USA:
In reply to Combat Cycle Ref (msg # 284):
Ok, I'd like to talk about Auth mod and political actions as I have two points.
As one who plays a country with high AM (Saudi Arabia), one with average AM (Germany) and one with low AM (Nigeria), I guess i have some grounds to compare, I mostly agree with all you say here.
USA:
Some of this is hard to analyse correctly as I have no real idea of how it is calculated other than trying to go through the spreadsheet and work it out - which is not something I have managed fully, but playing with the sheet has given me some ideas so here is what I have found.
Firstly - it feels to me that once a nation has a moderately large economy, it should always look to have a high than 'average' authoritarian modifier
In short, for what I’ve seen, AM*2.5% is the share of the budget (once Social Upkeep is deducted) you’ll have to pay expenses and play with.
I agree that low AM seems to hinder a country too much. One way I suggested to solve (or at least alleviate) it would be to feature AM also In Social Upkeep (e.g. by modifying it by (AM-12) x 2.5%, assuming 12 to be the “standard” AM and making the modification correspondent to its effect.
This will also keep (IMHO) with the spirit of AM and with what is said in AM definition in 6.4:
quote:
Lower Authoritarian Scores generally represent nations which support laissez-faire policies and let their nation take its course.
(...)
Higher Authoritarian Score mean the establishment is deeply invested in many aspects of society and its effective reach is far greater.
USA:
Secondly - The PA system currently has a major, significant problem - part of this arises from the authoritarian modifier but also it arises from how we affect our own nations compared to how others affect our nation
Again agreed.
To give another example, should Germany try to affect himself with a PA on a difficult (multiplier 1) action, odds would be 1.6:1
This same PA used by France (relations 17), would give an odds of 3.5:1
If France tries to use the same PA to influence itself in a likewise way, odds would be 2.04:1. If Germany uses the same PA for the same reason, odds would be 5.3:1.
In this case (both of them), AM is higher (so internal actions easier, and off course, we’re talking about friendly (though not client) countries…
One way to alleviate this would be to treat own country as if it was a client state (usually reducing difficulty by one grade). After all, relations agamong countries (even client states) would never be as good as internal relations in a country…
This will, off course, benefit everyone and ease things for all players, but I’m not sure o its effect in game balance