The war room

The war room tracks the wars the United States is fighting during a presidency. With Deployments and War switched on, some scenarios begin with a war already under way: the Johnson scenario begins with Vietnam, and the Biden scenario begins with Afghanistan. A military policy can start a new war, reinforce or draw down an existing one, or end it. Every month, each war updates its own casualties, progress and public support, and this feeds into the president's approval, the reaction of interest groups, the economy and relations with the countries involved. The setup screen warns that the mode is unfinished, may not work properly, and makes turns take slightly longer.

Deployments and War offers three settings. Off removes wars and deployments from the game entirely. Classic manages each war through the troops and equipment committed to it. Strategic instead manages a war through an overall level of commitment and a choice of how aggressively it is fought. Both settings share the same seven theatres (the Middle East, Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and the homeland) and the same six kinds of war: conventional war, counterinsurgency, two kinds of advisory mission, a strike campaign, and peacekeeping. A theatre's war affects relations with the corresponding region on the Diplomacy map.

Wars can also be fought directly from the Situation Room on the dashboard, which takes up to two military orders a turn outside the regular monthly policy. This is available only to a premium player with the war setting switched on. The president can also call on the allies of the era to join a war; whether an ally answers depends on how legitimate that ally judges the war to be.

A war ends in victory, defeat or withdrawal, or can be settled by a negotiated peace. Opening peace talks starts a conference of up to five rounds, in which the enemy accepts an offer, makes a counter-offer, or walks away, and the president can respond in kind. An agreed peace is judged as favourable, neutral or humiliating for the United States, and it is that judgement, not the opening offer, that decides how the country reacts. Winning a conventional war or a strike campaign brings a further decision at the start of the next month: whether to withdraw immediately, stay on in some form, or hand over to a local government. Withdrawing straight after a victory is heavily penalised, reflecting the risk of a power vacuum left behind.

A president can also order the use of nuclear weapons. Doing so marks the presidency for the rest of the game: relations with every country not already allied with the United States are badly damaged, a nuclear-armed target retaliates, and the decision triggers a crisis that can lead to impeachment.

Deployments and War is a premium feature throughout. The war setting, the Situation Room and the aftermath decisions are all unavailable on a free account, and a game with the setting switched off never generates a war.