I tend to agree, because the changes seem to be only very small. The reason I still have my doubts are mainly of technical nature: high system requirements (concerning both hardware and operating system).

This is offcourse a personal view, I can not argue about system requirements since I have a relative new system and nearly anything new will run on it.

I'm just very happy that the my favorite game is back in good shape and I can look forward to new versions of it.

That (as pointed out earlier in another recent thread you won't have read, because it doesn't say 'Empire Deluxe' in the topic line ) is of course relative, but since the original version runs on at least a 386 (maybe 'less', I don't know), I strongly dislike how system requirements have been bloated up without any need for it. Unnecessary system requirement are one of my pet hates - I strongly dislike the new version of Star Control 2 for the very same reason!

And that is exactly the statement I'll probably never understand (along with the question what the point of this 'new version' is), because I think it has always been.

Hehe, I do read other threads, I just don't have the time to anwser/post in other threads at the moment.



The point of this new version is simple, remove in game bugs, remove known cheating options, provide internet play and prepare the community for a new version of Empire.

There are problems that make it impossible to run the game on more recent versions of windows OSses and this release makes it work on most of them.

Making it incompatible with a lot of other systems at the same time.

That might be true, but htey were never supported so it was luck that made it work on those systems.

A 386 running MS-DOS was never officially supported by Empire Deluxe? Wow, now that is news!

Back then, if it wasn't officially supported by MS-DOS, then it had to be supported by Windows 3.# or else nobody would be able to play with it... And even so, all the programs were programmed first to be compatible with MS-Dos. Having a game able to work under Windows was a bonus.

Ok, let me correct myself Empire Deluxe for Windows. I have been talking here about the windows version, but since you need to make absoluty clear what you mean, I'll say it again I was talking about the windows version.

So the Windows version isn't supported on MS-DOS

As you have read in another thread about ED, the Windows version is unusable for many people (including me) even in Windows. When the game first came out, nobody used Windows for games. The Windows version isn't the original one. The Windows version is uglier. And so on, and so on. Talking about the original, you can't restrict it to the crappy Windows version. Besides, even if you did, my point remains: the old Windows version (supposedly, I never saw any need to try it) works on a 386 running Windows 3.1, this "Internet Edition" doesn't.

That my point, it was unusable in many windows version, this new version fixes this for the the more up to date windows versions. The new version doesn't run on older windows versions but then again a lot af new games don't, I think support for windows 3.1 and the likes was dropped since there is only a small market for products that work on them.

I never thought of the windows version as beining crappy. I always played it on windows because it was believe it or not faster and more user friendly. I know for a fact that the windows version runs on a 486 DX2.

Correct, but you can't do multiplay with 6 players simultanious over the internet with it correct? The point is, this is a new 'intermediate' product with new features, more reports, better paths, ... but with the same game rules.

We'll never agree on the basics I guess, but now you brought up something else:So is it a new game or a new version of an old game?

Good question, and its both, depending on how you look at it, but I presume you are asking me the question and what I think of it. So it thats the question, then no its not a new game as I said, its more of a addon for me, and a way to get new versions of my favorite game.

If it's not a new game, it shouldn't be compared to new games concerning system requirements. Simple as that.

But some of the features that are new might require it, anyhow, I guess (haven't tried it, due to lack of slower system ) you could disable the sound and this would be much better, and I guess it could run on slower systems.

And thats what I though you would say, it was a catch-22 question, whatever I anwsered I knew it would be the wrong anwser.

None of the answers were 'wrong', I would just have had objections to both. This way, it's clear the system requirements are bloated. The other way, I would simply have stopped caring, because it's just another uninteresting new game. That doesn't make any of it 'wrong', though.

So 'wrong' was a bad choise of words, 'objections' as you stated was far more suited I shall grant you that