A MORE PERFECT UNION
In honor of the upcoming 2012, US Presidential Election, this game is modelled on the American system of Government.
Obviously, this is not a completely accurate simulatution, but only an approximation with some significant modifications for the convienience of running and playing the game.
This game is more freefom and more structured than my past games.
Think of this as an Anarchy game, except instead of any player being able to simply shout out a game rule, there is a detailed system for putting laws into place.
The pace will be a little slower, and will have regular deadlines, in an effort to make the game easier to run and more accessible to players who aren't on the forum everyday.
The game will take a few weeks to ramp up to full speed, which I think is probably good as everyone starts coming off of summer and heavy vacation period.
SECTION I: THE THREE BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT
THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH
The leader of the Executive Branch is the President.
The President is elected to a 4 session term.
The President has the power to sign into law, or to veto, the bills passed by congress.
The President may circumvent congress by issuing Executive Orders.
The President may create on his own and pass one law per congress session (law still subject to approval of the Supreme Court).
If the President issues an Executive Order, the House of Representatives will automatically hold an Impeachment Vote during the next session of congress.
The President also serves as Commander and Chief of the Armed Forces.
Turn by turn control of militray units will be handled by Yahzuk.
The President may assign each military unit to one of the following functions:
National Guard - The unit protect the nation's borders
Expeditionary Forces - The unit will explore the unknown. Units will engage barbarians and enemy forces when deemed safe to do so.
Army X under the Command of Great General X - Unit will follow a Great General. The President may issue am objective to each General, such as "Capture city X" or "Defend Location X".
The Vice President is not represented in this game.
THE JUDICIARY BRANCH
The Judiciary Branch is lead by the Supreme Court, which shall be Yahzuk.
The Supreme Court has the power to review all laws and throw out any deemed unconstitutional (or bad for the game!)
The Supreme Court will break any deadlocked votes.
THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
The Legislative Branch consists of two Chambers of Congress.
The Senate
The Senate is made up of one Senator from every city.
Senators are elected to a 6 session term.
The senior most Senator of the largest party shall be the Senate Majority Leader.
The Senate Majority Leader controls the senate's agenda. This shall be represented in game by allowing the Senate Majority Leader to eliminate two bills each session (automatically fails vote).
The senior most Senator of the 2nd largest party shall be the Senate Minority Leader.
The Senate Minority Leader may lead a fillibuster to prevent the vote on a bill. This shall be represented in game by allowing the Senate Minority Leader to eliminate one bill each session (automatically fails vote).
If the President is impeached, the Senate shall vote whether or not to convict him.
The House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is made up up of one Representative per every four citizens in a city (round up).
Representatives are elected to a 4 session term.
At the beginning of each Presidential term, the House shall elect one of its members to be the Speaker of the House.
The Speaker of the House presides over the House. This shall be represented in game by allowing the Speaker to throw out one bill (automatically fails vote) during each sesison of congress.
The Speaker of the House shall become President if the President is removed from office before the end of his term.
The senior most Representative of the largest party shall be the Majority Leader.
The senior most Representative of the second largest party shall be the Minority Leader.
House leaders have a variety of powers in organizing their party members. This shall be represented in game by considering any Representatives who miss the voting deadline to have voted in the same way as their house leader.
If the President circumvents Congress by issuing an Executive Order, the House shall vote whether or not to impeach him.
SECTION II: THE WORKINGS GOVERNMENT
How a Bill becomes Law
1 During congress session N, each Senator and Representative may introduce one new bill.
New bills must be in the format of a simple, straightforward, single sentence statement.
Of course, in real life, laws are hideously complex things with all sorts of riders, but that would make the game impossible to run.
So here, you need to accomplish that by introducing many little bills in conjunction with other players.
If you can say it in a gramatically correct way without using conjunctions, you're probably OK.
Otherwise the Supreme Court may strike down your bill for being unconstitutional (too complicated for the game!)
2 At the end of congress session N, the Supreme Court (Yahzuk) shall review all newly introduced bills.
Any bills deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court shall be thrown out.
3 During congress session N+1, both the Senate and the House of Representatives shall separately vote on the bills passed forward by the Supreme Court.
If a bill passes in both chambers of congress, it is sent to the President.
4 During congress session N+2, the President shall sign into law or veto the bills passed by congress. Any bills not addressed by the President shall be considered vetoed (pocket veto)
Bills signed into law by the President become effective immediately.
5 During congress session N+3, any bills vetoed by the President will be revoted on in both houses.
If the bill passes with greater than 2/3 majority, congress will overrule the President and the bill becomes law.
Political Parties
Any player may form a political party.
There may be any number of political parties in the game.
Any player may join a political party.
A player may only belong to one political party at a time.
A player may switch political parties at the beginning of any congress session.
Members of a political party receive a score bonus corresponding to their party's control of the government.
A political party with 5 or more members will receive national recognition and be gauranteed a candidate spot in each election. (Instead of having to fight for the single "no party" spot on the ballot.
Running for Office
Any player may run for President.
A player may only run for congress as a Senator or Representative of the city where they live.
A player may not move to a new city in the middle of a campaign.
A player may campaign for re-election or election to a different office while in office.
A player may only be running for one office at a time (a player cannot run for Congress while running for President)
1 During congress session E-2, players must announce their candidacy for an upcoming election.
2 During congress session E-1, each recognized political party holds a primary election to select their party's candidate.
All candidates not belonging to a recognized party will be grouped together into a single "No Party" primary. A single "No Party" candidate will be selected.
Only registered members of a party may vote in primary elections.
3 During congress session E, the election is held.
4 The winning candidate takes office at the beginning of congress session E+1.
The Electoral College
Presidents are elected by the electoral college.
For Presidential elections, each city holds a separate election.
The winning candiate in each city will receive that city's electoral votes, which will be equal to the number of citizens in the city.
The candidate that receives the most electoral votes will win the election.
SECTION III: BASIC GAME INFO
Joining the Game
Any one may join the game.
There is no waiting list. You will be added to the game at the beginning of the next session of congress.
There are no "characters" in this game.
Each player will only have one persona, which will be themselves.
The only information you need to supply when signing up is what city you wish to live in (if signing up after we have more than one city!)
Deadlines
This game is intended to be more accessible to players who cannot check the forum every day.
The end of a congress session (Deadlines for information from players) will always be Friday.
The start of a congress session (update from Yahzuk) will be no later than Monday. If I can't do the update by Monday, the end of the congress session will be extended to the following Friday.
Player Activity
You may be as active or as inactive as you like.
You will need to be fairly active if you're going to convince your fellow citizens to elect you to office!
There is no penalty for being inactive, other than incurring the wrath of your fellow citizens.
Winning the Game
At the end of every congress session, each player shall receive a score.
It is not necessary to fully understand the scoring system to participate in this game.
In brief:
Choosing a Place to Live
All players must live in a city.
When joining the game, you may choose any city to live in.
Players may move to a different city during any session of congress.
A player may not move to a different city while holding a political office.
A player may not cast any votes during the session in which they move.
Players receive a score bonus depending on the per capita affluence of their city.
The President and Congressmen will still consider their city to be their home.
Some Basic Game Management
Congress shall meet every 10 turns without exception.
The United States is a fairly young country and the game shall start in the Renaissance Era.
The game level shall be Emporer. The game speed shall be EPIC. Other game settings are intentionally withheld from the players.
This game shall focus on national politics. Cities are governed in accordance to national law.
Cities shall have a default focus, unless a law dicates otherwise.
Cities shall produce wealth, unless a law dictates otherwise.
Workers shall be set to automated control, unless a law dicates otherwise.
Research shall follow the path generated by the game to reach Future Tech, unless a law dictates otherwise.
Social Policy saving shall be enabled. Social Policies will not be selected, unless a law dictates otherwise.
Promotion saving shall be enabled. Promotions will not be taken, unless a law dictates otherwise.
Settlers will take a nap, unless a law dicates otherwise.
Captured cities will be made into puppet states, unless a law dicates otherwise.
Requests from other nations will be refused, unless a law dictates otherwise.
Communication with other nations will be polite, unlesss a law dicates otherwise.
Start of the Game
It will take a couple preliminary congress sessions to set up the government before the game really gets rolling.
Please be patient and put the time to good use use planning with your party and campaigning your agendas!
Session -5: Declare candidacy for President, first Senator and Representative from Washington
Session -4: Primary Elections - this session to be skipped if congress primaries not required
Session -3: Elections
Session -2: First Meeting of Congress - Introduce Bills - does not count as part of 1st term - Executive Orders not allowed - this session can be accelerated with cooperation from congress
Session -1: 2nd Meeting of Congress - Vote on 1st Bills - does not count as part of 1st term - Executive Orders not allowed - this session can be accelerated with cooperation from congress
Session 0: 3rd Meeting of Congress - 1st Bills go to President - Official Start of Game
Session 1: 1st turn scores awarded - Declare candidacy for President and Represetative (Wash-1)
Session 2: Primary Elections for President and Representative (Wash-1)
Session 3: Elections - President and Representative (Wash-1) - Declare candidacy for Senate (Wash)
Session 4: 2nd Presidential Term begins - 2nd Representative Turn Begins (Wash 1) - Primary Election for Senator (Wash)
Session 5: Senate Election
Session 6: 2nd Senate Term begins (Wash)
SECTION IV: SCORING SYSTEM
At the end of every congress session, the nation will generate points depending on our demographic rankings.
Points = Sum of All Demographics (11 - Ranking)^2
There are 8 demographic categories and 10 civilizations in this game (including the United States).
Therefore the total points awarded each congress session will be between 8 (last place in all categories) and 800 (first place in all categories)
The total points generated will be divided equally into 5 parts and distributed as follows.
Part 1: The President
The President is the highest office in the land and the aspiration of many a young politician.
The President receives the first portion of the points (20%) all for himself.
Part 2: The Senate
The Senate receives the second portion of the points (20%).
The Senate's portion will be divided equally among all the Senators.
Part 3: The House of Representatives
The House of Representatives receives the third portion of the points (20%)
The House's portion will be divided equally among the Representatives.
Although the two chambers of congress are equal in power, the Senate is considered more prestigious.
As there are fewer Senators than Representatives, and they serve longer terms, on a individual basis a Senator is more powerful (and receives higher score) than a Representative.
Part 4: Political Parties' Control of the Government
Political Parties receive the fourth portion of the points (20%), depending on their control of the government.
For determining control of the government, the President, Senate and House of Representatives shall each count as 1/3 of the government.
If the President, 2 out of 5 Senators, and 1 out of 10 Representatives belong to a Political Party, then that Political Party is considered to control (1/3)+(2/5)*(1/3)+(1/10)*(1/3) = 50% of the government.
That party would then receive 50% of the fourth portion of points, 50%*20% = 10% of the total.
The fouth portion of points is divided among all members of the Party, whether they are elected officials or not.
Not belonging to a party does not count as a party for scoring purposes.
It is possible some points from the fourth portion will not be awarded and will simply be lost.
Part 5: Per Capita Affluence
The fifth portion of the points (20%) is awarded to all players (both elected officials and private citizens) depending on their per capita affluence.
Each city receives a share of the points equal to [(Production)*(Gold)*(Science)*(Culture)*(Strength)]/[Total Share of All Cities].
Each cities' share is divided among all the players residing there.
For example, if Washington has 10 production, 8 science, 6 gold, 5 culture and 20 strength with 20 players living in Washington, and New York has 6 production, 5 science, 8 gold, 1 culture and 12 strength with 8 players living there.
Washington's affluence is 10*8*6*5*20 = 48000
New York's affluence is 6*5*8*1*12 = 2880
Washington's share = 48000 / (48000 + 2880) = 94%, which is then divided among 20 players, each receiving 94% / 20 = 4.7% of the fourth portion score
New York's share = 2880 / (48000 + 2880) = 6%, which is then divided among 8 players, each receiving 6% / 20 = 0.3% of the fourth portion score
(Yes, it is intentional that if a city has 0 culture, their affluence = 0)
Bonus Points:
When a bill is signed into law, the total score of the Senator or Representative who introduced the bill shall be increased by 5% (10% if bill overcomes a Presidential veto)
This bonus will be awarded even if the Senator or Representative has left congress since introducing the bill.
If the President losses an impeachment vote in the house, his total score shall be decreased by 25%.
If the President wins an impeachment vote in the house, his total score shall be increased by 25%.
If the President losses a conviction vote in the Senate, his total score shall be decreased by 50%.
If the President wins a conviction vote in the Senate his total score shall be increased by 50%.
Transferring Points
Points may be voluntarily or involuntarily (as required by law) transferred between players
Campaigning
When running for public office, players may spend score points to campaign.
Campaigning may earn you additional votes. Such votes essentially come from NPC's who usually don't show up at the polls, but were convinced by your campaign to vote in this election.
Additional Votes = (Points Spent / 10) * (Random #), rounded down
You may spend points campaigning for another player.
In a Presidental campaign, it is important to specify what city you are campaigning it (when not specified, the Capital is assumed).
SECTION V: Assassination Attempts
Any player may attempt to assassinate an elected official.
Only elected officials may be targetted for assassination.
Elected officials are considered to frequently travel between their home city and the capital, and the assassination attempt may be made in either city.
To make an assassination attempt, you must "risk" some of your points from your score.
This means you must have a positive score with points to risk in order to make the attempt.
Multiple players may work together in the assassination attempt, with each contributing some points.
The assassination attempt consist of three random "rolls".
All random numbers are generated by rand() function in Excel and will between 0 and 1.
It is mathematically possible that an assassin could risk a single point and successfully kill their target and avoid capture. (the assassin could get 0.99999 while the target gets 0.000001)
Practically, however, the assassins probably need to risk points equal or greater than their target's total points to have a reasonable chance of success.
The President is the most likely assassination target and is well protected against such attempts. Therefore the President receives a 2X bonus to his points when targetted by an attack.
Roll 1: The Planning Stage
If 2*(Points Risked)*(Random #) > (Target's Points)*(Random #)*(2 if President), the assassins manage to avoid capture during the planning stages.
Points Risked is the total points of all assassins, but a separate roll is made for each assassin.
If an assassin is captured during the planning stage, they lose points equal to 5*(Points Risked) and are removed from any office they hold
It is possible the assassin's score will become negative.
If all assassins are captured during the planning stage, the assassination attempt end
Roll 2: The Attempt
If (Points Risked)*(Random #) > (Target's Points)*(Random #)*(2 if President), the assasination is successful
If assassin's are captured during the planning stage, their points risked are no longer counted towards the total.
A single roll is made for the assassination attempt
If the assassination suceeds, the target is removed from office and their score reduced to 0.
If the assassination fails, the target gains a lot of publicity off the event and their score is doubled.
Roll 3: The Getaway
If (Points Risked)*(Random #)*(3 if attempt suceeded) > (Target's Points)*(Random #)*(2 if President), the assassins successfully escape
Note that the getaway roll is made whether the attempt suceeds or fails.
Points Risked is the total points of all assassins, but a separate roll is made for each assassin.
If an assassin is captured during the getaway stage, they lose points equal to 10*(Points Risked) and are removed from any office they hold
It is possible the assassin's score will become negative.
If an assasin makes it through the getaway stage without being captured, they remain undiscovered and get to keep their points risked.
The assaassin does not gain any points for the attempt. After all, they can't take public credit for attempting to assassinate an elected official!
Getting away clean is the best they can hope for!
Your fellow conspirators may or may not reveal your participation in an assassination attempt, especially if you avoid capture while they do not.
They may or may not even offer up "proof" of your involvement.
Rest assured that if you passed the getaway roll, the courts will consider any "proof" they offer insufficient to convict you of anything.
Whether or not the public believes them, and whether or not the public holds that against you the next time to run for office, is an entirely different matter…….
In honor of the upcoming 2012, US Presidential Election, this game is modelled on the American system of Government.
Obviously, this is not a completely accurate simulatution, but only an approximation with some significant modifications for the convienience of running and playing the game.
This game is more freefom and more structured than my past games.
Think of this as an Anarchy game, except instead of any player being able to simply shout out a game rule, there is a detailed system for putting laws into place.
The pace will be a little slower, and will have regular deadlines, in an effort to make the game easier to run and more accessible to players who aren't on the forum everyday.
The game will take a few weeks to ramp up to full speed, which I think is probably good as everyone starts coming off of summer and heavy vacation period.
SECTION I: THE THREE BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT
THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH
The leader of the Executive Branch is the President.
The President is elected to a 4 session term.
The President has the power to sign into law, or to veto, the bills passed by congress.
The President may circumvent congress by issuing Executive Orders.
The President may create on his own and pass one law per congress session (law still subject to approval of the Supreme Court).
If the President issues an Executive Order, the House of Representatives will automatically hold an Impeachment Vote during the next session of congress.
The President also serves as Commander and Chief of the Armed Forces.
Turn by turn control of militray units will be handled by Yahzuk.
The President may assign each military unit to one of the following functions:
National Guard - The unit protect the nation's borders
Expeditionary Forces - The unit will explore the unknown. Units will engage barbarians and enemy forces when deemed safe to do so.
Army X under the Command of Great General X - Unit will follow a Great General. The President may issue am objective to each General, such as "Capture city X" or "Defend Location X".
The Vice President is not represented in this game.
THE JUDICIARY BRANCH
The Judiciary Branch is lead by the Supreme Court, which shall be Yahzuk.
The Supreme Court has the power to review all laws and throw out any deemed unconstitutional (or bad for the game!)
The Supreme Court will break any deadlocked votes.
THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
The Legislative Branch consists of two Chambers of Congress.
The Senate
The Senate is made up of one Senator from every city.
Senators are elected to a 6 session term.
The senior most Senator of the largest party shall be the Senate Majority Leader.
The Senate Majority Leader controls the senate's agenda. This shall be represented in game by allowing the Senate Majority Leader to eliminate two bills each session (automatically fails vote).
The senior most Senator of the 2nd largest party shall be the Senate Minority Leader.
The Senate Minority Leader may lead a fillibuster to prevent the vote on a bill. This shall be represented in game by allowing the Senate Minority Leader to eliminate one bill each session (automatically fails vote).
If the President is impeached, the Senate shall vote whether or not to convict him.
The House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is made up up of one Representative per every four citizens in a city (round up).
Representatives are elected to a 4 session term.
At the beginning of each Presidential term, the House shall elect one of its members to be the Speaker of the House.
The Speaker of the House presides over the House. This shall be represented in game by allowing the Speaker to throw out one bill (automatically fails vote) during each sesison of congress.
The Speaker of the House shall become President if the President is removed from office before the end of his term.
The senior most Representative of the largest party shall be the Majority Leader.
The senior most Representative of the second largest party shall be the Minority Leader.
House leaders have a variety of powers in organizing their party members. This shall be represented in game by considering any Representatives who miss the voting deadline to have voted in the same way as their house leader.
If the President circumvents Congress by issuing an Executive Order, the House shall vote whether or not to impeach him.
SECTION II: THE WORKINGS GOVERNMENT
How a Bill becomes Law
1 During congress session N, each Senator and Representative may introduce one new bill.
New bills must be in the format of a simple, straightforward, single sentence statement.
Of course, in real life, laws are hideously complex things with all sorts of riders, but that would make the game impossible to run.
So here, you need to accomplish that by introducing many little bills in conjunction with other players.
If you can say it in a gramatically correct way without using conjunctions, you're probably OK.
Otherwise the Supreme Court may strike down your bill for being unconstitutional (too complicated for the game!)
2 At the end of congress session N, the Supreme Court (Yahzuk) shall review all newly introduced bills.
Any bills deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court shall be thrown out.
3 During congress session N+1, both the Senate and the House of Representatives shall separately vote on the bills passed forward by the Supreme Court.
If a bill passes in both chambers of congress, it is sent to the President.
4 During congress session N+2, the President shall sign into law or veto the bills passed by congress. Any bills not addressed by the President shall be considered vetoed (pocket veto)
Bills signed into law by the President become effective immediately.
5 During congress session N+3, any bills vetoed by the President will be revoted on in both houses.
If the bill passes with greater than 2/3 majority, congress will overrule the President and the bill becomes law.
Political Parties
Any player may form a political party.
There may be any number of political parties in the game.
Any player may join a political party.
A player may only belong to one political party at a time.
A player may switch political parties at the beginning of any congress session.
Members of a political party receive a score bonus corresponding to their party's control of the government.
A political party with 5 or more members will receive national recognition and be gauranteed a candidate spot in each election. (Instead of having to fight for the single "no party" spot on the ballot.
Running for Office
Any player may run for President.
A player may only run for congress as a Senator or Representative of the city where they live.
A player may not move to a new city in the middle of a campaign.
A player may campaign for re-election or election to a different office while in office.
A player may only be running for one office at a time (a player cannot run for Congress while running for President)
1 During congress session E-2, players must announce their candidacy for an upcoming election.
2 During congress session E-1, each recognized political party holds a primary election to select their party's candidate.
All candidates not belonging to a recognized party will be grouped together into a single "No Party" primary. A single "No Party" candidate will be selected.
Only registered members of a party may vote in primary elections.
3 During congress session E, the election is held.
4 The winning candidate takes office at the beginning of congress session E+1.
The Electoral College
Presidents are elected by the electoral college.
For Presidential elections, each city holds a separate election.
The winning candiate in each city will receive that city's electoral votes, which will be equal to the number of citizens in the city.
The candidate that receives the most electoral votes will win the election.
SECTION III: BASIC GAME INFO
Joining the Game
Any one may join the game.
There is no waiting list. You will be added to the game at the beginning of the next session of congress.
There are no "characters" in this game.
Each player will only have one persona, which will be themselves.
The only information you need to supply when signing up is what city you wish to live in (if signing up after we have more than one city!)
Deadlines
This game is intended to be more accessible to players who cannot check the forum every day.
The end of a congress session (Deadlines for information from players) will always be Friday.
The start of a congress session (update from Yahzuk) will be no later than Monday. If I can't do the update by Monday, the end of the congress session will be extended to the following Friday.
Player Activity
You may be as active or as inactive as you like.
You will need to be fairly active if you're going to convince your fellow citizens to elect you to office!
There is no penalty for being inactive, other than incurring the wrath of your fellow citizens.
Winning the Game
At the end of every congress session, each player shall receive a score.
It is not necessary to fully understand the scoring system to participate in this game.
In brief:
- The better the nation's demographic rankings, the better the score for everyone
- The higher your position in the government, the higher your score. (President is higher than Senator which is higher than Representative)
- The more your Political Party controls the government, the higher your score
- The more affluent your city is, the higher your score
- The fewer players in your city, the higher your score
- Congressmen receive a score bonus when a bill they introduced becomes law
- The President receievs a score bonus for surviving impeachment/conviction votes, and a penalty for failing impeachment/conviction votes
Choosing a Place to Live
All players must live in a city.
When joining the game, you may choose any city to live in.
Players may move to a different city during any session of congress.
A player may not move to a different city while holding a political office.
A player may not cast any votes during the session in which they move.
Players receive a score bonus depending on the per capita affluence of their city.
The President and Congressmen will still consider their city to be their home.
Some Basic Game Management
Congress shall meet every 10 turns without exception.
The United States is a fairly young country and the game shall start in the Renaissance Era.
The game level shall be Emporer. The game speed shall be EPIC. Other game settings are intentionally withheld from the players.
This game shall focus on national politics. Cities are governed in accordance to national law.
Cities shall have a default focus, unless a law dicates otherwise.
Cities shall produce wealth, unless a law dictates otherwise.
Workers shall be set to automated control, unless a law dicates otherwise.
Research shall follow the path generated by the game to reach Future Tech, unless a law dictates otherwise.
Social Policy saving shall be enabled. Social Policies will not be selected, unless a law dictates otherwise.
Promotion saving shall be enabled. Promotions will not be taken, unless a law dictates otherwise.
Settlers will take a nap, unless a law dicates otherwise.
Captured cities will be made into puppet states, unless a law dicates otherwise.
Requests from other nations will be refused, unless a law dictates otherwise.
Communication with other nations will be polite, unlesss a law dicates otherwise.
Start of the Game
It will take a couple preliminary congress sessions to set up the government before the game really gets rolling.
Please be patient and put the time to good use use planning with your party and campaigning your agendas!
Session -5: Declare candidacy for President, first Senator and Representative from Washington
Session -4: Primary Elections - this session to be skipped if congress primaries not required
Session -3: Elections
Session -2: First Meeting of Congress - Introduce Bills - does not count as part of 1st term - Executive Orders not allowed - this session can be accelerated with cooperation from congress
Session -1: 2nd Meeting of Congress - Vote on 1st Bills - does not count as part of 1st term - Executive Orders not allowed - this session can be accelerated with cooperation from congress
Session 0: 3rd Meeting of Congress - 1st Bills go to President - Official Start of Game
Session 1: 1st turn scores awarded - Declare candidacy for President and Represetative (Wash-1)
Session 2: Primary Elections for President and Representative (Wash-1)
Session 3: Elections - President and Representative (Wash-1) - Declare candidacy for Senate (Wash)
Session 4: 2nd Presidential Term begins - 2nd Representative Turn Begins (Wash 1) - Primary Election for Senator (Wash)
Session 5: Senate Election
Session 6: 2nd Senate Term begins (Wash)
SECTION IV: SCORING SYSTEM
At the end of every congress session, the nation will generate points depending on our demographic rankings.
Points = Sum of All Demographics (11 - Ranking)^2
There are 8 demographic categories and 10 civilizations in this game (including the United States).
Therefore the total points awarded each congress session will be between 8 (last place in all categories) and 800 (first place in all categories)
The total points generated will be divided equally into 5 parts and distributed as follows.
Part 1: The President
The President is the highest office in the land and the aspiration of many a young politician.
The President receives the first portion of the points (20%) all for himself.
Part 2: The Senate
The Senate receives the second portion of the points (20%).
The Senate's portion will be divided equally among all the Senators.
Part 3: The House of Representatives
The House of Representatives receives the third portion of the points (20%)
The House's portion will be divided equally among the Representatives.
Although the two chambers of congress are equal in power, the Senate is considered more prestigious.
As there are fewer Senators than Representatives, and they serve longer terms, on a individual basis a Senator is more powerful (and receives higher score) than a Representative.
Part 4: Political Parties' Control of the Government
Political Parties receive the fourth portion of the points (20%), depending on their control of the government.
For determining control of the government, the President, Senate and House of Representatives shall each count as 1/3 of the government.
If the President, 2 out of 5 Senators, and 1 out of 10 Representatives belong to a Political Party, then that Political Party is considered to control (1/3)+(2/5)*(1/3)+(1/10)*(1/3) = 50% of the government.
That party would then receive 50% of the fourth portion of points, 50%*20% = 10% of the total.
The fouth portion of points is divided among all members of the Party, whether they are elected officials or not.
Not belonging to a party does not count as a party for scoring purposes.
It is possible some points from the fourth portion will not be awarded and will simply be lost.
Part 5: Per Capita Affluence
The fifth portion of the points (20%) is awarded to all players (both elected officials and private citizens) depending on their per capita affluence.
Each city receives a share of the points equal to [(Production)*(Gold)*(Science)*(Culture)*(Strength)]/[Total Share of All Cities].
Each cities' share is divided among all the players residing there.
For example, if Washington has 10 production, 8 science, 6 gold, 5 culture and 20 strength with 20 players living in Washington, and New York has 6 production, 5 science, 8 gold, 1 culture and 12 strength with 8 players living there.
Washington's affluence is 10*8*6*5*20 = 48000
New York's affluence is 6*5*8*1*12 = 2880
Washington's share = 48000 / (48000 + 2880) = 94%, which is then divided among 20 players, each receiving 94% / 20 = 4.7% of the fourth portion score
New York's share = 2880 / (48000 + 2880) = 6%, which is then divided among 8 players, each receiving 6% / 20 = 0.3% of the fourth portion score
(Yes, it is intentional that if a city has 0 culture, their affluence = 0)
Bonus Points:
When a bill is signed into law, the total score of the Senator or Representative who introduced the bill shall be increased by 5% (10% if bill overcomes a Presidential veto)
This bonus will be awarded even if the Senator or Representative has left congress since introducing the bill.
If the President losses an impeachment vote in the house, his total score shall be decreased by 25%.
If the President wins an impeachment vote in the house, his total score shall be increased by 25%.
If the President losses a conviction vote in the Senate, his total score shall be decreased by 50%.
If the President wins a conviction vote in the Senate his total score shall be increased by 50%.
Transferring Points
Points may be voluntarily or involuntarily (as required by law) transferred between players
Campaigning
When running for public office, players may spend score points to campaign.
Campaigning may earn you additional votes. Such votes essentially come from NPC's who usually don't show up at the polls, but were convinced by your campaign to vote in this election.
Additional Votes = (Points Spent / 10) * (Random #), rounded down
You may spend points campaigning for another player.
In a Presidental campaign, it is important to specify what city you are campaigning it (when not specified, the Capital is assumed).
SECTION V: Assassination Attempts
Any player may attempt to assassinate an elected official.
Only elected officials may be targetted for assassination.
Elected officials are considered to frequently travel between their home city and the capital, and the assassination attempt may be made in either city.
To make an assassination attempt, you must "risk" some of your points from your score.
This means you must have a positive score with points to risk in order to make the attempt.
Multiple players may work together in the assassination attempt, with each contributing some points.
The assassination attempt consist of three random "rolls".
All random numbers are generated by rand() function in Excel and will between 0 and 1.
It is mathematically possible that an assassin could risk a single point and successfully kill their target and avoid capture. (the assassin could get 0.99999 while the target gets 0.000001)
Practically, however, the assassins probably need to risk points equal or greater than their target's total points to have a reasonable chance of success.
The President is the most likely assassination target and is well protected against such attempts. Therefore the President receives a 2X bonus to his points when targetted by an attack.
Roll 1: The Planning Stage
If 2*(Points Risked)*(Random #) > (Target's Points)*(Random #)*(2 if President), the assassins manage to avoid capture during the planning stages.
Points Risked is the total points of all assassins, but a separate roll is made for each assassin.
If an assassin is captured during the planning stage, they lose points equal to 5*(Points Risked) and are removed from any office they hold
It is possible the assassin's score will become negative.
If all assassins are captured during the planning stage, the assassination attempt end
Roll 2: The Attempt
If (Points Risked)*(Random #) > (Target's Points)*(Random #)*(2 if President), the assasination is successful
If assassin's are captured during the planning stage, their points risked are no longer counted towards the total.
A single roll is made for the assassination attempt
If the assassination suceeds, the target is removed from office and their score reduced to 0.
If the assassination fails, the target gains a lot of publicity off the event and their score is doubled.
Roll 3: The Getaway
If (Points Risked)*(Random #)*(3 if attempt suceeded) > (Target's Points)*(Random #)*(2 if President), the assassins successfully escape
Note that the getaway roll is made whether the attempt suceeds or fails.
Points Risked is the total points of all assassins, but a separate roll is made for each assassin.
If an assassin is captured during the getaway stage, they lose points equal to 10*(Points Risked) and are removed from any office they hold
It is possible the assassin's score will become negative.
If an assasin makes it through the getaway stage without being captured, they remain undiscovered and get to keep their points risked.
The assaassin does not gain any points for the attempt. After all, they can't take public credit for attempting to assassinate an elected official!
Getting away clean is the best they can hope for!
Your fellow conspirators may or may not reveal your participation in an assassination attempt, especially if you avoid capture while they do not.
They may or may not even offer up "proof" of your involvement.
Rest assured that if you passed the getaway roll, the courts will consider any "proof" they offer insufficient to convict you of anything.
Whether or not the public believes them, and whether or not the public holds that against you the next time to run for office, is an entirely different matter…….
and to go and be them would require a re-orientation of the mind away from Banzai, and more towards becoming one with the crazy american political system, I will probably join though once I think about it ofc)
