After playing the game for a perhaps embarrassing amount of time, I have come to the conclusion that, in their current state, federations do not add much to the game that alliances don’t already cover. As it stands federations offer no additional bonuses to members that are not the current president and come with the significant drawback of losing control over your foreign policy. Additionally because the office of president is not elected, but instead passes form one member to the next you can be sitting around for 30+ years doing nothing with no option but to leave the federation. In my personal opinion federations should exist for mutual benefit of all members and not for the president’s sole benefit. While I am sure that Paradox will eventually come up with a solution, probably more elegant then my own, I thought I would share my ideas with the community.
Below are some suggestions I came up with on how to add on to the federation mechanics.
Apologies if these have been covered in another thread as I have not read every thread and have only done a cursory search. Additional apologies if none of it make any sense as I tend to think faster than I type, and things often get lost in transition from my brain to my keyboard.
Electors and Elections: Each member of a federation will be given one elector to vote on who becomes the federation’s president. Initially electors will back the empire they represent but by spending influence you can bribe them to support you. Each time an elector is bribed it gets more expensive to bribe them again, however each member gets a slight discount to bribing their own elector. At the end of the election cycle the person with the most votes gains the presidency and the electors revert to backing their own empires with any remaining influence spent lost. If the current president is reelected then that country gets a stacking negative modifier making it more expensive to bribe electors with each reelection won. If the empire that controls the president loses a reelection then that negative modifier is lost and bribes return to their normal price.
Federal Programs: If you are unwilling or unable to compete for the presidency you could instead opt to spend your influence on a federal program. Federal programs would be similar to Europa Universalis IV’s papal mechanic, where you spend influence for bonus. These bonuses could range from an instant infusion of credits/minerals to cheaper ships for a period of time to a highly skilled leader. Each program would have a cooldown timer that would have to expire before being used again.
Federal Authority: Federal Authority would be a new resource/mechanic that the federation’s president would have to deal with if they want to pass reforms. Federal Authority would exist on a scale of 0 to 100 and when it reaches 100 the president could then enact the next reform. After enacting a reform the federal authority meter would return to zero and the process would begin again. Authority would be gained by winning wars (with defensive wars worth a lot more than offensive ones), being reelected, random events, or spending a large amount of influence once per term. Authority would be lost by losing wars, having an offensive war drag on too long, losing a reelection, or random events. Additionally the federation’s size and number of reforms enacted would have a negative impact on all authority gains, making smaller, newer, federations more efficient than large federations with many reforms passed.
Reforms: When a federation is first founded it would be little more than an alliance with a more unified foreign policy starting with no other bonuses, including the federal navy. However by passing reforms the federation would gain access to the federal navy and other federation wide bonuses. When all the reforms have been passed two and mutually exclusive reforms will become available which would allow you to try and unify the federation under either a federal republic or a new imperial order, but risks starting a civil war. Successfully passing either one of the last two reforms will forever disable your new nation from creating or joining another alliance/federation. Examples of some reforms could include:
Form Federal Navy: Activates the federal navy mechanic for the president and would likely be the first reform.
Institute Naval Tax: All members pay a portion of the maintenance cost of the federal navy.
Found Federal Academy: All members get a cost reduction to recruiting new leaders.
Regulate Interstate Commerce: All members get a bonus to energy credit production.
Draft New Constitution: Attempts to unify the member states into one nation under a democratic government. Militarist and Collectivist members are more likely to militarily oppose this reform.
Dissolve the Federal Senate: Attempts to unify the member states under a new autocratic government. Militarist and Individualist members are more likely to militarily oppose this reform.
Civil Wars: Civil wars can occur in two different situations either when a president who has negative relations with half the federation members is elected or when a president tries to enact the final reform. In the case of a civil war started by an unpopular president being elected, the president would receive an ultimatum to either resign the presidency or face civil war. If the president resigns then a new election takes place with the former president’s empire being ineligible as a candidate and war is avoided. If the president refuses then war breaks out between the president and their supporters and the rebels. This war would have a special locked in war goal for both sides, with white peace being disabled. If the rebels win then the current president is forced to resign, with the leader of the rebels becoming the new president, all federal authority is lost, one level of reforms is revoked, and the former president’s nation is unable to become president for 20-30 years. If the president wins however then they immediately gain fifty federal authority and a modifier that makes it cheaper to bribe electors for the next 20-30 years. A civil war triggered by the final reform will behave a little bit differently than one triggered by unpopular president. After the president attempts to unite the federation an event will sent to all the member states asking if they support it or not. If all members accept then war is avoided and an event fires for the president that annexes all federation members and changes your government to the new one, but if anyone refuses then a civil war begins. Factors that would determine acceptance include relation to the president, ethos, galactic threats, and what kind of government you trying to enforce, with certain governments/ethos refusing to accept if it goes against their ideals (e.g. democracies/individualists will always refuse becoming an autocracy). The war goals for this kind of civil war would be slightly different the rebels would get a war goal which if enforced would force the president’s empire out of the federation entirely and ban them from ever rejoining. The war goal for the president is less spectacular, essentially being a white peace with a higher warscore cost and granting 20% happiness for a decade or so. The real prize for the president come after peace is signed when an event fires annexing the federation members and changing your government to the new advanced one for free. In all cases of civil war the federal navy would act neutral towards the rebels and president, but if an outside force declares war on the federation, even the rebelling members, then the navy is free to respond.
Below are some suggestions I came up with on how to add on to the federation mechanics.
Apologies if these have been covered in another thread as I have not read every thread and have only done a cursory search. Additional apologies if none of it make any sense as I tend to think faster than I type, and things often get lost in transition from my brain to my keyboard.
Electors and Elections: Each member of a federation will be given one elector to vote on who becomes the federation’s president. Initially electors will back the empire they represent but by spending influence you can bribe them to support you. Each time an elector is bribed it gets more expensive to bribe them again, however each member gets a slight discount to bribing their own elector. At the end of the election cycle the person with the most votes gains the presidency and the electors revert to backing their own empires with any remaining influence spent lost. If the current president is reelected then that country gets a stacking negative modifier making it more expensive to bribe electors with each reelection won. If the empire that controls the president loses a reelection then that negative modifier is lost and bribes return to their normal price.
Federal Programs: If you are unwilling or unable to compete for the presidency you could instead opt to spend your influence on a federal program. Federal programs would be similar to Europa Universalis IV’s papal mechanic, where you spend influence for bonus. These bonuses could range from an instant infusion of credits/minerals to cheaper ships for a period of time to a highly skilled leader. Each program would have a cooldown timer that would have to expire before being used again.
Federal Authority: Federal Authority would be a new resource/mechanic that the federation’s president would have to deal with if they want to pass reforms. Federal Authority would exist on a scale of 0 to 100 and when it reaches 100 the president could then enact the next reform. After enacting a reform the federal authority meter would return to zero and the process would begin again. Authority would be gained by winning wars (with defensive wars worth a lot more than offensive ones), being reelected, random events, or spending a large amount of influence once per term. Authority would be lost by losing wars, having an offensive war drag on too long, losing a reelection, or random events. Additionally the federation’s size and number of reforms enacted would have a negative impact on all authority gains, making smaller, newer, federations more efficient than large federations with many reforms passed.
Reforms: When a federation is first founded it would be little more than an alliance with a more unified foreign policy starting with no other bonuses, including the federal navy. However by passing reforms the federation would gain access to the federal navy and other federation wide bonuses. When all the reforms have been passed two and mutually exclusive reforms will become available which would allow you to try and unify the federation under either a federal republic or a new imperial order, but risks starting a civil war. Successfully passing either one of the last two reforms will forever disable your new nation from creating or joining another alliance/federation. Examples of some reforms could include:
Form Federal Navy: Activates the federal navy mechanic for the president and would likely be the first reform.
Institute Naval Tax: All members pay a portion of the maintenance cost of the federal navy.
Found Federal Academy: All members get a cost reduction to recruiting new leaders.
Regulate Interstate Commerce: All members get a bonus to energy credit production.
Draft New Constitution: Attempts to unify the member states into one nation under a democratic government. Militarist and Collectivist members are more likely to militarily oppose this reform.
Dissolve the Federal Senate: Attempts to unify the member states under a new autocratic government. Militarist and Individualist members are more likely to militarily oppose this reform.
Civil Wars: Civil wars can occur in two different situations either when a president who has negative relations with half the federation members is elected or when a president tries to enact the final reform. In the case of a civil war started by an unpopular president being elected, the president would receive an ultimatum to either resign the presidency or face civil war. If the president resigns then a new election takes place with the former president’s empire being ineligible as a candidate and war is avoided. If the president refuses then war breaks out between the president and their supporters and the rebels. This war would have a special locked in war goal for both sides, with white peace being disabled. If the rebels win then the current president is forced to resign, with the leader of the rebels becoming the new president, all federal authority is lost, one level of reforms is revoked, and the former president’s nation is unable to become president for 20-30 years. If the president wins however then they immediately gain fifty federal authority and a modifier that makes it cheaper to bribe electors for the next 20-30 years. A civil war triggered by the final reform will behave a little bit differently than one triggered by unpopular president. After the president attempts to unite the federation an event will sent to all the member states asking if they support it or not. If all members accept then war is avoided and an event fires for the president that annexes all federation members and changes your government to the new one, but if anyone refuses then a civil war begins. Factors that would determine acceptance include relation to the president, ethos, galactic threats, and what kind of government you trying to enforce, with certain governments/ethos refusing to accept if it goes against their ideals (e.g. democracies/individualists will always refuse becoming an autocracy). The war goals for this kind of civil war would be slightly different the rebels would get a war goal which if enforced would force the president’s empire out of the federation entirely and ban them from ever rejoining. The war goal for the president is less spectacular, essentially being a white peace with a higher warscore cost and granting 20% happiness for a decade or so. The real prize for the president come after peace is signed when an event fires annexing the federation members and changing your government to the new advanced one for free. In all cases of civil war the federal navy would act neutral towards the rebels and president, but if an outside force declares war on the federation, even the rebelling members, then the navy is free to respond.
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