Citystate Review (Der Liebe Frankie)
This is a detailed and challenging country simulation. Build trade with other countries by building a road to the edge of the map (so it helps to start near a border), and iron mines in mountains. Control the tax rates for various income brackets and sales tax, and issue bonds for cash. Issue laws that affect approval ratings and national income. Every move can take months or years to actually develop into a working part of the economy, so planning ahead is the name of the game. This game also helped me get some insight into how government economics works, and why it might make sense to keep industry in the private sector or in the public sector (well take your pick - whatever side is more corrupt is going to sink the ship). Also, population growth can be a huge problem, and so can slums. Taxing the snot out of people turns into a way of managing the population - people leave your lousy country, which is fine if too many people are relying on social programs.
This is a relatively old UI and UX, but once I got the hang of it I was intrigued to see if I could work out the balancing act. It's not easy for sure, and feels like a hodgepodge as I'm building up my country.
The music is sort of weird - so I shut it off.
This game reminds me a bit of Tropico, but it's not as funny, and a lot more challenging and believable, and the maps on this are enormous in comparison. It also reminds me of Superpower, where you turn a knob, and then wait for a long time to see how things change, before turning another knob. I'm glad I bought this and it's fun to try every now and then to see how far I can get before my society crumbles into mayhem.
But it's also very strange - without really trying, I'm finding that a very beneficial socialist state which takes really good care of people, but also keeps taxes insanely high so that the population stays down (people just leave I guess), turns into a very stable economy. Some of this explanation is a bit contrived though, as some of the game mechanics seem to assume that a lot of work can be done by very few people in some cases (maybe as seen in real life by slave or exploitative practices). There's so much food for thought!
Good game!