From: hchong@netcom.com (Hoi Chong)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games
Subject: Re: Cyber Empires Review
Date: 15 Oct 92 22:54:25 GMT
Article-I.D.: netcom.1992Oct15.225425.25138
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest)


I just want to say that I bought the game last night, and it looks
promising.  It is not Revenge of the Cresant Hawk, but it looks promising.
I don't like the fact that it is end-turn kind of game, but at least
it does not have hex!  (I see flames on the way)

For the price they are asking, I say it is worth checking it out.

p.s. Don't get your hopes up high about the arcade style side of the game,
     it is a no-brainer-me-computer-10-times-faster-than-you-human deal. 

From article <1992Oct15.172937.3415@athena.mit.edu>, by rfermier@athena.mit.edu (Robert G Fermier):
> Well, I bought Cyber Empires over this past weekend, expecting it to be a 
> moderate diversion for a few hours.  I figured that me and my friends would
> have some fun fighting each other, Star Control style.  As it turns out, the
> game completely devoured my entire 4-day weekend!  I really enjoyed this game
> a lot.
> 
> There are two basic modes to the game, unsurprisingly.  The strategic mode and
> the tactical mode.  The strategic mode is nothing AMAZING, but is pretty well
> done.  The world of Orion is split up into 70-odd countries.  Each country is one
> of 5 terrain types -- coniferous(forest), arctic, volcanic, desert, city.  Each
> of the different terrain types influences how effective the various kinds 
> of 'mechs will be (well, they call them cyborgs, but we all know that they're
> really 'mechs).  You build factories to build mechs to go out and conquer more
> countries so that you have more money to build more factories to build more mechs.
> Sound familiar?  The strategic mode is made more interesting by the fact that the
> City countries are worth much more than all the other types of countries but are
> also the hardest to defend (you can't build fortifications on them and you can't
> effectively use long-range weapons).  The economics of the system works pretty
> well -- you gradually shift from having far too little production capacity to
> reaching a stable cash-influx vs. production-capacity balance.  The relative
> costs of the different kinds of 'mechs versus the time to create them, the cost
> of more infrastructure, and the industrial capacity that creating one will tie up
> is fairly well done.
> 
> The graphics for the map of Orion are quite nice also, although it is
> unfortunately the same map every time you play.  In general, the graphics are
> nice although they never really completely blow you away.  I haven't gotten the
> chance to investigate the sound yet, although it supports Adlib, Roland, and
> Soundblaster.  Up to 5 players, any of whom can be humans, can play the game,
> although you have to restart the game a couple of times in 2-player mode before
> you get a fair starting position.  You have the option of fighting combats in a
> pure number-crunching mode -- the computer determines who wins, who loses, and
> how much damage was inflicted.  But normally, one uses the tactical combat mode,
> which is what makes the game shine.
> 
> In the tactical mode, the two 'mech armies slug it out with each other.  It's all
> from a birds-eye view of the battlefield.  You control one of the mechs, although
> there can be as many as 10 mechs on either side.  The computer controls all the
> mechs that you aren't using.  You can cycle through which mech you are
> controlling.  The computer does a fairly good job of controlling the other mechs.
> They don't (usually) shoot each other in the back, and they are very good at
> going in for the kill.  As one might expect, they are technically very good (they
> don't make mistakes, and they have good reaction times :-) but they aren't very
> creative.  All of the combat is in real time, and you see the missiles, lasers,
> autocannons, and neutrino cannons firing away.  The middle of a large melee gets
> to be quite a hellstorm of fire flying back and forth.
> 
> The tactical mode really does a good job of transporting into the realm of the
> game.  While it isn't as powerful as the first person viewpoint of Mechwarrior,
> you really do get the feel of being in an intense, live combat.  It is really
> cool to move around in formation with the other mechs on your side and then open
> fire, or catch the enemy in a withering crossfire.  Some of the missions I have
> taken a mech away from the group to go on a "solo" mission while the computer
> controlled mechs on my side do the main diversion.  It has really gotten my
> adrenaline pumping, let me tell you!  And while it is fun even against the
> computer, it is a LOT of fun to go bashing on your friends.  One should note that
> while arcade-like ability is something of a factor here, the tactics of the
> situation are generally MUCH more important (unlike Star Control).
> 
> The five different kinds of terrain affect the tactics of the situation too.  In
> arctic you can use your high-heat-generating weapons with some freedom because
> everyone cools off faster.  It also makes the heat-causing weapons less
> effective.  In desert and coniferous territories, you can find water to stand in
> to make your heat-assaults from.  In desert and volcanic, you dissipate heat very
> slowly.  And of course, in the lava-lakes of the volcanic region, you build up
> heat very quickly!!  The city and coniferous countries (the two most common types
> to fight in) have a lot of cover in the form of trees or buildings that have to
> be blasted through or navigated around.  This alone complicates the tactical
> situation considerably.
> 
> The strategic mode interacts with the tactical mode nicely, in that it determines
> the type of terrain that you fight in, as well as the quality and quantity of
> 'mechs that you have to fight with.  Moreover, in the strategic mode you can
> build fortifications which are banks of automatic weapons that fire at any
> oncoming invaders.  Watching those things decimate an enemy army is a very
> gratifying experience, let me tell you.  The 9 types of mechs differ in enough
> ways that you can spend a while trying to optimize for a combat and discovering
> strategies for fighting with and against each type of mech.
> 
> There are also two tactical-mode-only options for those who want to get right
> into the action without doing the strategy (vaguely analogous to the Melee
> setting in Star Control).  The first is called "Showdown", and can be played
> against another human or the computer.  Both sides choose a terrain type to fight
> on, then get a certain amount of money to buy 'mechs with.  Then they just slug
> it out.
> 
> The other mode is called "Survival" and is for learning how to fight with each
> individual type of mech.  You are in a mech by yourself, and you fight again
> progressively harder waves of combats.  High-scores for this are kept, which is a
> nice touch.  However, since the tactical superiority of one side or another tends
> to heavily outweight the arcade-ability beyond a certain point, the combats get
> nigh-impossible to win shortly.  It is still a fun option when you just want to
> blow some stuff up, though.
> 
> There are some down-sides to the game, however.  One is that the strategy mode is
> slow in some annoying places.  For instance, when you switch players, these large
> blast doors close over the map to hide it from being seen until the next player
> takes the controls.  While it is a cool special-effect, the doors close WAY too
> slow and there is no way to speed them up.  When you access certain strategic
> mode options like the statistics and purchasing screens, the screen blanks out
> for a second while it loads things in, which is disturbing.  It also seems like
> it takes much longer for these screens to load up than it ought.  Lastly, you
> have to click in the center of a country to give commands to it, rather than
> anywhere in the country.  All of these things can start to grate on the nerves,
> but they are annoyances, not actual problems.
> 
> Cyber Empires also is breaking with recent tradition in computer gaming in a
> number of ways.  
> A. There don't seem to be any bugs, either major or minor.
> B. It only takes up 1.8 Megs of hard drive space
> C. It was only $35 at Computer City, as opposed to $45-$60 for most games these
>    days.
> 
> All in all, I would heartily recommend Cyber Empires, especially if you like the
> BattleTech sort of genre and games like Empire and Star Control.  If you can find
> a friend or two to play it with, it's even better.
> 
> 
> -- Rob Fermier
>    rfermier@athena.mit.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games