Author:  Christopher Beck

Long-time PC wargamers speak in a certain hush regarding some of the games from the “golden age” of early PC war gaming. Within these conversations the name Empire holds high esteem for being one of the most addictive, fast-playing, casual-yet-highly-strategic, grand-fathers of wargaming’s computer ancestry. Empire managed to spawn a few sequels, most notably Empire Deluxe in the 90s, and the more current Empire Deluxe Enhanced Edition, which updated the old game (but not really the graphics) to run on modern OS. So influential was Empire’s style, that it spawned many imitators, such as Command HQ, and even served as an influence for games like Sid Meier’s Civilization.

Today, Atomicboy Software, partnered with Battlefront.com, has just released a game to recapture some of the old charm of Empire and Empire Deluxe, put it into a new and more attractive chassis, and mesh its tried and true style with more modern mechanics to create a new experience with a classic feel. From my experience with late Beta builds and the publically offered Beta demo of Empires of Steel, I would say that they have mostly succeeded in making a great beer-and-pretzels game that offers nearly limitless hours of solid solo and multiplayer game play.

The initial feel of Empires of Steel will strike extreme nostalgia in many long-time PC wargamers. However, this swiftly fades as the player realizes that, beyond the base gameplay of exploring fog of war on a variety of maps, building single unit sprites that represent larger “armies,” and conquering independent and opponent-held cites using combined forces, there is much about Empires of Steel that is unique. Empires of Steel includes four types of resources, all integral to keeping your industry humming, your boats afloat, and your soldiers fed. The four resources, money, food, oil, and steel, are either generated by cites (in the case of money) or produced from resource nodes. Oil is mostly found in the sea (and thus requires a decent naval game to protect and acquire) while food can be found both on land and sea (as grain or fish) and steel only on land. This simple resource system creates an interesting dynamic, necessitating war on all planes – land, sea, and air – if resources become scarce or if nodes have been unequally distributed across the map (one side has more oil and the other more food, for example). As in the real world, resources can be bought on a world market, but more often than not armed conflict will be the most common solution.

But how are these wars conducted? In the style of Empire before it, Empires of Steel pits general “units” against other units. Like Civilization, you don’t have troop numbers; rather you have sprites that represent larger forces with a “health stat” to model their remaining fighting strength. Terrain modifiers, entrenchment status, and technological superiority are all modeled, but sometimes battle comes down to chance (although you will really feel the modifiers gained by entrenching and fortifying). Empires of Steel is a WEGO system, where orders are given and then turns are taken simultaneously. This might have made controlling your units difficult, but the inclusion of waypoints and general engagement orders (i.e. attack on sight, hold ground, attack planes, attack weakest, etc.) make this all simple. Battles against single units are common, but the system becomes much more dynamic once combined arms are used. Combined arms are critical in Empires of Steel, particularly for the attacker. Assaults will falter against entrenched defenders unless they are softened with use of long-range artillery, rockets from rocket launchers, air-strikes, or long range missiles (including nukes!). Armored forces offer far more success against soft infantry targets but can be devastated with a long-range barrage. Defenders can use rocket launchers to hold off incoming troops, and anti-air to blast planes (which are great for use as scouts as well as war vehicles). The battle at sea is also extremely dynamic. Large dreadnaughts, as well as smaller cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and sea-borne transports add complexity to the conquest of the seas. All of these units can be grouped into larger fighting forces or armies, and each unit can be given independent orders (such as to have the artillery shell forces entrenched in a city, or to shell the city’s infrastructure) dependent on the situation.

The tech game is also very fleshed out. Technology is critical, allowing a player to move from having only rudimentary infantry available to unlocking many different types of vehicles and support forces. Further technology can make resource extraction more efficient, such as oil refining, and can bolster build speeds of units or general industrial capacity of cities. Technology is not the end-all however, as tech upgrades to units are usually very subtle, offering only a small edge over similar units only one of two levels below them. I found this to be very balanced, with Infantry II not consistently over-running stock infantry, meaning that people who “turtle” only to build their tech will not always have the upper hand (granted that those “turtling” didn’t back up that Infantry II with an upgraded Rocket Launcher). Upgrades must be paid for and units must return to base to get the new “guns” and, in a nice touch, the sprites often reflect the upgrades to technology.

One of the biggest draws of Empires of Steel is its unlimited random map generator and the easy-to-use map creation utility. The map generator is similar to older style models, where the player picks island density and the size of the map (some maps can be truly huge) and then picks the number of opponents to fight. Maps can be made to “wrap around” on both edges (like the real world) and fog of war can be turned on or off for the engagement.

The map creation utility is one of the easiest to use out on the market. I have never completely created a map before, despite many attempts, I typically get frustrated with obscure options or computer language. The Empires of Steel utility is a snap, and I found myself making passable maps in less than an hour! By using a transparent overlay, you can copy maps or pictures by “tracing” the contours and shapes with numerous sizes of brushes and a variety of terrain. Just to test this, I picked a map from a very famous fantasy world filled with orcs, humans, and strange hairy-footed little people. On the left, you can see the map I chose to copy as an overlay in the utility. On the right you can see my finished product. Now I know this is not a masterpiece, but the fact that I did this under an hour during a quick break is astounding! With a little extra polishing, gamers should have a very workable and fun map of Middle Earth fighting with World War II technology with minimal fuss. Additionally, Atomicboy touts the system as being very easily mod-able, so with the work of a more experienced modder than me, presumably players could see elves, archers, and black riders on that very same map.

For those on the fence, Atomicboy and Battlefront.com are offering a beta demo, which has a few maps available and can be played both solo or with fellow wargamers. The game will offer a rather robust multiplayer network system, and is built specifically to be friendly for multiplayer sessions, offering such tools as built in voice-chat software. Writers of After-Action Reports will also be impressed – every turn of a session can be reviewed and replayed in a sort of “VCR” style replay menu. Tech savvy players could use these replays to create animated “reports” of their turns, offering a play-by-play of their game.

There is a lot to like in Empires of Steel, which just released today in digital download and hardcopy versions. For those that remember the “good-old-days” with maudlin nostalgia, you might just have something new to push dusty Empire off its pedestal.