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Galaxy

DOS - 1982

Also available on: Atari 8-bit - Commodore 64

Alt names Galactic Empires, Galaxy!, Galaxy!
Year 1982
Platform DOS
Released in United States
Genre Simulation, Strategy
Theme Sci-Fi / Futuristic
Publisher Avalon Hill Game Company, The
Developer Microcomputer Games, Inc.
Perspective Top-Down
4.5 / 5 - 6 votes

Description of Galaxy

Galaxy is a superb fan-made remake of a classic Avalon Hill game of the same name, designed by Tom Cleaver and released for the Commodore Business Machine (CBM) 8000 in 1981.

In this simpler precursor to SSG’s classic Reach for The Stars, you vie against computer players for control of the galaxy in traditional turn-based style. Victory goes to the empire with the most planets at the end of either a preset or random number of turns. The game uses a simple character based screen, requires all the strategy of chess, and just a little luck. Each player starts with a home world and a number of ships. Each world has resources to produce a number of ships per turn. Once a fleet of ships is launched, it goes in to hyper space and can not be recalled – there is no communication until it reaches its destination.

The gameplay is fun, albeit quite primitive compared to Reach for the Stars and subsequent 4X games. Well worth a look, though, especially as one of the true pioneers of the genre. Jay Wilt’s remake is very faithful to the original, thanks to the fact that the game actually shipped with the source codes, which allows Jay to port it from language to language, from machine to machine until the present day. Highly recommended!

Review By HOTUD

External links

Comments and reviews

ALIAS UPTON SINCLAIR 2023-08-04 0 point Commodore 64 version

FOR THE EMULATOR VERSION OF THE CLASSIC C64 AVALON HILL STRATEGY GAME GALAXY, IN ORDER TO PLAY, THE PLAYER NEEDS TO BE ABLE TO REFER BACK TO THE ORIGINAL MAP (STAR CHART) IN ORDER TO PLAN THE LAUNCH OF SHIPS AND HAVE ACCESS TO THE TIME AND DISTANCE OF THOSE ORDERS IN THIS MATHEMATICS NUMBER CRUNCHING GAME WHICH IS CHALLENGING ENOUGH WITH 40 WORLDS IN 100 TURNS, AND QUITE THE CHALLENGE IN 50 TURNS.

Mithrilian 2020-06-17 1 point

I had the instructions but it cut off a word or two. So for the number of ships to send to a planet, you enter the number (it won't show on the screen), and then you hit ENTER key to finish. Then it takes you back to enter any more ship movements. If there are none you hit enter to finish your turn.

Mithrilian 2020-06-17 1 point

The game does work correctly. When prompted for the number of ships to send to another planet, the input is not shown on the screen, BUT IT DOES ACCEPT YOUR INPUT.
The reasoning is that you can play with multiple players in the room and they wanted to add a little secrecy of not showing all your moves on the screen to your opponents potentially sitting right next to you. It accepts either top row numbers or numeric keypad entry. After entering the number of ships (invisibly) then hit .
Enjoy!

RAVEN 2015-08-23 0 point

There is no way to get to the Options Menu when playing. The ESC key doesn't work, neither do the arrow keys or any other key. This pretty much renders the game unplayable. Please fix this somehow!!!

seannachie 2015-01-25 0 point DOS version

google is a spam magnet. I try not to use them whenever possible. Couldn't find the doc anyway - even when searching for TI manuals.
There's supposedly a unofficial second DOS remake by the creator of the C64 version. But I couldn't find it either.
http://www.mobygames.com/game/ti-994a/galaxy

moonbug 2014-12-25 0 point DOS version

The game works on my laptop (without numeric keypad). It just doesn't echo the number of ships you type on the screen - maybe it's so other human players can't see you type them? Anyway, if the distance to travel is more than 2 light years, the ships won't get there in the first turn. I think the manual says they travel 2 LY the first turn, and then 3 LY every turn after that. Oh, and the game uses the sqrt(a^2+b^2) formula to calculate diagonal distances...

I found the manual in google, but can't copy the URL here because the link got "googlelized" in their search results page. I mean, instead of just giving me the URL, they prepend and append a whole bunch of their own junk and also encode the original URL. Anyway just search for this filename and you'll find it:
TI Avalon Hill Galaxy Instructions.pdf

I'm not sure what the last two (green colored) screenshots correspond to. Must be some other version of the game?

seannachie 2014-08-19 0 point DOS version

Update: I had thought it possible that the game requires input from the numpad. Since my laptop (like most) doesn't have one, I had to dig up my USB keyboard. Still doesn't work - I've tried it with Numlock on and off.

HOSS 2014-06-20 0 point DOS version

I'm having same problem Seannachie did. 'Number of Ships' prompt won't accept number key input. Just resets to From: To: prompt. Couldn't find any help in game forums. Anyone have a solution.

seannachie 2014-01-18 0 point DOS version

DOSBox works fine for this up to the 'Results For Year' screen. When the 'Number of Ships' prompt appears, input from number keys are ignored. Any other key resets the screen to the 'A to B' dialogue (where you set your planet origin and destination points).
Any takers?

Galaxian 2012-08-13 1 point DOS version

This turn based SF strategy game is just what I've been looking for! Easy enough at the simple settings, but increasingly difficult to master that it keeps me coming back.

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DOS Version

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