Election promises and manifesto

What has happened with the election promises and manifestos from Democracy 2? Will it be added or is it already in the game and I am missing something? Winning elections in this game seems like just another turn.

I removed them for this version because I didn’t feel that they were especially popular with players or really added much to the game. They did seem to be more of a chore than a fun feature, but I’m happy to be argued around :smiley:

I am not familiar with the other games in this series, however, This game mechanic sounds fun (yes I will Google it later). A system where election promises can be made in exchange for political support would be cool. I assume your promises would have a greater effect on happiness than other topics. Failure to come through hurts, but keeping your promises is also very beneficial.

Hell, you could make an expansion pack for this game that would be centered around election campaigns/more personalized politicking. It would add more to the happiness system then just the fear of being shot by extremist. Now you have to run a country and win an election which is based off of much more than just “how well are you doing = Vote %”. It would also be cool if you could pick your Vice President. Maybe picking a VP from the opposing party would help with political capital generation but cost cabinet loyalty or something. Just spit balling really but I would love to see this game further developed and I would pay for the expansion as well.

I would also like to see a game mechanic where your money actually matters. Sure when you are in a debt crisis everything takes a hit but you never default or anything like that. The loans never end and I think I read one the forums that one person was able to play the game normally till they had the situation in the country the way they wanted it, and then they cut all sources of income except for loans/debt. The credit rating was the lowest but nothing else really changed, including GDP which survived.

Get working on that expansion pack pronto! please :slight_smile:

I agree, Id like to see elections play a bigger role and Id like to have the option to lobby parliamentary/congressional leaders and members, gauge support for policies among business and elected officials etc. In the US scenario cabinet members would have to pass a vote in the senate.

I’d very much like to see election promises make a return. They put me in a few scrambles last time around; fond memories of a market meltdown skyrocketing unemployment five turns before election, when I’d promised a 10% drop! Cue an utterly desperate scramble to create jobs (where are those tree protection specialists when I need them) before election day.

I also think the debt ceiling could use reintroduction. I know no country has actually gone bankrupt this time around (even if it did get close), but if it’s possible to give up your income without consequence, that needs fixing. Two solutions suggest themselves:

a) If you hit Debt crisis at 250% Debt/GDP, then at 500% the IMF assumes control of your country, and it’s game over. Simple, but not massively exciting.

b) Your ability to secure new debt become conditional, ala the Troika. This would work in conjunction with the above suggestion, but you would also have to deal with external demands. For example, the troika requires you to raise Income Tax to 60% within 3 turns, or your next bailout tranche fails to arrive, leading to a default and game over.

I would definitely like to see an election campaign mini game, as well a dynamic opposition party function, that responds to which sections of voters you are and aren’t appealing to, and then pile on having them making ridiculous promises, misleading the public and all that political jazz.

I noticed they were gone, didn’t fret about it much but … given a yes no choice i would rather have them back.

i like the idea of there being minor punishments and rewards for fulfilling or breaking promises. If kept promises fed into your activist count that would be a neat way to do it.

I’d love to have this back! I was surprised when it didn’t come up. I’d also like - as someone else suggested - to include things like rigged elections and fraud and maybe even something similar to what Tropico does where you have an election speech? One of the thing’s I find about this game is that I don’t feel connected to my constituents really at all; they’re just faces on issues and groups. I don’t have a voice and nether do they. Perhaps you add rally’s when people are unhappy (I’d like to know what the capitalists REALLY want, because usually I have no clue!) and have each cabinet member say something about each policy or just ever few policies you implement.

Hmmm interesting ideas here :smiley: I was always worried about democracy 3 being too complex, but ti seems you aren’t too bothered by it’s current complexity. Then I play eve online, and wonder how I ever thought Democracy 3 was complicated :smiley:

Maybe an expansion pack based on US electoral campaign like West Wing series…

I’d like complexity. I’m even more interested in buying it, expecially after TotalBuiscuits review and your last blog video!

I would welcome a more complex election system back into the game. And as stated being able to negotiate with members of parliament, or being able to sway public opinion through giving interviews (where there was a chance of bungling the interview as well).

Loving the interview idea! You could give the player a chance before to interview to read up a bit on what this news station’s editorial bias usually is, and what stories they’ve been focusing on. Then present them with a text based conversation tree with the interviewer asking questions. The player has a varying number of possible answers, depending on the nature of the question, then depending on the answer, the interviewer will either pursue that issue further or move on to a new topic. At the end, depending on how you responded, your numbers in the polls for each category of voters go up or down.

This and the idea before it are amazing ideas. I’d love to see something like this! Yes please more complexity XD