Colonial Conquest
The best of SSI, for me, was their take on imperialism, Colonial Conquest.
What makes Colonial Conquest special? In a sense, it was a game ahead of its time. SSI called it a wargame, but it wasn’t, really. It was a strategy game before that category really existed. Grognards would complain that , for example, there were no rules of supply. Indeed, the game would have historically implausible events occurring like an invasion of African by Japan. They didn’t get it. That was part of the fun. In hindsight, many view history in 20/20 vision. But, at the time, things seem pretty dang random. Supply lines…well, sure and all, but they would have impinged on the fun of the game.
And Colonial Conquest was about fun, first and foremost. It was great fun to try to take over the world. I can only imagine how much fun multiplayer must have been all gathered around the computer working out deals and diplomacy behind the scenes. Even in single player, it was fun. Family Computing, one of the last of the general-interest computing magazines that had proliferated in the early 1980s, named it game of the year. Think about that. Not strategy game or wargame of the year, but game of the year. It deserved it, too.
I played CC in two formats. I purchased it first on the Commodore 64. It was one of my first purchases. It took me a little bit to get it (I had to actually read the manual!), but, when I did it, it was love. Speaking of the manual, it was great. I especially loved the background essay about imperialism. It is one of the things that developed my love for history. My M.A. in history owes a little bit to the game.
I bought the Atari ST version when I got my ST. SSI had lots of canceled ST titles that I would have loved to have seen (Imperium Galactum, Sons of Liberty, Panzer Strike!, Realms of Darkness,….) but I am so thankful that CC was produced and that it was a great conversion. The mouse was a huge improvement over the joystick and, quite frankly, seeing your colonies fill in with your national color when you conquered them? That was awesome.
I remember thinking of things I’d like to see. Changing borders was at the top of the list. That didn’t come about in a game until Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri some dozen years later. I never wanted a better military model. I never wanted to be able to zoom down to the hex level and move units around. I wanted a strategic and political simulation. I’ve never really gotten what I wanted, but Colonial Conquest comes pretty much the closest. It’s no longer my favorite game of all time, but it’s still in the top 10, and it is my favorite game of the ‘80s. When I enjoy an iteration of Civilization or Europa Universalis today, I often think back to SSI and Colonial Conquest. Dan Cermak, thank you for developing this game. Andromeda Software, thank you for the ST port.
I still fire up the ST version in emulation and have tried out the other versions released (Apple II and Atari 8-bit). The ST remains my favorite.
Here is the best fan page for this game. It gets my highest recommendation:
http://www.ludd.luth.se/~joshua/colonial/colonial.html
Additionally, there has been a remake made. You can find information about it here: