Imperium Galactica
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Imperium Galactica is a computer game made by Hungarian-based company Digital Reality that combines many of the features of turn-based games with some of the features of real-time tactical games. The same company would later make its sequel, Imperium Galactica II, in 2000. Imperium Galactica was published and distributed by GT Interactive in 1997.
Contents
Description
Imperium Galactica is a single-player game developed by [Digital Reality] and released in 1997. Combining the vast research tree and colony-building aspects of a traditional turn-based game with the combat and resource management elements of a real-time strategy game, Imperium Galactica is classified as a 4X (eXpand, eXploit, eXplore, and eXterminate) "empire-building" game not unlike the turn-based Master of Orion series. The player begins the game with command of a small capital ship and three fighters (later in the game the player would command up to 28 capital ships and 180 fighters in one fleet), and three colonies, unable to move beyond the boundaries of the small sector assigned for him to defend and expand. The story serves as an entry point, gradually introducing the player to new concepts (planet management, space battles, ground battles, research, component & ship production, diplomatic functions) as he rises through the ranks from Lieutenant to Captain, Commander, Admiral and eventually Grand Admiral (where all functions are unlocked and the player has full control).Colony management
Colonies, as in all 4x-games, play a central role in Imperium Galactica. They are the centres for production and research, as well your main source of income by way of taxes. Neutral computer-controlled traders found on the starmap generate additional income if a planet they land on has appropriate buildings, these being Trader's Space Ports and Banks.A colony typically consists of the following buildings. Buildings require power and workers to function.
- Colony Hub - A colony hub is required on each colony. It provides power, shelter, and food for a small population. It also serves as a hangar for a small amount of tanks. It can never be powered down or demolished by choice.
- Power Plants - One of three types of power plants (Nuclear, Fusion, or Solar) which power the colony. These
- Food Production Buildings - Hydroponic Food Farms and Phood Factories are required to feed the populace of each planet. Without them, your colonists will starve and die, lowering morale and the number of available workers12:01 AM.
- Ground-based Defenses - Each colony can support up to five ground based cannons that will fire at invading alien fleets. In addition, each planet can support one planetary shield.
- Military Installations - Each colony can have a number of military buildings which are used to defend against ground-based assaults. Should a planet's orbital defenses be breached, your fortresses will dispatch tanks and even function as towers which fire at any enemy tanks coming into range. In addition, each colony can have Military Spaceports, which are used to send ships and equipment into orbit.
- Research and Development Facilities - Each planet can support a single type of research structure. Which research structures you have on your planets determines what technologies are available for research. Some alien planets may have more than one research building constructed. In such a case, if either structure is destroyed, it cannot be rebuilt by either the AI or human player unless there are no other research buildings existing on the planet.
- Civilian Structures - Each colony can include banks, police stations, hospitals and recreational buildings designed to increase morale or increase income over time.
- Housing - Housing is required to support a growing population. If the population of a colony is not provided with adequit housing, morale will rapidly decline.
- Fire Brigades - Fire Brigades are civilian structures with a special purpose. Any damaged buildings in a colony will repair themselves to 50% for free if a Fire Brigade is active on the planet. Fire Brigades are often a primary military target for invading aliens.
Combat
Generically speaking there are two types of battles in the game: Space Battles and Planetary assault.Space Battles
Space battles are exclusively fought by fleets of spaceships. A fleet in Imperium Galactica can consist of up to 28 capital ships and 180 starfighters.- 3 Flagships - Flagships are the largest and most powerfully armed and shielded ships in your fleet. Each flagship can carry a payload of bombs and missles, as well as a garrison of tanks for deploying during invasion efforts. Flagships are the only vessels in a fleet capable of carrying tanks.
- 25 Destroyers and Cruisers - These mid-sized ships make up the bulk of the firepower in a fleet. Destroyers are faster and more lightly armed than cruisers, but they are cheaper and easier to develop and build as well.
- 30 Fighters broken up in 6 fighter types. In the beginning the player only had two fighter types available, thus limiting him to a total of 2*30 fighters in the fleet. Later on, with research, the player could unlock four more fighter and bomber types bringing the fighter total to 180.
Planetary assault
The objective of planetary assaults were to take (or to defend) a planet from another civilization. Usually, especially in later games, a player would have to break through the planetary defenses first before being able to land tanks for the actual ground combat to take place. A planetary defense could consist of up to five planetary guns, a shield generator (essentially increasing the durability of planetary guns) and three starbases. If a fleet of the planet owner was nearby when the battle started, it would be present as well, greatly increasing the difficulty. Once a player (or the AI) had broken through this first line of defense, combat would move on to the surface. The attacker would place the tanks he brought along in the outskirts of the colony, while the defender placed them on the inside, usually nearby defense buildings as fortresses. The fighting would not stop until either side was obliterated.Late game AI colonies tended to have a lof of defensive buildings, though, and even with a fleet with maxed out capacity of high-tech tanks would probably need multiple attempts to take a colony.
Research
Research was a little different from the common 'produce as many research points to get the technology as fast as possible' theme in other strategy games. Instead you had research centers for five categories (Computer, Construction, A.I., Military, Machinery); But on each planet you controlled you were only allowed one of these five centers. Each technology required a certain amount of research centers in each of these five categories before it could actually be researched (which required time and money). The player was forced to either demolish and rebuild research centers repeatedly, or to gain new planets by either conquest or colonization (the latter becoming available relatively late into the game). A.I. players weren't bound to this limitation, though, which often resulted in the player suddenly having multiple research centers on planets recently conquered.Production
One would build production facilites for equipment (shipboard weapons & equipment), tanks and starships (fighters, destroyers, cruisers); Flagships required their own production facility, an orbital station. Each factory would contribute to a total factory capacity, which designated how fast the player could produce items (given the player had enough money to produce).Starships above fighter size would come with a very basic equipment (e.g. only a hyper drive and some of the weakest weapons); The player had to produce the desired equipment and manually equip every single ship in a fleet. While this works out fairly good in the beginning, it was getting tedious work in latter stages of a game, when it was not uncommon to handle five or six fleets at once. (No matter what you did, fleet battles usually incorporated heavy losses even on the winning side, so you regulary replaced ships and restocked their missile complement) It is unknown why Digital Reality went for this system instead of a generic blueprint design which you could change in one place (much like in Master of Orion 2 or in Digital Reality's sequel game Imperium Galactica II - Alliances)
Unit Types
Ships
- Destroyers
- * Guardian - The first Destroyer and also the initial ship commanded by the player. Weakly armed.
- * Warrior - A heavily rebuilt version of the Guardian. Slightly better armed but weak hull.
- * Jabberwocky - And odd name for an odd vessel. Best weapons, weak hull, fast speed.
- Cruisers
- * Thunderstorm - the initial cruiser class ship, and the next assignment after being promoted to Captain.
- * Thunderstorm II - a new design, but very slow.
- * Cahudhri - Cruiser Type III was the strongest. Heavily armed and armored, and on par with early flagship designs.
- Flagships
- * Mammoth - the first flagship design available to build. Rather weak compared to later designs, but the first unit able to carry tanks for invasions.
- * Python - Flagship two comes with improved firepower and armor, but reduced speed.
- * Kraken - The final and most advanced flagship design, equal to firepower and transportation capacity next to the Leviathan.
- * Leviathan - a non buildable flagship type, and you get the only remaining Leviathan flagship as command vessel once you reach the rank of Admiral.
- * Colony ship - not a military vessel per se, it is the only ship able to build new colonies on uncharted worlds. Available rather late in game, so rather useless.
- Fighters
- * Raptor - Fighter 1. Weak weapon, no shields. IG's TIE fighter.
- * Valkyrie - Fighter 2. Double strength weapons, weak shields. First 'real' fighter and initially available.
- * Hammerhead - Fighter 3. Increased durability and compareably heavy weapon.
- * Streak - Heaviest 'Real' fighter.
- * Spectre - 'Stealth' fighter, although the stealth ability had no effect ingame.
- * StealthBomber - A 'bomber', not living up to the name.
Ground vehicles
- Tanks
- * Light Tank. Initial unit, you have twelve of them available before the production level of the game. Pretty much useless in later stages of the game.
- * Medium Tank. Viable alternative once researched. Much heavier armor, and better firepower.
- * Heavy Tank. Second-heaviest weapon available, but slow.
- * Behemoth. Heaviest tank available, near-indestructible. The only option when invading Dargslan planets.
- Support vehicles
- * Radar car. Provides Radar on hostile planets.
- * Rocket Launcher. Ranged unit with HE rockets
- * Hvy. Rckt. Launcher. Advanced Rocket launcher with more damage.
- * Radar Jammer. Useless against the AI.
External links
- [Imperium Galactica]
- [Homepage of Digital Reality] – Developers of Imperium Galactica 2
- [Imperium Galactica] at MobyGames
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