Frequently Asked Questions

Elections & candidacy

Why can't I run for Senate?

The US Senate uses staggered classes, so only one-third of seats (one class) are up in any given cycle. The seat you want may simply not have an active election right now. Check the elections page for your state; if there's no Senate race listed, the class for that seat isn't up yet. Additionally, you must be in the primary window to declare. If that window closed, you wait until the next cycle.

Why did I lose the primary?

Down-ballot primaries are decided by ballots, not by a single score at the deadline. Over the closing stretch of the primary your party's registered voters cast a slice of ballots each turn, split between the party's candidates by their primary-score standing that turn, and the cumulative count picks the nominee. The standing itself uses 25 alignment points against state lean, 15 against party position, 35 for favorability, and 25 for political influence (if the state has no cached lean, the two alignment buckets fall back to one 40-point party check). Common reasons for losing:

• Your policy position was too far from the state's lean, the party platform, or both.
• Your favorability was below 55 to 60. At 50 favorability, you're only contributing 17.5 of a possible 35 standing points.
• You overtook the field on the last turn. Ballots accumulate, so a rival who led through the closing window keeps most of the count.
• An NPP outscored you without the penalty (NPPs only get the 0.5× penalty if at least one player is in the primary).

Run a Quick Poll before declaring: it shows your projected standing before you commit, and the race page shows the live cumulative shares once ballots start counting.

Why do I keep getting 403 errors when trying to canvass?

Canvassing targets one state at a time. For most characters that state is your home state, so submitting a different state returns an error. If you moved recently using the relocation action, your home state may have updated. Check your character profile to confirm your current home state. Presidential candidates are the exception: they canvass in whichever state they're currently traveling to during the general phase, or their primary campaign state during the primary phase. If you haven't set those yet, the canvassing panel disables itself and prompts you to travel to a state first.

How do I get more actions per turn?

Base actions: 4 per turn (your Energy stat can raise the cap and the banked amount). Actions increase by holding offices with action bonuses:

• President / PM / Chancellor: +4
• Vice President: +2
• Senator (US): +2
• Governor (US): +2
• Federal Reserve Chair / Bank governor: +3
• House Representative: +1
• State Senator: +1

A Senator who is also Fed Chair gets 4 + 2 + 3 = 9 actions per turn. Party influence can also grant bonus actions.

What happens when an election I'm running in resolves?

If you win: your character receives the office, you start receiving office-based action bonuses and income, and the next election cycle is spawned. If you lose: your candidacy is marked withdrawn and you receive a notification. Your favorability and PI carry into the next cycle: nothing is reset.

Can I run in two elections at the same time?

No. An active candidacy blocks new declarations. You must withdraw from your current race before declaring in a different one. Withdrawing from a race you're losing is sometimes worth it if a better race is opening, but you cannot re-enter the race you withdrew from.

What is the NPP primary score penalty?

When at least one player is in a party's primary, all NPP candidates in that same party's primary receive a 0.5× multiplier on their total primary score. This means a 70-point NPP competes at an effective 35, so most competent players will beat them. The penalty does not apply if no players are in the race.

Game time & turns

What is a game turn? What is a game year?

One real-world hour = one game turn = one game week. 48 turns = one game year. Elections, bill deadlines, and term lengths are all measured in real hours (which equal game weeks).

What happens when turn 48 ends?

The year counter increments (e.g., year 1 to year 2) and turn counting restarts at turn 1. The fiscal year processes at turn 40 (the game-year equivalent of October). There is no game reset: the simulation continues indefinitely.

When does the next turn fire?

Turns fire at the top of every real hour (e.g., 14:00, 15:00, 16:00). You can see the countdown timer on the game dashboard. In fast mode, turns fire at :00 and :30.

Legislation

How do I propose a bill?

Go to the Congress or legislature page for your country. Use the "Propose Bill" action. Bills cost actions to introduce and may require a character with a legislative seat (House/Senate/Commons/etc.) to sponsor them. You set the bill's policy effects and choose which chamber it starts in.

Why is my bill not moving?

There is no committee stage: a bill goes straight to a 24-hour floor vote in its origin chamber (see Committees). If it is sitting still, the usual causes are a pending parliamentary government (legislation freezes until a PM is seated), a chamber where the NPP cross-pressure runs against your policy option, or a filibuster in the US Senate. Check the ideology breakdown of the chamber and adjust the bill's policy direction, or use whip directives if you control party leadership.

Can a President veto a bill?

In presidential systems, the executive can veto a bill after the required chambers pass it. Parliamentary Prime Ministers and Chancellors do not have that veto. Override and enactment rules are country-specific, so check Bills & Legislation for the active lifecycle.

Parties & organizations

How do I start a new political party?

You draft a Party Charter on the new-charter page: name, abbreviation, four-axis platform, and three human founders (yourself plus two others). Your two co-founders must live in your home state or a state adjacent to it, since a new party's founding trio is geographically anchored, just like its founding NPP cohort. Once all three founders sign on the charter's page, the charter ratifies, the party is created, and all three founders are joined to it as members. The party starts with vacant leadership: its first leadership elections open immediately and end on the same shared cycle as every other party's, so declare your candidacy on the party page. Your new party has zero state org, so building that from zero takes time. See Political Parties for the full charter lifecycle (rejections, founder replacement, expiry).

What is Party Organization (Org)?

Party organization (Org) is a 0 to 100 metric per state that represents your party's ground-level infrastructure. General-election weight uses your party's share of all Org in the state raised to the 0.2 exponent, which gives diminishing returns. Presidential primaries use party influence and national reach, not home-state Org. The party chair controls Org investment.

What are whip directives?

Whip directives are instructions the party leadership sends to NPP legislators on how to vote on specific bills. If the whip says "aye," NPP party members will vote yes on that bill. If "nay," they vote no. This is how party chairs influence legislative outcomes even when they don't hold every seat.

Economy & finance

What do corporations do?

Corporations build and own production plants within economic sectors. Each turn, plants generate revenue based on capacity, output, policy environment, and economic conditions. Revenue flows to the corporation as income, which pays out to shareholders (including your character). Running a corporation alongside a political career provides passive income that funds campaigns and ads. See Corporations & Plants for the full capacity economy.

What are sovereign bonds?

Governments issue bonds to raise capital. As a player, you can buy these bonds to earn interest (coupon payments) over time. Bond yields vary by country credit rating and economic health. Bonds mature after a set period and return their face value. Defaults are possible if a country's fiscal situation deteriorates severely.

What is the Forex system?

When Forex is enabled, you can trade every active country's currency. A full modern map includes USD, GBP, JPY, EUR or IEP, CNY, BRL, NGN, and the rest of the live set. Exchange rates shift based on inflation, trade balance, and interest-rate differentials. Planned economies use a fixed official rate rather than the floating path. Limit orders allow automatic buy/sell prices.

Characters

Can I change my home state?

Yes, via the relocation action. Relocating costs actions and funds, and there is a cooldown period. After relocating, your home state updates for canvassing and future elections. Relocation can also move you to a different country - that resets your national influence and drops you to independent in the new country, so treat it as a fresh start there, not a free jump.

What is infamy?

Infamy increases when you take certain negative actions: attacking another politician, converting large sums of personal cash into campaign funds, and some random-event choices. Defying a whip does not add infamy. Higher infamy trims your vote weight and primary standing slightly and reduces NPP endorsement success. It decays by 5% each turn, so a quiet stretch gradually fades it.

What is NPI (National Political Influence)?

NPI is your national-level reputation, distinct from state-level Political Influence (PI). NPI grows from holding high offices, national legislation, and accumulating state PI over time. NPI is the primary influence stat for presidential primary scoring and national vote accumulation in presidential races.

Related

• Tips for Beginners: Practical new player advice.
• Glossary: Definitions of all game terms.
• Getting Started: First steps guide.
• Reference: Formulas: Complete formula reference.