Help us fix old issues

[The God of Electromagnetism]

Option 3 of issue 140 should be @@RANDOMFEMALENAME@@ since not all nations have necessarily legalized gay marriage.

[A Humanist Prognostication]

Option 3 of issue 140 should be @@RANDOMFEMALENAME@@ since not all nations have necessarily legalized gay marriage.

The word "partner" neither implies nor requires that @@RANDOMNAME@@ and Henry be legally married. Neither does the general logic of option; anyone can argue that Henry's final wishes be respected. @@RANDOMNAME@@ is Henry's bridge partner for all we know.

[Ransium]

I'm confused as to why I'm getting issue 711 (Patently Obvious). This nation is heavily anti-patent, and as far as I know, we have no patent system. Yet the issue implies that we do, and even worse, there's no anti-patent option..

There is a way to have no patents/copyright system and the game sees your nation as still having one.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

I'm confused as to why I'm getting issue 711 (Patently Obvious). This nation is heavily anti-patent, and as far as I know, we have no patent system. Yet the issue implies that we do, and even worse, there's no anti-patent option..

By default, patents do exist, and we do track your decisions on this. Your nation does have a patent system.

There are some granularity issues though, in that copyrights and patents are treated as the same thing by our flagging system, so if you ban patents, then re-institute copyrights, you also re-institute patents. It's possible to divide these things apart, but the balance of demands on the simulation doesn't make this a worthwhile thing to do at present.

[Our Lady Holy Virgin Merry Trump Toupee]

I have issue 113 and its 3rd option reads: “This is stupid, it would ruin our nation’s population of skilled workers!” says Rosalia Zaius, a college professor. “There’s never enough able-minded citizens for the more specialised careers. We must force our less-intelligent to learn! Get their noses right against the grindstone! Let’s raise the bar a bit so even our best students have to sweat whilst learning! The others will of course be forced to learn even more to keep in touch, but that just shows them how real life works. To fund it, well, our defence budget is already too large, if you ask me.”
Now, not only does this nation have a Defense Forces rating = –8.37, but its pie chart shows 0% defense/defence budget. So, it is ok that I got that 3rd option?

[Candlewhisper Archive]

I have issue 113 and its 3rd option reads: “This is stupid, it would ruin our nation’s population of skilled workers!” says Rosalia Zaius, a college professor. “There’s never enough able-minded citizens for the more specialised careers. We must force our less-intelligent to learn! Get their noses right against the grindstone! Let’s raise the bar a bit so even our best students have to sweat whilst learning! The others will of course be forced to learn even more to keep in touch, but that just shows them how real life works. To fund it, well, our defence budget is already too large, if you ask me.”
Now, not only does this nation have a Defense Forces rating = –8.37, but its pie chart shows 0% defense/defence budget. So, it is ok that I got that 3rd option?

(Image)

The narrative has never accounted for what departments nations do and don't have in option validities, only in whole issue validities, and then not consistently.

This is earmarked as a future thing in need of review, though the sheer scope of the task likely makes it not worth spending time on.

[Our Lady Holy Virgin Merry Trump Toupee]

I have issue 113 and its 3rd option reads: “This is stupid, it would ruin our nation’s population of skilled workers!” says Rosalia Zaius, a college professor. “There’s never enough able-minded citizens for the more specialised careers. We must force our less-intelligent to learn! Get their noses right against the grindstone! Let’s raise the bar a bit so even our best students have to sweat whilst learning! The others will of course be forced to learn even more to keep in touch, but that just shows them how real life works. To fund it, well, our defence budget is already too large, if you ask me.”
Now, not only does this nation have a Defense Forces rating = –8.37, but its pie chart shows 0% defense/defence budget. So, it is ok that I got that 3rd option?

(Image)

The narrative has never accounted for what departments nations do and don't have in option validities, only in whole issue validities, and then not consistently.

This is earmarked as a future thing in need of review, though the sheer scope of the task likely makes it not worth spending time on.

Oh, I saw a big effort from the Issues Team to streamline option narratives to exact past decisions of a nation, and I thought this was worth mentioning.
Moreover, I was under the impression that the lack of a department in fact reflected the way a nation had been shaped after an issue decision.
I understand that if one puts 'major industry' there, the whole effect mechanics will need to be redone. Anyways, thanks for the answer!

[Candlewhisper Archive]

I did a review of policy flags, if that's what you mean, which was things like whether your nation has banned cars or computers or what not. Government departments is a separate thing, but I may be convinced to review that as well at some stage.

[Dogon]

I'm confused as to why I'm getting issue 711 (Patently Obvious). This nation is heavily anti-patent, and as far as I know, we have no patent system. Yet the issue implies that we do, and even worse, there's no anti-patent option..

By default, patents do exist, and we do track your decisions on this. Your nation does have a patent system.

There are some granularity issues though, in that copyrights and patents are treated as the same thing by our flagging system, so if you ban patents, then re-institute copyrights, you also re-institute patents. It's possible to divide these things apart, but the balance of demands on the simulation doesn't make this a worthwhile thing to do at present.

Thanks for the explanation. This nation must've accidentally re-legalized them.
I'm honestly not surprised. Options are so text-heavy that most players probably just skim them after reading them once. And with this many options, it's becoming harder to keep track of possible side-effects.

It'd be rather useful if we could see somewhere what's actually banned in our nations. After all, that's something that a leader should already know.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

I'm sure that's technically possible, but whether that's desirable or not is up to the game's technical team, as is implementing it. You could start a thread in Technical to ask for that.

Personally I'm against that, as it makes the issue game's shape (which is largely defined by words and stories) into one that is more joyless and easily summarised in a spreadsheet. While I think transparency is a good thing generally, the loss of obfuscation certainly does harm the illusion of immersion within the game's fiction.

This is especially apparent to me as an editor: backstage access to the underlying game mechanics have stripped away a lot of the "magic" of the story.

[Tinhampton]

Don’t be a part of the problem Mayor Lydia Anderson AM - enact a nationwide ‘Right to Homesteading’!

Shouldn't there be a comma after "problem"?

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Don’t be a part of the problem Mayor Lydia Anderson AM - enact a nationwide ‘Right to Homesteading’!

Shouldn't there be a comma after "problem"?

Optional, I'd say.

Commas often are.

[Helaw]

Don’t be a part of the problem Mayor Lydia Anderson AM - enact a nationwide ‘Right to Homesteading’!

Shouldn't there be a comma after "problem"?

Optional, I'd say.

Commas often are.

To expand upon this: In terms of written grammar, the correct form is to have a comma preceding nouns that are addressing an individual. However, it is not necessary when reflecting a character's speech, as the dictation of a sentence varies between individuals and may seem to not have a comma present at all. Hence, the omission of a comma does make sense when it is considered a personal preference when writing a character's speech. In this particular case, it depends upon what direction the Author / Editor was taking with the character's personality and speech patterns.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Right, right, it depends a lot on the place and the style guide.

Here's an interesting essay on it:

https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2 ... akes/?_r=0

Whether this is in speech or not isn't the thing here, in my mind. Here if you take the name out it still reads with the same meaning:

Don’t be a part of the problem - enact a nationwide ‘Right to Homesteading’!

Therefore a comma is not needed.

Also a comma might denote the rhythm of the sentence. "Don’t be a part of the problem Mayor Lydia Anderson" suggests no pause while "Don’t be a part of the problem, Mayor Lydia Anderson" suggests a pause before the word Mayor and a point of emphasis on the word problem.

So basically - like I said - the comma here is optional. It can be correctly left off here or it can be correctly added here.

Generally the best bit is not to be proscriptive unless meaning or aesthetics are suffering, and to pick the approach that works best in a given instance.

Believe it or not, we spend a lot of time talking about this sort of thing in Editor-land.

You will have noticed of course that I'm missing a load of unnecessary commas from this post to goad Helaw and probably Trotterdam as well. Heh.

[Ransium]

I think the only comma ever required is the Oxford comma.

[Drasnia]

I think the only comma ever required is the Oxford comma.

I use the term serial comma so when horrible, terrible people such as Candlewhisper omit it I can call them serial comma killers.

[Helaw]

You will have noticed of course that I'm missing a load of unnecessary commas from this post to goad Helaw and probably Trotterdam as well. Heh.

I will, end you and, your pathetic, punctuation.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

SO SO tempting to use my newly granted mod-light powers to edit the commas out of your post Helaw.

[Drasnia]

SO SO tempting to use my newly-granted mod-light powers to edit the commas out of your post, Helaw.

FTFY

[Lord Dominator]

mod-light

Mod-light? Is that like a fancy flashlight?

[Dinosauron]

I got issue 503 and its 4th option says: “Why not make yourself a little spending money?” suggests wealthy industrialist Edward Rump as he adjusts his toupee. “You should have a yuuuuuge statue of yourself in front of the door. Dinosauronians insert Rings into the statue, and you can judge their worthiness based on how much they pay their respects.”

So, I have banned private enterprise, yet an industrialist (of all people) finds his way in my office! Funny thing is that my nation's leader values that specific proposal the most (and of course I'm referring to the huge statue — not to making money on the side, which is sick ), but coming out from the mouth of an enemy of the proletariat? I'm so torn...

[Dinosauron]

OK, another question: 4th option of issue 140, mentions the McRonald’s chain of fast-food restaurants. Is this deemed worthy of a non-capitalist version, or say let us assume McRonald's is not explicitly capitalist?

[Candlewhisper Archive]

I got issue 503 and its 4th option says: “Why not make yourself a little spending money?” suggests wealthy industrialist Edward Rump as he adjusts his toupee. “You should have a yuuuuuge statue of yourself in front of the door. Dinosauronians insert Rings into the statue, and you can judge their worthiness based on how much they pay their respects.”

So, I have banned private enterprise, yet an industrialist (of all people) finds his way in my office! Funny thing is that my nation's leader values that specific proposal the most (and of course I'm referring to the huge statue — not to making money on the side, which is sick ), but coming out from the mouth of an enemy of the proletariat? I'm so torn...

Industrialists still exist when your nation is non-capitalist, as does wealth. However, in this case, Edward Rump is now a foreign industrialist with foreign wealth. Probably from the decadent and Imperialist United Federation.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

OK, another question: 4th option of issue 140, mentions the McRonald’s chain of fast-food restaurants. Is this deemed worthy of a non-capitalist version, or say let us assume McRonald's is not explicitly capitalist?

Good call. Fixed so that non-capitalists don't get that option.

Keep looking for these!

[Our Lady Holy Virgin Merry Trump Toupee]

I did a review of policy flags, if that's what you mean, which was things like whether your nation has banned cars or computers or what not. Government departments is a separate thing, but I may be convinced to review that as well at some stage.

Fair enough, thanks!