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version 3.4
Copyright (c) 2021-2025 Elwynor Technologies
It is the Standard Year 3250, 975 years since man developed interplanetary space navigation, and 412 years since neutron flux warp technology was perfected by the ship builders of Zygor. They currently lead the industry with the state of the art ships and weapons systems.
These are good times when a Commander with a good ship and some business sense can make himself very rich. Many of the planets in the known universe are ideal for basing industries to supply the demands of the interstellar fleet. These are also times when the less scrupulous commanders can overrun a distant settlement and claim the planet for his own. It is not a good idea to leave a distant settlement unprotected and the Galactic Command (an ad hoc legal body) recommends that commanders check up on their colonists regularly.
Once you have secured your ship, it is yours to command and keep maintained. The Zygorians will outfit you with enough supplies to get you started but you will surely run out if you encounter any rogue ships. The Galactic Command recommends you find and settle some planets immediately to secure a supply source for your ship. Or you can purchase supplies from other commanders with whom you have established trade agreements.
Good luck and beware the dreaded Cybertrons at all cost.
Galactic Empire is a multi-player space game combining combat, strategy, and political/economic simulation all in one. Many players can interact in the same expansive universe at the same time - and so will dozens of non-player characters. These NPCs are either semi-harmless droids (who WILL protect themselves) and very harmful Cyborgs, a race of machines whose goal seems to be the elimination of the human race!
When you begin playing Galactic Empire you are first given an Interceptor class ship. The Interceptor is ideal to begin your quest into the Galaxy. You can seek out an ideal planet to colonize, claim it, and transport down a basic compliment of colonists and supplies.
After starting your colony give it some time to grow. Your planet will soon be large enough to generate taxes and cash in your pocket. With this cash you can purchase larger and larger ship and expand your empire.
Beware the Cybertrons, they are bent on destroying all human life in the Galaxy and are tough (but not impossible) to beat. Cybertrons may be vicious, but they do have a code; they will not attack an Interceptor or Freighter unless provoked.
The game takes place in a universe with millions of sectors and thousands of known planets. Each sector is 10000 by 10000 parsecs square. The entire navigable galaxy is 6000 by 6000 sectors numbered from the center of the galaxy to the edges. Sectors are mapped on a two coordinate system giving a galactic map that looks something like this;
+--------------------------------------+
|-3000,-3000 +3000,-3000|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| 0,0 |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|-3000,+3000 +3000,+3000|
+--------------------------------------+
Each sector is measured 10000 by 10000 parsecs square measured from the top left to bottom right as follows;
+--------------------------------------+
|0,0 0,9999|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| 5000,5000 |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|9999,0 9999,9999|
+--------------------------------------+
In each sector there may be between 0 and 9 planetary bodies. Each planet has various environmental and resource qualities. The best planet has very good resources and a very good environment.
Sector 0 0 is governed by the Galactic Command and is a declared neutral zone. This policy is maintained by the Enforcer Planet. A single hostile action by any player in this sector will be met with a swift and preemptive strike from the Galactic Commands top secret weapons base on The Enforcer Planet.
Sector 0 0 also has the first planet Zygor, the leaders in state- of-the-art weapons and ship hardware. Zygor manufactures the various ships and the weapons they carry. It is also home of the Galactic Monetary Reserve Fund, the only duly authorized financial institution in the Galaxy.
Planet number two in Sector 0 0 is Tahanian Station, a embarking station for colonists and mercenary soldiers. This is also where you can purchase food supplies.
Once out of Sector 0 0 it is a free for all, and you have to decide how to best defend yourself and your planets.
Each ship has a communications console with three separate transmission channels. You can set each to a specific channel or to the HAIL setting which permits you to receive all general hailing messages. If you create alliances you can set one radio to an agreed upon channel and have a private and secure communications path between members of your alliance.
Use the FREQ command to change the communications frequency.
Note that if the frequency is set above 32000 then it is determined to be a Hyperspace communications Packet Code and transmissions will be sent via Hyperspace to anyone with the same packet code anywhere in the Galaxy.
All directional information in Galactic Empire functions on a 360 degree compass and is strictly two dimensional. The major bearings are illustrated as follows;
315 0 45
\ | /
\|/
270----*----90
/|\
/ | \
225 180 135
BEARING - Bearing is always used to indicate where a particular ship or planet is in relation to you. It is relative to the direction you are facing and expressed in a number from -180 to +180. If a object is bearing -90, it is to the left of you, if +90 it is to the right of you, if 0 it is directly in front of you, and if - or + 180 it is directly behind you.
HEADING - Heading is the relative direction of the other ship. It is used to indicate when a ship is facing toward or away from you. A heading of 0 means the ship is facing toward you, while a heading of 180 is away from you.
GALACTIC HEADING - This is the absolute heading in the galaxy. A galactic heading of 0 means you (or the other ship) is facing north up.
In order to build up wealth you must colonize planets and maintain them. Planets are claimed by simply going into orbit around one and using the ADMIN command. You should be choosy at first about which planets you put a population on, as surviving on a poor planet can be very difficult and require frequent supply runs.
Planets are rated on two factors, resources, and environment, with the following categories, POOR, MARGINAL, GOOD, and VERY GOOD. The resources factor rates the natural resources of the planet. A rating of good or very good will insure that your population has plenty of natural resources to use in the establishment of the colony, and the manufacture of goods. The environment factor rates the hospitality of the planet and how difficult it will be for a colony to survive. A rating of good, or very good, will insure that the majority of there efforts go toward producing goods and not simply surviving.
Once you have claimed a planet you need to establish a population on it. This is done with the TRANSFER command to shuttle items from your ship to the planet. Once a colony is established they become an somewhat independent society. Anything you transfer to the planet belongs to them, you cannot transfer it back. If you wish to retrieve items from a planet you must purchase them from the planet at the base price.
It is a good idea to leave some additional items on a planet besides men. They are;
FOOD - If you fail to leave food on the planet you will find your men and troops all dead when you return next time. It is a good idea to leave a case for each 10 men & troops you have.
TROOPS - Troops are mercenaries who produce nothing but serve to defend your planet from outside attacks and prevent domestic revolts. They must be fed well, and will fight to the death when attacked.
FIGHTERS - Fighters will defend your planet from both ground troop invasions and fighter attacks. They provide a primary defense force for your planet. Your troops will not be called into action unless the fighters are all destroyed.
ION CANNON - This is a large defensive cannon which will attack any hostile ship that is in orbit around your planet. It will fire once every few seconds, and can destroy a ship in just a few blasts. An attacking ship won't stay long with an ion cannon firing upon them. You can have multiple ion cannons, but only one will be active at a time.
There are several other factors you may adjust when you establish a planet. When the planet is first established your colony is instructed to divide their efforts evenly between the manufacture of each of the commodities a planet can produce. You may wish to alter this to provide for faster population growth, and food production. Additionally, you can tax your planet at a specific rate. The harsher the tax the less the productivity. Tax is your principle source of income for purchasing supplies for your ship. This tax is kept in the planetary bank until you arrive to collect it.
Your colony will produce all the supplies you need for your ship if managed properly. These goods are cheapest at your own planets as Zygor charges three times the base rate for goods. The cash you spend on supplies goes into the planetary bank and is used to purchase more raw materials when the Galactic Command supply ships come around.
You can decide to sell supplies to other players if you like, and even mark up the price to other players. If you wish to be selective in who can purchase from your planets you can establish a trade password for your planet and only those who know the password can buy from you. This is also useful in establishing an alliance with other players where you all would set your planets to the same password and agree on the price to charge each other. Non-members will be excluded from trading with your alliance.
Remember that the better your planet, the more attractive it is to marauders. Nothing can take the place of a well rounded defense system and frequent supply runs. Leaving a planet un-checked for more than a few days may spell disaster for your colony.
Your ship is equipped with nothing when you first enter the game, you are not in any eminent danger as sector 0 0 is a neutral zone. You are provided with a light freighter and an amount of cash with which you must decide what you are going to do.
On Zygor you can purchase shield systems, phaser systems, missiles, torpedoes, fighters, decoys, and ion cannons. Note: some of these may not be available or useful on some ship classes (see HELP CLASS for more info).
On Tahanian Station you can purchase colonists (men), troops, and food. Your first goal should be to secure an income for yourself, and therefore provide a source for taxes you will need to expand your empire, and keep your ships fully stocked. To do this you should purchase men, troops, food, and some fighters. Locate as good a planet as you can find and colonize it. It is advisable that you steer clear of other ships unless you know they are friendly.
An alternative, albeit somewhat immoral, strategy is to purchase weapons and lie waiting for other ships to leave sector 0 0. When they do mount an attack and upon destroying their ship, gain what remains of the supplies on their ship. After several successful attacks you may have enough to colonize a planet or two.
When you do colonize a planet you should redirect the majority of the effort to producing men, food, and troops, and gaining cash with which you can purchase larger and more powerful ships and expand your empire.
Remember, these are only a couple suggested strategies, and others are only limited by your imagination.
The flexibility of Galactic Empire precludes an exhaustive discussion of all the strategies involved in user versus user battling. Some suggestions are simply put forth here to get you started.
When in a potential battle situation make sure your shields are up, and keep moving. The easiest target is a ship with shields down, sitting still.
If you have a cloaking system use it sparingly as it consumes incredible amounts of energy, it is most useful in covering a retreat.
If you have incoming torpedoes you can ditch them easily by making a jump to light speed provided you have warp drive. This does not work for missiles though as they too can go hyperspace.
Launching decoys does not guarantee that the incoming missiles or torpedoes will be destroyed. Launching more decoys than incoming weapons increases the chance of destroying an incoming weapon.
When launching an attack try to get close to the target and use the faster torpedoes as they will have less time to react.
If a target goes to light speed be prepared to make the jump with him and use Hyper-Phasers as soon as you pass warp 1.
If you get hit with a Hyper-Phaser immediately go into a series of 180 degree high speed turns as your opponent will have difficulty locating you. Go out of light speed in another sector and immediately cloak as a last ditch effort to loose your pursuers.
Form alliances to help protect each other from marauders. Remember two ships are twice as powerful as one.
When you are under attack you cannot EXIT the game to avoid your attackers. If you hang-up while you are under attack your ship will be destroyed. Remember "Death before Dishonor"!!
If you are damaged try to make it back to sector 0 0 or to one of your own planets where you can get your ship repaired with the MAINT command. Remember the cost for everything is much more expensive in Sector 0 0.
When you kill another ship you will get some of his goods on his ship. This can be very helpful when you are running low.
Planets can defend themselves with troops, fighters, and ion cannons. If you have no troops or fighters then your planet can be easily overrun.
FIGHTERS are Nova Class Battle Fighters commanded by a fully automated tactical computer. They have inboard and outboard photon cannons capable of powerful and deadly offensive and defensive attacks. When pitted against troops the fighter is deadly, capable of taking out between 10 and 50 troops in a pass. When pitted against other fighters they are fairly evenly matched.
TROOPS are trained mercenaries, and serve no other function than the defense or attack on a planet. The consume food, maintain there skills, and mostly play cards. But when needed they will fight to the death.
ION CANNONS are the very powerful fixed focus, ion-plasma transmitters, capable of taking out a Star Class ship with only a few strikes. They are strictly defensive weapons controlled by a fully automated system. When the planet comes under attack they will automatically locate the attacker and commence firing upon the ship.
When attacking a planet you are always at a disadvantage, as the local troops and fighters are better supported and fresh. Knowing this you should always plan on commencing a battle with superior numbers.
Begin with a fighter attack. If they have no fighters you will overpower the troops rather quickly. If they have fighters you will be in a better position to do battle.
After each wave your fighters or troops will return to your ship. If you wish to send them back you can do so. Remember, you will not take a planet so long as 1 fighter or 1 squad of troops (5) exists on the planet.
Cyborgs are a race of automatons which are bent on the destruction of all humans from the universe. They command a class of ship manufactured specifically for them, the Cybertron. Both pilot and ship function as a single fighting unit and they can be quite deadly.
The Cybertron is armed with phasers, and torpedoes, but has no missile capability. They can be deadly in hyperspace with hyper-phasers, but cannot recycle the phaser as fast as most other ships. Cybertrons are prone to battle failure, and they will malfunction occasionally. This is often noted by strange transmissions from their ship.
The top speed of a Cybertron is warp 8.0 so they can be out run with a faster ship. They will however continue seeking, and if you stay too long in a single spot, they will catch up. The larger the ship the more cybertrons that will be dispatched to intercept it. It is not advisable to get caught in a sector with a swarm of cybertrons surrounding you.
Finally, Cybertrons will not attack smaller ships unless first provoked, so don't mess with them unless you know what you are doing.
Scores are based upon the size of your empire and the number and class of kills you have accumulated is ship to ship combat. Each class of ship is worth a different number of points as detailed below;
Interceptor 10 Light Freighter 25 Heavy Freighter 75 Destroyer 150 Star Cruiser 200 Battle Cruiser 250 Frigate 300 Dreadnought 500 Cybertron 75 Cyberquad 200
Additionally you are awarded as a bonus, a small percentage of the killed players score on top of the ship points.
Finally, when you kill another player, his score goes also This means that you can actually knock him down on the top player list making it easier to overtake him (or pass him further).
Wormholes are fairly rare galactic anomalies caused by a paired spatial singularity. The effect it to create a means of "leaping" across the galaxy to another sector. To navigate through a wormhole you must carefully approach it directly at about 1/4 impulse. You will be pulled into the wormhole and emerge at the terminal sector. If you approach too fast you will simply miss the event horizon. If you approach too slow you may oscillate between terminal sectors. Each time you pass through a wormhole some damage to systems may occur. Passing through a wormhole while severely damaged is not recommended. Wormholes are usually by-directional but an even rarer form of one way wormhole has been speculated to exist.
There are many, many commands in the game that have descriptions in the in-game help.
Galactic Empire has three MSG files, with the bulk of the SysOp configuration taking place in the main file, ELWGE.MSG. There you can input your game activation code, set the key required to play, and customize a significant amount of game telemetry. These customizations range beyond text blocks; they allow you to define weights of transported goods, costs of items and upgrades, and even add/configure ships, ship classes, cybertrons, and more. Take care to read the information about each option before changing them.
NOTE: Some options cannot be changed without resetting the data files! The data files are shipped blank, along with the VIR files which are also blank. To reset the game, just copy the VIR files to the DAT extension, and the game will regenerate at the next startup.
Simply unzip the archive to your BBS server directory, add Galactic Empire to your menu, configure the MSG file to your liking, and start the BBS! It's that easy!
Galactic Empire is one of the classic games for The Major BBS, first becoming available during the v5.x era, and potentially sooner. It was written by Michael B. Murdock and sold under the M.B. Murdock & Associates third party development company. It began as Galactic War, became Galactic Raiders (which continued briefly to be sold as a separate module, lacking the cybertron players but having many of the regular multiuser game features), and finally ended up as only Galactic Empire. The module's last version, version 3.2e, was released in 1994, during the Major BBS 6.25 timeframe. For whatever reason, the game never received any updates after that. Or any of the other MBM addons to our knowledge.
Elwynor Technologies completed a port of this module in 2006 after making an arrangement with Mike Murdock to take over MBM products.
It was first released to the public in 2021, 28 years after its last release, supporting Worldgroup 3.2. This version adds support for The Major BBS V10, and was released in 2025.
This project is licensed under the AGPL v3. Additional terms apply to contributions and derivative projects. Please see the LICENSE file for more details.
We welcome contributions from the community. By contributing, you agree to the terms outlined in the CONTRIBUTING file.
If you create an entirely new project based on this work, it must be licensed under the AGPL v3, assign all right, title, and interest, including all copyrights, in and to your fork to Rick Hadsall and Elwynor Technologies, and you must include the additional terms from the LICENSE file in your project's LICENSE file.
This is a Worldgroup 3.2 / Major BBS v10 module. It's compiled using Borland C/C++ 5.0 for Worldgroup 3.2. If you have a working Worldgroup 3.2 development kit, a simple "make -f ELWGE" should do it! For Major BBS v10, import this project folder in the isv/ subtree of Visual Studio 2022, right click the project name and choose build! When ready to build for "release", ensure you are building for release.
The DIST folder includes all of the items that should be packaged up in a ELWGE.ZIP. When unzipped in a Worldgroup 3.2 or Major BBS V10 installation folder, it "installs" the module.