Social/Political Factions

[ZeeOvenfresh]

Now that we have social interactions, I feel the colony needs to elect a leader as the other factions have leaders. People have different views and ideals than others and like minded individuals would flock to one another. I think it would be great if some of my colonists identify as the "X" party and thinks the colony has too many weapons, or another group from the "Y" party think that all alcohol must be prohibited. Having political factions within the colony would give positive or negative effects to the mood of the party dependent on the conditions. 
ex.
[Y faction]
+5  Dry community

[X faction]
-5  Guns everywhere...

The political factions would have leaders and the colony would vote for the new mayor. Having their party win an election would cause a mood boost for a few days and an inverse effect on the other factions, independent colonists would not have any significant boost but maybe a [+1 I Voted]. If a political leader has the greedy trait, they will attempt to assassinate other party leaders. When a leader dies or if there are too few members, the party disbands.

Members of different parties would not arrest their leader or other members without a reason (like mental breaks or berserk). If a member or leader is in prison, other members would have negative mood effects.

[Limdood]

I prefer to play the game with equal colonists.  I would dislike having a pawn as a leader of anything.

[anonymous456]

Hm, I think the whole political factions thing is a tough one. Should there really be a faction that frowns upon boozing when the colony has five members and everything could fall apart because of the constant attacks? This system could be introduced when the colony is bigger and resembles a more stable society that must be governed. But where is the transition? Do you activate political factions when the colony reaches a certain number of colonists? What happens when you have, let's say, ten, and one dies?

There's probably some sort of elegant way to solve this. But what I'm not sure of is if there should be a fixed system for leadership. Not for the reasons of equality, I pick favorites all the time and give one person a bigger room for RP-reasons. But if there's such a thing as elections, then you have more trouble RP'ing a dictatorship, anarchy, theocracy or whatever else is there that's not democracy, and the person you intend to be leader might be voted out of office.

Would make for some interesting stories when your mercenary leader is replaced by Tom the accountant and you have to arrest him because this time he went to far, and now everyone hates that one henchman who had to put that poor guy in prison. But it has to be implemented *very carefully* so it doesn't conflict too much with the intentions and narrative of the player.

Edit: Hm, I thought about it and since the game is indeed a story-generator it might not be so bad afterall if player-intended narrative is put aside. Many players probably imagined/intended relationships between colonists before A13, and now we have it and it's great. If the game would tell you who is leader instead of leaving it up to you, it could definitely make for some fine intrigues and stuff. It just shouldn't get in the way of the survival theme.

[ZeeOvenfresh]

I was originally thinking that voting would start on the 1 year mark (maybe the anniversary of the colony). The political parties would be split on how many people have the same trait or similar traits.ex: industious and hard workers would be in the same party | psychopaths, bloodlust and cannibals in another | ascetic and teetotaler.
or maybe split on background stories. ex: Ludite rebels, space pirates, medieval nobles , etc.

To offset the negative effects of unhappy parties, council meetings would happen time to time and members would get the effect [+10? represented on the council].

Should there really be a faction that frowns upon boozing when the colony has five members and everything could fall apart because of the constant attacks?

Yes

What happens when you have, let's say, ten, and one dies?

I was thinking factions would "pseudo" form as all colonist have the preferences thing. I think the minimum party needs at least 4 members to still be active but is founded at 6/7 people.

While most colonists seek democracies(more council meetings, etc), greedy individuals will always seek an autocracy(ban things, imprison people, hoard arms, less meetings).

...It just shouldn't get in the way of the survival theme.

I agree with you completely but when your colony is large enough that raids become nothing to you or you are peaceful with the other factions in the world and only deal with the odd mechanoid invasion, what left can you do aside from political intrigue.