History VideoGame / Defcon

* RiskStyleMap: The world is divided into North America (CanadaEh, EagleLand), South America (SouthOfTheBorder, LatinLand), UnitedEurope, Russia, DarkestAfrica, Asia (ArabianNightsDays, FarEast). [[LandDownunder Australia]] is non-playable and no one seems to ever launch at Australia in almost all nuclear war media; in fact, many people during the Cold War believed that Australia and New Zealand would be a "safe zone" during a nuclear war, too far out of the way for anybody to care about. (The novel and later film ''Literature/OnTheBeach'' disabused this idea, with the Australians living their last days before the fallout clouds roll in.)

** The UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} release was updated during the 2011 holiday sale to include SantaClaus travelling around the world delivering presents. You could destroy him with a well-aimed and well-timed nuke. Doing so earns you the "Merry Christmas" achievement, "and thereby end Christmas for everyone, for ever more".

** Everyone hates Europe, except Russia, because most nukes fired at and from anywhere arc over Europe, allowing European air defences to shoot them all down. Also because so many arc over Europe there is the chance that European air defenses are shooting at missiles not aimed at them allowing the ones that ARE aimed at them to hit.
* CripplingOverspecialization: [[DualModeUnit Stances]] offer a bit of utility but overall, the units breakdown into either direct combat or support roles.

* DefconFive: Correctly ordered, and used a countdown clock. The game starts at Defcon Five and peace, then ups the Defcon level and opens up placement of defences and navies as time passes, ending with Defcon One and launching of [=ICBMs=].

** Radar units and planes reveal the fog of war. Forming an alliance also reveals everything your allies sees - including their assets (and ''vice versa'').

* MacrossMissileMassacre: The game encourages this: [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill the more missiles you fire]], the more the can be expected to get through an enemies defences and hit their target.

* RiskStyleMap: The world is divided into North America (CanadaEh, EagleLand), South America (SouthOfTheBorder, LatinLand), UnitedEurope, Russia, DarkestAfrica, Asia (ArabianNightsDays, FarEast). [[LandDownunder Australia]] is non playable and no one seems to ever launch at Australia in almost all nuclear war media; in fact, many people during the Cold War believed that Australia and New Zealand would be a "safe zone" during a nuclear war, too far out of the way for anybody to care about. (The novel and later film ''Literature/OnTheBeach'' disabused this idea, with the Australians living their last days before the fallout clouds roll in.)
* ScoringPoints: Scoring kills against enemy population centers earns points, while getting one's own population centers loses points. Whoever has the most points at the end of the game wins.

** Aditionally, many of the stranger seeming excerpts from the game manual come directly from the 'Protect and Survive' information handed out in the UK during the Cold War.

* UnfriendlyFire: You can manually target your allies assets and population and avoid any retaliation from anti aircraft fire. Just make sure to leave the alliance before the nukes fall or you'll lose points instead.

* YouBastard: It is YOU who are giving the orders to end the lives of billions of people.

* DefconFive: In this game, the Defcon countdown is done correctly.