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Corruption is a broad mechanic used to undermine and damage all branches of a nation, such as the government, military, economy, technology, and more. The properties of corruption are highly influenced by numerous factors, such as accepting bribes, maintaining corrupt political leaders, increasing population growth, scaling economic spending, enacting various policies, and more.
Branches Affected by Corruption[]
Basic Mechanics[]
List of all mechanics affected by Corruption displayed in the UI
Mechanics Affected[]
Mechanics that are negatively impacted by corruption.
- Political Power Gain
- Base Stability
- Economic Laws Cost
- Military Power Gain
- Manpower Increase
- Tax Income
- Military Upkeep
- Military Cost
- Building Cost
- Research Output
- Factory Output
- Resource Output
- Corruption Gain
- Military Attack
- Fuel Efficiency
Mechanics that Determine[]
Mechanics that are notable for fluctuating the scale of corruption.
- Default - The default growth of corruption is -0.25, however, this number can be counterbalanced or outweighed by the many factors below.
- Corruption Rates - The corruption number directly influences corruption gain every 5 days (one tick). Put simply, a higher corruption number leads to increased corruption gain, whereas a lower corruption number results in a decrease in corruption gain.
- Population - The size of the population can affect the growth of corruption. The higher the population is, the higher the corruption income will be, while the lower the population is, the corruption income will be smaller. Nevertheless the maximum increase in income corruption rates through population count is capped at +0.25.
- Anti Corruption Spending - An economic law that reduces corruption depending on the level chosen.
- Events - Various events, sketchy contracts, bribes, and more can raise corruption at a fixed rate.
- Political Leaders - Political Leaders possess the probability of acquiring corrupted attributes, in which the chances of gaining a corrupt leader depends on the amount of corruption a country has. Initially, they may not show their trait of being corrupt, but as they accumulate levels, they will begin to rise in corruption. Should a leader become corrupt, they may be promoted, which replaces the corrupt leader with a non-corrupt one at a reduced level, but only if the leader's rank is 3 or higher. Alternatively, they may be dismissed from service.
- Chief Judge is the only political leader that can reduce corruption gain.
- Policies - Multiple policies can expand the rate of corruption, while also providing some degree of internal benefits.
- Stability - Stability below 50% can begin increasing the percentage of corruption. As stability decreases, the rate of corruption gain increases.
- Economic and Political Technologies - 'Reduce Corruption', 'Financial Machine Learning', and 'Encourage Meritocracy' are the only technologies that can lower corruption by -0.15, -0.2, and -0.1 every 5 days, respectively. 'Reduce Corruption' and 'Financial Machine Learning' can be found in the 'Economic', while 'Encourage Meritocracy' is located in the 'Political' category.
- Communism - Communism is the sole ideology that can raise corruption by +0.2 every 5 days.
- While avoiding Communism to avoid passive corruption is debatable among players, Communism is not a recommended ideology for exploiting the most out of corruption. Communism forces players to obtain the highly expensive Anti Corruption Spending, which can further strain the economy, especially for Communist players struggling financially with high population and territories, or rely on obtaining the Chief Judge leader. However, relying on fortunate leader spawns is dependent on luck. Although Communism's corruption effects can be mitigated, other ideologies exploit corruption more effectively, as they do not inherently start with corruption gain.
- Laws - The 'Free Press' and 'Laxed' laws located in the Press Regulations section decrease corruption by -0.1 and -0.05 every 5 days respectively. The 'High' and 'Maximum' laws located in the Party Loyalty section also decrease corruption by -0.1 and -0.05 every 5 days respectively as well. The ideological law of Stalinism, only available to Socialist/Communist nations, gives a corruption increase of +0.02 every 5 days.
Anti Corruption Spending[]
The 'Anti Corruption Spending' is an economic law that is capable of lowering corruption gain in accordance to the level selected. The spending is also infamous for most expensive economic law, as it costs almost twice the amount than that of Research Spending.
| Anti Corruption Spending Chart | |
|---|---|
| Level | Corruption Gain |
| Level 1 | -0.05 |
| Level 2 | -0.1 |
| Level 3 | -0.15 |
| Level 4 | -0.2 |
| Level 5 | -0.25 |
| Level 6 | -0.3 |
| Level 7 | -0.35 |
| Level 8 | -0.4 |
Technologies[]
The political and economic technologies of 'Reduce Corruption', 'Financial Machine Learning', and 'Encourage Meritocracy' can reduce the rates of corruption.
| Corruption Reduction for Technologies Chart | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Technology | Research Category | Corruption Gain | Research Required |
| Reduce Corruption | Economic | -0.15 | 250 |
| Financial Machine Learning | Economic | -0.2 | 1,200 |
| Encourage Meritocracy | Political | -0.1 | 400 |
Events/Dilemmas[]
Deals/Contracts[]
Accepting these events can either increase or decrease the level of corruption. All policies listed below existed before the Corruption Rework Update, but some newer events were added as part of the rework. These policies include: Research Intervention, Establishment of Loyalist Military Academies, and Exclusive Military Contracts.
| Event | Description | Corruption Gain (If Deal Accepted) |
|---|---|---|
(Reject Demands) | ||
(Bribe Investigator) | ||
Triggered[]
These events are triggered by high corruption.
| Event | Description | Modifier |
|---|---|---|
What do you mean they were foreign knockoffs?: "Military effectiveness reduced"
| ||
What a disaster: "The power grid suffers in the short term"
|
National Modifiers[]
Various national modifiers can lead to the rise of corruption.
List of Modifiers[]
| Modifier | Description | Modifiers |
|---|---|---|
| Loyalist Military Academies |
| |
| Powerful Military Industrial Complex |
Policies[]
Five policies can inflate the rate of corruption, and all of which require 5 political power to implement and 0.06 political power per 5 days to maintain
List of Policies[]
| Policy | Description | Effect(s) |
|---|---|---|
| ||
| ||
|
Laws[]
There are certain laws in the game that can increase or decrease corruption gain.
List of Laws[]
Party Loyalty[]
| Law | Requirements | Effect(s) |
|---|---|---|
| ||
|
Press Regulation[]
| Law | Requirements | Effect(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Not Ideology: Fascism |
| |
| Not Ideology: Communism or Fascism |
|
Ideological Laws[]
| Law | Requirements | Effect(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Has Ideology: Socialism or Communism |
|
Strategy[]
Despite corruption being one of the most notorious and destructive features in the game, it can be exploited. However, certain countermeasures must be implemented before effectively reaping the benefits of corruption.
Ways to Counter Corruption[]
See 'Mechanics That Determine' section above for all ways to counter the spread of corruption.
Ways to Exploit Corruption[]
This strategy will explain all the methods to exploit the most advantages out of corruption.
- Events: While it is commonly known that accepting corrupt dilemmas do boost corruption, corrupt events can be exploited. There are only four events that give small corruption gain but with large benefits, those being: 'Backdoor Arms Contract', 'Research Intervention', 'Corporate Dealing', and perhaps 'Political Maneuvering'. However, one should avoid continuously accepting these events within a short amount of time as the corruption gain and income could augment, which makes it harder for corruption to be nullified, especially for players that already have corruption.
- National Modifiers: There are only two corrupt modifiers that are beneficial, those being: 'Monopoly Formation' and the 'Powerful Military Industrial Complex'. The only corrupt modifier that should be avoided is the 'Loyalist Military Academies', as they do not provide much advantages.
- Policies: This sub-strategy will be dynamic, as corrupt policies are entirely situational compared to events and national modifiers. Policies offer substantial bonuses in exchange for corruption. It should be noted that it is not advised to enact all these policies at once, even if their political power cost and maintenance are significantly low, as the combined effect of all these policies could skyrocket corruption gain.
- Favor the Political Elite - Meta/top priority corruption policy to acquire as it gives a massive +50% XP bonus to political leaders. More XP income leads to more levels, which generally results in enhanced leader modifiers. Additionally, it also comes with improved political power income.
- Sinaloa Protocol - Best policy for countries that are expanding tax collection, especially when using Democracy.
- Ignore Safety Regulations - One of the best policies to to use early-game as a small or moderate country, like
South Africa as it increases factory output and reduces building speed, resulting in the production of more Consumer Goods; however, this policy should eventually be dismissed if the corruption burden becomes increasingly difficult to counter. Additionally, industrial powerhouses should prioritize this policy. - Grant Illegal Prospecting Licenses - A decent policy to implement for reaping additional natural resources, alongside with Ignore Safety Regulations, as it could help support the maintenance for factories. This policy is mostly suitable for industrial powerhouses or countries with resource-rich regions.
- Underground Labs - This policy has the highest research modifiers out of all technological policies in the game. However, it comes with a significant drawback, as it also results in a massive +0.65 corruption gain, making it the policy with the highest passive corruption among all corrupt policies.
Controversy[]
The Corruption Update, which reformed the concept of corruption, is considered one of the most controversial updates of 2023. Many players argued that corruption was an unnecessary feature, difficult to manage, and resulted in far more negative drawbacks compared to the previous 'Rampant Corruption' national modifier. This led to a call from many in the community for the update to be reverted, with a proposal to return to the national modifier version and its associated events. However, this proposal was adamantly rejected by Hyperant, the sole developer of the game.
Critics highlighted that corruption undermines the effectiveness of political leaders, as it takes a significant amount of time and resources to train them, only for them to randomly become corrupt. There were also concerns about the viability of playing as a Communist nation, as the ideology automatically leads to passive corruption gain. This, combined with the economic constraints of Communism, makes it difficult to sustain Anti-Corruption Spending. Beyond ideologies, corruption has sparked heated debates in the community. For example, some argue that Communism’s automatic corruption gain makes it impractical, while others point out that Democracy could potentially exploit corruption due to its substantial economy.
In response to growing opposition against corruption, Hyperant introduced the Chief Judge, a specialized political leader capable of combating corruption. However, Chief Judges are not immune to corruption themselves, and despite requests to reduce the impact of corruption, Hyperant's stance on the matter did not align with many of the players' demands. The issue of leaders randomly going corrupt was addressed in the February 19, 2025 Minor Update as you could now hire the deputies of a corrupt leader to retain your old leader, albeit with a lower starting level.
Interestingly, corruption did not attract significant criticism during the testing phase compared to the backlash it faced upon its official release. This discrepancy could be attributed to the limited attention it received during testing, only gaining prominence and sparking controversy once the update was officially announced in the Official Discord and the lobby.
Since players quickly adapted to the new corruption system, the controversy gradually diminished within a short period of time. However, even to this day, corruption remains a hot topic among the community, though it is no longer viewed as as problematic as it was initially.
Gallery[]
Events/Dilemmas[]
.png "Research Intervention (Corruption Version).png (153 KB)")
.png "Military Harassment (Corruption Version).png (161 KB)")
.png "Backdoor Arms Contract (Corruption Version).png (179 KB)")
.png "Assassination Revealed (Corruption Version).png (104 KB)")
.png "Monopoly Formation (Corruption Version).png (167 KB)")
.png "Blackmail Threat (Corruption Version).png (95 KB)")
.png "Political Maneuvering (Corruption Version).png (104 KB)")
.png "Public Scandal (Corruption Version).png (94 KB)")
.png "Corporate Dealing (Corruption Version).png (107 KB)")
.png "Conduct Raid on Top Business Owner (Corruption Version).png (96 KB)")
Policies[]
Technologies[]
.png "Reduce Corruption (New).png (35 KB)")
.png "Financial Machine Learning (New).png (30 KB)")
.png "Encourage Meritocracy (New).png (33 KB)")
Other[]
Trivia[]
- Corruption was revealed on November 17, 2023, and launched the following day, November 18, 2023. This makes corruption the fastest major feature to be implemented from its initial preview to release, taking only 23 hours.[1]
- It was also available to play in the testing server.
- The concept of corruption existed before the Corruption Update, manifesting as a national modifier named 'Rampant Corruption'. Previously, it was accompanied by specific corruption-related events and a distinct policy known as the 'Anti-Corruption Act'. However, as the Corruption Update released, the national modifier was removed, many of the corruption-related events were eliminated, and the 'Anti-Corruption Act' policy was replaced by five other policies.
- The amount of corruption maximizes at +100% and cannot extend further.
- During its phase of development, Fascism was also another ideology that grew corruption by a constant +0.15, however its corruption modifier was removed.