What is Pax Imperia: Eminent Domain?

The original Pax Imperia, a Mac-only game released in 1993, stole days away from our pre-MacAddict lives. It was amazing, and just the promise of Pax II, ever present in the annals of vaporware, was enough to make us drool. Five years later, Pax Imperia: Eminent Domain is finally here for the Mac and Windows. Was it worth the wait? Sorta. Eminent Domain delivers a worthwhile romp in space-empire management, but it misses the mark in a few key places.

For those of you who missed the first version, Eminent Domain is a game of space conquest and empire management in which you colonize distant star systems, design starships, negotiate with alien races, and direct mas- sive armadas as they attack competing em- pires. The game is played in real time (new to the genre) with your starships flying, colonies building structures, and research continuing all at once. We made judicious use of the pause button, which, thankfully, still allows you to issue conunands and scrutinize the myriad of screens at your leisure.

Eminent Domain differentiates itself from other space strategy games — most notably Master of Orion II — in its pacing. Worlds develop far more quickly than in any other game of its ilk, so you aren’t stuck waiting for populations to grow as they queue, say, a tiny escort ship to be built in 10,000 years. This faster pace lets you colonize more quickly, start and conclude wars early in the game, and easily establish solid production bases. Eminent Domain allows you to dive right in.

Eminent Domain disappoints in one critical area, however. Up to 16 people can play in networked competition (TCP protocols are supported for Internet play and are the only option for LAN play on the Mac), but you can’t save or pause the game in this configuration, as you can in single-player mode. Good luck if you need to visit the restroom or answer the telephone. And if a machine crashes or you suddenly lose a connection, you will be forced to abandon a sprawling empire in which you may have invested hours of work. These stupefying oversights make it just about impossible to really enjoy a network game.

Eminent Domain also missteps in its automated building and tech research. Because there is so much going on in the game, the designers automated the building queues and research selections, so it’s not necessary to keep an eye on all aspects of your empire. Although it provides a nice hands-off approach, the program goes a bit too far. In some ways, the game almost plays itself.

Eminent Domain is a welcome addition to the Mac game market, but we expected more after waiting five years for the Pax Imperia sequel. It’s a fun single-player game, but if you are looking for multiplayer action, stick with Bungie Software Products’ Myth or try MacSoft’s Master of Orion II.

Love, Scott. (July 1998). Pax Imperia: Eminent Domain. MacAddict. (pg. 62).

See also: Pax Imperia

Download Pax Imperia: Eminent Domain for Mac

Architecture

IBM PowerPC

System Requirements

From Mac OS 7.5

Compatibility notes

Minimum Requirements:

• PowerPC 601 CPU (80 MHz)
• Mac OS 7.5.1
• 16 MB of RAM
• 100 MB of free hard drive space
• 256 colors
• 2x CD-ROM drive

Emulating this? It could probably run under: SheepShaver