Yes, Empire should be up there with required software like a spreadsheet app and a text editor.

If you're even more curious, this is the one to try: http://www.killerbeesoftware.com/kbsgames/edee/index.shtml

Man I miss playing this game. The summer of 1990 we had an Amiga Empire tournament over the summer at our high school (I was going in to grade 11) where a classmate had digitized the world map with Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, and he had set up a modem so we could call in and play our turns every day.

I learned the hard way that you never, ever want to play as the Levant. After being destroyed by India, Africa and Europe, I restarted in New Guinea and was able to take over Australia. This went a long way for me to understand why remote, relatively homogenous cultures tend to be quite stable.

Or this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_Empire_(computer_game)

Oh wow. I didn't realize the game Strategic Conquest was pretty much a copy of Empire, for Mac.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Conquest