[Submitted] Cladding Down

[Garbelia]

Just as you were preparing your dinner, it was bought to your attention that a devastating fire was burning in @@CAPITAL@@, as a result of poor skyscraper cladding.

1. [option] Your safety adviser rushes into the room, looking flustered, and taking out the metal tin you just put in the microwave. "This is a disaster! That type of cladding was used as standard-issue in every large city building in @@NAME@@. We must replace it at once, to save the population!"

[result]castles are being torn down so they can have better fire protection added

2a. [option] (Must have capitalism) Your television suddenly turns on, and an oily woman begins addressing you. "Hi, I'm @@RANDOMFEMALENAME@@, the CEO of Cladding Ltd. I can assure you that our cladding is perfectly safe, and this was just the result of careless fools. How about paying us to install our cheap, effective cladding in every house in the nation. You might have to educate people on fire safety, but that isn't a bad thing!"

[result]it is common for the @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ Fire Service to ask for tips


2b. [option] (Must have socialism) Your Minister for Housing, @@RANDOMNAME@@ rushes into the room glancing around frantically. "How about we install cladding in every building in the country. Everyone will be drier and warmer. Sure, the model is slightly flammable, but if we give everyone Fire Safety lessons, everything will go wonderfully!"

[result]houses in @@NAME@@ are warm, dry and on fire


3. [option] A different safety advisor comes in, and screams when he sees a fly land on your dinner. "If it caused all this damage, why don't we just remove all of it? People might object, but in the long run, everything would be safer."

[result]insulation is being removed as the government defines it as being cladding


4. [option] A twitchy looking man, named Sergeant @@RANDOMNAME@@, strides into your office holding a burning torch. "This could be used to our advantage. I say we sell Maxtopia shoddy cladding, and then when we bomb them, everything burns down. A simple way of bringing them too their knees."

[result]enemies of @@NAME@@ warn citizens not to buy foreign fire protection

A relatively quiet news day in @@NAME@@, it was bought to your attention that a devastating fire was burning in nearby Maxtopia, as a result of poor urban skyscraper cladding.

1. [option] "Oh no!" says a firefighter, climbing in through your office window. "To prevent such a tragedy ever happening in @@NATION@@, we have to increase funding to the fire service. We have to save the nation by cutting the Education budget and putting it into fire safety."
[result]Foreign dignitaries visiting @@NAME@@ debate whether it is better to have learnt and lost, than never to have learnt at all.

2. [option] A twitchy looking man, named Sergeant @@RANDOMNAME@@, strides into your office holding a burning torch. "This could be used to our advantage. I say we sell Maxtopia shoddy fire-proof cladding, and then when we bomb them, everything burns down. A simple way of bringing them too their knees."

[result]@@DENONYMPLURAL@@ are often found on street corners trying to sell foreigners firewood disguised as a skyscraper.

3. [option]"This is like, awful man!" gasps a hippie as they stroll into your office. "We should, like, ban cities, and it will never happen. They can't burn if no-one's living there!"

[result] Citizens of @@NAME@@ have to live in burrows to satisfy the government's population density rules.

4a. [option] (Must have capitalism) Your television suddenly turns on, and an oily woman begins addressing you. "Hi, I'm @@RANDOMFEMALENAME@@, the CEO of Cladding Ltd. We'll install top quality fire protection across every house in @@NATION@@ for low prices, and while we're at it, we can do burglary protection too! Cladding and CCTV for everyone!" she says, beaming crazily.
[result]It is common for the @@DENONYM@@ fire service to ask for tips.

4b. [option] (Must have Socialism) Your safety adviser rushes into the room, looking flustered, and taking out the metal tin you just put in the microwave. "We should fund the installation of fire extinguishers in every house in the country, and fund them in other countries too. If the people can fight fire, everything would be really safe, and fires wouldn't spread!"
[result]Leaving children alone is a sure sign that you want your house filled with foam.

1. [option] Your safety adviser rushes into the room, looking flustered, and taking out the metal tin you just put in the microwave. "This is a disaster! That type of cladding was used as standard-issue in every large city building in @@NAME@@. We must remove it at once, to save the population!"

[result]houses in @@NAME@@ no longer have insulation, after the government decided it was fire-proof


2. [option] "Oh no!" says a firefighter, climbing in through your office window. "To prevent such a tragedy ever happening in @@NAME@@, we have to increase funding to the fire service. We have to save the nation by cutting something like the Education budget and putting it into fire safety."

[result]foreign dignitaries visiting @@NAME@@ debate whether it is better to have learnt and burnt, than never to have learnt at all


3. [option] A twitchy looking man, named Sergeant @@RANDOMNAME@@, strides into your office holding a burning torch. "This could be used to our advantage. I say we sell Maxtopia shoddy fire-proof cladding, and then when we bomb them, everything burns down. A simple way of bringing them too their knees."

[result]@@DEMONYMPLURAL@@ are often found on street corners trying to sell foreigners firewood disguised as a skyscraper


4. [option]"This is like, awful man!" gasps a hippie as they stroll into your office. "We should, like, ban cities, and it will never happen. They can't burn if no-one's living there!"

[result] citizens of @@NAME@@ have to live in burrows to satisfy the government's population density rules


5. [option] (Must have capitalism) Your television suddenly turns on, and an oily woman begins addressing you. "Hi, I'm @@RANDOMFEMALENAME@@, the CEO of Cladding Ltd. I can assure you that our cladding is perfectly safe, and this was just the result of careless fools. How about paying us to install our cladding in every house in the nation, and maybe give us control of the fire service while you're at it."

[result]it is common for the @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ Fire Service to ask for tips

This is my first attempt at an issue, and I couldn't see to find anything on this subject, even though it has featured quite heavily in the news lately.

[Terrabod]

Hi Garbelia!

This is a really good first attempt! I do think, though, that it needs to be more focused on the problem at hand. I would either (a) have the fire happen in your nation and have Leader deal with the "what do we do about all those other flats with flammable cladding?" problem or (b) have the fire happen in Maxtopia but still have Leader deal with the "what about our flammable cladding?" problem. At the moment your options don't really discuss the cladding that you say is the problem - 1 is about funding fire services, 2 and 3 are wacky (not a bad thing!) and 4 is about fireproofing homes - but I think you should be dealing with the problem of the existing flammable cladding in your nation's homes.

For example, you might have someone who lives in a flat with the dangerous cladding asking Leader to pay for the cladding to be removed. You might also have an option where whoever makes the cladding says it's 100% safe and that the initial fire was just "bad luck", so Leader should help landlords cover the cost of fire safety features in flats (extinguishers, safety blankets). Have a think about what the common-sense approaches to the cladding problem would be - the stuff you come up with might be better than what I've suggested here. You can always draw on real life - what arguments are people making about dealing with the cladding issue in the real world? Once you've covered all the "sane" approaches, you can have some kind of crazy option like the one you have here where flammable cladding is sold to your enemies and you keep your fingers crossed that someone leaves the burner on after cooking.

Some quick tips for issue writing:

- don't start your effect lines with a capital letter and don't end them with a full stop
- @@NATION@@ should be @@NAME@@ (you have this correct in some places and not in others)
- "@@DENONYM@@" is spelt "@@DEMONYM@@"
- "@@DEMONYM@@ Fire Service" should be "@@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ Fire Service" - I struggle with this too but I know @@DEMONYMAJECTIVE@@ for me is "Terrabodian"

That's all I can spot just now; if/when you bring out the next draft I can take another look, and can comment on more picky stuff. I look forward to seeing where you go with this!

[Garbelia]

Hi Garbelia!

This is a really good first attempt! I do think, though, that it needs to be more focused on the problem at hand. I would either (a) have the fire happen in your nation and have Leader deal with the "what do we do about all those other flats with flammable cladding?" problem or (b) have the fire happen in Maxtopia but still have Leader deal with the "what about our flammable cladding?" problem. At the moment your options don't really discuss the cladding that you say is the problem - 1 is about funding fire services, 2 and 3 are wacky (not a bad thing!) and 4 is about fireproofing homes - but I think you should be dealing with the problem of the existing flammable cladding in your nation's homes.

For example, you might have someone who lives in a flat with the dangerous cladding asking Leader to pay for the cladding to be removed. You might also have an option where whoever makes the cladding says it's 100% safe and that the initial fire was just "bad luck", so Leader should help landlords cover the cost of fire safety features in flats (extinguishers, safety blankets). Have a think about what the common-sense approaches to the cladding problem would be - the stuff you come up with might be better than what I've suggested here. You can always draw on real life - what arguments are people making about dealing with the cladding issue in the real world? Once you've covered all the "sane" approaches, you can have some kind of crazy option like the one you have here where flammable cladding is sold to your enemies and you keep your fingers crossed that someone leaves the burner on after cooking.

Some quick tips for issue writing:

- don't start your effect lines with a capital letter and don't end them with a full stop
- @@NATION@@ should be @@NAME@@ (you have this correct in some places and not in others)
- "@@DENONYM@@" is spelt "@@DEMONYM@@"
- "@@DEMONYM@@ Fire Service" should be "@@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ Fire Service" - I struggle with this too but I know @@DEMONYMAJECTIVE@@ for me is "Terrabodian"

That's all I can spot just now; if/when you bring out the next draft I can take another look, and can comment on more picky stuff. I look forward to seeing where you go with this!

Thank you for your feedback, I decided to turn 4b into a new option to get the government to remove all the cladding, and moved the fire to @@CAPITAL@@. The smaller bits are fixed too, and the bit about privatising the fire service is now also having the company install cladding in every building in the nation.

[Australian rePublic]

There should be an option to retrofit all the existing buildings with good cladding

[Garbelia]

There should be an option to retrofit all the existing buildings with good cladding

That is how I intended option 5, but one with socialist nations able to receive it would also be useful. Also, that could actually be put into option 2, as 'fire safety' and expanding that more.

[Baggieland]

Good premise, definitely something a leader should concern himself about. However, your options at the moment seem a mess to me. You've got:
1. Remove all cladding.
2. Increase fire department funding.
3. Sell cladding to a rival with a view to bombing them later.
4. Abandon the cities.
5. Cladding is okay and we should use more of it.

In my opinion, I would get rid of option 2. This draft is about cladding, not fire department budgets. Option 3 is a good 'final crazy option'. Option 4 is also a crazy option, I say you don't need two crazy options. One is enough and for me option 3 is the better one. Option 5 is okay, but it should work as a counter to option 1. So I propose:
1. Remove all cladding.
2. Cladding is okay and use more of it.
3. Sell cladding to a rival to bomb them later.

The 'cladding is okay' option should have a better argument. Maybe state how cheap and easy it is to install and to offset the fire hazard with fire safety leaflets for the residents, or something like that.

At the end of a relatively quiet news day in @@NAME@@, it was bought to your attention that a devastating fire was burning in @@CAPITAL@@, as a result of poor skyscraper cladding.

I'm pretty sure it wasn't a quiet news day.

[Baggieland]

There should be an option to retrofit all the existing buildings with good cladding

Edit: this should be incorporated into option 1. You can't just remove all the unsafe cladding, it will need replacing with something less flammable.

[Garbelia]

Good premise, definitely something a leader should concern himself about. However, your options at the moment seem a mess to me. You've got:
1. Remove all cladding.
2. Increase fire department funding.
3. Sell cladding to a rival with a view to bombing them later.
4. Abandon the cities.
5. Cladding is okay and we should use more of it.

In my opinion, I would get rid of option 2. This draft is about cladding, not fire department budgets. Option 3 is a good 'final crazy option'. Option 4 is also a crazy option, I say you don't need two crazy options. One is enough and for me option 3 is the better one. Option 5 is okay, but it should work as a counter to option 1. So I propose:
1. Remove all cladding.
2. Cladding is okay and use more of it.
3. Sell cladding to a rival to bomb them later.

The 'cladding is okay' option should have a better argument. Maybe state how cheap and easy it is to install and to offset the fire hazard with fire safety leaflets for the residents, or something like that.

At the end of a relatively quiet news day in @@NAME@@, it was bought to your attention that a devastating fire was burning in @@CAPITAL@@, as a result of poor skyscraper cladding.

I'm pretty sure it wasn't a quiet news day.

I cut out options 2 and 4, and reordered them, but I think an option to replace them and an option to remove them would work quite well, so now there is:

1. Replace it
2. Use more of it
3. Remove it
4. Sell it to a rival and bomb them.

I also changed it from 'Quiet news day', to 'As you were preparing your dinner' so that the safety advisors' actions make more sense, and the adverbial is more relevant and cohesive to the main theme.

[Garbelia]

I think, unless there are any immediate pressing errors found, I will submit this soon.

[Australian rePublic]

Good Luck