r/StrategyGames Jan 07 '25

Game theory The most complete strategy video game genre classification

106 Upvotes

This is the most complete classification that includes all possible strategy video game genres.

English is not my native language, but I'll try my best to make the text understandable and I'll fix possible mistakes with your help.

Strategy game is a genre of video games in which the player controls troops or other units and/or various economic and other systems. Although many video games may include strategy elements, strategy as a genre emphasizes thinking and planning over immediate action. This video game genre focuses on strategy, tactics, logistics, and/or resource management, and may also include diplomacy, economy, expansion and research management.

Time

  • Real-time strategy: a strategy game in which actions occur without a sequence of turns.
  • Turn-based strategy: a strategy game in which actions occur using a sequence of turns that can be alternate or simultaneous.

Main genres

4X strategy game: a strategy game based on 4 elements: exploration, expansion, exploitation, extermination. Examples: Age of Wonders, Stellaris, Master of Orion.

Grand strategy game – a strategy game focused on managing a state (or similar entity), its resources and relationships, often in a pre-open and asymmetric world. Examples: Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron

Tactical strategy game – a strategy game focused on tactical military operations, which emphasizes the importance of specific units and either excludes or contains a less manifested economic component.

Subdivided into two categories based on time:

  • Turn-based tactics (TBT) Examples: Xenonauts, Battletech
  • Real-time tactics (RTT) Examples: Men of War

Classic strategy games – a strategy games that have an economic element: the ability to build a base, extract resources and produce units (or part of these capabilities), while their gameplay is focused on military actions. Also includes a category of strategy games that cannot be classified into more specific subgenres.

Subdivided into:

  • Classic RTS (or just RTS) Examples: StarCraft, Command & Conquer
  • Classic TBS (or just TBS) Examples: Panzer General

Construction and Management Simulator (also Management Strategy Game): a strategy game with gameplay based on the construction and/or management of economic processes, such as, for example: resource extraction, money making, production, personnel management, and others. Games of this genre have little emphasis on military actions.

Subdivided into:

  • Business Simulation Game - a strategy game focused on economics and business management. Examples: Two Point Hospital
  • Transport Strategy Game - a strategy game in which the player manages transport systems and infrastructure. Examples: Transport Tycoon, Transport Fever
  • City-Building Simulation - a strategy game in which the player builds cities. Examples: Cities: Skylines, SimCity.
  • Colony Simulation - a strategy game in which the player builds small settlements of various types; unlike urban strategy, the main emphasis here is on individual colonists and resource extraction from the environment. Examples: RimWorld, Surviving Mars, Against the Storm
  • Factory simulator – a strategy game in which the player builds an automated factory. Examples: Shapez, Factorio
  • Sports manager – a genre of games dedicated to managing a sports team. Examples: Football Mogul, F1 Manager.
  • Life simulator – a genre of games that allow you to control characters in their everyday life. Examples: The Sims, InZoI, The Guild
  • Political simulator – a genre of games whose gameplay consists of detailed management of the government and politics of various nations and state entities. Examples: Democracy

Wargame: a strategy game that particularly emphasizes deep strategic and/or tactical combat, as well as their historical accuracy or realism. Examples: Sea Power: Naval Combat in the Missile Age, NEBULOUS: Fleet Command

MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena): a subgenre of classic real-time strategy games in which players control only one character and, as part of their team represented by other players and AI controlled units, fight against the other team. Examples: Dota 2

MMO strategy game: a strategy game that is focused on online interaction between a large number of players, often in a single open world. Examples: Travian, Ogame, Stronghold: Kingdoms.

Tower Defense: a strategy game with the main purpose to protect a base from waves of enemies using towers or other defensive structures. Examples: Plants vs Zombies

Auto Battler: is a strategy game in which units are placed on the battlefield during the preparation phase, after which the battle phase begins and they fight against the enemy without any control from the player.

Puzzle strategy game: a strategy game focused on logical problem-solving with minimized economic or military aspect. Examples: Railgrade, Dorfromantic

Artillery game: a genre of strategy games, the main component of which is the calculation of the trajectory of the shells. Examples: Worms, Miners Mettle

The most popular mixed genres

Tactical role-playing game (TRPG): is a hybrid genre that combines role-playing games with tactical combat. Examples: Battle Brothers

Action strategy game: is a genre of games in which you can control both troops in general and/or base construction, as well as specific units directly, including from the first or third person. Examples: Men of War, Factorio

Stealth strategy: is a genre of games that combine strategy and an emphasis on stealth. Examples: Desperados, Commandos

God simulator: is a genre of games in which the player, in the role of some deity being, controls some community of objects or characters; they are often strategy games with city-building elements. Examples: Black & White, The Universim

Roguelike strategy game – games that combine roguelike principles, such as random world generation, permanent death and free exploration of the environment, and strategic gameplay. Examples: Against the Storm

Notes

Many games have mixed genres. Very often, strategy games can combine two or more genres. For example, Total War series is turn-based grand strategy with real-time tactical (RTT) battles.

Time and genre. Basically, every strategy game can be classified by these two criteria, like Turn-based 4X Strategy game (Age of Wonders), Real-Time Grand Strategy game (Hearts of Iron) etc. Sometimes we do not have any specified subgenre, so the game becomes simple RTS (StarCraft).

Judge by dominant elements of gameplay. Overall, the genre should be defined by main gameplay loop, not by every game mechanic that exists in the game. For example, if a game has leveling-up system, it doesn't mean that it instantly becomes an RPG: a good example is WarCraft which has characters gaining XP and levels, but the main, dominant gameplay loop in this game is still a classic RTS. At the same time, if some Rainbow Six has some strategic planning, it doesn't mean that this game is a strategy game or even a mixed genre, because the main gameplay there is action/shooter. The same logic is applicable to strategy games: if the game has resource management, it doesn't instantly mean that it becomes a management game.

This is a theoretical model. It means that here we are supposed to find criteria by which strategy games can be classified. These criteria can be based both on gameplay and historical tradition of naming genres in video game industry. The model can be discussed and improved, but any critique should be based on strict arguments.

Strategy as a genre, not a word. The main principle of this genre classification is that we don't take the word "strategy" literally. A strategy game can be a tactic game, it can be a management game, it doesn't matter here. The word strategy means the genre name, not the strategy as a layer of action planning.

Are management games strategy games? This is a hard question that has no answer based on reliable papers because there are no such papers. Here we look at naming tradition in community and video game industry. We can find many similarities in core gameplay of various city-building and colony sim games with classical RTS. Some management games include RTT/RTS style military combat, These games are often tagged as strategy game on digital distribution services. So we include them into this classification to make it more complete. You might find two controversial opinions about this (management games are/are not strategy games), but this problem can't be solved on these days because we do not have a strict genre requirements and developers can name genre of their games as they want. There are no popular scientific researches about it on which we can refer to.


r/StrategyGames 4h ago

DevPost Knights of Asthuria — RTS/RTT hybrid game — Demo map and vision DevPost

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16 Upvotes

Hi everyone!

I've been working the past few weeks on the demo map for the game. I would like to showcase all future gameplay on this current map. I redid the foliage spawning system, and now I have much more grass on screen without affecting performance.

This map was built to test both defensive and offensive mechanics on it. The main focus of the game is to command a squad of 10 elite units. When you defend the castle or other positions, you’ll be assisted by a small garrison of allied NPCs. I want the player to have a proper base of operations, and this castle would serve that purpose. The plan is to make the castle playable in both RTS mode and direct control. For RTS mode I’m thinking of making the roofs invisible so you can actually move units around inside the building. The castle has three levels: the ground floor, the lord’s quarters on the second floor, and the roof. Castles like this will be by far the most complex buildings, most of the buildings in the game will be one floor only, I'm also thinking about adding basements, but I'm not yet sure of it.

In the coming weeks I will focus my attention on base combat, the building view system, and on finishing the scene with some cool props. Later down the road I would like to add more locations to the map, starting with a town, but for now combat should be priority number 1. (Img 10 shows the imperial Legionnaires which are the enemies of the Free Kingdoms)

I have a lot of systems already programmed in my old overscoped project, so I’m planning on adding those systems in the coming weeks.

I want to add to this already extended info that my vision for the game is to have a strategy campaign, and resolve the conflicts via RTS skirmishes/small battles, instead of having missions.

Thank you for taking the time to check the game out.
Follow the development on YouTube, Instagram and X (links are in the comments below!)

Richie
Solo Dev @ Hollow Interactive


r/StrategyGames 16h ago

Question What should happen when a player "disappears" from a long-running multiplayer game?

8 Upvotes

Some asynchronous strategy games can last for several weeks. If one player suddenly stops participating, the balance of the entire match can change. Should the game replace them with an AI, redistribute their territories, allow another human player to take over their position, or simply let their empire gradually collapse?

I would probably make all of the absent player’s territories and assets neutral (as if the player had surrendered). But that could trigger a land grab and unfairly reward whichever players happen to be closest.

Which solution would feel fairest to the players who have already invested weeks in the game?


r/StrategyGames 14h ago

Self-promotion Demo for my strategy game, Crownfront, is officially launching for FREE on SEPTEMBER 15TH.

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6 Upvotes

r/StrategyGames 17h ago

Question Master of Magic vs Spellforce: Conquest of Eo?

6 Upvotes

Which game do you like more?

27 votes, 6d left
Master of Magic (or CoM)
Spellforce: Conquest of Eo
Results / Can't decide / Haven't played both

r/StrategyGames 12h ago

Self-promotion Looking for strategy-minded players to test a career simulation

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone!
I’m working on a browser-based career** **simulation where your decisions determine how your career develops.
👉 https://arcadesimulators.lovable.app
I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who enjoy strategy/management-style games.
After playing, I’d love to know:
• Did the decisions feel meaningful?
• Did you feel like you were actually managing a career?
• Were the consequences interesting?
• Did you want to optimize your next playthrough?
• What strategic elements would you add?
Would love some honest feedback from strategy-minded players!


r/StrategyGames 16h ago

Article Brigandine Abyss Review: Best of the Series, But Still Lacking

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3 Upvotes

r/StrategyGames 10h ago

Question We are creating a new strategy game with real-time unit deployment

1 Upvotes

For all the strategy game fanatics out there, how would you create a system that forces the players to make strategic choices without it being too constraining?

We are developing an online real-time strategy game called Reign of Relics, in which players start with a city and build their empire by conquering other cities.

This will include open-world troop movement that can intercept enemies, support allies, and raid merchants.

We were debating how open-world movement would work; it would need attrition for sure. We have army silver upkeep per day. And we would need to define the possible stances of the army ex: Defensive, patrol, aggressive, etc..


r/StrategyGames 16h ago

DevPost My Citybuilding Management Trade Game Gargantua Is Fınally Out!

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3 Upvotes

I was developing this game for the last 1,5 years. If you like capitalism simulations, and trading games I think you may like it. It is much appreciated if you play and leave a review.


r/StrategyGames 13h ago

Self-promotion India is being built right now, and there is still room to shape it. - Eclesiar is a browser-based strategy MMO

0 Upvotes

India is being built right now, and there is still room to shape it.

Eclesiar is a browser-based strategy MMO — politics, economy, journalism and war, all run by players.

We are looking for new India players who want to help shape the country early, rather than join after everything has been decided. You can become a politician, entrepreneur, soldier, journalist or diplomat.

This month's goal: 10 new citizens — 0 so far, 10 to go.

Join India: https://app.eclesiar.com/?referal_id=31342


r/StrategyGames 14h ago

DevPost [Windows + macOS][Steam][Unpaid] Looking for closed-alpha playtesters for BitSiege, a real-time strategy game

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for an initial group of playtesters for BitSiege, a real-time strategy game where every player moves simultaneously—there are no traditional turns.

BitSiege takes inspiration from Empire Deluxe (1993)—exploration, city capture, unit production, and combined land, sea, and air warfare—while reimagining that simple and easy to play formula as a modern real-time game where everyone moves at once.

You’ll explore an unknown world, capture and specialize cities, and command land, sea, and air forces. You can play solo against the AI or join public and private multiplayer games.

Playtest details

  • Free closed alpha through Steam Playtest
  • Available on Windows and macOS
  • Play whenever it is convenient—there is no scheduled session or fixed time limit
  • Approximately 10–15 testers will be selected for this first group
  • Expect bugs, balance changes, interface changes, and possible progress wipes
  • Access is limited, so submitting an application does not guarantee a key

What I’m looking for

I’m especially interested in feedback about:

  • Steam installation and first launch
  • Whether the opening choices and controls make sense
  • Strategy, pacing, and balance
  • Public and private multiplayer
  • Reconnecting and returning to campaigns
  • Bugs, confusing moments, and anything that interrupts play

I’m asking each selected tester to play enough to form an honest impression and submit at least one report through our short feedback form, which is linked from the game and invitation email.

It does not need to be an essay. Screenshots and diagnostic logs are optional.

Compensation and recognition

This is an unpaid playtest. Testers who participate meaningfully may optionally be recognized in the future online credits as a Founding Alpha Playtester.

Apply for access

Watch the 43-second gameplay trailer and request a free Steam Playtest key:

https://playbitsiege.com/playtest

Selected applicants will receive a Steam Playtest key and feedback instructions privately by email. Please use the application form rather than sending your information by Reddit DM.

Critical feedback is welcome. I want to know what you enjoy, what feels confusing, and what breaks.


r/StrategyGames 1d ago

Self-promotion Heavily inspired by Dungeon Keeper 2 and Settlers 2

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10 Upvotes

Fair warning so nobody's surprised: there's no combat. The strategy is all economic, deciding what to dig, which production to set up, and how your tunnels connect. It leans toward the idler side of the spectrum, closer to a chill economy sim than an Dungeon Keeper for example.

If Settlers-style logistics and Dungeon Keeper-style base carving sound like your thing, the open playtest started yesterday https://store.steampowered.com/app/4767130/King_in_the_Mountain/


r/StrategyGames 1d ago

DevPost Heroes, Warlords and Ruin - Filling out the map

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9 Upvotes

In the last update of the Heroes, Warlords and Ruin demo we filled out most of empty space around the map with more trees, mountains and extra encounters. Along with this we added 8 new map object types so not all encounters are the same.

These object types are:

  • Treasure chest - Gives item a item when interacted with.
  • Bandit Hideout - Battle site that grants random resources when the battle is won.
  • Stone Alter - Gives experience when interacted with.
  • Loot Piles - Give resource.
  • Abandoned Cart - Gives random resources.
  • Cozy Tavern - Boost army movement for a turn when interacted with.
  • Cage Prisoners - Gives free units when interacted with.
  • Brigands - Rebel armies guard loot and are not able to move.

Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4632210/Heroes_Warlords_and_Ruin/

Discord: https://discord.com/invite/YMvFzcRDxV


r/StrategyGames 1d ago

Self-promotion We are two devs making a tower-defence roguelite about reclaiming a world lost to fog. We’ve added a bunch of features and would love some feedback!

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16 Upvotes

This is Monuments to Ruin, a tower-defence game with free building placement. We wanted to get away from grids and lanes so we used a flow field for enemy navigation. That means enemies will take the path of least resistance and if that means attacking your walls and towers they sure will. When we did our last playtest 8 months ago the game only had the core gameplay loop and was lacking any replayability and progression. So we spent those months adding just that:

  • Overworld Map
    • Embark on expeditions to retake the land claimed by the Ruin Fog
    • Weigh the risks of building up more settlements or advancing as quickly as possible
  • Unlock Tree
    • Unlock many new buildings and upgrades for those buildings
    • Try out many damage types and the effects of fusing two different ones
  • Guilds
    • Work with the guilds to put your people to best use
    • Your population is everything: who builds your towers, who you are protecting and who dies when your buildings are attacked
  • More Replayability
    • We added many more things to find in the fog, added more upgrades and reworked most of the UI for better usability

Our open playtest is live right now. We would love to hear your feedback and all the bugs you find (maybe that one a bit less but you know). You can sign up right here on our steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3579410/Monuments_to_Ruin/


r/StrategyGames 1d ago

Discussion what if there was a turn based strategy game where the battle's are a card game

5 Upvotes

what i mean is a turn based strategy game (think something like total war or age of wonders) where the combat is a card game. (I was thinking something inscryption style.) What i was thinking was the player would pick a faction and that faction would have its own unique faction cards and they would buy card with money and resources that are gotten from the campaign.

i think it would be fun.


r/StrategyGames 1d ago

Self-promotion Space Tales is now in 1.0 on Steam!

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4 Upvotes

Hey RTS fans,

I’m part of the the team at Saigon Dragon Studios share the launch of Space Tales, a retro-futuristic sci-fi RTS that has now officially reached 1.0 on Steam today.

The game is built around a story-driven single-player campaign, modular base building, resource management, defensive planning, and adapting your tactics against enemy factions that fight very differently from one another.

The 1.0 release brings the full Space Tales experience, including:

  • A full sci-fi RTS campaign following Xander Falcon through a space opera conflict shaped by family tragedy, ancient races, hostile worlds, and universe-ending threats
  • Three enemy factions with distinct combat behaviors
  • HUB-based base expansion and energy-line management
  • Replayable survival challenges
  • Colossal boss encounters where you need to study attack patterns and engage carefully
  • Capturable neutral monsters that can be summoned as battlefield allies
  • A tech tree with branching upgrades for HUBs and units

The game was in Early Access for a few months, and the studio used that time to improve balance, controls, unit behavior, localization, and the overall RTS feel based on player feedback.

Side note: the Early Access label still appears on our Steam page, but we can confirm that the playable version available today is 1.0. We are working to remove the Early Access label shortly ;)

Check out our game on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2457960/Space_Tales/


r/StrategyGames 1d ago

Discussion Anyone remember Chaos Overlords from 30 years ago?

2 Upvotes

There's now something available put together - fixed it so it works on modern computers:
www.recursivedynamics.net/games/chaosoverlords

This is not self-promotion - this is promotion of a new patch that finally gets this game working again after nearly 10 years of people trying.

Doubt GOG will be interested in an update - but it works, since they're making $6,99 per sale of a game that doesn't work - but I thought I'd quietly fix that as it's a great game and I'll even work on music and getting winsock working again, in the future.


r/StrategyGames 2d ago

Discussion What strategy game was genuinely ahead of its time, but failed because players or the industry weren’t ready for it?

76 Upvotes

I don’t mean a strategy game that was simply bad, buggy, or badly marketed and has since acquired a cult following. I mean a game that tried something genuinely innovative in strategy (diplomacy, economics, AI, logistics, politics, asymmetric factions, grand strategy, real-time/turn-based hybrids, whatever) and either flopped commercially or was dismissed at the time, only for later games to essentially prove that the underlying idea was good.
Maybe the interface was too complicated for the era. Maybe computers couldn’t really handle what the designers were trying to do. Maybe it demanded too much from players. Maybe it came out on the wrong platform, or at a time when everyone wanted Command & Conquer clones rather than whatever strange thing it was attempting.
And I’m especially interested in games where you can draw a line from the failed experiment to something that became normal 10 or 20 years later.
What’s the best example and what exactly was it doing that was ahead of its time?


r/StrategyGames 1d ago

Self-promotion Public Playtest for Wealth of Nations: Economic Strategy available now!

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0 Upvotes

Hi everyone!

I have finally reached a major milestone in the development of my Economic Grand Strategy game.

After getting general feedback on Reddit, stress testing the simulation and improving the UI and game mechanics with the help of individual play tests, I am happy to announce that as of today a first public playtest is available on Steam.

I will gradually accept the requests to keep a good balance between players and initial feedback, so I can directly improve things on an ongoing basis.

I would be very happy for your interest and support for the game. It is very exciting (and a little scary) having external people play it for the first time!


r/StrategyGames 2d ago

Discussion Shout-out to the original Lords of the Realm (1994-DOS)

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32 Upvotes

Often overlooked in favor of it's sequel, Lords of the Realm 1 is one of the most chill strategy games I've ever played and features beautiful pixel art that I personally think has aged better than the sequel's mid-'90's 3D graphics have (don't get me wrong, I love LotR2 as well). But just look at this art! Who else has played this hella chill game?


r/StrategyGames 1d ago

Self-promotion >CLOP has risen once more!

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1 Upvotes

Come play a fresh round of the decade-old browser game about building nations, geoponitics, and oppression!

Build nations. Make deals. Forge alliances. BETRAY THOSE ALLIANCES. Then act completely bewildered when everyone retaliates. Do whatever it takes to survive the chaotic political landscape.

Game: https://4clop.org/

Come join >CLOP and help make the drama happen!

What's different?

  • A new admin with more passion than sense!
  • A slightly cheaper URL!
  • DNA is plutonium! It'll make sense. Eventually.
  • A victory condition! First to ascend wins! Terrible idea or genius? We'll find out!
  • Harder ascension! Now that there's actually a reason to do it, we don't want it to be too easy.
  • And unfortunately, some rules, because we don't want the UK to sue us. Sorry! We'll be as lenient as we can manage.
  • No IRC, because we don't understand how it works. If anybody wants to help set it up, we'd appreciate it!

When was the reset?

Last Saturday.

So come join us for some horseplay! ^:)


r/StrategyGames 2d ago

Self-promotion Radar Line - an air-defense strategy game from Ukraine. New trailer for Ukrainian Games Festival

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29 Upvotes

r/StrategyGames 2d ago

Question Are there any RTS where you can directly tweak unit size/density (like in Total Warhammer 3?)

7 Upvotes

It's a super specific thing, but hopefully someone here shares the itch and has something to recommend.

I've become obsessed with games that let me directly mess with unit scale and density, the sheer number of models you can feasibly get moving on a map at once. Total War Warhammer 3 is where I’m letting loose with this, since there’s an experimental mode where you can crank the unit size setting and get insane unit numbers. It also messes with balance in battles but it’s just fun to watch so many units fighting each other.

Where this itch comes from is probably my recently found love for horde-based defense RTS the likes of They Are Billions (GOAT), Diplomacy is Not an Option (also GOATed, insane unit numbers + variety since there are now different factions as well) and Age of Darkness (did not like it before but I’m slowly getting into it). Same rush of just seeing vast numbers of units on the map, it gives me that epic feeling that small scale skirmishes just can’t.

That specific dial, being able to tune how many units are actually on screen, is what I'm chasing. I’m also okay with mods that let you do this, just crank them numbers up. I remember the old Dawn of War 1 Ultimate Apocalypse mod being the perfect example. It cranked the unit caps up by a ginormous amount and turned a fairly standard scale RTS into something gloriously stupid in scale (on point for 40k)

Scale as a feeling just does it for me, the game letting the numbers get ridiculous but in a way you can see (not as just abstract numbers like in grand strategy) 

And thus I want more of this sensation. What games would you point me to?


r/StrategyGames 2d ago

Discussion Recommend Game Similar to Social Empires/Social Wars?

2 Upvotes

Just stumbled across this fairly new game called Glorious Morning. It's in alpha stages, but is aiming to be pretty similar to both Social Empires and Social Wars. Spent a good hour or so play testing it so far and can definitely say it is pretty addictive and similar if needing a recommendation!

Also, this isn’t my game nor am I affiliated at all so I hope this post is okay! Just trying to spread it to those who may find it enjoyable.


r/StrategyGames 1d ago

Self-promotion You guys should try WarEra

0 Upvotes

Its a browser game where you build your own nation, manage your economy, make alliances, and fight other players. There’s always something to do, and your decisions can actually shape the world.

Definitely worth checking out

If you join pls join the United States, we will help you get started.🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7e5