NationStates Jolt Archive

Name: Red Alert!

Description: Your military wants to increase spending and budget, your populace demands less military spending.

Validity: Everyone who has not outlawed pollitical freedoms.

Main:

[Option] "War is inevitable!" cries four-bird general @@RANDOMNAME@@, in a private meeting with you. "The world is goin' to hell in a handbasket! I'm not saying we should declare war on anyone, but if we're not ready to, someone will declare war on US! And then we are up the creek, because our nation will be rolled over by someone big and tough if we aren't ready! We need a big military budget, we need to be ready to defend this glorious land of @@NAME@@! And think about it. Sure, we'll have to enact taxes, but it'll create jobs! Just think of all the people we could put to work in shipyards and factories. They'll be paying more of a percentage, but they'll have more money than they would have otherwise anyway."
[effect] @@NAME@@ appears to be gearing up militarily as though they expect another World War. Aircraft carriers, submarines, battleships have all been seen rolling out of @@NAME@@'s drydocks.
[stats] Pollitical rights drop, taxes go up, crime goes up, military spending goes waaay up, military size way up, economy goes way up.

(Reasoning: Rights are dropping because you're ignoring the protestors. Taxes are up to pay for the military budget. Crime is up because of civil unrest - the people are unhappy with you. The military spending and size is obvious, and the economy goes up because shipyards, factories, munitions plants and mines employ a lot of people.)



[Option]"War is never an option!" and "Give peace a chance!" cry hordes of protestors outside @@NAME@@'s capital. A spokesperson, @@RANDOMNAME@@, steps forward, shouting through a bullhorn, "We do not condone war! If you expect a war, a war you will have! We have to be as nice as possible to everyone, and war is never an option! We demand military downsizing, not gearing up!"
[effect]the military of @@NAME@@ is disarming, sending hundreds, if not thousands, of soldiers home.
[stats]Pollitical rights fly up, crime goes up, military spending down, military size down, economy falls.

(reasoning: Pollitical rights fly up because you're ignoring your nation's safety to bow to the people's wishes. Crime is up because there are a lot of unemployed soldiers who have nothing to do. Military size down is obvious, and the economy falling is because with military downsizing, jobs are being lost - not just the soldiers, but the people who manufacture the armaments and ammo, the food, boots, uniforms, etcetera.)

I thought economy meant Economical Rights... Ohh...

I don't know, "Red Alert" sounds like it should be saved for a Communism issue...

I like it.

Title's still tentative, but it was inspired by the song I was listening to, which was the Hell March theme from Command & Conquer: Red Alert. :)

And at least this gives everyone a serious issue with large, sweeping results that deserve it. As opposed to having the government say yea or nea to baseball, and the result (if yea) being that every major city shuts down every day as the team takes to the field, and (if nea) being that sports are undoubtedly banned.

Anyone else?

I'm a bit dubious about having political freedoms linked to protesters. If you are going to do that, I'd make sure that the options emphasise that the majority of people in the nation are opposed to war, by referring to opinion polls, or something similar. (Having politicians elected on an anti-war ticket would work, but only if the question is restricted to nations with elections).

Given that popular opinion is incredibly fickle, there's also the option of having two versions of this question, one with the population pro-war and the other with the population anti-war (for the pro-war version, you might want to have the protestors demanding the subjugation of Bigtopians seperatists, as they're mentioned as group wanting semi-autonomy in another issue).
Then people's reasons for their decisions comes into effect.

How come, in both situations, crime goes up no matter what the decision?

Because this is a Kobyashi Maru scenario. You can't please everyone.

If you appease the protesters and disarm, then you have a lot of unemployed soldiers who are now very bored, and possibly very much out of work. Crime goes up because these ex-soldiers may start mugging people, or joining mafia.

If you go with your generals and ramp up the military, you get civil unrest - people are unhappy with the warfare preperations, and it manifests in grafitti, some more public fights, etcetera.

Essentially, if you want no crime rate increase, you duck the issue and ignore everyone. Which is what most govvies do anyway. :)

I like it, ya just need to add in a boost to Arms Manufacturing on the first option, and a big hit to it on the second.

There is already an issue about increasing/decreasing military funding.

This isen't just increasing or decreasing funding.

This is a full-scale military armament, build-up in anticipation of an IMMINANT war. Think the kind of military production that was going on in America as we started entering WWII. Battleships and aircraft carriers, 9 out of every 10 factories is producing either a tank or an aircraft.

A MAJOR military build-up. Not just increasing funding. This is like, putting your Nation State on war status without the shooting.

I don't think it's really fair to put up crime in both unless you at least suggest the possibility to the reader.

A more appropriate thing to decrease/increase would be the "happiness" variable.

Oh, and it should be clearer in the description or options that you mean a massive buildup.

And I agree with The Holy Palatinate that it should be clear what the people want.

But I do like the basic concept.