Soldier at a glance

To enlist: Aged 18–34 · athletics 6
The ranks: 6 · Recruit to General
The pay, in the US: $23,100 to $176,400 a year
What it leaves: A pension after 20 years

The Soldier board in OpenLifeSim: a Captain after 13 years on $71k a year with three tours, the progress towards Colonel, what the tours left at 27%, and physical training and tactical study. — A Captain, 13 years in: the next rank, and what three tours have left behind.

Serving

You join the army of the country you live in, and your pay follows that country's wages. Each year you can spend time on physical training or tactical study. Promotions come automatically once you have the years, the tactics and the tours the next rank asks for. Corporal takes three years and one tour. General takes twenty-five years and four. Up to Sergeant, the army gives you bed and board, which covers half your living costs.

Tours

Your first tour comes one to three years in, and after that every two to seven years. A tour is three to five cards, drawn from eight kinds of situation, and you decide what to do in each one. It pays almost half a year's wage on top of your salary. Some choices risk a wound, and a wound costs a lot of health, makes your body age faster from then on, and ends your career.

Running the army

From Colonel, you run the army. You get a budget every year, based on the size of the country, and whatever you don't spend is lost. It pays for six kinds of force and four kinds of supply, and every gap you leave cuts readiness, faster the bigger it is. There are 21 rival countries. Putting the country on a war footing nearly doubles your budget but costs you happiness every year. To invade, you need enough standing and readiness. If you lose a war, you lose your command. Lose a second one and you're court-martialled and lose your pension.

After the army

Twenty years of service gets you a pension for life: 55% of the pay of the rank you left at. The tours stay with you too. Trauma is tracked from 0 to 100. Past the halfway mark it starts costing you sleep, and near the top you're discharged. The flashbacks can keep coming after you've left.

Questions

Can I join the army at any age?

No. You can enlist between 18 and 34, into the army of the country you live in, and you need a little athletic fitness.

Is there combat?

Tours are played as cards: three to five situations, and your choices decide what happens to you. From Colonel you also decide whether the country goes to war.