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Half Earth: A Planetary Crisis Planning Game

70 points by kelseyfrog 3y ago

codevark 3y ago
[dead]
drekipus 3y ago
> the earth has united under a new socialist regime... You're elected as it's first planner... Uh oh [chuckles] I'm in danger Looks like a fun game though. Nice UX but I skipped the tutorial. After reading the story I don't want to then read a tutorial. Not when I don't know what it's about
doomrobo 3y ago
There was a great interview with the authors of this game and accompanying book https://srslywrong.com/podcast/290-half-earth-socialism-w-troy-vettese-drew-pendergrass/ https://srslywrong.com/podcast/290-half-earth-socialism-w-tr...
- RetroTechie 3y ago
  Hmm... Ebook: £8.00 Paperback plus ebook: £7.99 For a book on this subject, "dead tree + printing costs nothing" (and then asking 100% of the sales price for a 'free' ebook) is a bit hypocritical, no?
strangecasts 3y ago
Reminded of Fate of the World [1], a similar take on the concept from 2011: [1] https://store.steampowered.com/app/80200/Fate_of_the_World/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/80200/Fate_of_the_World/
- HeavyStorm 3y ago
  Came here to say exactly this.
- Hammershaft 3y ago
  Fate of the World is certainly more challenging and perhaps honest, although less aspirational. climate induced mass famine and social breakdown is a near inevitability in vanilla Fate of The World. I reallu reccomend the rebalance mod touted in the steam discussions.
- marssaxman 3y ago
  In the tabletop world, my wife and I have recently been playing "Daybreak" - akin to Pandemic, but focused on climate change. The box blurb calls it a "hopeful vision of the near future" but in practice that sense of hope ends up being heavily salted with "holy crap, this is hard".
shmageggy 3y ago
Me: Force everyone to go vegan and ban cars The Authoritarian: Grr! You're not being authoritarian enough! More seriously, this is a nice game to get thinking about the incredible task ahead of us to fix our society. However it's far too easy. They could have made a stronger statement by making it truly difficult to navigate the competing priorities and conflicting interests. It's not going to be easy.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 3y ago
  It's harder when you also take quality of life into account and try to do it without bans. My main problem in the second half of the game were ironically the ecoterrorists, despite having negative emissions and on track to get to 0. I find that refreshingly accurate with some activists that completely ignore the progress that's happening because it hasn't happened instantly. (Maybe the in-game ones are tied to biodiversity?) I unfortunately encountered some bugs towards the end of the game: - eco diversity became NaN - in the last round some major shift happened that completely messed up everything without it being visble what (maybe orbital settlements spiked fuel demands which crowded out everything else via land use?) - (minor: some technology that I had phased out caused disasters or complaints) It's also annoying that you can't seem to take back technologies that turn out to backfire, even when demands to take them back show up and (spoilers) then an event that's supposed to end it takes away the benefits while the downsides keep piling up for the rest of the game (SRM). Edit: Also seems completely unplayable on desktop because I can't swipe the cards?
jncfhnb 3y ago
I really liked this. I feel like I’ve completely solved it, and am now a little pissy that the game stops you from completing your tenure if you achieve your “goal”. I’m curious if the late game space projects are even possible to achieve? Has anyone managed to do it? I think the answer is no because it seemed like even with production optimized investment I wasn’t going to have enough time, but I might try once more… Anyway. The biggest key to winning is the preposterously overpowered feminist scientists. They’re easily accessible by turn 2 and provide 20 research points, which is enough to kick start research on basically every technology the game has to offer…
- jncfhnb 3y ago
  Ok, shit, finishing my third playthrough bleary eyed and annoyed that I can’t help but win even with 100% coal I just want to see space
  - jncfhnb 3y ago
    Ok, I’ve fully minmaxed this game. Over 16,000 political capital gained in one turn and I think all space tech researched. It’s pretty hard to get this far without accidentally winning.
    - nullstyle 3y ago
      bravo!
- aidenn0 3y ago
  I lost my first playthrough because of bad luck with the RNG that pushed my temperature up by 0.5 right as I was about to win, then I ran out of time before getting it down.
aljosh_strelov 3y ago
[flagged]
- darkest_ruby 3y ago
  I came here to leave this comment
- _gzov 3y ago
  If communism lets my descendants live a decent life on an egalitarian planet in balance with other life forms then I'm all for it.
  - khaki54 3y ago
    Unfortunately communism has failed spectacularly every time it's been tried.
- JR1427 3y ago
  I always find it interesting how some cultures or languages seem to treat "socialism" and "communism" as synonyms. Do you see them as the same thing? Or you think that even though the game references "socialism" you still think it's communist propaganda (as opposed to socialist propaganda).
splendicious 3y ago
Your political affiliation is showing, great game otherwise.
- kelseyfrog 3y ago
  Your projection is. Thanks though.
  - Log_out_ 3y ago
    The world is out to get him,cause his paranoia is an achievement.

70 points by kelseyfrog 3y ago

[dead]

> the earth has united under a new socialist regime... You're elected as it's first planner... Uh oh [chuckles] I'm in danger Looks like a fun game though. Nice UX but I skipped the tutorial. After reading the story I don't want to then read a tutorial. Not when I don't know what it's about

doomrobo 3y ago

There was a great interview with the authors of this game and accompanying book https://srslywrong.com/podcast/290-half-earth-socialism-w-troy-vettese-drew-pendergrass/ https://srslywrong.com/podcast/290-half-earth-socialism-w-tr...

RetroTechie 3y ago
Hmm... Ebook: £8.00 Paperback plus ebook: £7.99 For a book on this subject, "dead tree + printing costs nothing" (and then asking 100% of the sales price for a 'free' ebook) is a bit hypocritical, no?

strangecasts 3y ago

Reminded of Fate of the World [1], a similar take on the concept from 2011: [1] https://store.steampowered.com/app/80200/Fate_of_the_World/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/80200/Fate_of_the_World/

HeavyStorm 3y ago
Came here to say exactly this.
Hammershaft 3y ago
Fate of the World is certainly more challenging and perhaps honest, although less aspirational. climate induced mass famine and social breakdown is a near inevitability in vanilla Fate of The World. I reallu reccomend the rebalance mod touted in the steam discussions.
marssaxman 3y ago
In the tabletop world, my wife and I have recently been playing "Daybreak" - akin to Pandemic, but focused on climate change. The box blurb calls it a "hopeful vision of the near future" but in practice that sense of hope ends up being heavily salted with "holy crap, this is hard".

shmageggy 3y ago

Me: Force everyone to go vegan and ban cars The Authoritarian: Grr! You're not being authoritarian enough! More seriously, this is a nice game to get thinking about the incredible task ahead of us to fix our society. However it's far too easy. They could have made a stronger statement by making it truly difficult to navigate the competing priorities and conflicting interests. It's not going to be easy.

tgsovlerkhgsel 3y ago
It's harder when you also take quality of life into account and try to do it without bans. My main problem in the second half of the game were ironically the ecoterrorists, despite having negative emissions and on track to get to 0. I find that refreshingly accurate with some activists that completely ignore the progress that's happening because it hasn't happened instantly. (Maybe the in-game ones are tied to biodiversity?) I unfortunately encountered some bugs towards the end of the game: - eco diversity became NaN - in the last round some major shift happened that completely messed up everything without it being visble what (maybe orbital settlements spiked fuel demands which crowded out everything else via land use?) - (minor: some technology that I had phased out caused disasters or complaints) It's also annoying that you can't seem to take back technologies that turn out to backfire, even when demands to take them back show up and (spoilers) then an event that's supposed to end it takes away the benefits while the downsides keep piling up for the rest of the game (SRM). Edit: Also seems completely unplayable on desktop because I can't swipe the cards?

jncfhnb 3y ago

I really liked this. I feel like I’ve completely solved it, and am now a little pissy that the game stops you from completing your tenure if you achieve your “goal”. I’m curious if the late game space projects are even possible to achieve? Has anyone managed to do it? I think the answer is no because it seemed like even with production optimized investment I wasn’t going to have enough time, but I might try once more… Anyway. The biggest key to winning is the preposterously overpowered feminist scientists. They’re easily accessible by turn 2 and provide 20 research points, which is enough to kick start research on basically every technology the game has to offer…

jncfhnb 3y ago
Ok, shit, finishing my third playthrough bleary eyed and annoyed that I can’t help but win even with 100% coal I just want to see space
- jncfhnb 3y ago
  Ok, I’ve fully minmaxed this game. Over 16,000 political capital gained in one turn and I think all space tech researched. It’s pretty hard to get this far without accidentally winning.
  - nullstyle 3y ago
    bravo!
aidenn0 3y ago
I lost my first playthrough because of bad luck with the RNG that pushed my temperature up by 0.5 right as I was about to win, then I ran out of time before getting it down.

aljosh_strelov 3y ago

[flagged]

darkest_ruby 3y ago
I came here to leave this comment
_gzov 3y ago
If communism lets my descendants live a decent life on an egalitarian planet in balance with other life forms then I'm all for it.
- khaki54 3y ago
  Unfortunately communism has failed spectacularly every time it's been tried.
JR1427 3y ago
I always find it interesting how some cultures or languages seem to treat "socialism" and "communism" as synonyms. Do you see them as the same thing? Or you think that even though the game references "socialism" you still think it's communist propaganda (as opposed to socialist propaganda).

splendicious 3y ago

Your political affiliation is showing, great game otherwise.

kelseyfrog 3y ago
Your projection is. Thanks though.
- Log_out_ 3y ago
  The world is out to get him,cause his paranoia is an achievement.