Conqueror

The game was well received, particularly for its blend of strategy and arcade action.

• Title — Conqueror • Developer — Jonathan Griffiths, David Braben, Chris Sawyer • Designer — Jonathan Griffiths • Publisher — Superior, Acornsoft, Rainbow Arts • Platforms — Acorn Archimedes, Amiga, Atari ST, DOS • Released — (Archimedes) (Amiga/ST/DOS) • Genre — Third-person shooter, strategy • Modes — Single player, multiplayer

• Illustration — In-game screenshot (Amiga) The game is set in the Second World War era and in a 3D polygonal environment. The player controls a fleet of tanks from either the American, German or Russian army. There are various tanks available with different abilities from light, fast tanks that are easily damaged to heavy, slow tanks with high firepower. The player controls an individual tank from a third-person perspective with computer AI controlling the other friendly tanks as well as the enemy tanks. By switching to a map screen, the player can change which tank they control and also direct tanks to different places on the map. The game carries on in real-time while the player is looking at the map. Control can be split so that two players can cooperate to control the tank so one player drives the tank while the other controls the gun. Single players can choose for the computer to take the role of the second player or control both together. There are three types of game; 'Arcade', 'Attrition' and 'Strategy'. In the 'arcade' version, the player controls just one tank and faces a never-ending stream of enemy tanks that becomes progressively more difficult and cannot be 'won'. The object of the game is simply to survive as long as possible. The 'attrition' game gives the player a set fleet of tanks which are pitted against a similar set of enemy tanks. The 'strategy' version is the full game. The player begins with limited funds which are used to buy a fleet of tanks. Extra funds are gained by completing missions which can then be used to add to the fleet with up to fifteen tanks being available. Other extra features in this version of the game include artillery bombardment which can be ordered to strike at a specific point on the map and spotter planes which can be used to find out where the enemy tanks are on the map. Both of these actions use up funds. Tanks are damaged when hit but if they can be driven away from the combat area, they can be repaired. Missions are generally won either by destroying all enemy tanks or by occupying a specific point on the map for a set time without coming under attack.

Conqueror was designed and coded by Jonathan Griffiths using the Zarch game engine which was created by David Braben (co-author of Elite). Like Zarch, it was originally developed and released on the 32-bit Acorn Archimedes. It was published in 1988 by Superior Software. Following the success of Virus, the name given to Zarch for its multi-format release in 1988, Conqueror was also ported to the Amiga, Atari ST and DOS. The Amiga and ST ports were carried out by Griffiths (with graphics by Torsten Zimmerman), while the DOS version was ported by Chris Sawyer. These versions were released by Rainbow Arts in 1990.