Played DOS version of Empire for hours with friends, then got DOS version of Empire Deluxe which had a lot more options. The next version of Empire Deluxe was a Windows 16bit version that didn't run on a 64bit Windows. It did run using WINE on Linux.
There is a version called Empire Deluxe Enhanced Edition which always seemed to be overkill.
Each round one person plays, then the next person takes their turn. The game allowed you to save it and send it on a floppy to the next person who would take their turn and pass it along to the next person. No reason you couldn't email it to the next person, or share on a network. We even tried it between two computers over a serial port once.