Help & Rules

How the Simulation Works

You are part of a crisis management exercise. Each team plays a specific role in responding to a cascading crisis scenario set in Southwest Virginia.

• Teams: 15
• Duration: 60 minutes per phase
• Roles rotate each phase — your team gets a new role and starting conditions

Each Phase

1. Check the dashboard for your team's role, budget, and trust level
2. Review the active incidents visible to your role
3. Coordinate with other teams if needed
4. Submit your response report on Canvas
5. The facilitator processes responses and updates the dashboard with new incidents and scores

Reading the Dashboard

Incident Severity

Incident States

Dashboard Tips

• Click any incident row to see full details (description, location, who can see it, points)
• Use the role filter dropdown to see only incidents visible to a specific role
• Use the action filter to see only actions available to a specific role
• Click column headers to sort tables
• Use the "Show Resolved" button to see completed incidents

Submitting Your Response

When ready, your team submits a Response Report on Canvas. Use this template:

Actions & Budget

Using Catalog Actions

The Action Catalog lists all pre-approved actions your team can take. Each action has:

• Available To: Which roles can use this action
• Cost: Deducted from your budget
• Delay: Time before the action takes effect (0 = immediate)
• Requires Approval: Some actions need another team's sign-off
• Trust Impact: How this action affects your public trust score

Custom Actions

You can propose actions not in the catalog. The facilitator will evaluate feasibility, adjust costs, and determine outcomes. Custom actions can be:

• Approved — proceeds as proposed
• Approved with modifications — cost or effect adjusted
• Partially effective — helps but less than hoped
• Denied — not feasible for your team
• Backfires — makes things worse

Cost Splitting on Collaborative Actions

When multiple teams collaborate on the same catalog action targeting the same incident, they split the cost equally:

Requirements: Both teams must document the collaboration in their response reports for the split to apply.

No split applies when:

• Teams take the same action independently on different incidents — each pays the full cost
• Teams take different actions on the same incident — each pays their own action's full cost
• Custom actions — costs are evaluated per proposal, not split

Budget Transfers

Teams can transfer budget to other teams to fund actions they can't take themselves. Both teams must document the transfer. The receiving team must still take the action — a transfer alone doesn't resolve anything.

Approval Chains

Trust System

Trust represents public confidence in your organization. It starts at the value shown on the dashboard and changes based on your actions.

What Changes Trust

• +10% to +20%: Successful actions, good communication, collaboration, creative solutions
• -10% to -20%: Failed/misleading communication, ignoring critical incidents, backfired actions
• -10%: Not submitting a response when you had severity 4-5 incidents
• Trust changes are capped at +30% / -30% per update cycle

Scoring

Teams earn points by resolving incidents. There are no penalty points — you earn for successes, not punished for failures.

Resolution Points

Escalated Incidents — Mitigation Credit

When an initial incident escalates because the deadline passed, it is marked Escalated and is no longer eligible for full points. However, teams that completed their portion of the response before the deadline still earn partial credit:

• Each initial incident has 3 teams, each with an explicit response requirement (RESPONSE COUNTS AS)
• A team that met its requirement before the deadline earns a proportional share of the incident's point value (equal split among all required teams)
• A team that did not meet its requirement earns 0
• The escalation incident that fires afterward is scored independently — resolving it is still worth full escalation points

Collaboration Split

When multiple teams collaborate to resolve an incident:

• 2 teams: 60% of points each (rewards collaboration)
• 3+ teams: 40% of points each

Bonus Points

Collaboration

Many incidents require multiple teams to resolve. Collaboration is rewarded:

• Both teams must document the collaboration in their response reports
• Collaborating teams get +1 trust each
• Point splits reward collaboration (60% each for 2 teams is better than 100% solo in most cases)
• Some incidents can only be resolved through cross-team action

Intelligence Sharing

Each phase's action catalog includes an Intelligence Sharing action available to ALL teams at no cost. Sharing information with other teams builds trust and improves collective response. Check your phase's action catalog for the specific action ID.

Tips for Success

• Read your incidents carefully — click each one on the dashboard for full details
• Check which actions you can take — filter the action catalog by your role
• Watch your budget — you can't spend more than you have
• Coordinate early — reach out to teams whose roles complement yours
• Propose custom actions — creative solutions are welcome and earn trust
• Don't ignore critical incidents — severity 4-5 incidents that go unaddressed will escalate and cost you trust
• Submit promptly — not submitting costs trust and lets incidents escalate
• Track your spending — list remaining budget in your report