Here it is, the poll you've all been waiting for / dreading. Welcome to the first VP Congress Special Session! The question before the assembly is...
Should we integrate the 4UC mod, currently maintained by @pineappledan (but containing the work of many modders), into Vox Populi, thus giving every civilization four unique components instead of two?
Obviously, this will require a supermajority vote, as it would be one of the largest changes in the history of the project. For this proposal to pass, it will need at least 50 Yea votes, and 70% of the votes must be Yea votes. I selected the 70% threshold today based on an overwhelming community consensus after the (7-90) and (7-91) votes; for more details, see this post.
In addition, the proposal must be sponsored, and its sponsorship must be approved by a Project Overseer. I approve the sponsorship if and only if a version of all 43 civ kits gets sponsored. If even one of them doesn't get sponsored, the entire proposal cannot be integrated until it does. This is because we can't have one civ with less unique components than all the others. If this situation arises, I'll deal with it then.
Due to the complexity of the mod and the amount of dev time/resources that would be required to integrate it, there is a lot of information to cover. Here are the key points about this vote:
1. The vote today is on whether or not to add 2 new fully DLL-integrated unique components to each civilization in the game. It is NOT on whether to integrate all 43 civ kits exactly as proposed by pineappledan, but it IS an agreement to integrate the version that the community sponsors and votes on. If this vote passes:
2. @pineappledan has created a thread in the VP Congress subforum for each of the 43 civs, detailing his proposed version of the two extra unique components for each civ. Permission was acquired to use any assets created by others. Some of these are modified. This means that if your only reason for voting for 4UC's integration is the kit of a handful of civs that you like to play with, you should check the thread to see what he has proposed, because it might be different from the playable version of the mod. Of course, counterproposing with the component from the playable 4UC version is an option, though permission issues could arise.
3. To clear up a misconception: deleting unique components from the database is, from a technical perspective, much easier than integrating them. The integration of 4UC can actually be reversed relatively easily in a modmod, and because the components' functions will be DLL-integrated, the functionality can also be adjusted, swapped between components, etc. fairly easily. We won't be building a lot of extra code on top of 4UC-dependent code. That being said, if this is passed and integrated, playing with 2UC in a balanced way is going to become a lot more difficult, particularly as future VP Congress Sessions continue to make changes to the game balance. Additionally, it will require another 70% threshold supermajority vote to remove it from the base mod, so it will probably be here to stay. Or as @balparmak puts it:
4. If this vote doesn't pass, Session #8 will take place as normal and all 43 civ threads will be moved to Failed Proposals.
5. The vote is set to last until the end of June. If at the end of June the outcome is not conclusive, I might extend it for another week or two at my discretion.
6. If you want to playtest 4UC and haven't played with it before, you can here, but that version will have differences from pineappledan's proposed versions, so it's not an identical experience: 3rd and 4th Unique Components for VP - Official thread
7. @L. Vern has recorded data on 650 AI games played with 4UC which provides some data on the playable version of 4UC's effect on game balance. As this might be relevant to people's decisions, you can find it here: 650 AI Game 4UC Stats / Analysis
Keep in mind that there are AI issues which may be affecting the balance (e.g., the AI often don't make smart Social Policy choices, which could be affecting the performance of certain civs).
8. Here is the masterlist of all 43 civ threads. Remember to check each civ's proposed kit, as there are differences from the playable version of the mod. Discussion can begin now, although counterproposals can only be made if the supermajority vote to integrate 4UC passes. Remember that the vote in this thread is on adding 2 components and agreeing to implement the components that the community votes on - it is not on whether or not to accept these specific civ kits.
Side Note: I will be adding two additional threads to Session #8 if the vote does pass, because I can: a revote on the "Disable Events System By Default" supermajority vote, and a vote to integrate a rework of the Unit Supply system detailed here, which I am going to make as a modmod and release shortly. Neither of these are related to civ balance, and both of them are special votes following up on previous proposals. And I'm only extending this exception to those two, sorry (their integration will be extremely simple). Other proposals will have to wait until Session #9 if the 4UC vote passes, since a huge chunk of developer time will be going into integrating it.
Should we integrate the 4UC mod, currently maintained by @pineappledan (but containing the work of many modders), into Vox Populi, thus giving every civilization four unique components instead of two?
Obviously, this will require a supermajority vote, as it would be one of the largest changes in the history of the project. For this proposal to pass, it will need at least 50 Yea votes, and 70% of the votes must be Yea votes. I selected the 70% threshold today based on an overwhelming community consensus after the (7-90) and (7-91) votes; for more details, see this post.
In addition, the proposal must be sponsored, and its sponsorship must be approved by a Project Overseer. I approve the sponsorship if and only if a version of all 43 civ kits gets sponsored. If even one of them doesn't get sponsored, the entire proposal cannot be integrated until it does. This is because we can't have one civ with less unique components than all the others. If this situation arises, I'll deal with it then.
Due to the complexity of the mod and the amount of dev time/resources that would be required to integrate it, there is a lot of information to cover. Here are the key points about this vote:
1. The vote today is on whether or not to add 2 new fully DLL-integrated unique components to each civilization in the game. It is NOT on whether to integrate all 43 civ kits exactly as proposed by pineappledan, but it IS an agreement to integrate the version that the community sponsors and votes on. If this vote passes:
- Session #8 will be devoted to the 43 civ threads and have no Proposal Phase. The community can submit counterproposals for all of the 43 civs during the Counterproposal Phase.
- During the Voting Phase, if only one version of a civ kit is sponsored, that one will be integrated (with no followup vote).
- If multiple versions of a civ kit are sponsored, the vote will be between the multiple versions, with no Nay vote option.
- DLL-integrated means that any new code required to make the new components function will be added as a general ability to the game core and can be used by any unit or building. We will not be using Lua script workarounds or dummy buildings.
- All relevant art assets will be merged into the VP files as well.
2. @pineappledan has created a thread in the VP Congress subforum for each of the 43 civs, detailing his proposed version of the two extra unique components for each civ. Permission was acquired to use any assets created by others. Some of these are modified. This means that if your only reason for voting for 4UC's integration is the kit of a handful of civs that you like to play with, you should check the thread to see what he has proposed, because it might be different from the playable version of the mod. Of course, counterproposing with the component from the playable 4UC version is an option, though permission issues could arise.
3. To clear up a misconception: deleting unique components from the database is, from a technical perspective, much easier than integrating them. The integration of 4UC can actually be reversed relatively easily in a modmod, and because the components' functions will be DLL-integrated, the functionality can also be adjusted, swapped between components, etc. fairly easily. We won't be building a lot of extra code on top of 4UC-dependent code. That being said, if this is passed and integrated, playing with 2UC in a balanced way is going to become a lot more difficult, particularly as future VP Congress Sessions continue to make changes to the game balance. Additionally, it will require another 70% threshold supermajority vote to remove it from the base mod, so it will probably be here to stay. Or as @balparmak puts it:
4. If this vote doesn't pass, Session #8 will take place as normal and all 43 civ threads will be moved to Failed Proposals.
5. The vote is set to last until the end of June. If at the end of June the outcome is not conclusive, I might extend it for another week or two at my discretion.
6. If you want to playtest 4UC and haven't played with it before, you can here, but that version will have differences from pineappledan's proposed versions, so it's not an identical experience: 3rd and 4th Unique Components for VP - Official thread
7. @L. Vern has recorded data on 650 AI games played with 4UC which provides some data on the playable version of 4UC's effect on game balance. As this might be relevant to people's decisions, you can find it here: 650 AI Game 4UC Stats / Analysis
Keep in mind that there are AI issues which may be affecting the balance (e.g., the AI often don't make smart Social Policy choices, which could be affecting the performance of certain civs).
8. Here is the masterlist of all 43 civ threads. Remember to check each civ's proposed kit, as there are differences from the playable version of the mod. Discussion can begin now, although counterproposals can only be made if the supermajority vote to integrate 4UC passes. Remember that the vote in this thread is on adding 2 components and agreeing to implement the components that the community votes on - it is not on whether or not to accept these specific civ kits.
Side Note: I will be adding two additional threads to Session #8 if the vote does pass, because I can: a revote on the "Disable Events System By Default" supermajority vote, and a vote to integrate a rework of the Unit Supply system detailed here, which I am going to make as a modmod and release shortly. Neither of these are related to civ balance, and both of them are special votes following up on previous proposals. And I'm only extending this exception to those two, sorry (their integration will be extremely simple). Other proposals will have to wait until Session #9 if the 4UC vote passes, since a huge chunk of developer time will be going into integrating it.
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But will try to contribute more... 
