The game allows players to choose either Scenarios with a defined scope and objective, or a Campaign "Sandbox" mode where there are no pre-determined victory conditions. There are over 250 playable regions simulated in the game. The player controls the economies, the militaries, research, government spending, spy operations, and diplomacy. The player decides what military units to build, what facilities to build, how much or how little of a resource to produce, and also sets government policies in areas such as finance and social services. Diplomatic options include alliances, treaties, and trades of resources and technologies. The player can lead his or her people in technological advances and social reforms including globalization, free trade, renewable resources, biotechnology, nanotechnology, robotics, cyborg engineering and neural interface. Supreme Ruler 2020 generally operates as a real time strategy game, though players are able to pause the game or change the game speed. The militaryelement of the game is played through battalion-sized units represented on the game map, that can be controlled and given orders using the mouse individually or through groupings. Optionally players may leave unit initiative turned on, which will allow the AI to control military units for the player. The player may also use Cabinet Ministers to assist with the operation of their regions, through the use of a Minister-priorities system and an in-game email system. Multiplayer is available in LAN or Internet play for up to 16 players.
Improvements
Supreme Ruler 2020 has many improvements over BattleGoat Studios's first title Supreme Ruler 2010, including improved graphics, sound and AI.
Global Crisis Expansion
In December 2008 BattleGoat and Paradox released the Global CrisisExpansion Pack for Supreme Ruler 2020. This expansion featured additional content and improvements to the core game engine.
Supreme Ruler 2020 Gold Edition
In 2009, Battlegoat Studios released a Gold Edition of Supreme Ruler 2020 including both the original game, as well as its expansion pack, Global Crisis. The Gold Edition is multiplayer compatible with the expansion pack for the core game.
Mods
Most of the data files for Supreme Ruler 2020 are available in raw text format to accommodate modding. The user community has used this to create a number of mods for the game and even some third party utilities. A list of the current mods for the game is maintained on the Battlegoat Forum.