[MEGATHREAD] Unusual Issue Effects

[Bisofeyr]

Issue Number - 1714
Issue Name - Taking a Stand
Type of Error - Massively underwhelming effect?

Summary -
Just recently, one of my alt nations (Reskellia) received this issue. I went ahead with the following option:

3. “How about we just do away with the whole thing,” states Guinan Barbossa, your Minister of Cost Cutting, who just so happened to be taking the same train to work. “Instead of arguing over where to put our legs, let’s use them for what they were intended for... walking! Let’s save the government some money and derail the entire public transit system.”

I chose this one based on the wording, as it looked like it was one of those issues that would 100% remove all government funding from a particular service, in this case, Public Transport. Unfortunately, this was not the case and it only removed a tiny percentage of 1.4%. Is this a mistake? For how the choice is worded, this should really have a total effect rather than a tiny fraction.

Many thanks.

Looks to me like the issue is that Reskellia funds so many public transit options that even the massive change prompted by this issue was relatively meager. In nearly all nations, the effect that this issue would have is massive, but yours is an outlier.

[Kriegsreich of Iron]

Kreigsreich of Iron, “This Way’s Kinder.” Option 1 (i.e, youth programs to inspire loyalty to the glorious leader) somehow increase civil rights, and by a fair bit too,

[Bisofeyr]

Kreigsreich of Iron, “This Way’s Kinder.” Option 1 (i.e, youth programs to inspire loyalty to the glorious leader) somehow increase civil rights, and by a fair bit too,

This happened because your nation already had very restrictive laws; because of this, the "teaching them to clean rifles" required loosening your regulations around firearms, increasing civil rights. This usually is outweighed by the restrictions imposed by the option, but your nation is already so authoritarian that the relative change there was less than the loosening of firearm regulations.

In other words, looks weird but working as intended.

[Kriegsreich of Iron]

Kreigsreich of Iron, “This Way’s Kinder.” Option 1 (i.e, youth programs to inspire loyalty to the glorious leader) somehow increase civil rights, and by a fair bit too,

This happened because your nation already had very restrictive laws; because of this, the "teaching them to clean rifles" required loosening your regulations around firearms, increasing civil rights. This usually is outweighed by the restrictions imposed by the option, but your nation is already so authoritarian that the relative change there was less than the loosening of firearm regulations.

In other words, looks weird but working as intended.

Alright, thanks for the concise explanation.

[Dimenzio]

"Following new legislation in Dimenzio, anti-tourism militias patrol the borders."
Somehow, this made me less authoritarian.

[Free Will Refugee]

17 minutes ago: Following new legislation in Free Will Refugee, corporations cut costs by taking away safety-features on their products.

This somehow decreased my income inequality, economic freedom I could see from a certain perspective how decreasing would make sense though I don't agree.

Increased authoritarianism by getting rid of laws? I don't get this one

[Bisofeyr]

17 minutes ago: Following new legislation in Free Will Refugee, corporations cut costs by taking away safety-features on their products.

This somehow decreased my income inequality, economic freedom I could see from a certain perspective how decreasing would make sense though I don't agree.

Increased authoritarianism by getting rid of laws? I don't get this one

Because of how your nation is set up, there was already effectively zero regulation of corporations so loosening that had very little to no effect on your nation; however, there were also very few restrictions on the range of lawsuits individuals could fire, meaning that banning those lawsuits had quite a significant effect on that specific individual freedom. Because the "loosening of government control" of corporations had little effect, and the "restricting personal freedom to sue" had a relatively larger effect, it means total amount of government control went up, thus causing knock-on effects surrounding authoritarianism.

[Free Will Refugee]

17 minutes ago: Following new legislation in Free Will Refugee, corporations cut costs by taking away safety-features on their products.

This somehow decreased my income inequality, economic freedom I could see from a certain perspective how decreasing would make sense though I don't agree.

Increased authoritarianism by getting rid of laws? I don't get this one

Because of how your nation is set up, there was already effectively zero regulation of corporations so loosening that had very little to no effect on your nation; however, there were also very few restrictions on the range of lawsuits individuals could fire, meaning that banning those lawsuits had quite a significant effect on that specific individual freedom. Because the "loosening of government control" of corporations had little effect, and the "restricting personal freedom to sue" had a relatively larger effect, it means total amount of government control went up, thus causing knock-on effects surrounding authoritarianism.

Thank you for responding, its still hard to get my head around the idea of, well the whole phrasing of the issue seems weird because I doubt the state would actually be banning certain lawsuits rather than removing the applicable laws from the book, which is effectively what happened.


The longer I think about the weirder it becomes. Limiting the power of the judicial system, which I assume would be violently enforced, limiting that body that is inherently authoritarian seems like it would reduce authoritarianism.

[The Scientific Isles]

Option 863.2 saw scientific advancement and primitiveness both go up. Aren't those opposing stats?

[Unogonduria]

Name of the nation: Unogonduria
Issue number: 314
Issue name: An affair to remember
Date of the effect: 3rd November, 2025.

I chose the first option, which boosted government funding for job training programs for the unemployed and welfare, yet my employment rates went down??!

[Almonaster Nuevo]

#151 option 3 speaks against "bringing in" nukes, when the nation already has the WMDs policy.

[Luna Amore]

#151 option 3 speaks against "bringing in" nukes, when the nation already has the WMDs policy.

This was brought up recently and determined not to be an issue based on how the policy is worded.

[Agderomat]

Hello
November 6, 2025
Issue 717 (Cheques and Balances), option 2: I abolished Central Bank and introduced gold standard. Somehow it diminished my economic freedom. How so? One might debate whether CB is actually independent, but it’s not the main point here. With CB and without the gold standard, the value of money can be manipulated by a single body; without CB and with gold standard, the value of money depends on the dynamic of the market price of gold and cannot be manipulated by any authority. My point is that my economic freedom must have increased, not decreased. I am convinced it should be fixed.

[New Smesanda Nan]

Where in the mandatory atheism does New Smesanda Nan endorse magic and sorcery? This game needs to stamp nations with an 'endorses magic' policy to make it rigorously clear which issue choices are considered as endorsing magic for the purpose of enabling #1,186. That way we can also argue over which issue choices should strip the 'endorses magic' policy! If international leaders are taking so much interest in it, how is it that the government itself is the last to know it supposedly endorses magic?

[Luna Amore]

Where in the mandatory atheism does New Smesanda Nan endorse magic and sorcery? This game needs to stamp nations with an 'endorses magic' policy to make it rigorously clear which issue choices are considered as endorsing magic for the purpose of enabling #1,186. That way we can also argue over which issue choices should strip the 'endorses magic' policy! If international leaders are taking so much interest in it, how is it that the government itself is the last to know it supposedly endorses magic?

Not every policy used in the issue base is visible on your nation page. This policy is one of the backend ones. There are 5 issues that have options that can enable that policy. You have received 4 of them. Unfortunately, I cannot see what option you picked, but one of them unlocked the policy.

[Copercia]

Answered option 4 with this nation.

This cancelled my theocracy policy and raised my civil rights from 0 to 5. I am struggling to see where in the wording for this option I cancel mandatory worship of the state religion. Of course, if the religion my leader's cousin speaks of in the option is not the state religion, this makes sense, but I don't see that mentioned anywhere.

[Bisofeyr]

Answered option 4 with this nation.

This cancelled my theocracy policy and raised my civil rights from 0 to 5. I am struggling to see where in the wording for this option I cancel mandatory worship of the state religion. Of course, if the religion my leader's cousin speaks of in the option is not the state religion, this makes sense, but I don't see that mentioned anywhere.

It makes sense to me why this happened, but it is a bit difficult to explain without revealing quite a bit about how things work behind-the-scenes. I have a solution in mind on how to resolve this that I'll bring up backstage, thanks for the report!

[Magna-Parva]

I picked option 1 on issue 490 and my economy fell by 3%. Firstly, I don't understand why that should happen, and secondly, that seems an extraordinarily large jump, especially for an issue that doesn't even directly deal with the economy. If you look at my economy trend, this is probably the biggest change in the economy since June – and I answer all my issues on a regular basis. That from an issue about government bureaucracy seems more than a little excessive.

Edit: Also consider the massive fall in economic output – the biggest ever. Again, very unexpected from an issue not explicitly about the economy.

[Bisofeyr]

I picked option 1 on issue 490 and my economy fell by 3%. Firstly, I don't understand why that should happen, and secondly, that seems an extraordinarily large jump, especially for an issue that doesn't even directly deal with the economy. If you look at my economy trend, this is probably the biggest change in the economy since June – and I answer all my issues on a regular basis. That from an issue about government bureaucracy seems more than a little excessive.

Edit: Also consider the massive fall in economic output – the biggest ever. Again, very unexpected from an issue not explicitly about the economy.

Government spending is an important part of the economy! Cutting all government spending by half (as the issue describes) will definitely have an effect on economic output and the general economy stat. You may not notice it when answering issues about smaller government spending cuts but this is one of the most drastic we have, and honestly I would expect it to have an even larger effect.

[The Pierre Poilievre Conservatives]

Issue 161, option two, effect line "Inheritance tax has recently been abolished." raised my taxation rate by 3.5%.

[Bisofeyr]

Issue 161, option two, effect line "Inheritance tax has recently been abolished." raised my taxation rate by 3.5%.

"Taxation" is a measure of income tax. This can be explained by saying that the government must raise the income tax to compensate for the decrease in government income from property tax.

More realistically, the economic model is extraordinarily weird and does weird stuff at times. This one kinda makes sense, though.

[Drokea]

Why did enforcing human sacrifice in issue 1741 take away my theocracy and increase civil rights?

[Fachorralandia]

Hello,
In the issue called "Rivers of Blood", when choosing the option that says "“Lavender lagoons? Scarlet streams? Count me in!” chimes tourism and novelty museum tycoon Ada Bakker. “Finding chemicals in the water is anything but a problem; in fact, it’s a prime opportunity! We should add a bit of color to our lackluster lakes; the oddly-pigmented oddities would become tourist magnets! Our nation will be known far and wide for its colorful waterways, flowing proudly in our national hues. This, right here, is what will attract more money than anything Fachorralandia has seen in ages. Let’s dye ourselves into the next golden age!” ", the answer received is "The rainbow assortment of chemicals in the water has turned the frogs gay.".
It happened me on "Fachorralandia" on 25/11/2025.
It seems to me, at the very least, offensive that the presence of these messages is tolerated in the game's problems, so I ask you to please remove or modify it. It might be interpreted as a mention that being gay is due to polluting products, and also calling the sexual orientation of gays a product of being drugged or contaminated.
Thank you very much.

[Mimi Mimikins]

The arms industry is backed by government subsidies and harsh anti-protest laws are in place.
My civil rights went up.

[Kriegsreich of Iron]

Kriegsreich of Iron, Animal Liberation Front Strikes Again, Option 1, arrest ALF members, decreases authoritarianism.