Pax Imperia: Eminent Domain

aka: Pax Imperia 2, Pax Imperia: Die Sternenkolonie
Moby ID: 2538
Windows Specs

Description official descriptions

This game is mix between Master of Orion and Imperium Galactica II. You can be one of many races, each with advantages and disadvantages. The whole game is very customizable, from allowing you to customize galaxy size to designing your own ships.

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Credits (Windows version)

76 People (57 developers, 19 thanks) · View all

Executive Producer
Designer
Additional Design
Art Director
Artists
Interface Art
Contributing Artists
Programming
Mac Programming
Computer A.I.
Windows Programming and Combat Engine
Additional Programming
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 69% (based on 17 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 18 ratings with 5 reviews)

A horrible travesty, both of the space-empire genre in general and of the remarkable, but flawed original Macintosh Pax Imperia

The Good
It was pretty and had a decent soundtrack

The Bad
The tactical gameplay was boring and repetitive. The tech trees consisted, sometimes with obfuscatory titles, of "Laser I, Laser II, Laser III", etc. - there are no technologies that bring new tactics into battles, nothing really interesting to research at all - it's just the usual real-time "strategy" tank rush over and over.

The Bottom Line
A shame. The original Mac game was incredibly ambitious, and its writers clearly too junior for the task they set themselves - there were some obvious coding problems visible on screen. By the time the license for the PC port came into THQ's hands, they ripped out all the obsessive detail and left an incredibly bland, detailless and boring game.

Windows · by weregamer (155) · 2003

Still #1 in it's genre!

The Good
1) The ability to create your own ships is one of the best features in the game, I really spent most of my time making new ones.

2) The option to choose from 8 different races or to create your own is pretty neat.

3) There are really some fine options in the race-creation screen.

4) The intro-movie is very well made for a game from around 1997.

5) As of yet, I haven't seen any other game which comes anywhere close to this game's diversity in gameplay. It's truly still the #1 in it's genre.

The Bad
1) There aren't enough slots to save your ship-designs in.

2) I would really like to know how to make custom pictures for the different races.

3) There aren't enough options in the race-creation screen and the amount of points you get to distribute aren't nearly enough.

4) You can't fine-tune the galaxy enough. All you can choose from is how many stars you want and how many players should be there.

The Bottom Line
Pax Imperia II - Eminent Domain is a game where you try to dominate a piece of the galaxy. The galaxy's size can be set beforehand and you get to make your own race as well. When the game starts, you have 2 transport-ships (To colonize other worlds with) and 1 scout (To explore the different star-systems.). The race you choose/make in the beginning will determine how many habitable planets you have at your disposal and it can be quite tricky to find a suitable planet for your subjects to live on. (Some planets may be habitable, but are very poor or can only sustain a limited amount of people.) Throughout the game, you can research technology to improve the range of your starships, the power of your weapons, the population growth, etc. If you get new weapons or other things for your starships, you can actually design your own, using those parts. That way, everyone has his/her own unique fleet, which results in some pretty good multiplayer-battles. You can also spy on the different races and incite a revolution on one of their planets, sabotage their projects/buildings, steal technology and even assassinate one of their governours! Beware though, for as your empire grows, your friends might decide to turn against you and you cannot afford to be the weaker party when that happens. All in all, it's a fun game to play and will, even now, keep you busy for a couple of months.

Windows · by Makitk (32) · 2003

Savagely under-rated game that suffered from a few critical flaws

The Good
Ship Design, Combat, Research Tree, Planet View, Difficulty Settings, Race Design

The Bad
AI obviously cheated in some circumstances, Slightly buggy - THQ canned the design team before they could finish patching it, No invasion and conquering of planets

The Bottom Line
Always unjustly compared to MOO 2, Pax was the superior combat 4X space game, with MOO2 being more about numbers. Didnt live up to the original Pax, but was an excellent attempt, and worthy of your time.

Windows · by ked aha (1) · 2005

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

Trivia

Pax Imperia II was originally announced as a title to be published by Blizzard. Blizzard eventually dropped Pax Imperia II, though, when it decided it might be in conflict with their other space strategy project, the now-legendary StarCraft. THQ eventually contracted with Heliotrope and released the game in 1997 as Pax Imperia: Eminent Domain.

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  • MobyGames ID: 2538
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Shane Schrupp.

Macintosh added by Terok Nor.

Additional contributors: PCGamer77, Rebound Boy.

Game added October 23, 2000. Last modified March 10, 2024.