WCG Rules

Every player is given the absolute authority over a country for the entire length of a game. The political information for that country is provided on the web site. The relevant information is summarized below.

Size – total surface area of a country, relative to the size of the Great Lakes. Larger countries have larger starting armies and produce more resources (not relevant for military only game).

Population – millions of people in a country. The higher the population the higher the number of army points and income and the higher the demand for resources (not relevant for military only game).

Export – the value of the major export of a country. There are twenty-three different exports and corresponding values, from the lowest rice = 1 to the highest gold = 30. Textiles (value 15) represent industrialization. The higher the exports value the higher the income. (only the value of the export is relevant in a military only game)

Currency – the value of the currency of a country. The higher the value of the currency the higher the income. All minor currencies are assigned a value of 0.5.

Income – millions of dollars in a country that are free to spend. This money is totally at the discretion of a starting player.

Cities – the number of major cities in a country. (not relevant for a simplified game)

Ports – the number of major ports in a country. If there is at least one port in a country than it can have a starting navy. (there are other factors that are not relevant in a simplified game)

Military Units – the number of each type of military unit that starts in a country. For a starting country these units are free to start and free to keep.

More detailed information is provided in the following subsections and more information will be added as more rules are included.

The turn sequence of this game is based on the calendar year. Actions are worked out on a month by month basis. At the beginning of every month each player is given the opportunity to declare actions. These actions may be moving units, planning an attack, fighting a war or spending saved up money. After each player has submitted their actions, public actions are announced so that other players have an opportunity to react. The only actions, at this point, that are not public are the moving of units in countries you control and the spending of your money. Reactions can included any of the above actions as well as a call for a UN vote. The UN can pass ANY resolution as long as it has the unanimous vote of every country, with the exception of the country or countries that are mentioned in the resolution. For example, if there is a UN resolution to block a country from invading another country the attacking country or countries do not get a vote. The balance of countries in the world will vote at the administrator’s discretion. The balance of countries will ALWAYS vote in favour of stopping aggression. Mandates of the UN carry the enforcing power of every military unit not controlled by the countries of the active players.

Certain actions only occur every year instead of every month. The time for these actions is January 1^st of each year. The game begins on January 1^st 1960. The are a number of steps required to begin every year and these steps are listed below.

1. Determine Currency and Population changes

Both the value of your currency and size of your population will fluctuate throughout the game. This represents random factors such as the stock market or changing birth and death rates. Typical fluctuations are 0%, 5%, 10% or 15% plus or minus. There is also the potential for extreme changes. These represent such factors as striking a major oil reserve or the emergence of a plague. Extreme changes are anywhere from 0%-50% plus or minus. You are given the opportunity to influence these changes by investing some of your income. Both currency and population changes are determined in the same way. First a random number from 1-10 is determined. 1-3 the change is negative 4-6 there is no change 7-9 the change is positive and 10 the change is extreme. Investing 20% of your total income can modify this roll. If this money was invested in the previous year then a modifying random number is determined. If this number is 1-6 the player may add or subtract one to the first number. If this number is 7-10 then the modification is plus or minus two. Obviously for the first year a player has had no chance to spend any money and as such the first year is completely random. Once the nature of a change is determined then the amount is worked out. For a normal change a new number from1-10 is found. If this number is 1-3 the change is 15%, 4-6 10%, 7-9 5% and 10 is 0%. Investing 10% of your total income can modify this roll. As before, a second number is required to determine the effect of the investment. If this number is 1-3 the change is +/- 1, 4-6 +/- 2 and 7-10 is +/- 3. If an extreme result is indicated than the type of change is equally likely to be up or down. The amount of change is randomly determined from 1-50%. There is no way to modify either of these determinations, however if you have paid the 20% to modify the first roll than you can chose to have no change instead of the extreme change. This must be decided before the extreme change is determined. You can chose to invest 0%, 10%, 20% or the full 30% for both currency and population independently. All that needs to be provided to the administrator is which investments are being made, whether the desired effect is an increase or a decrease and whether an extreme change would be allowed. The results are summarized on the game details page of the web site. Because the web site is public the investment decisions will not be included.

2. Calculation of total income

The administrator will then provide every player with their total income. These incomes will reflect any changes that occurred in step 1 as well as all of the decisions from the previous year.

3. Determination of budget

Every player will then take their income and spend it at their discretion. There are many ways to spend your money as explained below. Each player will submit their budget (which must account for all the money from step 2) to the administrator. Approved budgets are final for that year.

1. Investment in currency and population. As explained above anywhere from 0%-60% of the income in step 2 can be invested here.
2. Military expenditures. Any amount can be spent on military units. Any money spent on military is multiplied by the current population of the country producing the unit/units. The total is the number of army points available to spend. Your starting country can spend all of the money from step 2 on military. Conquered countries, however, can only produce an amount of army points equal to its population times its income (exception is factories – see Military Notes). Unit costs, in army points, are provided on the units’ page on the web site. First upkeep for existing units must be paid (starting units excepted). Then new units can be purchased. New units are not available until the beginning of the next year.
3. Worldwide investments. Any amount can be invested in the hopes of acquiring a return. The return on investments is determined from the current worldwide inflation rate. This rate is provided on the game data sheet on the web page. Money can be taken out early, at an unknown but significant penalty.
4. Research and development. Money invested in R&D must be in 50 million-dollar increments. Each increment results in a 1% chance that each number on the units page may improve.
5. Economic expenditures. The value of a country’s currency and export can be increased. Your currency can be increased by a factor of 10 if you invest 10 billion dollars times the current value of your currency. An export level can be increased by investing the equivalent of 10% of your population times 10% of the next export level, in billions of dollars.
6. Save your money. You can chose to save any amount of money. Money which is saved is free to spend at any time during the year.

This ends all of the once a year decisions and now the months to month decisions can be made.

Every month you can chose as an action to move your units, plan an attack, carry out an invasion or spend your saved money. You can do each of the above plus draft a UN resolution as a reaction. All of these will be briefly explained.

Moving units – any troop movement must be announced. The exception to this is when troops are moving from one country you control to another country you control. Examples of public movement are lending troops to allies or moving troops into neutral countries to help defend an attack.

Plan an attack – two months are required to plan any invasion. The exact number and types of troops must be provided to the administrator. Also the player must specify exactly how the units are participating (i.e. are interceptors participating in the air, sea or ground portion of the combat, at what range are they disengaging, etc.). A total retreat can be called at any time with no penalty. If any part of a plan changes the two month planning period must start over again. The only thing made public is the country that is attacking and the country that is being attacked. This is announced at the beginning of the two-month planning period.

Carry out an invasion – the specified number and type of troops are now announced as the invasion begins. You can only attack an adjacent country with ground troops if it shares a common land border (i.e. not a river or a lake). Air units can reach any country. The details of the battle are provided on the web page for all to see.

Spend saved money – saved money can be spent at any time. One use is to defend neutral countries. This is done by giving that country money. This money is then multiplied by the country’s population to determine army points. You can spend these points at your discretion. New units in a country are public but who spent the money is not. Money can also be used for bribes or loans, etc. This is also private.

Other players can react to public actions at their discretion.

Draft a UN resolution – as a reaction to any action a player can draft a UN resolution. Once a resolution has been submitted to the Secretary General of the UN it is put forth for discussion. After a reasonable length of time has been allowed for discussion (this will vary depending on the amount of discussion occurring) the Secretary General will call for a vote. Once all of the votes have been cast the results will be posted. If a vote has not been cast 24 hours after the call for a vote that country will be considered to have abstained (i.e. the resolution will be defeated). The failure of a resolution can be considered an action and thus is susceptible to a reaction of another UN resolution.

Here are a few extra notes on economic issues.

Paying for an increase in currency – a currency can not increase above 1.0 in this manner. If the increase would result in a number over 1.0 you must still pay the full price but the currency only goes to 1.0.

Paying for an increase in export level – every level must be purchased separately. No level can be skipped. An increase to 15 indicates the country is now industrialized. You cannot increase a country above 30.

Merging minor countries – if two countries, other than your starting country, border each other they can be merged into one new country. If you want to do this ask the administrator for details.

Conquering countries – once you have conquered a country you must occupy it for one year before you can start using their income as your own.

Multiple Country Currencies – Most currencies are shared by more than one country (exceptions include the Ruble and the Rand). These are considered to be group currencies that no one can modify. A player can choose to keep their country on the world version of this currency or start their own unique version. If they wish to invest in their currency then a player must create a unique version. The decision to create a unique currency can be made at any time, but once created a player can never rejoin the group currency.

Minor Country Currencies – all minor countries have a currency of 0.5. This currency does not fluctuate with time like all other currencies. If a conquered country had a 0.5 currency then it adopts the currency of the conquering country, even if it is lower. If a player starts with a country that has a 0.5 currency then they must automatically create a new unique currency which starts at 0.5.

Here is a brief step-by-step explanation of the combat process.

Before any combat can begin the attacking and defending players must decide how there units are participating in the battle. First of all there is ground, sea and air combat. A unit can only participate in one form of combat for a specified period (see step 11 below) and each form is independent. Secondly there are can be fortified units (see notes below) on defense. The attacker must chose which units are attacking fortified and which units are attacking non-fortified defenders. Thirdly if more than one country is participating in the same battle each player must specify how many troops are attacking each other participant. Once all the decisions have been submitted to the administrator they are final. The order of combat is sea, air then ground.

1. G.C.A.S.D. and AA Infantry get to fire at all aircraft or I.C.B.M’s that are entering the defending country. Casualties are removed.
2. All remaining I.C.B.M’s are delivered on target and casualties are removed.
3. Unit combat begins at the highest "range" (see unit definitions) of any participating unit.
4. All attacking units that can engage at the current range do so. Casualties are NOT removed.
5. All defending units that can engage at the current range do so. Casualties are NOT removed.
6. All casualties from 4) and 5) are removed simultaneously.
7. The current range is reduced by 1
8. Repeat steps 4) – 7) unit range equals 0.
9. With a range of 0 steps 4) – 6) are carried out.
10. A month of combat has occurred and the next month begins with other players allowed to take actions.
11. If nobody has been destroyed (or has withdrawn) than combat continues each month with only steps 4) – 6) begin carried out. Range remains at 0 for the rest of this battle. If new units are added to either side then they enter combat at range 0 as well. Aircraft must fly home after every month’s combat. Each month if they (or new) aircraft enter combat step 1) occurs first. At this step players can change troop allocations that were made before step 1).
12. If a battle carries over until January then all the normal beginning of year actions occur before battle continues. Also if the defending nation was a non-‘player-controlled’ country then all of its initial units are replenished to their full amounts.

Here are a few extra notes on military issues.

Units – A "unit" of troops does not necessarily represent a specified number. For example most naval units represent one ship where most personal units represent 100 men.

Conquering a country – after all of the defending units have been defeated you must maintain a number of ground units in that country that is equal to that countries population in order to occupy it. If the number of your troops drops below this level for a full month then the countries initial units reform and counter attack. Once a country has been held for a year then no units are required to keep it.

Factories – Factories can be purchased for 50 million dollars. They are built in a country and cannot be moved. Each factory allows a country to produce 5,000 army points more than its limit.

Defending Units – In order to gain the benefits of being a defending unit a unit must have a month in a country to "dig in", otherwise both attacking and defending units must use the "Attacking" unit statistics.

Fortified Units – A fortified unit is significantly harder to hit and hits that are successful don’t do as much damage. It cost half of the unit purchase price and requires two months to build. Fortifications remain in a country when a unit leaves. Any similar unit can use an existing fortification.

Mothballing – A unit that does not have its upkeep paid for is mothballed. It costs twice the upkeep cost of a unit to de-mothball it. This process takes two months. A mothballed unit has no capabilities.

Aircraft landing – aircraft cannot land in a newly conquered country. A country must be controlled for one month first.

Battle Plan – When planning an invasion a semi-detailed plan must be submitted to the administrator (see above). Most of the information in this plan only affects the first month of combat, after that, details can be changed on a month by month basis. One exception to this is partial retreats or "disengagements". If a unit, or a group of units, is going to leave a battle, the month in which they leave must be specified in the initial battle plan. If a player wishes to have more, or less, units retreat or they want the retreat at a different time then a complete retreat must be ordered. After an engagement has been broken a new two month planning period is required. This applies even when the attacking force is only air units. In this case the units must return to base after range 0 is reached thus effectively causing the end of one battle. The next attack run must be planned as a new battle.

All of the numbers on the military units chart on the web page require some explanation.

Cost/Upkeep – the number of army points required to purchase/maintain this unit. The costs are divided into agricultural (exports 1-10) and industrial (exports 15-30) for the country that is actually producing the unit (not necessarily the country paying the money).

To hit – this is the number, on a scale of 1-10, that is required for a successful hit. This number can change depending on whether the unit is attacking or defending a battle.

Hits – this is the number of successful hits that a unit can sustain before being destroyed. This number can change depending on whether the unit is attacking or defending a battle.

Damage – this is the total number of hits that a unit can deliver. Each point of damage indicates a potential "to hit" that must be determined.

Range – this is the range at which the unit can engage in combat.

Capacity – this is the number of "unit spaces" that can be carried onboard. See individual unit descriptions for details.

Move – this is the number of squares that a unit can move each month. (not being used in simplified game)

Fuel – the amount of fuel this unit requires to be active in a year. (not being used in simplified game)

Explosives – the amount of explosives this units requires to be active in a year. (not being used in simplified game)

Individual unit descriptions are provided here.

AA Infantry – This unit is equipped with G.C.A.S.D. anti-aircraft abilities (see G.C.A.S.D for details). Having more than one does not increase the level it just adds the one extra chance. This unit does not have the anti-seacraft abilities of the G.C.A.S.D. The * in range represents these abilities. This unit requires 10 unit spaces for transport.

Aircraft Carrier – This unit can carry ground troops, air troops and I.C.B.M.’s. If an aircraft carrier is successfully sunk by a submarine sneak attack then a randomly determined 0%-50% of the air units on board are allow to escape. All I.C.B.M.’s are detonated. This listed capacity is for aircraft and I.C.B.M’s only. I.C.B.M.’s onboard can be fired in a reactionary manner.

Armoured – Also known as tanks, this unit occupies 10 unit spaces. They are the only unit capable of attacking more than once in a year.

Artillery – This unit occupies 10 unit spaces. Artillery have a zero to hit once combat reaches range zero.

Battleships – These units are the only units that start with range 3. They are also the only naval unit that can do shore bombardments.

Bomber – The second set of numbers for these units (the ones in brackets) represent their air combat statistics. This unit can engage at range 2 (for ground combat) but this is the only range at which it has 10 damage. After that is can chose to apply its air combat numbers against ground troops or withdraw. This unit occupies 5 unit spaces.

Cargo ship – nothing special

Cruiser – nothing special

Escourt – nothing special

G.C.A.S.D – This stands for Ground Controlled Air and Sea Defense. Purchasing multiples of this unit does not mean that you produce more than one it means that you have increase the level of your existing unit. This unit protects your entire country and as such its cost must be multiplied by the size of your country. Its combat statistics are presented in a separate table at the bottom of the normal unit table. The number listed for each aircraft is the number required to hit. This unit gets to fire once for every attacking unit plus one extra chance for each level above 1. The "To Hit", "Damage" and "Range" numbers represent this units’ sea combat statistics. In sea combat it fires as a normal unit. This unit has unlimited hits for the simplified game.

Helicopter – This is the only aircraft unit that can land (and refuel) anywhere that you have troops. The unit has the same statistics for air sea and ground combat with the exception of range 0 in air combat. This unit occupies two unit spaces.

I.C.B.M. – This stands for InterContinental Ballistic Missile. These are non-nuclear. This unit can reach anywhere in the world. It is the only unit that cannot be mothballed. If the upkeep is not paid this unit is lost. This unit occupies 5 unit spaces.

Infantry – This unit occupies one unit space.

Interceptors – The damage of 1 represents its air combat statistics. This unit occupies one unit space.

Marine – This unit has a to hit of 5 on it’s first round of ground combat from a naval landing. This is the only ground troop that can land on hostile shores. Combat begins at range zero in a naval landing. This unit occupies one unit space.

Merchant Ship – nothing special

Missle Truck – This unit occupies 10 unit spaces.

Paratrooper – This unit has damage of 2 only on it’s first round of ground combat from an airdrop. This is the only ground unit that can perform hostile airdrops. Combat begins at range zero in an airdrop. This unit occupies one unit space.

Spy Plane – if this unit flies over a "target" country and returns the owner will know all units in that country. Also if this unit is flying over the same square as a hidden submarine then it has a 20% chance of noticing each sub. Spy planes themselves can only be detected by other spy planes or a G.C.A.S.D. of level 5. Spy planes can chose to revel themselves and participate in combat. The to hit of 4 is for air combat only. This unit occupies 5 unit spaces.

Submarine – this unit can chose to remain hidden from other players in the game. This movement is still submitted to the administrator. This unit can also perform a "sneak attack". Once the subs have entered the same square as their target the opposing fleet has a chance to see them. The first chance occurs at the highest range of defending ships. There is a 5% chance for every ship with this range. This is cumulative to a maximum of 30%. One roll is made for each attacking sub. The ships at that range can then fire upon a detected sub. The next chance occurs at the next closes "range" statistic in the defending fleet. Every ship with this range, and higher, can add together at 5% a piece to, again, a total 30%. This limited of 30% is increased by 5% for every sub that was spotted at the previous range but NOT fired upon. The limit of this increase is to 80%. This continues until range zero. After the detection phase of range zero the attacking subs have the opportunity to fire. The undetected subs have a damage of 15 and they can chose how they want to divide this amongst the targets. Victims of a sneak attack are removed immediately. Undetected subs can now surface and join in normal sea combat or remain hidden and retreat to range 1. If they chose to try and leave combat then the detection process begins in "reverse range order" and there are initially no detected subs. The detected subs can now fire normally. The defending fleet now has the opportunity to fire upon every detected sub. Combat proceeds normally unless the defending fleet wishes to have ships participate in retreating sub detection instead of combat (of course they are still in the battle they are just not fighting back).