Developer Diary #4 - "Hot Relations" Setting

When we released Supreme Ruler 2020 we included two versions of the two original sandbox / campaigns. World 2020 in Crisis was a "Hot Relations" modification of World 2020 in which both good and bad relationships were amplified. Similarly, Melting Point was a "Hot Relations" modification of the Shattered World sandbox / campaign. The reason we did this was to appeal to different styles of gameplay. Some players wanted plenty of time at the beginning of the game to get their nation set just the way they wanted before it could be affected by changes in international relations. Others believe the game moved too slowly at the start and wanted more action from AI regions right from the word go. So, essentially these two distinct versions of the same campaign provided the player a choice of how quickly AI controlled international relationships would develop into either war declarations or into formal alliances...

For the expansion pack we thought that this option should be incorporated not just into campaigns, but into scenarios and multiplayer games as well. And why include the same campaign twice with this setting being the only difference? With that idea in mind, a Volatility setting seemed an ideal addition to the Game Settings screen... and why only have High and Low Volatility, why not add a few extra degrees in between so that players can find the setting that they enjoy most. So for the Expansion Pack it is now possible right in the Game Lobby, for players to set the Volatility to 'None', 'Low', 'Medium', 'High', or 'Very High'. At 'None', only the original region relation settings and whatever actions have happened so far in the game will affect the likelihood of an AI region making alliances or declaring war. As you move the Volatility up to the higher settings, the threshold for such events gets lower.

One of our goals throughout the development of Supreme Ruler has been to provide huge replayability possibilities - just imagine playing as Germany and with all other options the same, one time you play the world stays relatively calm while you're given time to deploy your army, research higher tech weapons, build up your economy etc... and the next time you play, but with High Volatility, Russia declares war against you in the first week!

- David Thompson, Lead Designer / Co Founder, BattleGoat Studios

In addition to this expanded game play element, Global Crisis includes many new features:

• 20 new scenarios which more than doubles the number of scenarios that originally shipped with the game
• Additional new multiplayer scenarios
• New campaign/sandbox map along a new storyline leading players towards World War III
• New scenario features including scripted and random events
• Improved unit control and grouping
• Expanded tech tree
• New units and unit meshes
• Additional game lobby options
• Graphic improvements
• AI enhancements
• More tutorials and in-game tips
• User interface improvements

Global Crisis is scheduled for a digital download release via GamersGate during the latter half of Q4, 2008 and will require Supreme Ruler 2020 to play.