GAMES:Ashes of Empire

Background

Released in 1990 by Gametek, complete with a video tape which was pretty boring and didn't do much to help gameplay. The game also features a 168 page manual which is useful.

Gameplay

The game is a thinly veiled look at the how the world could have played out when the eastern bloc collapsed. You start out with 150 days to pacify the 5 republics each consisting of 8 states. Failure will make you watch the world destroyed by nuclear war. The clunky interface finds you racing through the various towns talking to and recruiting people to your cause (peace). Your goals for each state consist of a building program (build various facilities), destruction program (destroy facilities), pacification program (recruit or annihilate enemy units), and lastly the Ethnic Harmony Program (recruit a specified number of people from the various different ethnic republics).

Strategy

The game is linear although you can start from different starting states. Picking the proper people to recruit is the key to being able to win the game. The Hierarchy is for each Republic is 1 President > 4 Governors > 4 Profession Groups > 1 Profession Head > 7 team members. If you recruit a Profession Head you will automatically gain the service of his 7 team members (though you do have to find them) Successfully recruiting a Governor will give you the service of 4 profession Heads and their 7 team members for a total of 33 recruits. The ultimate is recruiting the President... You then gain the service of the entire republic, 4 governors, 16 Heads of Profession, and their 112 lackeys. A worthwhile 133 recruits. The manual shows the name of each head of state. This is the person who knows where every professional in the state is. Recruiting him will let you find the reclusive Governor or President if they happen to be in that state. If you pacify a state with a Governor or President in it they will be lost if you don't recruit them beforehand.

DosBox

Got this to run fine using Dosbox 0.65 with default settings.