:::Cabinet:::
As a Cabinet member for a nation, you have two tasks. Your first task is to determine all of the letters in your own nation’s Defense Code. Your second task is to make correspondence with the secret Espionage members of your own nation so that you can determine all of the letters in another nation’s Defense Code.
If you are assigned to a nation’s Cabinet, you will be given a single Defense Key (one letter) of your own nation’s Defense Code. You have to talk to the other members of your nation (in the War Room and in Dossiers) to figure out what letters the other Cabinet members have been given. Be warned: there are members of your own nation who are actually Espionage working for another nation.
There will be Espionage members working for your nation that are hiding in other countries. You will never know what there names are. When one of them wants to send a message to you from the nation they are spying on, you’ll get a dossier that is from “Espionage of (your nation)”. This will prove that the information is from a reliable source, even though you’ll never know who your man in the field is. You will use this information to piece together another nation’s Defense Code.
After you have collected codes from your fellow Cabinet members and your Espionage agents abroad, you will need to compose a Launch Sequence. The Launch Sequence consists of your own nation’s Defense Code and the Defense Code of an enemy nation. After you input the code for your own nation and for the target nation, you submit this information.
:::President:::
This is a special Cabinet member. No player knows who the President is, not even the President himself! The only Launch Sequence that counts for your nation is the one submitted by this secret player. You never know if you are the President, so it’s important to make sure your Launch Sequence is accurate no matter what. At the end of the day, the game will test this information. If your Launce Sequence is correct, you win the game; launching your own nukes at an enemy target. If it is incorrect, you will need to try again tomorrow.
:::Espionage:::
As an Espionage member for your nation, you have several tasks. Your primary task is to fit in with all of the members of your nation as establish yourself as a Cabinet member. If you are easily found out by the nation you’re spying on, you won’t be able to collect information from them very well.
Your next task is to learn all of the components of their Defense Code and report this information back to a member of your own nation. As an Espionage, you may send normal dossiers (giving your name and information) as if you were a regular Cabinet member; but you may also obscure your name and give only the information “Espionage of (your nation)”. This keeps your identity secret if you accidentally target a non-Cabinet member of your own nation. More importantly, this proves to the Cabinet members of your nation that you are actually their ally working undercover—and your information is to be trusted.
If you are able to get the Defense Code information from the nation you are spying on back to the secret President of your own nation, you can help your nation win the game (while destroying the nation that you’ve been spying on).
:::Terms:::
Defense Key: Cabinet members start out with a Defense Key. This consists of a single letter randomly chosen from your own Defense Code.
Defense Codes: Defense Codes consist of five letters chosen randomly from the letters A-J. The letters of each nation’s Defense Code may be entered in any order.
DEFCON: As the game continues, public information about each nation will be revealed. This information comes in the form of a single Defense Key from each nation’s Defense Code. At DEFCON 5, no information is known. As the game continues, you will eventually reach DEFCON 1; at this point, four out of five letters from every nation’s Defense Code will be revealed.
Launch Sequence: This input consists of your own nation’s Defense Code, the name of an enemy nation, and that nation’s Defense Code. Each Cabinet member may submit one of these each day. If you happen to be the President and your Launch Sequence is correct, you will launch nukes at the targeted nation.
Endgame: The game ends when at least one nation launches nukes (by submitting a correct Launch Sequence) at another nation. If only one nation submits a correct Launch Sequence in a given round, that nation wins. If two or more nations submit a correct Launch Sequence in the same round, the game ends and each attacking nation gets awarded one point, while each targeted nation loses one point. Whichever nation has the most points wins; if there is a tie at this point, the game ends with a draw.
Summit: Public chat area.
War Room: Nation's chat area.
Dossiers: Private messaging among members.