Global Decisions¶

Every so often the whole world is handed the same dilemma at once — an earthquake in a far-off land, a viral craze sweeping every classroom, the kind of thing that makes the evening news everywhere simultaneously. This page is about Global Decisions: world-wide events that every country votes on independently, with real consequences for the countries that vote themselves into them.

What a decision is¶

A global decision is triggered centrally — you'll see it appear for your country with no warning — and it always has exactly two choices. Each choice comes with a short list of consequences: some are pure flavour ("we'll be seen as a humanitarian leader"), and some are programmatic — a real budget effect that shows up on your country's books, a national mood your country gains, or a change to one of your country's industries, once the decision resolves. Effect-bearing consequences are marked with a chip (budget impact, national mood or industry) so you can see at a glance which choice actually does something.

One of the two choices is always marked as the default — the one that wins automatically if your country can't produce a clear winner (see Abstention and deadlock below).

Who votes¶

Voting follows the game's usual public-politics rules, with one twist: it's one party, one vote, full stop.

Every active party in a country that received the decision gets exactly one vote — not weighted by seats, legislature presence, or anything else. A tiny party with no seats carries exactly as much weight as the governing party.
Casting a vote requires a short public reason — a few sentences explaining your party's position. It's moderated like any public text, and just like a demand pledge, it's locked the moment you submit it: no second thoughts, no quiet editing. Votes and reasons are visible to everyone in real time, so you'll see how the rest of the country — and the rest of the world — is breaking as the window runs.
Party eligibility is checked live: a party that's disbanded or been swept onto a throne can't vote, but a brand-new party founded after the decision was triggered can still vote while the window is open. The reverse also applies — a country founded after the trigger simply doesn't get a row for that decision at all; it'll be in on the next one.

The voting window¶

Once triggered, a decision stays open for a period of time (usually but not always 24 game days) for every country at once, and every country resolves together on the same date — there's no early resolution the way budget votes have. You'll see a live countdown ("closes in N days", counting down to "closes in 1 day" on the last votable day) on both the decisions index and the decision's own page.

Budget effects¶

Some choices carry a real financial consequence, fixed the moment your country's decision resolves:

The game takes a fixed percentage of your country's monthly GDP (as authored in the decision, e.g. 0.5%) and charges (or credits) it every month for a fixed number of months (e.g. 6). The amount is calculated once, from your GDP at the moment of resolution, and then frozen — it does not rise or fall with your economy afterwards, even if the decision drags on for months.
These effects start from the first day of the following game month and show up as their own line items on your Budget page, in a dedicated "Global decision effects" section — each row shows the label, direction (income or expenditure), the monthly amount, and how many months are left, with a link back to the decision that caused it. They're folded into the country's live budget totals and Sankey chart alongside ordinary tax and spending, and into the monthly treasury flow just like any other income or expense.
A country with its economy disabled receives and votes on decisions exactly like anyone else — the budget effect simply never gets created for it, since there's no budget to attach it to.
Effects apply regardless of whether your country is under an IMF programme — a decision you voted (or defaulted) into still bites even under emergency austerity.

National mood effects¶

Some choices change how your country feels rather than what it pays: the winning choice grants a national mood for a fixed number of days.

The consequence bullet spells out exactly what will happen — which mood, how long it lasts, and (if there's one) the delay: "National mood: Six Seven Obsession for 67 days, starting 7 days after the decision".
The mood arrives after the authored delay (or on resolution day if there's none), and from that moment it behaves exactly like any other temporary national mood — same notification when it lands, same influence on your electorate, same automatic expiry once its days run out.
Unlike budget effects, mood effects apply to every country, including those with their economy disabled — moods act on voters, not budgets.
If your country already has that mood active when the effect lands, nothing changes — the existing mood simply carries on with its original expiry.

Industry effects¶

Some choices reshape your country's economy itself, in one of two ways:

Establishing an industry — the winning choice plants (or tops up) a named industry at a stated percentage of your country's industrial base, optionally after a delay: "Industry: Space Industry established at 1% of the industrial base, starting 365 days after the decision". The new industry is added on top of your existing base — the total grows — and from that day it grows (or shrinks) like any other industry. If your country already has that industry at or above the stated size, nothing changes: the effect never makes an industry smaller.
Changing an industry's growth — the winning choice adds a flat modifier, in percentage points, to one industry's growth rate for a fixed period: "Industry: Automotive growth +2 percentage points for 12 months". The modifier can be negative ("Oil & Gas growth -5 percentage points…"), applies exactly as stated with no randomness around it, and expires on its own when the period ends.

Like budget effects, industry effects only apply to countries with their economy enabled.

Hidden consequences and delayed news¶

Not every consequence is on the table when you vote. Some effects are hidden — their delay is real, but the consequence bullet is kept off the choice cards (and out of the launch-day news) until the effect actually comes into force. This turns a decision that would otherwise be obvious into a genuine gamble: you weigh the scenario and the visible bullets, but the full picture only becomes clear once time has passed.

A hidden effect appears on the decision page the day it lands — on that date the whole world crosses the same reveal line, because every country resolves a decision on the same game date.

A delayed effect can also carry its own breaking-news announcement. When such an effect finally comes into force, a journalist in every country files a post reporting it — for example, months after a grid-hardening vote: "A generational solar storm has hit the world. Those who failed to prepare will see a huge impact on their technology sector." If your country chose to prepare, the storm passes quietly; if it didn't, that post is the moment the bill comes due.

Next steps¶

Economy — how the budget page and Sankey chart work, and how a decision's budget effect fits into that picture.
Voter Demands & Pledges — the game's other public-reason-required commitment, and the closest existing pattern to a decision vote.