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Characters & Activists

Characters are individuals in the game who represent your party, hold cabinet positions, and influence public opinion. This guide explains how to recruit and manage your party's roster.

Types of Characters

Activists

Activists are party-affiliated characters who:

  • Represent your party publicly
  • Can hold cabinet positions
  • Propose legislation on behalf of the party
  • Build influence through followers and authority
  • Have unique traits affecting their effectiveness

Your Party Team

Activists are essentially your party's public faces - the politicians, organizers, and leaders who carry your message.

Journalists

Journalists are independent characters who:

  • Post political commentary
  • Are not affiliated with any party
  • Cannot hold cabinet positions
  • Influence public discourse
  • Can't be recruited by parties

NPCs Only

Journalists are controlled by the game, not by players. They provide flavor and commentary on the political landscape.

Recruiting Activists

The Recruitment Process

To recruit an activist:

  1. Ensure you have 10 Political Power
  2. Navigate to character recruitment
  3. The game generates 3 candidates for you to choose from
  4. Review their traits, age, and backstory
  5. Select one to recruit — they join your party immediately

Pick from Three

Each recruitment attempt presents exactly 3 randomly generated candidates. If none of them suit your needs, you can decline and try again later (spending another 10 PP).

Candidate Pool

Each generated candidate has:

  • Randomized names (region-appropriate for your country)
  • Age (21-55 years)
  • Gender
  • Unique backstory
  • 3-5 traits (see below)
  • Starting follower count (affected by traits)
  • Base authority score (affected by traits)

When to Recruit

Strategic timing for recruitment:

✓ After winning elections - Build your government team ✓ Before cabinet formation - Need qualified candidates for positions ✓ Building party profile - Add charismatic activists ✓ Long-term investment - Grow activists over time ✗ When low on PP - Save for proposals or polls ✗ Without clear need - Don't recruit just because you can

Character Attributes

Basic Information

Each character has:

  • Full name - First and last name
  • Age - Current age in years
  • Gender - Male, female, or non-binary
  • Backstory - Brief biography
  • Party affiliation - Which party they belong to
  • Join date - When they joined the party

Influence Metrics

Followers

Social media followers represent public influence:

  • Starts at base level (varies by character)
  • Grows over time with activity
  • Increases faster for:
    • Characters in cabinet positions
    • Characters proposing successful legislation
    • Characters with positive traits

Higher followers = greater public influence

Authority

Authority score represents credibility and experience:

  • Starts at base level
  • Increases with:
    • Time in government
    • Successful proposals
    • High follower growth
  • Decreases with:
    • Failed proposals
    • Public scandals (future feature)

Higher authority = more persuasive proposals

Persuasion Score

Persuasion affects proposal success:

  • Calculated from traits
  • High persuasion = better at convincing other parties
  • Matters when proposing legislation
  • Can range from poor to exceptional

Formula considers:

  • Charisma traits
  • Speaking ability traits
  • Media savvy
  • Experience (authority)

Profile Growth

Profile measures how fast a character gains followers:

  • Calculated from traits
  • High profile = faster follower growth
  • Useful for party visibility
  • Helps with electoral appeal

Character Traits

Every character has 3-5 traits that define their personality, background, and abilities. Traits fall into three categories and can have positive, negative, or neutral gameplay effects.

Traits with Gameplay Effects

These traits directly affect a character's persuasion, profile growth, authority, or starting followers:

Trait Category Effect
Charismatic Personality +Persuasion, +Profile growth
Awkward Personality -Persuasion, -Profile growth
Fantastic Speaker Skill ++Persuasion, ++Profile growth
Poor Speaker Skill -Persuasion, --Profile growth
Media Savvy Skill +Persuasion, +Profile growth, starts with more followers
Reclusive Personality --Profile growth
Well Connected Background +Authority, starts with more followers
Outsider Background -Authority
Academic Background +Authority
Street Smart Background Slightly lower authority
Former Military Background +Authority
Former Banker Background ++Authority
Celebrity Background Massive starting followers, ++Profile growth, +Authority (very rare)

Flavour Traits

These traits add personality and backstory but don't currently have mechanical effects:

Analytical, Ambitious, Loyal, Ruthless, Idealist, Pragmatist, Wealthy, Working Class Background, Firebrand, Incorruptible, Eccentric

Mutually Exclusive Traits

Some traits can't appear together on the same character:

  • Charismatic and Awkward/Reclusive
  • Fantastic Speaker and Poor Speaker
  • Media Savvy and Awkward/Reclusive
  • Loyal and Ruthless
  • Idealist and Ruthless
  • Wealthy and Working Class Background
  • Academic and Street Smart
  • Well Connected and Outsider
  • Celebrity and Outsider/Reclusive

Trait Strategy

When recruiting, look at the 3 candidates' traits carefully:

Prioritize Persuasion Traits

  • Fantastic Speaker (strongest)
  • Charismatic
  • Media Savvy

These characters make more compelling proposals. Avoid characters with Awkward or Poor Speaker.

Prioritize Profile & Authority Traits

  • Media Savvy
  • Celebrity (very rare)
  • Well Connected, Academic, Former Military, Former Banker

These characters build party visibility in government.

Best Trait Combinations

  • Charismatic + Fantastic Speaker = strong persuasion and profile
  • Media Savvy + Well Connected = influence and authority
  • Celebrity + any positive trait = rare powerhouse

Using Activists

Proposing Legislation

When proposing laws, select an activist to author it:

  • Activist's persuasion affects perception
  • High-persuasion activists make stronger proposals
  • Choose your best persuader for important proposals
  • All activists can propose regardless of traits

Proposal Authorship

You want to propose a controversial environmental law. You have two activists:

  • Sarah Chen - Charismatic, Fantastic Speaker (high persuasion)
  • John Smith - No traits (average persuasion)

Choose Sarah to author the proposal for better chances of success!

Appointing to Cabinet

Activists can be appointed to cabinet positions:

  • Prime Minister
  • Finance Minister
  • Foreign Minister
  • And others (varies by country)

Cabinet appointments give:

  • Prestige to your party
  • Authority boost to the character
  • Faster follower growth
  • Symbolic power

See: Government & Cabinet

Building Character Profiles

Activists grow over time:

  1. Gain followers through activity and positions
  2. Build authority through successful proposals
  3. Increase persuasion with experience
  4. Become party leaders over multiple election cycles

Long-Term Investment

The best activists are those you've developed over years. Early recruitment pays off in the long run!

Managing Your Roster

Party Activists List

View all your party's activists:

  • Current cabinet positions
  • Follower counts
  • Authority scores
  • Traits
  • Join dates

Expelling Activists

You can expel activists from your party:

  • Cost: 25 Political Power
  • Effect: Character leaves your party immediately
  • Consequence: Lose any cabinet positions they held
  • What happens next: The expelled character becomes a free agent

Expensive and Permanent

Expelling activists is costly and irreversible. Only do this if absolutely necessary (e.g., need to make room for better candidates or after scandal).

Free Agent Recruitment

When a character is expelled from a party, they become a free agent — unaffiliated and available for recruitment by any party.

  • Free agents retain their traits, followers, and authority
  • Any party can recruit a free agent (costs 10 PP like normal recruitment)
  • This means your expelled activists could end up working for a rival!

One Party's Trash...

Keep an eye out for free agents expelled by other parties. A character with strong traits might be a bargain pick-up for your roster.

Roster Size

There's typically no hard limit on activist count, but:

  • Each recruitment costs 10 PP
  • More activists = harder to manage
  • Quality > Quantity
  • Most successful parties have 3-7 core activists

Character Strategy

Specialist Approach

Build a specialized roster:

  • 1-2 persuasive speakers for proposing laws
  • 1-2 media-savvy faces for cabinet positions
  • 1-2 all-rounders for flexibility

Star System

Focus on building star politicians:

  • Recruit high-trait activists early
  • Give them cabinet positions when possible
  • Use them to author important proposals
  • Build their follower counts over time
  • Create recognizable party leaders

Depth vs. Stars

Two approaches:

Few high-profile activists

✓ Clear party leadership ✓ Recognizable faces ✓ Efficient PP use ✗ Less flexibility ✗ Vulnerable if star leaves

Many activists

✓ Flexibility in appointments ✓ Multiple cabinet members ✓ Resilient to losses ✗ Expensive (10 PP each) ✗ Harder to build individual profiles

Character Development

Growth Mechanics

Activists improve through:

  1. Time in party - Experience matters
  2. Cabinet positions - Government service boosts profile
  3. Successful proposals - Authoring passed laws builds authority
  4. Public activity - Social media engagement grows followers
  5. Electoral success - Winning elections helps everyone

Career Progression

Typical activist career:

  1. Recruit (Day 1) - Join party with base stats
  2. Backbencher (Years 1-2) - Build experience
  3. Rising Star (Years 2-4) - Increase authority and followers
  4. Cabinet Member (Years 3-6) - Hold government positions
  5. Party Leader (Years 5+) - Top persuasion and profile

Patience Pays Off

Don't expect new recruits to be superstars immediately. The most valuable activists are those who've been with your party for years.

Social Media & Profile Growth

Activists automatically generate social media posts in response to game events. Their follower counts grow based on their activity:

Activity Follower Boost
Sponsoring a bill +5,000 followers
Sponsored bill passes +15,000 followers
Sponsored bill fails +8,000 followers (still publicity)
Posting a comment on a proposal +500 followers

Characters with profile-boosting traits (Media Savvy, Celebrity, Fantastic Speaker) grow followers faster through a multiplier on these boosts.

When a character sponsors a bill that passes, their authority increases by 5%. When a sponsored bill fails, authority decreases by 5%.

See Social Media Feed for more about the country-wide social media system.

Tips for Character Management

Best Practices

  1. Recruit early - Build your roster before elections
  2. Prioritize traits - Look for Charismatic, Fantastic Speaker, Media Savvy
  3. Invest in stars - Give best activists cabinet positions
  4. Use specialists - Best persuaders author proposals
  5. Track growth - Monitor follower and authority increases
  6. Think long-term - Best activists develop over years
  7. Quality over quantity - 3 great activists > 10 mediocre ones

Common Mistakes

  • Over-recruiting - Wasting PP on too many activists
  • Ignoring traits - Recruiting activists without useful traits
  • No strategy - Not matching activists to roles
  • Impatience - Expecting new recruits to be stars immediately
  • Expelling unnecessarily - Wasting 25 PP to remove activists

Next Steps