasion by other Great Powers you first must establish an embassy. Then you can send a Merchant unit to buy land in the provinces of the Tribe. Once you purchase some land, that province can be invaded by Great Powers only if they first declare war on you empire. Only Minor Nations and Tribes where you have Embassies ever join your empire voluntarily.

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IMPERIALISM II: Diplomacy

Non-Aggression Pacts.

Once you have established an Embassy, you are able to offer a pact overture to the Minor Nation or Tribe. This action costs no cash and it’s a good idea to offer the pact to all Minor Nations and Tribes where you establish Embassies. Minor Nations always accept an offered non-aggression pact, since it limits the actions of Great Powers. In fact, they are so happy to receive a pact that it significantly improves your Great Power’s relationship with the Minor Nation.

A non-aggression pact hurts you only if you break it. If this happens, the normal worsening of your relationships across the world is significantly increased. Other countries believe you can no longer be trusted.

Joining the Empire.

The Empire scroll on the diplomatic overtures screen allows you to ask a Minor Nation or a Tribe to join your empire voluntarily. This overture costs nothing, but the other party declines it if your relations are not sufficiently friendly. Using the information tab you can look at your relationships worldwide. If your relations with any Minor Nations or Tribes have improved to a dark green colour, an overture to join your empire might be accepted.

When a Minor Nation joins your empire, it is just as if you conquered it except that you also receive control of all their military forces including the responsibility to feed these forces. You have total control over their provinces and all roads and developments that anyone has constructed in their nation. Once the Minor Nation joins, all the commodities produced in that nation appear in your transport ledge. Since there is no longer an independent government it is both unnecessary and impossible to conduct trade for these commodities. These provinces count toward your victory condition.

Tribes are different. Although you do gain control of their military units, an independent tribal government still exists. Their resources must be purchased in trade and they will continue to purchase your commodities for money. Their provinces do not count toward your victory totals.

Diplomatic Overtures to Great Powers.

At the beginning of the game, your Great Power already has Embassies, which include trade consulates, in every Great Power. These Embassies permit full-f ledged diplomacy with all other Great Powers from the start of the game.

Alliances.

You can offer an alliance only to Great Powers. An alliance, if agreed to, establishes a promise of mutual defence if either ally is attacked by a third Great Power. When your ally is attacked, you receive notice of the declaration of war and an immediate demand by the ally that you declare war on the aggressor. If you are attacked, your allies, if any, receive notices of demand for a declaration of war. The alliance is immediately broken when a Great Power refuses to support an attacked ally. The refusing ally suffers severe penalties in world opinion resulting in across-the-board worsening of relations.

IMPERIALISM II: Diplomacy

Apprentice Workers.

With this development peasant laborers can be trained. Apprentice Workers produce four times as much labour as an untrained peasant. Each turn, an Apprentice Worker consumes 1 unit of ref ined sugar.

A similar notice is delivered to you if your ally is the aggressor against a third Great Power. The consequences of a refusal to join this war are quite different. Refusal to join a war when the ally is the aggressor does not result in any penalties. Allies must receive an offer to join the war, but cannot be held responsible for the judgment errors of other Great Powers.

Great Powers offer and accept alliances based on the military conditions of the others. Great Powers in a position of disadvantage are both more likely to offer and to accept an alliance. Choose your allies carefully.

Joining the Empire.

Once your empire has learned an advanced diplomatic technique called Empire Building you can ask Great Powers to join your empire. They agree only if their position in the game is hopeless due to your success. Agreeing to such an offer removes that Power from the game and gives all their provinces directly to your empire. If you get such an overture from another Great Power, you should decline it if you wish to keep playing the game.

Foreign Aid and Bribery. <<CALL IN B_D_GRAN.EPS>>

The icon of a grant certificate near the top of the screen brings up the Relations and Foreign Grants panel. Here, you may grant money to any

country in the game in which you have an Embassy. This cash gift directly improves the diplomatic relations between the countries. For the most part you will want to grant funds to Minor Nations and Tribes, not Great Powers, since there is little chance that good relations with other Great Powers - your competition - will help you win the game. Improving relations with Minor Nations can help you take control of these countries before the other Great Powers.

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IMPERIALISM II: Diplomacy

How to Grant Money.

The grants map always displays the relationships of your own country. To view information on relationships between two other countries you must use the information panel instead of the grants panel. A new grant toward any country may be made by clicking first on the desired grant amount on the upper portion of the screen and then clicking on the country on the map.

When you click on the grant certificate, your cursor changes to represent the grant you are making. When you click on the country, an icon stays behind marking that you made the grant.

To cancel the grant before the end of the turn, click on the icon on the country. It disappears to show that you have rescinded that grant. The amount you spent is returned to your treasury upon cancellation.

Locked Grants.

Locked grants function just like normal grants except that they will continue every turn with no further orders from you. The cumulative effect of ten $1000 grants is greater than one $10,000 grant, so locked grants are a good idea if you can afford the regular drain from your cash, and you are not in a hurry to see results.

Assessing Success of Grants Policy.

There is a spectrum of relationship colors on the Diplomacy Screen that appears on both the Relations and Foreign Grants panel, and in the Information section when the centre Grants icon is selected. Using the colors in the spectrum, from red to green, you can see which countries are especially hostile or friendly to your Great Power. On the Information panel, you can also select any country and view its relations with all the Great Powers in the game. This is done using the wedges under the colour spectrum.

The wedges each represent a Great Power. The further a wedge is to the right side of the spectrum, the better the relationship between the Great Power represented by the wedge, and the nation that is selected on the map. If you want to see how this works, select your own country on the map. Now you see your country's wedge all the way to the right side of the spectrum because a country's relationship with itself is always at the highest level. You can use the wedges to see which Great Powers are "courting" which Minor Nations, and how closely contested these battles are. You can also decide when to cut your losses if you fall way behind another Great Power.

Trade Policies. <<CALL IN B_D_COIN.EPS>>

The fourth icon at the top of the screen takes you to the Trade Policies panel which enables you to set trade policies with any country in the game where

you have a trade consulate or Embassy. While these policies cannot directly improve relations, they can encourage trade with the other country, improving relations upon each successful trade deal. For the most part, you grant trade subsidies to Minor Nations and Tribes. Trade subsidies with Minor Nations can put you ahead of the other Great Powers in the race to obtain control in the long run and immediately help you acquire needed resources.

Making a Trade Policy.

The map always displays the trade policies of your own country. To view information on the trade policies of other countries you must use the information panel. A new trade subsidy of varying percentages or boycott toward any country may be made by clicking first on one of the symbols on the panel, and then clicking on the country on the map.

When you click on the symbol, your cursor changes to represent the type of trade policy you are setting. When you click on the country, an icon stays behind marking that you made the new policy.

To cancel the policy change before the end of the turn, click on the icon on the country. It disappears confirming that you have cancelled that change.

Subsidies.

Subsidies have two immediate price effects, both to the advantage of the country that receives the subsidy. When the recipient country buys from the Great Power that granted the subsidy, its prices are reduced from the current world prices by the percentage of the subsidy. When the recipient country sells to the Great Power that granted the subsidy it sells at higher prices, increased from the current world price by the percentage of the subsidy.

A Great Power never grants a subsidy to make more money in the short run. However, when competing for a market with other Great Powers, you might find it to your advantage to sell at reduced prices if the alternative is not to sell at all. When competing with other Great Powers for scarce resources, you might find it better to pay more if the alternative is not getting the resources at all.

In the long run, subsidies establish a dependence of the Minor Nation on your Great Power. Each deal that you make with the Minor Nation moves you further ahead of the other Great Powers.

Boycotts.

A trade boycott goes into effect automatically between countries at war. If you choose to enter other boycotts, it has the obvious effect. You receive fewer trade offers and have fewer potential markets for your goods. The boycott button with the red “X” over the coin represents a boycott preventing your own Great Power from trading with the country you click on.

Colony Boycotts.

Once you own a colony in the New World, you may order it to boycott countries independently of your Great Power. However, all your colonies must share the same boycott policies. Click on the boycott button with the gray cross and then on the country you want your colony or colonies to boycott. If you boycott the same country with your Great Power, you will see a combined red “X” and gray cross boycott indicator.

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Control of the Old World. <<CALL IN B_D_COIN.EPS>>

The last function of the Diplomacy screen is to show who is winning. The

final icon brings up a map, with flags showing which provinces are controlled

by which Great Powers. At the top of the panel is a list of the Great Powers, listing how many Old World provinces each controls. The number needed for victory is given above.

Receiving a Diplomatic Offer.

Diplomatic offers are a result of overtures taken by another Great Power, including the declaration of war overture. On the Diplomatic Offers screen, you must choose to accept or reject each offer as presented. Actions and failure to act have consequences such as declaration of war and worsening of diplomatic relations.

Offer to Join an Ally on the Attack.

When an ally attacks another Great Power and asks you to join, refusal has no penalties except for the loss of the alliance. Join the war if you want to fight a war; otherwise, stay out.

Demand for You to Defend an Ally.

You must be cautious in declining these demands. Since your ally is under attack, there are substantial penalties for refusal. Of course, when you accept, normal declaration of war penalties are paid, dampening your relations with the countries friendly to the Great Power you declare war on. However, the penalties for refusal are more significant in most cases.

Repeatedly breaking alliances eventually leads to diplomatic isolation. The only way to win the game if this happens to your Great Power is conquest and military dominance of all the other Great Powers.

Offer to Make Peace.

If you accept this offer, the war ends between your country and the Great Power that made the offer. Since your allies have not necessarily received the same offer, you may end up breaking your alliances if you agree to a peace treaty.

On the other hand, if you feel threatened, an alliance may dissuade a potentially hostile Power from attacking you. Normally, most countries do not attack if the military balance is not in their favour.

Offer to Intervene in a Minor Nation.

An offer to intervene in a war on behalf of an attacked Minor Nation is a one-time chance with that nation. If you decline, you do not have another chance to absorb that Minor Nation peacefully, except in the unlikely event that the other Great Power’s attack fails and the Minor Nation joins you peacefully later in the game.

The advantages of intervention are substantial. First, you get the Minor Nation’s territory immediately, or at least what’s left of it after you defend it. The provinces count toward your victory requirement. However, your decision to intervene counts as a declaration of war against the other Great Power and this makes you the aggressor. Allies of the Great Power you are declaring war on may join in the fight against you.

TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH

<<CALL IN S_TECHNO.EPS>>

Toggle Human & Computer Control

Return to

Terrain Map

Current Goal

Nations Who Possess

Technology

Technologies

Currently Being

Researched

Amount Spent on

Research Each Turn

Cancel Research

Hot Text Area

Get Help

Sort Technologies by Categories

View Discovered Technologies

View Technologies Available for Research

View Technology Goals

Detailed Information on Technology

Offer of an Alliance.

When another Great Power sends an overture for a diplomatic alliance, it is an offer to join with them for mutual defence. It is true that an alliance is basically defensive, although it has offensive implications.

If you agree to the alliance, you are making a public promise to defend the other Great Power if it is attacked by a third Great Power. You are accepting their promise to do the same for you.

Your relations are not adjusted downward if you refuse the offer. You should probably refuse if you’re not particularly interested in having a war and the other country seems more threatened than you are. This is quite likely the case when they ask for an alliance; threat is what makes them seek an alliance.

This orders screen gives you, as ruler, the opportunity to decide what new technologies your empire should learn, and how much to invest in the research on a turn by turn basis.

From the Terrain Map screen or any of the orders screens, click on the Give Technology Orders icon that looks like a compass. This is the fifth button (reading from the left) on the gold ribbon at the bottom of the screen.

<<CALL IN B_CNTLCM.EPS, B_CNTLHU.EPS>>

Computer Control of Technology Research: At the upper left of the Trade screen is a button that may be set to computer or to human

control. If you choose to set this to computer control, your research occurs automatically each turn. If you change the settings of the computer advisor, your orders are carried out on the turn that you enter them. However, if you leave the computer advisor in control, your orders will not last past one turn. On the next turn, the computer advisor once again sets research orders as it thinks best, although it will never cancel a project.

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One good way to use this feature on the Technology screen is to turn on the computer advisor and let it set the projects for you. Then turn it off and decide yourself how much to invest each turn. This is especially useful for beginners who may not know the benefits of the many technologies. The computer advisor tends to choose military technology as a goal because falling behind in this area can lead to disaster.

Understanding the Technology Screen.

There are two sections on the screen. The section on the left side is where projects currently being researched or projects that are long term goals are listed. The right side of the screen is used to review the different technologies in the game. The basic function of the screen is choosing technologies from the right side and using them to fill in slots on the left.

The Spy Flags.

Whenever a technology is listed anywhere on the Technology screen, it can be accompanied by small flags. Your own colors are never present; the f lags represent the other Great Powers in the game. Each flag informs you that a particular Great Power has already learned that technology. The presence of a flag indicates that you can benefit from spying on that Great Power, should you choose to research that project. You can only benefit from spying if the project is actually assigned to one of the research slots on the left side of the screen.

When you already have a Spy in a given nation, the coloured flag of that nation is accompanied by a tiny letter “s” whenever it appears. Since you already have a Spy working in that country, choosing to research projects with that flag and “s” icon on them is immediately more efficient than choosing other projects.

Even if you invest no money in a project, a Spy will obtain it for you fairly quickly once you place it in one of your research slots. If the Spy is captured or killed the letter “s” vanishes, and you are informed of the loss in the next Turn Summary.

The Slots.

The slots on the left side of the screen supply places for each project your empire is researching. At the beginning of the game only three of the research slots may be filled. Eventually (with the discovery of the University) you may have four projects going at once. Above the project slots is a fifth slot for your current goal.

You are not required to set a goal. If you do establish a goal, the order of the technologies displayed on the right side of the screen is sorted to help you choose research projects that lead toward the goal. You cannot spend money on the technology in this slot, it is used merely to sort your selections. You can have but one goal at a time, though you can always change it.

Goals.

When a goal is set on the left side of the screen the technologies displayed here are sorted. In any list, the technologies that lead to the goal you have set will be shown in green text at the top of the list.

Medallions.

The three medallions to the right of the raised scroll change the display to show those projects you have already learned, those projects you can place in a research slot at this time, and those projects that may be established as goals.

Six Filter Buttons.

At the top of the raised scroll are six text buttons which narrow the focus of the displayed technologies on the scroll. If you are certain, for example, that you want to choose a naval goal you could click on the “Navy” filter button, and then select the third (goals) medallion. Now you are looking at all the navy technologies that may be set as your goal.

Using the Technology Screen.

How to Start a Project.

To the right of the raised scrolls, select the middle medallion. Make sure that the Show All text filter at the top of the scroll is also selected. This is the view you use most frequently showing all the projects that you can now assign to a research slot.

Look through the available choices. Using the magnifying glass button appearing with each choice, you can bring up a short description of the benefits of a new technology. It may be necessary to use page turners (lower left and right knobs of the scrolls) to view all the available choices, although at the beginning of the game choice is limited.

To assign a technology to a research slot, click on the compass button next to the technology you have chosen. When the new project appears in the slot on the left side of the screen, use the arrows to increase or decrease the cash allocation to the project. This amount of money is spent each turn on the project. A time estimate is provided by your researchers. Keep in mind that this estimate is likely to be wrong. There is no way to predict for sure when the research will be finished.

When all available research slots are filled, the compass buttons on the remaining technologies disappear. Until you finish or cancel a project, no new research projects may be chosen.

The Raised Scroll.

On the right side of the screen, various technologies in the game are listed. There are three different controls to alter the way technologies are displayed on this side of the screen.

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Benefits of Technology.

These technologies are also listed on the chart that comes with your IMPERIALISM II game.

Wind Saw Mill.

The Wind Saw Mill permits Builders to upgrade timber camps to produce 3 units per turn. This increased timber output leads to improvements in naval technology, such as the construction of larger ships.

Cancelling a Project.

In each research slot on the left side of the screen is a small skull and crossed bones button. To cancel a project click this button. If you have made progress on a project, you are asked to confirm your cancellation. If you cancel a project, all progress so far is lost.

Choosing a Goal.

To choose a goal for your goal slot on the left side of the screen, click on the third of the three medallions next to the scroll (nearest the bottom of the screen). Look through all the technologies available as goals and choose your long term goal by clicking on the targeting button next to it. The goal will appear in the top slot to the left. Once again, you may use the magnifying glass to obtain details on the technology.

When you return (using the middle medallion) to the list of technologies you can research, the presence of your goals alters the order these technologies are displayed. Any technology that leads toward your goal is now shown at the top of the list in green text.

TECHNOLOGY

Name of Technology. Benefits of Technology. Immediate Prerequisites.

Advanced Hull Design Developments in hull and sail design University, Improved Sail Design,

Advanced Iron Working Advanced iron working knowledge Ship-of-the-Line, Industrial Funding

Amalgamation Process With the Amalgamation Process, Builders Dynamite, Extraction of Precious

Animal Husbandry Advances in Animal Husbandry permit Crop Rotation

Apprentice Workers Apprentice Workers produce four times as Land Enclosure, Sugar Ref ining

Banking Banking decreases the interest rate when Master Artisans, Trade Fairs

Bayonet The development of the Bayonet permits Improved Iron Weapons,

CHART:

permit the construction of Frigates. Privateering Companies Frigates are fast, powerful warships ideal for privateering and interception.

permits shipwrights to construct the of Research, Paddlewheels Ironclad; a heavily armoured warship capable of inflicting damage at long ranges.

can upgrade all precious metals mines Metals to produce 4 gold or silver per turn.

Builders to improve cattle reaches to produce 3 units of meat per turn. This development eventually leads to new uses of horses to pull artillery, and to superior cavalry tactics.

much labour as an untrained peasant. Each turn, an apprentice worker consumes refined sugar.

you borrow money and permits negative spending of larger sums. It later leads to improved military funding.

recruiting of Regulars and upgrading of Crucible Process Halberdiers. Regulars are the first infantry adept at both melee and ranged combat.

Cigar Production This advance permits production of cigars Discovery of Tobacco

Circular Saw Invention of the Circular Saw permits Wind Sawmill, University

Clipper Ships This development permits shipwrights Circular Saw, Advance Hull Design

from tobacco. This luxury is consumed each turn by journeymen workers.

Builders to upgrade timber camps to produce 4 timber per turn.

to construct Clipper ships, relatively small merchant sailing vessels with exceptional speed.

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Name of Technology. Benefits of Technology. Immediate Prerequisites.

Coal Mining Coal Mining knowledge allows Builders Mine Engineering

to construct mines producing one unit of coal per turn. Coal mining eventually leads to the development of the crucible process for steel making.

Convoying The Convoying advance allows Merchant Companies

construction of Galleons. Although slow, these powerful, large vessels are ideal for convoying products from the new world.

Copper and Tin Mining Improved Copper and Mining Mine Engineering

technology permits Builders to upgrade mines to produce 2 units per turn. Copper and tin are used to create bronze; a critical material for construction of artillery, ships and fortifications until the development of steel.

Cotton Gin The invention of the Cotton Gin permits Large Cotton Plantations,

Builders to upgrade cotton plantations Journeyman Workers to produce 4 units of cotton per turn.

Cotton Planting Cotton Plantations increase the Discovery of Cotton

productivity of cotton farms. Builders may develop cotton farms to produce 2 units of cotton per turn.

Cotton Weaving This technology allows production Discovery of Cotton

of fabric from cotton. This fabric may be used interchangeably with fabric produced from wool.

Crop Rotation Crop Rotation allows growth of fodder None

crops that permit Builders to improve your cattle herds. This leads to further advances in sheep and cattle herding as well as the military uses of horse herds.

Crucible Process The Crucible Process allows steel to be Square-set Timbering Steam in

made from coal and iron. Steel is used to Mining construct the most advanced types of military and naval forces.

Diplomatic Expertise Diplomatic Expertise permits diplomats None

to offer embassies to Minor Nations. Once embassies exist, treaties and grants may be made, and Merchants, Engineers, and Builders may work in the Minor Nation.

Dynamite Dynamite permits the construction of Later Steam Engine, Banking,

railroads through mountainous terrain. Explosives This development leads to further advances in mining technology as well.

Name of Technology. Benefits of Technology. Immediate Prerequisites.

Early Rifles The new rifled gun barrel permits slow Improved Infantry Tactics,

Early Steam Engine Railroads can be constructed by the Rail Road Construction,

Efficient Extraction Improved extraction of copper and tin Large Coal Mines, of Copper & Tin permits Builders to upgrade mines to Large Copper and Tin Mines

Elite Military Training New training techniques permit the Modern Military Funding,

Empire Building Greater understanding of foreign cultures Nationalism, Banking

Emplaced Siege Guns With this discovery, Your siege engineers Heavy Artillery,

Excessive Fur Harvesting New trapping and hunting techniques allow Later Steam Engine, Riverboats

Explosives Improvement of Explosives allows recruiting Weapon Craftsmanship,

Extraction of Precious Improved extraction of silver and gold permits Precious Metals Mining, University Metals Builders to upgrade precious metal mines to

Field Artillery Tactics New tactical know-how and superior metallurgy Light Artillery Tactics,

Geological Prospecting Geological prospecting permits all precious Large Precious Stone Mines,

Hat Production This advance allows production of hats Discovery of Furs

and accurate fire, ideal for the new Skirmisher Crucible Process regiments. Calivermen may be upgraded.

Builder unit in any flat terrain which includes Square-set Timbering, a road. Railroads can transport up to 4 Steam in Mining commodities from a single farm, mine, timber camp, or ranch.

produce 4 units per turn.

recruiting of elite infantry regiments called Needle Guns, Explosives Guards. Grenadiers may be upgraded.

and improved training of diplomats permits requests to other Great Powers to join the empire peacefully. Acceptance depends on the economic and military might of the asking empire.

automatically upgrade all our emplaced Heavy Emplaced Artillery artillery to Siege Guns, the most powerful artillery that can be constructed.

your Builders to upgrade fur trading posts to produce 4 units of fur per turn.

of Grenadiers and upgrading of Musketeers. Industrial Machinery

produce 3 units per turn. These metals convert directly to cash for our empire.

permits construction of Field Artillery, the ideal Modern Military Funding unit for taking fortifications. Your Light Artillery may be upgraded.

stone mines to become more productive. Dynamite Builders may upgrade mines to produce 4 gems or diamonds per turn.

from furs. This luxury is consumed each turn by master artisans.

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Name of Technology. Benefits of Technology. Immediate Prerequisites.

Heavy Artillery Powerful Heavy Artillery made of steel can Modern Forts, Crucible Process

now be built. Royal Artillery upgrades to this new type of regiment.

Heavy Emplaced Artillery With this development the emplaced Royal Road Construction,

Artillery in all of your empire’s forts is National Bureaucracy, automatically upgraded to Heavy Artillery. Siege Engineering

High Grade Steel New high grade steel permits the construction Heavy Artillery, Industrial

of a mobile Siege Gun. Although slow, these Funding of Research, Modern gigantic guns can batter the strongest Military Funding fortifications and are especially effective on defence. Heavy artillery may be upgraded.

Horse Artillery Improving horse breeds and lighter cannons Animal Husbandry,

allow our generals to recruit horse-drawn Copper and Tin Mining artillery that can be f ired and relocated rapidly on the battlefield.

Hussars Improved training facilities and new horse Improved Cavalry Tactics,

breeds allow the recruiting of Hussars Recruit Steppe Horsemen and the upgrading of Cossacks. Hussar regiments are very fast and exceptionally difficult to destroy.

Improved Cavalry Your increasing understanding of cavalry tactics Printing Press, Animal Husbandry Tactics permits the recruitment of Harquebusiers. These

new regiments are the first to use f irearms in the saddle and lead to later heavy cavalry.

Improved Cavalry Improved cavalry weapons allow the recruiting Industrial Machinery, Weapons of Cuirassiers and the upgrading of Harquebusiers. Crucible Process, Improved

Cavalry Tactics

Improved Food Improvements in food preservation allow Large Spice Plantations Preservation Builders to upgrade spice farms to produce

4 units of spices per turn.

Improved Infantry Our increasing understanding of infantry tactics Organised Regiments, Tactics permits the recruitment of Calivermen, and the Printing Press

upgrading of peasant levies. These new regiments are adept at drawing enemy fire and using terrain for concealment.

Improved Iron Weapons Improved casting and forging of iron weapons Organised Regiments, Iron Mining

permits the recruiting of Halberdiers. Pikemen may be upgraded to this new type of unit. This advance leads to the Bayonet and other military knowledge.

Name of Technology. Benefits of Technology. Immediate Prerequisites.

Improved Sea Routes With this knowledge of sea routes reducing Discovery of Spices

Improved Trapping Fur Trapping technology allows Builders to Discovery of Furs Techniques develop trapping grounds to produce

Industrial Funding The growth of business and industry creates Industrial Machinery, of Research new sources for research funding, increasing Crucible Process

Industrial Iron Mining Advances in explosives and industry allow Industrial Funding of Research,

Industrial Machinery New industrial machinery decreases the Journeyman Workers,

Iron Mining Improved mining of iron permits Builders to Mine Engineering

Land Enclosure Land Enclosure makes efficient farms possible. None

Large Coal Mines Large coal mines can be constructed by a Builder. Square-set Timbering,

Large Copper and Increasing knowledge of metallurgy and mining Copper and Tin Mining Tin Mines permits Builders to upgrade copper and tin

Large Cotton Plantations Large Cotton Plantations increase the Cotton Planting

spoilage, more spices from upgraded spice farms become available. This development leads to improvements in naval technology as well.

2 units of furs per turn.

the efficiency of all research. This leads to improved military and naval technology.

Builders to upgrade iron mines to produce Steam in Mining 4 units of iron per turn

cost of military attack by 25%. This development Steam in Mining, University later leads to weapon advances and industrial funding of research.

upgrade iron mines to produce 2 units per turn. Iron mining leads to the production of steel, a key element for the growth of military and transportation technology.

Builders may increase grain output to two units per turn. This change in your society permits later military advances and reorganisation.

These mines produce 3 units of coal per turn. Steam in Mining

mines to produce 3 units per turn. This development leads to new ship classes equipped with larger bronze cannons.

productivity of cotton farms. Builders may develop cotton farms to produce 3 units of cotton per turn.

Improved Sail Design Improvements in sail design have led your Wind Sawmill,

shipwrights to a fast light merchant vessel, Superior Hull Design the Trader. These sails will later be useful for faster warships as well.

Large Hulls This technology allows construction of a new Wind Sawmill, Navigation,

large cargo vessel, the Indiaman, which carries Convoying 25% more cargo than a Galleon. This development leads to large-hulled warships.

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Name of Technology. Benefits of Technology. Immediate Prerequisites.

Large Precious Improved mining of diamonds and gems permits Precious Stone Mining, University Stone Mines Builders to upgrade precious stone mines to

Large Spice Plantations Large Spice Plantations increase the productivity Seed Drill, Improved Sea routes

Large Sugar Plantations Large Sugar Plantations increase the productivity Sugar Planting

Large Tobacco Large Tobacco Plantations increase the productivity Tobacco Planting, Seed Drill Plantations of tobacco farms. Builders may develop tobacco

Later Steam Engine With improved steam engines your Rail Builder Early Steam Engine,

Light Artillery Tactics New tactics for light artillery combined with Crucible Process, University,

Long Range Rifles The invention of the long range target rif le Early Rif les, Crucible Process

Master Artisans This advance permits training of master artisans, Journeymen Workers, University,

Merchant Companies Merchant companies permit construction None

Merchant Steamships This development allows shipwrights to build Paddlewheels, Riverboats

Mine Engineering Mine Engineering allows Engineers to upgrade None

Modern Fortifications The development of modern forts allows your Siege Engineering, University

produce 3 units per turn. These gem stones convert directly to cash for your empire.

of spice farms. Builders may develop spice farms to produce 3 units of spices per turn.

of sugar farms. Builders may develop sugar farms to produce 3 units of sugar cane per turn.

farms to produce 3 units of tobacco per turn.

may now construct rail through hills and swamps. Crucible Process

steel construction permit recruiting of Light Horse Artillery Artillery regiments and upgrading Horse Artillery.

permits the recruiting of Sharpshooter regiments and the upgrading of Skirmishers.

who produce 8 times as much labour as an Hat Production untrained peasant. Master artisans demand the luxury of a fur hat every turn.

of Merchant units, which buy land in Minor Nations. This paves the way for development by our Builders and ultimately overseas profits.

a huge new Merchant Steamship with vast cargo capacity.

your fortifications to level 2. This advance also leads to improved mining technology.

Engineers to upgrade our fortifications to level 3. This advance also leads to improved types of heavy artillery.

Name of Technology. Benefits of Technology. Immediate Prerequisites.

Modern Military Funding Modern Military Funding allows less expensive Banking, Large Precious

Moldboard Plow With the development of the Moldboard Plow, Seed Drill

Money Lending With the development of Money Lending, Land Enclosure

National Bureaucracy With the growth of National Bureaucracy, Pr inting press, Money lending,

Nationalism Nationalism permits larger attack and Propaganda, Master Artisans,

Navigation New abilities in the f ield of Navigation Superior Hull Design

Needle Guns The invention of the breech loading Industrial Funding of research,

Organised Regiments The new regimental system permits the Land Enclosure

Paddlewheels Steam driven Paddlewheels for ocean-going Advanced Hull Design,

Precious Metals Mining Improved mining of silver and gold permits Discovery of Gold or Silver,

attack movements by your land forces. This Stone Mines, Modern Forts development later leads to the most powerful types of regiments.

your Builders may improve grain farms to produce 4 units of grain per turn.

your empire can borrow more money and pay interest at a lower rate. This advance leads to superior bureaucratic organisation and, eventually, to upgrades in provincial artillery forces.

your Builders may upgrade provincial towns. Diplomatic Expertise An upgraded town produces materials for transport consistent with the types of developed resources in its province.

defence forces in each province. The limit Modern Forts is now 12 regiments. The presence of a general allows a further increase.

permit your shipwrights to construct small fast Sloops ideal for privateering. This development leads to improved naval technologies.

Needle Gun permits rifle infantry to be Bayonet, Early Rifles recruited. Our musket-bearing regular infantry may be upgraded.

construction of Lancer units and the upgrading of Knights to Lancers. This development also leads to both new weapons and new tactics.

vessels permit shipwrights to construct the Early Steam Engine Raider, a fast destructive privateering ship.

Builders to upgrade precious metal mines Mine Engineering to produce 2 units per turn. These metals convert directly to cash for our empire.

Precious Stone Mining Improved mining of diamonds and gems Discovery of Gems or Diamonds

permits Builders to upgrade precious stone mines to produce 2 units per turn. These gem stones convert directly to cash for your empire.

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Name of Technology. Benefits of Technology. Immediate Prerequisites.

Printing Press The Printing Press increases the efficiency of Sawmills

Privateering Companies The growth and funding of Privateering Navigation,

Propaganda Propaganda decreases the diplomatic penalties National Bureaucracy,

Recruit Steppe Horsemen Improvements in organisation and the growth Crop Rotation

Repeating Cavalry Development of a seven shot repeating carbine Industrial Funding of research, Carbine allows the recruiting of carbine cavalry and Improved cavalry Weapons

Riverboats Steam powered Riverboats permit greater Fur Trapping,

Road Construction Improvements to the land transport system Sawmills, Land Enclosure,

Safety Lamp The Safety Lamp permits coal miners to dig deeper, Large Coal Mines, Dynamite

Saw Mill This technology permits Builders to construct None

Scientific Cattle Breeding The development of Scientific Cattle Breeding Animal Husbandry, University

Scientific Sheep Breeding The development of Scientific Sheep Breeding Sheep Ranching, University

all technological research and leads to later developments in military tactics, education and labour.

Companies improves the chances of naval Diplomatic Expertise interception and leads to later development of advanced ship classes.

suffered when your empire declares war. University This development leads to the growth of nationalism.

of our herds permits recruiting and training of steppe horsemen. These fast Cossack units are used for scouting and disrupting our foes. Later light cavalry units will develop from these forces.

the upgrading of Cuirassier units.

exploitation of fur bearing animals. Early Steam Engine Builders can upgrade trapper camps to produce three units per turn.

permit your roads to move 2 units of commodities Iron Mining from each connected mine, farm, or ranch. This development leads to railroads.

allowing builders to upgrade coal mines to produce 4 units of coal per turn.

Saw Mills on forested land increasing output to two units per turn. Increasing availability of wood products leads to research opportunities in education and naval technology.

permits Builders to upgrade cattle ranches to produce 4 units of meat per turn.

permits Builders to upgrade sheep ranches to produce 3 units of wool per turn.

Name of Technology. Benefits of Technology. Immediate Prerequisites.

Scouting Superior equipment and training of light Hussars, Early Rifles

cavalry forces permits the recruiting of Scout regiments and the upgrading of Hussars.

Seed Drill The Seed Drill permits Builders to improve Land Enclosure

grain farms to produce 3 units of grain per turn.

Sheep Ranching Advancements in SheepRanching allow Builders Crop Rotation

to improve sheep farms to produce 2 wool per turn.

Ship of the Line Improvements in hull design and bronze Large Hulls, Large Copper

metallurgy permit shipwrights to construct and Tin Mines Ships-of-the-Line.

Siege Engineering Improved understanding of siege engineering Printing press, Copper

permits the construction of Royal Artillery regiments and the upgrading of the outdated Culverin. This developments leads to improvementisn emplaced and heavy artillery and fort construction.

Spinning Jenny The invention of the Spinning Jenny allows Scientific Sheep Breeding,

Builders to upgrade sheep farms to produce Industrial Machinery 4 units of wool per turn.

Square Set Timbering Square-set Timbering permits the construction Coal Mining

of deeper coal mines and allows Builders to upgrade your mines to produce 2 units of coal per turn. Coal mining leads to large-scale industrial developments.

Steam in Mining Early developments using steam power permit Iron Mining

deeper more efficient iron mines. Builders can upgrade mines to produce 3 units of iron per turn. This development leads to steel making.

Sugar Industry Development of a sugar growing industry Large Sugar Plantations

allows Builders to upgrade sugar farms to produce 4 units of sugar per turn.

Sugar Planting Sugar Plantations increase the productivity Discovery of Sugar

of sugar farms. Builders may develop sugar farms to produce 2 units of sugar cane per turn.

Sugar Refining This advance permits production of refined Discovery of Sugar

sugar. This luxury is consumed each turn by urban workers.

Superior Hull Design Hull design advances permit construction of None

Fluytes. These large merchant vessels have a larger cargo capacity than the Carrack but poor armament for fighting.

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IMPERIALISM II: Technological Research

Name of Technology. Benefits of Technology. Immediate Prerequisites.

Tobacco Industry Development of TobaccoIndustry permits Early Steam Engine,

Builders to upgrade tobacco farms to Large Tobacco Plantations produce 4 tobacco per turn.

IMPERIALISM II: Strategy Ideas

114

Tobacco Planting Tobacco Plantations increase the productivity Discovery of Tobacco

Trade Fairs Trade Fairs permit your traders to enter bids Merchant Companies,

Trained Journeymen This technology permits training of Cigar Making, Printing Press

University The University permits funding of a fourth Money Lending, Apprentice

Weapon Craftsmanship Improved Weapon Craftsmanship permits Organised Regiments,

Wind Saw Mill The Wind Saw Mill permits your Builders to Sawmills

of tobacco farms. Builders may develop tobacco farms to produce 2 units of tobacco per turn.

on up to six different commodities each turn. Sugar Ref ining This development leads to banking and increased funding for the military.

journeymen who produce six times as much labour as an untrained peasant. Each turn, a journeyman worker consumes a cigar.

research project and leads to advances in Workers, Printing Press military, naval and industrial technologies.

the recruiting and equipping of Musketeer Copper and Tin Mines regiments and the upgrading of the outdated Arquebusiers. These skills lead to advances in explosives and other weapon technology.

upgrade timber camps to produce 3 units of timber per turn. This increased timber output leads to improvements in naval technology such as the construction of larger ships.

Money Lending.

With the development of Money Lending, an empire can borrow more money and pay interest at a lower rate. This advance leads to superior bureaucratic organisation and, eventually, to upgrades in provincial artillery forces.

STRATEGY IDEAS

IMPERIALISM II can be won in a variety of different ways. When you begin a new game, it’s best to decide on an overall grand scheme for victory soon after you start to play. This is especially important when playing on the Hard or Nigh-on Impossible settings. In difficult games it is important to waste no time or resources with non-productive actions.

Your grand scheme might be based on personal preference, on the terrain and resources available to you early in the game, and on events that occur in the first ten years or so.

1. Is your general intention toward the New World friendly or hostile or some of each?

If you plan to be friendly you need the Merchant Companies and Diplomatic Expertise technologies immediately. You must get a Merchant unit to the New World as quickly as possible to protect provinces from invasion. This is especially important for tribal capitals.

If you plan to be hostile, you should build an extra Explorer and start looking for vulnerable wealthy provinces as soon as you can. The computer controlled Great Powers tend to invade and conquer provinces with gems and diamonds quite early. If you are planning on conquering in the New World, you do not want to fall behind early.

Since the tribal capitals tend to be better defended, available gems and diamonds often remain in these provinces longer. So if you do fall behind in conquest, concentrate your prospecting and conquering efforts on the tribal capitals.

Often a mixture of peace and war works best.

2. A second important point is the rapid internal development of your nation.

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IMPERIALISM II: Strategy Ideas

There is no one right way to do this. On the more difficult settings, however, try to accomplish the following things quickly:

• Connect to additional food immediately so that you can support six labour units.

• Ensure (through trade or transport) two iron, two wool and two timber per turn. This allows you to produce one fabric, one lumber and one cast iron each turn, the essentials of early growth.

• Once you have built some roads, allow your Engineer to idle for a while, and make a second Builder. Since it takes two turns to make a development, one lumber and one cast iron per turn can support two Builders.

• On Nigh-On Impossible and Hard difficulty levels, use spies to speedily obtain technology until you catch up with the other Great Powers.

• Try to grow your labour pool to 16-20 by 1600, and over 40 by 1700.

• Never let anyone starve; transport and develop food as your first priority.

3. Diplomatically, try not to be isolated. Pick one or two Old World Minor Nations to

court, establish trade counsels and trade with them nearly every turn. Choose another Great Power to build a relationship with as well. Your goal is to have an ally.

4. It is important to avoid looking weak early in the game. If you have any land borders

(even in the New World) with other Great Powers, they will consider only your army strength. Powers that look weak get attacked. More powerful units such as Galleons and Knights serve as a deterrent without using up as much of your available food. An ally also makes you look stronger.

5. Find a source (through trade or transport) of at least one copper and one tin early on.

Use the bronze to build forts in all your provinces. Construct Level 2 forts early in key provinces.

6. Research toward the following technologies near the beginning of the game:

Road Construction

Horse Artillery

Convoying

7. Later try to research Heavy Emplaced Artillery before your enemies do.

8. If a Minor Nation joins your Empire, have Builders standing by to develop its food

rapidly. It is advisable to build roads in the Minor Nation prior to it joining your Empire. Don’t be afraid to disband outmoded Bowmen to prevent your labour from starving if you run short of food.

9. When choosing where to attack in a Great Power war, try to locate your armies in places

that can threaten multiple enemy provinces. The AI does not know where you are going to invade, but it is capable of predicting it if you only have one possible place to attack. If the AI is forced to choose, it will defend the more valuable province according to its own criteria. Frequently, you will want to invade that same province, for the same reasons the AI values it. Instead, try invading a less attractive place first. Keep your enemy guessing, and keep the initiative.

IMPERIALISM II: Troubleshooting

Trade Fairs.

Trade Fairs permit traders to enter bids on up to six different commodities each turn, instead of only three. This development leads to banking and increased funding for the military.

116

TROUBLESHOOTING

This section should help you solve some common problems.

Troubleshooting for the IBM PC or Compatibles.

Sound and Video Cards.

Some sound and/or video cards are not supported by Windows and DirectX. If you do not have one of the following Sound or Video cards, the game may not work.

DirectX Supported Sound Cards:

Aztech; Audiowave; Crystal; Ensonic; NuSound; Sound Blaster family

Microsoft DirectX Supported Video Cards:

9 FX; ATI; Canopus; Diamond Stealth, Viper, and Fire; GraphicBlasterExtreme; Hercules; Intel; Intense Voodoo; Scorpion; Trident.

DirectX 6 Setup.

This game requires DirectX 6.1. If you do not have DirectX 6.1, then it can be installed or reinstalled from the CD. Installing DirectX 6.1 is an option when installing the game. It can also be installed by exploring the game CD, and opening the DIRECTX folder. Double click on DXSETUP.EXE to start the DirectX 6.1 install.

Using either the Install DirectX 6.1 button from the Autorun or DXSETUP.EXE, you can install DirectX 6.1, reinstall DirectX 6.1, test your drivers certification, or reinstate your previous audio and video driver as described following.

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IMPERIALISM II: Troubleshooting

118

DirectX Disclaimer and License.

IMPERIALISM II utilises Microsoft’s DirectX sound and video drivers. DirectX is a programming tool created by Microsoft, and the installation of DirectX may cause video problems and system anomalies with computers using video drivers that aren’t DirectX compliant. DirectX is a Microsoft product, and as such, SSI cannot be responsible for changes that might occur to your computer system due to its installation. For DirectX related problems that cannot be fixed by updating to your video card’s latest Windows driver set, you must contact either Microsoft or the manufacturer of your video card for further technical support or service.

Microsoft retains all intellectual property rights to DirectX. The user has been granted a limited license to use DirectX with Microsoft operating system products.

Verifying DirectX Video/Sound Card Drivers for Windows 95.

To verify that your sound and video drivers are DirectX 6.1 certified, follow the steps below.

Click on the Windows Start button (usually found in the lower-left corner of your screen). Click on Run. In the Open field type the command: C:\progra~1\directx\setup\dxinfo.exe then click on OK. Make sure all drivers say Certified next to them.

If any of your drivers are not DirectX certified you should contact the hardware manufacturer and see if they have certified DirectX 6.1 drivers.

Verifying DirectX Video/Sound Card Drivers for Windows 98.

To verify that your sound and video drivers are DirectX 6.1 certified, follow the steps below.

Click on the Windows Start button (usually found in the lower-left corner of your screen). Click on Run. In the Open field type the command: C:\mssdk\bin\dxutils.exe then click on OK. Click on the tab labelled DirectX Drivers and make sure all drivers say Certified next to them.

Reinstating Windows Drivers.

If you find that there is a problem with your display after you have installed DirectX 6.1 you can reinstate your old audio and video drivers by following the instructions below.

Click on the Windows Start button and click on Run. In the Open field type the command: C:\progra~1\directx\setup\dxsetup.exe then click on OK. Click on the Restore Display Drivers button or on the Restore Audio Drivers button. This may require that you have the disk containing your original drivers.

Copy Protection.

In order to play IMPERIALISM II, the game CD must be in the CD-ROM drive.

Troubleshooting for the Macintosh.

If you encounter difficulties, first be certain that your Macintosh matches the IMPERIALISM II system requirements listed on page 6. It is particularly important that you run the specified operating system in order to play this game. If your system matches the game requirements, check that your game CD is correctly inserted into your CD-ROM drive, and that I

MPERIALISM II has been installed onto your computer.

Ubi Soft UK Technical Support

Technical support: 0870 800 6160 (local rate call) Hints and tips hotline service: 0960 466 5200 (premium rate call)

On-line Support Options

Ubi Soft offers several on-line support options for their software products. One of these is our website at: http://www.ubisoft.co.uk/support/ If you have a specific problem that is not addressed on our site, you can send your question to us via e-mail at: techsupport@ubisoft.co.uk

Please be as specific as you can be about the problem you are experiencing. Also include in the body of your e-mail: the name of the manufacturer of your computer system; the brand and speed of the processor; how much RAM you have, the version number of Windows you are using (if you aren't sure, right-click on the My Computer icon on your desktop and select 'Properties'), and the manufacturer name and model number of your video card, modem, and sound card.

Other Support Options

You can also contact Ubi Soft Customer Support by phone and fax. When you call, please have all of the above mentioned information ready. UBI SOFT ENTERTAINMENT Ltd. Chantry Court Minorca Road Weybridge Surrey KT13 8DU Tel: +44 (0) 870 800 6160

Fax: +44 (0) 1932 838 274

In Nederland: Telefoonnummer: 0900-202 6766 (50cpm)

Tijden: maandag tot en met vrijdag van 09:30 tot 18:00 uur. E-mail: techsupport@ubisoft.nl

In Belgie: Telefoonnummer: 02-73.25.57.7

E-mail: hotmail@ubisoft.be

Scandinavia: Ubi Soft Nordic Support

Ubi Soft Nordic offers different possibilities to obtain support. On our website: http://www.ubisoft.dk If you have a question, which is not described on our website, please e-mail us at: suppor Other ways of reaching us: By telephone or fax, please call: Telephone: (0045) 38 32 02 50 Fax: (0045) 38 33 34 49

t@ubisoft.dk

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IMPERIALISM II: Troubleshooting

IMPERIALISM II: Hot Key List

120

HOT KEY LIST

Esc ......................Bring up Game Control dialog

F1 ........................Help Briefing (Game Information on Terrain Map screen)

F2 ........................Quick Save

F3 ........................Quick Load

F4 ........................Preferences

F5 ........................Game Status

F6 ........................Turn Summary

F7 ........................Battle Reports

F8 ........................Deal and Market Book

F9 ........................Terrain Book

F10 ......................Army Book

F11 ......................Navy Book

F12 ......................Civilian Book

1 ..........................Show Transport Screen

2 ..........................Show Industry Screen

3 ..........................Show Trade Screen

4 ..........................Show Diplomacy Screen

5 ..........................Show Technology Screen

W ........................Wake all Civilian Units

O..........................Find a Sea Zone

P ..........................Find a Province

A ..........................Wake all Army Units

H..........................Help (Game Information on Terrain Map screen)

Z ..........................Zoom in or Zoom out

X..........................Centre map on player’s country

C ..........................Centre map on selected unit

N ..........................Wake all Naval Units

SSI CREDITS

Senior Producer. Alan Wasserman

Production Assistant. George Chastain Jr.

Sr. V.P. of Development. Dan Cermak

V.P. of R&D. Jan Lindner

Installation and Localisation Programmer. Philip Wang

Localisation. Hiromi Okamoto

Manual Editors. Anathea Lopez, Mark Whisler

Test Manager. Jeff Franks

Lead Testers. Alana Gilbert, Aaron Addleman

SSI Testers. Thadd Abernathy, Toby Abernathy,

Beta Test Site Coordinator. Shawn Storc

Director of Marketing. Todd Sitrin

Associate Marketing Manager. Tayna Schornack

Public Relations Director. Karen "K.C." Conroe

Product Marketing Associate. Brigham Hausman

Website Design & Creation. Eric Key, Margaret Wallace

Packaging & Advertising. Epicentric

Manual Layout. Louis Saekow Design

Special thanks to many others at SSI and Mindscape Entertainment that all contributed to

MPERIALISM II: AGE OF EXPLORATION such a great product and project to work on:

make I Chuck Kroegel, Bret Berry, Joel Billings, Jacques Henneequet, Dave Feldman, Sandra Shepard, Kim Grant, Mario Alves, Rick White, Steven Peterson, Stan Biesiadecki, Steve Murphy, Don Laabs, Jeff Pena, Garrett Graham, Charles Harribey, Jon Kromrey, Debbie Minardi, Caryn Mical, Alexa, Nick and Deb, and all of our families that have been especially understanding and put up with the many hours of work that went into this project.

While too many strong to list here individually, we include a very special thanks to the many testers that were part of our external test team. Your efforts (and contention) have contributed greatly to making IMPERIALISM II: AGE OF EXPLORATION a better game, we couldn’t have done it without you.

Ashley Bushore, Jeremy Campbell, Chris Cates, Rich Connell Dan Couvillon, Bryan Fahsholtz, Richard Fielder, Larry W. Finch, Brian Fitz, Oshyan Greene, Cyrus G. Harris, Deirdra Hendricks, Jessica Jones, Charles Kammerer, Leila Kincaid, Stephen Krause, Joel Lehmann, Kurt Maffei, Walker Richardson, Eric David Ribner, Timothy Saluzzo, Richard Wagenet, David Yen

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IMPERIALISM II: Credits

122

FROG CITY CREDITS

Developed by Frog City Software, Inc.

Original Game Design. Bill Spieth

Ted Spieth Ben Polk

Programming. Ben Polk

Michael Mortimer Eric Fredricksen Rachel Bernstein

Cross-Platform Programming. Eric Fredricksen

Art. Vadim Vahrameev

Brian White Andre Salcido

Cinematic. Andre Salcido

Vadim Vahrameev

Manual. Bill Spieth

Sound Effects. Audio Syncrasy

Music Compositian. Victor Spiegal

Music Performance

with Baroque Instruments. American Baroque

Midi Music Performance. Victor Spiegal

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barraclough, Geoffrey, (Ed.) Concise Atlas of World History, Times Books, London, 1982, 1994

Cross, Robin (Gen.Ed.), Warfare: A Chronological History Welfleet Press, Quarto Publishing, London, 1991

Fowler, William M. Jr., Jack Tars and Commodores: The American Navy 1783-1815 Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1984

Gay, Peter, Age of Enlightenment Time-Life Books 1966

Gillispie, Charles C. (Ed.) A Diderot Pictorial Encyclopedia of Trades and Industry v.1, Dover Publications, New York 1959, 1987

Hale, John R,. Age of Exploration, Time-Life Books 1966

Keegan, John, A History of Warfare, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1993

Kennedy, Paul, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, Random House, New York 1987

Lavery, Brian, Nelson’s Navy: The Ships Men & Organisation, Conway Maritime Press, London,1989

Leckie, Robert, The Wars of America, Harper and Row, New York, 1968, 1981

Singer, Charles et. al. (eds.) History of Technology v. 4: The Industrial Revolution c.1750-1850, Oxford University Press, New York and London 1958

Somerset Fry, Plantagenet, History of the World, Dorling Kindersley, London, 1994

Stokesbury, James L., Navy and Empire, William and Morrow Co. New York, 1983

Thomas, Hugh Conquest: Montezuma, Cortes, and the Fall of Old Mexico, Simon and Schuster, 1993.

Trevor-Roper, Hugh (Editor), The Age of Expansion: Europe and the World 1559-1660, McGraw-Hill Book Co. New York, 1968

Wright, Esmond (Gen. Ed.) History of the World v.1 and 2, Bonanza Books, 1984.65

Special thanks to our families and friends who put up with us during this project, and at other times as well.

For SSI UK

Product Manager Anthony Parkins

PR Manager Paul Kluge

Senior Graphic Designer Andrew French

European Graphic Design Manager Bill Duncan

Creative Services Co-ordinator Danni Askew

Creative Services Manager Maria Fernandez

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IMPERIALISM II: Bibliography

WHAT EVERY RULER

NEEDS MOST

A Trusted Advisor

In early 1999, hardcore Imperialism aficionado Michael Rymaszewski received his first playable beta for Imperialism II. Several software builds and hundreds of hours of gameplay later, he emerged, face tanned by the cathode ray tube.

“Imperialism II is the best strategy game I’ve had the opportunity to cover,” says Michael—high praise from the author of books on Civilization II, Command & Conquer, and a dozen other titles.“A game this deep deserves an equally in-depth guide. Meeting that goal has been both a challenge and a pleasure.”

With Michael as your counsel, you’ll learn how to:

• Manipulate the other Great Powers through cunning diplomacy

• Quickly build your empire into an industrial powerhouse

• Dominate international trade

• Choose research paths best suited to your needs and resources

• Create and maintain an effective army and navy

• Master the art of military leadership on both strategic and tactical levels

Chart the course of your empire with

Imperialism II: Official Strategies & Secrets

at your side!

Available at bookstores, software stores, and online.

www.sybex.com

Games PC IMPERIALISM II-AGE OF EXPLORATION User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual