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| Some early sketch while I tried sorting out how the N.A.P.s could affect the political side of my community. |
I quickly realized that I don't want weekly voting events forever, and was happy to learn that as soon as a hood has the max four active Neighborhood Action Plans (N.A.P.), there will be no more N.A.P. voting until I remove one or more plans. After some more pondering I've decided on a routine for this all.
My game has 8 weeks per calendar year, and the main election for Council & Mayor takes place every 5th year. My plan is to have 4 Action Plans per residential hood and then remove one N.A.P. every 5th year ahead of Election Day, and by that trigger the voting event. Initially I'll do this as a per hood thing, but if it gets too tedious, I might have the same set of N.A.P.s for all hoods in a district (=world).
How N.A.P. affects my Hood and District Politics
I'll try to explain how my local politics will affect both the hood, district and region.
First off, I imagine the current 4 N.A.P.s that I already assigned for each hood, is the result of what political party is strong. I already have 3 parties, LEFT, MIDDLE and RIGHT (see below). Each party supports minimum 6 N.A.P.s. - which I posted about previously . Voting for a N.A.P. is also voting for a party. The parties have their strategies, of course, but their plans also reflect each hood and district's history, industry, resources, kind of community lot services etc.
Each hood has 3 rotating N.A.P.s (one to be replaced at every election, from whatever party won a vote). Plans are meant to run for 3 election periods, which equals to 15 years. However, after the voting there will be a count per district and the party with the most running plans will be that district's dominating party and will fill the 4th N.A.P. which will be the same for all hoods in that district. Normally the most popular N.A.P. will become the party's common plan, while they can replace the local plans. I'll leave this to "them" (=me or a dice, whatever is needed). Scroll down for an example on the voting.
By having one common N.A.P. for all hoods within the district, I hope it will give them a touch of common culture and identity. I want hoods to be diverse, but not totally random. Whenever the dominating party and common plan is switched, there might be rather big changes in all affected hoods.
The Current Situation
For some hoods I already had a clear take on what party should be dominating: RIGHT party is typically strong in high society hoods, MIDDLE party in farming hoods, and LEFT party in industrial hoods. So, I gave them the 4th common N.A.P. based on that.
I then added 1 N.A.P from each of the three parties to each hood, trying to refer to what would suit the kind of hood. Like "Roughhouse Encouraged" might go pretty well in a poor hood or a harbor hood, but not so much in certain upper class hoods. Farming hoods focus more on gardening, while city hoods might focus on culture or environment etc. I also tried to avoid N.A.P.s not really fitting with that hood's community lots - like "Fun-loving" should require minimum 1 fun related community lot, "Juiced" should have a bar or lounge, etc. I might have misunderstood the essence of some plans, but I'll adjust that later if needed.
Now each hood should have the total of 4 N.A.P.s, representing all 3 parties. For example San Myshuno is LEFT dominated and the common N.A.P. for all the city hoods is Water conservation. Spice Market has the following additional N.A.P. set: Roughhouse encouraged, Juiced community and Promote creative arts.
I also note what order they were added, because I will need to know which shall be the first to get removed before the next voting.
The Election
I trigger the voting by removing the longest running of each hood's 3 rotational N.A.P.s. The voting can be done from the mailbox, so the Community Space or voting board is not required in every hood (but a nice touch).
Now we get to the complex stuff. After the new vote, all 3 N.A.P.s (excluding the common) will be counted to find each district's dominating party. If no change, the party is allowed to adjust or keep their common N.A.P.. If a change, the new party will set a new common N.A.P. normally based on the running plans. These adjustments will probably be a bit hard to predict.
At the moment all 3 parties have one plan each in all hoods, but this will change over time. In the long run some party might no longer be represented in all hoods. They will need to have minimum one N.A.P. in every hood in order to dominate a district and set the common N.A.P. I'm not sure if there should be a max of 3 N.A.Ps from one party per hood, because it might be more interesting if there is always a 2nd party represented with one plan.
It gets even more interesting when Hood Contacts and Councilor get chosen on Election Day, because the Hood Contact candidate will be expected to respect and support their party's running plan(s), but also to represent the district's dominating party. Candidates will get some extra votes if representing the hood's dominating party, and Councilor candidates representing the district's dominating party will also get extra votes. You can still be a Hood Contact or Councilor despite not representing the dominating party, but it would mean less support/power which easily leads to vaguer politics. Today some Councilors do represent districts where another party than their own is dominating.
Brindleton Bay before voting:
Whiskerman's Wharf: MIDDLE, RIGHT, MIDDLE, MIDDLE
Sable Square: MIDDLE, RIGHT, RIGHT, LEFT
Cavalier Cove: MIDDLE, MIDDLE, MIDDLE, LEFT
MIDDLE (underlined) is the common plan, as the MIDDLE party dominates. They have 4 of the 9 rotating plans, RIGHT has 3, LEFT has 2.
On next voting, each hood removes their oldest N.A.P. (grey bold) and votes for a new. Results show that a plan supported by LEFT won in SS. Plans from RIGHT won in both WW and CC. For the entire district the party presentation is now: RIGHT 5, MIDDLE 3, LEFT 1. RIGHT gets the new dominating party in BB, and their most popular plan becomes the new common plan for all 3 hoods.
Brindleton Bay after voting:
Whiskerman's Wharf: RIGHT, RIGHT, RIGHT, MIDDLE
Sable Square: RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, RIGHT
Cavalier Cove: RIGHT, RIGHT, MIDDLE, MIDDLE
Some examples (before Y225 election)
At the moment the 3 parties are dominant in 3 districts each, a situation that probably won't last.
LEFT party is strong in San Myshuno (Water conservation), Windenburg (Power conservation) and Rossie (incl. Britechester) (Back to the old days).
RIGHT party is strong in Gloomville (Clean energy production), Newcrest (Tech support) and Del Sol Valley (Fun-loving community).
MIDDLE party is strong in Oasis Springs (Eco-friendly appliances), Brindleton Bay (Green gardening) and Evergreen Harbor (Self-sufficiency).
The current Region 12 Council has 3 councilors representing the RIGHT party and 2 representing the LEFT party. The MIDDLE party is currently not represented on the Council. It's also interesting that 3 of today's Councilors actually don't represent their district's dominating party.
Mayor Charloman Au. C. Dougham, represents the RIGHT party and Newcrest's plan Tech support.
Councilor Bud von Kaching (Baron of Gloom), represents the RIGHT party, and Gloomville's plan Clean energy production.
Councilor Josue E. Rosewood represents the LEFT party, but must still promote Oasis Spring's plan Eco-friendly appliances.
Councilor Fanny Silverbone represents the LEFT party, but must still promote Brindleton Bay's plan Green gardening.
Councilor Victor F. Tangerin represents the RIGHT party, and San Myshuno's plan Water conservation.
I'll follow up this all when Y225 election comes up in about 1 sim year :)
Do you focus more on politics in your game these days?
Additional read: N.A.P. voting closed - the results are in!
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