Each turn begins with a choice of actions. You can plot destinations for all of your ships; stop, start and change your research projects (these increase the quality and availability of a number of items, including your vessels’ weapons, shields and engines); make contact with alien races you encounter; and see third-person video replays of battles fought by your fleet. Each turn ends when you click a button on the system/fleet panel, a display listing the important attributes of the currently selected ships or planets.

As you colonize worlds, food and minerals found there are added to your imperial coffers, which are used to feed your citizens and fund your research and ship-construction projects, so searching for prospective colonies that offer large quantities of grain and minerals becomes a prime concern. Once the turn ends, the other races make their adjustments, some of which could force you to change your plans.

Victory comes through completing any of the objectives selected on the game-setup screen. These include acquiring more than half of the galaxy’s available food and minerals, eliminating all of the competing races or defeating both of the Eonian immortals. This can take a considerable amount of time. Even playing in the galaxies with the fewest available planets and alien races, careful planning and exploration can make the game last for many hours until ultimate glory is yours.

Immortals offers plenty of strategic depth for virtual explorers and intergalactic warmongers of all skill levels. But is there enough fun involved to induce players to stick out the scenarios to the bitter end, or will the level of micromanagement involved turn off all but the most devoted fans of the genre? On to the numbers…