Empire Classic Client
Empire Classic > ECC Download | Wish List

The Empire Classic Client (ECC) is being developed by Geary Epply, using the Microsoft .NET Framework. The client is a TELNET client, which concurrently draws a graphical map showing islands you know about and your ships. You can enlarge the map - zoom in, zoom out and select islands on the map. Islands you occupy are colored differently from islands you are just aware of.

Download ECC 0.01 Alpha which requires the Microsoft .NET Framework.

Description and Screen Shots

Here is a screen shot of the client screen, prior to signon.

You connect to the empire server from the FILE menu (Connect) option. When you select connect, you get a connect screen.

Here's a screenshot of the entire client screen after signon.

The left half of the screen is a normal TELNET terminal, with the input field at the bottom of the screen. Mail and Radio messages are captured in the upper left corner, and the lower right is the graphical world map.

The map is initially blank, since the client has no knowledge of any islands. If you execute the ISLAND INDEX command, then islands appear on the map as green rectangles. The rectangles are light green for islands you have visited, and dark green for islands you have not.

Here is the client, after doing an ISLAND INDEX.

Double clicking on the map expands it to a large window. Double clicking again shrinks it back into the lower right corner.

You can zoom in or pan out with control-left-click and control-right-click respectively. The map automatically centers on the cursor location. The following sequence demonstrates zoom.

Here is the map before we zoom.

Here is the center of Mountainia after 1 zoom.

Here it is after another zoon.

When you position the cursor over an island, the island name and sumber are displayed in an information box (see above).

Next, we want to populate some detail on an island. In order for ECC to know what the sectors of an island are, we need to go to the island and do a visual. ECC remembers the island terrain, ownership and sector designations.

Here's the client after a visual on island #25.

If we do visuals on a number of islands, and then double click the map to enlarge is, this is what we see,

If we zoom in further on island #25, a grid appears on the island.

ECC will also remember the last seen position of ships. It obtains ship locations whenever you use the SHIP command. It displays the ship's fleet number, and draws a red line indicating the fleet's course.

Here is a screen shot showing the course of fleet 33.

This is what a subsection of the expanded map, showing the course of fleet 33.

An interesting feature of ECC is the ability to insert a world location from the map into the command stream. In the example above, the destination for fleet 33 was entered by doing a shift-left-click on the map, which cause the location being pointed to by the cursor to be inserted into the command line.

Now let's go look at a region of the world where a fleet is busy assaulting an island. This next picture shows fleet #17 sailing to join fleet #7, while ships belonging to fleet #807 and #907 in various positions around island #91. It also shows fleet #27 just north of Island #136, with ships from fleet #727 scattered around island #136. Below island #136 is island #127 - with no ships nearby.

Here is island #91, zoomed in, with the cursor over the capitol. Note the information box. You can no more closely tell where the ships of fleets #807 and #907 are. On this map the tan sector are owned by me, the yellow sectors are owned by other nations, green is mountains, white is water and red is my capitol.

Here is a screen shot after I set course on one ship in fleet #807.

 

Empire Classic > ECC Download | Wishlist