''Stellar Crusade'' is a 4X strategy video game released in 1988 by

Strategic Simulations Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) was a video game developer and publisher of over 100 games from its founding in 1979 to its dissolution in 1994 (though the brand was in use until around 2002). The company focused on computer wargames then lat ...

. Players control one or both of two spacefaring empires at war with each other, depending on whether it is played in a single-player campaign or multiplayer.

Gameplay

Two spacefaring empires, the Corporate League and the People's Holy Republic, clash as both expand into the same area. Players always control the Corporate League; either the computer or another player can control the People's Holy Republic. Gameplay is divided into two phases: economic and movement. The economic phase consists of managing planets, their production, and their resources. The movement phase allows players to position their space fleets. Once both phases complete, combat is resolved. The game is

turn-based Timekeeping is relevant to many types of games, including video games, tabletop role-playing games, board games, and sports. The passage of time must be handled in a way that players find fair and easy to understand. In many games, this is don ...

Release

The game was initially released for the Atari ST and was ported to

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

by October 1988. The Amiga version was ported by January 1990.

Reception

Hosea Battles of ''

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'' criticized the game's manual as being useless in explaining the highly complex gameplay but said that ''Stellar Crusade'' can be "very satisfying" if one puts forth the substantial effort needed to understand it. ''Computer Gaming World'' editor Russell Sipe later cited "inside sources at SSI" as saying that a dozen pages had been removed from the manual to make it "less imposing". George Miller of ''

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'' wrote that it is "not a beginner's game" but recommended it to veteran strategy gamers who are looking for a challenge. Steve Panak of ''

Antic Alphanumeric Television Interface Controller (ANTIC) is an LSI ASIC dedicated to generating 2D computer graphics to be shown on a television screen or computer display. Under the direction of Jay Miner, the chip was designed in 1977–1978 b ...

'' said that he had hoped for a rival to '' Empire: Wargame of the Century''. Its "complexity level requires a warning label", he warned. Panak concluded that for those willing to give the "substantial commitment of time" required to learn how to play, "you won't find a more detailed outer space simulation on this planet, or any other". Mike Woodhouse reviewed ''Stellar Crusade'' for ''

Games International ''Computer Games Magazine'' was a monthly computer and console gaming print magazine, founded in October 1988 as the United Kingdom publication ''Games International''. During its history, it was known variously as ''Strategy Plus'' (October 1 ...

'' magazine, giving it 4 stars out of 5, and stated that "this is a game that almost couldn't fail with me. I'm glad to report that it didn't". ''Computer Gaming World''s retrospective on strategy games in 1992 described it as "simply not fun" even when ignoring the problems with the documentation. In an early-2000s retrospective, Bruce Geryk of

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called it "a failed experiment" due to its complexity but said it was the first 4X game to focus so strongly on economics and resource exploitation.

References

{{reflist

External links

Review
in ''

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'' 1988 video games 4X video games Amiga games Atari ST games DOS games Strategic Simulations games Turn-based strategy video games Multiplayer and single-player video games