This kind of politico-military unity is rarely found in war games.Įven better, while the core mechanics stay the same, there is a lot of replayability. The focus on achieving peace also ties in nicely your goal is expressly not the destruction of the enemy, but the application of pressure to bring them to the table. It walks a neat line between emphasizing the need for security and advocating for development.
#Rebel inc escalation review manual
Now, I must admit to bias here – my eleventh birthday present was a copy of US Army Field Manual 3-24: Counterinsurgency, after all – but the game provides engaging insight into the complexities of post-conflict stabilisation. A standard game also lasts about thirty to forty minutes, so it’s easy to work into a busy day.īeyond being enjoyable, it’s also educational. It’s a bit of a bucket of ice water, but that makes for a refreshing challenge. Rebel Inc: Escalation was the first time I’ve straight up lost a game – not quit, not retried from saves, just played as best I could and lost – in months. As it is exceedingly difficult, that makes the experience all the more rewarding. Why should you play it?įor starters, while it is tough, it is also fair.
#Rebel inc escalation review series
Eventually, the insurgents will come to the table, presenting you with a series of choices on how you want the peace to look – more lenient options are more likely to continue negotiations, at the cost of reputation. The trick is to keep up the military pressure while building support among the population with development programs and good governance. Where, then, is the path to success? It is through negotiations. This makes military victory nearly impossible. And even when you have done that, new centres of insurgency will appear across the map. This is, unsurprisingly, manpower intensive. The only way to do that is to fully surround them so they have nowhere to run. Fighting battles with them pushes them out of a given area, but it does not destroy them. The military challenge is exacerbated by how annoying the insurgents are. You can supplement your forces with airstrikes, drone surveillance, and weapon upgrades, but doing so can mean neglecting critical civilian projects. However, they take a year to train up, and are much worse fighters than the Coalition. The path to lasting victory is training National Soldiers, permanent armed forces. However, they are also deeply unpopular with the local population and can only remain in country for a relatively short period of time before being withdrawn. They move fast and hit like a ton of bricks. Your first military tools are Coalition Soldiers, representing NATO forces, which you can deploy rapidly to contest the insurgents. You must fight them, or you will lose the game. Left unchecked, insurgents will blow up your pricey development projects and seize territory, making you lose reputation. Obviously.Ībout a year into the game (five minutes worth of gameplay or so), an insurgency will spring up. So, just as you get the hang of it, people start shooting at you.
These factors on their own would make for an engaging puzzle game. Gaining it back is very difficult, but it is possible, mainly by meeting the demands of citizens for public services. Unfortunately, losing reputation is extremely easy – corruption, inflation, lack of programs, and lack of security all cut into it. If your reputation hits zero, the game ends. If you couldn’t, your head might literally explode.Īnother challenge from the get-go is managing your reputation, a barometer of how much international donors support you. Luckily, you can pause the game to consider your choices. Spending too much in one go contributes to inflation, significantly increasing the cost of everything. Providing telecommunications goes down well, but the outlay may force you to abandon police oversight. Job creation programs will increase support for your administration, but their benefit will be wasted without aggressive anti-corruption. With a small budget each month, every decision is a trade-off. For starters, you are overwhelmed with priorities, just like in real life.
0 kommentar(er)
