So I could have been finishing up the hex crawling app, I could have been fixing Dungeon Robber to work without flash, but instead I became obsessed with an idea that came to me in a dream: writing a land-conquest AI for hexer, my hex-crawl mapping web app, in order to turn it into a strategy web game called Imperium. The mechanics are pretty much as I dreamed them. Pretty solid for a dream actually: on your turn you claim a swath of contiguous same-type hexes, or build a fortifications to solidify hold on a conquered area. (My dream actually had a cool idea I haven’t implemented – yet: around halfway through the game, you unlock the ability to choose a specialization, like forester or mountaineer, which gives you a 2nd action on your turn. You can only use it to conquer areas of the specialized type. Maybe in the 2nd edition.)
The game is a tad imperialist – see if you can spot it! It’s subtle but it’s there 
But it’s really fun. I was playing it obsessively for a few days.
There is a lot of luck in the map layout – you can get a random map that gives you a big advantage or disadvantage – but to win the campaign mode (claim and hold 4 provinces on different random maps) takes a bit of strategy considering how simple the rules are. Imperium is now one of my top timewasters. Play it!
Nice little game, thanks for sharing!
Wonderful little time-waster, indeed.
Dunno if you want suggestions, but here’s one:
Add a ‘resign’ button. Some maps and positions are hopeless, and the idle clicking away until the AI wins is less than fun.
A more elaborate suggestion would be to limit the size of a hex-type-contiguous area to, say, ten hexes or so (or only allow taking it ten hexes at a time), to make it less of a ‘death race to the giant area’ and further reduce the influence(s) of random maps. It’s a bit rude when one player captures forty hexes on their first move.
Also, if you want ideas on algorithmically making reasonable landscapes, have you heard of the game ‘xconq’ (it’s open-source and free)? It does basically the same thing for map generation – although you can only ever conquer one hex at a time.
Just noticed the ‘abandon game’ button, but it should really say ‘abandon province’, because you can lose one or two and still have Imperium. Just me being picky!
This site has better games than Newgrounds. (Is that still a thing? Gotta be a decade since I’ve visited.)
A couple more suggestions, if I may:
Going first is a huge advantage. Let the player go first ‘the first time’, then perhaps alternate who goes first? Or have it randomly determined?
Something in the game engine really doesn’t like it when there are huge areas of adjacent similar hexes. On a map with 59 contiguous plains hexes (The Dothraki Sea?), it took a measured twenty minutes per move. I understand it’s a time-waster, but that’s silly! I’d almost rather play chess with a stone golem.
That was an extreme example, but it is very much slower on maps with big areas to conquer at once. Something’s going exponential in there.
PS – CPU is a 2.8GHz i7 – maybe not the state-of-art today, but not exactly a slowpoke, either. Eight cores, but the script engine only uses one (and maxes it!).
Man, I am fiending so bad for Dungeon Robber! I played it so freaking much! I keep coming back to see if you’ve fixed it yet. I’m glad to hear you have plans to do so.
If you put Dungeon Robber on Steam, I’ll pay $5 for it.
I got Dungeon Robber working! Let the games begin! http://blogofholding.com/dungeonrobber/