Galactic Empire (Brøderbund)

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Galactic Empire was the first game in the Galactic Saga. It was the game that launched Brøderbund software, and though little-known today, exerted a seminal influence on modern space conquest games such as Spaceward Ho! and Master of Orion. Doug Carlston wrote it while he was working as a lawyer. After finishing it he left his job and started working for Brøderbund.

Originally written for the TRS-80, Galactic Empire was also ported to the Apple II and the Atari 400/800.

The subsequent games in the Galactic Saga were Galactic Trader, Galactic Revolution, and Tawala's Last Redoubt.

The game navigation used a list of planets with names beginning with a unique letter of the alphabet for easy access. The 'R' key was reserved for 'Return', and 'Q' for 'Quit.' The player had one fleet which traveled from planet to planet, beginning with the home world 'Galactica.' Conquered planets could be taxed and would produce troops which could be used to take other planets. Each planet had a technology level above or below Galactica standard, which made it easier or harder to take. It took time to travel between planets to collect taxes and troops to conquer new planets. The player had 999 years to take the galaxy.