Deterrence takes place in the future where you play as the human race and fight malfunctioning artificial intelligence. The rogue machine is named Big Birtha for her ability to make copies of herself and install them on autonomous bots, giving them artificial life. Her objective originally was to help mankind create a sustainable future moving forward, but she somehow comes to the conclusion that all life must be destroyed to achieve sustainability. During this take down of humanity, most digital systems are hacked and rendered inoperable by Big Birtha, so the military is reduced to using old systems and to reestablish communications with allies all while fighting autonomous bots that are doing the will of Big Birtha.