Strategic Simulations

Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) was a computer game developer and publisher with over 100 titles to its credit since its founding in 1979. It was especially notable for its numerous wargames, and for the groundbreaking Panzer General series.

The company was founded by Joel Billings, a wargame enthusiast. He hired programmers John Lyon, who wrote Computer Bismarck, and Ed Williger, who wrote Computer Ambush. Both games were written in BASIC as were many of SSI's early games. Computer Bismarck was released for the Apple II in January 1980 and for the TRS-80 later in the year. Chuck Kroegel, the co-author with David Landry of many of the early SSI wargames, joined the company as an employee in 1983 and led product development for over ten years.

SSI also expanded into role-playing games in 1984 with titles such as Wizard's Crown, Questron and the Phantasie series.

In 1987, SSI acquired the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) license from TSR and published 30 AD&D titles over the following years, starting with Pool of Radiance in 1988. The TSR products formed the core of games released using the Gold Box engine.

SSI was acquired by Mindscape in 1994, spent time as part of Mattel, and finally became part of Ubisoft (in March 2001), who have since retired the brand name.

Notable titles

• Computer Bismarck (1980)
• Southern Command (1981)
• Germany 1985 (1982)
• RDF 1985 (1983)
• Baltic 1985: Corridor to Berlin (1984)
• Field of Fire (1984)
• Computer Ambush (1985)
• Colonial Conquest (1985)
• Norway 1985 (1985)
• Operation Market Garden (1985)
• Phantasie (1985)
• Phantasie II (1986)
• Roadwar 2000 (1986)
• Wizard's Crown (1986)
• Phantasie III: Wrath of Nikademus (1987)
• Pool of Radiance (1988)
• Curse of the Azure Bonds (1989)
• Sword of Aragon (1989)
• Storm Across Europe (1989)
• Champions of Krynn (1990)
• Countdown to Doomsday (1990)
• Secret of the Silver Blades (1990)
• Death Knights of Krynn (1991)
• Pools of Darkness (1991)
• Gateway to the Savage Frontier (1991)
• Neverwinter Nights for AOL (1991), first Graphical MMO
• Tony La Russa Baseball (1991-1993)
• Treasures of the Savage Frontier (1992)
• The Dark Queen of Krynn (1992)
• Matrix Cubed (1992)
• Spelljammer: Pirates of Realmspace (1992)
• Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures (1993)
• Clash of Steel (1993)
• Stronghold (1993), first 3D style RTS
• Panzer General (1994)
• Imperialism (1994)
• Wargame Construction Set III: Age of Rifles (1995)
• Silent Hunter (1996)
• Su-27 Flanker (1996)
• Steel Panthers (1998)
• Panzer Commander (1998)
• Flanker 2.0 (1999)

External links

• Classic Gaming info for SSI
• 1985 story about SSI
• MobyGames' entry on SSI
• The Underdogs' entry on SSI
• The History of SSI Games!