Starlord - Published by MicroProse Ltd RRP œ49.99
          (Game of 'galactic domination' for the PC)

              Reviewed on the IBM PC by Roy Sims

As the box says, Starlord is a game of galactic domination, set
within an unnamed spiral arm galaxy. The aim of the game is to
become Emperor by making alliances or conquering other Starlords
who also inhabit the galaxy. As usual, it isn't actually that
straightforward. Starlords seize their chance to become Emperor
all the time during this game. It's a reasonably regular
occurrence.  However, none of them last very long and they are
soon deposed by a rival. The secret to ruling the galaxy is to
have all five Throne Stars occupied by members of your own Dynasty
before you take on the current Emperor. What are Throne Stars? And
what has a badly acted American soap opera got to do with the
latest strategy epic from MicroProse?

Let's take a time out for a moment (excuse the Americanism) and
have a quick history lesson. Starlord was originally a Play By
Mail game invented and run by the now semi-legendary Mike
Singleton way back in the very early 1980s. The conversion to
computer was originally announced back in 1989 for the ST and
Amiga. The adverts began appearing in PC magazines a year ago, and
the cover disk demos materialised some six months later. Finally,
the game has now been released, but was it worth the wait? More on
that later.

I've already mentioned Throne Stars. These are effectively the
home bases for Kings or Queens (you can choose the sex of your
Starlord at the start of the game). There are many other different
types of 'star' to be found within the galaxy, and each one has a
specific job to do. For example, Farm Stars manufacture food,
Reactor Stars produce fuel, Port Stars construct starfighters and
so on. These are known collectively as 'Production Atars' and they
can only be owned by the lowest ranking Lords. The next rank up
from a Lord is an Earl, then a Duke then a King. To improve your
rank you must conquer the Base Star of a Starlord with a higher
rank than your own. To do this you need lots of starfighters,
mercenaries and the resources they need to travel and fight. These
resources include food, water, minerals, artifacts and fuel. If
you run low on these items the mercenaries will desert your fleet
and you won't be able to use your fighters in battle. Resources
can be bought and sold throughout the galaxy. Anyone from Earl
upwards can earn an income from taxes. They can also buy resources
cheaper through their family connections and this can save you a
lot of money most of the time (down to half price more often than
not!).

You plan your route across the galaxy on a handy map. En-route to
a galaxy a number of random events can occur. Some can be
beneficial whilst others aren't. Try the following for example:
You help some ships in trouble and receive free supplies in return
but go way off course, a software error causes your fighters to
collide with each other and you lose a large number of them, a
pacifist religious cult visits your Base Star whilst you are away
and persuades some of your pilots to destroy their ships, or an
enemy spy is given a public execution and this rallies your loyal
subjects to donate more money into your coffers. There are loads
more examples that can crop up. Many won't happen until you begin
to get more powerful (sabotage, assassination attempts, being
framed for kidnapping to name just a few).

Battles can be played in two ways. You can either choose a 'Quick
Battle' where the computer will look at your fleet and the enemy's
and decide who won, or you can choose to participate in a 'Full
Battle' which involves a few extra strategic decisions as well as
a foray into a realtime 3D battle. The 3D battles are very
impressive to watch, because they utilise lots of the different
camera angles and fly by views available in all of MicroProse's
flight simulators. A nice rendition of 'Mars Bringer of War' from
'Holst's - The Planets Suite' plays via the Soundblaster during
these confrontations and it adds a lot to the atmosphere. You can
jump in and take manual control of the battle but they can get
very hectic so be warned. After the first two or three battles I
switched to the 'Quick Battle' option to get the results.

Incidentally, if you lose a battle then all the money and
resources you were carrying will be lost along with the

starfighters or mercenaries who were fighting for you. You are
also automatically sent back to your own Base Star to lick your
wounds.

Diplomacy can play an important part. When travelling to a 'star'
owned by someone else you will always enter a simple conversation
upon arrival. If the Starlord who owns the planet is a sworn enemy
of your family then you won't get many options other than to hurl
insults at each other and go to war. Sometimes the owner doesn't
even give you the chance to say anything before he or she goes
into the pre-battle tactics. However, on occasions you will get
the chance to make a pact or alliance with another family and this
can turn them into useful friends. All families begin as Neutral.
Their stance towards you can change many times throughout your
campaign.  You might get the chance to bury the hatchet with a
enemy who will then become Neutral again. All of the information
related to the families is available via an information database.
You have to study this wisely and calculate who to make friends
with and who you should try and conquer.

As you might have guessed by now, families play an important role
in Starlord. For example, say you began as a Lord and managed to
conquer an Earl at his Base Star. The Earl would be executed and
you would take over his title and his star. In turn, you place
your son (or daughter) as Lord of the Base Star you previously
owned.  You also give them a share of your resources and money and
then leave them to it whilst you continue gallivanting around the
galaxy.  If you chose to play in 'Dynasty Mode' then you can jump
into that person at any time and take charge. If they are left
alone they will begin to do their own thing and start conquering
other Lords etc. This way your Dynasty can grow in size and power
and expand amongst the stars.

There are three scenarios to choose from at the start. The first
"In the beginning" is set at a time when the galaxy is in chaos.
No one family rules out right so any Dynasty has the chance to
seize power. The second scenario depicts a fairly even power
struggle and the last throws you into a situation where a
tyrannical family is just a few steps away from ruling the cosmos
for ever - and you have to try and stop them! Having chosen a
scenario you can then choose which rank you begin the game at from
Lord through to King.  You can choose to be a male or female
Starlord and you can also enter any name you wish and choose the
colours on your heraldic shield.

Starlord sounds quite involved and it is. There's lots of things
to keep an eye on and the feeling of participating in a living,
breathing galaxy is quite impressive. Starlords are battling away
at each other all the time. You get regular updates on events,
letting you know if a family member has just conquered an old ally
and turned them into an enemy! Thanks to a series of menu options
on the galactic map screen you can look at the results of recent
battles, see where each family is concentrating its efforts, and
see where all the important stars are located (like the Throne
Stars). In the very centre of the galaxy lies Imperium - capture
that and you will be Emperor!

The bitmap graphics in Starlord are poor by PC standards. The
palette is drab and the pictures have been anti-aliased to look
soft and slightly blurry. You get used to the style after a while
but it was a little off putting at first. The entire game is
played through a drop down menu system that can be accessed by
mouse or keyboard. I found keyboard a lot easier. Each command
also has its own hot-key so after a while you can quickly and
easily access the menus and screens you want with just a few
simple key presses.

Conquering the galaxy is a big challenge and at the start it can
seem rather daunting. Fortunately, you can save the game as many
times as you like. The only time you can't save is en-route to a
star or immediately after a battle has been declared. There aren't
any apparent restrictions on the number of saves allowed (thank
goodness). However, for all of its good points there are a few
bugs that I've found. They don't ruin the game, but they should
have been spotted and ironed out before release irrespective of
their triviality. Once you know what they are you can work a way
around them. The other thing that slightly disappointed me was
that the first scenario was rather easy to complete. Just spending
an hour or two an evening for a week enabled me to conquer all
five Throne Stars and defeat the current Emperor to become ruler
of the Galaxy. Leaping from one rank to the next is relatively
easy once you've been promoted to a Duke. I'm assuming that the
other two scenarios are a harder challenge. I hope so.

So, was it worth the wait? Well, I did enjoy completing the first
scenario, but I don't know if the others will be as good. I
suspect that ultimately the game might become repetitive. The 3D
battles are impressive to watch but not so good to play and they
drag out the battles for far too long. Starlord isn't perfect but
it is playable and you do get some satisfaction when you defeat
your sworn enemies and take over their titles, stars and
resources. The artificial intelligence for the other families and
for your own family members not under your direct control makes it
feel more like a true multi-player experience which is, after all,
where the original P.B.M came from. Starlord is a solid game which
is definitely worth a look, just as long as you don't expect a
deep strategic challenge and don't mind the odd bug or three!


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