UPDATE 18 - TESTING DONE AND NEW 3.0 ANNOUNCEMENTHi all,
I must say to have a break was nice and I am now back with a doubled effort. During these holidays I have analyzed the many messages on the features many people wanted to see and or know if they could be implemented. You will be glad to know that except for a few things I managed to put them all in the new update. In the end, I also had the time to look at the Totalitarianism and Oligarchy overhaul. I had to put my AAR on hold because of that as a lot of testing was required (at least one playthrough per modification). I expect to keep working on minor fixes during the next 2 or 3 weeks, but I will do that while keep updating the Political Story, so if you are one of the many readers (400 per post estimated, really really a huge thank you!) rest assured there are going to be some updates soon, probably this week already.
Back to the update: what's new? Well...EVERYTHING! This is why it did make no sense to call the update 2.3 and we have jumped straight into the 3.0 which will include the OLIGARCHY DLC.
The news from the ex 2.3 base simulator first.
There is an entirely new UI which is a rework of the government page and the Home Page (which is now obsolete and deleted). I noticed that I spent more time on the Government Page anyway and the graphics were the only thing that kept me going there, so why not merging them? Done. In doing that a lot of double entries and N/A have been replaced with a blank space and merged into a unique line. In some cases, new tooltips will appear to let you know what is the problem. Cannot vote a motion? Tooltip with cause, etc.
A new Set graphic has been included as well. These are adding to other additions, fixes, and rework posted in the past 2 or 3 months. Literally, every aspect has been refined, polished, and balanced, effectively completing the 2.0 iteration.
Now the new contents and the expansion.
The Oligarchy was the only government form that I couldn't fully test and thanks to many other player feedback who do prefer this system I could collect enough data to actually expand this mechanic without needing to put too much thinking into it. I did have an idea which I have obviously kept while writing the code and designing it and then I have integrated all the suggestions and balances around that.
An oligarchy is a form that mostly revolves around 1 important figure. That could be a King as could be a Totalitarian leader. To recycle the prestige would have not been enough. I always wanted to use the Aurora generated traits somehow and guess what? I did it. Over 150 traits have been all included and they all generate a positive or negative buff. I have ripped off the database, found them, checked the groups, the opposites, and more. I also ensured that the total of the buffs will end up with a big fat 0 to avoid unbalances.
Oligarchy will be then split into 3 main doctrines: Monarchy, Corporate, and Totalitarian. You will also have to decide what is the criteria for the leader to be in power between Birthright, Confidence, Election, and (of course) Life. Election time and other minor things will be automated. I am going to add a small gif for you to see, but I am really proud of this update. I am actually enjoying playing it myself! There is so much into it in terms of roleplay and all it takes if for you to paste and copy the data from Aurora.
Currently, you have 1 Ruler and can nominate up to 3 Successors so that any sort of plot will be doable. A king which sees his realm threatened by his 3 children, a CEO who is losing grip against another 2 or 3 managers, or a Falling Dictator stubbed on the back by his right hand. You name it, you (hopefully) getting it.
There is so much that to actually write the changelog I will have to write a separate post.
Good news: it's completed! So you can expect a release during the weekend.
Thanks, everybody for your messages and constant ideas on how to improve the file, I really appreciated it, please do carry on!
