It's a meme-y game but the lack of any explanations is super frustrating

[The nubinator]

This is a continous criticism of the game, as a new player I don't even know what certain things do, like how living standars impact my popularity among the people or if they do, how a trade deal or a political decision will affect anything.

Granted, in geopolitics nothing was ever clear, so the exploration is kinda fun, but considering the budget restraints/economy are so limited, important and simplified it's dangerous to experiment with anything.

Other things just hit a wall for me, for example I enabled Solidarnost 80 and wanted to make an alliance with them. I had 3.8 agents (lol?), it says it requires 3, but I couldn't click on it.

Then Im able to do a diplomatic thing that requires 2 "free agent networks" but I have only 1.5.

And I have no idea what the leaders do either, I can't see in the stat window how they affect anything even though they all have differen descriptions. I'm so close to refunding but I won't since I like the novel concept and it's not that much.

But I feel it's so close to being a much better game.

You guys know this, so why haven't you fixed it?


edit: I don't even know what's happening, somehow I went from 7.7 agents to 0.0. What costs exactly 7.7 agents?? :) Or is the effect dependent on how many I have at this decision?

Please devs :P Help me out here.

[Brutus too]

Trade:Gives income and peoples support,but some nations will only trade with you if you a specific diplomatic reputation and a open border.
The reason why you couldn't ally solidarnosc 80 was because you litterally do that in the event.

[Brutus too]

For ministers in poland:
Advocate of liberties:Increases peoples support
Loyal fighter with dissent: Lowers Liberalisation
Supporter of party hierarchy and preserving traditions, strengthening of SB: Plus to party support and +0.2 agents per fortnite.
Prodigy of bureaucracy: More party support.
Proponent of Profit growth due to Market reforms: More money but increase in liberalisation.
Loyalist who sits on two chairs: Lowers liberalisation at the cost of Popular support

[The nubinator]

No, it was before you ally with them. I haven't been able to ally any political forces using the function in the game, only through events.

Also curious about the various sliders, what's the point of them? Can I go total liberalization and still keep my communist party? Do they affect growth of westalgia for example in any way?

And again, why isn't this just simply listed in a popup window or something :P

[Brutus too]

Before you any them the party is banned. When all parties are allowed look into the description if your party line fits it you can ally them.
The sliders control your country doctrine if you go right it liberalises that doctrine and if it goes over 10 it completely changes the doctrine into a different form.
The freedom slider affects the liberalisation and peoples support of the country.
The economy slider affects the party-line and living standard, the party slider affect legal opposition of the country.

[Cally]

The game is meant to have an element of "black box" in which you feed commands as "input" and it gives you a result of "output" and you don't know why. Even after playing for a long time I'm still not sure for some events, why things turn out differently.

Hold your cursor over each individual party in the politics tab. It will tell you what the party supports "statism, right/centerism," etc. You must have a "party line" that is compatible with them, otherwise they won't ally with you, even if you have the agents. With Poland and Solidarnosc 80 in particular, there is an event that will give you an alliance.

If that happens usually you will get a negative special services number. Or the event will fail, even if you chose it. For example, trying to help the Socialists in Greece when you don't have enough special services will get you a message about how you fail and look like an idiot.

Yes, the ministers are a bit of a problem. But keep in mind some things:

"Stalinist/Conservative and Works for Special Services" He will give a benefit to special services increase, probably a lowering of support of the people, and probably a raise of Westalgie.
"Technocrat who annoys the party." Westalgie goes down a lot. Party unity goes down a lot. Slight increase in money.

"Believes in science and technology" Your research will progress as if you have one extra "gives science" building.

"Pro-reformer, loves freedom, friend of Gorbachev" USSR approval up. Support of people up. Westalgie WAY up.

"Loyal dog who gets support of the party." Party unity up. Probably middling for everything else.

"Chekist" He's a KGB-like agent. Westalgie goes way down, special services goes up, Support of the people way down. Party unity way down.

"Partocrat, tries to sit on both chairs" He's a bureaucrat who is a "fence-sitter." Middling all around, probably slightly better party unity.

"Disarmament" Gives a negative to special services: get him out of there.

Where we're going we don't need pop-ups/tooltips, comrade.

But check the view screen. Trade will give you a +.1 to your money, but also possibly give you more Westalgie. It can also affect population support. Click on your own country in the map and try playing with the borders too. Having "paid" borders will also give you some money.

Sliders move either when you make them move or in some events. After a certain threshold (beyond 10, or below 0) they will progress or regress, this is the progression, from most authoritarian to most liberal:

Party:
One Party (there is only one party, usually the Communist Party, and every member of government belongs to that party.)
Leading Party (there are many parties, but there is one party among them that is the most powerful and the other parties only make "suggestions" and it's accepted the leading party will make the final decision and everyone else will vote unanimously. East Germany had this with the Socialist Unity Party as the leading party while various others existed.)
Limited (there are some independent parties, but only a few, and their influence is artificially limited so that, generally, the communists will remain in power. Poland, if it compromises with Solidarnosc, will have a government where it's guaranteed they have a majority.
Free (free political parties for all, same as in a Western democracy.)

Economics:
Late Planned (The government plans out the economy based on whatever they deems needs to be done.)
State Capitalism (The government owns the businesses that run the economy, some privatization exists.)
Regulated Market (Private property is guaranteed and only some regulation to protect state interests exists. So, like Western countries.)

In addition to this, there's a special Automation economics setting, but you can't get it through normal slider regression. It's below Late Planned and only available through event. You must be playing very conservative, have a Late Planned economy, and have the right event to get it. Easiest is East Germany which gives you two events to choose Automation. Note that if you leave Automation, you can't get back to it. (Automation is the idea of leaving the planning of the economy to computers so that human corruption cannot influence the calculations or decision making of what should be spent where.)

Economics is special in that if you have a negative budget, you can "privatize" a building that is not privatized already to give you some money. It is +2 liberal slider movements per building no matter what it is. If this takes you over 10, you will advance to the next level. "Nationalizing" a privatized building will not regress the economics slider.

Freedom:
Total Control (Strict regulation of civil rights and political freedom.)
Limited (Some regulation of freedom, but not completely repressive.
Introduction of pluralism (criticism of the government is being allowed on a limited basis.)
Liberal freedoms (freedom of speech is respected.)

Freedom is special in that the more liberal it is, the most Westalgie you seem to get. You might want to hold off liberalizing this one.

As you can see, having these sliders will result in a different sort of government. The types are: "Authoritarian" "Developed Socialism" "Thaw" and then... I forget.

Authoritarianism is what it sounds like. You are less a socialist country and more like a dictator. Example: North Korea. Romania. Having Total Control is a must.

Developed Socialism is what the USSR called their country in Brezhnev's era. "Marxist theorists may say we don't have 'true communism', but we are living a socialist society as much as possible with the resources we have available, so we are 'developed socialism'." There is a planned economy and limited rights.

Thaw is a lessening of repression and a bit more democracy. Think of the "Khruschev Thaw."

I think next is Kadarism or maybe Liberalism? At any rate, you get the idea. Less repression, more economic and political freedom.

Then there is your "party line" which is affected by the choices you make in events, your ministers, and what you are doing to affect your diplomatic rating. Try to have the party line match your diplomatic rating and match the sliders you have.

If you don't have the party line, diplo. rating, and sliders you have matching, then you will have problems with party unity, westalgie, or support of the people. How do you think the people like it if you keep promising them freedom but then the same jerks who have been repressing them for decades are still in power?? How do you think the party will feel when you promise to maintain the status quo, then start making reforms?? How do you think the people feel when you tell them they have free and fair elections, they elect a party they think will be in opposition to you, then you use your special services to make an alliance to that party where they agree to do whatever you want??? You're going to get Westalgie. A lot of it.

Don't hold elections when you're one-party or leading party. It won't do anything.

In fact, don't hold elections at all unless:

1. You have a high support of the people and low Westalgie.
2. You have a high special services and can fake the results.
3. You don't have a constitutional majority and you need one to do some event.
4. You have no choice except through events.

Losing means you lose the game. Winning slightly means you will give up some seats in the party and can't do events that require "a constitutional majority." Winning by a landslide means you will lose some westalgie and gain support of the people.

Well, I'm sure you get the idea.

Don't be afraid to disable some buildings, but be aware that you may have to pay money when you reactivate them. Factories, special service buildings, tv stations, foreign affairs offices, and research buildings can be stopped/started with no problem. Army buildings and electronic factories not so much. (Unless you're playing as Afghanistan I think, because that'd be too painful.)

So, to answer your question, you can go full liberalization and keep your communist party, but the people are going to hate you or the party will hate you. Are hardline communists who believe socialism is right going to like you privatizing things? No. Party unity down. Who you have as Head of Government also matters. Honecker for example will not let you liberalize. Krenz will let you liberalize or stay conservative while being a little softer. Mielke will give you the most freedom and you can become a dictator or 'harsh' liberal. Gizi will tend to liberalize while also being 'soft'. That's why the "Die Partei..." achievement is really hard to get.

Anyway, I hope that answers some of your questions. Don't be afraid to wiki who these people are or ask for more help. And keep in mind that this game encourages a marxist interpretation of society. You cannot have full civil rights and a one-party state, at least not easily. The more closely the sliders match each other, the better.

[The nubinator]

This stuff actually makes sense and some of it I figured out on my own. But boooooooooooooy is it convoluted.

This is a good guide tho, u should post it under guides. Especially the thing about party unity is really smart and I suspected it I just wasn't sure.

My experiments dont show an increase in westalgia with trade tho :? Maybe some kind but not other?

[Cally]

Look at the View tab. Look at "Partners". Look at "Condition."

"Balance." No gain or lost.

Get four-five more trade partners and it goes to "Globalization, +0.1 Westalgie weekly, -0.1 Soveignty weekly, +0.1 Standard of living weekly

[The nubinator]

Ah. Cool.


edit: Do you think Ostalgia affects Westalgia? That would be cool. Personally I wonder if getting Ostalgia above 50% could start revolts in the West? :P But I haven't managed above 30%

[Brutus too]

Ostalgie gives you the ability to unify germany.

[The nubinator]

As a socialist Germany? :D Thats cool

[Brutus too]

well if you liberalise the rights of opposition,

[Catapult]

I can't seem to find Hungary's in your list.
Karpati - Pragmatic Military = Disarmament ( Minus agents)
Hegedus - Left Reformist seems to be science (acts as science building)
Fock - Market Reformist = ?
Horn - Left-Centrist Diplomat = ?
Pozsgay - National-Liberal = ?
Lazar - Gulash Communist = Money?

[Brutus too]

Karpati also improves relations with nato and more pop support.
Fock gives more money at the loss of popsuport
Horn improves relations with nato and the soviets.
Pozsgay improves the peoples support and nationalism with a decrease in liberalisation.
Lazar gives money and tries to lower the liberalation at the cost of popular support.