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[WolverineDK]

Originally Posted by WilliamC23

You have a point, the world is connected with each other, except for SubSaharan Africa, which is still relatively isolated. Also, is Rasmussen a common Danish last name? I remember in that one election, it was Rasmussen vs. Rasmussen, I'm not sure if any other country has had a similar occurrence.

Yes, Rasmussen is a common surname , well until very recently it was a surname you couldn´t buy. Which was okidoki with me, but some dumbarse has screwed that law, so the "sen" named are no longer protected (bollocks to me anyway, because I wouldn´t call somebody a Dane, just because of the last name had a "sen" in it). But the "sen" part is like son. Since the "sen" is something I can´t explain why, is not the actual spelling of søn (which is son in Danish) but history has done some fun hoola hoops with that. And to confuse even more, than some people use the søn part, instead of "sen". But anyway, yeah Rasmussen is a very common surname. So sen and søn means son in Danish. So the "Rasmussens" aren´t a big family. That would be a shame in my mind. But there are many people who has Jensen, Hansen etc. So the sen-name is common , or at least it used to be.

[Dadsa]

How do you get well on in the game? I find that after a few turns someone nukes someone else and the game ends! How can you make the game last longer?

[browncoat]

Originally Posted by WilliamC23

The only way to win is defeat all enemies, if there is an alternative, please tell me, I attempted peace, but the game did not end until I defeated the last bordering country.

Attack Lebanon quickly and take it over to gain the favor of war hawks. Then build up a very large military with mostly US weapons and US cash while avoiding other wars to gradually gain the favor of doves. Having an overwhelming military there is no need to attack or fight further. This "peace" goes on for quite awhile until declared winner. I won this way once having fought only the one battle.

[Fubb]

the LAZY MANS guide to winning.

No need for war hear, build up an adequate military just in case though, if things get messy.

This is all about insurgency. Just continue non-stop funding of unrest in other countries. The importants ones, i find to do this are Egypt, Libya, Iran, Iraq and if Syria is trying to build nukes, then Syria aswell.

After anarchy takes over in the big countries you can do one of many tihngs. you could invade Lebanon and jordon with ease, Syria if you didnt use insurgency to topple over the government too. syrias the only country that would provide a challenge though.

Another thing you could do is just build nukes yourself.

And a 3rd thing you could do is just continue with insurgency and topple the last countries. OR you could do it another way.

Build good political relations with countries not building nukes, topple the regimes of the ones that are, that way you dont get as many 'violent acts' etc etc.

[greenalien]

But Fubb! That means destroying other countries! And that's fascist, unless they're fantasy kingdoms in case of which it's okay!

For the love of Allah people. It's a game. Each day you see action players single-handedly goring hundreds if not thousands of enemies with their guns, often shooting 3D models representing ordinary soldiers with families, private lives, probably a baby and it's mother at home. They don't want to go to war. They don't wanna guard this laboratory. They just thought it'd be easy money in economic recession and then you come along and shoot them! In the head!

It's a game. It's fun, and I loved it. I didn't feel like the game forced me on a particular path, except that it required that all other countries are defeated, which is a fair requirement in the setting of Middle East, when you think about it.

If you're interested in non-fascist solutions try his game, but please, let me have my utterly ruthless simulation of Mid-east power struggle.

[Balthasar42]

Just THINK of all the modding possibilities there are to make this game more contemporary!

Picture it: there could be an option to throw a Pride Parade in Jerusalem, which would endear you to the Doves yet alienate the ultra-orthodox. Tourism would get a boost (“but at what cost?!?”)

Or, to lampoon your enemies, you could commission a television program to show very awkward, painful sketch comedy. You could have the Foreign Ministry email it to everyone, then immediately apologize for how awkward and painful it is.

You could send Mossad agents on a mission to kidnap Elvis Costello and force him to play his cancelled Tel Aviv gig.

You could invite the Turkish ambassador over for a photo-op, but have him sit in a really, REALLY tiny chair.

Such unplumbed possibilities!

I don't have the skill to get very far in this game, admittedly. It reminds of the stuff Molleindustria puts out, where you can be the CEO of McDonald's, except here everything is perfectly, perfectly earnest.

[dorkbot]

I love this game! It's simple to learn and play, but varied and challenging enough to provide rich replay value. Also, a single game only takes about half an hour.

It's so dated and hilariously absurd that it's easier to look past the game's inbuilt racism.

Your goal as Prime Minister of Israel is to surround yourself with a sea of anarchy so that you can "retire in glory." How does Israel benefit from the government of Egypt being overthrown by "Islamic extremists?" The last thing any country wants is for all of their neighboring states to collapse into chaos within the span of two or three years.

The basic premise for Conflict is so preposterous that it's hard to get upset at the fact that all insurgent movements in the game are Arab and/or Islamic extremists, even in Iran, which is a Muslim theocracy. Just as I want to criticize the game for unthinkingly using Arabs as all-purpose villains I stop and ask myself how it could possibly be in Israel's interest to fund these groups. Okay, so your relations with Syria are lamentable. They're not going to improve if some extremist faction pulls off a successful coup and takes over the country.

I'm not accusing the game designers of overt racism here. They're just guilty of not thinking about things too hard, which is perfectly forgivable if your goal is to make a fun game. These leaps in political logic represent the most simplistic assumptions that we in the West can make about the Middle East situation. Namely that the Arabs are the bad guys and everything would be better off if they'd just go away. Also, that conflicts between Israel and Palestinians can be easily solved forever if Israel and just one neighbor can get along for five minutes and create a separate state.

Nothing about this game makes any sense. This is good, as it frees us to stop worrying about its thoughtless political insensitivity and enjoy it both as a strategic challenge and as a cultural artifact that's so ripe for analysis it's falling of the vine.

[arete]

Overt flaming in this thread will be removed. Please discuss the game and not politics in this thread, in order to prevent racist flame wars and the like. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated in this regard.

[dorkbot]

I don't understand. I was discussing the game.

[The Fifth Horseman]

What Arete meant was that this game is... shall we say, somewhat controversial?
We'd prefer to avoid any discussions on real-life ethics/politics in relation to this game.