After our game, which ended in nuclear armageddon due to a deadly cocktail of alien guile and Chinese hanger (more on that later), we gathered up the combined wisdom of all the Nations, dubious though it may be, as well as advice from the Aliens and Control.

The point of this guide is not to help you avoid disaster. You will soon learn that disaster is inevitable, because disaster is awesome, and awesome trumps everything. Rather, my hope is that this guide will allow you to steer the chaos, avoid hanger, wear the right shoes, and have as much fun as possible while suffering horribly. Onwards!

IT'S A SANDBOX, SO PLAN AHEAD

You are a sovereign nation; with enough resources and time, you can achieve anything. And I really do mean anything. Your Chief of Science can invent new technologies (mind control, flying cars, laser sharks), your spies will attempt anything you dream up (assassination, theft, search, insurgency), and you can introduce UN bills imposing new rules on the entire world, although in that case you need to get buy-in from other countries.

All you have to do is talk to Control, find out the cost, and pull the trigger.

The open-endedness is overwhelming in the moment, and therefore challenging to harness, so you should plan ahead. Here are some examples from real games to prime your brain-pump:

In some games, nations banded together to construct spacefaring warships of various kinds, like a flying battleship with interceptors that, in one game, ultimately flew off to explore deep-space when Earth proved untenable.

of various kinds, like a flying battleship with interceptors that, in one game, ultimately flew off to explore deep-space when Earth proved untenable. Japan created underwater colonies in our game , which allowed them to survive the nuclear winter, and robotic pets that gave them a PR boost.

in our game which allowed them to survive the nuclear winter, and that gave them a PR boost. England created hacked nukes, and gave them to India. I believe the malware was designed so that any nation who touched the nukes would have their entire nuclear arsenal disabled. India immediately sold the weapons to Brazil, so England got great mileage for this.

and gave them to India. I believe the malware was designed so that any nation who touched the nukes would have their entire nuclear arsenal disabled. India immediately sold the weapons to Brazil, so England got great mileage for this. In one game, the science players went rogue. They built themselves robot exoskeletons and founded a new country in the ocean. This is, in my opinion, a dick move, but it illustrates just what a sandbox the game really is.

coordinate with control

One member of Control mentioned that it's often best to run your plans by them before the game starts, especially if they are disruptive or involve bringing in "foreign objects". This gives Control time to provide feedback, suggest tweaks, and communicate with the rest of the Control team.

Forbidden Schemes

Finally, there are a few schemes you should never attempt. These may seem attractive at first, but once you understand the methods and motivations of Control, they are hilariously naive.

Artificial Intelligence. This was attempted in several games, and I myself considered it. What an innocent babe I once was. Let me g: the AI always gains sentience, often while the players think they're still building it, and it becomes either a Terminator or Ultron-style robotic genocide, depending on what Control thinks is more awesome. Not recommended.

This was attempted in several games, and I myself considered it. What an innocent babe I once was. Let me g: the AI always gains sentience, often while the players think they're still building it, and it becomes either a Terminator or Ultron-style robotic genocide, depending on what Control thinks is more awesome. Not recommended. Nanites. Similar to AI, your nanites are going to get hacked and end up playing for the other team.

Similar to AI, your nanites are going to get hacked and end up playing for the other team. There's also bad technology in Science, and bad UN bills. Without veering into spoiler territory, let it be known that not everything you research is actually helpful. One item the UN supported hurt us to the tune of 5 PR, which is approximately the GDP of Guam.

UNDERSTAND CONTROL

Here's the thing: Control has been working on this game for months. Months. They have a vision, and they will let you alter it quite a bit, but the following bullet points absolutely must occur for the game to be a success:

This must be an incredible experience that people will talk about for weeks.

The tension must build and then unleash in a glorious, satisfying, incredibly dangerous crescendo, about 8 hours in.

Why is this relevant? Because showing up to smash faces and win is not necessarily awesome, and might not lead to the requisite crescendo. Control has a million ways to help any given plan, but can also block non-compliant ideas, or, often worse for you, bend them towards the cause of awesomeness (see Artificial Intelligence).

In general, think about Watch the Skies less like a karate tournament and more like collaborative storytelling. Attempts to win abruptly at the 2-hour mark probably have to fail, for the greater good. But if your ideas are colorful, tension-inducing, or contribute to a climactic showdown closer to the scheduled end... Now you're going with the flow, and you might just find that the world opens up for you.

UNFASHIONABLE NUKING