Post-Release Comprehensive Balance Package, for all your glitch budgeting needs. 
- General Media Censorship doesn’t boost corruption.
- Flash Crash and Cryptocurrency Crash occur within 1-2 turns in my Spanish Game as of v1.48. This cratered my economy by 34%. Causing issues with budget balance and credit rating, these need to be nerfed.
- We need more market forces in game. By this I mean, more prices. Currently, we only have food and rare earth prices, we need more marketization.
- As suggested by me multiple times earlier, private housing needs some positives for it to be properly balanced. I propose for the moment that it makes Capitalists happy and increases the income of the wealthy.
- In v1.48, I got 99.8% of the votes in Spain in the 3rd term. Balance needed.
- Graphics for carpool rape are the same as those for the Quantum Computing Event (v1.48), this needs to be changed.
- Left the Union with high foreign relations and then rejoined it not long after. Needs balance, perhaps inertia?
- Social Care should improve mental health.
- Gender Equality should feed into equality.
- Unable to click and enter categories I could earlier (v1.48), such as seen here with “food prices” (v1.48)
- Shared Parental Leave option, allow “Shared Leave” should increase maternity leave policy cost.
- Diverted Profits Tax should please patriots, especially during Multinational Tax Evasion.
- At zero poverty, food stamps can help us improve equality by 11% at no cost.
- Trade Council should please Capitalists.
- Have companies put their tax breaks and stimulus from government QE into savings and dividend payouts, instead of investment, for which I recommend a savings (and investment) sim, if it’s not already modelled in a hidden manner.
- We need to reflect that machines don’t consume goods and services outside of spare parts and electricity, so by compensating for investment vs consumption (workers laid off), increased automation should lead to lower inflation.
- QE should have a reduced impact on inflation and GDP. It should have a higher impact on Asset prices than CPI, if the granularity of D4 allows for this.
work570.pdf - Google Drive - Model Non-Market Consumption. Such as planned economy, fixed price, gift economy and the simulated market system. Some of this is already done through state enterprises, price caps, charity, etc. My hope is that this could be expanded.
- Border wall should impact the envrionment.
- Cancelling Debt should boost inflation (for now Mortgage Tax Relief Policy)
- Gated communities too effective at increasing the opinion of conservatives.
- Total Ban on Abortion should not reduce population reduction to zero. As illegal abortions still happen.
- As of v1.48, Compass Right-Authoritarian Quadrant needs clean-up, is too cluttered.
- Higher Freedom of Speech should lower mental health. It translates to allowing hostile, violent and aggressive speech too.
- Tarrifs should boost automation (For ex. when Trump threatened and Tarrifed American companies taken jobs to Mexico, they came back, but then they just hired robots instead.
). - Inequality, crime, poverty, etc. should lower mental health.
A stunning map of depression rates around the world - The Washington Post (archive.org) - Kludgeocracy, this could work in game, if it’s already there subsumed under bureaucracy, if the level of bureaucracy was also dependent on the intensity of the policy.
Kludgeocracy in America | National Affairs. - Accepting the opening up of farmer’s lands and rights of way, should displease liberals (as understood in game, classical liberals).
- Overwhelming use of force, nor softer approaches to crime should stop crime, as both methods have failed in the Mexican Drug War. The remaining options would be to legalize and regulate drugs, to undermine their markets. Or one could argue all three approaches. Although with that approach (legalization), you’re also exposing more people to harmful drugs (and increased CO2 emissions from all those weed greenhouses guzzling electricity).
So, what’s the other answer? Become a narcostate and boost corruption (by 50-100%)? Or create some sort of demand crisis? Which drops the prices of drugs precipitously and makes them unprofitable?
Of course all this is in the context of Mexico and that too a war on drugs, with the largest arms exporter with very lax weapons policies to your North, but I thought that we could take something away from this insight and include it in the game.
(High education and low unemployment should reduce drug use).
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Welfare spending should boost corruption (free money flowing), which can be reduced by the Welfare Fraud Department (i.e. the Welfare Fraud Department will become a more important policy and welfare will no longer be just a Universal good, furthermore, for all the bureaucracy that it creates, it’d be great for balance purposes for it to have one more benefit).
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Private Army policy, if it is ever implemented should boost organized crime.
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The border wall should reduce organized crime (I know that they can build tunnels and fly), but it’s likely that it makes crime and smuggling much harder because these alternatives are tougher (tunnels may seem easy at first glance, but they need to be stocked with food, water, ventilation, and they can be discovered by ground penetrating radar, i.e. police/intelligence at high funding, and planes are highly regulated). Which brings to its follow up, that banning flights should also reduce organized crime.
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A strong intelligence agency should undermine the government (PRISM, PROJECT MKULTRA, etc.)
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Inequality should boost crime.
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More soft options to reduce crime and terrorism. As this article shows that only 7% of all terrorist groups have laid down their arms by the use of military force, the rest have either joined the political process or stood down through law enforcement, so I suggest that balance involve policies related to softer security methods and for the “offer amnesty” dilemma to reduce crime and radicalization. This balance should be in parallel to making hard security options more difficult in reducing crime, but also pleasing conservatives ( this would solve the issue where pleasing conservatives leads to their decline, solving crime through a mixture of liberal and conservatives solutions can lead to the decline of conservatives or their vote for you, this would probably be more balanced).
The Global War on Terror Will Never End Terrorism - Inkstick -
Change Press Freedom Colour in the Security Screen to make it clear that higher press freedom means lower security (i.e. colour it red rather than green, I understand your intent Cliff, but all it does is confuse players, I have to do a double take a few times, even though I’m a pro and I know your reasons behind it).
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Inequality should feed into extremist nationalism.
a. https://www.dukeupress/red-hangover
b. Capitol insurrection: Most of the people charged, like Jenna Ryan, showed signs of prior money troubles - The Washington Post (archive.org)
c. Most of the Defendants Charged in Capitol Riots Had a History of Financial Difficulty | The National Interest
d. A majority of the people arrested for Capitol riot had a history of financial trouble - The Boston Globe
e. US Capitol riots: Nearly 60% of charged have had financial troubles | Daily Mail Online
f. The defendants charged in the Capitol insurrection have something in common: a history of financial woes | Business Insider India
Disagreement:
(i) Jan. 6 arrests: A year later, we know exactly who the Capitol rioters were—and it’s not comforting. (slate.com) (this of course begs the question, of whether the mainstream is financially insecure or not in America, or whether having less access to books, makes you more susceptible to extremism).
(ii) The Thoroughly Respectable Capitol Rioters - The Atlantic (the poor of different races forming an alliance are the best resistance against RW extremism) -
Banning divorce should raise the population by a bit, as more babies are born on average among those who are married than those who are divorced, as divorced people have less sex.
(a) Married people have more sex (page 2, panel 1 for this phrase, search “married”, see the next page for accuracy of estimates): https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/general/lancet_2.pdf
(b) Legal (and unilateral/easy) divorce reduces birth rate:
Microsoft Word - ag-divorce-0407.doc (harvard.edu), although as the conclusion mentions it’s possible, as the data from 1970-1980 for 18+ women shows that pregnant women likely get married more often, and since divorce is easy, it could lead to bad marriages and break-ups (there’s not much incentive to stay together so people just get married and then divorce, is what it seems to be), nonetheless, regardless of why and when for what reasons women get married, section 4.4 states clearly that 4 decades of US census data show that divorce seriously retards birth rates.
(c) In the most stark terms, marriage for women means 8-10 times the number of babies that unmarried women have. It seems at first glance that the strongest indicator for having children on average is marriage. The cultural story around sex, marriage, childrearing, etc., have all changed from one of necessity, to one of choice, in the United States, hence, the low need (but not want, atleast it seems from women) for commitment.
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Modify D4 Engine to support accumulations.
a. Proper GDP simulation? - #4 by AvianOverlord -
What does the gray arrow between income tax and poverty signify?
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With respect to my earlier post here: Adding a model of mental health to the game - #12 by Chantern15, why catastrophism about climate change is wrong and why disasters have declined (of course any good technocrat will tell you, why disasters have declined till now, this could change in the future, with respect to long-term equilibrium, but for now, they have declined).
Which brings me to “Huge Hurricane” balance. At the D4 Average Temperature Sim Value equivalent of +1.3 Degrees C of warming with respect to the pre-industrial baseline (1720-1800), the frequency of them should fall by 10-20% (hurricane intensity, as far as I know cannot be represented in D4, which if it could, would rise by 25%) and the damage as a share of the economy has fallen by ~35% (~0.25/6-0.17/8) when measured as percentage of global GDP between 1990-2020. Deaths have fallen by 92%, and this does not have to be adjusted by our investment in technology, as this is the base technological level achieved by mankind, so we can assume in game, that at the base technological level, deaths have fallen by 92%.
This is similar to when I argued about and requested for a reduction in the GDP penalty when we ban cluster bombs, which were earlier a ludicrous -4%, and now are the still ludicrous -1%, but vastly better {the real impact in the US would be less than -0.1%(~-0.02%) of GDP as seen in my post here}: Cluster Bombs Value Broken? - Democracy 4 - Positech Games, thank you for making that change Cliff. Compared to that, a huge hurricane impact of -1% to the GDP would be more realistic (0.02% v 0.17/8%).
“Huge Hurricanes” Balance proposal: Frequency at avg temp equivalent of +1.3 Degrees C w.r.t Pre-Industrial Temp in game should be = -10-20%. Damage to GDP should be = -1%.
- Situation/Balance: Where have all the good men gone? Apparently, to their homes.
Rising Gender Equality, Wokeness (i.e. number of American Liberals, like how BLM protests become more likely, with the number of Liberals present), positive discrimination, lack of resources to stay in Uni (unlike provisions made for minorities and women), Demonization (real or perceived, such as, all men are rapists, or all men are aggressors, racists, etc.), virtually no men’s colleges remaining, student debt, expense, poverty and a drive to self-sufficient/independent inculcated from a young age, socially ingrained role of provider, etc. makes college age men in the US drop-out from University. Women now make up 60% of all students in US Universities. I’m not taking a stance on this, I’m merely describing the various factors present which make men, or men convince themselves to leave Uni. Men leaving Uni hurts both women and men. Men have lower job opportunities in the future, even if they can earn now, women among other things have lower mate quality and less like-minded people to speak to, they can also choose to leave Uni, which can hurt their careers too. I can leave it to Cliff on how to represent this in game.
a. Why Are So Many Young Men Giving Up on College? - The Atlantic
b. https://hechingerreport.org/the-pandemic-is-speeding-up-the-mass-disappearance-of-men-from-college/
c. A Generation of American Men Give Up on College: ‘I Just Feel Lost’ - WSJ
d. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/01/why-men-arent-going-to-college-anymore/
e. The Silent Epidemic: Young Men Dropping Out of College | Psychology Today
f. College life: Decline of men on campuses hurts all of America
g. Why fewer men are attending college and what should be done (opinion)
h. Why Do Colleges Dislike Men? The Disappearing Collegiate Male
i. Men are missing from college campuses: What’s being done to bring them back? - CSMonitor.com
j. Professor: Trend of Fewer Men in College Leading to 'Mating Crisis'
k. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/its-no-surprise-if-men-decide-university-isnt-them
l. Men in the U.S. are abandoning college - Why?
n. With 50% more women than men enrolling, is HE failing?
o. Men Are Giving Up on College - WV MetroNews
p. Men Fall Behind in College Enrollment. Women Still Play Catch-Up at Work. - The New York Times
q. College Dropout Rate [2022]: by Year + Demographics
r. A Record Number Of American Men Are Abandoning College – OutKick
s. Opinion: Don’t blame women for the decline of men in college
t. Why the gap between men and women finishing college is growing | Pew Research Center
u. Why the gap between men and women finishing college is growing | Pew Research Center
v. With 50% more women than men enrolling, is HE failing?
w. With 50% more women than men enrolling, is HE failing?
x. Men Fall Behind in College Enrollment. Women Still Play Catch-Up at Work. - The New York Times (use archive.org if not able to view)
y. Men Are Giving Up on College - WV MetroNews
z. A Record Number Of American Men Are Abandoning College – OutKick
z1. Opinion: Don’t blame women for the decline of men in college
z2. Why community college students quit despite being almost finished
Balance proposal: When gender equality is high, debt relief policy is off, middle income is low, poverty is high, unemployment is high, inequality is high, university grants are low, socialists are high, positive discrimination is high, ethnic minorities are happy, racial tension is low or zero, GDP is high, internet speed is middling, financial regulation and taxation is low, gig-economy is present, education is high, have an event about men leaving college, which boosts the gig economy, makes ethinic minorities and socialists happy, increases cynicism, makes conservatives unhappy and reduces education by 5%.
- Digital Learning as a failure:
The failure of digital learning
Should impact the poor, reduce education, increase cynicism and make Capitalists happy.
(Very High State School Funding, high poverty, high unemployment, high tech, middling internet speed and high disease outbreak with curfews)
- Introduce narrative tension
Narrative tension
If you got the Windows 7 Joke, good on ya!
Now that I’m making less posts, they’ll be longer, like US Congress bills since the increase in the Filibuster! Meta-Humour!
Anyways, consolidated balance proposals.