Universal Military Simulator was a very advanced battle strategy game which was developed by Rainbird and was released on the ST and Amiga platforms back in 1988.
For more details about the game, check out Richard Hewison’s excellent write up here: http://www.birdsanctuary.co.uk/ums/i.php
The Amiga review was listed in Commodore User magazine back in December 1988, and stated that a C64 version would be out in 1989, along with other 8-bit versions.
However, this never quite happened – and it seems only the 16-bit versions ever surfaced. We can only assume that the complex 3D grid systems used in the game were far too complex to move across, and the idea of 8-bit conversions were scrapped very early on. Richard Hewison was quizzed about the game.
Richard had two people he could ask about a UMS conversion for 8-bits. The project manager and the original designer and programmer.
And now it has been confirmed that UMS on the C64 *was* started, but was aborted when Telecomsoft was sold to MicroProse. Sadly it barely got off the ground before it was canned. Ezra Sidran did a small amount of work, but unfortunately nothing exists now. It seems therefore we have little to do but soon close the case. There is always a chance something could be found, but its very unlikely.
Close to being a closed case!…
Contributions: Richard Hewison
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From what I read here a C64 version was announced also in the original press release:
https://www.atarimagazines.com/st-log/issue27/136_1_IANS_QUEST.php
Thanks Fabrizio – yeah, there has been confirmation that a C64 version did exist, but only briefly. Canned when MicroProse took over sadly.