Is there a manual for this game? I don’t see one after the installation. I’m trying to figure out what the number in the Inertia box means. I really don’t understand the rollover text. If, for example, there is a 4, does that mean something is in process and I won’t see the results for 4 more turns (1 year)? Or does it mean that once I modify the policy it will take 4 turns to be in effect?
In addition, how does this relate to the information at the top about how long it will take to be implemented. I’m looking at a policy which has 3 effects, 2 of them with a 4 Inertia, and the other with 0. At the top it says 48 months to implement. What does all of this mean?
Aha, yes, its complex. here goes:
Inertia means that the actual value that is looked at is ‘x’ turns old. So if we are the effect of police force policy reducing crime, and inertia was 4, that means that the actual effect on crime is 4 turns out of date. So if I raise police spending, it will take 4 turns to see the effect. if I cut spending, it will take 4 turns for that to filter through. This can vary from effect to effect within the same policy.
Implementation is different.
If something takes 10 turns to implement, then it gradually ‘fades in’ over those 10 turns. So at the end of turn 1, it is 10% done and having 10% of the effect. This also means that changes to the policy can take ‘up to’ 10 turns to happen. So if the policy is at zero and you move the slider to maximum, this will slowly happen over 10 turns. if its a minor adjustment, its obviously quicker. This is totally different from inertia. Only policies have implementation time, but all kinds of effects can have inertia.
The best way to look at it is like this:
Say it takes 10 turns to implement a new police force. This is the time it takes to recruit new police, train them and get them on the streets. There will be some police on the streets sooner than this, and gradually the entire force will be recruited. it takes 4 turns for this new police presence to actually filter through to the criminals enough that they go and get proper jobs. (but this will seem to fade in too, because the number of police is fading in over time).
So in total, the full effect will take 14 turns to happen, although other effects within the same policy (with different inertias) will respond differently.
I guess it is a bit confusing, but it’s trying to model different stuff. Implementation delays are there so that policies with a lot of infrastructure (like laying new railway track) take time to put in place. inertia is there so we can model effects that are very gradual (it takes a while for any measures that raise literacy to take effect, because people are at school for a long time etc).
Does that make sense?
It makes much more sense after that explanation. Thanks. I think that this is a great game, even though I’m not doing very well at it. I think it’s time I looked at some to the strategy tips! 
A follow up question:
Is it not possible to see how far along the change you are? For example, I increased Science Funding from halfway to full. For the rest of the turn I see the ghost image of my desired output. This policy says that it can take up to 12 months to implement. However, the next turn it was already at my destination. How can I tell whether I changed that policy 3 months ago, 6 months ago, etc.?
When you are implementing a new policy, that bar just under the description shows its progress. When you are changing a policy, the ghosted slider shows its current position. It will not take the full implementation time to move the slider, unless you are going from 0 to 1, because that’s the ‘maximum’ implementation time.
So does that mean that when I look at a Policy, I don’t know it inertia is in effect for it or not? It may have already passed the inertia phase from the last time I changed it, correct?
the inertia is different for each effect in a policy. if the inertia is 4, that means that from that effect’s POV, its looking at the value from 4 turns ago. If the value of the policy or situation or whatever is constant, that doesn’t matter, but if it has varied a lot, it will.