NOW BETTER SOUND AND GRAPHICS, FANTASY EMPIRES FOR MPC.

LEAD A KINGDOM, FORGE AN EMPIRE, RULE MYSTARA in FANTASY EMPIRES

A new D&D Adventure

Game Category: Strategy/Action Simulation
Versions: IBM PC (October 1993) - $59.95

Sunnyvale, CA -- October 26, 1993 - Industry leading fantasy game
publisher, Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) today announced the release
of the second in the line of D&D style games, Fantasy Empires. It is now
available and carries a suggested retail price of $59.95

In Fantasy Empires players build their own empire with the help the first
computerized Dungeon Master (DM). The DM sits atop a screen and mediates
all elements of game play, from spell-casting to diplomacy. His awesome,
imposing figure is fully-animated including a display of emotions. He
dozes off when he is bored, and shifts moods depending on the success of
the player. Players will need to build up their kingdoms with a variety of
buildings, including castles, armories, and wizards' towers. Players
command dozens of troop types, deploy special forces, send heroes on
quests, and interact with all of the major D&D races including humans,
elves, dwarves, orcs, humanoids, and the undead, to concur enemy dungeons
and ultimately rule Mystara. SSI's D&D product line provides a new and
exciting forum for those who are familiar with the AD&D products. The
first D&D product introduced by SSI was Stronghold. "Players do not have
to be familiar with a set of rules as they do in AD&D" states Caryn Mical,
SSI's Director of Sales and Marketing. ' They simply jump into the game
and become quickly involved. Strategy and combat play a very large part in
the D&D series while the AD&D line provides a more intensive role playing
experience."

Fantasy Empires features a superb visual presentation. The DM is completely
interactive during game play. With an overhead view and real-time combat,
players are able to control one hero and to switch to another at any time.
Or, players can simply issue a general battle order before combat begins
then sit back and watch the action.

Fantasy Empires is designed up to five players who can challenge each other
or a player can challenge up to four of the twenty different
computer-controlled opponents. During multi-player combat, the screen is
split so each player get his own view of what is happening to his army.
With the use of the advanced "AI" and Neural Network Technology throughout
the game, no two games will ever be the same. "This technology enables the
game to evolve depending on the various decisions each play makes during
his turn." states Fantasy Empires' Associate Producer, Dave Lucca. The
players moves will have an immediate real-time effect on the game."

D&D Fantasy Empires was developed by Silicon Knights, one of the industry's
most intuitive and creative development companies. Previously, Silicon
Knights developed Cyber Empires for SSI. When asked what is an exceptional
feature of Fantasy Empires, Dennis Dyack of Silicon Knights stated, 'The
graphics in Fantasy Empires are the best on the market today. The Dungeon
Master is, by himself, a very entertaining part of the game."
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i) Game Detail: A great deal of the game can be found below the surface.
Many things influence the game. Dwarves are generally stronger in the
mountains while Shadow Elves and Orcs are stronger in the broken lands.
Troop deployment is critical and no battle is ever the same. Questing,
magical items, treaties and much more all bring the game to a detail level
that exceeds that in games such as Warlords II, Siege, and Dune II.

ii) Game A.I.: The games A.I. is exceptionally powerful. This is not just a
wild claim that most other developers make, we stand behind this claim.
Each Non-Player Character (NPC) acts differently and is unpredictable. In
fact, this was a problem when debugging the code because the computer NPCs
did not always do the same thing twice, making it tough to repeat a bug.
Each NPC acts very differently according to his/her alignment and class.
It is difficult to formulate a single strategy to play each campaign
successfully.

iii) Role-Playing: This is the first strategy to truly incorporate
role-playing. Once you create your character using the official D&D rules
you learn to play your character's strengths and avoid his/her weaknesses.
Chaotic characters can break treaties while lawful characters must adhere
to their alignment and beliefs, or suffer the Dungeon Master's wrath. As
you play the game, winning and losing battles, experience is gained and
your character develops allowing you to take on greater adversaries. Keep
in mind that with five character classes, three alignments and over thirty
NPC there is tremendous replay value.

iv) This is a true multi-player game: Although playing against the computer
is very enjoyable it does not compare to pummeling your buddies through
covert actions or just plain brute force. If you play a game with three or
more friends please observe how the interaction grows between them. People
will lie, make alliances and backstab. The message section of the game
acts as a catalyst for subversive actions.

v) The Dungeon Master: The interface of Fantasy Empires is not just eye
candy. The Dungeon Master is an "agent". He moderates all actions giving
advice, criticisms, judgments and punishments. His intelligence is driven
by a neural network which adapts to the user and different situations. His
actions are rational and unpredictable. As you play the game you will
realize that the agent is a separate entity in its own right.

Strategic Simulations Inc
675 Almanor Ave, Suite 201, Sunnyvale, CA 94086-2901
408-737-6800;  Fax: 408-737-6814

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