EDIT: New idea for factions in the threadmark
This is a long one, so feel free to skip ahead to the parts you care about. It's also an overhaul level idea. And while I hope it can work, I expect many fine details would need to be tweaked to fit within the game.
1 - Empire/Political/Xenology events
2 - Government system general info
3 - Government systems
1: Events
2: General info
This is only focused on the base game system we have. I don’t have ideas for how I would make Hive minds/Machine empires more interesting. Empire/Xenology events would work, but I don’t know about their internal politics, or some equivalent.
Basic factions overview
Influence
Strata and political power
Sector policies
Government screen
3: Government systems
Commonalities with each system (Long)
Here, I tried to make each system feel a bit distinct from each other in how they function, and make decisions. And I also tried making political power more important.
(Long)
And of course, all this should be modified based on ethics and civics to some degree. Possibly even by a tradition rework, where you have mutually exclusive choices, and more impactful decisions so not every empire gets to roughly the same place after a couple hundred years.
Also, part of me wonders if Oligarchies/Monarchs should be swapped with their party/noble functions. Like Oligarchies are ethics based, and sector based instead, while Monarchs are broader and sector based.
But also maybe not. Since Democratic/Monarchs can be ethics based, and Oligarch/Imperial governments are broad in their issues, giving you two opposites in either end.
This is a long one, so feel free to skip ahead to the parts you care about. It's also an overhaul level idea. And while I hope it can work, I expect many fine details would need to be tweaked to fit within the game.
1 - Empire/Political/Xenology events
2 - Government system general info
3 - Government systems
1: Events
Empire events should tie into what you’re doing in the game. If you’re colonizing worlds, you should get events that do things like finding an unknown ore vein on a planet, giving a new mining district/temporary output bonus at the expense of deleting two agri-districts, and temporary lower happiness. Or if you have a wormhole in your space, one of your scientists could request to study it for a time, giving you the tech option for wormholes and + x% amount of progress. If you get a new sensor tech, you could get a special project for your construction/science ships to investigate some targets within your empire that could have previously unseen resources or anomalies.
Political events should tie into the decisions you make in the game. If you’re going to war, your pacifist leaders should be starting protests against it if it goes on for too long. If you have something like high unemployment/etc for too long, there should be events where leaders try to drum up support to replace the current leader, and push policies to combat it since you aren’t doing it. Such as temporary worker job positions that last for a year, and have something like 50% of normal production (There can be a new icon on the planet to let you know if you have any of these).
Xenology events (Sounds better than alien events) should tie into what’s happening in the galaxy. If there’s a war going on, you can choose to support one side (Doesn’t involve sending resources, but it makes one side like you, and the other dislike you for a few years), or stay neutral to them.
There should be a variety of events for this. Some specific to each phase of the early/mid/late-game. But some universal, many with different options and effects depending on your ethics.
Political events should tie into the decisions you make in the game. If you’re going to war, your pacifist leaders should be starting protests against it if it goes on for too long. If you have something like high unemployment/etc for too long, there should be events where leaders try to drum up support to replace the current leader, and push policies to combat it since you aren’t doing it. Such as temporary worker job positions that last for a year, and have something like 50% of normal production (There can be a new icon on the planet to let you know if you have any of these).
Xenology events (Sounds better than alien events) should tie into what’s happening in the galaxy. If there’s a war going on, you can choose to support one side (Doesn’t involve sending resources, but it makes one side like you, and the other dislike you for a few years), or stay neutral to them.
There should be a variety of events for this. Some specific to each phase of the early/mid/late-game. But some universal, many with different options and effects depending on your ethics.
2: General info
This is only focused on the base game system we have. I don’t have ideas for how I would make Hive minds/Machine empires more interesting. Empire/Xenology events would work, but I don’t know about their internal politics, or some equivalent.
Basic factions overview
For all, the faction system will be different based off the type of government.
Democracies will keep factions. These groups are focused on specific, ethics based issues.
Oligarchies will get parties. These groups will be similar in ways to factions, but won't completely be based on a single ethic. They shouldn't contradict each other though. They're sector based.
Monarchs will get Nobles, who represent sectors, but are ethics based. You need to please some the Nobles on what they want, and just need to keep the worker class in line and meet some of their needs.
Dictatorships will get Officers. They're more centralized, but are broader in their issues, and you do need to meet some of the needs of the working class.
For Monarchs and Dictatorships, propaganda should be made a mechanic, although I don’t know what the specifics should be. Democracies and Oligarchies could also get that, but to a lesser degree, and should be riskier
Democracies will keep factions. These groups are focused on specific, ethics based issues.
Oligarchies will get parties. These groups will be similar in ways to factions, but won't completely be based on a single ethic. They shouldn't contradict each other though. They're sector based.
Monarchs will get Nobles, who represent sectors, but are ethics based. You need to please some the Nobles on what they want, and just need to keep the worker class in line and meet some of their needs.
Dictatorships will get Officers. They're more centralized, but are broader in their issues, and you do need to meet some of the needs of the working class.
For Monarchs and Dictatorships, propaganda should be made a mechanic, although I don’t know what the specifics should be. Democracies and Oligarchies could also get that, but to a lesser degree, and should be riskier
Influence
Right now, I feel influence is far too easy to use. There's no real strategy to using it. If you have enough, you can do anything you want, if you don't, you just wait until you can.
In this idea, I want influence to have more specific uses.
In this idea, I want influence to have more specific uses.
- Influence is used on starbases (can be left alone as is).
- It can be used to change policies/push issues: To give the player some level of control, you should be able to “push” your proposals forward with an influence cost (but not just the influence cost. Say you’ve voted on a couple issues, but the margin is still too low for it to be passed by votes alone. So you pay some influence to help get it passed). You can only do this a couple times every 5 years.
- It can be used to overrule issues you don't want (so you can control what your government does to a certain extent, but you can only do this from time to time, giving it more value when you do): For Monarchy/Imperial governments, this isn’t horrible, but it could lead to some minor negative events. Whereas with Democracies/Oligarchies, it could lead to moderate negative events, like lowered stability/happiness on your worlds for a few years (especially if it’s something like a war). Or a major one that leads to your ruler getting kicked out, and not having the ability to overrule for at least 10 years instead of say 5 (but there could only be certain circumstances where this happens, so it isn’t a looming threat if you do it)
- The last two also apply to planetary decisions, and regular edicts that use influence. Although ones like map the stars one could be a freebie you can activate without votes.
- It can be used to change policies/push issues: To give the player some level of control, you should be able to “push” your proposals forward with an influence cost (but not just the influence cost. Say you’ve voted on a couple issues, but the margin is still too low for it to be passed by votes alone. So you pay some influence to help get it passed). You can only do this a couple times every 5 years.
- It can be used to overrule issues you don't want (so you can control what your government does to a certain extent, but you can only do this from time to time, giving it more value when you do): For Monarchy/Imperial governments, this isn’t horrible, but it could lead to some minor negative events. Whereas with Democracies/Oligarchies, it could lead to moderate negative events, like lowered stability/happiness on your worlds for a few years (especially if it’s something like a war). Or a major one that leads to your ruler getting kicked out, and not having the ability to overrule for at least 10 years instead of say 5 (but there could only be certain circumstances where this happens, so it isn’t a looming threat if you do it)
- The last two also apply to planetary decisions, and regular edicts that use influence. Although ones like map the stars one could be a freebie you can activate without votes.
Strata and political power
The stratum’s that hold the most political power should shift based on government type. The highest has the most impact on elections and voting, the smallest has the least.
D → Workers = Specialists > Administrators
O → Specialists > Workers > Administrators
M → Rulers > Specialists > Workers
I → Rulers > Workers = Specialists
And all stratum's have different wants and needs. Which you will need to balance against the needs of the empire. In a democracy for example, you’ll need to please the worker class, and maintain their freedoms. To a similar extent, the specialists as well.
D → Workers = Specialists > Administrators
O → Specialists > Workers > Administrators
M → Rulers > Specialists > Workers
I → Rulers > Workers = Specialists
And all stratum's have different wants and needs. Which you will need to balance against the needs of the empire. In a democracy for example, you’ll need to please the worker class, and maintain their freedoms. To a similar extent, the specialists as well.
Sector policies
Sectors should be able to set different “flat” policies based on what they need. Replacing at least some empire-wide ones we have now. So some sectors can have different economic policies, or different trade policies. Fresh sectors can have different food policies so they can grow faster, while built up ones have a neutral policy. These reworked policies will have smaller bonuses than the empire-wide ones we have now (like 10%-15% instead of 15%-25%), and you have to vote to change it, with a small to moderate influence cost.
Government screen
A lot of this would need a new government screen. Where you can see your factions/parties/etc and what they want. Or Governors, and what policies they have/what they want done. Or alien diplomats and deals they can or want to make, etc (This is where you could also conduct most/all diplomacy with aliens, and make deals with them). And it must be filterable.
3: Government systems
Commonalities with each system (Long)
- Voting on new policies is every 5 years (or can be cut short for the cost of influence) - Or instead, voting on these policies is only for certain things every five years. While everything else is decided on as it comes up - So within the issues I outline below, they can be futher separated into pressing and non-pressing issues.
- Most issues must be voted on. Of which, there are minor/moderate/major issues that you have to deal with. Minor issues are ones you can handle yourself. Moderate issues are planet/sector specific, these are the ones your pops with the most political power will mostly vote on, and only the planet/sector in question will deal with. And Major issues are empire specific. Like moderate issues, these are the ones pops with the most political power will vote on. But now it’s all of them.
- The things you vote on aren’t the policies we have right now, instead, it’s things that tie into current in-game events, are basically major issues (and some moderate ones) making you decide between different paths. This should lead to emergent storytelling as your empire makes bigger decisions over time. So for example:
- Many/All of these proposals will expire or change by the next cycle, so you aren’t swamped by choices you didn’t want from earlier. But there may be repeat ones over time.
- Most issues must be voted on. Of which, there are minor/moderate/major issues that you have to deal with. Minor issues are ones you can handle yourself. Moderate issues are planet/sector specific, these are the ones your pops with the most political power will mostly vote on, and only the planet/sector in question will deal with. And Major issues are empire specific. Like moderate issues, these are the ones pops with the most political power will vote on. But now it’s all of them.
- The things you vote on aren’t the policies we have right now, instead, it’s things that tie into current in-game events, are basically major issues (and some moderate ones) making you decide between different paths. This should lead to emergent storytelling as your empire makes bigger decisions over time. So for example:
Minor: Your head scientist requests funding for a new technology (In-game, this has the effect of giving you a tech option with some progress).
Moderate: You could see amendments pushed that protect the environment on some of your planets. This has the effect of making your worker class there happy, increasing pop growth, and boosting food output. But lowering your industrial output if you build up there (There’s also only be a handful of planets/sectors you need to deal with during this time. Not all at once every 5 years) For environmentalist, the lowered output could be offset a bit, making it a nicer civic to have outside of using less consumer goods.
Major: Maybe there’s various groups wanting to declare war. And this could have splits within your empire. Example, if you want to go to war, and the population that doesn’t want to is larger than the one that does, then you would need to push certain amendments and policies that would make them appeased enough to push the proposal in.
Moderate: You could see amendments pushed that protect the environment on some of your planets. This has the effect of making your worker class there happy, increasing pop growth, and boosting food output. But lowering your industrial output if you build up there (There’s also only be a handful of planets/sectors you need to deal with during this time. Not all at once every 5 years) For environmentalist, the lowered output could be offset a bit, making it a nicer civic to have outside of using less consumer goods.
Major: Maybe there’s various groups wanting to declare war. And this could have splits within your empire. Example, if you want to go to war, and the population that doesn’t want to is larger than the one that does, then you would need to push certain amendments and policies that would make them appeased enough to push the proposal in.
- Many/All of these proposals will expire or change by the next cycle, so you aren’t swamped by choices you didn’t want from earlier. But there may be repeat ones over time.
Here, I tried to make each system feel a bit distinct from each other in how they function, and make decisions. And I also tried making political power more important.
(Long)
Democracy;
Factions are led by several representative’s to push some of their policies. Each representative has a handful of specific, ethics based issue’s they’re pushing, but the population is the one that votes on them to pass them or not.
Pushing support can’t be solely handled by dumping influence or resources on them until they accept though. Instead, you will need to vote on issues they want handled to make them likely to vote on ones you want. (Applies to all gov't types) These are typically moderate issues though. Most of the major issues could just surround war and diplomacy, while others could be around things like living standards, or primitive interactions. And the likelihood of them voting on these is based on their ethics, and what the policy falls under.
Oligarchy;
Parties are led by a representative in each sector, and one representing the frontier planets. Since it’s per sector, and not per pop, migration and attraction can lead to sectors becoming specific to only a couple ethics over time.
Also because it’s per sector, there may be several reps/sectors supporting the same issues later in the game, giving larger support to those issues.
Voting is easier than in a democracy, but there’s more issues, and parties usually have an amalgamation of issues they support. It’s only the most popular ones though, and they can’t contradict each other. But again, it’s the population that votes.
Monarchy;
Nobles, are, well, Nobles. They could replace Governors, and do more. They mostly represent themselves, but are chosen from every sector capital and push some ethic based policies on behalf of everyone else. And sometimes push policies they want to see instead. Giving them some sort of personal agenda’s over their sectors. Because they push ethic based policies, and are on a per sector basis, certain ethics will get more support over time. You should be able to push your core ethics in this direction.
Mainly the ruling class votes on issues, which can help give you much more control over moderate/major issues than in democracies and oligarchies, but the specialist class has some power as well. And it costs more in influence to push big decisions. There's also a risk of angering Nobles if you ignore them too long, which could lead to sector rebellions if they decide that it’s not worth being under your rule anymore (really all government systems should include some sort of rebellion mechanics, possibly unique to them, but this is a specific instance).
Imperial;
Officers are more central, but will gather the main issues that the population wants pushed. Like oligarchies, it’s an amalgamation of issues, and they shouldn’t contradict each other.
You have a similar, but slightly larger level of control that Monarchies have. The ruling class votes almost in entirety unlike in a Monarchy where the specialist class has some power.
Elections for Democracies/Oligarchies are also led by the pops that hold political power, while Monarchies/Imperialists have a bloodline/successor. You also shouldn’t be able to effectively vote in a leader using influence. So I suppose if you support them, you can only do it once.
Factions are led by several representative’s to push some of their policies. Each representative has a handful of specific, ethics based issue’s they’re pushing, but the population is the one that votes on them to pass them or not.
Pushing support can’t be solely handled by dumping influence or resources on them until they accept though. Instead, you will need to vote on issues they want handled to make them likely to vote on ones you want. (Applies to all gov't types) These are typically moderate issues though. Most of the major issues could just surround war and diplomacy, while others could be around things like living standards, or primitive interactions. And the likelihood of them voting on these is based on their ethics, and what the policy falls under.
Oligarchy;
Parties are led by a representative in each sector, and one representing the frontier planets. Since it’s per sector, and not per pop, migration and attraction can lead to sectors becoming specific to only a couple ethics over time.
Also because it’s per sector, there may be several reps/sectors supporting the same issues later in the game, giving larger support to those issues.
Voting is easier than in a democracy, but there’s more issues, and parties usually have an amalgamation of issues they support. It’s only the most popular ones though, and they can’t contradict each other. But again, it’s the population that votes.
Monarchy;
Nobles, are, well, Nobles. They could replace Governors, and do more. They mostly represent themselves, but are chosen from every sector capital and push some ethic based policies on behalf of everyone else. And sometimes push policies they want to see instead. Giving them some sort of personal agenda’s over their sectors. Because they push ethic based policies, and are on a per sector basis, certain ethics will get more support over time. You should be able to push your core ethics in this direction.
Mainly the ruling class votes on issues, which can help give you much more control over moderate/major issues than in democracies and oligarchies, but the specialist class has some power as well. And it costs more in influence to push big decisions. There's also a risk of angering Nobles if you ignore them too long, which could lead to sector rebellions if they decide that it’s not worth being under your rule anymore (really all government systems should include some sort of rebellion mechanics, possibly unique to them, but this is a specific instance).
Imperial;
Officers are more central, but will gather the main issues that the population wants pushed. Like oligarchies, it’s an amalgamation of issues, and they shouldn’t contradict each other.
You have a similar, but slightly larger level of control that Monarchies have. The ruling class votes almost in entirety unlike in a Monarchy where the specialist class has some power.
Elections for Democracies/Oligarchies are also led by the pops that hold political power, while Monarchies/Imperialists have a bloodline/successor. You also shouldn’t be able to effectively vote in a leader using influence. So I suppose if you support them, you can only do it once.
And of course, all this should be modified based on ethics and civics to some degree. Possibly even by a tradition rework, where you have mutually exclusive choices, and more impactful decisions so not every empire gets to roughly the same place after a couple hundred years.
Also, part of me wonders if Oligarchies/Monarchs should be swapped with their party/noble functions. Like Oligarchies are ethics based, and sector based instead, while Monarchs are broader and sector based.
But also maybe not. Since Democratic/Monarchs can be ethics based, and Oligarch/Imperial governments are broad in their issues, giving you two opposites in either end.
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