How to play Operation Absolute Resolve

What the game is

Operation Absolute Resolve is a strategy game in two acts. In the build-up you position the force in the Caribbean, enforce the blockade, build intelligence on the target and the air defences, and manage the pressure at home and abroad. Then, on one night, you plan the raid on Caracas and run it in real time: open a corridor through the air defences, fly the assault force in, take the house and get out again.

The game is inspired by the US operation in Venezuela in January 2026. The places, the countries and the published equipment of their forces are real. No real person is named or shown, and what happens in a campaign is invented. Civilians are what you protect, never a target.

Play it in your browser at https://operationabsoluteresolve.earthablaze.com/play. It's free in full, and you don't need an account to play.

Starting out

The start screen offers two ways in:

• Start the campaign. The build-up from 15 November, then the night. It takes about an hour at 1×, less at speed.
• Daily Raid. The night only, after a build-up the staff ran, the same for everyone that day. See the Daily Raid.

A new campaign shows a few tips that move on as you do each thing. Press Skip tips to hide them.

The benchmark

The benchmark is the real outcome: the target taken, no aircraft lost, in one night. After the night you get a grade and a points total. It weighs the mission, your losses, civilian harm, time on the ground, and the fallout at home and abroad.

The two clocks you're racing

• The alert. Every ship and aircraft you bring in raises Caracas's alert, and the stations near the coast raise it most. A high alert means readier air defences, a faster reaction on the night and a target who moves about more. It relaxes slowly. The exercise and the holidays give cover.
• The window. Congress, the allies, the region, and Moscow and Beijing all watch what you do. If they fall too far, the window closes early. The Window and Pressure gauges in the top bar show where you stand, and the Desk has the detail.

Wait too long and the window closes. Move too early and the night is harder.

The tabs

• Force: your units. Select one on the map or in the list and send it somewhere: deploy to Puerto Rico, sail for a station, or fly a collector out to an area off the coast. The carrier, the fighters, the assault force and its helicopters start in the United States.
• Intel: point the signals aircraft, the satellites and the people on the ground at what you need: the target's pattern of life, the air defences or the guard force. Collectors see what's near them, and confidence fades when nobody looks. The pattern of life fades fastest.
• Ops: reconnaissance teams to put ashore, sources to pay and task, single-source reports to act on or check, and what you can prepare for the night.
• Blockade: tankers and boats in the lanes, and how sure the analysts are of each.
• Desk: decisions, what the raid still needs, and the pressure gauges. When the assault force is embarked, plan the raid from here or with Plan the raid at the top.

The build-up, step by step

1. Move the force. The assault force and the helicopters go to Puerto Rico, then embark on the amphibious ready group. The group has to be in the central Caribbean or off La Guaira before you can plan the raid.
2. Build the picture. Watch up to two houses on the Intel tab; the pattern of life is built house by house, where you look. Closer is a better look and a louder one.
3. Work the blockade. Ships on the eastern, central and Paraguaná stations find tankers and boats. Board what the analysts are sure of. Oil money denied loosens the regime, and every mistake costs support.
4. Shape the night. Prepare cyber effects to use once on the night, run information operations, or approach an officer. Nothing in the build-up is a strike.
5. Plan and launch. See Planning and flying the raid.

The other side moves too

Caracas moves the target between houses, sends lookalike motorcades, brings in a battery with foreign advisors, disperses its fighters, puts a dummy radar on the coast, reinforces the guard and goes after your sources. It moves more when it's alert and when it suspects. You only see a move if something is looking there.

Speed and keys

• The speeds are 1× (a day in 60 seconds), 4× and 16×. New decisions stop the clock for you.
• Space pauses and restarts.
• Escape clears the selection.
• M turns the sound off and on. The note button turns the music off.

The ? button in the top bar opens How to play at any time.