[Question] Validity of issue #000

[The Land of Cheesecake]

I just got the "Should Democracy Be Compulsory" issue on a puppet with zero political freedoms.

Is that supposed to happen?

[Golgothastan]

Yes, that is possible (although unlikely). #000 is about one specific political freedom - voting in elections. The NS political freedom score takes into account many other measures. It's certainly surprising that a nation could have "zero" political freedoms while still having legal elections, but I don't see that it's impossible.

What is the name of the puppet?

[The Land of Cheesecake]

The puppet is The Land of Pork. (I ran out of ideas 3 puppets ago, ok?)

It specifically says in the description that a corrupt dictator is in power.

I'm going to dismiss all my issues except #000, so I don't mess up the stats.

EDIT: While I was dismissing issues, I found that I also have "People Request Not So Much Dictatorship, If That's All Right"
How do I post screenshots?

ANOTHER EDIT: Fixed spelling from "wile" to "while"

[Golgothastan]

Oh, I see. That is an issue with the validity of Issue #000 for new nations who haven't answered any issues yet. Issues #000 and #011 use different validities so it is possible for a nation to receive both of them.

Because it's a new nation that hasn't answered issues yet, the make-up depends on the questions answered during the nation set-up (e.g. "military service should be compulsory", agree/disagree) over which Issue Editors have no control.

I suspect the intention is that every new nation receives #000 automatically.

[Nurkama]

#000's validity is for every nation who hasn't answered an issue yet. Every nation gets it at the start.

[Trotterdam]

Is it possible to get #000 again after you've already answered it once?

[Golgothastan]

Yes, depending on how you answer it and other issues subsequently.

[Sodastream]

if you dismiss a particular issue, then you won't get it again.... like for example, it's not really relevant to the current economy.

[Phydios]

if you dismiss a particular issue, then you won't get it again.

That's completely false. Dismissing an issue does not stop you from getting it again. I cannot prove this, as I don't think any mod or Issue Editor has said it, but I am 110% certain of it.

[Nurkama]

if you dismiss a particular issue, then you won't get it again.... like for example, it's not really relevant to the current economy.

No it doesn't. if it did, some people would get very few issues. I have dismissed the same issue five times. You might be lucky or don't remember answering certain issues.

[Trotterdam]

I am pretty sure I have dismissed issues and gotten them again. It only makes sense to give players a chance to change their mind, even moreso than if they actually made a real decision last time.

If nothing else, if dismissed issues were permanently unrecoverable, it would be possible to dismiss everything until your nation is no longer eligible for any issues, which would break the game.

[Golgothastan]

In most cases, you can receive issues even if you previously dismissed them.

The exception is the Chain Issue, which can only be received once and cannot be received again after being dismissed.

[Trotterdam]

It also can't be received again if you don't dismiss it.

[Golgothastan]

It also can't be received again if you don't dismiss it.

That's correct.

[Drachmaland]

Is it possible to get #000 again after you've already answered it once?

Yes, depending on how you answer it and other issues subsequently.

Dear Golgothastan, I'd like to kindly ask for a confirmation on this statement of yours; it's not that I don't believe you (I do), but I just need positively affirmed information on the following questions:

• Apart from the obvious validity of ‘just-foundedness’, is there any other validity (no need to mention it explicitly, of course) that would allow issue #000 to reappear to a nation?
• Has ever been a nation that received issue #000 more than once?
• In case issue #000 just appears once (i.e., along with the founding of the respective receiving nation), will it reappear if dismissed (or does it work like the chain issue)?

A zillion thanks in advance!

[Phydios]

Is it possible to get #000 again after you've already answered it once?

Yes, depending on how you answer it and other issues subsequently.

Dear Golgothastan, I'd like to kindly ask for a confirmation on this statement of yours; it's not that I don't believe you (I do), but I just need positively affirmed information on the following questions:

• Apart from the obvious validity of ‘just-foundedness’, is there any other validity (no need to mention it explicitly, of course) that would allow issue #000 to reappear to a nation?
• Has ever been a nation that received issue #000 more than once?
• In case issue #000 just appears once (i.e., along with the founding of the respective receiving nation), will it reappear if dismissed (or does it work like the chain issue)?

A zillion thanks in advance!

I can answer #2 for you- yes. I've received the issue at least twice on this nation alone. And since the answer is yes, that makes #3 irrelevant.

[Drachmaland]

Dear Golgothastan, I'd like to kindly ask for a confirmation on this statement of yours; it's not that I don't believe you (I do), but I just need positively affirmed information on the following questions:

• Apart from the obvious validity of ‘just-foundedness’, is there any other validity (no need to mention it explicitly, of course) that would allow issue #000 to reappear to a nation?
• Has ever been a nation that received issue #000 more than once?
• In case issue #000 just appears once (i.e., along with the founding of the respective receiving nation), will it reappear if dismissed (or does it work like the chain issue)?

A zillion thanks in advance!

I can answer #2 for you- yes. I've received the issue at least twice on this nation alone. And since the answer is yes, that makes #3 irrelevant.

Thank you very much, Phydios, that helps me a lot!

And, actually, your answer renders also #1 kind of irrelevant, because either via some specific validity or not, the fact is that issue #000 can reappear at a nation.

[Phydios]

Glad I could help. As far as I know, there's nothing special about #000. It's coded just like any other issue.

[Ballotonia]

It also can't be received again if you don't dismiss it.

That's correct.

Glad I could help. As far as I know, there's nothing special about #000. It's coded just like any other issue.

Hadn't seen this before, but would like to point out that both statements above are wrong.

Issue 000 is special in that it is a fall-back option. If NS has problems finding a new valid issue (which admittedly has a very low but non-zero chance of happening) for a nation, it will eventually give up and give issue 000. This is how back when the chain issues were introduced some nations ended up in a loop of receiving issue 000 each update again and again. If that happens you know something is seriously wrong.

So even without considering bugs, it occasionally may happen that someone gets issue 000 without actually qualifying for it.

Ballotonia

[Drachmaland]

Ballotonia, I'm immensely thankful to you for providing us this information.

[Phydios]

That's correct.

Glad I could help. As far as I know, there's nothing special about #000. It's coded just like any other issue.

Hadn't seen this before, but would like to point out that both statements above are wrong.

Issue 000 is special in that it is a fall-back option. If NS has problems finding a new valid issue (which admittedly has a very low but non-zero chance of happening) for a nation, it will eventually give up and give issue 000. This is how back when the chain issues were introduced some nations ended up in a loop of receiving issue 000 each update again and again. If that happens you know something is seriously wrong.

So even without considering bugs, it occasionally may happen that someone gets issue 000 without actually qualifying for it.

Ballotonia

Oh, that's cool. Thanks for sharing. I should note, though, that Golgothastan was referring to the first Chain issue in the quoted post, not issue #000.

[British Accia]

That's correct.

Glad I could help. As far as I know, there's nothing special about #000. It's coded just like any other issue.

Hadn't seen this before, but would like to point out that both statements above are wrong.

Issue 000 is special in that it is a fall-back option. If NS has problems finding a new valid issue (which admittedly has a very low but non-zero chance of happening) for a nation, it will eventually give up and give issue 000. This is how back when the chain issues were introduced some nations ended up in a loop of receiving issue 000 each update again and again. If that happens you know something is seriously wrong.

So even without considering bugs, it occasionally may happen that someone gets issue 000 without actually qualifying for it.

Ballotonia

Wait, so, it's possible to make a nation which is unable to get more-a-less any issues? Obviously some have validity for 'everyone', but it's possible to get so few issues that it has to give you #000?

[Drachmaland]

Wait, so, it's possible to make a nation which is unable to get more-a-less any issues? Obviously some have validity for 'everyone', but it's possible to get so few issues that it has to give you #000?

Meseems utterly reasonable and prudent to have a redundancy provision in place, so that if the system cannot for any reason find an applicable issue to give a nation (and that's an almost obligatory safety backup against bugs) to have a specific, set rule to avoid having the whole update hanging.

[British Accia]

Wait, so, it's possible to make a nation which is unable to get more-a-less any issues? Obviously some have validity for 'everyone', but it's possible to get so few issues that it has to give you #000?

Meseems utterly reasonable and prudent to have a redundancy provision in place, so that if the system cannot for any reason find an applicable issue to give a nation (and that's an almost obligatory safety backup against bugs) to have a specific, set rule to avoid having the whole update hanging.

I'm not questioning the backup plans in place for this, I'm simply amazed that a nation can simply not be valid for any issues.

[Trotterdam]

I'm not questioning the backup plans in place for this, I'm simply amazed that a nation can simply not be valid for any issues.

Well, more accurately, there would need to be less than five issues that you currently qualify for. (Since that's the maximum folder size for randomly-assigned issues, and you can't have the same issue twice.) Which still seems pretty incredible. I would have thought there would be at least that many "validity: any" issues in the game, nevermind you'll-always-qualify-for-at-least-one-of-these-two dealies.

Depending on how the game's randomizer is coded, it might be possible for the game to "fail" to find an issue even if there are some you technically qualify for. Like if it rolls a random issue, checks if you qualify, and rerolls if you don't, up to a certain maximum number of attempts before giving up (not really the smart way to code it, but simple and works fine 99.9% of the time).