Introduction
So yeah, this is the factions suggestion of the month. Having a long detailed argumentation about why we need a better factions system is unnecessary at this point. So let's go instead right to the point.
Instead of remaking the factions system anew, I centered my attention in building over what is already there. So, the point is making the factions more proactive and interesting, instead of sitting back being just a checklist of what to do for a little bit more Influence.
Faction levels
The system would be the same, with a faction approval checklist, but we would add a bar and levels (it seems to be in fashion nowadays with the developers).
The bar threshold would go from 0 to 200 (or 500 or 1000 or whatever, depending on the balance and testing, let's stay at 200 for the explanation) and would be divided into 5 levels, this bar would represent the level of hate this faction has for the current government. It would be called Radicalism.
The monthly change of the bar would be determined by the faction approval rating. The faction approval system would remain untouched. Th monthly change would be called Radicalization.
So, every point above 50% faction approval rating would go as a negative to the government hate bar.
Every point below 50% faction approval rating would go as positive to the government hate bar.
Example:
Materialist faction has 56% approval rating, Radicalism bar goes down by 6 points every month (-6 Radicalization).
Spiritualist faction has 38% approval rating, Radicalism bar goes up by 12 points every month (+12 Radicalization).
This is only an example, the actual values would have to be tested and balanced. Please notice how the bar goes up if they hate you, and goes down if they love you. All factions would have a Radicalism level and a Radicalization incrementer that would determine their function and effects.
So, Ifluence gain would be determined by the Radicalism level and popular support while Radicalization change would be determined by the faction approval rating.
There would be a special faction for non-citizens (residents and slaves) called The Disenfranchised. This special faction would have special levels:
Issues
The Disenfranchised would have their special list of Issues. Some examples (again, values are just examples, balancing would have to be made):
[yes | no]
[-10 | +10] The empire has at least one slave or resident pop with basic subsistence living standard.
[-10 | 0] The empire allows slavery.
[-10 | 0] The empire has at least one slave or resident pop with Soldiers Only species right.
[+10 | -10] The empire has a surplus of food (because they are the last to eat).
[+10 | -10] The empire has a surplus of consumer goods (because they are the last to have nice things).
Interactions
The interactions could be more interesting if we add the Radicalism level bar, because we could add interactions to lower the Radicalism threshold or to lower the Radicalization incrementer. And yes, the spy system could have a part in this too, all or some of these interactions could be done using the spy system, and there could be special ethic based interactions (Materialist: Reeducation, Spiritualist: Indoctrination, etc).
Elections
All Legalized factions will participate in elections, Ilegalized factions won't. The Disenfranchised would never participate in an election Legalized or not.
The game would have to be changed so only leaders that might be candidates could be faction leaders (for example scientists in technocracies), if the empire does not have enough leaders for every faction (for example, 10 factions but only 6 scientists in a technocratic empire), then a random faction leader-scientist is generated and attached to the faction. They could be just a name and a face until an election comes and their actual stats are generated. When an election comes, all faction leaders with legalized factions may be candidates in the election. So there would be a maximum of 10 candidates (don't forget that Manifesti faction and the Isolationists) providing that no faction is Ilegalized.
The faction of the candidate that wins the election would have the Radicalism level of their faction set to Loyalist (0), all Legalized factions would set their Radicalism levels to Conformist (41), and all Ilegalized factions would reset to Militant (121). With empires there would be the same reset to factions Radicalism when the heir takes power; also Empires can manualy choose which faction is In power and change it whenever they want (with a price and refresh times of course). Sometimes, randomly, a Militant or Revolutionary faction wont recognized the election and say it was fraudulent (or the heir was illegitimate) via a popup event. They will not reset their Radicalism level and stay the same. Just to add some randomness, RP, difficulty and flavour.
In this way Democracies have an advantage in dealing with factions because every few years the factions Radicalism will reset while dictatorships and oligarchies would have to be battling them for more time, wasting their resources bribing, persecuting and diffaming. This is logical because in a dictatorship where there are not opportunities of taking power until the leader dies, factions are more prone to become radical over time; also, Dictatorships and Empires tend to be more authoritarian and oppressive and you as a player would have to resort more to oppressive interactions to keep the factions aligned until the next election or succession.
Insurrection
When the Radicalism level of a faction hits 200 an Insurrection would happen. Insurrections would happen as follows:
(Remember all values are just examples, testing and balancing would have to be made)
This event is very hard and is intended to be very chaotic and fast (most likely you would have insurrections in all your planets, some with one or two militias, some with entire armies and you wouldn’t know where you are winning and where you are losing until all the land battles finish), but since you already know for sure when an insurrection will happen, you would have time to prepare and increase your security forces where you see more pops belonging to the radicalizing faction.
Ethics
Some additions to ethics:
(Again, values not final)
-Authoritarian
Effects:
-Fanatic Authoritarian
Effects:
-Fanatic Pacifist
Effects:
Authorities
Some additions to Authorities:
(Again, values not final)
-Democratic
Effects:
-Oligarchic
Effects:
-Imperial
Effects:
Civics
Some additions to Civics:
(Again, values not final)
-Cutthroat Politics
Effects:
-Parliamentary System
Effects:
New:
-Shareholder Enterprise
Effects:
Conclusion
In the end, there are many mechanisms to prevent the rise of Radicalism (ex. Coalition) in your factions and also ways to stop the Influence drain of radical factions (ex. Illegalize them). So the point would be to keep a balance between radicalism and influence drainage while also prevent them to spark an insurrection and survive until the next election. Is a simple mechanic, just a threshold and a gain/drain variable. It doens't add many complexities but at least factions are more than just a checklist for more influence and you would be going back once in a while to the factions menu to check if some faction is radicalizing. There would be notifications when a faction becomes Militant or Revolutionary, or when an Insurrection is about to happen.
If you liked the suggestion please upvote it so it doesn't get ignored. Also I invite you to check my other suggestion, also related with elections.
So yeah, this is the factions suggestion of the month. Having a long detailed argumentation about why we need a better factions system is unnecessary at this point. So let's go instead right to the point.
Instead of remaking the factions system anew, I centered my attention in building over what is already there. So, the point is making the factions more proactive and interesting, instead of sitting back being just a checklist of what to do for a little bit more Influence.
Faction levels
The system would be the same, with a faction approval checklist, but we would add a bar and levels (it seems to be in fashion nowadays with the developers).
The bar threshold would go from 0 to 200 (or 500 or 1000 or whatever, depending on the balance and testing, let's stay at 200 for the explanation) and would be divided into 5 levels, this bar would represent the level of hate this faction has for the current government. It would be called Radicalism.
The monthly change of the bar would be determined by the faction approval rating. The faction approval system would remain untouched. Th monthly change would be called Radicalization.
So, every point above 50% faction approval rating would go as a negative to the government hate bar.
Every point below 50% faction approval rating would go as positive to the government hate bar.
Example:
Materialist faction has 56% approval rating, Radicalism bar goes down by 6 points every month (-6 Radicalization).
Spiritualist faction has 38% approval rating, Radicalism bar goes up by 12 points every month (+12 Radicalization).
This is only an example, the actual values would have to be tested and balanced. Please notice how the bar goes up if they hate you, and goes down if they love you. All factions would have a Radicalism level and a Radicalization incrementer that would determine their function and effects.
I didn't put the actual values because balancing would be needed just increae (+/++) and decrease (-/--) symbols
-Loyalist
Radicalism [0 - 40]
Effects:
-Conformist
Radicalism [41 - 80]
Effects:
-Opposition
Radicalism [81 - 120]
Effects:
-Militant
Radicalism [121 - 160]
Effects:
-Revolutionary
Radicalism [161 - 200]
Effects:
-Loyalist
Radicalism [0 - 40]
Effects:
- Influence +3 * Popular support percentage.
-Conformist
Radicalism [41 - 80]
Effects:
- Influence +1 * Popular support percentage.
-Opposition
Radicalism [81 - 120]
Effects:
- Influence -0.5 * Popular support percentage.
-Militant
Radicalism [121 - 160]
Effects:
- Influence -1 * Popular support percentage.
- Ethic attraction+
-Revolutionary
Radicalism [161 - 200]
Effects:
- Influence -2 * Popular support percentage.
- Ethic attraction++
So, Ifluence gain would be determined by the Radicalism level and popular support while Radicalization change would be determined by the faction approval rating.
There would be a special faction for non-citizens (residents and slaves) called The Disenfranchised. This special faction would have special levels:
-Apathetic
Radicalism [0 - 120]
Effects:
-Conscious
Radicalism [121 - 160]
Effects:
-Revolutionary
Radicalism [161 - 200]
Effects:
Radicalism [0 - 120]
Effects:
- Residents and slaves resource production+
-Conscious
Radicalism [121 - 160]
Effects:
- Residents and slaves resource production-
-Revolutionary
Radicalism [161 - 200]
Effects:
- Residents and slaves resource production--
Issues
The Disenfranchised would have their special list of Issues. Some examples (again, values are just examples, balancing would have to be made):
[yes | no]
[-10 | +10] The empire has at least one slave or resident pop with basic subsistence living standard.
[-10 | 0] The empire allows slavery.
[-10 | 0] The empire has at least one slave or resident pop with Soldiers Only species right.
[+10 | -10] The empire has a surplus of food (because they are the last to eat).
[+10 | -10] The empire has a surplus of consumer goods (because they are the last to have nice things).
Interactions
The interactions could be more interesting if we add the Radicalism level bar, because we could add interactions to lower the Radicalism threshold or to lower the Radicalization incrementer. And yes, the spy system could have a part in this too, all or some of these interactions could be done using the spy system, and there could be special ethic based interactions (Materialist: Reeducation, Spiritualist: Indoctrination, etc).
-In power
Conditions: Faction must be Legalized, Faction leader must be the Ruler, Faction must not be The Disenfranchised.
Activation: Automatically when faction leader is the Ruler, Radicalism level set to 0 (Loyalist).
Active:
-Embrace Ideology
Conditions: Faction must be In power, Faction must not be The Disenfranchised.
Effects:
-Coalition
Conditions: Only one faction at a time, Faction must not be In power, Faction must be Legalized, Faction must not be The Disenfranchised.
Activation: Radicalism level set to 20 (Loyalist).
Active:
-Legalized
Conditions: Faction must be Ilegalized.
Activation: All factions start with Legalized Active by default, Cancels Illegalized interaction, Influence -200.
Active:
-Ilegalized
Conditions: Faction must be Legalized, Faction must not be In power, Faction must not be Coalition.
Activation: Cancels Legalized interaction, if Radicalism level is bellow 121 (militant) sets Radicalism to 121 (Militant) else does nothing, Influence -50.
Active:
-Persecucion
Conditions: Faction must not be In power, Faction must not be Coalition.
Active:
-Diffamation
Active:
-Bribe leaders
Effects:
Conditions: Faction must be Legalized, Faction leader must be the Ruler, Faction must not be The Disenfranchised.
Activation: Automatically when faction leader is the Ruler, Radicalism level set to 0 (Loyalist).
Active:
- Radicalization--
- Ethics attraction++
-Embrace Ideology
Conditions: Faction must be In power, Faction must not be The Disenfranchised.
Effects:
- Influence -500.
- Ethics shift towards faction Ethic.
-Coalition
Conditions: Only one faction at a time, Faction must not be In power, Faction must be Legalized, Faction must not be The Disenfranchised.
Activation: Radicalism level set to 20 (Loyalist).
Active:
- Influence -0.5.
- Radicalization--
- Ethics attraction++
-Legalized
Conditions: Faction must be Ilegalized.
Activation: All factions start with Legalized Active by default, Cancels Illegalized interaction, Influence -200.
Active:
- Radicalization--
- Minimum Radicalism level 0 (Loyalist or Apathetic if The Disenfranchised).
- Can participate in elections (if not The Disenfranchised).
-Ilegalized
Conditions: Faction must be Legalized, Faction must not be In power, Faction must not be Coalition.
Activation: Cancels Legalized interaction, if Radicalism level is bellow 121 (militant) sets Radicalism to 121 (Militant) else does nothing, Influence -50.
Active:
- Radicalization++
- Minimum Radicalism level 121 (Militant or Conscious if The Disenfranchised).
- Can't participate in elections.
- No Influence gain/loss from this faction.
- Ethic attraction-
-Persecucion
Conditions: Faction must not be In power, Faction must not be Coalition.
Active:
- Random pops of this ethic would die or become refugees
- Ethics attraction--
- Radicalization++
- -2 Influence.
-Diffamation
Active:
- Ethics attraction-
- Radicalization+,
- -1 Influence
-Bribe leaders
Effects:
- Energy -500.
- Radicalism level -80.
Elections
All Legalized factions will participate in elections, Ilegalized factions won't. The Disenfranchised would never participate in an election Legalized or not.
The game would have to be changed so only leaders that might be candidates could be faction leaders (for example scientists in technocracies), if the empire does not have enough leaders for every faction (for example, 10 factions but only 6 scientists in a technocratic empire), then a random faction leader-scientist is generated and attached to the faction. They could be just a name and a face until an election comes and their actual stats are generated. When an election comes, all faction leaders with legalized factions may be candidates in the election. So there would be a maximum of 10 candidates (don't forget that Manifesti faction and the Isolationists) providing that no faction is Ilegalized.
The faction of the candidate that wins the election would have the Radicalism level of their faction set to Loyalist (0), all Legalized factions would set their Radicalism levels to Conformist (41), and all Ilegalized factions would reset to Militant (121). With empires there would be the same reset to factions Radicalism when the heir takes power; also Empires can manualy choose which faction is In power and change it whenever they want (with a price and refresh times of course). Sometimes, randomly, a Militant or Revolutionary faction wont recognized the election and say it was fraudulent (or the heir was illegitimate) via a popup event. They will not reset their Radicalism level and stay the same. Just to add some randomness, RP, difficulty and flavour.
In this way Democracies have an advantage in dealing with factions because every few years the factions Radicalism will reset while dictatorships and oligarchies would have to be battling them for more time, wasting their resources bribing, persecuting and diffaming. This is logical because in a dictatorship where there are not opportunities of taking power until the leader dies, factions are more prone to become radical over time; also, Dictatorships and Empires tend to be more authoritarian and oppressive and you as a player would have to resort more to oppressive interactions to keep the factions aligned until the next election or succession.
Insurrection
When the Radicalism level of a faction hits 200 an Insurrection would happen. Insurrections would happen as follows:
(Remember all values are just examples, testing and balancing would have to be made)
- The faction Radicalism level will reset to the Minimum Radicalism level.
- The faction would get -50% Radicalization increment for 10 years.
- 1 militia enemy army per 2 pops that belong to the insurrected faction in each planet.
- There would be land battles against your security forces on every planet that spawned insurrected militias.
- If a planet is lost to the insurrection, a new empire will be born with the fanatic version of the insurrected faction’s Ethic plus another random one with Separatist origin.
- If the faction is The Disenfranchised, the Ethics would be Fanatic egalitarian and Militarist, the Civics would be Idealistic Foundation and Beacon of Liberty and the origin would be Separatist.
- All following planets lost to the militias would join this empire.
- If the planet is not the only inhabited one in the system, the planet would only be occupied by the rebel empire and the system would remain loyal until all its planets all lost to the insurgents, then it would join the rebel empire.
- All uninhabited systems neighbouring inhabited rebel systems AND not neighbouring inhabited loyal systems would be converted to the new empire.
- Copy paste technologies and traditions.
- Grant a fleet (size to be balanced).
- Independence war with the original empire. Always accepts peace that is not surrendering.
- After the insurrection, planets that had insurrections but were suffocated by the security forces and remain in your empire would have a Guerrilla Groups modifier for 10 years, granting: 1 Devastation every now and then and would be unable to rebel (spawn militias) in the case another faction starts a new insurrection.
This event is very hard and is intended to be very chaotic and fast (most likely you would have insurrections in all your planets, some with one or two militias, some with entire armies and you wouldn’t know where you are winning and where you are losing until all the land battles finish), but since you already know for sure when an insurrection will happen, you would have time to prepare and increase your security forces where you see more pops belonging to the radicalizing faction.
Ethics
Some additions to ethics:
(Again, values not final)
-Authoritarian
Effects:
- The Disenfranchised faction Radicalization increment -50%.
- Persecution and Diffamation -20% Influence maintenance.
-Fanatic Authoritarian
Effects:
- The Disenfranchised faction Radicalization increment -75%.
- Persecution and Diffamation -40% Influence maintenance.
-Fanatic Pacifist
Effects:
- Factions Maximum Radicalism level 160 (Militant).
- Can't have Insurrections.
Authorities
Some additions to Authorities:
(Again, values not final)
-Democratic
Effects:
- Citizen factions Radicalization increment -20%.
-Oligarchic
Effects:
- Available Coalitions +1.
- Coalition Influence maintenance -25%.
-Imperial
Effects:
- May change faction In power manually at a high Influence cost.
Civics
Some additions to Civics:
(Again, values not final)
-Cutthroat Politics
Effects:
- Influence cost of Ilegalized interaction -50%.
-Parliamentary System
Effects:
- (Changed) Faction Influence gain +20%.
- Unity +3% per Legalized faction.
New:
-Shareholder Enterprise
Effects:
- Faction Influence gain +20%.
- Unity +3% per Legalized faction.
Conclusion
In the end, there are many mechanisms to prevent the rise of Radicalism (ex. Coalition) in your factions and also ways to stop the Influence drain of radical factions (ex. Illegalize them). So the point would be to keep a balance between radicalism and influence drainage while also prevent them to spark an insurrection and survive until the next election. Is a simple mechanic, just a threshold and a gain/drain variable. It doens't add many complexities but at least factions are more than just a checklist for more influence and you would be going back once in a while to the factions menu to check if some faction is radicalizing. There would be notifications when a faction becomes Militant or Revolutionary, or when an Insurrection is about to happen.
If you liked the suggestion please upvote it so it doesn't get ignored. Also I invite you to check my other suggestion, also related with elections.
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