Suggestion: Open and Secretive Governments- New Policies and Morality Axis

[Dementor4]

It bothers me that any action you take is immediately public knowledge to all your citizens and other space empires you're in contact with.

So, suggestion: A number of policies have a new checkbox: "secret"

So for example your options for purge are "Allowed, Prohibited, Xenos Only, Allowed (Secret) and Xenos Only (Secret)"

Your own pops would be kept from the truth by suppressing the factions that witness the atrocities, which generally spring up on planets where those atrocities happen. Other empires would be informed either by your own truth-seeking factions getting their support to the point where they "go public" or by a science vessel scan of an atrocity in progress at which point they have the option to reveal it or keep your secret, a choice they make based on their relationship with you, their own feelings about the nature of the atrocity, and their own place on the secret/open axis.

 

[Dementor4]

Diplomatic and Internal consequences for a secret atrocity made public would be much worse than performing those actions without deception.

Secrecy and Openness are themselves core values of a people and governments, so they could have their own morality axis as well:

Some ideas for Secretive and Open empire/pop modifiers:
Open/Fanatically Open Empires:
+20/60% higher maximum Trust (Pairs nicely with Pacifict)
Open/Fanatically Open Pops:
-10/30% Policy Unhappiness (Pairs nicely with Egalitarian's empire modifier. This is a "at least they're honest about it" idea)
+20/60% Secrecy Unhappiness (counters the effect of)

Secretive/Fanatically Secretive Empires:
-33/100% Treaty duration for breaking an alliance (The best backstabbers)
Secretive/Fanatically Secretive Pops:
20/60% less likely to join factions (they mind their own business)

 

[Dementor4]

This new morality axis would benefit greatly from an Espionage system: both open and secretive governments would make use of Espionage, secretive governments to manipulate other governments, open governments to learn the truth about what other governments are attempting to keep secret. However, this idea is independent of an Espionage system, so I won't go too deep into that idea here.

 

[BIGTEX285]

I was thinking about something similar, pertaining to a war exhaustion mechanic. So, like your idea, you can set policies about what you tell your own POPS, and they find out about the outcomes of battles your empire is involved in, depending on what you want to tell them. I like the possibility of factions that are angry, or just truthful, telling your POPS what is actually happening. That would make going to war a much more serious, and dangerous endeavor.

 

[Dementor4]

I was thinking about something similar, pertaining to a war exhaustion mechanic. So, like your idea, you can set policies about what you tell your own POPS, and they find out about the outcomes of battles your empire is involved in, depending on what you want to tell them. I like the possibility of factions that are angry, or just truthful, telling your POPS what is actually happening. That would make going to war a much more serious, and dangerous endeavor.

Could be an interesting penalty of having your planet occupied: the occupying army could learn the truth about your secret policies from the (normally) suppressed truth-seeking factions. Or if the occupying government knows the truth and your own people don't, the flow of information could go the other way, with the occupying armies sharing the information with your pops, adding support to those truth-seeking factions.

But yeah, having a "secret" warfare policy would be neat as well. A pacifist/secretive government could keep its population happy by simply not informing them that they're at war! "Everything is fine, pay no attention to the invading armies, go about your business, thank you."

Secret robotics policies would also be entertaining. Secret robots hiding amongst us is a well-trod trope, after all.

 

[BIGTEX285]

Could be an interesting penalty of having your planet occupied: the occupying army could learn the truth about your secret policies from the (normally) suppressed truth-seeking factions. Or if the occupying government knows the truth and your own people don't, the flow of information could go the other way, with the occupying armies sharing the information with your pops, adding support to those truth-seeking factions.

But yeah, having a "secret" warfare policy would be neat as well. A pacifist/secretive government could keep its population happy by simply not informing them that they're at war! "Everything is fine, pay no attention to the invading armies, go about your business, thank you."

Secret robotics policies would also be entertaining. Secret robots hiding amongst us is a well-trod trope, after all.

Ah, the diplomatic intrigue is making my mouth water!

 

[PalmettoExplorer14]

I like this. Adds intrigue to the mix.

 

[Mighty Mosculloid]

This is a great idea. There are already some nice edicts like propaganda broadcasts that evoke sci-fi tropes of governments suppressing info but it would be much more satisfying to have it part of gameplay like this. I know people will say "this'll come as part of the espionage DLC" but Paradox still haven't made that for CK2 after all this time so it probably isn't compatible with how the games and AI work. A simple (secret) or (known) value for all your nefarious deeds would do the job nicely, or a government or faction-wide version of CK2 plots.

My civilisation of mandatory-happiness Joyshrooms has just become much more sinister due to the secret purges of the unsmiling ones occurring on backwater planets...

 

[BlackUmbrellas]

Seems overly complex. Why not just make a new Policy that controls the level of media suppression? Ranging from "Full Transparency" to "Iron Curtain".

 

[Dementor4]

Seems overly complex. Why not just make a new Policy that controls the level of media suppression? Ranging from "Full Transparency" to "Iron Curtain".

Well what is and isn't public knowledge may change based on your circumstances. If you want to create an alliance with a slaver nation then you'll want the fact that slavery is legal in your country to be public knowledge so it will count towards your diplomacy with that empire, but then you probably still want to keep the genocide under wraps.

But then to be upfront, I love complexity in a game.

 

[Dementor4]

A few more ideas. I'm not 100% how civics work, but here's what I'm thinking about.


Civic Type: Shadow Government

True democracy is a fiction, a pleasant illusion for the masses. Led by a secret cabal or czar, your empire is adept at keeping secrets.
Requirements: Secretive or Fanatically Secretive, Oligarchy or Monarchy
Benefits:
-You gain the "No Voting (Secret)" or "Elitism (Secret)" policy which is enabled by default. While secret, you're treated as if you have the "Free Vote" policy by your pops and by other governments.
-Suppressing Truth-seeking factions costs 30% less influence.


Civic Type: The Fourth Estate

Your press is sacrosanct, treated almost as if it were a branch of the government itself and given unusual freedom to seek out the truth wherever it may be. Reporters from your nation are revered for their courage and tenacity.
Requirements: Open or Fanatically Open
Benefits:
-You periodically have a chance to gain information about the wrongdoings of foreign governments, as if one of their planets had been scanned by a science vessel, bypassing the restrictions of closed borders. You have no direct control over which government is targeted or which planet they investigate, though the reporters are more likely to target your rivals and less likely to target your allies.