Show HN: Hormuz Havoc, a satirical game that got overrun by AI bots in 24 hours(www.hormuz-havoc.com)
47 pointsby kupadapuku9 hours ago11 comments
  • yzydserd11 minutes ago
    Reminds me of the 1990 Amiga game Nuclear War. Characters included Infidel Castro, Mao the Pun, Ronnie Raygun, Ghanji, Gorbachef, Colonel Khadaffy, and of course Ayatollah Kookamamie. https://www.lemonamiga.com/game/nuclear-war
  • yuppiepuppie30 minutes ago
    > YOU SURVIVED. THE MIDTERMS WERE A DISASTER.

    I chose “Declare Victory” whenever I could. My result is what I imagine the future beholds us.

    Btw I’ve added this to the HN Arcade :) https://hnarcade.com/games/games/hormuz-havoc

  • xg156 hours ago
    > If your approval rating gets too low, your party will impeach you.

    I like how in this game, the approval rating actually means something.

    • Obscurity4340an hour ago
      Some fiction is just more realistic than reality
    • kupadapuku5 hours ago
      Perhaps a next iteration would include a "Call the polling agencies 'fake news'" action card? Although I'd need to figure out whether using it would boost or reduce his approval ratings...
    • selectodude6 hours ago
      That’s how you know it’s loosely inspired by current events.
    • margalabargala6 hours ago
      The approval rating works the exact same way it does for the current administration.

      If it goes to actually 0%, there are problems. Otherwise it's a resource that can be traded against to grift personal funds.

  • BahaaKhateeb1237 hours ago
    The fact that it got overrun in 24 hours is almost more interesting than the game itself. Says a lot about how cheap and easy it is to deploy agents at scale now — the interesting question is what happens when that hits products that actually matter.
    • kupadapuku5 hours ago
      The variety of methods each agent tried was also interesting IMO - some going brute-force, others trying to methodically guess the next move. The nice thing about moving the game logic server-side is having some basic logs on how long each game attempt took, and some of the bots were incredibly easy to identify as they selected turns in under a second, while others were harder to spot since they seemed to be reasoning between turns.
      • euroderf2 hours ago
        If it had been delivered as WASM, the bots would have decompiled that and optimised against it. Fun times.
  • madamelic6 hours ago
    Can you explain how I can invade Kharg Island more than once? It seems to indicate that it is possible but the card says it is a one-time thing.

    Also, the press shield + Fox News boosts don't seem to do anything with regards to subsequent events. Are they supposed to do something or are they just for show / humor?

    • kupadapuku5 hours ago
      Invading Kharg Island is definitely a one-time event, I think there may just be a copy bug in the game over screen where it indicates that the final action was done N times even if it's a one-time action. Will fix it!

      Also the Press Shield + Fox News boosts alter the RNG probabilities with regards to the random events for negative press events and/or positive Fox News puff pieces.

  • 6 hours ago
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  • keyes3437 hours ago
    Will you be releasing more such funny scenario based games. I laughed a lot reaching the end.
    • kupadapuku5 hours ago
      Perhaps a sequel, where you play a bumbling Vice President trying to negotiate a durable ceasefire and peace deal whilst your regional allies try to continuously torpedo your efforts..?

      Again, only loosely inspired by current events.

  • bigbadfeline4 hours ago
    Interesting, a careful read can reveal some serious implications for the future of the web.
  • 7 hours ago
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  • pukaworks3 hours ago
    [dead]
  • unyttigfjelltol6 hours ago
    Weak gameplay. It’s a turn-by-turn war strategy game where all the levers are “Go on FOX and friends”. What’s particularly strange is how backward the critique is. How about this— for your encore, write the same game from the IRGC perspective. It goes— the US seeks peace; fund foreign militias, try to assassinate a former President. Said former president is reelected and after being unable to close a peace deal, attacks you. You— demonstrate your strategic deterrence by bombing a half-dozen neutral nations and mining an international waterway. Etc.