Defcon is as easy to play as chess. As soon as you know how all of the pieces move, you know everything you will ever need to know about the game. Yea right! As in chess, you have a lot to master. Knowing your opponent, positioning your pieces and then moving in for the kill. You move through several periods of time marked by movement up, or rather down, the Defcon chart. The Defense Defcon chart starts at 5 with peace breaking out, and moves up to 1 when it is time to take off the gloves and release mass, instantaneous genocide via nuclear war. The scoring works a couple of different ways. You can play until you have annihilated your opponent from the face of the earth or until the end of the victory timer, in which the most kills wins.
There only four asset groups. You have Silos, Radars, Air Bases and your Naval Fleet. Your silos have two modes. In Defense mode, the silo will strike out against all incoming air targets. In ICBM mode, when you have reached Defcon 1, you can convert your silo to launch mode. The problem is that by turning off the air defense, you are opening yourself up for air strikes. Radars are simple. They let you know of incoming missile strikes, fighter scouts and bombers. If they can't see you coming, then you have a definite advantage. The air base houses bombers and fighters. The fighters are designed to take out enemy aircraft, bombers and scout enemy territory. The bombers are equipped with small, nuclear yield war heads that are perfect for taking out ground targets and destroyers.
There are several different game modes for you to try out and play. One of my favorites is the big World Game mode that allows for twice as many units, but means there is also twice as much area to cover. The radar's area is also cut in half. We play Office mode at work which is a 5 hour game that doesn't require constant attention. A great way to spend the hours of a long day.
