Rebel Inc. -The Rebellious Corporation- (Mobile Game) Introduction, Impressions, and Strategy Notes

"Rebel Inc." is a paid smartphone game (purchase price 240 yen) that was released in Japanese on January 16, 2019.

In this game, the player is tasked with revitalizing a fictional region, working from all angles—civilian, political, and military—to bring stability to the area.
In terms of genre, I suppose it would be classified as a real-time strategy game.

It might sound complicated, but it's a highly addictive game that you can easily and intuitively get into.
The more you play, the more options become available, making it well worth the price.

Game Overview

Its predecessor, "Plague Inc. - Infectious Disease Corporation -", remains a hit title that continues to rank highly in app stores.

"Plague" was a dark game aimed at infecting the entire world with a contagious disease and wiping out all of humanity.
However, the realistic depiction of the infection routes and the way the virus spreads across the globe made it a very exciting game.
I bought this book based on the assumption that it would definitely be interesting.

This time, unlike the previous work, the objective is positive.
The goal is to use the monthly budget to gather local information, develop infrastructure, respond to rebels with the military, and convert opponents into supporters.

The game is cleared when "stability" and "peace negotiations" with the rebels reach 100%.
It should take around 20 minutes to complete one playthrough (you can change the progression speed in the options).

Ideally, I'd like to have a lot of money, but I only receive a little bit each month.
It's important to prioritize what you should invest in and then make your investment decisions accordingly.

And sometimes unexpected things happen, so if you don't leave some budget to deal with them, the player's rating will drop to zero, and it's game over.

The process of installing the game

First, choose a map.
Initially, you can only choose from a limited selection, but as you progress, more maps will become available.
Each map has its own unique layout of cities, rivers, and mountainous areas, requiring you to consider different strategies for each map.

After selecting a map, you choose a ruler.
Initially, you can only choose "Civil Servant," but as you progress, up to six different professions will become available, including "Banker" and "General."
Depending on the job, the cost of the operations you can choose from may differ, and some jobs may have unique operational requirements.

After selecting the parties involved, you choose the difficulty level.
There are three difficulty levels, but it's probably best to start with EASY.

Since there is a clear record for each map, profession, and difficulty level, you can say that you have completed the game 90 times across 5 maps, 6 rulers, and 3 difficulty levels.

After selecting the difficulty level, you will choose an advisor to add supplementary elements.
There are several people in each of the six categories, and the number increases as you clear different combinations of maps, rulers, and difficulty levels.

There are also advisors with extremely useful and positive attributes who will undoubtedly help you clear the hurdles.
It's possible to unlock everything from the start by paying a small fee.
You can unlock all advisors even without paying.

Finally, select the operation name.
You can think of it as the name for the score record.

This could be considered the de facto player name.
Even just using random words can result in some pretty cool-sounding names.

After the game starts

After the game starts, the first thing you do is select a location to set up your headquarters.
Theoretically, it's best to install them in densely populated urban areas.
Operations carried out at headquarters will be more easily disseminated to various locations via the transportation network.

Once the headquarters is established, you will be able to operate it freely.
First, select "Operations" and invest your budget in basic infrastructure and gathering information for each region.
Each operation is structured in a tree format; once executed, it branches off to a more effective operation.

A little over a year after the initial stages, the rebel forces begin preparing to take action.
This event will finally allow us to invest in military-related matters.

However, since the only option at first is to invite the Allied forces, we will have them send troops to us.
After calling in the Allied forces, you will be able to train your own soldiers and access various skill trees to improve your military strength.

When you send troops into enemy territory, combat will automatically begin.
If your troops or garrisons are located in adjacent areas, they will be connected by lines, and their combined strength will increase through coordination.
If possible and you have the resources, try to eliminate them while positioning yourselves in a way that allows for good coordination.

If you leave the enemy alone, they will start to control the region, your reputation will steadily decline, and their forces will increase.
If your score drops to 0, it's game over, so quick action is crucial.

Even if you win a battle in that region, the enemy will retreat to neighboring areas, albeit in smaller numbers.
Until our forces are fully assembled, we have no choice but to pursue them as they come.

If you position your troops correctly in the direction the enemy is retreating, you may be able to annihilate them, as shown in the image below.

However, immediately after the rebels appear, it can be difficult to keep up with the situation, so the best time to target them is probably from the mid-game to the late game.

While dealing with these rebel forces, we must also carry out other operations and work to increase stability.

Dealing with rebels is important, but if we allocate the budget solely to that, discontent will erupt.
There are many things that need to be done, such as combating corruption and training our own soldiers.

Once you've weakened the rebel forces to a certain extent, you can engage in dialogue with them.
Once the dialogue begins, a new peace gauge will appear above the evaluation gauge.
You can take a firm stance against the rebels, or you can sacrifice your own reputation and take a more conciliatory approach, negotiating for an early peace.

Either way, once peace reaches 100, the increase in stability will also accelerate, so it's practically like clearing the game.

That's a general overview of the game's flow.

thoughts

As I've written many times before, I think this is a highly addictive game.
Having so much to do but not enough money, and having to prioritize and manage finances, felt very realistic, like actual governance.(Although I don't have any actual experience governing.)

Each event involving a decision on a course of action often involves trade-offs, creating a dilemma where you're unsure which option is best.
In most cases, having money will lead to the best results, and I think that's somewhat realistic.

Also, since I didn't understand the specific effects of each operation, I felt that I needed to figure them out through trial and error with each playthrough.
I get the feeling that different players will have very different strategies for clearing the game.

I've managed to clear all the maps on HARD difficulty, but I haven't cleared them with all the different classes yet.

You might get bored before you've gone through all 90 different gameplay variations, but once you start, it has an addictive quality that makes you want to keep going, so it might actually be something you can stick with.

I'm playing this on my iPhone, and it drains the battery quite a bit, so be careful if you're playing in a situation where you don't have a way to charge it.

Strategy Notes

General policy

The basic strategy is to complete important civilian and government operations early on, and then focus on military operations once the rebel forces emerge.

In military matters, the ultimate goal is to deploy four of your own troops, but if there are many rebels, don't hesitate to call in allied forces as well.
It's better than leaving the rebels alone and having your reputation suffer indefinitely.

In any case, make sure you maintain an equal or greater number of troops to ensure that no free rebel forces exist.
The location and number of appearances are partly a matter of luck, so if it's too difficult, it's a good idea to try again.

private

The private sector is a department that can be left alone once you've made some progress in the early stages.
First, we will hold development meetings, business meetings, and infrastructure meetings.

The top four priorities are medical supplies, school reconstruction, water supply, and telecommunications.
If you've managed to complete up to this point, you can probably leave it alone until the second half, even if that's the worst-case scenario.
If we have the resources, we might consider vocational training, land ownership, and electricity.
If you try to do it all at once, you'll end up spending extra money due to inflation, so let's proceed slowly and steadily without rushing.

Saving money is very important.

government

The top priorities should be district representatives → local surveys, support offices → universal justice, public relations activities, and media offices.

If you're using a type of ruler that tends to increase corruption easily, it's a good idea to raise the corruption prevention level early on.
Even if you have military operations that you want to prioritize, an increase in corruption could lead to a game over, so make sure to give them a reasonable priority.

military

The deployment of Allied troops can wait until after a rebel outbreak occurs.
If an outbreak occurs, deploy Allied troops and immediately begin training your own soldiers.

Once their own soldiers have finished training and been deployed, they immediately begin training their own soldiers again.
In any case, it is extremely important to keep training going until we have deployed the maximum number of our own soldiers.
Running multiple programs simultaneously will significantly extend the training period, so please avoid doing that.
If new enemies appear during training, don't hesitate to call in additional Allied soldiers.

Since it's difficult to completely annihilate the rebels, you need to position your troops in the direction you don't want them to go and guide them towards a direction where they might flee.
In addition to the units actually engaged in combat, it would be desirable to have two or three units positioned early on to cover adjacent areas where we don't want the enemy to enter.
It's not impossible that they won't come in the direction your troops are positioned, but the probability of them coming is definitely lower.
I think military bases also have some effect in that regard.
By positioning your units adjacent to your garrisons or other troops, you can receive a combat power bonus. Think of it as creating a defensive line to contain the enemy.

If they appear in densely populated areas, it will take some effort, but try to position them in a way that drives them towards the corners.

If you can confine the enemy to a corner of the map, you can feel somewhat more at ease and focus on other things.
The ideal state is like the image below.

During breaks in the training, we conduct airstrikes and reconnaissance drone operations.
For now, we only need one stage, but the difference in combat power between having airstrikes and not having them is quite significant.

Once these tasks are completed, let's move on to building the base.
Linking garrisons and soldiers increases combat effectiveness and strengthens overall military capabilities.

Next, if time permits, we will implement domestic road distribution.
It's useful because it increases the unit's movement speed.

ruler

Here's a summary of how each ruler feels to use:

・Civil servant
All things considered, it might actually be the easiest to play, as it's the least quirky of them all.

Economist
A major advantage is that you can secure a year's worth of budget all at once in April.
However, if you don't keep a certain amount of funds aside, it will be difficult to deal with rebellions and events.
This might be a good strategy for getting off to a strong start in both private and political matters, but it's a type of ruler that requires careful planning.

·general
The ability to choose military-related operations right from the start is a major advantage.
Being able to start training one's own military at an early stage is an advantage.
However, in the early stages, we want to solidify the foundations of the private sector and politics, so it may not be as advantageous as we think.

banker
Because the salary is high, the initial budget is a little low, but I didn't really feel that way.
If banknotes are issued when there is a surplus of funds, I think it will ultimately break even.
It felt similar to using a civil servant's device, and I didn't get the impression that its performance was particularly outstanding.

・ Smugglers
While it has the drawback of potentially increasing corruption, the "shortcut" to accelerating the training of one's own military is quite convenient.

It also has its own unique commands for strengthening your own army, and it seems easier to use than a general officer.
"Military companies" can acquire abundant funds as long as they have a solid anti-corruption system in place.

・Warlord
Your own army can deploy soldiers very quickly and cheaply, but after working for a while, they will defect to the rebels unless you pay them or prevent them from engaging in corruption.

While the deployment of soldiers itself may proceed smoothly, it's important to be aware that these armies will all incur high running costs.
I think they're easier to use than the Allied forces, which you can keep in exchange for their evaluation.

advisor

The advisor's recommendation is that, first and foremost, it's crucial to have a "tough drill sergeant" who can shorten the training period for one's own military.
Since the training period for your own soldiers is shortened by about five months, it's very helpful in the early stages when you don't have a full force.

Additionally, having a "tribal elder" is useful because it delays the start of the rebellion.
This approach might be suitable for those who, like economists, prefer to get all the non-military aspects out of the way early on.

"Religious leaders" have an easier time in the later stages of the game because the rebel forces' strength in stabilized areas decreases, resulting in more stable regions.

Other valuable assets include tax officials who increase income and pilots who increase the frequency of airstrikes, so I would definitely like to hire them once they are released.

There are various professions, but if you play based on the above guidelines, I think you can clear even on HARD mode.