4th Generation Warfare
Fourth-Generation Warfare simulates warfare in the 21st century, which, in addition to the direct opposition of military forces, now includes espionage, international politics, cyberwarfare, media manipulation, and trade wars.
As the leader of a nation, dispatch and control your agents all around the world to destabilize your enemies and establish your supremacy.
All methods are fair game: hacking, sabotage, political interference, military strikes, corruption, assassinations, energy domination, data theft…
4GW combines a strategy game with the functions of a role-playing game in solo or multi-player.
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IMPORTANT NOTE : You must have a valid Steam account to use the Steam version of the game. You will receive a code upon purchasing this version. To install the game onto your computer, you must enter the code in the Steam application.
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Gameplay
- As the head of a nation in the modern world, the player controls a group of characters. Each character performs actions specific to their position or function (examples: contract negotiations for a diplomat, sabotage for a spy, cyberattacks for a hacker, inquiries for an investigator…). You can also opt to move military units, or for actions called "leverage" (examples: invitation to a restaurant, offering a bribe, threatening with blackmail…) performed by non-playable characters, allowing you to later compel them to commit acts of betrayal. More than 100 different actions are possible. The psychological profile, experience and abilities of the characters, possession of weapons and particular objects factor into their odds of success.
Meanwhile, adversaries (other nations controlled by human players or by AI) are also performing actions.
The game is played turn-by-turn or in real time. In turn by turn mode, each player has a limited number of actions available per turn that he or she can distribute among their characters. In real time mode, players are only limited by the run-time of the actions their characters are performing.
All throughout the game, a news website and characters' smartphones inform the player of action results and other game events.
Each country's score is based on 5 factors (world diplomacy, military conquest, economic outcomes, popularity, character's XP level) which creates a ranking.
If a head of state loses power or dies, the controlling player is eliminated.
The last country standing or the first-ranked country after the last turn wins the game. Optional secret objectives can also tip the balance towards victory.
The Real 21st Century
- The game is played on a current map of the world, viewable in 2D and in 3D. The map shows all national borders, cities and important strategic locations (military bases, power plants, factories...). The player can access city maps with its various buildings (palace of the Head of State, headquarters of the army, secret services or the police, restaurants, embassies, characters' residences, secret hideouts…) and interact with the characters in those locations. Certain buildings have a computer server for their operations and contain databases of sensitive information; they can be targets for cyberattacks aimed at blocking or stealing this data.
- Maps of the major capitals are consistent with the real-world cities.
- There are various map display modes: diplomatic, military, electoral, etc; there is also a minimap.
- The world map changes according to players' building projects, damage from war or sabotage, military strategies and territorial conquests. Moreover, all major events are displayed on the affected areas (demonstrations, attacks, crimes…).
Multiple Characters with a Wide Range of Skills and Psychologies
- There are more than 30 types of characters. There are characters controlled by the player (spies, hackers, police inspectors, ministers, head of armies, diplomats...) and other characters that are only influenced (spouses, journalists, gang leaders, informants, religious dignitaries, artists, psychoanalysts, political opponents...).
- Each character has a particular psychological profile, helping or hindering the success of their actions. Around fifteen different profiles are represented: sociable, loyal, charismatic, paranoid, introverted… Moreover, variables of stress and fear, calculated according to events (threats, corruption…), can influence their autonomic behavior (surrender, betrayal, coup d’état…).
- Characters also have a smartphone with which they can manage their contacts, talk to them, negotiate with them, arrange a meeting or store their files (stolen data, photo or video evidence...). These telephones can be GPS-tracked or hacked and their contents pilfered.
- About thirty special objects can be found or constructed and add bonus or additional skills to characters like: bulletproof vests, fake IDs, compound cameras, explosives, exoskeletons…
- Actions common to all characters (moving, going to a restaurant, taking/placing/giving/stealing objects, seducing, threatening, marrying/divorcing, interacting, bribing…) are distinguished from actions specific to their profession.
- Examples of specific actions by type of character:
- Head of State: appoint cabinet members, set budget guidelines, denounce the UN, approve nuclear weapons, campaign in elections, begin infrastructure projects…
- Secretary of Diplomacy and Diplomats: implement commercial contracts, sign strategic agreements, vote in the UN, open embassies…
- Head of Secret Services and Spys: infiltrate, sabotage, assassinate, spy, kidnap...
- Cyber-Analysts: hack into a server or smartphone, GPS tracking, plant viruses, reinforce data protection, trace the source of a cyberattack…
- Head of the Army: implement arms deals, construct bases, manage staff, declare martial law…
- Secretary of Interior and Police Investigators: use video surveillance, investigate crimes and offenses, make arrests, interrogate a suspect, conduct a stakeout, monitor a building, break up demonstrations… - Non-playable characters are also capable of many specific actions: editing articles for journalists, ordering union strikes, influential sermons by religious dignitaries, exhibitions for artists, assassination by a hitman, voting instructions for political leaders…
A Reactive but Still Influenced Population
- The level of popular contentment is continuously calculated. It can vary according to the policies of the state (social spending, level of taxation), unemployment rate, purchasing power that changes according to product costs, potential shortages, anxiety levels in the country or the corruption of the leaders. Angry people can start demonstrations or riots, call for a strike and ultimately cause the player to lose the game.
- The people can also be influenced by the manipulation of information in the media or by natural leaders such as union or party leaders, by religious dignitaries who themselves can be in service of a foreign power.
A Multitude of Strategies
- The multitude of action plans (limited in each turn and must be carefully considered) combined with different ways to calculate scores offers players a multitude of strategies.
- The different levels of underlying gameplay such as wargames, featuring around fifty different types of military units, trade wars via economic contracts, management of the national budget to influence popularity via your investment capacity, management of resources, the role of the UN who can sanction a country or authorize military interventions all add even more to the possibilities and the excitement of the game, with fortunes changing at any moment.
Numerous Gameplay Modes and Options
- Various configurations are available allowing you to vary the enjoyment of the game:
- "Career" Mode: a game mode recommended to new players, the match begins with the only controlled character being the Head of State. You must then choose your closest collaborators and gradually expand your group.
- "Government" Mode: the player can choose at the beginning a dozen characters, allowing to operate within all domains.
- "Sandbox" Mode: a free and exploratory mode, it allows the player to customize their starting group of characters and to play without limits. So, if the head of state dies, the player can still play as their successor
- "Real-time" Option: in this mode, time passes continuously. A character or military unit is active for the time it takes to perform an action before performing another. The player can use the "Pause" and "Fast-Forward" buttons to control the speed of the game at any time.
- Turn-by-Turn Option: in this mode, each turn corresponds to one day during which each character or military unit can perform one available action. At the end of the turn, AI adversaries perform their actions.
- "Multinational" Option: a player can play as several countries and develop different tactics. Many small countries can then face a bigger one on equal footing.
- "Extra Characters" Option: the player can select a certain number of extra characters and devise a strategy before the game even starts. For example, you can play as journalists or political opponents in a foreign country who can help destabilize the current regime.
- Competitive and Cooperative Multi-Player Mode: players can form teams to compete against each other or the AI. A team can be made up of players who each control a different country or share control of characters from the same nation.
- "Secret Objective" Option: each player (human or AI) can draw an objective which, if attained, will grant bonus points or even immediately win the game. Examples include controlling more than 50% of the hydrocarbon market, tripling the population, changing the regime in an enemy country.
- Game options allow you to fine-tune game dynamics: number of turns, duration of turns, number of actions per turn.
- Online High Score: for each type of game session and game level, a player can register their score online making their world ranking known to all. - Texts and dialogues 100% in English
We recommend the following minimum configuration
PC Windows 11 / 10 / 8 ● 2 GHz Processor ● 4 Gb RAM ● 6 Gb Hard Drive Space