Supreme Ruler- Get This Game! (My Review)

[Imperator]

This is a copy of my new review posted on the Supreme Ruler Ultimate title. Cheers!

I've played the Supreme Ruler series since SW2020 now 10 years ago. SRU is an excellent game if you understand how to play it. There is a learning curve.

DIPLOMACY: There isn't much feedback ingame regarding the diplomacy system, which is rather streamlined compared to 4X games (you won't see a leader come to you and have specific personal responses to specific in game actions such as putting troops on their border), but if you trade actively and support the regimes of whatever nation you are seeking to woo, you will see diplomatic relations steadily improve. Otherwise, the diplomatic relations seem mostly random, simulating various diplomatic accomplishments or crises going on behind the scenes and outside of direct view to you as the Supreme Ruler. On higher volatility levels you can see relations improve or deteriorate rather quickly without apparent explanation if you are not actively doing anything to improve or harm relations. There is supposed to be a reason for changes in diplomatic relations, but it is often not directly clear. Increasing your military cap is one way relations will deteriorate (per the SR wiki). If game volatility is set to "None" diplomatic relations hardly change at all without your direct input. If you use "support the ruling regime" option for a particular country the relations will improve with the government you are targeting, apparently simulating diplomatic efforts to increase ties with that nation. If you select "support opposition" the relations will deteriorate with that government somewhat quickly without explanation, soon giving you a pretext on which to declare war. Trading often and generously (on terms more favorable to the other side) will increase your relations slowly with the common people of the country (as opposed to its government/ruling elite) over time. That's essentially it as far as the diplomacy system goes. The diplomacy has dramatically improved with recent patches, and the AI now actively creates alliances and declares war and peace, something it did not do very often before.

MILITARY: The military simulation is extremely well detailed and modeled, with precise unit description by both nation and era, everything is simulated from infantry unit types, to mobile infantry, to air and sea down to specific small patrol boats. Unit movement is real time (units will move as fast as you'd expect them to in one game day) and very realistic. Land features and geography are hex based and each hex is meticulously modeled and based on the real world geographical data, and the game also includes a dynamic weather simulation that can affect combat. As of July 2017, AI is still a little sloppy on naval warfare but hardly worse than most games out there. The AI will not form fleets or conduct extremely organized naval campaigns using aircraft carriers, but it will randomly send ships over to whoever it is declaring war on, hoping at some point to land some troops on the continent in question. Land combat is more realistic with AI units moving back and forth, resupplying, and gaining position slowly and strategically.

ECONOMY: The economic simulation is realistic and accurate, as long as you understand that the game makes no distinction between the private economy and the public economy. The economy responds, in my experience, very realistically to changes in inputs and outputs. For example, substantial state increase in infrastructure spending will result in a good year of 40% GDP growth, curtailing slowly quarter over quarter until it is back to normal. The economy responds slightly less resiliently to tax cuts than to spending changes. You are considered the "Supreme Ruler" of both the public and private economic sectors. The game doesn't care if the health care sector for example is run privately or publicly. If you increase health care spending GDP will start to rise as will inflation. The more you spend, and the more you cut taxes/prices, the faster the GDP will grow, but be careful you don't overheat your economy and cause high inflation or the prices of buildings, goods, and services and resources will rise dramatically. Impatient management of your economy and large fluctuations in stimulus will lower your economic score. I recommend running numerical reports quarter over quarter so you have data from which to compare changes over the next quarter- write down all the values including production and consumption values for each commodity. To have more control over your commodities and to drive up prices in your favor I recommend bulk trading only, when market conditions are favorable.

This game is an excellent game and is constantly improving. The developers are VERY responsive to any issues that arise, and have recently reopened the studio full time to once again work on future SRU titles. If you're interested in the genre of detailed and realistic world strategy this game is definitely for you.