NationStates Jolt Archive

I'm pretty sure this is the proper forum to post these kinds of problems. If not, please let me know.

Yesterday I got two issues at once, both dealing with treatment of convicted felons. I forgot what they were called (I know that makes it more difficult, I'm sorry). On one of them there was an option to put convicted felons into forced labor programs. In the other there were options to privatize prisons, close prisons and focus on rehabilitation or to keep things the way they were.

Just to see what would happen, I decided to put convicted felons in forced labor programs for the first issue and chose the "rehabilitation" option for the second issue. Now I have the following in my nation description:

"...convicted murderers are free to walk the streets provided they attend rehabilitation classes, and convicted felons are forced into slavery for their crimes..."

Doesn't make any sense at all. I suppose it's partly my fault for fooling around with the issues, but is there a way to make sure two conflicting issues like this don't turn up at once? Or, alternatively, if they do, have a checker that will see if the options you chose are "conflicting" (this would have to be programmed on an individual basis, I know), and so when it was time for the options you chose to take effect, you would instead get back a message that you couldn't use both those options at the same time? :p

No.

As I understand it, issues are coded entirely separately. They can affect one another in terms of only receiving certain issues if you vote one way on another - e.g. you will only receive 'legalise carrots' issues if you first go for the 'ban carrots' option on a prior issue. In this case though, you're just unlucky - you'll have to wait for a day or two until one of the contradictory descriptors gets moved along.

Also, 'Got Issues?' is generally better for Issues questions, although I appreciate this has a technical basis. In terms of that, though, I would have thought it would be very unlikely that they would change the coding to prevent such instances. If it's any consolation, it's unlikely to happen again: there's such variation in issues that you don't often get two so similar in so short a time period.

Okay, I half-expected that answer, but I figured it was worth a shot. Thanks for your prompt reply.

A friend of mine 'Timid Socialists' got the slightly funny

'Voting is compulsory, college students make ends meet by selling their kidneys, it is illegal to make racist remarks in public, and voting is voluntary. Crime is a serious problem. Timid Socialists's national animal is the fluffykins, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the teacup.'

I bet his citizens are even more confused. :)

You just have to live with this. You can just dismiss one of the issues though.

"...convicted murderers are free to walk the streets provided they attend rehabilitation classes, and convicted felons are forced into slavery for their crimes..."

Doesn't make any sense at all.
Yes it does. Obviously, in your country murder isn't a felony.