Barren Realms Elite
From Free net encyclopedia
Barren Realms Elite or BRE is a multi-player bulletin board system strategy game.
Players rule a kingdom on a post-apocalyptic planet, and compete to become the strongest kingdom on the planet. There are two main ways in which players expand their kingdoms, either by purchasing more territory or attacking other players and taking their territory. Territory is broken down into several types, including mountain, coastal, river, factories and urban. Each offers a variable amount of income in the form of food and money, dependent on other factors such as population or total amount of territory. Military units consist of units purchased or produced in factories. Some of the unit types are infantry, tanks, jets and missile bases (MB's). Players are also able to select from a preset list of espionage missions which can destroy land or population of opponents. Finally, there is also a list of diplomatic treatues which players can use to create alliances or trade routes.
One feature of the game was the ability for a bulletin board system to compete against other BBSs. Each BBS would function as its own distinct planet in a universe of planets, where the universe comprised all of the BBSs that agreed to host the game together. Messages and attacks would travel from planet to planet on a regular basis as the BBS systems called each other to transmit and receive data. The game was based on Solar Realms Elite (SRE), and is considered by many to be SRE's successor, due to SRE no longer being in development because the source code was accidentally lost.