Dear World Leaders,
After discussing the overview of World Order, its underlying ideas, and the international relations it depicts, we can now delve deeper. World Order combines deck-building with area control. But what exactly are the players trying to “control”? This will be the focus of today’s article!
As you probably already know (if not, feel free to read our previous articles) when playing World Order you take the role of a global superpower: the United States of America, the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation or the European Union. As a superpower, you are trying to exert influence over various regions around the world, making sure that whatever happens there, serves your interests first and foremost.
There are multiple ways you can increase your Influence in a region. One way would be to use your diplomatic capabilities. Improve your relations with many countries in the region and then make sure you build upon those relations, making clear that you are on their side, furthering their interests. Another way to increase your Influence would be by making long-term investments in a region, mostly in infrastructure. New railways and highways, factories, airports—the list goes on. Not only are you providing the financial backing for these large projects to materialize, but you are also ensuring they will help you achieve your long-term plans, establishing an important foothold in the area as well as yielding a return on investment. Finally, you can always use your well-trained army to show your enemies who is in control. By collaborating with allied countries and building bases within their territory, you increase your presence there, strengthening your bond and making sure your interests are well served.
In the game, your Influence is represented by cubes of your color. The board depicts a world map, divided into 7 regions, and each one contains slots for those cubes. Whenever you do one of the actions described above, you gain an Influence cube and you place it in one of the available slots of the corresponding region. Every region is different in terms of geopolitical importance, indicated by a different number of available slots as well as different costs and scoring bonuses (more on that later on). Moreover, when the game starts, there is already some starting Influence on the map based on actual real-life relations between the superpowers and the rest of the world. The EU for example has strong Influence in Europe and the Middle East where China is strong in South & East Asia. Russia is the sole party with strong influence in Central Asia and the United States have a strong foothold in more than half of the world with Influence in Europe, Middle East, East Asia as well as North & South America.
The slots in each region come into types, let’s call them the permanent ones and the temporary ones. The permanent ones have no number written on them while the temporary ones list numbers in decreasing order. Whenever you get to add an Influence in a region, you get to choose whether you’ll put it in a temporary slot or a permanent slot. If you put it in a permanent slot, it represents something really important happening, establishing a connection between your country and that region that will not be diminished as time goes by. Game-wise, you don’t get any extra points but your Influence will remain there until the end of the game. Also, in order for a region to score, it will need to have all of its permanent slots filled – if not, there won’t be any points awarded to it.
On the other hand, if you place your Influence on a temporary slot, you immediately gain points equal to the number written there. However, there’s a “catch”. After all the temporary slots have been filled, any new Influence gained, will push all the existing cubes one space to the left, making the Influence that was there the longest (the one on the far left slot), get removed. After all, people’s memories tend to fade and events that took place a long time ago, no longer have the impact they had… In other words: don’t get too attached to your cubes, when placed there!
At the end of the 3rd and 6th round, scoring occurs. Regions that have all of their permanent slots filled, get to score and award you with 1 VP for each of your Influence cubes there. On top of that, the players with the most Influence in each region, get (in order) the bonus VP listed in that region. This makes “controlling” a region (having the most Influence in it), the best way to gain lots of points. However, you need to always be alert since the other players won’t let you get all the glory without a fight. As you can imagine, the fact that they can push your Influence out of a region, leads to very dramatic moments with tough decisions to make.
With 7 regions on the map, different ways to add Influence, and numerous countries available to assist you, every action you take becomes hugely important with lots of ramifications down the line. Are you ready to spread your Influence?
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