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Immortal Barons — How to Play

You rule a barony: a small kingdom on a planet. Your goal is to build the strongest empire. You do this through your economy, your military, and your dealings with the other barons. The other players want the same thing, so you face steady competition.

Many bulletin board systems can link their games together. When they do, each board is one planet, and your planet competes against the others. Then the goal is not just the strongest barony, but the strongest planet. Your side has to work together to win.

Turns

You get a set number of turns each day. A turn is one round of play: you collect income, pay your costs, and give your orders. When your turns for the day run out, you come back the next day for more.

What happens in a turn

A turn moves through these steps in order:

  • News and mail. You see what happened since your last turn, and read any new messages from other players.
  • Production and income. Your industry builds military units, and your income for the turn arrives.
  • Reports. You see an income report and your full Empire Status.
  • Upkeep. You pay to maintain your military and your land, and you feed your people and your army. Short food or gold causes trouble, so watch these.
  • Covert Operations. Spying and sabotage. This step appears only if you keep it turned on and hold at least one covert agent.
  • Spending. You buy land, military, and other things.
  • Attacks. You may attack another barony (once per turn).
  • Trading. Trade goods with other baronies, if you keep this step turned on.
  • InterPlanetary Operations. Actions against other planets, in linked games.
  • Messages. You may send a message to another player.
  • End of turn. Your economy and population settle, and the turn closes.

The System menu

Some choices are not forced on you every turn. From the System menu you can set your tax rate, change what your industry builds, open diplomacy, visit the bank, use the food market, set your preferences, and write macros. Open it when you need it.

In this game, diplomacy and changing production live on the System menu. They are not automatic stops in each turn, so visit them yourself when you want to change your plans.

Reading the rest

The sections that follow explain each part of the game in turn: the controls, your military, your economy, warfare, covert operations, diplomacy, and linked inter-board play. Press a key to move from one section to the next. You can stop at any time.