Empire - Previous Versions

Introduction

The Empire variant was created in 1996 and has now reached what I consider its final version. Though the variant has changed quite a lot, the 10 original powers are still there, though some have undergone more drastic changes than others.

Design of Empire - Choosing the Powers

Ever since the success of my Modern variant, I had wanted to design a North-American variant along the same lines. One aspect of Modern's appeal was that it was taking place in the present - starting in 1995. I therefore started to envisage the break-up of North-America, circa 1999...

Breaking Up the United States

Carving up the US into powers was simple enough. I went through the list of the most populated states, and ended up with California, Texas, New York, Florida and Illinois. These were nicely spread out, and I considered making a 5-player variant out of it. The downsides were:

Two separate seas with only one west coast power
Limited naval access to neutral SCs
Being Canadian, I wanted to include Canada

An Independant Quebec And...

Quebec was a natural for a power, as it already has a strong nationalist movement and a distinct culture. In the west, California needed a neighbour, so British Columbia was merged with Alberta to form a Western Canadian power, with Vancouver as its capital. I hesitated about including Ontario as well, as it is the most populated Canadian province, and my home province, but decided against it as things would have been too crowded in the north-east, and I couldn't really justify 3 Canadian powers to only 5 American ones.

Rounding it Off - Latin Power

In the south, Mexico was an obvious choice, though it had to be reduced both to add neutral SCs and to make its size commensurate with others in the game. I also couldn't resist making Cuba a power, because of its continual 'thorn in the side' situation vis-a-vis the United States. Plus, its position as an island nation introduced a bit of variety on the map. Finally, for strategic reasons, I wanted to include Panama on the map so that fleets could go from the Atlantic to the Pacific in the south as well as the north of the map. I hesitated on including Peru/Colombia, but finally opted for it, as otherwise there would have been a void in the south, I believe, and a lack of opposition for Cuba and Mexico.

A North American Variant - What's Its Name?

Empire has now been playtested by over 30 different players, and I have gotten invaluable comments from many of them at different points in time. One of the most interesting discussions was the one carried on in the first two test games, Amerigo and Columbus, to find a name for the variant.

Here are some of the names we came up with:

Mousna - Modern US and North America, or Mous North America for some players.
NaModern
CanAmDip
Columbian Dip
New World Dip
Monroe Diplomacy (from James Monroe's doctrine that Europeans should not interfere in the Western Hemisphere).

I wanted something catchy and ended up picking something myself...

What About the Powers?

Coming up with the names of the 10 powers was a bit tough. The idea was to have each power start with a different letter, so that its first letter could be used on the judge. Although some power names, like Quebec and Texas, were obvious, at times it almost seemed easier to have all powers start with the letter 'C':

California
Cuba
Colombia - now named Peru
Chicago or Central US- alternatives to Heartland
Canada or Cascadia - instead of BC

Another interesting problem was caused by the judge limiting the number of characters in a power name to 9 letters, one shorter than needed for California. The problem was eventually fixed, but California went through the early stages as AmeriCal. Ugh!

Perhaps the most controversial power name was Heartland. Some people just hated it and others loved it. I myself wavered back and forth, but as no suitable replacement name came through, I ended up keeping it. For those who want to know, it was suggested by someone living in the area.

Empire Maps

You can find all the maps for the official versions Empire went through here.

Mousna	NaModern	Empire
Empire2	Empire3	Empire4, final version

History of Changes

As this is can be quite dry, I've separated the history of changes into 3 sections:

Changes in starting positions
Detailed list of changes - Empire and later only
Graphical view of changes by area - Coming Soon!

Test Games

The results of the first completed test games are as follows:

Amerigo on USIT (defunct) was the only game played using the Mousna version of the map. It ended in a 3-way draw between BC, Quebec and Mexico (played by James Gemmill, Simon Withers and Craig Thomson/Robert Thierny).
Columbus on USIT and CAWA was the only game played using the second version of the map, called NaModern. Columbus finished in a 4-way NoDIAS draw between BC, Colombia, Cuba and Heartland (played by Chris Fridrich, Robert Baumgartner, Milos Rancic and Nate Johnston).
Cristoba on USTR with the Empire version of the map. The game ended in a California solo win. Congratulations to Simon Withers on obtaining the first Empire win!
Cartier on USTR with the Empire version of the map. The game ended with a 4-way draw between California, Mexico, Peru and Quebec (played by Jerry McGoveran, Simon Withers, Jeff Ladd and David Ritter). Quebec was the dominant power in the game, reaching 27 SCs before being stopped.
Manitoba on USTR with the Empire2 version of the map. The game ended with a 4-way draw between California, Florida, NewYork and Peru (played by Lynn Mercer, Simon Withers, Jackie Fei and Cliff McKeithen). NewYork was stopped one SC short of the win by the alliance of the 20 SC Peru and the small powers of California and Florida.
Vespucci on USTR with the Empire version of the map. The game ended in a solo victory for Eric Person, playing Peru, who was allied with a strong Mexico most of the game.
Antilles on USTR with the Empire3 version of the map. Though the game was marred in the first two years by a single person playing Quebec, Florida and NewYork, and the next 15 years proceded smoothly, with Murray Grelis earning a convincing solo victory for NewYork.

The following other test games were run:

Leif on USTR with the Empire version of the map.
Yucatan on USTR with the Empire2 version of the map.
Jamaica on USTR with the Empire3 version of the map.
Plymouth on USTR with the Empire3 version of the map.
Mercury on USTR with the Empire4 version of the map.
Jupiter on USTR with the Empire4 version of the map.
Neptune on USTR with the Empire4 version of the map.
Venus on USTR with the Empire4 version of the map.
Uranus on USTR with the Empire4 version of the map.

Special Thanks

While it's impossible to thank everyone that helped me in testing Empire, I will try. Let me first start by giving a special thanks to Nick Fitzpatrick and David Norman, the JKs of the judges on which Empire was tested. Their help was invaluable in getting the many versions up and running, as well as providing me with comments on the various map versions.

Next, a special thanks to Rick Desper, Todd Oliver, Toby Tyrrell and Simon Withers for kibbitzing with me throughout the development of Empire and to Chris Fridrich, Michael G Johnson, Jeff Ladd, David Ritter and Jeff Serandos for their help in balancing specific regions of the map or their detailed comments on specific games.

Finally, I'd like to thank everyone that played in the many test games, both for playing, and sending me comments from time to time. Your help was invaluable as well!

If I've forgotten to mention you, don't feel shy - send me a note and I'll add you to the list above!