RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
Every number on this page is the number the engine uses. No hidden rolls, no fudge factors.
// OBJECTIVE
Two nations fight a campaign of 3 rounds across up to three theatres: AIR SEA LAND. Each round you win a theatre by bringing more effective points into it than the enemy. Most theatres won over the campaign takes the war. Ties are broken by attrition: the side in better condition prevails. A side whose forces fall below 35% of their starting value capitulates immediately.
// THE MAP IS REAL
Geography comes from the database, not from a script:
- — The SEA theatre exists only if both nations have a coastline.
- — With a shared land border, armies clash at full strength every round.
- — Without one, the LAND front opens only when the round's SEA winner lands troops — and amphibious invaders fight at ×0.5 while the defender fights at full strength on home soil.
- — No border and no sea: ground forces can never make contact.
// YOUR FORCES ARE REAL
Pools are built from the live GlobalMilitary.net inventories and valued per unit:
AIRCRAFT (by generation)
| 5th generation (F-22, F-35, J-20, Su-57…) | 10 pts |
| 4.5th gen (entered service 2000+) | 7 pts |
| 4th gen (entered service 1975+) | 5 pts |
| 3rd gen (entered service 1955+) | 3 pts |
| Legacy (pre-1955) | 2 pts |
| Bombers | 5–12 pts by type |
Role matters: air-superiority fighters fight at 100% in AIR but 40% on strike duty; strike aircraft and bombers fight at 120% against surface targets but only 20% in the air battle; multirole types give 85% everywhere.
SHIPS (by class)
| Carrier | 60 pts |
| Cruiser | 30 pts |
| Submarine | 25 pts |
| Destroyer | 20 pts |
| Frigate | 12 pts |
| Amphibious | 10 pts |
| Corvette | 6 pts |
| Coastal | 3 pts |
| Patrol | 2 pts |
GROUND FORCES
| MBT | 3 pts |
| IFV | 2 pts |
| SPArtillery | 2 pts |
| MLRS | 2 pts |
| APC | 1 pts |
| TowedArtillery | 1 pts |
| Light | 0.1 pts |
| Troops | 1 pt / 200 soldiers |
Nations without a published vehicle inventory get an estimated ground strength derived from personnel, flagged estimated in the war room.
// EACH ROUND
- 1 — Your forces are split into groups (up to 8 per domain). Secretly assign air groups to AIR, SEA or LAND, naval groups to SEA, brigades to LAND. Unassigned groups wait in reserve, safe from attrition.
- 2 — Allocations are revealed simultaneously. The AI cannot see your orders — only your past rounds.
- 3 — AIR resolves first. The winner's forces in SEA and LAND count ×1.5 this round.
- 4 — Each theatre goes to the higher effective total. +1 campaign point per theatre won.
// ATTRITION
Losses are proportional to the smaller of the two engaged forces — you can only be hurt by what actually faces you. An uncontested theatre costs nobody anything.
| Losing a contested theatre | −20% of committed |
| Winning a contested theatre | −5% |
| Winning at sea against submarines | −10% |
| Exact stalemate | −10% each |
Losses are taken by the real units committed — the battle report names every airframe, hull and vehicle destroyed.
// THE OPPONENT
The AI plays a seeded mixed strategy under one of three doctrines you choose at setup:
- — Balanced — spreads its forces to contest every theatre.
- — Hammer — concentrates everything on the fronts it can win.
- — Fortress — commits hard where it is strong, holds back elsewhere.
It adapts between rounds: dominate a theatre too visibly and it will stop contesting it.