Policies — Wiki — Atomic Rivals

A country's policies are its national laws: how it taxes, who owns the factories and the farms, whether the press is free, how the army is raised and who controls it. In the 1946 scenario they are organized into 44 policy sets with 184 options in total. Each policy set holds exactly one option at a time. Choosing a new option replaces only the old option in that set.

There are no sliders. Your tax rate and your military, research and social spending all add up from the laws you hold (see Money & the Budget and Taxation), and so do much of your Stability, Legitimacy, Corruption, political capital income and military capacity.

The five tabs

Laws are grouped into five tabs in the Politics view:

Tab	Sets	Examples
Economy	8	Personal Taxation, Business Taxation, Trade Policy, International Investment, Means of Production, Farm Ownership, Public Works, Labor Standards
Politics	15	Executive Power, Legislature, Elections, Electoral System, Party Competition, Judiciary, Civil Service, Internal Security, Military Control, Press Rights, State of Emergency, Foreign Policy Posture
Society	6	Minority Rights & Cultural Recognition, Religious Rights, Women's Rights, Union Law, Internal Migration & Residency Controls, Emigration Law
Welfare	6	Income Security, Pensions, Healthcare System, Housing Policy, Family Support, Education System
Military	9	Recruitment, Reserve System, Readiness, Arms Procurement, Defense Industry & Procurement, Military Doctrine, Nuclear Policy, Alliance Integration & Foreign Basing, Research Priority

The law currently in force has a gold outline. Every option lists its full set of effects, and a budget law also shows how well it is currently funded.

Some trade-offs

Internal Security runs from Civil Policing through Political Police and Secret Police to Mass Surveillance. Each step suppresses Unrest more effectively and makes foreign meddling harder (Counterintelligence), but costs legitimacy and adds corruption.
Press Rights runs from State Information Control to Constitutional Press Freedom. Censorship slowly builds stability and raises ruling party support, and costs legitimacy. A free press cuts corruption and adds legitimacy.
Legislature trades legitimacy against reform speed. Parliamentary Supremacy gives the most legitimacy but slows every reform by 10%.
Executive Power ranges from Collective Leadership to Autocracy. Autocracy builds stability month by month and costs legitimacy.

Who can pick what

Every option can have visibility, unlock and expiry conditions. An option has to be both visible and unlocked before you can choose it. Locked options stay on show with the reason listed. Some options appear only for the countries they fit. Others need technology: a public housing construction program, for example, needs the relevant research. Some laws can only come through a national focus. While that focus lies a few steps ahead of you, the reform panel says the law "must come through the national direction first".

Reforms

Changing a law starts a reform. The old law stays in force until the reform reaches 100% progress. Then the new law takes effect all at once.

A reform advances every day and charges that day's political capital cost, 1 a day at standard cost. A day you can't pay makes no progress and charges nothing.
By default a reform takes 180 days at standard speed. Individual laws can be quicker or slower. Declaring or lifting martial law takes a week. Reform speed (Political Reform Speed) shortens the time.
You can pause a reform without losing progress. While paused it costs nothing and does not advance.
Focuses and Events can give a law a head start before you even propose it. When you do start it, it begins from that credit.

Party and faction pressure

The ruling party may have preferred options in some policy sets. A preferred law is implemented 25% faster and 25% cheaper. If the party has a preference in a set and you pick a different option, it takes 50% longer and costs 50% more a day. Influential, agitated Factions that oppose a reform raise its cost, and calm, influential supporters lower it. A minority government adds 25% to the cost of every reform (Reform Political Capital Cost).

Incidents along the way

For every 30 political capital invested, a reform reaches a pulse that can push it off course. In the 1946 scenario the outcomes are, before adjustment:

Outcome	Base weight	Effect
No incident	60	The reform continues normally
Breakthrough	10	Jumps ahead by one pulse's worth of progress
Stall	15	Loses half a pulse of progress
Setback	5	Loses a full pulse of progress
Dilemma	10	A choice, such as paying compensation or taking a hard line over nationalization

Agitated backers and opponents change these odds. The dilemma's options each cost half a pulse of progress and change the opposing factions' influence and agitation. The reform panel shows progress, the estimated days remaining, the daily cost, the political capital until the next pulse, anything blocking the reform, and a log of its incidents.

Consequences

Many laws carry faction reactions: when the law is enacted, named factions gain or lose influence or agitation. Moving to civil policing angers a security apparatus that preferred something harsher, while a civil-rights law strengthens one part of a coalition and alienates another. A reform's effects last well beyond its own modifiers.

Martial law

State of Emergency has two options, Normal Order and Martial Law. Martial law can only be declared while the armed forces stand behind the government. It takes a week to declare. While it lasts, it adds political capital every day, makes reforms run four times as fast, and holds down unrest. The armed factions also gain influence each month. The price is legitimacy. Martial law declared without real unrest is unjustified at once, and martial law declared amid unrest becomes prolonged after six months. Both cost legitimacy until it ends. A change of ruling party ends martial law automatically. The AI declares it when unrest runs high and lifts it once unrest falls.

Budget laws and funding

Laws that tax or spend are funded month by month at a level around 100%, and their whole set of effects scales with that funding. In surplus, discretionary programs are funded above 100% and taxes ease. In deficit, programs are funded below 100% and taxes rise. Funding stays between 50% and 150% and moves gradually. A funded law shows "(funded 118%)" wherever its effects are listed. See Money & the Budget.

The AI

Every option has a weight that reacts to the country's situation, such as its legitimacy, whether it is at war or its form of government. The AI starts only its single best reform, and only when the reform clears a minimum score and the country has a healthy reserve of political capital, so it does not drift back and forth between neutral laws.