Geopolitical Simulator 5 - aka GPS5 - is a simulation of our current world, recreating its features in-depth and across a number of domains: economic, political, military, social, financial, environmental, energetic, transportation...
Every country and major multinational corporation are represented with their own variables and functions. The calculation and scenario engines include more than 150,000 facts and figures, 20,000 texts, and 12 hours of recorded dialog. An ultra-detailed and animated 3D map with vegetation, bodies of water, every border, regions, production facilities, and important strategic sites around the world become your playground.
The game combines management stages of economics, commerce, wargames, construction, espionage, simulation, and political influence and manipulation.
You can opt to control one or more countries or one or more major corporations simultaneously and devise collaborative strategies to change your own destiny or the world's. Game sessions are customizable in several ways: activity level of terrorist organizations, probability of natural disasters, reactions of the people, outbreak of wars... More than twenty contextual scenarios with current events from today's world are integrated.
You can choose to play as a head of state, leader of the political opposition, and/or the president of a multinational company.
BECOME A HEAD OF STATE
- Several hundred actions and legislations
As head of state or government (president, king or queen, prime minister...) of one or several countries chosen at the beginning from the 175 available, players have several hundred actions and legislations at their disposal and distributed across various thematic menus. Here are some general and detailed examples: nominate members of your government, modify a tax (nearly 30 taxes are available), establish minimum wages, business sector grants (more than 130 integrated sectors), regulation of powers of political parties, parliament, syndicates, religious institutions or associations, privatization or nationalization operations, modify the retirement age, add or remove military service, regulation of the exploitation of natural gas, alternate conduct in large urban centres, number of vacation days for school children...
- Management of state budget
The head of state player decides amounts and distribution of the state budget across all public ministries. This player determines the personnel and the salaries in the major administrative positions (teachers, medical personnel, police...) and directs spending by setting priorities among multiple budgetary pillars, for example: geriatric services, fight against cancer, support services for handicapped persons, youth employment aid, police IT, security services for the head of state, counter-spy services, student housing, agricultural research, live performance festivals, war on drugs, recycling, video games.
You are the architect of your nation. On the map, you can display major infrastructure construction sites such as, for example, nuclear power plants, wind farms, military bases, oil pipelines, offshore drilling stations, high-speed train lines, airports, ports, highways, etc.
- Commander of armies and security forces
At the head of their armies, the head of state directs military operations and can give general or precise orders to each of their units. Faced with an uprising in a city, players can manoeuvre their police brigades on the city map and ensure the protection of important locations. They can declare a state of emergency, martial law or call in the national guard. You also manage the development and use of atomic weapons.
At any moment, players can be heard in the media, give a televised address to calm the fervour of protesters, to promote the passing of a law, to make an official statement like a declaration of war or opening of the Olympic games. Players can also deliver an influential speech at the UN or simply make an appearance at a public place to promote their image. Obviously, during elections, you can run a campaign and participate in debates to defend your platform.
- Businessman or Businesswoman
The head of state can directly promote the development of their country by signing free-trade agreements with other countries or economic contracts in strategic domains such as defense or energy. Following bilateral agreements, leaders can launch construction projects for high-speed train lines or pipelines across several countries. They can attempt to merge global economic organizations, participate in their serious decisions or even create new ones.
- An informed head of state
Of course the secret services play a predominant role in running a state. They have an arsenal of espionage and "special" operations that players can utilize, but at their own risk and peril, because if these actions are discovered it can unleash a scandal. They can investigate an adverse political party, dismantle terrorist organizations, sabotage foreign infrastructure, assassinate an opponent, send satellites or drones to spy on armed forces, launching cyberattacks or competing campaigns, etc.
During the whole game, the head of state players must always keep an eye on their popularity level, which is evidently essential during elections, in order to stay in power for as long as possible. Maintaining state accounts and the budget deficit is also an important factor for your longevity.
PLAY AS THE HEAD OF A COMPANY
More than 3000 major worldwide companies are included along with their real-world data and several thousand others are simulated in all economic sectors and all the countries of the world. As the head of one or more of these companies, you have all the tools and all the information necessary to lead and develop your companies.
Each company's data is precisely detailed: revenue, market shares, sales by product, competition, shareholders, staffing, balance sheet...
You must engage in multiple activities within the company: production, commerce, marketing, human resources, finances, taxation, research, security, legal, and politics.
You'll have advisors in various domains and you can also speak to your banker, shareholder representative, or union leader.
The game engine calculates in real time all exchanges between companies worldwide and the consumption of products by the population or states using various criteria (purchasing power, price of products, supply and demand, product innovation, quality labels, corporate taxes...).
The business AI adapts to market fluctuations and tries to capture the market share. States and companies are interconnected, with the corporate GDP impacting State revenue; taxation, economic, and taxation policies of the government influence business directions and results.
You as the CEO can make many decisions. Some examples include: establishing pay scale, setting employee profit-sharing, regulating working conditions, constructing new factories, recruitment, starting a redundancy, opening retail outlets, signing new agreements with suppliers, determining sale prices, creating new products, sponsoring contracts with celebrities or partnerships during major events, setting budgets for the legal department, research, or cybersecurity, launching a marketing campaign, distribution of dividends to shareholders...
The union AI responds according to working conditions, business results, sharing the wealth, all within the context of the country. You may have to face minor or major social movements and can respond either by negotiation or on the other hand, by law enforcement intervention.
Relations with employees determine productivity.
You can challenge the competition by promoting their products or modifying the price, for example, but there are also different financial strategies to follow: acquiring shares, increasing capital for development, attempting a takeover bid for a competing company, publicly offering an unlisted company, creating subsidiaries worldwide, etc.
There is also a whole arsenal of dirty tricks, like in the real world, with the risk of backfiring on the perpetrator if they are discovered: payment of kickbacks, tax evasion, tax fraud, illegal price fixing, political lobbying to encourage lawmakers to vote for laws that favor the interests of the multinational company.
By playing as both the head of state and head of a company, you can use the secret services of the country to conduct industrial espionage or launch a cyberattack on competing businesses.
You can also dream big: become one of the biggest multinational corporations in the world, acquire a personal fortune and become part of the billionaire class, engage in politics, and win elections.
But the road to glory is fraught with dangers: bankruptcy, removal by disappointed shareholders, salary disputes that turn ugly, or absorption by a competing consortium.
BECOME AN OPPOSITION LEADER
The opposition can be legal or illegal and can hold an army or not.
The political parties of each country of the world are transcribed in the game with their political tendencies, parliamentary representation and electoral results. Players choose their character and attempt to take power. With the party's budget, players have multiple actions available to them: They can launch funding campaigns to increase revenue, finance violent cells likely to intervene in street clashes, purchase polls to help make the best decisions, dish out bribes, hire detectives to obtain information on influential figures... As a leader, you make the party's major decisions: give voting instructions in relation to government bills, send militants to protest in the streets, incite groups, syndicates or associations to oppose power through protest actions (strike, sit-in, blockades...), criticize the head of state's actions in the media...
The most traditional method of reaching the top seat of state is to win democratic elections. An elections campaign is long and requires a lot of attention: the candidate must design the best platform to win loyalty, go from meeting to meeting while maximizing stops on the tour in accordance with local results, manage the campaign budget, attempt to win over influential figures, participate in televised debates capable of shifting the balance at the last minute.
The opposition can also win power by discrediting the current head of state in hopes that s/he will be removed and that new elections will be held. Opposition can also attach themselves to people in proximity to power in order to attempt a military or criminal coup. At the head of the uprisings, they give instructions and manipulate the insurgents, hooligans, or armed extremists on the ground. Finally, they can opt for illegality and engage in armed combat.
- Leader of an illegal organization
At the head of a terrorist organization (or several) on their own soil, players attempt to take power by force, to normalize or to obtain independence of controlled regions. Your action possibilities are great: recruitment operations, hire professional mercenaries, purchase weapons on the black market, agreements with countries, sister political parties or other terrorist organizations in order to receive financing, fighters or war equipment, request UN interventions via friendly nations, infiltrate power circles by coup attempts or political assassinations, secure networks against enemy secret services, launch peaceful protests, trigger insurrections through political manipulation, start civil wars, command and direct armed rebels...
Players can hold a real warring army at the beginning of the game or develop one over time, which can be deployed in contested areas. Players control all military manoeuvres, on the overall map of the country but also locally during each city capture. Even though these armies are often less powerful, they are difficult to locate when they remain in their area of origin and when they frequently change position. If players manage to topple the presidential palace in the capital or obtain independence in regions under presidential control, they then become a new global leader.
REALISTIC WARGAMES
On the military side, the game includes extremely realistic wargames with the details and capabilities of various types of units by country and the current location of their military bases. Multiple land, sea, and air units and everything from intercontinental missiles to suicide drones make up the various elements of the military. Building military bases, temporary camps, minefields, trenches, and bunkers is all part of your military strategy. Mortars, drones, and various types of missiles are included, troop morale is taken into account, reservists can be mobilized and demobilized and foreign paramilitary troops can be recruited.
The player, as head of the military, can direct each unit independently, give general orders, or plan a series of orders. Some include more elaborate operations such as perimeter defense, secret movements, area bombardment, surveillance by drone or satellite, etc. The military movement AI looks for the quickest route based on the highways and the terrain.
Thanks to the mini-map, you can have a bird's eye view of various fronts.
There is also the possibility of leaving military operations to the head of the military, managed by artificial intelligence.
- Territorial, civil, or terrorist conflicts
The world map includes all conflict locations with the finest details: front lines, occupied territories, besieged cities, localized military units, international military bases, personnel and material of terrorist groups…
Current civil wars are reproduced in the game with precision.
The conflicts in Ukraine, Palestine and Yemen as well as rebel or terrorist insurrections in the Sahel, the Sudan, Libya, Pakistan and Syria are all present in the game.
The "Revolutions!" and "Independence Movement" scenarios allow you to play as an illegal organization in certain countries to overcome the powers that be.
During civil or military clashes in the cities, wargame stages take place on maps detailed with the main buildings, squares and intersections (specific maps for major capitals). Various elements can be controlled by the player: protesters, hooligans, armed extremists, rocket launchers... if the player is playing as the opposition; but there are also anti-riot police, police vans, helicopters, snipers, armoured vehicles... if the player is playing as the established power. The battle sequence can evolve in relation to the occupation of iconic places (for example, major squares with barricades) or the seizure of buildings (parliament, television studio, bank, headquarters...). The population reacts to the sequence of events: first civilian casualties, televised actions, order to fire at will or bombard, liberation of prisoners...
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Each factor of the world reacts in accordance to your own settings and interests.
- Lobbies and major figures
All actions of the player have repercussions and the lobbies, social groups, and important national and international figures will intervene if their artificial intelligence deems necessary So they are directly part of their own approval or discontent, but they are also capable of more radical and harmful actions for the player's popularity rating: press interviews, resignations, protests, strikes, unrest, road blocks, war...
To prevent tensions, players can meet any important figure in meetings and attempt to win them over, negotiate (an agreement with a syndicate, an economic contract, or a strategic alliance with a head of state, for example an interest rate with an international lender). Players can also try to corrupt other figures or make them sing.
The dialogues that take place depend on the characters of these persons, their empathy towards the player and the defence of their interests.
All major figures are represented by a 3D face and express themselves orally. All scenarios, interventions and dialogues represent more than 20,000 words of text and 12 hours of recorded dialog.
Each law proposition must be voted on in Parliament where democratic regimes prevail, or by the people if a referendum process exists in the country. Whether the law is passed depends on the votes of the different political parties represented in Parliament, which also match reality.
- International organizations
The international organizations (more than 50 organizations integrated) are also represented and interact with the heads of state. For example, the European Union, G7, or OPEC hold regular summits in order to vote on major orientations; in the UN, it is possible to denounce a nation to obtain the authorization to intervene militarily.
The countries' votes are the result of a complex calculation aligned with different protagonists and the evaluation of the proposition in relation to the political regimes of these countries. You can lobby other leaders to swing the votes in your favor.
Players can also create their own organization by defining the type (free trade zone, monetary union, political/military organization, exporting countries), the budget, the geographic area, its constitution (voting system, head of state meetings, shared political tendencies...).
MULTIPLE INFORMATION SOURCES
Besides reports from ministers, you also have access to various sources of information: an information tablet that displays major events of the world in real-time, a "discovery tree" that shows you the progress of technology development and markets for research sectors, an expert in signed contracts, polls that can be commissioned by a national institute of statistics, and various themed maps, including maps showing the economic and strategic alignments of every other country of the world.
BONUS
The player can use a personalization tool to change the face and data of any character or organization in the game.
Two add-ons are also available: God'n'Spy (), which allows you, at any time in the game, to view hidden internal value engines in the game, to modify variables and create or delete scenario events; and modding () creates contexts and scenarios (mods) to play and that can be shared with other players.
