Path: utzoo!mnetor!intacc!johna
From: johna@intacc.uucp (John Allen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
Subject: Re: Diplomacy
Message-ID: <1991Jun10.232717.16824@intacc.uucp>
Date: 10 Jun 91 23:27:17 GMT
References: <1991Jun5.223233.29668@midway.uchicago.edu> <50121@ut-emx.uucp>
Distribution: comp.sys.mac.games
Organization: Inter/Access Artists' Centre Toronto
Lines: 37

In article <50121@ut-emx.uucp> rpena@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Robert Pena) writes:
>A few months ago I heard about a game called Hidden Agenda that seems to
>follow along those lines.  I heard that is pretty good.  Also another one
>is Balance of Power, which is about the same thing.  I personally have
>never played with either one them but have heard good thing about both of them.
>	If anyone knows anything more about these games please put it up.


I have both hidden agenda and Balance of Power. Hidden Agenda is a lot fo fun
but very simple and it runs out of steam pretty fast, It is a good game for
people who like simple fast games and who don't know that much about the
Central American situation. Essentially in the game you run a third world
central american country along the lines of tNicaraugua. Basically the turns
entail detailing with various interest groups like the workers or the U.S.
government and trying to balance your cabinet among the dirffernt factions.
Like I said it's fun it just needs more complexity and that's where Balance of
Power comes in. this is for the hard-core strategic dimplomatic kind of guy,
The game cam get very complicated. You are either the russian or U.S, leader
trying to influence the course world event using dimplomatic, economic and
military means. This game even has findladization and a multi-polar level
meaning that the 100 or so countries do what they want independently of each
other. It's not just the super powersd going at each other. The emphasis
however is on the two majour powers sending insurgency troops, economic aid
etc. to various middle and third world powers. I really enjoy this gam,e when
I play it but I burn out on it quickly but come back to it every few months.
there are no graphics and it's thinking and strategy. Alsdo the computers
responses are sometimes baffling but like all Chris Crawford games this one
always gets better the more you play it. The nuances are infitesmial. I for
example always seem to be wiping up until right near the verty end and then
bang it's over. One more thing there is a very good escalation scenario built
into the game. Everytime you confront the opther Superpower makkes it easier
to go nucleaur which means the end of the game.There are never any clear
answers. The more i write this the more I realize how much I like it. Hope
this helped.

Sorry for the spelling. We don't have a pratical editor yet or one that I can
use.