What's happening / TLDR: Developer diaries introduce details of Espiocracy - Cold War strategy game in which you play as an intelligence agency. You can catch up with the most important dev diary (The Vision) and find out more on Steam page.
After two diaries about the map (DD#35 & DD#61), it's time for the third diary that covers all the other features of the map in this map game.
Dynamic Borders And Areas
Since the map in Espiocracy is grid-based (instead of province-based), borders and areas can be very detailed. For instance, it does feature Saudi Arabian–Kuwaiti neutral zone and Saudi Arabian–Iraqi neutral zone:
All the borders and areas are fully dynamic. This narrow strip of British Togoland right by the Gold Coast (modern day Ghana)...
...usually, as was the case in the real history, holds a referendum to join the Gold Coast after which this territory may be merged with the British colony on the map:
However, other scenarios are possible in the game as well. If French Togoland separates from French West Africa early enough...
...then, it may be instead the subject of referendum (as was the wish of Ewe people), and therefore new Togo may be compromised of both British and French parts:
If, after some time, British and French parts fail to integrate and instead pursue separatist paths, they can separate by drawing any new border between them, for instance along one of the parallels as was the custom in a number of 20th century conflicts:
Controlled area during a conflict has similar level of detail. Military units can control any narrow stretches of land:
They can get into any combination of pockets and encirclements:
The situation may become complex during insurgencies and civil wars:
Map Modes
The game currently has 20 main map modes, plus many additional contextual filters. A few examples below.
Classic East vs. West:
Ideologies:
Diplomatic (alignment) mode:
Population diversity:
Oil reserves:
Data Layers
Separately from map modes, you can turn on/off four data layers: news and events, intelligence structures, conflicts, cities and other geographical features. They appeared frequently in the previous 70 diaries, so they don't need introduction - aside from a recently introduced new layer of "espionage news" which carry rumors from the secret world to the map:
Varia
Navigation is aided by a minimap that also shows the state of red and blue blocs (work in progress):
Labels evolve over time, with font adjusting to the phase of the game (post-WW2, early Cold War, mid Cold War etc):
Map textures can be relatively large, so to play comfortably on low-end hardware you can turn on "low VRAM mode" that skips loading of more detailed textures:
Pre-game simulation can redraw borders along various alternate scenarios that could happen between September 1945 and March 1946, for instance the USSR keeping Baltic states as satellites instead of annexed republics:
Final Remarks
The next dev diary will be posted on April 1st.
If you're not already wishlisting Espiocracy, consider doing it
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1670650/Espiocracy/
There is also a small community around Espiocracy:
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"Know the World, Show the Way... from Seabed to Space" - Motto of National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency