Democracy 4 is a political game currently in early access on Steam. In the game you play as the head of government of state of your choice. Do politics in your way and build your ideal nation.
Democracy series is developed by Positech Games. Positech is a one man game company based in England. This one man is Cliff Harris who is an independent game designer who programs and designs everything in Positech’s games.
Democracy 4’s release date was on the 6th of October 2020. The game is currently available on Steam early access.
Without further ado, let’s start with our USA campaign!
I begin Democracy 4 by choosing United States of America as my nation. The game presents all the national stats in a very nice and detailed way, showing:
- population
- size
- largest city
- agricultural land
- ethnicity
- national anthem
- top tourist destination
- most popular food
- biggest industry
I start the game with the default settings. You can change the settings for:
- difficulty
- innate socialism
- economic cycle
- political apathy
- innate liberalism
- starting debt
The only thing I adjust is increase the amount of parties to three in stead of 2. My party is called The National Technocrats Party. My opponents are The Movement For Radical Change and The Property Rights Party.
Ah, Democracy never dissappoints with the loading screen one-liners!
I begin the game with the following stats on GDP, HEALTH, EDUCATION, UNEMPLOYMENT, CRIME and POVERTY.
Beginning of the term in office
The game begins with the above view of activated policies. The color of the policy bubble represents how popular the policy is. If red, the color indicates an unpopular policy. And vice versa. I have 15 political points at my disposal.
This is the initial expenditure of the US government when I enter office. The top 5 biggest expenditures are in order:
- military spending
- state schools
- state pensions
- debt interest
- child benefit
Here are the sources of revenue / income of the government. The largest three are:
- income tax
- payroll tax
- government borrowing
Here is the graph showing initial stats in USA. The charts show:
- debt
- reserves
- income
- expenditure
- global economy
- interest rate
- relative GDP
First actions of my Democracy 4 US government
My first action in office is to reduce military spending from 160 million to 120 million dollars. This makes the patriots angry, reduces technological advancement and reduces my stature as a strong leader. On the positive side, the government saves a lot of money and I make liberals happier.
Next I activate trade council policy in order to stimulate international trade and foreign relations.
I establish small business grants and give them maximum budget. The goal is to increase GDP and make the self-employed and capitalists happy.
Next step is activating the national business council policy. This increases capitalist respect, GDP and reduces socialist membership.
I activate tourism ad campaign in order to improve tourism and foreign relations.
I activate technology grants in order to increase technology and productivity. The con is the high cost and irritating the religious people.
Next I give maximum funding for compulsory foreign language classes. This increases trade, foreign investment and other things. The policy makes the patriots irritated. This is a small price to pay for so many positive effects.
The above screenshot shows how the government is currently doing.
Next I wanted to tackle the crime problem in USA. I activated maximum funding for community policing. This drastically decreases antisocial behavior and alcohol abuse. The cost is high but worth it.
What has changed so far in the country?
Now the major expenses are:
- state pensions
- state schools
- military spending
- debt interest
- child benefit
Reducing deficits, encouraging charity and protecting the environment
I activate maximum funding for charity tax relief. This in order to reduce poverty by increasing donations.
Next I more than double the capital gains tax. This raises the income from the tax to 37 billion USD. I do this in order to decrease budget deficit.
I increase the funding for keep the country tidy campaign to maximum. This will slowly improve the environment and increase environmentalist vote.
Next turn I get the announcement of a potential gig economy developing. As a response I tighten labor laws to be more pro-employee.
Democracy 4 gives a taste of harsh reality of credit ratings
When changing turns I get the announcement of credit rating downgrade. This means US debt financing will be more expensive and that I lost business confidence and GDP.
The bad development forced me to cut state schools funding to 100 billion USD. Drastic measures are needed to rein in the deficit.
Improving productivity and assembling a more functional government
Next I activated the telecommuting initiative. This in order to improve productivity and reduce car usage. The policy costs 5bln but it’s worth it in the long run.
To optimize my government I decided to let my Secretary of the treasury go. In stead of Leah Jimenez whose loyalty and campaigning were lacking I appointed Paul Jones. This instantly improved my government.
I also replace my minister of transport. With these changes my government is running more smoothly.
Diplomatic service improves USAs foreign relations with a low cost.
Protecting the environment and reducing deficit: Democracy 4 gives wings to the imagination
It seems like pollution is no longer a problem. This is a positive development. Health and GDP are also improving.
I activate maximum frequent flyer tax in order to pay for deficits and reduce pollution.
Next I implement maximum funding for public libraries. This in order to improve education, increase equality and retired popularity.
Activating the CO2 campaign makes environmentalists happy and reduces emissions and car usage.
Credit rating upgraded
At this point the US credit rating is upgraded. This is great news and shows that my policies are taking the country toward the right path. Its fascinating how multi-faceted the simulation is in Democracy 4. It creates a real feeling of immersion.
This graph shows a summary changes taking part under my administration.
The top 5 expenditures are now:
- state pensions
- military spending
- debt interest
- state schools
- child benefit
The government’s top revenues are:
- income tax
- payroll tax
- corporation tax
- government borrowing
- sales tax
Major changes under my government so far
The top 5 were:
- Health +28%
- Tourism +27%
- Lifespan +24%
- Productivity +24%
- Crime -15%
Reducing deficits, increasing freedom and wellbeing
Giving free parenting classes makes parents happy and increases population and gender equality.
Car pooling campaign reduces car usage and reduces traffic congestion.
Next I make euthanasia possible at will. This because in my country everyone must have the choice of life or death. No one should be forced to live sick and in pain. In a more cynical sense, this will save health care costs.
I activate cyberbullying awareness campaign in order to increase favor with parents and youth. Also, this eliminates cyberbullying epidemic as a future negative event.
Next I activate healthy eating campaign. This with the goal of decreasing obesity and increasing health.
Religious plot in Democracy 4!
This turn we see that the health in the country is improving. At the same time crime but also GDP are reducing. We see that alcohol abuse is no longer a major problem in the country. The most alarming report is a religious plot. “Angels of heavenly justice” plot to cause problems for my government. I have to do something about this.
Threat from the Angels of heavenly justice forced me to activate public religious broadcasts from dedicated channels. This is against my core beliefs but will keep the extremists at bay.
Balancing the demands of the donors and the electorate in Democracy 4
Next turn I get a demand from donor. The donor wants me to implement plastics tax. I implement the policy at medium level. This generates more revenue for the government. At the same time, GDP and everyone’s income are reduced slightly. The positives of reducing deficit and protecting the environment outweigh the cons.
So far, my Democracy 4 US government policies have done well in polls. The government popularity is skyrocketing. Seems like people like better health, longer lifespans and better productivity. The reduced crime helps as well. The voters have forgiven the severe cuts to state schools and military budget.
Protecting the environment and health
Given that I care about the environment and want to prevent a crisis, I activate reforestation. This reduces CO2 emissions and betters the environment and health. It helps that the policy is very popular as well.
Paul Jones, the secretary of treasury, is getting tired of serving in my government. It seems like my concessions to the religious extremists have made liberals unhappy.
I also might not have served the middle income people as well as I could’ve. Instead, I’ve been focused on reducing deficits and improving health. I need to come up with a solution here.
This is again an intriguing factor in Democracy 4. Needing to balance tending to the needs of different groups. This is just like real world politics.
Next I activate needle exchange program policy. This helps make liberals happy and improves health. All at a low cost.
Tobacco usage is a major health problem. I activate tobacco awareness campaign. This should make people smoke less and improve health.
I also activate alcohol awareness campaign with the same goal.
Tough questions – what to say?
Next I get a request to comment on ruling out first strike. I make no comment. I can’t irritate the patriots more than I already have. There’s no need for more extremists to spring up. Democracy 4 has its checks and balances against the player unfairly favouring one group above others.
I activate adult education subsidies. Besides being a great way to improve education and productivity, it also reduces skills shortage. This reduces likelihood of a negative event taking place.
Next I activate compulsory water meters. This in order to protect the environment and make environmentalists happy.
Ministerial resignation in Democracy 4 – back to harsh reality of politics
There was an unfortunate ministerial resignation. I appoint Nathaniel Ruiz as a replacement. He has good loyalty and campaigning scores. Funnily enough he seems to be favourable to me as a conservative.
Somehow I’ve made conservatives happy and liberals angry. Wasn’t it supposed to be liberals who like the environment and good healthcare? All kidding aside, there’s also Gabrielle Collins who is a liberal environmentalist who has good loyalty score.
Inspiring education and business
Next I activate partial university grants. This program costs 11,7 billion. It will improve education and reduce generational wealth gap and skills shortage. The pros outweigh the cons.
I also activate the business startup campaign. This will increase self-employed membership.
Public perceptions before elections
The public perceptions before elections show that people see my primarily as a strong leader. This is ironical as it was me who made grave cuts to military funding. Maybe the public perceives this as me not needing to compensate a feeling of lacking masculinity by showing off with military might. Democracy 4 succeeds to create fascinating storylines and gives wings to imagination.
Election results
The national technocrats party wins this election! My party got 58% of the vote with the highest member turnout. I also had the highest activist boost of all parties. The opposition had amassed a massive war chest. This didn’t help them win the elections though.
My party was the most popular among the following groups:
- youth 69%
- poor 68%
- environmentalists 67%
- self-employed 63%
- patriot 62%
The party was least popular with the following groups:
- trade unionists 41%
- conservatives 43%
- religious 48%
Major changes under my US government in Democracy 4
Above are the major changes under my government. The top 5 most significant ones are:
- Lifespan increase +43,90%
- Health increase +41,3%
- Crime decrease -32,8%
- Productivity increase +31,8%
- Oil demand decrease -29,5%
In the end, my government turned the USA into a more healthy, safer and more productive nation. This all the while reducing deficit spending and retaining AAA credit rating.
How was the first term in office?
My party is popular especially with the youth, poor and environmentalists. Also enjoying good support from the self-employed and patriots. This paints a picture of a forward-looking nation where the youth trust their future to be better than the past. Where the poor feel like they’re listened to and cared for. Where protecting the environment is taken seriously all the while retaining good conditions for business. Especially small business shown by the popularity among self-employed.
People are living longer and more healthy than ever. The people are less likely to be victims of crime. The people are more productive and this contributes to economic competitiveness and future economic growth.
All in all, I’m very pleased with how the first term in office has gone. Perhaps the next Democracy 4 session will bring even more excitement with it. Tune in for the continunation!
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