Connection Empire

Your company. Your connections. Your decisions.

Germany, 1983: you begin as a small data and terminal service for local businesses. Your founding office gradually grows into an internet provider. Connection Empire is a 2D business simulation about connections, customers and the development of the German internet.

Choose where your story begins

Select your headquarters directly on the map. A founding dossier guides you through your company name, owner, office preparation and starting budget. Real OpenStreetMap data provides streets, buildings and mapped addresses. Germany is the first playable country; available map data varies by location.

Build a network your customers can rely on

Connect buildings, place distribution cabinets and plan connections along streets. Every connection uses capacity. Expansion, operation and repairs all cost money. In the early era, connection lines represent leased lines and installation work; later technology takes you through ISDN, DSL and fibre.

At first, you are customer support too

Accept orders, assess connection requirements, organise installation and look after your customers. Early enquiries arrive by telephone, letter and personal contact. Communication channels develop as the game calendar advances.

A good tariff is only the beginning

Price, speed and reliability affect acquisition and satisfaction. Close the month, compare income with operating costs and decide where to invest next. Fictional providers enter the market as the campaign progresses; former provider brands have their own era too.

Discover internet history

Selected historical cards accompany the years from 1983, covering videotex, early research networks, market liberalisation and broadband. Reopen the chronicle whenever you like or turn automatic historical cards off for your game.

Features

• 2D business simulation with headquarters chosen directly on the map
  
• Streets, buildings and mapped addresses based on OpenStreetMap
  
• Network expansion, building connections, capacity, maintenance and outages
  
• Tariff choices, customer development and monthly financial settlements
  
• Manual customer service as your business begins
  
• A calendar, technology upgrades and historical snapshots
  
• 26 fictional competitors and former provider lines
  
• Single-player; interface and text in German and English

Simulation note

Connection Empire combines real present-day map data with a simplified economy and historical background texts. Mapped buildings and addresses are not a complete record of every real connection. Costs and founding procedures are game values. An internet connection is required to load additional map areas.