How to play Operation Epic Fury

What the game is

Operation Epic Fury is a real-time naval and economic strategy game set in the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman and the Red Sea. You command a fictional coalition task force at the start of a war with the state on the northern shore. The geography, shipping lanes and pipelines are real. Every faction, nation, person and ship is fictional.

Your job isn't to win battles. It's to keep the oil moving and the price of a barrel down for 120 days. Play it in your browser at https://operationepicfury.earthablaze.com.

Your first campaign

A first campaign opens with the watch officer's checklist, six steps that tick themselves off as you do them: escort the Strait, send the minesweepers, find their launchers with a satellite pass, open the Oil tab, plan an operation, and start the clock. The clock starts paused, and the Strait closes on day 4, so there's time. Press Skip to hide it. To see it again, press Show the watch officer's checklist again on the briefing screen.

The score is the oil price

Gulf crude starts at $72 a barrel, and the price sits at the top of the screen all game. It rises when barrels stop sailing and falls when they move again. Emergency stock releases, spare capacity elsewhere and falling demand at high prices all soften it.

Winning and losing

You win if, at the end of the 120 days:

the 14-day average flow through the Strait is at least 60% of pre-war, and
the 14-day average price is $95 or less.

You lose early if political capital reaches zero (the government recalls you), or if the price stays at or above $150 for 10 days in a row (a global recession).

Your grade comes from the average price over the whole campaign: A up to $85, B up to $95, C up to $108, D up to $120, and F above that.

Fight on

If you're recalled or the world tips into recession, the result screen offers Fight on. It's a second chance with a cost:

After a recall, political capital goes back to 20. After a recession, the count of days at $150 or more starts again.
Each time you fight on, your final grade drops one step, and the result screen says how many recalls you overruled.
You can do it more than once, and each one costs another step.

Fight on isn't offered when the 120 days simply run out, and it isn't offered in the Daily Crisis.

What you're up against

Owners decide whether to sail. Tankers move when the risk falls and escorts are there, not because you order it. Reinsuring the war risk persuades more of them to try.
Cheap threats, costly answers. A one-way attack drone costs the enemy about $35,000. Shooting one down costs you up to $2 million, and a destroyer has to leave station to reload.
Mines stay. They stay lethal long after a ceasefire, and sweeping is slow.
Strikes cut both ways. Hitting launch sites reduces the threat today and raises escalation tomorrow.
Diplomacy has a price. Decision cards arrive every few days with two or three choices, each with a cost.

How long it takes

One day lasts 24 seconds at 1×, so the full campaign takes about 48 minutes at 1× or 6 minutes at 8×. Your campaign is saved as you go, so you can stop and carry on later: see Saving, offline play and known limits. The game is free to play today; see The Full Campaign and partner navy packs.