Delus Reach is a Master of Orion I-type galactic empire game. Take control of the galaxy in a variety of scenarios.
The game is organized into 3 complexity levels - basic, intermediate, and advanced.
In the Basic game, you just order ships to move, and just go out conquering. Easy to learn, and a typical scenario is finished in 20 minutes.
The Intermediate game adds tech research, ship design, and fleet battles. Planetary management is handled for you.
The Advanced game unlocks planetary management. Most planets need to be colonized, and production allocated between growth, research, and ship production. With the right research, planets can be terraformed into better types.
Scenarios can generally be played at any level, resulting in a different feel for the same situation. Extensive instructions are provided for those desiring to know more.
Delus Reach is a turn-based game, and each turn the player sees the big picture on the viewscreen.
Here the Rebel Alliance (Blue is human player, White a computer ally, Red is the enemy) is in a tough situation.
Each system is represented by a star if it is unexplored, or by a picture of the best planet if it is colonized.
Fleets in orbit are represented by a fleet icon, with different ones for small, medium, and large. This allows the player to tell in a glance where the main dangers are. Here the main Tyrannic fleet is over Klystron, and our only hope against them is nearby over Neustra. They are of roughly equal power. Of course, there may be additional enemy ships behind the front lines. Scanners only go so far.
Starting with the Intermediate level, technology plays a vital role, with the player controlling what area is to be researched each turn.
Ships are of modular design, with Attack, Defense, and Movement modules that have different designs and color codes depending on the tech level of that module. This allows an experienced player to tell just from the ship pictures what the stats of that ship class are. Colors start out at red and move up the spectrum.
In the Advanced game Terraforming is added as a research area. Planets can only be improved up to the current terraforming technology.
Once new attack/defense/movement technologies have been researched, the Ship Design screen (not shown) allows ship classes to be created using that technology (or deleted if too many). All planets produce the most advanced ship type available each turn.
One the player his entered his/her orders for the turn and clicked End Turn, all ship movement is carried out and any combats carried out. Computer vs Computer battles are not shown, but a battle display comes up for every battle the player is involved in.
Here a small Imperial force has attacked our main fleet at Neustra. Battles are of the "sit and watch" variety and play out quickly. All battles are to the death, no retreats. Here the Tyrannics are about to experience pain.
The different pictures for the various ship classes reflect their technology, or the player can move the mouse over a class to get its stats.
Planets are conquered if ungarrisoned, or if their defending fleet is eliminated. No point in being slaughtered from orbit. In the Advanced game, conquering a system ties down its fleet for a turn, which can be quite important to strategy.
A player can seldom win every battle in a turn. Good strategy means winning the important ones. Players will soon discover there is a great deal "under the hood" in this game, and good strategy is key for defeating more powerful opponents.
The teams (alliances) are fixed, there is no diplomacy. Any computer allies are always faithful, and you cannot attack them.
Delus Reach is a fast-paced game, a 20 turn game is considered average length. After a series of builds and battles, one of the alliances will gain control of the galaxy, and win the game.
Here is the player winning the toughest scenario known at this point: Rebel Alliance at Advanced level. Yes, it can be done.
Delus Reach is a XNA 4.0 game, so it needs .NET 4 and the XNA Redistributable installed before the game is run. If you have them from installing something else, then you can skip the first 2 steps. If you're not sure, do the steps anyway.
When presented a choice of Save or Run, choose Run. If the installers ask questions, pick the positive choice: Accept, Yes, etc.
As always, you should run a virus check on any software you download from the internet. It is best to try the Windows 10 version first, it is the latest compile. If that doesn't work, then try the Windows 7 version.