First Impressions

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First Impressions - 1/18/2008 11:26:14 PM

jdew

Posts: 60
Joined: 10/30/2005
Status: offline

A spur of the moment purchase for me... the price was right and the subject looked interesting. Having played through a few games I thought some first impressions might be in order for those who might have an interest in the game. So, some simple comments and impressions.....

Its not a time-consuming or particularly detailed game regarding the player's actions... which makes it a great diversion from games such as WITP or COG. Essentially, as president you just make decisions on various economic and social policies (taxation and spending government funds) that then effect the nation's economy, well-being and areas (crime, lifespan, GDP, productivity, equality... 14 in all) that in turn effect how various interest groups (socialists, environmentalists, conservatives... 21 groups in all) view you. You can effect some policy every turn if you want to, but I've found that sometimes it might be best to keep your presidential nose out of things for a few turns.

Added to that are various "dilemmas"... decisions on single issues (who to appoint to the UN, for example) that pop up from time to time. The point is to improve the nation one way or another and get re-elected. The relationships between the issues, policies and decisions are interesting and because of the interactions its not a simplistic game.

Since its not a particularly time-consuming game, I've managed to play through several games. The results I can claim through several games include being re-elected, assassinated, jailed and kicked out of office and losing an election by a landslide. So far, it doesn't appear too predictable as I've tried all sorts of general policy approaches... socialist, ultra-conservative, middle-of-the-road, isolationist and things in between. All in all, very entertaining.

The US, France, Japan, Canada, Germany, UK, Sweden, Italy, Australia, Russia, Poland and Spain are the countries you can chose from. Each has differences and I've noticed that so far some policies that work in one country don't seem to work too well in another. For instance I won re-election in France, but when pursuing a similar path in the US, didn't get re-elected.... in fact I got assassinated. So far, it doesn't have that boring, "been there done that" nature after a couple of games that some can have.

Poking around on the Positech website and in the game's file folders, I find that the game is highly moddable. Positech's website says "Democracy allows players to add new policies, new dilemmas, new situations, new events and new 'sliders' for controlling policies. You can also add entire new countries, although this is more involved." The files controlling or keying most everything are text and csv files. Some of those look pretty involved, but you can change or add just about anything. Poking around it seems to me that there's nothing stopping someone from even modding an historical period... the US in 1960, the French during Napoleon III, or Victorian England for example... provided you do some research and get the interactions working correctly. Though the manual doesn't address how to mod, Positech's website and forum has some information on that.

http://www.democracygame.com

Select Democracy2 for the forums (modding democrary 1)for some info
Select Democracy1 then the Modding item for more info on modding

So far, I like it. Its a fun diversion, doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and offers plenty of reasons for me to want to come back and try a different country or a different approach. There looks to be plenty of depth here and yet its easy to get into. (Actually, its kind of addicting.) Aside from the general game play, I'm intrigued by the highly modifiable design and with some effort (I'm not sure yet how much it would take) I can create all sorts of new options, events, countries and maybe even historical periods.

Just my 2 cents.....

Post #: 1

RE: First Impressions - 1/19/2008 12:14:26 AM

blastpop

Posts: 395
Joined: 11/27/2005
From: Connecticut
Status: offline

Thanks for the insight into the game. Sounds like it may be something I might be interested in getting.

How long is the playing time?

Does the game list the conditions as they exist at game start? If so are they variable at start?

< Message edited by blastpop -- 1/19/2008 12:15:32 AM >

(in reply to jdew)

Post #: 2

RE: First Impressions - 1/19/2008 12:42:23 AM

jdew

Posts: 60
Joined: 10/30/2005
Status: offline

The playing time is variable... sometimes less than an hour sometimes more. Yeah, not much of an answer; it just depends on how what you do works out and how many things you want to tweak how often during your "administration" and how long your "administration" lasts.

Conditions... there are sliders in options to set global economic volatility, interest rate, difficulty and cynicism rate (none of which I've played around with yet). Other than that, you pick a country and off you go... you get to figure out the rest as you play, which I find I like. You don't get a complete run-down of all the settings that go into the environment and, unless you edit the files (thus creating a mod), you don't get to change them. The element of uncertainty is always present (something I like) and because of the interactions, things can be unpredictable at times. (Unpredictable is probably not the best way to describe it. Its not random. There's a reason why; its "unpredictable" because I didn't recognize the interaction or response by some group or groups very accurately (or I wasn't "listening to the people and just did what I wanted".)

There's always an element of uncertainty because, unless you start looking at the control files, you don't know all the parameters. When making a policy move, you can see what areas are effected, so that's a help; you're not totally in the dark. Another key in-game indicator is to periodically check the polls to see how you're doing with the various groups as that's an indicator for your re-election and helps to determine what moves effect the different groups. Watch out though, because some groups can become really really angry with your decisions and, as I've found out, a military coup or assassination is not out of the question if you push things too hard too fast in some direction. Also check the "money" reports (income and expenditure) to make sure your policies aren't running up huge deficits; they tend to have some nasty effects as one would expect.

< Message edited by jdew -- 1/19/2008 12:47:33 AM >

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Post #: 3

RE: First Impressions - 1/19/2008 1:54:24 AM

Erik Rutins

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Joined: 3/28/2000
From: Vermont, USA
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Thanks, Jdew - those impressions are spot on my opinion of the game as well, thanks for posting them!

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(in reply to jdew)

Post #: 4

RE: First Impressions - 1/22/2008 11:06:13 PM

Wrathchild

Posts: 817
Joined: 10/12/2007
From: Reading, PA
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Are the starting conditions static for any given country, or do they vary if you play the same country more than once?

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Post #: 5

RE: First Impressions - 5/7/2008 8:27:13 PM

CplRoss

Posts: 1
Joined: 5/6/2008
Status: offline

I just bought the game, and have been re-elected as Poland's President twice.

Of course, I'm playing at the easiest difficulty level.�

I like it.� The game is simple, but not overly simplistic.

It appears the opening conditions are specific (and static) to country selected...?

< Message edited by CplRoss -- 5/7/2008 8:29:42 PM >

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Post #: 6

RE: First Impressions - 5/28/2008 1:13:42 AM

parusski

Posts: 4804
Joined: 5/8/2000
From: Jackson Tn
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I too just bought Democracy and find it a refreshingly simple but challenging game. The game gives you a good idea of how hard it is to be the leader of a country: So many decisions with so many consequences. So far I like the game a lot, it is a nice break from the serious wargaming I do with Advanced Tactics, SPWAW, GWAW......Good job Matrix

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Post #: 7

RE: First Impressions - 6/4/2008 7:47:18 PM

GShock

Posts: 1245
Joined: 12/9/2007
From: San Francisco, CA - USA
Status: offline

An interesting post on an interesting and innovative game. I guess if the authors left some room for modding this could become a really intriguing game. Perhaps in the future some sort of diplomatic / commercial / military relationship with the other countries might even build room for a multiplayer feature.