Imperialism is a grand strategy game that centers around the idea of imperialism. I know that might be a shocker to no one. I first played the game in the mid-90s and occasionally revisited it over the years.
Global domination is the goal of this game. You have two options to do it. You can try to conquer the world through military force or political domination. I’ve found that a combination of the two works the best.
This is one of my favorite strategy games! I don’t know why I’m drawn to this game, but playing it is so much fun. Other games have better graphics but don’t have the same gameplay as Imperialism.
TLDR: A Great and Underrated Strategy Game.
Narrative
There is no story in the main game. There are a few scenarios, but they play out similarly. You choose a major power and try to take over the map in an allotted amount of time.
Gameplay
Imperialism is a turn-based strategy game. You set out some commands and then end your turn. Combat is also turn-based. X-COM is the closest comparison I can think of, but Imperialism is not as good as that game.
The gameplay is a little complex. You have a lot of resources to manage, the diplomacy can be hard to stay on top of, and you have a somewhat complicated recruitment system for soldiers, naval units, and civilian workers. I’ll try to explain as much as I can.
Before you can do anything on the main map, you need to find and gather resources. To do this, you need to recruit some units. They are separate from the workers in your capital. More on that later. Here are the civilian units that can be trained at the University:
- Miner – Builds Iron, Coal, Gold, and Gem mines
- Prospector – Finds Iron, Coal, Gold, Gem, and Oil deposits
- Farmer – Upgrades Farms, Orchards, and Cotton Plantations
- Rancher – Upgrades Cattle and Sheep ranches
- Forester – Upgrades Hardwood forests. He cannot upgrade Scrub Forests
- Driller – Builds Oil Rigs in Deserts, Swamps, and Tundra
- Engineer – Builds railroads, train stations, and ports
- Developer – This guy purchases rights to resources from Minor Nations.
You only have to keep track of one city. Your capital controls all your industry, military, and navy. It simplifies things a lot! Here are the buildings in your capital:
- Steel Mill – Turns Iron and Coal into Steel
- Metal Works – Turns Steel into Weapons or Hardware
- Textile Mill – Turns Wool and/or Cotton into Textiles
- Clothing Factory – Turns Textiles into Clothing. Surprising, I know.
- Lumber Mill – Turns Wood into Lumber or Paper
- Furniture Factory – Turns Lumber into Furniture
- Capitol – Turns Clothing and Furniture into an Unskilled Laborer
- Trade School – Turns an Unskilled Laborer into a Skilled Laborer, and a Skilled Laborer into an Expert.
- University – Turns an Expert into one of 9 units
- Rail Yard – Turns Steel and Lumber into rail cars, which help you bring resources to the city.
- Shipyard – Where you build Merchants and Warships.
- Food Processing – Turns extra Grain, Meat, and Fruit into canned goods
- Oil Refinery – Turns Oil into Gas
- Power Plant – Turns Gas into Electricity, which acts as labor
There are a bunch of resources in the game. Here are a few of them that you need to take care of. You have the base resources, manufactured goods, and finished goods.
Base Resources:
- Iron
- Coal
- Wood
- Wool
- Cotton
- Grain
- Fruit
- Meat/Fish
- Oil
Manufactured Goods:
- Steel – Made from Iron and Coal
- Textiles – Made from Wool or Cotton
- Lumber – Made from Wood
- Paper – Made from Wood
- Gas – Made from Oil
Finished Goods
- Weapons – Made from Steel
- Tools – Made from Steel
- Clothing – Made from Textiles
- Furniture – Made from Lumber
Finished goods and manufactured goods can also be made in the villages. This happens occasionally as you industrialize the provinces that make up your country.
The combat is turn-based. You move soldiers around some maps and try to defeat the enemy army. You can force them to retreat, or you can kill all of them. Each unit has a health bar. Green means they can fight, Yellow means they will retreat, and Red means dead.
You have infantry, cavalry, artillery, and combat engineers. If you recruit enough units in one turn, you’ll receive a General. These act as medics in some respects. One unit that I’ve never found a use for is the Combat Engineers. I know what they do, but I don’t find them helpful.
There are eight military units. They get upgraded across three time periods. You start with units closer to the Revolutionary War (1770s), upgrade to the 1850s or so, and end up close to WWI. Naval units do the same thing.
While you have control over land battles, Naval battles are all automated. This is a little disappointing. Granted, I don’t think the combat system would’ve been good for having ships fight each other.
The gameplay takes some time to get used to. The first few times I played this back in 1998 or 1999, I had no idea what was going on. I figured out the combat was easy enough, but running the country was a pain.
Visuals
This is the weak point in the game, especially when it comes to the battles. The world map, battle map, and the city screen look great. The battle screens look like one of those paintings of landscapes you see in offices.
The rest of the battles are a disappointment. There are no animations on your soldiers. It resembles moving toy soldiers around and pretending that they shot someone. You have a life bar, sound effects, and a few explosions to let you know what is happening; aside from that, you’re on your own.
You see some minor animations on the World Map and the City screen. These let you know when your workers are doing something. It is minor at best.
Imperialism isn’t a visually impressive game. It doesn’t need to be. I like it despite its simplistic visuals.
8/10. It might be nostalgia, but I really like this game. It can be repetitive as there are few maps to choose from, and the scenarios aren’t too different from the random games, but I really enjoy the game. It does throw a lot at you, but figuring it out is so much fun.
Conclusion
While I love this game, it has some issues that are due to its age. Other RTS and Grand Strategy games have better graphics and gameplay. There is also a steep learning curve at the beginning of the game.
A lot is thrown at you in the tutorial, and thankfully, you get back to it when you forget something. That was the hardest part of learning to play the game. It can be a ton of fun once you figure everything out.
Imperialism is one of the games that I love to return to from time to time. It is available on GOG if you want to give it a try. There is also a sequel, which will have to wait for some other time because I haven’t figured that game out.