StarDestroyer.Net BBS

I picked up Democracy 3 on Steam this weekend (It's on ridiculous sale until Monday, Feb 10), in the hopes of finding a light diversion to play when I only had a few minutes to kill.

I was happy. Serious strategists will probably give it a miss, as it lacks significant depth, but I had fun juggling (and juggling is the absolutely right word for it) my policies, taxes, and general desire to create a police state.

The game is little more than spending political capital, in this case the game's currency with which to force through laws and change existing ones, to implement or change the policies (or the amount spent on policies) for your chosen country. Each turn you earn political capital by appeasing voters (via your ministers), and more serious policies (abortion, death penalty, reducing military spending) require much more political capital than others, requiring you to have a firmer grip over the electorate.

My first game I tried to create my ideal Canada, and was assassinated near the end of my first term by religious fanatics. Oops to thinking I could give people freedom, reducing military and spying. Next game I went straight for police drones and wiretapping, THEN legalized whores and pot. Death threats were this time met with a serious secret police. Then I ran out of money and lost my bid for re-election after having sliced the budget of everything that wasn't education and health care. Third game I hit the sweet spot, managing a second term by effectively lying about all of my election plans and opening Canada up as a country with no labour laws, no environmental protection laws, and ample tax shelters. That gave me the money I needed for my iron-fisted secret police force, and voila - I was re-elected by my supporters. Consisting mainly of the rich and a horde of horribly sick, overworked poor people.

Absolutely got my 12$ worth. If you like playing politics and don't demand a hardcore, deep-trenched experience, it's worth it.

Third game I hit the sweet spot, managing a second term by effectively lying about all of my election plans and opening Canada up as a country with no labour laws, no environmental protection laws, and ample tax shelters. That gave me the money I needed for my iron-fisted secret police force, and voila - I was re-elected by my supporters. Consisting mainly of the rich and a horde of horribly sick, overworked poor people.

Wait a second... you're not Stephen Harper in disguise, are you? Because your successful plan sounds an awful lot like his current term

EDIT: Your avatar includes Darth Vader's helmet and the Empire's logo, and your location is Ottawa... hmmmmmmmm

Just got this game myself and it's been fun.

My first game had a cabal of capitalists plotting to oust me from number 10 and dispite my best efforts any little gains I made ended up being expensive and crippling to my economy.

My second game went a little better. I made some gains improving the GDP and on the high crime level that was inspiring vigilante groups. Alas the economy was again my downfall. This time losing out the the opposition party.

The third time I went out to focus on the economy and any gains I made there where sent into other areas like tackling the uncompetitive economy and the backwards technology and one by one the problems that where hamstringing me where being tackled and by the time the election rolled around the opposition was reduced to less than 1M party members and less that 100k activists. Needless to say it was a landslide win. My biggest struggle always being building support among the capitalist. (That being said it was only the religious who ever planned to kill me.)

Now to get those results I have tweaked the difficulty down a little but the lessons I am learning will be applied when I up it again.