Conflict: Middle East Political Simulator - Strategy

Strategy

Israel, in a one-on-one war, usually loses against Egypt and just wins against Syria. Jordan and Lebanon are not military threats and are easily defeated. In fact, the player can defeat both Jordan and Lebanon simultaneously with perfectly-planned invasions. Libya can be useful in a war against Egypt by invading while Egypt's army is fully engaged with Israel. This ends the war, which is necessary since Egypt usually wins otherwise, but it does mean Libya conquers Egypt rather than Israel doing so.

Iran and Iraq usually go to war against each other; Iran usually wins in the end, but this is always a protracted conflict with both sides trying to develop nuclear weapons — the war between Iran and Iraq is a source of game ends, where their exchange of nuclear weapons triggers a global holocaust. Egypt can sometimes decide to go to war against Israel, and Syria sooner or later always decides to go to war against Israel (although it will sometimes mop up Jordan and Lebanon first).

The main problem the player faces is ensuring that Egypt and Syria do not attack concurrently, since this always leads to defeat. The other problem is trying to conquer Egypt, for maximum points. Egypt can be conquered, but it requires a surprise attack and some luck.

The optimal game approach seems to be to take Egypt out immediately with a perfect surprise attack using a single brigade to push the war right to the Egyptian side, followed by invading Lebanon before it collapses and Jordan before anyone else invades it, while attempting to topple Iran by espionage (to prevent nuclear war with Iraq) and then, finally, invading and defeating Syria.

It is important to take out any nuclear installations in the other countries, so as to prevent rivals from gaining nuclear weapons. This can be done via airstrikes, but only before an invasion. The player risks getting nuked if the opposing side completes an installation during war.