A new ONLINE Game for Word Press Users similar to BBS Door games.
# Imperial Barons Online
**A turn-based space trading, exploration and conquest game for WordPress.**
The Imperium has opened its frontier. From Aurelia, seat of the Imperial Throne, chartered
traders set out to buy low and sell high, chart unknown space, seed new worlds and fight their
way up the ranks of nobility, from humble Vagrant to Imperial Paragon.
Imperial Barons Online is played entirely in the web browser through ordinary WordPress pages.
There is nothing to download and no terminal emulator to configure: players sign in to your
WordPress site and fly.
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## Inspiration and attribution
Imperial Barons Online draws its inspiration from **Trade Wars 2002**, the classic BBS "door"
game that, from the early 1990s, had players dialing in to bulletin board systems to trade
between ports, explore a sector-based galaxy, build planetary empires and battle rival traders
a few turns at a time each day.
Imperial Barons Online pays tribute to that style of play, but it is a **completely new game**:
- Original setting, lore, names, ships, factions, ranks and rules.
- A new, web-based way of playing built for WordPress, with pages, forms, an interactive galaxy
map and a ship's computer in place of ANSI screens and keyboard menus.
- Its own gameplay systems, such as sensor sweeps, first-visit discoveries, survey drones and
nebula charts, bastions and haggling.
It contains no code, text or artwork from Trade Wars 2002 and is not affiliated with or endorsed
by its creators or rights holders. *Trade Wars* is a trademark of its respective owner.
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## The goal
You begin as a **Vagrant** with a single Freetrader and a few thousand credits. Your aim is to rise
through the ranks of the Imperial nobility to **Imperial Paragon** and become the most powerful
Baron in the galaxy.
### Objectives
- **Build a fortune:** trade between ports to grow your credits. **Net worth**, which counts your
credits, cargo, ship, fighters and planets, is the main measure of success.
- **Earn your title:** gain experience by trading, haggling, exploring, colonizing and fighting,
and climb the peerage: Vagrant, Freeholder, Yeoman, Squire, Knight, Baronet, Baron, Viscount, Earl,
Marquess, Duke, Archduke, Prince, Lord Regent, and finally Imperial Paragon.
- **Explore the frontier:** chart the galaxy to find the best trade routes, unclaimed planets and
hidden discoveries.
- **Build an empire:** claim or seed planets, settle them with colonists, and fortify them with
bastions so they produce wealth and fighters for you.
- **Command the spacelanes:** upgrade your ship, deploy fighters to hold territory, and defeat
pirates, alien fleets and rival Barons.
- **Rise with allies:** join or found a team to share planets and defenses and climb the team
rankings together.
The **Rankings** page shows who leads the galaxy in net worth, experience and combat, and which
team is strongest. Each pilot receives only **10 turns a day** (configurable), so the best Barons
plan carefully and make every turn count.
How to Play Imperial Barons Online!
Danger. The Imperial Core (sectors 1-10) is safe. Beyond it, alien fleets and other pilots' fighters will attack you. If your ship is destroyed, you return to Aurelia in a new ship and cannot fly until tomorrow.
When you first start the game, you will name your ship.Your ship is a unique name.
The goal. The Imperium has opened its frontier to chartered traders. You start as a Vagrant with one Freetrader and a few thousand credits. Your aim is to rise through the ranks of nobility to Imperial Paragon and become the most powerful Baron in the galaxy. Your objectives:
- Build a fortune: trade between ports to grow your credits. Net worth, which counts your credits, cargo, ship, fighters and planets, is the main measure of success.
- Earn your title: gain experience by trading, haggling, exploring, colonizing and fighting to climb the peerage from Vagrant through Knight, Baron and Duke to Imperial Paragon.
- Explore the frontier: chart the galaxy to find the best trade routes, unclaimed planets and hidden discoveries.
- Build an empire: claim or seed planets, settle them with colonists, and fortify them with bastions so they produce wealth and fighters for you.
- Command the spacelanes: upgrade your ship, deploy fighters to hold territory, and defeat pirates, alien fleets and rival Barons.
- Rise with allies: join or found a team to share planets and defenses and climb the team rankings together.
Turns. You get 15 turns per day. Each warp costs 1, docking at a port costs 1, and each attack costs 1. Trading while docked is free.
Trading. Port classes show what a port Buys and Sells, in the order Ferrium Ore, Biostock, Machinery. A SBB port sells ferrium ore and buys biostock and machinery. Buy where a port sells, and sell where another port buys. Well-stocked ports sell cheaply; ports with strong demand pay the most.
Haggling. Enter your own price per unit when trading. Offer a little better than the listed price and the port may accept, which earns extra experience. Push too hard and it will stop haggling with you for an hour.
Aurelia and the Imperial Drydock. The Aurelian Armory in Aurelia (sector 1) sells holds, fighters and shields; Aurelia Prime, the Crown World in the same sector, supplies colonists. The Imperial Drydock also sells ships and Worldseeds. The Imperial Gazette gives its location.
Exploring. Your sensors sweep every neighbouring sector as you arrive, showing its port, planets and any hostile fighters before you jump. The first time you visit a sector beyond the Imperial Core you earn experience and may find salvage, a credit cache, abandoned fighters or an old survey beacon, or run into a pirate ambush. Survey drones and nebula charts from the Armory or Drydock put more of the galaxy on your map.
Using the Computer. Your ship's Computer is your best tool for making every turn count.
- Plot a course: enter any sector number to see the shortest route, how many turns it will take, and the ports along the way. You can also click any sector on the Galaxy Map to plot a course there.
- Engage autopilot: flies the plotted course one warp at a time, collecting discoveries as it goes. It stops if you run out of turns or come under attack.
- Port finder: choose "buy" or "sell" and a commodity to list the nearest charted ports that deal in it, with their stock, price and distance in warps.
- Known ports: every port in charted space with its current prices and distance, which is ideal for spotting trade routes.
- Deployed fighters: where your fighters are stationed across the galaxy.
Planets. Claim an empty planet or create one with a Worldseed. Drop off colonists and they will produce commodities and fighters every hour. Build a bastion for a Vault and stronger defenses.
-= Sysop =-