City builders continue to grow, not only by expanding into other genres such as survival, puzzle, and strategy, but also by expanding into a wider range of game systems beyond city planning, construction, and management. frostpunk's expeditions allow players to leave the city and explore the map, finding resources and find narrative events: in Cities: Skylines 2, you can trade materials, products, and even water and electricity with other regions, and in The Wandering Village, entire cities literally walk across the world (because they are built on the backs of dinosaurs).

Such expansion beyond simple city management is great, but clearly not enough for Overseer Games. The studio's next game, "Kaiserpunk," is not just a city builder, but a grand strategy game, going from building and managing cities to "complete world domination through tactic-laden warfare and logistics mechanics that span the globe."

This is quite ambitious. Last month, the developers outlined the city-building portion of Kaiserpunk in their Steam diary, but today they open the curtain on the grand strategic aspects of the game, which begins with managing player expectations.

"If you're expecting Hearts of Iron... Don't. This is not it," the developer wrote on Steam. We're mixing genres, not literally making two complete blockbusters as one game."

Another game in which Kaiserpunk is different: Total War. The developer says, "You don't arrange royal marriages or pass on the right to rule to your descendants."

That does not mean that the grand strategy system is not quite intricate. In Kaiserpunk's prehistory, World War I and World War II sort of merged into one big long conflict involving the entire planet. A lot comes into play while moving armies around on the global map. The composition of the army, the type of terrain in the area you are in, the experience level of each army, the supply lines that support it, and even the direction in which you attack must be carefully considered at every step.

"You can also build regional upgrades to enhance several aspects, such as resource yields, immigration, regional defense, and infrastructure, allowing your troops to move through the region faster," the developer said.

How does your city play into all of this? Supplies are very important to your army, so you need to efficiently produce the resources you need in your city and distribute them through the supply chain. Since your army will consist of a navy as well as an army and air force, you will also have to contend with a sea blockade in addition to all the other elements.

While this may sound like all-out warfare, diplomatic means are also at their disposal. Says Overseer Games, "Diplomacy is always an option." 'Since Kaiserpunk is all about production (not all, but a lot), we also engage in diplomacy through or facilitated by production.' Simple trade with other factions strengthens economic relationships and economic ties. The more we trade (in both directions), the deeper that relationship becomes." The stronger the economic ties, the more nations can merge with each other.

This sounds like a lot of work, but remember that while this massive global conflict is happening, you are also building and managing a city, and according to Overseer Games, "There is no loading, no hiccups, no "wait there while I load something first." There's no weird feeling of "I'll load something first. "Your capital city and the entire global map run under the same rules and the same timeline. If time passes in your capital, time will pass the same way in the world.

You can read Kaiserpunk's full development diary here on Steam.