Welcome in the E M P I R E ! The mediaevalest strategy game

v 1.0.3 e (C) 2002 - PM

Description - Taxes and investments - Other hints... - Winning - How to play

Imagine yourself to be the ruler of a small, unimportant piece of European land way back in the medieval ages. Your country is beset by many problems : no industry, little trade, small army, underpopulation, angry neighbors, plague, and all the other day-to-day problems a capable leader must learn to face.
Ambitious by necessity, you must acquire land, capital, and an army just to survive. Because of the short lifetimes back then, you'll have only a limited amount of time to build your country into an empire.

Competent rule will gradually be rewarded with lofty titles :

Knight, Prince, King, and finaly (may be) EMPEROR !
(or their foreign equivalents)

Sounds easy ? Then consider this : five other city-states are also struggling to become the emperor, and they don't just intend to passively watch you win. They control armies which can attack at a moments notice, and perhaps devastate your country.

They control the grain market, and if you think OPEC is bad, just wait and see how scarce and expensive grain can become.

Of course, a competent ruler could make a killing on the grain market. With proper planning, your harvests should be plentiful. You could solve overpopulation problems by raising a large army to be killed off in battle.

Nevertheless, your overriding concern should be "lebensraum", the living room. There is only a limited amount of land to be conquered. If you can defeat the barbarian hordes, and the well trained standing armies of the other nations, and then defeat their peasant militias, perhaps you may attain the well deserved title of EMPEROR !

• The customs tax applies only to immigrants to your nation. Often, lower customs tax means more immigrants.
  
  
• The sales tax is closely intertwined into your capitalist economy. While it has the potential of raising lots of money, overly high taxes tend to stifle industrial profits.
  
  
• Income taxes are paid by all inhabitants and industry. Again, lower income tax often means increased industrial output.

You have the option each year to invest your earnings in different types of trade and industry. In the years to follow, these investments, if managed correctly, will more than pay for themselves.

TYPES OF INVESTMENTS :

• Marketplaces are a relatively cheap investment that are quite profitable because they encourage the formation of a middle class : the merchants. And, as you are probable aware, middle class pays an inordinate share of taxes.
  Furthermore, keep in mind that your merchants are influent on trade, so on production, so on harvestings...
  
  
• Grain mills are necessary to process the harvest, and consequently, usually do quite well when there is a large harvest.
  
  
• Foundries are necessary for the creation of large armies. Several of them will allow you to equip a much larger army than otherwise.
  
  
• Shipyards have the greatest profit potential of all investments. Because of a larger volume of orders during good weather, there is often a better return during these years.
  
  
• Armies are never a profitable investment. Besides costing a large initial investment, they also cost a lot to maintain and train. In addition, they also require a greater fraction of the harvest than serfs.
  
  
• Of course, one should give himself the luxury of building a Palace. What else could distinguish an emperor from all the other kings with their castles, than a Palace ? Also, with a palace, your country wil begin to attract more nobles.

Often, it is beneficial to feed your people much more than they require. Immigrants are usually attracted to a prosperous nation, and somtimes, even merchants and nobles move in...

Up to six people can play this game. Rulers not played by humans will be played by the computer, with its playing ability based on the average of the human players. Little remark by the way : other sovereigns are not very disposed to buy some of your grain... Don't waste it !

• To become a PINCE, you must pass these rather stringent qualifications: 10 marketplaces, 5 mills, Palace 20% completed, a land-over-serf ratio of 4.5, over 2500 serfs and over 10 nobles.
  
  
• To become a KING, you must have : 20 marketplaces, 10 mills, Palace 60% completed, 1 foundry, land-over-serf ratio of at least 5, over 3000 serfs and 20 nobles.
  
  
• The EMPIRE is yours if you succeed in : 40 marketplaces, 20 mills, Palace 100% completed, 3 foundries, land-over-serf ration of 6, over 3500 serfs and 40 nobles.
  

How to play Empire ?

Minimal configuration : any system with at least PalmOS 3.5.   Before beginning the game, you have to define the players who are going to fight in this merciless joust and choose if each one is managed by a "human" player or by your Palm.

Each turn proceeds in several steps :

First of all, the weather report gives you an idea for your harvests. The wretch the weather, the smaller your harvesting will be...
	Then, you issue (upon your heart...) the mill to your people and your army. Remember that the more gererous you are, the more your people is happy of his way of life and the more your army is powerful (the back in kind is true also...). So, you see by yourself the results of your social policy.
Now is time for commercial policy and trade ! Here, you define taxes rates (the lower they are, the attractive your country become...) and choose your investments. Remember that each investment (except soldiers) produce and increase your Royal Treasury. Remark : the number of soldiers you can equip depend (but not only) on the number of nobles living in your palace. The nobles, indeed, are leading your troops on the field of battle.
Your ultimate goal is to extent your domination, so you can attempt (if you wish so) to conquer your neighbour's lands. Just determine the number of soldiers you want to send for fight and select then the country you will attack. Becareful : when a country has no more soldiers, they are the serfs who defend their land. And they are not very trained for this...

Good luck and

May God keep you in his holy grace, my Lord !