Empire Deluxe Combined Edition builds its strategy around a clear objective: seize every city on the map while rival commanders pursue the same goal. Each player begins with one city, which produces units for attacking or supporting attacks on other settlements. Because opponents are competing rather than cooperating, protecting captured cities matters alongside expanding your territory.
The game’s unit sets give that contest different levels of complexity. Four built-in sets progress from Basic to Enhanced, with between six and thirty unit types; depending on the set, forces can include land, naval, air, submarine, artillery, engineer, satellite and missile units. Optional rules and victory conditions add further ways to shape a match, while maps can be virtually unlimited in size. The built-in map and scenario editor and unit-set modification editor also support customization.
Play can be solitary or against other people through hot-seat, email and network modes. Its long-running 4X wargame design centers on producing forces, capturing cities and denying the same opportunities to competing empires.
