The time has come to explore the strategic depths of World Order and the unique asymmetries that define each superpower. In World Order, you step into the shoes of one of the four great global powers— the United States, China, Russia, or the European Union—each with its own national interests, distinct capabilities, and special advantages. Mastering asymmetry is key to victory as you navigate the intricate and dynamic global landscape.
The path of a strategist is boundless, with no limits to the possibilities ahead. History shows that mastering asymmetry can make the difference between an extraordinary victory and a dramatic defeat. World Order takes into account the importance of asymmetry in conflicts and international politics, giving players the opportunity to identify themselves.
Much like the real world, each power has its own strategic goals, national interests, strengths, and weaknesses, and it has a unique set of instruments and special abilities (to try) to win the hegemonic competition. Their power dynamics aren’t the same, something that puts asymmetry at the very heart of World Order. Whether you decide to play the military-strong Russia, the diplomatic-centric EU, the world-extended US, or the want-to-be global hegemon China, your path to victory requires a deep understanding of the multifaceted concept of asymmetry.
Let’s start with the United States, the world’s sole superpower which, that like in real life, has one single mission: to preserve its global hegemony. In real life, the US view itself as the guarantor of the so-called rules-based liberal international order. In World Order, the US must defend that order in multiple regions at once. You can’t afford to set tanks to the Russian-threatened Europe without forgetting to pump up some investments in the instability-hit MENA or making no move in the Western Pacific, where China wants to replace US as the regional hegemon. The US player has so much to handle, they could end up like their real-life counterpart: imperial over-stretch.
The US’ strategic toolkit in the game mirrors real-world policies and instruments. You can leverage an unmatched military presence in every region, the power to build bases, train armies and deploy tanks much more than the EU ally or Russia and China can, against the backdrop of a richness-producing economy. These abilities mirror the real world dynamics, which see the US expanded globally through an impressive networks of military bases – more than 1,000 – and nowadays concentrated on preventing China from becoming a maritime power by enforcing the so-called island chain strategy.
In World Order, choosing to be the US gives you the advantage of what we can call the “flexible simultaneity”, as you have both hard and soft power tools at your disposal. Such a unique power is reflected in the ability to pressure Russia in the Eastern Europe-Caucasus-Centra Asia regions while countering China’s moves in the Western Pacific. But the downside is the same challenge the real-world US faces: maintaining dominance across so many fronts can lead to conflicts stretching your resources thin. Make no mistake: flexible simultaneity is no omnipotence, and if you don’t use it properly, can pave the way for self-defeating imperial overextension.
In contrast to the US, Russia in World Order leans heavily on what political scientists call “hard power”. Images can describe what hard power stands for: the Crimea annexation, the military involvement in Syria, the sabotages against strategic infrastructure in Europe, the years-long total hybrid warfare in the US which has been driving the world’s sole superpower on the brink of a civil war, cyber-attacks. Needless to say, these events have sometimes taken place with the support of or coordinating with China and Iran, with whom Russia has formed an anti-hegemonic coalition.
In the game, as Russia, you have a similar focus: exerting influence through military strength, cyber-attacks, coup-driven regime changes, energy and food overproduction, special relations with some of the most important Global South countries.
Russia is the definition of asymmetry. Real life Russia managed to expand its influence worldwide mostly by resorting to unconventional or soft means, from disinformation to entryism, and it skillfully leverages on its natural resources to avoid being isolated from globalization by the Western-led sanctions regime. In World Order, players can destabilize countries through cyber-attacks, can win influence through food and energy trade, can train armies and send tanks in countries known for their anti-Western stance, such as Cuba, Venezuela, Syria. Υou don’t need a healthy and advanced economy to be a hegemon, you only need a bunch of talented military strategists and hybrid warfare experts, and, of course, some “geological luck”.
Players who choose to play China will understand the meaning of pressing. China is a one billion people country that lies on the sea on its easternmost part without being a maritime power. It would like to subvert this status, which is a direct result of how World War II and the Chinese civil war ended, but it lacks allies to challenge the US.
The Western Pacific, both in World Order and in real life, is an American great lake outside the US: 18 military bases between Philippines, Japan, and South Korea, hosting a little more than 80,000 war-ready soldiers, built with the sole goal to prevent China from becoming a maritime power. In other words, the island chain strategy.
In World Order, the player of China will experience what it looks like to be an emerging global hegemon obliged to face extraordinary pressure in its backyard from the world’s leading superpower. You can use your capacity to over-produce a series of goods to collect money fast and try to outcompete the US through a mix of economic power and military investments. Or you can try to play the American game in the Americas: Cuba and Venezuela will be more than happy to host Chinese troops and contribute to disturbing the US. Or you can team up with Russia so as to distract the US from the Western Pacific and drive attention to Europe and MENA. Βetter not to confront the US directly, but you can – and must – draw from Sun Tzu’s teaching on asymmetry to win the game: defeat your enemy without fighting it.
The EU is one of the four superpowers in World Order. Even a powerful economy must recognize the imbalance when competing militarily with Russia for influence in MENA, Africa, and Eastern Europe, or economically challenging China for dominance in the Global South. It’s not easy to be a soft power superpower in the era of the return of hard power and of the rise of smart power – the EU difficulties in supporting Ukraine during the Russian invasion are pretty eloquent in this regard.
Just like in real life, the EU player must accept that it cannot compete with Russia on military level and that it must adopt a farsighted strategy based on a combination of diplomacy, trade, and coordination with the US, rather than open military confrontation. No other power in World Order – and in real life – has more influence than the EU when it comes to shaping other countries’ policies on global matters, such as humanitarian crises and natural disasters. The EU is a normative and humanitarian superpower and can win the game by leveraging this skill – sign trade agreements, invest in infrastructure, and increase influence through peaceful means.
In real life, the EU helped the US and Iran sign the so-called nuclear deal, has been behind the revitalization of the UN agenda for climate change, and managed to bring partial peace in Eastern Ukraine for eight years. In World Order, real life-inspired moments to broker agreements and intervene will arise – and the EU player will find out that military asymmetry isn’t necessarily a drama when you have the best negotiating skills on world stage.
The asymmetry in World Order is both its most defining feature and its most challenging aspect, with each player required to play to its strengths while compensating for its weaknesses and simultaneously stay focused on the strategic objective. Much like in real life international politics, where there’s no nation acting worldwide with the same playbook, World Order forces players to identify in the power they choose to be and behave accordingly.
Ready to test your strategy and immerse yourself in the world of geopolitical rivalry? Don’t miss the chance to become part of World Order’s launch on Kickstarter! Head over to our page and click “Notify me” to stay up-to-date as we approach the campaign kickoff. Will you lead your superpower to global dominance? The path is yours to forge.