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From: cem@cs.brown.edu (Charles E. Moylan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
Subject: Re: Balance of the Planet
Keywords: ecological games, SimEarth, Balance of the Planet
Message-ID: <57935@brunix.UUCP>
Date: 29 Nov 90 18:56:59 GMT
References: <159@jim.UUCP>
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Reply-To: cem@cs.brown.edu (Charles E. Moylan)
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Organization: Brown Computer Science Dept.
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In article <159@jim.UUCP>, jwh@wgate.UUCP (Joe Hughes) writes:
|> 
|> 	I heard a rumor that Chris Crawford, author of 'Balance of Power', was
|> writing a program called 'Balance of the Earth'.  Can anyone substantiate this
|> rumor?  Also, having purchased 'SimEarth', if this rumor is true can you do a
|> comparison between the two.  Thank-you.

Contrary to another posting that claims you are referring to "Guns or Butter",
"Balance of the Planet" is a game/simulation in its own right and is 
_different_ from Guns or Butter which also exists.  Balance of the Planet
bears no resemblance to Balance of Power, though.  Basically it's a
simulation that teaches you about the environment.  You are able to control
taxes on various world goods like oil, pesticides, solar technology, etc.
This influences how people feed themselves and use energy, which in turn
affects the environment in complex and interrelated ways.  It's fun to
play at first and the color graphics are nice, but once you've played a few
times you've seen it all and aren't likely to play again.

Guns or Butter places you as the leader of a country on a continent of
several countries.  You allocate your resources to maximize food & weapon
production.  You can make alliances with other nations to gain military
security and greater production efficiency.  It's a decent game but there
is a particular strategy that wins EVERY TIME so it can get a little boring
after a while.  (I won't reveal it so as not to spoil everyone's fun!)
It's the kernel of a good game but it's missing that "special
something".

Balance of the Planet and Guns or Butter are both by Chris Crawford.

SimEarth is another simulation that I'm sure you've heard about in other posts.

-- 
Charlie Moylan (cem@cs.brown.edu)