Imperial Takeover™ Game Play Instructions
Overview
Army Deployment
Attacking
Fortification
Cards
Turn Time Limit
Real-Time Games
Resigning
Scoring
Player Stats
Medals and Awards
Reliability Control
Randomness of the Dice
Overview
Like most war games, the object of Imperial Takeover™ is to conquer the world by capturing all the countries on the board and occuping them with at least one of your own armies. This is a turn based game that typically plays out over the course of several days. Each player has a predetermined amount of time (usually 24 hours) to sign in and take his turn before the next player in the game gets to move. A turn consists of three different phases, including the army deployment phase, during which new units are placed on the map; the attack phase, used to attack other players and capture countries; and the fortification phase, where players can reinforce one country with armies from an adjacent country.
Army Deployment
The first part of your turn involves placing new armies on countries you already control. The number of armies you receive depends on the number of countries and continents you own. You earn one army for every three countries, rounded down, with a minimum of three per turn. For example, if you control 12 countries at the beginning of your turn, you will receive 4 new armies (12 / 3 = 4).
Additional bonus armies are earned for controlling all the countries in a continent. Continent boundaries and the number of armies awarded are different on every map. Each map should include a legend indicating how many bonus armies are awarded for controlling certain continents. Continent boundaries can be indicated in a variety of different ways, but countries within the same continent are generally grouped by color. Because initial country allocations are assigned randomly, continent bonuses are not awarded on a player's first turn. Note: Imperial Takeover™ can be played on a wide range of custom maps with an enormous variety of country and continent layouts.
Attacking
During your attack phase, you may attack from any country you control to any adjacent enemy country. However, you must have at least 2 armies on the country you are attacking from, because if you are successful, at least one army must remain behind and at least one army must move to occupy the newly captured territory. The outcome of each battle is determined by rolling dice. The attacker may roll up to three dice, with each die representing a single attacking army. No matter how many armies you have, you cannot attack with more than three at a time. The defender will automatically defend with up to two dice. The red dice represent the attacker's rolls and the white dice are for the defender.
The attacker's highest rolls are matched against the defender's highest rolls. If an attacker's die exceeds the value of the defender's die, the defender loses an army. The attacker loses if the defender either ties or rolls a higher number. If all armies on the defending country are defeated, the attacking player gains control of that region. A number of armies equal to the number of armies that attacked and survived are automatically moved to the newly captured country. The attacking player then has the option of sending in additional reinforcements, but at least one army must always remain behind.
You may continue attacking until you either run out of legal moves or decide to stop.
Fortification
Once you are done attacking, you have the option of strengthening your position by moving armies from one country to another adjacent country. Ending your fortification phase ends your turns. The next player in the game cannot begin his turn until you have completely finished yours.
Cards
If you captured at least one country during your turn, you will earn a card at the end of your turn. Sets of 3 cards can be exchanged for additional armies during your deployment phase if you have a set of either three of the same card or one of each type of card. Card values depend on your current game's settings. There are two styles of play. With incremental card values, the first time a player exchanges card, he receives 4 armies. The next player to exchange gets 6, then 8, 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, and so on. The other style of play is "Fixed at 4". When playing under that style, every card exchange is always worth 4 armies and their value never increases.
If you accumulate five cards, then you will be forced to exchange them at the beginning of your next turn. You can also capture cards from another player by completely eliminating him from the game. If you capture cards, and that puts you at 5 or more, you will be forced to exchange, even during your attack phase. Capturing cards from another player can be a very effective strategy.
Turn Time Limit
Imperial Takeover™ is structured as a turn based strategy game. The next player in the game won't be able to take his turn until the players before him have moved. To keep the game from getting stuck if a player abandons the game, a turn time limit is enforced. If you fail to complete your turn before the time limit expires, you will automatically lose. Timing out counts as a drop on your record and subtracts 3 points from your score. If you drop from too many games, you risk having restrictions placed on your account or even being banned from the site entirely. Turn time limits can be set to any value within the range of 24-120 hours.
Real-Time Games
Another version of Imperial Takeover™ is available where all players remain on-line for the duration of the game. Any player who goes idle for more than 5 minutes during his turn is dropped. Real-time games can take up to an hour to complete. It is proper etiquette to only join a real-time game if you will be able to set aside enough time to complete it. Because real-time games require this level of time commitment, a set of predefined game options are used for all real-time tables.
Resigning
Resigning from a game with more than one other player remaining is terribly rude and will result in a loss of 2 points from your score, but if you know you will be unable to complete the game or sign in to take your next turn, then it's a more graceful way of ending the game than simply dropping out. There is no penalty for resigning if there is only one other player remaining.
Scoring
All players start with 100 points. Losing a game reduces your score by 1 point. Resigning from a game reduces it by 2, and dropping reduces it by 3. The only way to increase your score is to win games. The points awarded for winning a game depend on the number of players who were in the game:
| Number of Players | Points Earned |
| 2 players | 2 points |
| 3 players | 3 points |
| 4 players | 5 points |
| 5 players | 6 points |
| 6 players | 8 points |
Player Stats
In addition to the score, each player's profile page shows various other game stats:
Rating - This is one of the most significant measures of a player's skill level. The rating is a value from 1-100 measuring how the player's score stacks up against the other player's on the site. It's calculated as an inverse percentile. This means that a player with a rating of 25 is in the top 25% of all players on the site. Or to look at it another way, he's rated higher than 75% of all the other players. You will be unranked until you've completed your first 10 games. Once you have your rating, your profile page will show how many more points you need to advance to the next highest level.
Avg. Points/Game - The average number of points per game a player receives is another way to assess how often the player wins. A high average means that the player wins most of the games he plays.
Avg. Games/Week - This is the average number of games a player completes per week. This stat is only calculated for players who have been members of the site for at least one month. Those who play more than 10 games per week are recognized with the Savage Warrior ribbon.
Avg. Turn Speed - This is a measure of the average amount of time from when it becomes a player's turn to when he actually signs in to make his move. A lower number is more desirable, indicating that the player is less likely to slow your game down or drop. Only turn-based games are used in this calculation and you must have completed at least 10 moves before your speed can be calculated. Players with an average of less than 4 hours earn the Speed Demon ribbon.
Medals and Awards
Player profile pages display medals for players who have achieved noteworthy scores. They are assigned as follows:
| Medal Name | Points Required | |
 | Victory Star | >100 |
 | Continued Victory Star | >150 |
 | Enduring Victory Star | >250 |
 | Perpetual Victory Star | >500 |
 | Supreme Victory Medal | >1500 |
 | Unrelenting Victory Medal | >2500 |
 | Dominating Victory Medal | >5000 |
 | Ultimate Victory Medal | >10000 |
| Medal Name | Wins Required | |
 | Rogue | 5 |
 | Hunter | 25 |
 | Legionnaire | 100 |
 | Centurion | 500 |
 | Magistrate | 2500 |
 | Distinguished Praetorian | 5000 |
Specialty Medals and Ribbons
Certain medals reflect a player's user stats:
 | Premium Member - Players who subscribe to premium status receive this prestigious medal. |
 | Top 100 - The player ranks in the top 100 of all players on the site. |
 | Veteran Member - The player has been a member of the site for at least one year. |
 | Reliable Player - Awarded to players who have less than a 10% drop rate and have completed at least 10 games. These players are eligible to join reliability controlled games. |
 | Savage Warrior - These players are recognized for averaging more than 10 games per week. |
 | Speed Demon - Awarded to players who average less than 4 hours to make their moves in turn-based games. |
Reliability Control
The game creator has the option of restricting access to the game to reliable players only. A reliable player is defined as someone who has completed a minimum of 10 games and has less than a 10% drop rate. Players who do not meet that criteria will not be able to join reliability controlled games due to their higher likelihood to abandon the game.
Randomness of the Dice
The random numbers used for the dice rolls are as random as throwing actual dice. We run daily statistical tests to confirm that. For more information, read our frequently asked questions on randomness and probability.
