Anacreon is a DOS based game about galactic conquest published by Thinking Machine Associates (TMA) in 1987 and rewritten in 2004 for Windows. The 2004 C++ version sports updated graphics with far more colors than the origional ASCII version.
It is a Turn Based Strategy game that features a handful of scenarios (three in the Demo) where the player begins with a small fleet and a handful of planets and a goal, usually to destroy some enemy fleet. The game can be played against a human opponent or you can play one of a handfull of pre-packaged scenarios.
Game play itself is pretty basic. It consists mostly of managing spreadsheets detailing the stats of your fleets, planets, probes and other units. Each planet produces money and resources you use to buy ships and soldiers. Strategy revolves around the micromanaging of the different types of planets, their resources and technology levels, and the different types of ships/units to take advantage of each of their unique stats.
You also need to strike a balance between invasion fleets you send out to conquer other planets, and defensive fleets you need to protect your planets from enemies and marauding pirates. You'll also need supply fleets to transfer units and resources from wrold to worls. Managing the planets resources and defense and your fleets is intricate enough
to be interesting but not so complicated that you eventually get lost. It's not uncommon to find yourself juggling a few dozen planets after just an hour or so into the game. Combat is fairly basic. You choose whether to advance or to pound the enemy's defenses before moving in to capture a planet. Graphically, it's what you would would expect from a DOS game, ASCII graphics, no moving animations, your ships are represented by triangles that slide back and forth as you advance or retreat, and most of it is text fields with red borders.
Despite its graphical handicap, the strategy and gameplay alone can hold your attention long enough for you to realize that this is a pretty decent game. The enemy AI is pretty smart but not so you'd think it was reading your moves. They try to cut off supply lines and take back undefended planets. Or sometimes they take out a roving pirate fleet so you don't have to deal with it as you make your way to reinforcing your outpost. I recommend this game to fans of classic TBS DOS games of old and anyone who wants a nice laid back game to kill time with.
