Imperia Online

Game overview

Imperia Online is a free browser-based MMO belonging to the evergreen genre of city-building strategy games.
It will require you to establish a financially strong state with a good army.
Manpower can be deployed to fasten the collection of resources, and consequently improve the rate of your kingdom's progress.

The menus in the game become quite congested with the passage of time so a detailed tutorial is given right at the start to ease you into the game and give a better understanding of the in-game options.

The graphics of Imperia Online are well done despite its age (the game was first released in 2005), which is a sign of the good support given from the developers during all these years in terms of upgrades and improvements.

➔ Main points:

• Manage your economy and prepare a strong army.
• A detailed tutorial to bring you into the game.
• Deploy manpower to gather resources.
• The positioning of buildings cannot be dictated.

Full review

Dealing in armies, weapons, wars and diplomacy, Imperia Online is a massively multiplayer online strategy game in which you have to build your own empire while keeping your economy in check. In the game, creating alliances goes a long way towards determining how the future of your kingdom unfolds.
You do not get to witness the battles fought during the game as they are completely simulated, and the strength and skill of your army dictate how they pan out.

In the game, creating alliances goes a long way towards determining how the future of your kingdom unfolds.

A good thing about Imperia Online is that although the user interface in it seems a little complex, the game takes you through a very thorough tutorial in the beginning while highlighting all the significant actions you must take to survive and explaining the ways in which a certain decision affects your game.
After getting through the tutorial, you are asked to set your empire’s name and get on with the game.

Balancing the economy and the army

In Imperia Online, to raise an army, you need to have a strong economy. Moreover, a stable economy allows you to build farms, arrange for housing of population, construct structures and employ workers for different tasks.

Military strategies involve having to build up defenses, preparing your troops and using them to attack other villages and empires.
Taxing goes a long way towards having a stable economy which then allows you to have a balanced empire, and gain a stronghold on the game.

Economy also includes four different resources which come in handy during the construction of various buildings like archery and siege workshop.
Those resources are wood, stone steel and gold.
In addition to these, gems are also available as premium currency but are not required to be used for most of the in game projects. The overall dynamics of the economy can easily be controlled by clicking a ‘smiley face’ tab on top of the screen.

Easily understandable menu buttons

As mentioned above, Imperia Online has a rather large number of menu buttons which have a tendency to make some gamers a little uncomfortable. But this problem has been alleviated by the developers by introducing the game to you through a very comprehensive tutorial. All the buttons do not appear at once as in many other strategy games, but become available turn by turn as you get a grasp of the already usable buttons.

In addition to the resources tab, many other options appear on the screen, which include alliances, rankings, achievements, gaming emails, player profile and a help section.
Moreover, premium purchase options and game settings can also be handled by using separate tabs. One unique feature of Imperia Online is the Babysitter mode which allows you to go away without having to close the game and the computer will manage the empire as you would, having all the permissions and options a human player would have.

Managing manpower and building structures

In Imperia Online, you have to generate resources by setting up iron mines, lumber mills and rock quarries which then enable you to construct buildings.
More emphasis can be laid on one resource by allocating more manpower for that resource than others.

A Town Hall is the heart of your civilization as it allows you to start building military and economy buildings and helps you allocate manpower and resources.
Barracks, moats, schools and towers are included in military structures and banks, houses, marketplaces, farms and resource quarries and mills form a part of the economic structures.

The Command Center, instead, is the core of your military strategies in Imperia Online, as it is where you launch attacks on other empires, deploy your troops and place spies.

The Command Center, instead, is the core of your military strategies in Imperia Online, as it is where you launch attacks on other empires, deploy your troops and place spies.

The mainstream combat units like infantry and archers can be trained in the barracks while siege weapons can be built in the siege workshop.
However, spies come in as a unique unit in the game and have to be trained in a spy school.

Two different types of universities are introduced in the game: Military and General ones.
General Universities teach common skills to the public while the Military Universities allow you to carry out Military research and improve your troops.

Conclusion

As city builder games go, Imperia Online, with all its options and activities certainly isn’t a bad option.
The number of things you have to keep in check while taking care of the resources and military aspects definitely make playing this game a worthwhile experience.
Moreover, the tutorial does its best to ease you into the game and make sure you do not get caught up having to make adjustments to a rather complex interface.

Ready to enter the world of Imperia Online? Click here to play now!

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Review summary

1. Balancing the economy and the army
2. Easily understandable menu buttons
3. Managing manpower and building structures
4. Conclusion