Colonial Conquest

Colonial Conquest takes the player into the nineteenth century, when European powers were tussling over colonies around the world. The player chooses one of the great powers and, on a map divided into regions, tries through a combination of diplomacy, trade, and military force to expand their influence at the expense of rivals and native territories alike. The turn-based system allows for planning fleet expeditions, landing troops, and forming alliances, making the game one of the first accessible titles to simulate empire-building on a global scale. The player must weigh not only military strength but also whether the other great powers will even allow them to expand their influence without resistance.

On the Atari 8-bit, the world map is drawn as colored outlines of continents with numerical indicators of the strength and ownership of individual territories, which let players of the time quickly read the state of a match even without detailed graphics. The audio remains sparse, but clear controls via keyboard shortcuts and menus allowed attention to focus on strategic decisions. The game also supported multiple people playing in turns on one computer, which at the time increased its appeal as a social pastime and enabled direct rivalry over contested territories between human players.

In its time, Colonial Conquest was valued as an understandable entry point into the genre of global conquest strategy games, considerably less overwhelming than hardcore hexagonal-map wargames. Its concept of expansion across a world map through simple but well-thought-out mechanics anticipated the later civilization strategy games that became far better known. It was precisely the combination of easily understood rules and genuine strategic depth that made matches into a tense race for the most advantageous colonies, without the player having to deal with dozens of side parameters at once. Today the game will appeal mainly to those interested in the genre's history who want to see what the idea of empire-building looked like before it was taken over by the graphically lavish titles of the nineties and later complex civilization simulations.

Why play it: Anyone who wants to see what the idea of empire-building looked like before the graphical grandeur of later civilization strategy games will appreciate Colonial Conquest's understandable rules paired with genuine strategic depth.