Strategic Conquest

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Strategic Conquest
Publisher PBI software
Delta Tao software
Senior Developer Peter Merrill
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 1984
platform Apple II , Mac OS
genre Computer strategy game
Game mode Multiplayer
language English

Strategic Conquest is a classic two-player strategy game that runs on the Apple Macintosh . It belongs to the group of Empire games. Similar to the game of chess , for example, the players take turns in their game actions instead of happening in real time (e.g. in StarCraft ). The game is about using modern warfare to defeat your opponent - who can be a person or the computer - and conquer the map. Strategic Conquest can also be played over an AppleTalk network.

The playing field consists of a rectangular grid, which consists of oceans and randomly arranged islands. These islands have cities that produce army units and are therefore important for the course of the game. The game is over as soon as the opponent gives up or when all opposing cities have been conquered.

game

Each player starts with his own "black" city, while all other cities are neutral or "green" (opposing cities and units are red). Cities in the countryside can manufacture tanks and planes, while port cities can also manufacture ships.

First of all, the whole playing card is in a still unexplored condition - so you don't even know the geography of the area, because only the eight playing fields around the starting city are "revealed". First the players will explore their surroundings in order to conquer the still neutral cities of the island as quickly as possible. Once a city has been conquered, the player can choose what is to be built in it. This provisional choice can be changed at any time.

A " fog of war " prevents you from detecting the opposing troops too quickly - you only get to see the enemy when he is on an adjacent playing field. If you do not visit the opposing unit on every game day - for example with airplanes - it disappears again in ignorance.

Units can be given special orders, such as "hold position" or "random direction of movement"; these orders are valid until revoked (i.e. over several game days). This can be very useful, for example a destroyer then crosses the whole ocean until it meets an enemy. A game day is over when all of the player's units have received instructions.

The units

All units can move a certain number of spaces per game day, and all units have different combat strengths. When attacking you have to choose the right type of troops - despite having the same "strength" (combat power), a submarine is much more suitable for fighting a battleship than a destroyer; because the game is based on real war conditions. It also takes different periods of time to produce the corresponding unit. A brief overview:

unit Trains per game day Production time
in game days
tank 1 4th
Fighter plane 20 (fuel for
20 turns) 		6th
destroyer 4th 8th
Submarine 3 10
Transport ship 3 10
Aircraft carrier 3 14th
Battleship 3 20th
bomber 10 (fuel for
30 turns) 		variable

army

Ground troops (shown as tanks in the game) move one space per game day than can only occupy cities. They have to be moved across oceans by transport ship. They are very vulnerable to battleships, which can shoot at the ground forces on the coast. It is usually inefficient to fight tanks with airplanes.

Fighter plane

Thanks to their long range, they are very useful when monitoring areas. Fighter planes are very effective in destroying submarines and bombers. With ground troops and enemy fighter planes, you can easily lose more aircraft than you destroy enemy units. If your own ships or tanks are not within range, aircraft are also used against tanks and transport ships.

Fighter planes fly 20 fields per game day and can "stay overnight" in the air, but they consume fuel. If you want to avoid their crash due to lack of fuel, they have a deployment radius of 10 fields (ten each for a return flight).

Transport ships

These ships are the only means of transporting ground troops to other islands, and since cities or islands can only be captured with ground troops, well-considered logistics are necessary to conquer islands. Transporters must also be well protected - sinking such a ship, loaded with the maximum number of tanks, destroys the cumulative effort of many game days.

destroyer

Destroyers are the fastest ships - they move four spaces a day instead of three - and they are mainly used to destroy enemy submarines, planes and troop transports.

Submarine

Submarines are used to sink ships (except destroyers and submarines). You are vulnerable to combat aircraft.

Aircraft carrier

Sometimes islands are so far apart that an aircraft carrier is needed as a stopover for transfer flights; or by means of aircraft carriers, aircraft can operate more than 10 fields away from a city. Aircraft carriers are the most vulnerable to submarines.

Battleships

Battleships are powerful weapons for destroying enemy tanks and ships. All you really need to fear is submarines and bombers.

bomber

Bomber planes play an important role because they can be used to destroy any enemy troops. Their production time and their radius of destruction increase over the course of the game. Bombers are actually "bombs" because they cannot be used again after the attack. If the game lasted long enough, large parts of an island can be freed from enemy troops with a single bomb attack. Bombers also destroy their own ground troops and ships if they are within the destruction radius; and they make the opposing city a neutral one.

Bombers are easily shot down by all kinds of weapons. Accordingly, you can also post several fighter planes on the playing field on which the bomber "sleeps" for the purpose of defense - or bombers should be stored with the " sleep " command in a safe city away from the enemy until they are deployed.

Version 4: helicopters and artillery

In addition to all of the troops mentioned above, the fourth version of the game also allows the production of helicopters and artillery. Helicopters then serve as aircraft with an aggressive effect, and by means of the artillery a large piece of land or sea coast can be dominated by tanks or ships.

Difficulty levels

The third and fourth versions of Strategic Conquest offer 15 different levels of difficulty if you are playing against the computer. They differ in the number of available neutral cities. In a first stage of the difficulty, the number of cities to be conquered on the home island decreases (the same level of production can then only be obtained thanks to the rapid conquest of other islands); and in the higher difficulty levels the number of neutral cities generally decrease - so that, for example, the troops meet on an island in the middle of the playing field; and supplies must be brought in from the remote outskirts.

In addition, on higher levels of difficulty, the opponent has the advantage that each city can produce the troops within a shorter period of time.

How the computer plays

The computer often relies on a strong naval force plowing its way through the oceans in a random manner; and as soon as there is enemy contact, all of his ships move towards that point. This presumption invites you to an evasive flank attack.

Another weak point is that the computer always produces the types of weapons that are currently needed, instead of producing bombers, for example, and then using them later in a well-organized attack.

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