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The next step is the final activation stage of year 1. I draw a chit, and get the Russia acts chit. Russia starts by making a cyber attack. The first target is the US economy. This attack fails. The second attack is also the US economy, and it also fails. My efforts to increase our cyber warfare are paying off.
Next, they attempt to increase influence in the Middle East. This also fails. I roll to see if I have to draw another chit, and I do. I now have to draw two cards. The first one is Instability/Civil War/Rogue State. All of these are bad, so here goes. Civil War breaks out in Central America, and the crisis level there goes to 2.
Now we've reached the end of turn/year 1. First stage is cleanup. A lot of this is board cleanup, but relations with Russia and China both trend anti-US. I can now change my legislative priorities. I put gun legislation #1, energy independence #2, and expanded military #3.
Next is the consequences stage. The regions are checked by stability. Here's how they played out:
Europe - A level 2 terror group is added.
Eastern Europe - Two level 1 terror groups are added.
Central America - Two level 1 terror groups are added.
Middle East - A level 1 terror group is added. The level 3 terror group becomes a level 1 Rogue state. An unstable state is added to the region. Crisis level goes to 3.
Central/South Asia - Two level 1 terror groups are added. Crisis level at major crisis. Will resolve in a bit.
South America - Two level 1 terror groups are added.
Africa - A level 2 terror group is added, and the level 3 terror group becomes a level 4.
Asia/Pacific - A level 1 terror group is added.
I now have to resolve the major crisis in Central/South Asia. A level 1 terror group goes to level 2, and Chinese influence is added.
Next, one of the Rogue States in the Middle East goes to level 2. I'm probably going to have to go to war against them. We also lose our improving economy marker due to the war against the Taliban. The civil wars in Central America and Somalia cause the crisis level to increase, and in Africa's case, this now causes a major crisis. A level 2 terror group goes to level 3, and another unstable state is added. Africa is officially a mess.
Now it's time to resolve the military footprints. We'll start with the 2 in the middle east. The first one causes a major crisis. The result is bad. Our relationship with Israel drops to close, Russia gets more influence (now up to 3), and stability is already at the lowest level. The second footprint adds a trending anti-US marker.
We have 3 footprints in Central/South Asia. First one drops regional stability down to 4. Second one has no effect! Third one drops public approval.
Not all of the news is bad though. In South America, the stability goes up a level. And in Eastern Europe, the unstable state counter is removed.
At home, my RWC drops to the lowest level, and I have to draw yet another opponent.
I have to check the state of my presidency at this point. My RWC is at the lowest possible value, my public approval is at the lowest possible value. Economy and Homeland Security aren't bad. Relation with Media is below average. And I have three Rogue States and two regions with low regional alignment. This gives me a score 14, which is less than the 16 needed to continue the game. This means I lose automatically.
Lessons learned from this. I needed to pay more attention to regional stability. The rogue states added at the end of the turn dropped me below the auto-loss score. But on the other hand, all the time I spent in the world hurt me at home, resulting in the plummeting RWC and public approval. I also think I had a bit of bad luck with the rolls, but my play was still not good.
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