Balance of Power, in the forum sense, is a game based on Chris Crawford's Balance of Power. It generally goes under the name Superpower (a defunct name) or Balance of Power: Forum Edition. It can be played within a single thread[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] or on an entire forum basis.[8]
Gameplay
The game is played similarly to the computer game. Though rules vary, you can generally be any country, including those within the Eastern Bloc, rather than just the US or USSR. The start of the game is also variable (as opposed to the original game where it was 1985 or 1990 in the updated edition). Once you have chosen your country, you either send a private message through the Forum to the Gamemaster, or through E-Mail. The Gamemaster posts a News post every turn, which is usually every two days to a week, proceeding to send out messages to the players on their current status, what happened last turn and what actions are available.
You conduct actions using credits, which are amassed each turn, due to the income, maintenance and deficit of the country. There are three different categories of actions you can choose to do each turn, including Diplomatic, Economic and Military actions.
Each action either provides Prestige, improved relations/stability or more credit return.
The game is won by a player who achieves the most prestige by the game's end, but lost if one of the players creates nuclear war.
References
- ^ http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3024714
- ^ http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=390345
- ^ http://www.revleft.com/vb/revleft-balance-power-t103183/index.html?t=103183
- ^ http://forums.nexuswar.com/viewtopic.php?t=18201
- ^ http://www.americangovernmentsimulation.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=5226
- ^ http://www.takeforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10597
- ^ http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?p=2410620
- ^ http://diplomacy.vlexo.net/index.php?act=idx