Geopolitique 1990

Geopolitique 1990 is an economical simulation in which the player takes the
control over the USA and tries to overcome the USSR. There are seven
scenarios, one representing the actual political situation of 1984 and six
hypothetical 1990 situations. The success of the nation is measured with three
values: Gross National Product (trade), Prestige (politics) and National
Security (military). Before each match, the player chooses two of these three
values, and when both reach a certain number (depending on the scenario), the
game is won. Or, well, lost if the AI was faster. The game does not simulate
all countries in the world, besides the two opponents USA and USSR there are
only 14 “minor countries” which mostly represent certain regions like Western
Europe.

Actually, the game consists of two separate programs. Geopol is the initial
one and handles all the political simulation. The basic goal is to make
treaties with the minor countries, as each treaty improves the mentioned
victory values. Accordingly, there are trade, military and political treaties
(along with a neutrality treaty which cancels all other treaties).
Negotiations are everything, and the player is free to decide how much
pressure is in order. But failing hurts the prestige and the willingness of
the minor countries to negotiate at all. The second aspect is building up
military presence over the globe. This is both necessary to keep the USSR at
bay and improve negotiation positions.

However, all this belongs into the political phase of each year. Before it
comes to this, the player needs to think about the economy. Here, the player
manages the production of the three resources within the USA. The minor
countries also produce resources which are then divided depending on trade
treaties. In turn, those resources are used to produce five kind of points
which are (mostly) needed for the following political phase. Directly used to
restrict the player’s actions are Military Maintenance (needed to maintain
existing units), Military Mobilization (producing new military units) and
Political Action (needed to negotiate with minor powers), Military Capacity
restrict the number of units which can be mobilized in each year and
Industrial Capacity does the same for the USA’s own resource production.

The player also has the possibility to wage war against one minor country to
get all their treaties automatically. However, this has great effects on the
world tension level (among various other factors). If it gets too high,
political negotiations are thrown out of the window and the second program
Geowar starts which is more similar to traditional wargames. The minor
countries decide if they stay neutral or are loyal to one super power and a
global war begins. Now the winning condition is simply to conquer and hold
enough of the world first and each turn represents three months. Each round
consists of the following phases: military buildup (using resource points,
earned from loyal or conquered nations, to either mobilize new units,
reinforce units or increase the USA’s permanent resource points output),
movement, management of air units and attacking. Obviously there is no going
back when Geowar has been started.