Matrix Games Forums

I've become a bit bothered by how some decisions impact regime profile.

Before going into this, let me be clear that yes, I do understand that some(most) effects are an inverse% effect, meaning that an already high profile will get a smaller benefit than if it were instead a very low profile for the same decision/roll.

Some of my top gripes:
- Unit promotion decisions - I can't decide WHY any of these have an impact on my regime profile - and even if they did - their effects are MASSIVE relative to other decisions. Just as an example, I can give a governor permission to execute a family member and it has a smaller impact than promoting a warrior knight... doesn't feel right. I don't think more options is a good idea because I think one of the things that really makes this game shine is how you can be forced to pick between two bad outcomes, but when the outcomes feel so disassociated with the decision (as in this case) it feels arbitrary and detracts from the theme.
- Blackmail decisions - I gain HEART if I refuse blackmail? IMO it should be +Fist and -Mind. Also - I tried to avoid this by just going to war with the major that was blackmailing me. Steamrolled some tanks across their border and won a few battles... and I still had to make a decision on whether or not to give in to their blackmail... this decision needs to go away if I respond to blackmail by going to war (maybe just make it a decision option? Go to war with no happiness penalty - or maybe even a happiness BONUS since we're responding to an oppressor with force? A justification for war, as it were.)
- Giving in to demands by populace - these all are set to be +Democracy, IMO they all should be slightly different; giving in to demands for a worker strike should be -Gov and giving in to sabotage should be -enforcement. Giving in to demands for a protest should be the only true +Democracy, in my opinion.
- It would be nice if a decision existed about raising worker wages - if you haven't been paying attention and worker wages fall behind private wages in a zone, a % chance to get a "worker rights activist" demanding an increase in pay to make equivalent to private sector. Options: Agree (+Heart and set wages to that setting in that zone with the appropriate worker happiness bump); Negotiate; offer a smaller wage increase to all workers but a larger wage increase to the worker activists and their managers (+Meritocracy, 1/2 the wage increase applied); reject the demand (-heart).

As a second topic, where are my ACTIVE ways to impact my regime profile? We get random event decisions to impact profiles, but I can run a highly democratic, commercial, and heart society and go around expelling population without any regime impacts... again, that hurts the theme and immersion. I propose that some stratagems (not all!) should impact regime profiles. These should be small - just a few points. Some examples after a short amount of thought:
Expel Population (+Fist)
Volunteer Drive (+Heart)
Scientific Cooperation (+Mind)
Bureaucratic Push (+Gov)
Private Investment (+Commerce)
Investigate Leader (+Enforcement)
Assassinate Leader (+Autocracy)
Official Gift (+Meritocracy)
Ouverture and Propose Peace (-Fist)
Zero Retirement (-Heart)
Limit Trade (-Commerce)
Limit Scientific Cooperation (-Mind)
Suppress Unrest (-Democracy)

I agree that the unit promotion decisions have way too much impact. Generally I can understand why they increase a particular profile, but like you said, the degree to which they impact the profile is completely out of touch with their rather minor importance for the nation.

On the blackmail - personally I think this one should be just taken off the profile system - Like a decision to upgrade a city doesn't affect your profile. There's just too many variables to the decision (the relative strength of the other empire, position of the troops, involvement in other conflicts) that in one context refusing blackmail may be the rational choice and agreeing may be emotional and in a different context it could be reverse - since the game probably can't track the actual military situation accurately, it should just stay out of it. Besides unless seriously outmatched, "standing up to bullies" is something every single profile could potentially agree on - it just doesn't make sense to give bonus to specific one.
(On a similar note, it bothers me how decision to remove a slaver in a zone event is -commerce. More organized commercial systems (think of pre-20th century germanic states) tend to be actively opposed to robbery and similar crime since it makes it harder to do business, and someone enslaving citizens in a regime that has no legal slavery system would be treated the same way) - in modern days the states that benefit the most from slavery tend to be those with strong government, autocracy or enforcement profiles - like China or Russia benefiting from slave workforce rented out by North Korea).

On the subject of cards affecting profile though - I think that would cause balance issues given how later in the game you may be swimming in cards, and some of the ones you list can be potentially used several times per turn if you have the BP - making it trivial to maintain a profile, and potentially making it viable to reliably keep two conflicting profiles both at high values. Also if only some of the profiles have spammable cards increasing them and others don't, it would create balance issues.

- Giving in to demands by populace - these all are set to be +Democracy, IMO they all should be slightly different; giving in to demands for a worker strike should be -Gov and giving in to sabotage should be -enforcement. Giving in to demands for a protest should be the only true +Democracy, in my opinion.

That's not how the game treats Gov.
There are also not that many +Dem events in the game, compared to the ones with +Enf and *especially* with +Com, which are effectively acting like -1/2Gov and --Gov.

- It would be nice if a decision existed about raising worker wages - if you haven't been paying attention and worker wages fall behind private wages in a zone, a % chance to get a "worker rights activist" demanding an increase in pay to make equivalent to private sector.

Already in the game, though I'm not sure whether it checks against private wages or not ?

As a second topic, where are my ACTIVE ways to impact my regime profile? We get random event decisions to impact profiles, but I can run a highly democratic, commercial, and heart society and go around expelling population without any regime impacts... again, that hurts the theme and immersion. I propose that some stratagems (not all!) should impact regime profiles. These should be small - just a few points. Some examples after a short amount of thought:

Yeah, a few more of those might be nice to have, though there already are some :

Scientific Cooperation (+Mind)
Ouverture and Propose Peace (-Fist)
Limit Scientific Cooperation (-Mind)

Already in the game.

You can also already change your Gov/Com/Enf by calling your Corporation.
And of course you can raise your Auth/Dem/Mer by making your populace unhappy.

(On a similar note, it bothers me how decision to remove a slaver in a zone event is -commerce. More organized commercial systems (think of pre-20th century germanic states) tend to be actively opposed to robbery and similar crime since it makes it harder to do business, and someone enslaving citizens in a regime that has no legal slavery system would be treated the same way) - in modern days the states that benefit the most from slavery tend to be those with strong government, autocracy or enforcement profiles - like China or Russia benefiting from slave workforce rented out by North Korea).

Well, remember that this simulates a society "back" to the modern or even pre-modern "era" (with the post-modern era since 1945 or so), during most of which slavery was rampant or even normal...

See for instance : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Barbary_War

Well, it happened again, and also quite recently after my first post on the topic. Just adding a more specific example to my initial observation/complaint:

My Sentinels unit had a training "opportunity"
My Regime:
Dem 70 Aut 30 Merit 23
Comm 72 Gov 26 Enf 41
Fist 64 Mind 46 Heart 38

Choices:
2 commandos (+12 merit)
Veteran Sergeant (+9 Enf)

I want neither of these choices AND I don't even care if this Sentinels unit (walker unit from Docile AI stratagem) has any unit feats. Yet - this is going to have just as big of an impact on my regime as how I choose to respond to "Misbehavior by troops due to Intoxicants" this round.

My complaint isn't that I have a decision with no good choices. My complaint is that this decision is meaningless in every possible sense but has an outsized effect on my regime versus a real choice. It happens frequently with this decision compared to the others.