Geopolitical Forum Game Signup and Set Up News

[vcczar]

Here are some things to know:

• This is a geopolitical game that will start in c. 1986 w/ USSR instituting Glasnost and Perestroika, and it will continue into the 2030s. 
• Players will have to balance seapower, land forces, trade, influence, etc. to improve their situation from their 1986 position and accomplish a bunch of checklist items. By 2030s, which nation seems like their on the trajectory to be the nation of the 2100s?
• Lots of factors will play a role because each nation has ideologies, ethnicities, religions, free or authoritarian government, their own major events, their own export specialties, populations that require consumption of exports, etc. 
• The game is not really military-heavy, although military events will occur. Naval power is probably more crucial than land power as it helps with trade and global intervention. Military bases help with military reach and regional power. 
• High population gives a lot of potential for growth. 
• While the game has event cards and phases, the game is at least 50% interacting with the other players, making deals, planning strategies, etc.
• Basically, the GM will present an event, that has some options, and then all the players will make a decision on that card. Basically the order of the game is this:
  • GM presents an event. 
  • Players commune and then present how they will respond to that event. Then respond. Adjust relation meters
  • If the players are holding any cards, then they can play them at this time. Players can accept or refuse influence for exports. Players can give away some of their influence points for agreed favors.
  • Players then apply influence on the globe (independent of the event) or remove another player's influence.
  • Adjust Relation meters following influence
  • If the last event of a decade is played, then scoring is done, and players bank their points. Some set Number for 1st through 8th place in that decade. 
  • If the game ends, then checklist points are added. 
• There are relationship meters that can restrict a player's actions. For instance, if the US and Russia are continually at odds, it makes no sense for the US to randomly ally with Russia in a war. If you want to work with a nation or against a nation in an event, you'll have to act within historical or hypothetical historical realism. 
• If one nation has relations with two other powers at the lowest level, the game ends in WWIII. That unfavorable player is automatically in last place, while the other two powers will lose their checklist points and all their points for that round, basically assuring they'll likely get 6th and 7th place. This is to say that WWIII destroys these countries, if not the world. This is also to compel the game to some sort of realism wherein the major powers tend to avoid going into open war and continually working with each other on some level. 
• To add more flavor, the 2030s will see oil peak but with lots of untapped reserves in the arctic, where there is known to be some. Currently, Russia is the only nation with Nuclear-Powered Icebreakers. Some fear this means Russia will get to the oil first and dominate the arctic circle. Climate change actually makes this easier for them. If you're Russian, you want the arctic to melt. As such, a sort of end game strategy that you want to play for in advance is to acquire nuclear material from the few nations that produce uranium and build Nuclear-powered Icebreakers to compete in the Arctic Oil Rush of the 2030s. I might move this to 2040s and make it the only event for 2040s. This is possibly the only area Russia has a headstart. Otherwise the US has a massive head start by controlling every ocean. Russia will also need to control the arctic ocean to use their advantage. 
• Regarding influencing, the chance of influencing a nation is dependent on similarities, proximity, and access from the sea. USA is insanely dependent on control of the oceans. Overriding US naval superiority 
• Here are the playable nations:
  • USA - huge initial advantage that it is more likely to keep than not, but the goal is to maintain it at the current level or make it bigger. 
  • China - They produce so much that they'll accelerate into relevance but they're handicapped by their form of government, which will make influencing difficult. 
  • EU - They start out as Belgium (EU capital). Can't do much until they form the EU, then grow it. EU can potentially be more dominant than the EU. EU has some disadvantages in that it hasn't total control of its "nation" so they can't refuse outside influence. 
  • India - Similar to China, accept their form of government will handicap them less, but they start with a bigger disadvantage. 
  • Iran - Big disadvantage has some potential, especially if they undergo reform. More like a spoiler, but could win the game with a really skilled player.
  • Japan - This is arguably the most difficult nation to play as. The US is basically your military, which makes it difficult to really influence your aims. However, you'll be free to focus on trade. If Japan throws off US military influence, it's guaranteed to get in a showdown with China. 
  • Turkey - Similar to India. They have the added disadvantage of possibly being absorbed by the EU. 
  • Russia - They start with what is both an advantage and disadvantage. They begin with the power of the USSR but it crumbles fast. If you like bailing out a sinking ship, this is a good nation to play as. They can also get absorbed by the EU just as Turkey can but the case for this to occur is much more difficult. 
• Each player nation has a way that they can be taken out of the game. If a player is taken out of the game, their nation becomes just a generic nation. If the US is taken out of the game, then the US is off the board and not even considered anymore. Once the EU is created, if the EU loses Germany or France, then the EU is dismantled and the player is taken out. Japan loses if China takes Taiwan, Korea is unified, China controls the Sea of Japan. Turkey loses out if absorbed by EU or it loses Kurdistan. Russia loses out if it is absorbed by EU, which requires all former Eastern Bloc nations in Europe joining NATO and EU, and then Russia losing its authoritarian government. I have not yet determined how Iran, India, and China "lose" 

 

[Pringles]

Meant to have clicked Japan as well for the first question. 

[The Blood]

Since Pringles is interested in Turkey as well, I'd actually be chill switching to Japan as my first pick. The Abenomics will continue until GDP improves. 

[vcczar]

This may get fleshed out eventually, but here's the first draft for the relationship meter: 

Proxy = sending military aid, advisors, other misc tangible support.

 

Relationship Meter	Definition
9	Must aid ally in events; cannot influence nation led by this nation
8	May proxy for nation
7	May proxy for nation
6	May proxy for nation
5	May proxy for or against nation
4	Cannot help this nation in event
3	Cannot help this nation in event
2	Cannot help this nation in event
1	Must aid Against Opponent in event, if they are a principle; cannot trade w/ nation or influence in nation led by this nation; must expand military
0	WWIII if three nations at this level; same as level 1 otherwise

[vcczar]

I'm considered that to influence a nation you'll have to have influence in a border country or have influence at a bordering sea region. Therefore, if India wants to influence the UK, they'd have to build a naval link to the UK, although because of their history with the UK, they'll start with influence in the UK, but if they lose that, they'll have to build a naval link. 

[vcczar]

Let's say that you're wishing to influence Afghanistan in the 1980s as the US (assuming you could). 

Afghanistan	Authoritarian	Communist	Indo-Iranian	Sunni Islam
United States	Free	Republic	European-English-Germanic	Protestant Christian

As the US you have no connection to Afghanistan, so unless you occupy the place, or they have a governmental change, you'll won't be able to influence them. 

In most Communist nations in the 1980s, the US won't even be able to try and influence the nation without Russia's permission. Once the USSR collapses, you'll have something of a free for all. 

[vcczar]

Here are the starting countries that begin with A. Some of these are republics within the USSR. But it shows how Western Nations might have a difficult time cracking into this once they're free of communism, and the ability to influence opens up, you can see that Azerbaijan is going to be a potential pickup for both Turkey (similar kind of people) and Iran (same sect of Islam). Russia will try to stop that because it's going to want more influence on the Caspian Sea, which I'm going to make as an important goal. :

Afghanistan	Authoritarian	Communist	Pashto-Iranian	Sunni Islam
Armenia	Authoritarian	Communist	Armenian-Armenian	Oriental Orthodox Christianity
Albania	Authoritarian	Communist	Albanian-Balkanic	Sunni Islam
Austria	Free	Republic	Germanic-Germanic	Catholic Christianity
Azerbaijan	Authoritarian	Communist	Azerbaijani-Turkic	Shia Islam

[vcczar]

I've got about 1/3 of all the nations set up. I might be able to get the rest done tomorrow. Over the week, I'll have to work on the early cards, and then maybe we can get started in about 10 days. 

I have a feeling that Kazakhstan is going to get a lot of attention. It's got the most uranium by far. 

[vcczar]

I ended up working all night too. Finished the Middle East. 2/3 done with setting up the nations. Off to bed. 

14 hour workday on the computer. Reminds me of when I first starting working on AMPU. That first 18 to 24 months. 

 

[vcczar]

I'm going to make it so that the resources have some sort of practical point for getting them. This will increase tension and competition. It will also making have good relations with major economies important, while also trying to weaken them. 

[vcczar]

These are the bodies of water in the game. These are treated basically the same way as land. Since you have to have access to influence. US controls all of the oceans, although some seas they're locked out of, such as the Caspian Sea. The EU has nearly the reach of the US, although it doesn't control a single sea. All other nations are basically regional at the moment. 

Controlling a sea is important for a lot of strategies, mostly militarily. China can't invade Taiwan without control of the sea. So long as the US controls the sea off China, it can blockade them at will. 

 

Name

Sea of Japan

East China Sea

Yellow Sea

Philippine Sea

Celebes Sea

Java Sea

South China Sea

Gulf of Thailand

Malacca Strait

Bay of Bengal

Laccadive Sea

Arabian Sea

Persian Gulf

Red Sea

Gulf of Oman

Gulf of Aden

Somali Coast

East Mediterranean Sea

West Mediterranean Sea

Aegean Sea

Black Sea

Caspian Sea

Baltic Sea

Arctic Ocean

Bering Sea

Pacific Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

[vcczar]

All nations, land, seas, exports are now set up. 

I'll probably work on the checklists/goals for each player next. This may take a few days. 

[vcczar]

Each player nation will start with 50 influence pts in their own nation. If another nation gets more influence their own nation than they have, then something bad happens. For instance, China's Communist Party will be overthrown or a civil war will occur, or something to that affect. This makes smaller nations, such as India, Japan, Iran, and Turkey more vulnerable and more likely to need a strong ally like China, Russia, EU, or the US to cancel out unwanted invading influence. 

If the US gets topped in influence, then they become isolationist, leave NATO, and the Japanese-Security Pact. A huge anti-US alliance would only be able to do this if Russia can gain control of the Arctic Ocean, Bering Sea, or if China gainst control of the Pacific, then allows Russian, Iranian, etc. influence in those lanes, and then they pile up on the US. However, this would probably trigger WWIII (automatic loss) if they do this too obviously. It would have to be gradual with the US too focused on offensive maneuvers elsewhere.

[vcczar]

I'm done for the day. About 10 hours. I'm making more progress than I thought. If any of you are good at automating things in excel let me know. I could use your help soon.

[Arkansas Progressive]

41 minutes ago, vcczar said:

I'm done for the day. About 10 hours. I'm making more progress than I thought. If any of you are good at automating things in excel let me know. I could use your help soon.

Right here ol' chap

[vcczar]

3 minutes ago, Arkansas Progressive said:

Right here ol' chap

I’ll PM you once I figure out what ideally will be automated. I’ll let you know on Tuesday probably. 

[vcczar]

I’ve come up with another idea called ambition cards. If you max out influence on yourself, which will be a risky strategy if you focus on that, but should be doable if you do it gradually, you’ll get some ambitious goal. For instance, for Russia, it could be trying to restore the Soviet boundaries. For Japan, imperial Japan boundaries. In most ways, this will be the only way for noticeable land expansion, since we are really beyond the era of major land expansion. The UN, NATO, etc mostly safeguards a new Napoleon. 

[vcczar]

@Arkansas Progressive actually I’m going to wait until I have the spreadsheet set up for playing before I have you look at it for potential automation. I might end up wasting your time otherwise. 

[vcczar]

I think I’m going to get rid of the decade by decade events, and then just throw them all in. If requirements are met, they’ll become active events, otherwise they give influence pts and are then just thrown back in the potential event pile. Cards are discarded from the game permanently when the requirement for discard is met. Scoring won’t happen until the end. The checklist requirements give negative pts for those not fulfilled. They’ll give no points. Points will be won in responding to events, hitting some global benchmarks (leading oil access, for instance),  and achieving some bonuses. There’s also the race for arctic oil with icebreakers. There should be a lot of strategy but also some randomness. Eventually it get convoluted, which is what I want. An alliance will also be a drag. 

[Arkansas Progressive]

1 hour ago, vcczar said:

@Arkansas Progressive actually I’m going to wait until I have the spreadsheet set up for playing before I have you look at it for potential automation. I might end up wasting your time otherwise. 

that's fine

[vcczar]

I'm adding two more exports of importance:

1. Alt Energy, which will include exporting wind power, solar power, lithium batteries, and ion-sodium batteries. 

2. Nuclear Reactors 

I'm hoping to have much more of the game fleshed out tomorrow. 

[vcczar]

These are the 10 checklist items for each player (as of now):

US Checklist	Russia Checklist	China Checklist	EU Checklist	Japan Checklist	India Checklist	Turkey Checklist	Iran Checklist
Majority Nations w/ same Gov Control	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Control	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Control	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Control	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Control	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Control	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Control	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Control
Majority Nations w/ same Gov Ideology	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Ideology	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Ideology	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Ideology	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Ideology	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Ideology	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Ideology	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Ideology
US-Japan Security Treaty is Active	Ukraine not in the EU	Hong Kong and Macau are part of China	Ukraine is in the EU	Korea is not Unified	Lead in Pakistan	Kurdistan does not exist	Kurdistan does not exist
Controls All Oceans and Seas	Lead influence in Caspian Sea, Arctic Ocean, Bering Strait, and Black Sea	Lead in Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and Sea of Japan	Controls the bothe east and west Mediterranean, Aegean Sea, Baltic Sea, and Atlantic Ocean	Lead in Sea of Japan, Yellow Sea, East China Sea, Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea	Lead in Bay of Bengal, Lead in Luccadive Sea, Lead in Arabian Sea	Lead Influence in the Black Sea, Aegean Sea, Caspian Sea, and East Mediterranean Sea	Lead in Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Arabian Sea, Caspian Sea
Lead Influence in the UK	Georgia is no in the EU	Taiwan is part of China	Turkey is in the EU	Taiwan is independent	Lead in Bangladesh	Lead influence in Azerbaijan	Lead influence in Azerbaijan
Lead influence in South Korea	Georgia is not in NATO	Korea is unified as Communist	Poland is in the EU	Lead influence in Indonesia	Lead in Bhutan	Lead Influence in Turkmenistan	Lead influence in Afghanistan
Lead in Access to Luxury Goods	Lead influence in Azerbaijan	Lead influence in Vietnam	Lead in Access to Luxury Goods	Lead influence in Vietnam	Lead in Nepal	Lead influence in Uzbekistan	Lead influence in Iraq
Lead influence in Kazakhstan	Lead influence in Kazakhstan	Lead influence in Kazakhstan	Poland is in NATO	2nd Influence in US	Lead influence in Kazakhstan	Lead influence in Kazakhstan	Lead influence in Kazakhstan
Ukraine is in NATO	Ukraine not in NATO	Lead influence in Singapore	Ukraine is in NATO	Lead influence in Singapore	Lead in Sri Lanka	Lead Influence in Kyrgyzstan	Lead influence in Syria
Lead in Access to Oil	Lead in Icebreakers	Lead influence in Malaysia	UK is in the EU	Lead influence in Malaysia	Lead in UAE	Lead influence in Syria	Lead influence in Lebanon

[vcczar]

I've updated this. Changed 1 thing for US and 1 for EU:

US Checklist	Russia Checklist	China Checklist	EU Checklist	Japan Checklist	India Checklist	Turkey Checklist	Iran Checklist
Majority Nations w/ same Gov Control	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Control	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Control	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Control	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Control	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Control	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Control	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Control
Majority Nations w/ same Gov Ideology	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Ideology	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Ideology	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Ideology	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Ideology	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Ideology	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Ideology	Majority Nations w/ same Gov Ideology
US-Japan Security Treaty is Active	Ukraine not in the EU	Hong Kong and Macau are part of China	Ukraine is in the EU	Korea is not Unified	Lead in Pakistan	Kurdistan does not exist	Kurdistan does not exist
Controls All Oceans and Seas	Lead influence in Caspian Sea, Arctic Ocean, Bering Strait, and Black Sea	Lead in Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and Sea of Japan	Controls the bothe east and west Mediterranean, Aegean Sea, Baltic Sea, and Atlantic Ocean	Lead in Sea of Japan, Yellow Sea, East China Sea, Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea	Lead in Bay of Bengal, Lead in Luccadive Sea, Lead in Arabian Sea	Lead Influence in the Black Sea, Aegean Sea, Caspian Sea, and East Mediterranean Sea	Lead in Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Arabian Sea, Caspian Sea
Lead Influence in the UK	Georgia is no in the EU	Taiwan is part of China	Turkey is in the EU	Taiwan is independent	Lead in Bangladesh	Lead influence in Azerbaijan	Lead influence in Azerbaijan
Lead influence in South Korea	Georgia is not in NATO	Korea is unified as Communist	Poland is in the EU	Lead influence in Indonesia	Lead in Bhutan	Lead Influence in Turkmenistan	Lead influence in Afghanistan
Lead influence in Israel	Lead influence in Azerbaijan	Lead influence in Vietnam	Lead influence in Algeria and Morocco	Lead influence in Vietnam	Lead in Nepal	Lead influence in Uzbekistan	Lead influence in Iraq
Lead influence in Kazakhstan	Lead influence in Kazakhstan	Lead influence in Kazakhstan	Poland is in NATO	2nd Influence in US	Lead influence in Kazakhstan	Lead influence in Kazakhstan	Lead influence in Kazakhstan
Ukraine is in NATO	Ukraine not in NATO	Lead influence in Singapore	Ukraine is in NATO	Lead influence in Singapore	Lead in Sri Lanka	Lead Influence in Kyrgyzstan	Lead influence in Syria
Lead in Access to Oil	Lead in Icebreakers	Lead influence in Malaysia	UK is in the EU	Lead influence in Malaysia	Lead in UAE	Lead influence in Syria	Lead influence in Lebanon

[vcczar]

I'm now filling in the cards completely, while also typing up the rules. I know I said I'd do away with doing this in decade phases, but I think I'll try it for this first playthrough, mainly because I can fill out the 1980s cards, an then we can get started. Then I can work on the 1990s cards as you're all playing. And so forth. If the game works well this way, then maybe I'll keep it. If it seems more fun to have it more random, then we can do that for playthrough two. 

The rules will be much more simple than AMPU, so much so, that I hope someone can take over GMing eventually, so I can more quickly finish the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s, and 2030s cards. At some point, I hope, I'll have to get back to helping on AMPU. 

[vcczar]

I think the best way for me to do this is to type up preliminary rules first, then work on the cards, and then adapt the rules (if necessary) if the cards change how I should do the rules. My main issues now are:

• How to handle conflicts, using military strength, especially those conflict that lasted over a decade and didn't result in a real winner or loser. I could just ahistorically handle them the way Twilight Struggle does. The event doesn't linger but is just dealt with. 
• How to handle export between players, which also makes making these exports matter. 
• How to make exports matter? I was going to just have an end of decade or end game calculation, but now I'm thinking I should have random export cards in the pile and so no one knows when the scoring is coming up. Maybe they'll be tied to each event card, so I won't have to make new cards. The event card will just handle two roles. 
• I need to add more urgency in the game, so I may change how I'm orginally handling cards. I want to add more player agency, which means figuring out ways to take the events out of the cards and to the players. I'd like to make this a game with only 100 event cards. Right now we are looking at 500-700 cards. 

So I'll work on the rules first and then go back to the cards.