Empire Deluxe Tournament 2022 – Pre-Game Commentary

Today we officially start our first game of the Empire Deluxe Tournament.  This year we have five finalists who will be battling it out to obtain the title of Empire Champion for the next year.  The last time we had so many finalists was in the 2019 Meer Sea tournament.  It was one of the most intense battles between our players, and one of the last played on the legacy Empire Deluxe system before moving to EDCE.

Itzi, the winner from the 2021 tournament, is returning to defend his title once more.  Holak, Keiren, Dyn, and Dalian will be coming back to prevent him from repeating his victory.  The group met back in November and decided to continue the tradition of using Tournament Rules instead of the in-game points system.  This means we can expect more large-scale operations taking place in pre-defined theaters, as well as modifications to the unit sets and maps based on each play through.

This year, we are playing on the map of Adomaxia.  The tournament version of this map has been uploaded to the in-game map repository and can be downloaded by players and spectators alike.  The group agreed to use a modified unit set that adds a moderator unit to the game, as well as continued the tradition of allowing modifications to the sets upon mutual agreement by all players.  The first change will be the reduction of ground attack rates against other units, and the addition of a 1 tile ranged fire option for those who don’t have ranged fire already.  The speed and range of all aircraft have been doubled as well.

That wraps up our preliminary analysis.  The first game begins in about 2 hours and will be hosted through a private stream.  As usual, I will provide a detailed analysis of the game once the round is completed.

Good luck to our players!