FAQ - Guide for Imperialism

Imperialism II: The age of Exploration
Windows95/98
Macintosh

2/28/01
Version 1.01
FAQ by Tim "Sheepy99" Maurer
Contact [email protected]
Imperialism II made by SSI and Frog City

Imperialism II is one of the niche games that doesn't really receive a lot of
attention from its brothers like Civilization II or Colonization. Buts it's
still additive nonetheless and you definitely get your money's worth.

IMPERIALISM II
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INDEX
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I. Intro
II. System Requirements
III. Major Powers
IV. Minor Powers
V. New World
Va. NW Resources
Vb. OW Resources
VI. Navy
VII. Military Forces
VIII. Battles
IX. Industry
X. Trade
XI. Diplomacy
XII. Units
XIII.Tips and Tricks
XIV. FAQ's
XV. Conclusions
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I.INTRO
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The Year is 1502 A.D. and you are the King(or Queen) of a major power in the
contentint of Europe. You country has just left the Dark Ages (Black Death and
all). Most of Europe's natural resources have been discovered and almost used
up, and your national treasury is starting to become smaller and smaller. Only
one course of action remains. New Resources must be discovered and new treasure
must be found, History will recall this as "THE AGE OF DISCOVERY". But it's not
that easy. There are six great powers of Europe and six minor nations in which
to trade and conquer and you realize its going to be a fight to the finish if
your country is going to survive. You know that since this is the case, you
must send one of your trading ships out to discover new land and the treasure
that awaits within. You have to beat the other nations to the riches the lay
beyond the horizon. You must build up your industry to process the new
materials and build new ships to hull your precious cargo home. You must build
an army to defend your new territory and fleets to patrol and terrorize your
neighbors. You must invest your newfound wealth into technology to developed
newer and more powerful weaponry to keep your neighbors at bay. Should all go
well you eyes begin to turn back toward Europe to conquer your neighbors and
unite Europe under your Motherland's Flag. You know you will have made it when
exactly half of all the minor and major powers territory of Europe is under
your feet.
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II. System Requirements
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The great thing about Imp2 is that it works for both MAC and IBM machines out
of the same box.
Win95/98 Requirements
IBM/PC compatible with win95 or 98
133MHz Pentium or faster 200MHz (recommended)
16MB RAM (32 Recommended)
100MB Hard disk space
4X CDROM DRIVE
16bit color
DirectX 6.0 or higher (soundcard)

MAC Requirements
POWER PC (604 processor +) also works with iMac
System 7.6
32MB Ram
17.5MB free of Single play
100MB Harddisk space
4x cdrom
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III.Major Powers
_________________________________
Major Powers are the only nations that can have New World Providences and are
the only nations that attack other nations. As a player you will start as a
Major Nation Leader.
The Major Nations of IMP2:
England - Capital (London)
Spain - Captial (Madrid)
France - Capital (Paris)
Holland - Capital (Amsterdam)
Portugal - Capital (Lisbon)
Sweden - Capital (Stockholm)
Should your capital be conquered by another nation, you lose the game
Should you conquer a Capital that nation is eliminated as a Major Power and no
long trades, attacks, or speaks to any Nation. They are thrown into Anarchy
(lack of Government)
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IV. Minor Powers
_________________________________
Minor Powers are only able to trade with Major Powers. They have no Navy and
their army is limited to defending its territories.
The Minor Nations of IMP2:
Scotland - Capital (Edinburgh)
Ireland - Capital (Dublin)
Italy - Capital (Naples) (Why isn't the capital of Italy Rome? well during this
time Italy and Germany were part of the "Holy Roman Empire and German States"
so their present days capitals are not reflected in this game)
Germany - Capital (Hamburg)
Denmark - Capital (Copenhagen)
Switzerland - Capital (Bern)
When a Minor Nation Capital falls, their country is thrown into Anarchy and no
one can trade with them anymore.
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V. New World
_________________________________
The New World is very much like the Old World except that they are a little bit
behind on the technology tree. The natives take the names of Native American
Names (Aztec, Inca, Iroquois, Mayan, etc) their providences are named after
famous colonies founded by the real countries during this time period (Cuba,
Toronto, Brisbane, Taz, etc) (unless you turn that option off in the menu). The
new world contains rich resources from sugarcane to diamonds. Each Tribe has a
capital like the Old world and if it is conquered, the tribe can no longer
trade with Major Powers. The tribes have 3 types of Military units:
The Bowmen (Bows and Arrows)
The Spearmen (Spears)
The Clubmen (Clubs like cavemen types)
These Units generally get slaughter by even the weakest of European Knights,
but as with most things if there are LOTS of these weak units, then your
Knights can be overwhelmed and killed.
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Va. New World Resources
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The New World has many resources that the old world does not have:
Tobacco
Sugarcane
Diamonds
Gold
Silver
Gems
Furs
Spices
Cotton
The New and Old World share these Resources:
Iron ore
Copper ore
Tin ore
Coal
Forests and scrub forests
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Vb. Old World Resources
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The Old World mostly contains food resources that do not grow in the New World:
Farms
Cattle
Sheep
Horses
But they share Metal Resources with the New World.
Minor Nations only contain Old World resources so, if your low on food you
should probably build an army with a few cannons to go "acquire" some more food
resources since Minor Nations do not trade food resources.
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VI. Navy
__________________________________
The navy starts out with 3 Carracks (Spain has the Nina, Piñata, and Santa
Maria) and one ship will be an explorer ship when you first start out (giving
you 6 trade capacity). Building more ships will add to your trade and transport
capacity. Early ships are slow and don't hold very much. Later ships require
Steel and lots of wood to build but have a large capacity to battle other ships
and are faster.
The Battleships:
Galleon
Ship-of-the-Line
Ironclad
Raiders
Sloops  (are useful for like 25 years)
Frigates
Trade ships:
Carracks
Fluytes
Galleons
Trader
Indianman
Clipper
Merchant Steamships
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VII. Military
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When you start in 1502 A.D. all your country has are a few knights from the
dark ages. For now this will have to do (it just so happens new world natives
don't stand a chance against them). There are several classes of units:
Infantry
Light: fast and weak
Regular: moderately fast and weak
Heavy: Slow and moderately powerful
Bowmen: cannot be upgraded and practically useless
Cavalry
Light: fast and weak
Spear: knights with no guns
Heavy: fast and moderately powerful
Cannons (my personal favorite)
Light: can move and shoot in one turn
Heavy: powerful but can't move and shoot in one turn
General: Rally weak troops/allow more troops to participate in a battle
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VIII. Battles
____________________________________
Your first battles will usually be between knights and new world natives. Three
knights can usually do pretty well against six natives. Don't let any one
knight get surrounded by natives. See graphic
N = Natives
K = Knights         Do                                  Don't
                 N N K                                    N N K N
                N N N K                                  N K
                 N   K                                    N N K
Damage is displayed with red
Loss of Moral is displayed with yellow
Health is displayed with green
Should your troops run of green and only have yellow remaining in their bar,
the troops run away from battle. If the troops run out of yellow they are
labeled "KIA" Killed in Action. Should your troops get surrounded by enemies in
a way they cant retreat by the time they reach all yellow in their bar. They
surrender on the battlefield and are "KIA".

Any units with guns as a main weapon have a tool called "opportunity fire".
Which is basically two shots in a row in one turn. You gain opportunity fire by
not firing your guns for one turn and thus save it for the next turn (if you so
desire). This is important to remember when attacking providence with a
fortress guarded by cannons.

Once you've progressed in the game to the point where you're attacking old
world providences. Keep in mind what you learned from attacking the new world
natives; many of the same rules apply here also.

Fortresses have three levels of defense.
Level 1: Wood with 1 Heavy Cannon (cannons upgrade with time)
Level 2: Brick with 2 Heavy Cannons (cannons upgrade with time)
Level 3: Steel with 3 Heavy Cannons (cannons upgrade with time)

See tips and tricks for attacking fortresses.
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IX. Industry
_______________________________________
The bigger your population the more you can produce and this is shown in the
Industry menu (that little factory icon in at the bottom of the menu). Some
things to note on Industry. Your work force requires 1 wheat and 1fish or
1meat(on simplified configuration), and 2 cloth for each worker. KEEP THIS IN
MIND at all times.

Ok so you start the game with a few supplies in your warehouse and a few
workmen and 1 explore. The first thing you should do is move your worker over
to some timber and set up a timber farm. Have your explore check all your
mountains and hills for iron ore. Timber and Iron Ore are your number one
priority (Even above food). If you fail to gather enough you will be forced to
buy them on the open market and chances are that no one may want to sell them
to you and you will grow dangerously behind in the game.

Your civilian units consume 1 wood and 1 iron each time they make something.
This is why you need to get atleast two iron ore mines and two timber yards
going before you look to improve you food stores.

Don't forget that it usually takes two of some raw material to make an advanced
product, here's the list:
1 timber + 1 timber = 1 wood
1 timber + 1 timber = 1 paper
1 tin ore + 1 copper ore = 1 bronze
1 iron ore + 1 iron ore = 1 iron
1 sheep + 1 sheep = 1 cloth
1 cotton + 1 cotton = 1 cloth
1 coal + 1 iron ore = 1 steel
1 sugarcane + 1 sugarcane = 1 sugar
1 tobacco + 1 tobacco = 1 cigar
1 fur + 1fur = 1 fur hat
1 horse farm = 1 horse per term (no production needed, lucky you)
New World Treasure
1 spice = $50
1 silver = $100
1 gold = $200
1 gems = $300
1 diamond = $400

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X. Trade
____________________________________
Ok so you realize that you don't have a specific item needed to complete a unit
from your industry menu (usually tin or horses). You can spend countless hours
in the new world looking for it or you can trade for it. That is you pay the
market rate for the item in question. The market rate is affected by how much
demand is there for the product in question. Raw materials are usually cheaper
then assembled materials. So you should try to buy raw materials unless your
industry is weak. If you happen to have a trade consulate and trade with a
minor nation. You gain favor with that nation. So that means that that nation
will trade with you first (if you gain Most favorite trading status with that
nation) if you are asking for that product. If you get a Minor nation to trade
with you enough (over a period of many many years) you can ask that nation to
join your empire and they will probably join if you are on good terms with
them.

You can expand your trading capacity by building merchant marine ships designed
to hold a lot of cargo. It's worth waiting for the Galleons to begin your
trading for and bringing home your new world goodies.
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XI. Diplomacy
_____________________________________
Usually a few turns into the game a major old world power will ask to join them
in an alliance. This can be a double-edged sword. Usually weak countries will
ask to join with them (that's why alliances exist) so to discourage war like
nations from attacking them. Of course if the nation you signed the alliance
with declares war on another nation you will lose diplomatic points if you
refuse to go along with the attack (and the alliance too). DONT be an idiot and
sign an alliance with every world power there is. (6 counting you) Eventually
someone will declare war on someone else and inadvertently declare war on you
and you have world war 3 on your hands. Not to mention Huge Diplomatic points
gone.

Things to remember:
Trade Consulates - cost $500 and can be set up in new and old world (you should
already have them set up in lower skill levels of the game with Major powers).
These allow you to trade with other nations and gain favor with each trade.

Embassies - Once you build these in Minor powers and tribes of the new world,
you can offer peace and alliance deals that should gain you favor with them.

Non-Aggressive Pacts - Offer these to only Minor Powers and tribes. This says
that if another power declares war on them, the minor power/tribe will let you
know and give you the option of letting that tribe/minor power, into your
empire. Of course you'll be at war with the power that declared war on them.

Empire "ing" - asks any nation (Major, Minor, or tribe) to join your empire
voluntarily.

Alliances - asks a Major power to join forces if attacked, or attacking an
enemy.
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XII. Civilian Units
_______________________________________
There are 6 civilian Units available to the game. Each costs $$$ and paper to
hire but require no industrial workers like the military and navy do.
Explorer - Looks for Minerals and treasure and uncovers black unexplored
squares on the map.

Engineer - builds roads, ports and upgrades forts to the next level (if
available).

Builder - processes natural resources so they can be collected and processed by
industry, also expands towns to they produce free things (see tips and tricks)

Merchant - once you have an embassy in a minor nation or tribe, the merchant
can by some land (overseas profits) and once that is processed by the builder
and a road is established by the engineer, you can collect profits if the item
is ever sold by the nation or tribe. When sale is successful you see your
countries color flag on the resource and this means that the tribe is safe from
attack unless a country declares war on you first (tips and tricks)

Spy - if deployed in your territory acts as a counter spy. Otherwise if
deployed in another foreign territory, the spy makes researching technology
easier. Can also spy on military forces in a providences and give a Simi
accurate report.

Rail Builder - builds rails on roads and thus improves the road from level 2
transport to level 4.
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XIII. Tips and Tricks
_______________________________________
There are some useful things to know when playing this game. I will try to go
over them here.

When attacking an overseas providence you will notice some tents near the city
in the providence. Two tents indicate forces of 1 - 5 units. 3 tents indicate
6+ units and not a good idea to attack until your experience is higher (the
medals on the military page)

If you want to slow down the Major powers in the New World. Quickly establish
Embassies with the native people and buy forests or another resource with your
merchant, which then means that the only way for the Major powers to take New
World Providences is to attack you first.

Of course the other side of the coin is if the other Powers start buying up
providences in the new world. The only way to stop them is to take out the
capital of the tribes they are buying up. This cancels all the deals that the
major powers made.

MAJOR CHEAT: Tired of having the stupid computer head right for Treasure rich
providences? Well On your first turn save your game like Holland1. Play your
game without saving for like 20 turns. You should know by then atleast some of
the Diamond/Gem/Gold New World Providences and head right for them when you
load your "Holland1".

On your first 3 or so turns have all your resources go toward paper and buy
lots of Explores (up to 8 if your really in a hurry). This majorly helps
explore your home territory and some deserts in the New world faster.

Once the game gets going look to establish alliances with the other major
powers that surround you New World Holdings.

Try not to conquer more then 12 New World Providences. Any more and the cost to
protect them out weighs having them. Any less and you wont have enough raw
materials to help you build up your empire (and gain a medal for having 10 N W
Providences)

Tin and Horses are almost more valuable then diamonds. In almost all my games
there are usually more diamonds then there are Tin resources. Make Finding Tin
a Top Priority after your first 20 turns.

Forts have usually 1 cannon in the early game. To take it out you need to take
away its Opportunity fire. So have a minimum of 2 Light Cannons to every Heavy
Cannon. And one expendable ground force. Send your ground force into the red
dots and have the cannon fire twice at them (may need more then one ground
force). Once the Heavy fort cannons have fired send in the light cannons and 2
shots should be enough to blow up the Heavy cannon. The fort is yours.

If your dealing with forts with extra troops the same trick above works except
you should concentrate on putting a hole in the wall and send your horse units
in first.

Getting free Industry assembled resources - Well remember how I said you could
get Builder to upgrade towns? Well if the providence the town is in have 4 of
anything (you can upgrade several raw materials to produce 2 of something after
the technology has been discovered). If you connect the upgraded town to the 4
resources. You get a free Assembled units. So 4 Timber yards will give you a
free Wood with no industrial work. This goes for all kinds of stuff.
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XIV. FAQ's
__________________________________

Q. I hate the Intro game, any tips for it?
A. I know the Intro game is pretty hard, it took me almost 3 hours to play it
and there were a lot of mistakes but that's why it's there. Once you get the
whole idea down this game becomes a time eater.
Q. Whats a good rule of thumb for fleets?
A. Well depends what you want to do with your fleet. The early game isn't
really worth building fleets. I only use fleets in the early game to attack
weak New world Providences and head back to port to support my merchant
marines. I only Blockade Ports with the Ship-Of-The-Line and I usually have a
minimum of 6 in my fleet. So get your timber industry going before the SOTL
comes out.

Q. What does a Beachhead do?
A. When you go to attack an overseas providence, you need to establish a
beachhead to land your troops. So really an attack on an overseas providence
takes two turns. 1 for the beachhead and 1 for the attack it's self. The
beachhead looks like a cannon.

Q. What's a good way to take out a tough enemy with lots of troops?
A. The computer (on lower levels) overlooks the usefulness of fleets. It has
plenty of merchant marines though. Use this to your advantage. If you blockade
a port of a Major Nation with 6 Ship of the line. It will start to lose it's
merchant ships to your fleet and will be majorly weak. Especially if it relies
soly on overseas food and fish. Just like Industry, the Troops require food or
their life bar starts to become red. If its becomes all red they are disbanded.
Never Underestimate the Power of a Blockade.

Q. How can I lose even if I own Most of the New World?
A. You win the game if you own half of the OLD WORLD!!! If you own the New
World you're really just making it harder for the computer to win but its not
impossible for it to pull it off.

Q. Why should I establish a New World Colony?
A. I generally don't but you gain Many end of the game points if you do.

Q. How does the game score the end of the game?
A. Ok here is how the game tallies your score:
Labor
Industry
Treasure
# of Providences and Colonies
Ending Year
# of Military
# of Navy
Diplomatic Standing (did you break a lot of treaties?)
Merchant Marine
Difficulty level

Q. What's up with the level difficulty?
A. Well officially its intro, easy, medium, Hard, Impossible but I included my
understanding of how it works:
Intro (easy)
Easy (Medium)
Medium (Hard)
Hard ( 1 in 10 chance of winning)
Impossible (1 in 100 chance of winning)
If your playing for Points then you want the higher levels of the game. If your
playing for fun then Intro and Easy are the most fun.
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XV. Conclusions
________________________________
I guess there a 2 ways to play this game. For fun or for Points. I like playing
for fun so I generally don't play any higher the medium. This is a pretty good
representation of what was going on during the 1500-1800's and accurately shows
what the political climate was like in Europe. I only hope more games like Imp2
are made sometime. This game is a gem for anyone who ever loved Colonization or
Civ1 or Civ2.

I would like to thank Frog City and SSI for producing this game.
Thanks To Gamefaqs.com for putting this on their site.
Thank to everyone who help me with this guide, which appears to no one at the
moment.
This guide is copyrighted to me, myself, and I. I don't care if you uses this
on your site, but give me credit, follow the gamefaqs.com rules, and dont
charge $$$$ for this FAQ.