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Imperialism is definetely the best game ever !

Even now it is the only game I play regularly. One or two times in the year I am in the fever and have to play it, even I know all the moves inside out.

It's so frustrating that no later game was able to reach the high strategic level of imperialism, especially Imperialism II was near to calumny...I was so disappointed because I expected a game at the eye level.

The only drop of bitterness is the really bad KI. To make it more challenging I have to declare war on all great powers right after first round.

To give you guys a good advice: The first rounds wood is important but then the only thing what counts is producing steel. Dont conquer minor nations in the beginning but select the ones with the most iron/coal and make as many as you can satisfy to your favorite trade partners ! With this tactics you can make lots of money in the beginning and in the later game the steel-industry will bring you the victory !

But in all the years, there is one question I still have: Is it somehow possible to use the multiplayer-mode via LAN or even online? I tried it several times but it didnt work... playing against other humans would be so magnificent !

[jamotide]

Originally Posted by Churchill

Imperialism is definetely the best game ever !

Even now it is the only game I play regularly. One or two times in the year I am in the fever and have to play it, even I know all the moves inside out.

This could have been written by me. After two years of playing this nearly nonstop and still not getting tired of it, I have to agree, best game ever.
Recently I moved to Nigh on Impossible and its not that much harder than hard.

The best hint for new players is to build a ship of the line as soon as possible, then the computer players will leave you alone or even ally with you. You need to have this ship at least once you see the other nations form alliances in the newspaper. If you dont, they will gang up on you.
If you do, you will get alliance offers and once the war starts, you should not break your alliance, or you will be next.

Once you have the ship, the most important thing is industrialization of your provinces. By that I do not mean connecting ressources. If you have lots wood or cotton in a province and you build a depot on or next to the city tile of a province, you will get free lumber, or even free furniture! This stuff if completely free , does not require labour and is not deducted from the ressources.
So, if you have lots of forest in a province, build a depot on the city or near it and then expand your furniture industry up to 20. Especially in the beginning the free lumber and furniture will give you a huge boost.
This works with steel, too, but you need coal and iron in a province to get free stuff. This is of course the jackpot, since steel is the most important ressource.
You do not need to connect the ressources and you should not, since it is too costly and requires much labor, buy coal,iron or steel instead. You should however upgrade the ressources, even the not connected ones, since that gives more free stuff.
I think industrialiazation is the most important and most motivating aspect of the game.

Edit: Your capital province will not industrialize, so build it in a poor province. The best location is in a poor province, but on a tile next to lumber or cotton from another province, this gives you immediate resources to work on and does not take stuff from industrialization. Unlike in Imp 2, food is not very important for the starting location.