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I still have the CD from when this was released. It will install under xp and Vista if you "Tweak the Combatability setting. A little buggy but it is old.
Great Nations, if you give them money and setup trade discounts for a turn or two. Also selling goods that they want. (check the diplomacy screen).
The game is easy take over a minor nation or to. Then befriend a few, if you pick the right ones a nearby Great power will attack you can help them and take over the minor nation in defence.
One of the things I love is the number of different ways to win.
Best bet on harder levels, build Artillery, when technology moves forward buy the upgrades, upgrade your units and then invade.
Imperialism 2 was...disappointing

[Borodin]

I liked them both, but Frog City ran up against producers who insisted on multiplayer and multi-platform games. They sent me an alpha of a title based on Greek myths that I've still got here: a kind of RPG/strategy hybrid with some nice ideas. They even had a major publisher interested in financing it--but the VP of Accounting said no, positively not: games on Greek myths do not sell. He wouldn't budge, not even after the company's best-selling in-house developer/producer agreed to take the new game on as his personal project. The guy was adamant.

So the project never went anywhere. And we wonder why so many cookie-cutter titles are produced all the time.

[fleabag]

Where can I get an instruction manual for this game?

[dosraider]

http://www.replacementdocs.com/download.php?view.1706

I think this is the best strategy/empire builder i have played yet.

I played a couple of tutorial level games to get a handle on how things work but found it, obviously, very easy. Having accustomed to how things work i went for a proper game and restarted on the 'normal' setting, the setting which, in my opinion, all games are supposed to be played on unless you want a challenge or to give your brain a rest.

Well, what a contrast.

First normal game i though i was doing ok until one empire declared war on me and his allies followed suit. After weathering a couple of attacks i had built the forces to counter attack and pushed him back to his capital. I thought i'd have some time to build up sufficient force to destroy the capital them maybe attack a minor power. One of the others who declared against me then took a territory and had a formidible army when i went to retake. Clearly thiings were not going to work out.

After another couple of abortive starts i think i'm in a decent position now. There is no tips section on the download page or any discussion here so i thought i'd put forward what i've determined. Please feel free to contribute.

1. In order to have a decent selection of resources availabel the empire should be located in the temperate zone of the map. Too close to the top or bottom gives too much tundra and close to the equator, deserts.

2. It seems vital to put your capital in the location which will feed the most workers and hopefully yeild some extra resources too.

3. The engineer has to connect the capital with a supply of each resource type as quick as posible. All three food types, wood, wool/cotton and coal/iron.

4. Surplus in something sellable needs to be made to generate income.

5. Trade delegations should be made in minor nations who can provide several raw resources (i prefer ones which sell wood, wool or cotton, iron and coal) but this may vary to taste. Trading with several countries each specialised in a different area may also work but i suspect long term political gains will be lower this way.

6. Buy canned food when you can to improve relations with other major nations.

7. Suggestions?



One thing i'm not sure of though. Do the computer players cheat?

I've been struggling to collect enough resources, recruit workers, etc but the computer never seems to struggle (except Patagon).

For example, transport is required to get all those resources to the capital for production and i have the highest transport value but the otehr nations have more industry, military, merchant marine, etc.

How can the computer build all those things if they are transporting fewer resources to their capital?

Sounds like you're not doing too badly for a first try; a lot better than I managed way back, at least. Good job going straight for normal difficulty, you can get a monster military-industrial complex going a bit too effortlessly on the easier ones.

Originally Posted by shouldbe Palocles

1. In order to have a decent selection of resources available the empire should be located in the temperate zone of the map. Too close to the top or bottom gives too much tundra and close to the equator, deserts.

Temperate zones tend to do really well on food production for getting your manpower up and running, but keep in mind that some desert resources may turn out to be rather useful for a modernizing Great Power around the turn of the century...

Originally Posted by shouldbe Palocles

4. Surplus in something sellable needs to be made to generate income.

Try to focus on the big bucks here. Although raw material sales can temporarily get you out of an economic death spiral, the extra profit you make by having your industries do their added-value thing is what will keep you afloat. Try to get your provincial towns to chip in whenever it's viable; if you can get a wood-heavy province to make furniture or something you'll be getting nearly free export profits from it. When the world markets get more polarized later on in the game you may have to break out the subsidies to make a sale, though.

Originally Posted by shouldbe Palocles

5. Trade delegations should be made in minor nations who can provide several raw resources (i prefer ones which sell wood, wool or cotton, iron and coal) but this may vary to taste. Trading with several countries each specialised in a different area may also work but i suspect long term political gains will be lower this way.

Trading is great and you should keep doing it. Keep in mind that you won't be able to afford to regularly trade with more than one or two minors once you move up in difficulty, so don't spread yourself too thin. Once you identify the nation you want to jump in bed with, don't be afraid to give them a good deal (25% extra should be viable) to keep the other Great Powers from becoming Most Favoured, and make sure you buy at least 1 of every resource they offer you. 1 sale is 1 diplomatic bonus, no matter how much stuff is actually sold.

Originally Posted by shouldbe Palocles

6. Buy canned food when you can to improve relations with other major nations.

Your workers don't actually like to eat canned food, so try to get as much fresh stuff from your homeland as possible. If you're desperate to play nice with another Great Power, try to see if they're exporting anything you can turn into cannons in the ledger.

Originally Posted by shouldbe Palocles

I've been struggling to collect enough resources, recruit workers, etc but the computer never seems to struggle (except Patagon).

For example, transport is required to get all those resources to the capital for production and i have the highest transport value but the otehr nations have more industry, military, merchant marine, etc.

How can the computer build all those things if they are transporting fewer resources to their capital?

Merchant marine transports resources to the capital as well. Keep tabs on the ledger to see where those guys are getting their stuff from. As for industry, they may just have a lot of upgraded factories, or they are getting a lot of production done in their other cities (I forgot where those goods get counted). Generally, you will be able to see a decent correlation between Industry and Military, though. Those cannons don't make themselves.

[Palocles]

Nice, a reply. Shame i can't post with my account and get emailed notifications though... (or maybe i can, lets see...)

Anyway, i did actually find a guide on Gamespot i think and from what i've gathered from that it seems like the other major powers are buying a lot of raw resources and manufacturing things from them. That explains why they all seem to have loads of merchant marine and little internal transport but still heaps of industry.

If it works for the computer it sounds like it would be a good tactic to use as a player. Afterall, building ships is a lot quicker than building railways and depots. It also gives the advantage of improoving relations with everyone they are buying from.

(I haven't played in a couple of weeks though as there are so many games to try here...)

The game crashes when I click the "zoom" button. Is anybody else experiencing this?

Originally Posted by Moise

The game crashes when I click the "zoom" button. Is anybody else experiencing this?

I found the solution on another forum -- you have to have moved all civilian units before you click "zoom". Running the game in Windows 95 compatibility mode also fixed this for one person.

I had the zoom issue as well, thanks
Found another problem though: When conquering a major nation, if you leave the Capitol City province for last, the game gets stuck at the end of turn if you ordered troops to invade it. I've gotten rid of another major nation taking the Capitol City early on, so I only figured out this issue now... Which sucks since my 2 enemies are reduced to that one province.

Anyone found a solution for this? One that does not involve conceding provinces?