Many strategy gamers like complex games, those that have lots of variables woven together so that pulling on one thread has consequences for the rest of the tapestry. Civilization IV is the archetypal example here; research leads to new technologies which might change available civic options which could annoy your less enlightened neighbors making war more likely. Every consequence is laid out clearly and predictably.

But there is a fine line between complex and complicated, a point you reach when you have either too many variables or too many unobvious relationships between them. So long as things are kept in the plus/minus sphere, with only a few major dependent variables (like in the Paradox games), you can generally walk this line without going over it so long as you have good in-game documentation, transparent math and an active forum.

Then you have Supreme Ruler 2020, a geopolitical simulation that insists that you care about bond issues, negotiating criminal extradition treaties, micromanaging satellite reconnaissance and watching your trade deficit. It is less insistent in making sure you understand how all these things relate to each other, let alone teaching you the basics of such important things as loading sea transports or knowing how each tax rate is connected to your domestic approval rating and social services. Yes, you control health care policy. It’s almost as if developer Battlegoat Studios decided that since the real world didn’t come with a manual, there was no point in making this virtual one comprehensible in the first three days of trying.

There is so much happening and so many options available that it is hard to believe that they are all important. Take the aforementioned criminal extradition treaty. It’s not like the game simulates armed robbers going on the lam, so why even bother?

Fortunately, some of this stuff can be automated. You are given a handful of cabinet members, each of whom can be given broad latitude to do what it takes to meet the priorities you set. If you want a balanced budget, your finance minister will try to make that happen. If you want the reservist pool to stay strong, tell your defense minister and he/she will find a way. What happens when your ministers’ goals clash? Beats me. You can’t set priorities for ministers themselves, so you can’t make your defense priorities trump your fiscal ones or vice versa. And without knowing precisely how the system works, it’s not easy to judge how talented your ministers actually are. Still, until you get up to speed, the cabinet is a good solution to navigating the morass of data.