''The Cosmic Balance II'' is a turn-based strategy game written by Paul Murray for the

Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...

and published by Strategic Simulations in 1983. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit computers. The game is a sequel to '' The Cosmic Balance'' (1982) also designed by Murray. In 1984, SSI published a sequel, '' Imperium Galactum''.

Gameplay

''The Cosmic Balance II'' is a 4X

turn-based Timekeeping is relevant to many types of games, including video games, tabletop role-playing games, board games, and sports. The passage of time must be handled in a way that players find fair and easy to understand. In many games, this is don ...

strategic level

space warfare Space warfare is combat in which one or more belligerents are in outer space. The scope of space warfare includes ''ground-to-space warfare'', such as attacking satellites from the Earth; ''space-to-space warfare'', such as satellites attacki ...

game. The game consists of several scenarios that grow in complexity, starting with a solitary one that acts as a tutorial in

resource management In organizational studies, resource management is the efficient and effective development of an organization's resources when they are needed. Such resources may include the financial resources, inventory, human skills, production resources, or ...

, through set

two-player A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

scenarios involving more and more planets and ships. The game also has a scenario creation tool. Games can be played against a computer or human opponent. The map consists of 16 space sectors which vary in size and shape. Despite this, all sectors have 40 planets in them. There are four types of planets in the game: terran, industrial, mining, and farming. Terran planets on their own can produce industrial output (IO). Industrial output is what constitutes income in the game. The remaining types of planets can only produce IO by collectively forming what is called a commerce net. There are 15 classes of ships. Ships can travel inside or to an adjacent sector to perform missions. Ships have varying capabilities - cost, attack strength, defensive strength, speed, etc. - but the three main qualities of a ship are, hull size, whether they carry cargo or not, and what type of

warp drive A warp drive or a drive enabling space warp is a fictional superluminal (faster than the speed of light) spacecraft propulsion system in many science fiction works, most notably ''Star Trek'', and a subject of ongoing real-life physics research ...

range they have. These qualities determine which type of mission or missions they are best suited for. Combat is resolved either by the game itself randomly calculating a result or allows an interface with The Cosmic Balance I, the

tactical level Military tactics encompasses the art of organizing and employing fighting forces on or near the battlefield. They involve the application of four battlefield functions which are closely related – kinetic or firepower, mobility, protection or ...

space combat game preceding Cosmic Balance II. The interface between the two games is essentially manual. In this case, Cosmic Balance II lists the ship types involved in the battle, the type of Cosmic Balance I scenario which corresponds to the Cosmic Balance II mission being performed, and the tech levels of the combatants. The player(s) save their game, load Cosmic Balance I, set up the appropriate scenario in it, and complete a game. They then reload Cosmic Balance II and their saved game. Cosmic Balance II then asks for the results: ships destroyed, captured, or that ran away. These are entered and the game continues based on these entered results.

Reception

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...

'' stated that ''Cosmic Balance II'' "was too much like working on a balance sheet and watching the numbers change" and "

VisiCalc VisiCalc ("visible calculator") is the first spreadsheet computer program for personal computers, originally released for the Apple II by VisiCorp on October 17, 1979. It is considered the killer application for the Apple II, turning the microco ...

in space". It stated that the game was best played as a companion to its predecessor. In a 1992 survey of science fiction games, the magazine gave the title and its predecessor three of five stars, writing that they "were excellent products in their day", and gave '' Imperium Galactum'' two stars, stating that "it simply lacked sufficient 'chrome' to make it enduring". A 1994 survey of strategic space games set in the year 2000 and later gave ''Imperium Galactum'' one star.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite magazine, title=Cosmic Balance II / Review & Analysis , magazine=

, volume=3 , issue=5 , date=October 1983 , url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/issues/cgw_3.5.pdf , accessdate=17 April 2016 , last=McPherson , first=James A. , pages=34–35 {{cite web, title=The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers, url=https://dadgum.com/giantlist/ , last1=Hague , first1=James

External links

a reproduction of the documentation for the game including map 1983 video games Apple II games Atari 8-bit computer games Single-player video games Strategic Simulations games Video game sequels Video games developed in the United States

Gameplay

Reception

References

See also

External links