[Let's Play] Imperialism II

[randowe]

We talked about it and here it is, the 1999 video game:
Imperialism II: Age of Exploration
by our favorite video games developer SSI

[randowe]

Before the games starts you have to choose a map. You can choose a random map or play on a map of Europe. There is also the possibility to enter a map key, in case you want to play on a certain map. I recommend to try the "Rhaganeth" map key which offers a lot of diamonds in the new world province of Jauja This time i choose to play on a random map. It took me only 10 minutes to find a good map

There is no national bonus like in Colonization, so it is not very important which nation you are going to play. My nation this time will be the Netherlands, starting in a very good position and quitebig of size with 11 provinces. There are 4 minor adjacent countries in the south. In the first turn i will immediately declare war on them. Later they might have signed a protection agreement with an other power, so it is better to declare war early. Even if you are not going to fight for a long time becauseof a lack of powerful units...



In the first turn you also have to start the production of goods, set up research and, very important, send your lonely war ship out on a journey across the ocean. It might discover undiscovered land...

See the capital of my young empire, Amsterdam, and the surrounding land. The whole map is divided into seperate provinces. The first nation which controls more than the half of the old world provinces, will win the whole thing My Engineer, Explorer and Builder have all starting doing their job -> building a road, looking for metal ore and buidling a farm.

[Ale]

There are 4 minor adjacent countries in the south. In the first turn i will immediately declare war on them. Later they might have signed a protection agreement with an other power, so it is better to declare war early. Even if you are not going to fight for a long time becauseof a lack of powerful units

don't remember when was the last time i played it (we talked it in other place) BUT don't remember that I ever used such tactics although back then I mostly played on historical map (mostly avoiding to be England due to geography)... but I was young and did seek more hardship than needed in game - can confirm that brain doesn't function so well anymore, regardless of game

My nation this time will be the Netherlands,

let me see.... it says H-O-L-L-A-N-D ...(i'm from one of countries using such name)

have fun Clemens, as said before great game you should try some manual battles, if not even faster... i'm doing some advants and even (childish) platforms lately, to relax

[randowe]

(mostly avoiding to be England due to geography)

Yes, choosing the map of Europe and England would make the game unnecessarily hard. Trasportation of goods and ressources is more complicated as well as offensive military actions when you start on a "remote" island. Defense will be easier though.

My nation this time will be the Netherlands,

let me see.... it says H-O-L-L-A-N-D ...(i'm from one of countries using such name)

Haha, i always try to use the correct name But you are right, many people use the name Holland.

should try some manual battles

Anno Domini 1508

After i sent my ship on a journey around the world, and the world is really "round" in this game, i discoverd a new world! Immediately i sent my ship to the shallow coastal waters of the Crazy Horse province in order to land my troops the very next turn.
So in 1509 i landed my 3 units and, after kissing the earth, we took up the arms and fought for our right to plunder these lands and ship the riches to Europe...



Well after some more fights in the following years i must say that i really don't link the fighting system (Like i have stated before) and i will set the fights to be done "automatic" from now on. To me it appears that there are no tactics and it is just a stupid slaughter. I don't have a clue about the range of the native arrows and movement points. I also don't know if the damage is always the same and how many attacks it would need to kill a certain enemy unit. The "map" is always the same too and every fight is like every other fight before. There isn't any variety.
The fighting system is the only thing i dislike in this game I will disable you, damn fighting system!

[randowe]

Anno Domini 1518

In 1518 i had already captured 3 provinces in the new world. The other european powrs did not capture any province yet:



In the new world you will find raw materials and resources and what is most important, riches like gems, gold and silver.
Every time when you send your army into combat it will cost a certain amount of money. The bigger the army, the more money you have to spend for war.
So it is very important to control as many as possible sources of gems, gold and silver in the new world.
I think Imperialism II gives (in its limits) a good impression how economics, state treasury and war were connected in the age of imperialism.

The new world also offers raw materials like furs, sugar cane and tobacco as well as all sorts of metal ore, which you can ship to your home country and where you can produce goods with.
Your factory workers will be pleased and can be trained to become skilled workes but they will need cigars and stuff like that.

Every resource has to be connected with your capital by road or railroad. In the new world every resource has to be connected with a port and you need a large-enough merchant marine to transport all resources and goods to your homeland.

See Amsterdam and Holland as well as my new world estates in 1610. Note the gems and gold which is connected with the Sioux province and its port.

[Ale]

fighting manually is necessary in harder game modes (tougher maps, handicaped nations or by game settings themselves). When attacking forts later in game you can do it successfully with minimal loses - with predeveloped tactics - computer will kill some units and make it even harder.... but not needed when playing for fun and i agree that it is not best of combats I've seen on screen and certainly SSI delivered some more notable ones in games when availabale, musketeers and later grenadiers will do 90% of the job, said that before when we talked Imp 2... as for battle details do not remember much, there is enveloping, breaking morale etc.

i'm still more of "die hard" than "progress easy" type when playing, but where is relaxation not frustration part in that i don't know (want to smash screen even doing Asterix platformer)) No more comments, have fun & keep your gaming posts coming...

[randowe]

There must be something with the fighting system that i am not able to understand
I guess it would be asier to fight manually, but that is beyond my capabilities

In the second half of the 17th century, France started to attack the minor nations in my backyard while i was still engaged in the new world! I had captured most of the northern part of the new world continent and created a beachhead in the south. But then i had to call back my troops to the old world in order to capture what has not been captured by France yet. It also takes often 4 or 5 turns for a damaged unit to get back to full strength, so most of the time you are waiting... This is how the world looks in 1684:



You always need two workes and two resources to produce one finished material or product as you can see in the picture. In 1715 my worker force consists of just 34 workers and i am not completely happy with the overall situation. I think my industry is to small at this point and looking at the map, i feel, like i was to slow. Or was the AI just too fast?
Well, France is at war with England and i am about to join France and try to capture some of England's new world provinces...
I also have an eye on Portugal and its new world estates. They control "The Incas". Both Portugal and the Incas are adjacent to my provinces, so... But i have to take care of England first...

[randowe]

Anno Domini 1776

I got to a point where i think that i can not win the game anymore. France is much too strong. Overall i have 44 provinces and France has 37, but their military is twice the size than mine and even the french industry and worker force is larger than mine!
I wonder how the AI does that with less resources



Locking at the map, my only chance will be a war with Portugal or Sweden, but unfortunately both nations had signed an military alliance and a war with both of them would mean a much too long front line.
The problem is, that you have to deploy military units for defence purposes in every province that is adjacent to an enemy province because the AI will often send one or two units to attack you here and there in the old and new world.
The AI will also land forces from the sea and attack your transport ships too. I will play on and see what happens. Maybe a war between the AI nations offers a chance for me to intervene and grab some provinces...

[randowe]

After my previous post i had little hope of victory, but tried to make the best of the situation. So i put everything into the devlopment and upgrade of my resources (mines and farms and so). I focused on the meat and grain as well as iron sources in the old world. Another forcus was the enlargement of my railroad network.
For around 50 years my storage was empty at the end of every turn but everything went well and i was able to upgrade more and more military units and ships. I divided my naval force into transport ships and iconclads that are patroling my home waters.
When all military units were upgraded i planned to declare war on Portugal and capture all of the Portugese provinces. They still had an alliance with Sweden, so i signed an alliance with Sweden too. When i declared war on Portugal, Sweden did the right thing and broke their alliance with Portugal
The war started in 1842 and after few turns i had captured most of the Portugese provinces in the old and new world. France got a little share as well.

Now i have an eye on my ally Sweden. They have some nice provinces too
With the latest military and industrial effort i also became the most powerful nation in the world! Holland now has the largest industry and worker force and my military can nearly match the french one

[randowe]

Anno Domini 1895

Like i have stated in my previous post i plan to attack Sweden. I mean, i have to attack Sweden if i want to win the game.
In the recent 30 years i trained more soldiers and built more ships and now i am ready for war. I have no idea in which year the game will end (never played that long...) and i want to get it finished in time

My industry and worker force is the biggist in the world and still i am lacking iron. Steel is mainly used to build railroads and military units but iron is used to upgrade resources. You will need 16 units each of iron and limber to upgrade a single resource from level 3 to 4, so that eats up all of the iron.

The second picture shows all resources i get in one turn at the moment. GREEN means, that the resource is transported by road and rail in the old world and BLUE means, that the resource is shipped across the ocean. BLUE resources are prone to enemy war ships in times of war.

In the next turn i will start the war... i hope it will be the final one

[Ale]

I have no idea in which year the game will end (never played that long...)

not sure, can't remember but for some reason I believe that I had some games reaching XXI century, which is a bit unrealistic with such technology and military... if i didn't mix games and if my version of 20 years ago wasn't buggy I have "new" one but not installed....

[randowe]

Victory in 1930! I attacked Sweden and was able to conquer all of their provinces except two. One was out of reach and the capital was defendet by 12 siege guns and a level 3 fort. I send 90 units into automatic combat but it was impossible for the AI to beat the AI
So i had to attack Spain too. I quickly captured to required number of provinces and won with 34 old world provinces. France had 23 at the end.
I really wish the map would be bigger and teh game a little bit more complex.

I don't know how long the game would go on, but 1930 seems already very late. Cosequently i got no points awarded for the year of my victory.
I tried to find out about the final year of the game but all websites i read, didn't mention it.
Anyway, a player will have researched all technologies long before 1930 and there is not much to do this late in the game.
Basically you will win the game long before that date by the power of your industry. Or not

(I already started a new game were i put everything into my industry and worker force. As much as possible as early as possible. And 1750 i am way ahead of my compititors )

Everyone watching these pictures may want to open a bottle of wine in celebration

[Parabellum]

Congratulations on the victory and thanks for the report. The graphic looks much better than in imperialism 1.
However, I am surprised by the victory conditions. In Imperialism 1, the player needed a 2/3 majority. Is it different here?

[randowe]

Yes, it is different. In Imperialism I you need to be voted ruler of the world by 2/3 of the governors of all provinces. It is too long ago and i don't remember how to make governors of other nations vote for the player. But 2/3 are needed, you are right. Maybe the player can just conquer enough provinces? But i don't remember.

In Imperialism II you need to control half of the provinces + 1. There are 66 provinces in the old world. 33 is the half and you need one more. So the victory condition is to control 34 provinces. That also means that a small nation be under your control.
I think all maps have the same number of provinces Only the Europe map has more provinces and you will need more than 34 to win on that map.

[Parabellum]

Yes, it is different. In Imperialism I you need to be voted ruler of the world by 2/3 of the governors of all provinces. It is too long ago and i don't remember how to make governors of other nations vote for the player. But 2/3 are needed, you are right. Maybe the player can just conquer enough provinces? But i don't remember.

The election by the governors (council) takes place in a predetermined time. I didn't remember if it was after 10, 12, 15 or more years.
The governors can be influenced through targeted economic policies. A so-called "investor" can be obtained by donating to foreign provinces. The investor can for excamble buy ore or coal mines in these provinces, which the player then develops. The player receives royalties from the sale of the products. The governors will most likely vote for you at the Council.
Of course, you can conquer provinces or other major nations through war. These provinces / nations are then automatically on your side when choosing the world ruler.
But it can also happen that they receive in the Council votes from provinces / nations with which they are at war. These provinces / nations do not automatically vote for another nation. It may also be that they already recognize your superiority and that they are accepted as world rulers. This behavior cannot be planned.
if you intend to rule the entire world, you should declare war on all other provinces / nations step by step immediately after a council. Then they have time until the next council to conquer the entire world militarily. The program does not calculate any interim results as to whether you have already achieved the 2/3 majority - so you have 10 to 15 years to give the world a uniform color.
Many years ago I almost made it - I was missing one last province (a capital of a nation) for success. Then a council intervened and declared me the winner.

[Ale]

I don't know how long the game would go on, but 1930 seems already very late. Cosequently i got no points awarded for the year of my victory.
I tried to find out about the final year of the game but all websites i read, didn't mention it.

best way to find out was to continue from the save in 1930 and click end turn many times to see how far it would go and if my previous post is true. but definitely not important as subject and believe me if you set your mode close to 200 domination isn't possible as easy nor fast, if at all.... and without bronze produced how am I supposed to make war ... i'm not encouraging you to be frustrated ruler/gamer like me, but i usually add more challenge in games i finish

can't start Imp2 (loved game, glad to have it) now but i've started something "similar" and surely known to you influenced by your posts recently, Europa universalis 2 game and i'm gonna have lots of frustration playing "grand campaign" as Serbia in 1419

congrats and expect more let's plays from you don't mind using this place to answer your line you dropped in my thread, must admit my first game (Rome) isn't that interesting nor keeping attention almost 30 years after later after release so i'm closer to decision to drop it and play other there. But i gave it review of a sort anyway

[randowe]

if you set your mode close to 200 domination isn't possible as easy nor fast, if at all.... and without bronze produced how am I supposed to make war ... i'm not encouraging you to be frustrated ruler/gamer like me, but i usually add more challenge in games i finish

Yes, i had chosen the second difficulty level only. It is all i can do in this game On a medium level i finished the game just once if i remember correctly. It was a map with a lots of diamods. So when i play the game, i play on the second level -> easy

can't start Imp2 (loved game, glad to have it) now but i've started something "similar" and surely known to you influenced by your posts recently, Europa universalis 2 game and i'm gonna have lots of frustration playing "grand campaign" as Serbia in 1419

Never heard of that game, Europa Universalis 2, but screenshots look intersting. Map seems to be hugh too, which is important (to me)

[Ale]

can't believe you never heard of it - it is quite famous and has 4 ! sequels. i own first 3, never found time to try fourth but it is on a "wishlist" (we all have them righ, but time & all...)

it was out as i was entering own 20s, didn't follow all games that much as before trying to be serious (but I failed)... anyway, worth trying any part though i took my eu2 (for simplicity) at the moment. It is real time you can stop, grand camp is from 1419-1819, you can choose any country and try to compete. somehow complex and hard, esp. for countries like mine - and full of historically incorrect things* and bugs + lack of leaders & rulers - funds are hard to get etc. etc. Figured in the middle of typing that there is no need to type as you can read and find all data online Maybe I'll do it someday in my thread, if you ever try and have questions feel welcome to ask...

right now have a crisis in relations after annexing (good friend) Albania... but they declared war on me, i'm clean luckily old pal Venice is my ally...... give it a try and see how you like it, but mind that it's different style compared to fun TB games we played a lot


* about that when time comes, if it comes

[Lightning]

Thanks for posting this thread on Imperialism II. I used to play it years ago. I am surprised you could even get it to run on modern computers. Good to see there are still playable versions of the older games around.

[Bombast the Blue]

can't believe you never heard of it - it is quite famous and has 4 ! sequels. i own first 3, never found time to try fourth but it is on a "wishlist" (we all have them righ, but time & all...)

it was out as i was entering own 20s, didn't follow all games that much as before trying to be serious (but I failed)... anyway, worth trying any part though i took my eu2 (for simplicity) at the moment. It is real time you can stop, grand camp is from 1419-1819, you can choose any country and try to compete. somehow complex and hard, esp. for countries like mine - and full of historically incorrect things* and bugs + lack of leaders & rulers - funds are hard to get etc. etc. Figured in the middle of typing that there is no need to type as you can read and find all data online Maybe I'll do it someday in my thread, if you ever try and have questions feel welcome to ask...

EU #4 series produced a long list of successive versions, each new one adding sort of flavour features linked to specific themes/countries.
I had a go at the series in two separate occasions; unfortunately the thing ends up crashing my machine.
From all the matches I started I only managed to finish once playing England.
My strategy relied heavily on having as strong a navy I could and using it first to prevent any invasion to the Islands and second to support the colonial effort.
Playing other countries I was often summarily swamped in little time.
Even so I remember a Portuguese and an Ottoman matches that were going well enough until the PC crashed.
When choosing countries with a more central location things tend to get tougher.
In the particular case of Sweden there is the additional challenge that it starts as a vassal of Denmark and that situation must be changed within a given time frame.

My general opinion is actually mixed; I found it both addicting and frustrating - the damned enemy alliances manage frequently to have more ships and almost always more regiments than our alliances.
There may be qualitative differences between armies coming from the tech levels but the only thing I've seen working against alliances with more regiments is tackling them in separate groups with local numerical superiority. But if they keep all their regiments massed or in nearby provinces you better run if and while you can.
One aspect of EU that is very different from the usual "five star" experience is that territorial gains tend to be counter balanced by "popular resistance".
The player needs to manage a few parameters of newly conquered provinces or massive insurgent armies will appear sooner or later.

[REDrake]

Imperialism 2 is one of my favorite games. Along with PG2, it has to be the oldest game installed on my HDDs.

I usually avoid starting countries that have more than 7 provinces. It can be overpowering to have 11 or 12 provinces from the start. But I do start with horses and I pick my own capitol to have easy access to fertile hills, wood and decent starting food.

Tin is the most important resource that you need to get early on.

Declaring war on first turn against minor countries that I intend to conquer after I get horse arty? Yes, I do. Best way to do it.

Declaring war against major powers early on if they acquire land from natives? Yes, that too. Take out the capitol of the natives and immediately make peace with that power. They will accept.

First army composition: 2 Knights/Lancers, 1 bombard/royal artillery, 2 arquebusiers/musketeers, 1 Squire/Cossack, 4 horse artillery, 1 general. To get that general, you need more units priorhand, which means getting 1-2 peasant levies as well, future skirmishers.

That army can kill anything until steel units show up.

I also disregard industry early on. In fact it is way better to develop your towns to produce finite resources, instead of using workers. Building army and navy is paramount.

As far as navy goes, getting to Galleon is vital. You could build some Sloops too, but I would rather wait for frigates. Galleon have decent firepower, they can carry a lot of units and are vital to your transportation fleet. I also tend to delay getting to ship of the line, because galleons are more useful. Upgrading them to ships of the line means building some Indiamans to compensate for their loss of transport capability.

Mid game a strike fleet is necessary. I usually have aroung 12 Frigates, 5 Galleons/Ships of the line for that.

[Lightning]

Can older games like Imperialism II run correctly on OS like Windows 7?

[randowe]

Can older games like Imperialism II run correctly on OS like Windows 7?

I played Imperialism II on Windows 7, so i'd say YES. But other old windows games may not work on modern OS. It is always a lottery to get them running.
Currently i have Imperialism II, MechCommander, Civilization III and Jagged Alliance II installed on my win7 laptop.
For dos games is use dosbox/d-fend reloaded.

[Ale]

in addition to that always try different compatibility modes on game's .exe (or similar starting file)... remeber for example i had some issues with game called Fallen haven, tried many compatibility modes and strangely even though it's win95/98 game it worked without flaws for me only after using some other mode on exe file (was it win NT or 2000 or something, unimportant but varies on machines). etc. etc. so experiment yourself if desired game is near to running )

beside, some external programs (used DxWnd myself) often sorted some graphical problems i had with some older windows games. good luck really, used many older games myself. there are also older windows emulators (i use none except mentioned Dosbox for type) as last solution or some (supposedly) prepared older games on market even. But that's all btw for readers as all i can recommend and share from own experiences... there might be other useful things to find around for particular games, so don't give up before searching around

[Lightning]

I was able to load it onto a Windows 7 computer today.

[REDrake]

The version available from GOG is playable including in Win10.

You might get some errors on alt+tab, but no issues on playing it.