View source for Command HQ

{{Short description|1990 video game}}
{{Infobox VG
|title = Command HQ
|image = Command HQ video game cover art.jpg
|alt =
|developer = [[Ozark Softscape]]
|publisher = [[Microplay Software]]
|series =
|engine =
|designer = [[Danielle Bunten Berry|Danielle Bunten]]
|released = 1990
|genre = [[Real-time strategy]]
|platform = [[MS-DOS]] <br /> [[Classic Mac OS]]
}}
'''''Command HQ''''' is a [[real-time strategy]] world domination game.  It was released in 1990 by [[MicroProse|Microplay Software]] and was created by designer [[Danielle Bunten Berry|Danielle Bunten]].<ref>{{cite news|first=Jack|last=Warner|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/86053250/|title=Software makers unwrap some compelling science fiction games|newspaper=[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]]|page=66|date=December 17, 1990|accessdate=September 27, 2021|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>
[[Tommo]] purchased the rights to this game in 2013 and digitally publishes it through its [[Retroism]] brand in 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://docs.bmcgroup.com/Atari/nysb_1-13-bk-10176_313.pdf |title=Purchase Agreement between Atari, Inc. and Rebellion Developments, Stardock & Tommo |date=2013-07-22 |publisher=[[BMC Group]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303173012/http://docs.bmcgroup.com/Atari/nysb_1-13-bk-10176_313.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-03 }}</ref>
==Overview==
While ''Command HQ'' was recognized as one of the [[Chronology of real-time strategy video games#List|earliest real-time strategy games]] for the PC, it was preceded by the ''[[Ancient Art of War]]'' and other trailblazers.  Unlike these games it has elements of unit production and resource use that would later be expanded in games like ''[[Dune II]]'' and ''[[Command and Conquer]]''. Its user interface was also ahead of its time in its use of the mouse to plot movement and the clear presentation of game data. Another innovation was for two players to play against each other head-to-head remotely via serial ([[RS-232]]) cable, dial up [[modem]] or a [[null modem]]. No option exists for broadband Internet users; making it mandatory to tie up the phone lines. A plugin for [[IPX/SPX]] exists.
Players simulate a variety of global wars through time - 1918 ([[World War I]]), 1942 ([[World War II]]), 1986 ([[World War III]]), 2023 ([[Alternate history|alternative history]]) and a post-apocalyptic future in which each player starts from a random position with no knowledge of their opponent's starting position and must explore and expand to confront them.
The game is played on a fully revealed map of the world (except in the post-apocalyptic future setting, when the world is concealed by [[Fog of war#Simulations and games|fog of war]]) with various terrain types. The number of cities determines one's income and therefore what can be built. In some scenarios the number of oil wells controlled affects the movement of a player's units. There are relatively few unit types and their availability differs according to the scenario. Units' movements and orders are plotted in advance. It has a number of facilities for zooming in to see action more clearly. Enemy units are only visible when they are in range of friendly units. This provides ample opportunity for surprise attacks on the unwary. The game is won when all the capital cities of the world have been captured by one side.
The game is playable over the internet using DOS Box. The player can also install the latest version of the game from Safeharborgames,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.safeharborgames.net |title = SafeHarborGames {{!}} Play Free Online Games {{!}} Download Games}}</ref> and play online there without charge or copy protection issues.
==Reception==
''Command HQ'' sold 75,000 copies by June 1993.<ref name=sales>{{cite magazine| author=Emrich, Alan |title=The Board / Computer Wargaming Transition |date=June 1993 |issue=107| magazine=[[Computer Gaming World]] | pages=124 }}</ref>
The game was reviewed in 1991 in ''[[Dragon (magazine)|Dragon]]'' #169 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game an "X" for "Not recommended".<ref name="Dragon169">{{cite journal|title=The Role of Computers| last1=Lesser| last2=Lesser| last3=Lesser| first1=Hartley| first2=Patricia|first3=Kirk| journal=Dragon| issue=169| date=May 1991| pages=61–65}}</ref> A ''[[Computer Gaming World]]'' survey that year of strategy and war games, however, gave it four and a half stars out of five,<ref name="brooks199111">{{cite magazine | url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1991&pub=2&id=88 | title=Computer Strategy and Wargames: The 1900-1950 Epoch / Part I (A-L) of an Annotated Paiktography | magazine=Computer Gaming World | date=November 1991 | access-date=18 November 2013 | author=Brooks, M. Evan | pages=138}}</ref> and the magazine named the game, with ''[[Warlords (game series)#Warlords|Warlords]]'', as its 1991 Wargames of the Year.<ref name="cgw199111">{{cite magazine | url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1991&pub=2&id=88 | title=Computer Gaming World's 1991 Games of the Year Awards | magazine=Computer Gaming World | date=November 1991 | access-date=18 November 2013 | pages=38}}</ref> 1993 and 1994 surveys in the magazine of wargames gave the game three-plus stars out of five.<ref name="brooks199309">{{cite magazine | url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1993&pub=2&id=110 | title=Brooks' Book of Wargames: 1900-1950, A-P | magazine=Computer Gaming World | date=September 1993 | access-date=30 July 2014 | author=Brooks, M. Evan | pages=118}}</ref><ref name="brooks199401">{{Cite magazine |last=Brooks |first=M. Evan |date=January 1994 |title=War In Our Time / A Survey Of Wargames From 1950-2000 |url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1994&pub=2&id=114 |magazine=Computer Gaming World |pages=194–212}}</ref>
==Reviews==
*''Joker Verlag präsentiert: Sonderheft'' (1993)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://amr.abime.net/issue_2934_pages|title = Amiga Joker Amiga Joker Sonderheft Nr.5 - Strategie Page scans - Amiga Magazine Rack}}</ref>
*''[[ASM (Aktueller Software Markt)]]'' (May, 1991)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kultboy.com - DIE Kult-Seite über die alten Spiele-Magazine und Retro-Games! |url=https://www.kultboy.com/index.php?site=t&id=10689 |access-date=2024-06-25 |website=www.kultboy.com}}</ref>
==Legacy==
''Computer Gaming World'' in July 1994 reported a rumor that [[MicroProse]] was working on ''Command HQ II'', with four-way and possibly network multiplayer support.<ref name="cgw199407">{{Cite magazine
|last=Santos
|first=Ernie Ryne
|author=
|last2=
|first2=
|date=July 1994
|title=Cub Reporters?
|department=The Rumor Bag
|url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1994&pub=2&id=120
|magazine=Computer Gaming World
|pages=166
|type=
}}</ref>
== References ==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* {{moby game|id=/command-hq|name=''Command HQ''}}
* [http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/data/935129.html ''Command HQ''] at [[GameFAQs]]
{{Dani Bunten}}
[[Category:1990 video games]]
[[Category:Alternate history video games]]
[[Category:Classic Mac OS games]]
[[Category:Video games designed by Danielle Bunten Berry]]
[[Category:DOS games]]
[[Category:Microplay Software games]]
[[Category:North America-exclusive video games]]
[[Category:Ozark Softscape games]]
[[Category:Real-time strategy video games]]
[[Category:Single-player video games]]
[[Category:Tommo games]]
[[Category:Video games developed in the United States]]
[[Category:Video games scored by Jeff Briggs]]
[[Category:Video games set in 2023]]
[[Category:Video games set in the 1910s]]
[[Category:Video games set in 1942]]
[[Category:Video games set in 1986]]
[[Category:Fiction set in 1918]]