Crisis in the Kremlin
 

Feel free to comment and discuss this game here. Also, if you have any useful tips or tricks don't hesitate to share them with the others! Thanks!

Review and download (if available)

There's a 1.01 patch for it located here: http://www.filefront.com/citk101zip/.../fileinfo.html

As a note, the .DAT files (if you open them with Notepad) have quite a few things that aren't in the game, like decisions over the Ukraine, situations between Romania and Moldavia, various foreign relations issues, etc. It seems the game was rushed, which sucks because the game would have been that much more fun if it hadn't been.

Great game ruined by the Budget
 

I really enjoy casual strategy games, and especially political strategy games. But they are few and far between.

A good strategy game should be, in my humble opinion, a "big picture" kind of game. But almost every strategy game out there today is based on a grinding micromanagement.

So I kind of hoped Crisis in the Kremlin would be different. And it almost was! It was the Budget action that turned me away from this game. Instead of just asking the player for a few general budget decisions, the player is forced to make decisions like: Do I spend 167 rubles for defense, or 168 rubles? Then do I spend 234 rubles for Transportation, or 235 rubles? Or maybe just 233? And on and on it goes. Why so unnecessarily complicated?

Now understand, I'm not complaining! After all, Abandonia kindly provided me this game for free. I guess I'd just like to point out this general micromanagement problem, and then maybe ask the board for suggestions of good strategy games without micromanagement.

Hmm I will have to check that out. I enjoyed the game but it honestly felt like things just were inevitable no matter how well you were running the USSR. I managed to keep the USSR up and running till the end of the game in 2000 even though you can play further it just doesnt' count it towards your score. Unfortunately there was no more Warsaw Pact and the Baltic States left. I have tried every possible solution but it seems 95% of these events do what happened historically and having decisions is really just a waste of time and more for appeasing members of various factions in the USSR.

I bought this game when it came out, and had big expectations - seemed like a great political simulation.

However, it sucks. It really, really sucks and I can't understand how it could have been released in this shape. It has really bad graphics (and my main gaming computer is a C64, so trust me - it needs to be BAD for me to complain about that), the game is filled with bugs and it's... well. Pointless.

I remember modifying the savegames and giving myself unlimited rubles + other things, and the outcome was still ALWAYS the same - collapse of the SSSR. There is simply no way to win this game. Sure, one might argue that the SSSR would have collapsed sooner or later, but this is a game, and if my nation is strong, rich, free and populated by happy people - why would it collapse?

Stay away from this worthless XXXXX XX XXXX even if you can download it for free. Alternatively, buy the original off ebay and put it in a safe, it might very well be the worst computer game ever made, and could become valuable for that reason in the future.

Well I was able to win the game just put the money in the right place.
How did you modify the savegame?

Feel free to post a walkthrough! That's more than I've managed to do, playing normally or cheating.

Well... (sigh, had to download and run the useless .... in dosbox now, for the 1st time in at least 16 years. It still sucks. And the interface is totally useless! But I noticed the credit screen, at least now I have some people to mail, asking "Why?".) First of all I gave myself unlimited money, think that's either assets or reserves. Seems to start around offset $095E in a "new" savegame (ie, save it as soon as the game starts). I think I also played around with other variables, but can't remember exactly what. The savefile is pretty straightforward though, the only odd thing is that every value is saved twice for some kind reason.

There isn't really a path you can't win the game twice whit the same decition.
But you must survive all coup and vote off "no confidence" becauce each time you succeed at remaining in office it weaken the faction who want to remove you of the office for exemple in a military coup use the loyal army outside moscow to arest the perpetror of the failed coup sorry if my english is bad.

If anyone has managed to keep the USSR completely together, I'd like to know how.

How to win
 

You win if you survive 33 years.

I have only managed this with the nationalists so far.

I don't know how to win without losing all satellite states and most republics though.