The first ten turns of a campaign decide more than they seem to. Nothing dramatic has happened yet, but the habits you form, and the reserves you keep or spend, shape the crises that follow. This guide offers a practical plan for the opening days in Geopolitics, explains what the game shows you and when, and lists the mistakes that most often cost new players their stability, their treasury or their reputation.
Before turn one: choose and read
Pick a country whose neighbours and position you understand. Read the dossier: it summarises the economy, energy situation, alliances and risks. Then choose a national ambition. It gives your campaign a direction with three stages and medals along the way. Changing it later costs a large amount of political influence, so choose something that fits your country rather than the most exciting label.
Remember that each day of the simulation is one turn, and in a solo campaign you decide when to move to the next day. There is no penalty for taking time to read.
Turns 1 to 2: look before you touch
The first briefing asks you to compare the budget forecast. Do exactly that. Open the budget window, look at income, spending, interest and expected growth, and do not change anything yet. You are learning what normal looks like for your country.
If you are unsure where to look next, press What now? The adviser points to the matters that need attention. Every resource in the top bar has a description; reading two or three of them now will save confusion later.
Turns 2 to 6: the first investigation
Shortly after your first government decision, the investigation The Leak begins. Notes from your cabinet meeting appear on a hostile state's television, four ministers saw them and one of them is the mole. You have five game days. Each clue is hidden where its mechanic lives: a suspicious transfer in the budget window, a blackout at a real power plant on the country map, a favour from an ally on a country card on the globe, and a trap that only resolves when the next day comes.
The investigation is not a side quest. It teaches you where things are in the order you need them. Gather evidence before accusing anyone; an accusation based on a hunch rarely ends well.
Turns 3 to 8: one change at a time
Now make your first deliberate budget change. Pick one lever. If your country is growing slowly and you have room, a modest increase in investment raises growth over time. If services are below your country's usual level, welfare will suffer, and welfare matters at election time. Avoid big tax increases: the game's stability penalty grows with the square of the increase, so one large jump hurts far more than several small steps.
At the same time, start building relationships. Select a neighbour or a major trade partner on the globe and send a diplomatic mission. It is cheap and adds trust, but each partner can receive one only once a week. When trust is high enough, propose a non-aggression pact or economic cooperation. The partner replies after three days, so start early.
Turns 6 to 10: energy and the next level
Your government reaches the second state level after a few days in office, or sooner if you earn prestige through decisions and goals. That opens the energy window. Check the electricity balance straight away. If demand is close to available supply, start a generation or efficiency programme now: programmes take weeks to complete and give nothing while under construction.
Look at the strategy tree as well. It has five branches with four steps each. Steps cost political influence and give lasting bonuses, so plan two or three steps ahead toward your ambition instead of buying whatever is affordable today.
Military forces and alliances open at the third level. You do not need them in the first ten turns, but it helps to know that applying to an alliance requires good relations, a decent reputation and, for military blocs, defence spending of at least 2 percent of GDP. If you plan to join, prepare those conditions early.
Reading a decision before you answer
Decisions are the heart of each turn, and they reward careful reading. Every option lists what it costs and what it changes: money from the treasury, political influence, stability, welfare, prestige or relations with another state. Some options are risky. Their chance of success is shown before you click, and the description tells you what happens if the gamble fails. An election, for example, shows your current odds, which follow the mood of your country.
Before choosing, ask three questions. Can I afford this now without emptying the reserve? Does it move me toward my ambition? What is the worst outcome, and can I live with it? After you answer, the result stays on screen until you confirm it, with the values before and after, so you can see exactly what your choice did.
The most common mistakes
- Changing every budget lever at once. You will not know which change helped or hurt.
- Spending the whole treasury on projects. Crises arrive without warning, and an empty treasury forces expensive borrowing.
- Borrowing heavily in a short time. Markets charge more as you sell more bonds in a month, and confidence falls if debt rises above what they tolerate.
- Letting decisions expire. Each decision has a deadline and a published default that applies if you do nothing. The default is rarely the best option.
- Ignoring stability before an election. Your odds depend on stability and welfare; elections come around every few months of game time.
- Declaring war early. Aggression costs reputation, triggers sanctions and pushes neighbours into alliances against you.
- Treating energy as tomorrow's problem. A shortage slows industry or hurts households, and fixing it takes weeks.
Reading the turn summary
After each turn, the bar showing the effect of the last turn lists what changed: events, the treasury, a project's progress, a partner's reply. If a turn seemed empty, look there. Learning to connect a decision with its result is the core skill of the game. One new automatic window appears per turn at most; other decisions wait in the Now and Decisions panels, so nothing is lost if you close a window.
A simple plan to remember
- Turns 1 to 2: read, do not change.
- Turns 2 to 6: solve The Leak and learn the windows.
- Turns 3 to 8: one budget change, first diplomatic missions.
- Turns 6 to 10: check energy, plan the strategy tree.
For more background, read balancing a state budget and energy security and fuel markets explained. The first steps guide covers the basics in brief. Now open the game, take office and play your first ten turns with a plan.
