change o' pace

[Verrucosus]

I have played both Imperialism games a few times and liked them a lot. They still sit on my hard drive and their shortcuts look at me accusingly when I am about to click on "Alpha Centauri" to spend my weekly two or three hours of gaming time. I feel a bit guilty about neglecting them in favour of SMAC, but I suppose enjoying Imperialism vicariously by reading these posts is the next best thing.

Although I had tactical combat turned off during my games of Imperialism to concentrate on the economic and strategic aspects, I believe the manual said that the generals can restore the yellow part of other units' strength bars, which represents broken, but not wounded troops, in order to keep them longer in battle at the risk of having them killed.

I also remember failing to capture the enemy's capital where all of his troops have fled, so leaving them in peace was what I did as well. However, the support rules of Imperialism II - if they apply to the countries controlled by the computer - should not allow a large force to be supported by the food harvested in the capital province alone. I have not tried it myself, but would it be an option just to starve the enemy army?

Verrucosus

[Drago Sinio]

Hey Vel, great game. Maybe I'm dumb, but it seems very difficult to me. I have been trying it at the easiest level, and I always end up getting CRUSHED. In my last attempt, I made the mistake of supporting an ally in a war, which caused a bunch of other nations declare war on me. They started attacking me from three directions, my fleet was getting killed, my people were starving, factories abandoned, and the bank foreclosed on my goods. YIKES! What a mess!

Seems odd to me that there is no food, in the new world, just goods and riches. I guess Indians dont eat? But at least they are wealthy until the Europeans come and kill them all and steal their land. !!

I have a heck of a time generating enough food to have an Army of any size, though. The sugar, tobacco, railroad and large ships seem to be what gets the economy rolling, after a while. I guess it takes time to figure these things out, which is what makes it fun.

I love the level of control you get, and the fact that you dont have to move very many units around, or check a lot of individual cities each turn.