A game for Ludum Dare 39, with theme "Running out of Power". You play as a despot whose power is waning, and the goal is to accumulate as much wealth as possible and survive for as long as you can.

• LD Jam page: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/despot-3900
• Source code: https://github.com/alxm/despot3900
• Devlog: http://www.alxm.org/notes/ludum39.html
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/alxmdev

Manual

As despot, you interact with two factions that don't like each other: peasants and nobles. You choose an action to perform every turn.

Stats

• Year: Each turn advances 6 months.
  
• Age: Despot loses health points every turn after the age of 60, and faster every decade past.
  
• Health: Game ends when health drops to 0.
  
• Wealth: Final score is Wealth * Age / 10.
  
• Popularity: The percentage of peasants that are on the despot's side.
  
• Loyalty: The percentage of nobles that are on the despot's side.
  
• Revolt Meter: When full, the peasants launch a revolt against the despot. Starts the count once popularity dips below 50%, and increments every turn with no way to stop it.
  
• Coup Meter: When full, the nobles stage a coup against the despot. Starts the count once loyalty dips below 50%, and increments every turn with no way to stop it.

Actions

• Do Nothing: Recover health points at the expense of loyalty and popularity.
• Collect Taxes: Take money from either peasants or nobles, at the expense of popularity or loyalty, respectively.
• Give Money: Give money to one of the two factions to appease them, to the other's ire.
• Imprison Opponents: When the Revolt or Coup Meters start to worry you, round up the ring leaders to stave off the inevitable. Need over 50% of the other faction's support.
• Wage War: A gamble with large rewards in case of victory and large losses in case of defeat. Incurs some losses even if victorious, if popularity is under 33%.