Before we go live on this, I'd like input on some aspects of this:
- Do we actually want a Declaration category?
- Is "Declaration" the best name for it? It's been discussed before as "Document".
- What description do we want for the category - I currently have "A resolution to express a position on international affairs."
- Do we want subcategories for it? In Unibot's thread, he suggested subcategories of "Memorandum", "Agreement", "Convention".
- What rules changes do we need?
- Yes. It's a super-easy change (I've coded it already). There's demand for it, and no clear downsides have been raised yet. There aren't the wider GP implications that we normally have to consider with SC categories that have in-game effects.
- I'm happy with Declaration. In my view, this category is for the SC to express an opinion, with reasons for holding that opinion. Nothing binding goes in here.
- Open to alternatives here.
- No. I don't see the need. Subcategories exist in the GA for differing statistical effects on nations. There are none for Declarations. I also don't want players or mods to have to deal with category violations - i.e. pull someone's proposal because it's a "Memorandum" not a "Convention". Better to keep things simple.
- I've got thoughts around this, but for the most part the existing ruleset works fine with Declarations. I'm interested both in thoughts on specific rules but also on how we handle changing the rules for Declarations - we could make changes now in anticipation of how we think these should work, or wait and see, introducing rules tweaks when circumstances demand them (a bit trickier for players who might write something they thought was legal only for it to be decided it isn't, but allows for more organic development of the SC).