How do I play?
Where can I get a terminal emulator?

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How do I play?

Before you can play Empire Classic, you need a couple of things. 1) You need TELNET client software (or terminal emulator software). 2) You need to locate a server which has a game running on it.

Locating a TELNET client should be easy. Windows has one built into it's DOS prompt, and all UNIX versions have one accessible from the command interpreter. Simply type TELNET followed by the server name.

The server is more problematic. Since Empire Classic was written to run on an HP3000 computer, there is only one known HP3000 which provides public access from the Internet for Empire players. This one server usually has several games running concurrently. You can find out what those games are by referencing the web site HP3000.empireclassic.com.

To play in a game, you will need to connect to this host over the Internet by typing
TELNET HP3000.empireclassic.com

There are almost always 5 public games active. The game you access depends on the account you logon to using your TELNET client. To logon, you need to use the MPE HELLO command. When you TELNET to HP3000.empireclassic.com, the system will respond with EMPIRECLASSIC:
You need to sign onto one of the active games by entering one of the following commands:

HELLO PLAYER.EMPIRE1
HELLO PLAYER.EMPIRE2
HELLO PLAYER.EMPIRE3
HELLO PLAYER.EMPIRE4
HELLO PLAYER.EMPIRE5

After you hit return, the HP3000 will sign you on, and then automatically run the Empire game.

The first question Empire will ask is...
What is your nation's name or number?

In response to this question, you should select the name of your nation in the game. Empire will not find you in its database, and will ask if you are a new nation. You should respond YES. Empire will then ask what you want your password to be. Enter a password (which will not display on your screen) and then remember it!

Use this player name and password on subsequent visits to the empire server.

You are welcome to play in multiple games, and you may have multiple nations in a single game, however, you should not "flood" the game with large numbers of nations thus locking out other potential players. It is not uncommon for a single person to manage more than one nation - often giving the two nations very different playing styles (one might be helpful and cooperative, the other unreasonable and aggressive).

Where can I get a terminal emulator?

Empire Classic is played using a terminal emulator with "TELNET" or "VT/Mgr" protocol (TELNET usually comes free with many operating systems, but the "free" one is usually limited to VT-100 emulation.) If you do not have a terminal emulator that uses one of these protocols, you can download one that uses TELNET from: QCTerm (www.aics-research.com/emulate.html) from AICS-Research, (Version 0.96g as of 11 July 2002.) Once you have configured your terminal emulator (works best if configured as an HP terminal).

Another excellent HP terminal emulator is Reflections from WRQ. I prefer Reflections with VT/MGR (www.wrq.com/products/reflection/win/rhp/) but unfortunately the product is quite expensive. They used to offer a 60 day trial, so you might want to at least use it for 60 days. The one feature this emulator has is "type ahead", which I think is a must.

There is also an experimental client using Microsoft .NET technologies called ECC (Empire Classic Client).