From steam by "Brother Korael"
"This is an interesting game that works with big ideas, and compartmentalises them into both obvious, and not as obvious, consequences. The basic idea is that you build a city-state, not simply a city of which you are a mayor but something like Singapore or Hong Kong. You have a range of political, civil, economic, immigration, and legal issues to dealFrom steam by "Brother Korael"
"This is an interesting game that works with big ideas, and compartmentalises them into both obvious, and not as obvious, consequences. The basic idea is that you build a city-state, not simply a city of which you are a mayor but something like Singapore or Hong Kong. You have a range of political, civil, economic, immigration, and legal issues to deal with that have direct consequences on your citizenry, as well as some city-building.
As far as city-building goes, it's very much like the original SimCIty but simplified further - you plonk down a RCI lot, it builds. There are parks to increase land value, special service and government buildings for different purposes, a basic resource prospecting system and associated state/private mechanic. Utilities are abstracted, as are health, education, "safety and security". The budget window handles taxes and your nominal per capita expense on the abstracts just mentioned. The Stock Market window opens up a government bonds tab where you can get your much needed borrowings at the going rates. The Trade Balance window measures your major imports vs. your exports, which has a direct impact on your budget. It sounds a bit convoluted at first, but it's devilishly simple to use - the learning curve is a gentle slope.
The political mechanics in the game add a tonne of flavour and real consequences. You can go from "Full Open-Border AnCapistan™", where your dominant political stances emphasize the rights of companies to do as they please (really, a Capitalist Oligarchy is what you end up with), to "People's Heroic Union of Socialist Peoples", where everybody is free to do as they're told (again, the Proletariat Dictatorship might sound great, until you're the one lifting rocks).
I've played with all the different directions to see how they impact on the society. In my opinion it's very well thought through. The most "popular" legislation is not always the best choice. The impact of legislation on social mobility is clever. For example, a basic student funds system has a negative impact on the lower class and a positive impact on the middle class - this represents additional students accessing education opportunities that were previously unavailable to them because of finance, and as a result they rise from lower to middle class. Whereas, growth in the lower class usually represents a punitive policy that targets the middle class. I've found the upper class tends to benefit the most from harsh legislation.
All of the choices you are presented with can lead to public disorder, and rioting is common if your society is unbalanced. If you go full AnCap or full Commie, always expect your society to be riddled with unrest and inequality.
I've found that the easiest societies to build tend to be open, quasi-libertarian democratic societies with a small bit of immigration, lean but effective welfare, a strong and robust middle class and generally free economy with smart regulatory bodies ensuring that people are not exploited by the private sector, but are also free to engage in commerce without a heavy-handed oligarchial government. The challenge is in getting there."… Expand
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