War of Worlds

History

War of Worlds! was one of the two games for The Major BBS based upon the game PolEcon by Demetrius Cross (the other being Logicom's Galactiwars). PolEcon was a BBS door game from the mid 1980s. Richard Skurnick realized the potential for the game and obtained permission to develop a game based upon it. That game was War of Worlds, which was always very popular on systems hosting it.

Later, a version called "Tri-WOW" was developed. This was the War of Worlds! game, but with three separate concurrent games going at once in the same modules. It was like having three separate copies of the module running simultaneously. The benefit of this was to allow the Sysop to encourage players to join into games more often, and allow games to run longer. The main drawback of single WOW was that users would have to wait to get in on a game if they didn't join in the first few turns - this could last several months. With Tri-WOW, the Sysop could start a new game every month, without having to end mature games.

War of Worlds! was sold until the Galacticomm acquisition, and never after. It is unclear if the Tri-WOW version was ever marketed.

Game Information

In this interplanetary war simulation of the far future, each player starts with his/her own planet – the challenge is to become the sole ruler of the universe! Beginning with a small population, the basic resources (oil, radium, steel), and a few defensive missiles, the rules strategically builds up his/her own little world through intergalactic trading with other rulers and the forming of temporary "alliances". The advanced economic structure of this simulated universe allows planets to place bids on public auctions, auction off their own resources and products to gain capital, and participate in the elaborate system of stocks controlled by "Central Control" (the moderator of the game). "Central Control" also allows players to borrow "cubits" – the universal currency – but, if they don't pay back their debts on time "Central Control" will confiscate their planet! Also, a "galactic poker game" adds further intrigue. War of Worlds requires the player to delicately balance offense and defense while maintaining social and economic stability on his/her home planet. Troops are recruited, trained, and finally used in conjunction with interplanetary missiles to conquer other rules and take over their planets. Players can commit various acts of espionage and sabotage secretly, and cunning deception mixed with artful diplomacy makes the excitement of War of Worlds unmatchable by any other computer-based war simulation.

Gameplay

War of Worlds! is a text-based multi-player game of strategy. The game's functions and features are accessed by a series of menus within the game. The game moves in turns, with the players declaring their moves each turn. Only one player may make their moves at a time within a game. The module has an unlimited lifetime because the game can be played over and over. Rules of play are often determined by the Sysop and players on each individual system - alliances, rules for trade, etc, can all be set beforehand and enforced by the Sysop or a game moderator.