Since the release of Supreme Ruler 2020 there has been lots of discussion about the game. Lots of suggestions have been put forward about possible directions for future development and lots of requests for changes have been made, although a good number of the requests have been either at odds with each other or at odds for priority. New features of our own have been added as well, with the addition of both content and features in each update.
This latest update however contains some core changes to gameplay, and in some ways balance, that are in direct response to feedback we’ve received. Some of the AI decision making processes have been notably changed for declarations of war and a new “provocation†value has been added to report to players how much chance there is of another region opening hostilities towards them. Much of this is based on data that has existed all along in the game but there has been confusion about how the data was used. The Causus Belli rating up till version 5.3.2 was a key factor in the AI’s decision to declare war on a region. It did look at other factors such as proximity, AI agenda, Diplomatic Relations and existing treaties but it would at times declare war when it had a high belli despite relatively good diplomatic and civilian ratings. Because of this the AI would act more like a player – declaring war when it could without penalty – and less like a real country would – declaring war based on relationships and political situations, consequences be damned.
We also have had lots of feedback challenging the amount of Belli that was given for certain actions. This is essentially unchanged as we still feel that if the US declares war on Syria with no justification, Israel would be justified to attack the US. They just wouldn’t want to due to other factors. Many of the players who challenged the system saw Causus Belli as being how justified a region felt itself to be as opposed to how what it actually represents; the justification for war when viewed by impartial third parties. This is why declarations of war without high justification will result in retaliation by other regions.
All of these two factors have lead to two key changes in the diplomatic system included in the latest version of the game. First, the AI now weighs Causus Belli less heavily but diplomatic and civilian factors more heavily, including government type, when considering if war is its desired course of action. This means that players could see a region with a very high Causus Belli remain neutral while a country with a very low value declares war because the second region is a neighbor that hates the other region due to other factors.
The second change can be seen in the Regional Atlas (hotkey <A>) and the Region Intentions section of the State Department. Since players were looking at the Causus Belli as if it was the AI’s want and probability to attack them, there is now a provocation value showing if the region is a low to high threat of becoming hostile. It uses many of the same factors that the AI does for deciding if war is a course to be considered but is not absolute, some uncertainty will still exist. It should now be a reflection of what players thought the previous value was showng. The Causus Belli of the player towards the region is still shown as players are usually more concerned with consequences than popular opinion or feelings towards a region. Of course in our multiplayer test games, our lead programmer George usually seems concerned about neither provocation nor justification in most of his attacks.
These changes to the interface players use and the decisions behind regional conflicts now mean that there has been a shift of AI regions acting less like “players†and more like “nations†but this seems to reflect what most players expect from the game. We have no doubt it will generate lots of new feedback.
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I beat Mexico as California, by myself. So have no fear of La Estados Unidos De Mexico. 
