Ideologies are political and radical doctrines that allow a player to significantly reform their nation's system by altering nearly all branches of governance, including diplomacy, military, economy, and more.
Positioned on the ideological spectrum, seven ideologies are available, categorized into four wings: neutral (Non-Aligned), left (Socialism and Communism), center (Liberalism and Democracy), and right (Nationalism and Fascism). All wings, except for neutral, consist of up to two ideologies.
They are further divided into informal tiers based on vertical order: the first row represents Tier I (1) ideologies, the second row includes Tier II (2) ideologies, and the third row culminates with Tier III (3) ideologies. Advancing along the spectrum provides increasingly larger and more radical modifiers but also requires higher amounts of political power—with Tier I and II costing 250 political power each, and Tier III costing 500 political power. Additionally, conversions must follow a linear progression (e.g., Non-Aligned > Socialism > Communism). Players cannot skip directly from one wing to another (e.g., Democracy > Fascism).
Each ideology has unique strengths and weaknesses. The neutral wing, or the non-aligned path, serves as the starting ideology for most nations and provides no modifiers. The left wing, or the communist path, significantly upgrades factory output but reduces tax income. The center wing, or the democratic path, increases taxation and financial growth but extends war justification times,[1] while the right wing, or the fascist path, lowers military upkeep costs but offers no direct economic benefits. Ultimately, there is no "best" ideology—choices are subjective and depend entirely on gameplay preferences.
Starting Ideologies[]
A map of countries with default ideologies.
While Non-Aligned is the starting ideology for most nations, the nations listed in the table below have their own unique starting ideologies. There is no specific reason for this deviation, but many of the countries that start with unique ideologies also align with them in real life. Additionally, since most major powers start with unique ideologies (e.g., 
United States, 
China), this choice may have been made for balancing purposes.
| Countries with unique starting ideologies (9) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Communist (2) | Socialist (3) | Democratic (4) |
| No country starts with Liberalism or a right-wing ideology—Nationalism and Fascism. | ||
War Bypass[]
Liberation War > Concede Terms > Enforce Ideology > Send Terms.
Players can completely bypass the political power costs and fixed conversion sequences by initiating a Liberation or Subjugation war. Read the notes before following the tutorial.
Notes[]
- This tutorial does not violate the official Rise of Nations rules. Just follow the rules while doing the tutorial, and you should be fine (e.g., no alt accounts, griefing).
- Steps 2 and 3 only apply to AI-controlled nations. For player-controlled nations, the recipient player can accept the treaty without the sender needing to occupy their territory.
- Only use this method on a country that aligns with your desired ideology. Performing it on a country with a different ideology may result in adopting an unintended ideology, compounded by a negative modifier. So in summary, your attempt to bypass the spectrum through a war was futile.
Tutorial[]
- Justify and declare a Liberation War on a nation—only the country that is aligned with your desired ideology.
- Upon declaring war, annex the belligerent's territory until the notification indicating the country's collapse appears. Sending the treaty before occupying its territory will result in an automatic rejection of the terms.
- Once the capitulation alert appears, open the peace treaty panel.
- Select "Concede Terms" on the top right.
- Click "Enforce Ideology".
- Send the terms.
Once the terms are sent, the treaty will be automatically accepted, and your ideology will change to match that of the nation you conceded to. However, this action will impose a destructive national modifier called Forced Regime Change, lasting for exactly one year.
Policies[]
| Ideological Policies (6) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Requires Ideology (4) | Excludes Ideology (1) | ||
| To enact the policy, a nation must align with the required respective ideology. | A policy cannot be enacted if a nation aligns with the conflicting ideology. | ||
| Neutrality Act | Non-Aligned | Liberation Act | Fascism |
| Forced Labor for dissidents | Communism | ||
| Tax Reform | Democracy | ||
| Expulsion Act | Fascism | ||
Overview[]
Below is a brief overview of each ideology. For detailed explanations of Tier 3 ideologies (i.e. Democracy, Communism, Fascism), see the 'Ideology Comparisons' section below.
Communist Path[]
The Communist Path, located in the left wing, focuses on maximizing military strength, resource extraction, and factory output. It is ideal for nations with abundant resources and large landmasses, allowing domestic self-reliance without dependence on purchasing foreign materials.
Socialism[]
- Ideal for smaller nations.
- Bonuses:
- Increased manpower
- Extended factory output
- Reduced war exhaustion gain
- Lower military reinforcement costs
- Higher base stability
Communism[]
- Suited for industrial powerhouses.
- Major boosts to factory output and resource utilization.
- Drawbacks:
- Significantly reduced tax collection.
- Increased corruption gain.
- Not ideal for nations that lack massive resource reserves.
- Best for resource-rich nations like
Russia or those with claims on regions like Central Asia 
and Africa 
. - Effective in prolonged wars due to slowed war exhaustion and doubled manpower growth.
Democratic Path[]
The Democratic Path, located in the center wing, enhances a nation's economy through tax bonuses, providing greater financial leverage for the military, spending, building construction, and more. However, it comes with military-related drawbacks, such as longer justification times, stability penalties when declaring offensive wars, and additional limitations.
Liberalism[]
- Useful as a transition ideology for nations like Mexico.
- Overall, it is a simplified version of Democracy.
Democracy[]
- Massively populated countries, typically around 100-150+ million population, reap the highest benefits from Democracy.
- Strong economic benefits, including significant tax income boosts.
- Enables investment in superior technology and a robust military.
- Challenges:
- Increased justification times and loss of stability during wartime. However, the stability penalty is modest.
- Not built for countries that have low population.
- Best suited for large nations like United States or India.
Fascist Path[]
The Fascist Path, located in the right wing, focuses on aggressive expansion and military dominance. It reduces justification times, military upkeep costs, and improves manpower gain, making it ideal for nations seeking rapid territorial growth.
Nationalism[]
- Ideal for smaller nations.
- Bonuses:
- Increased manpower income
- Improved stability growth
- Reduced military upkeep and war justification duration
- No direct drawbacks
Fascism[]
- Designed for aggressive, expansionist strategies.
- Bonuses:
- Versatile, can be used with any country, no matter the population
- Drastically reduced justification times
- Increased manpower gain
- Reduced military upkeep
- Allows simultaneous justification against three nations
- While Nationalism and Fascism do not have much major direct drawbacks, they can gain some through indirect methods:
- Potential war exhaustion gain from excessive wars and losses.
- No direct economic boosts, unlike Communism and Democracy, since it focuses on significantly reducing military upkeep.
- Fascism suffers from reduced tax gain, but the reduction is small.
- While Nationalism has no direct drawbacks, its modifiers are generally modest.
Effects[]
Ideological Modifiers[]
Modifiers that are included in one ideology but omitted from another means the latter ideology does not include them.
| Ideological Modifiers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Non-Aligned (Neutral – Tier I Ideology)
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Socialism (Left Wing – Tier II Ideology)
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Communism (Left Wing – Tier III Ideology)
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Liberalism (Center Wing – Tier II Ideology)
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Democracy (Center Wing – Tier III Ideology)
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Nationalism (Right Wing – Tier II Ideology)
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Fascism (Right Wing – Tier III Ideology)
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Ideological Power[]
Ideology power is a modifier that strengthens both the advantages and disadvantages of an ideology, either through a fixed or varying percentage. While these modifiers may amplify the disadvantages, the advantages often outweigh them, as they are also significantly increased.
The chart below shows the only three mechanics that modify ideology power based on their given percentage.
| Ideology Power Modifiers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modifier | Percentage | Requirements | Type | |
| Ideology Improvement | Ideology Power 1: +5% | Research Power Cost: 800 | Political Technology | |
| Ideology Power 2: +10% | Research Power Cost: 1,000 | |||
| Ideology Power 3: +20% | Research Power Cost: 1,500 | |||
| Total Power: +35% | Total Cost: 3,300 | |||
| Political Reformer | Varies | Level 2 or 3 | Political Leader | |
| Political Power (Cost Varies) | ||||
| Party Loyalty | Minimum: -15% | Political Power Cost: 75 | Law | |
| Low: -5% | ||||
| High: +15% | ||||
| Maximum: +25% | ||||
Ideological Flags[]
Visit main article: Dynamic Flags
Dynamic Flags, also known as Ideological Flags, are flags that change when a country turns into a different ideology. Currently, only 21 countries (out of 239 in the game) have ideological flags as of the 12/23/2023 Update (December 23, 2023), and many more are planned to undergo implementation.
Tier III Ideologies Guide[]
This section should not be fully reliable as it is still work-in-progress!
Due to the general nature of ideologies being prone to excessive debates and arguments among the community, there has been no definite answer of the best overall ideology. Therefore, a guide exists to distinguish each ideology's capabilities.
The guide below only encompasses Tier III ideologies, with those being Democracy, Communism, and Fascism, as Tier II ideologies, such as Liberalism, Socialism, and Nationalism, are widely considered to be a stepping stone to its succeeding levels, as Tier II ideologies are not as beneficial with their modifiers compared to Tier 3, even if they provide smaller disadvantages.
Democracy[]
Economy[]
- Generally known to maintain the best economy out of all Tier 3 ideologies, though the national population plays a crucial role in determining the size of a democratic economy.
- Mostly relies on tax collection and developed cities to grow their economy.
- With its massive economy, democracies can heavily invest many sectors in its nation without going into an active deficit, such as economic expenditures, the military, technology, developed cities, and more.
Military[]
- Democracies with a substantial economy allows the maintenance of a robust, large, and advanced military, as tax collection allows the mass production of various military units, from the ground, navy, to the air.
- Democracies usually have the most technologically advanced military compared to other ideologies, as their economy allows them to heavily invest in research.
- Democracies usually hold the upper-hand in the navy and the air force, as they can afford and outproduce more than that of other nations.
- While Democracy has minor military disadvantages, such as the +15% military upkeep increase and -10% manpower decrease, it is completely outweigh by its massive economy, recruitment centers, and developed cities.
Wars[]
- Democracy is considered to be one of the worst ideologies for specifically mass expansion, as it increases justification time and loses -3% stability every time a war is declared. Though this should not be a major issue should stability be high, around over 70% stability.
- Despite its various hindrances and obstacles when declaring wars, Democracy is superior in power projection. Its colossal and complex economy allows mass recruitment of various units without struggling financially and it can afford in more research investments, offering a more technologically advanced military. Such possession of a formidable military allows Democracies to swiftly crush and overwhelm large countries and other enemy forces that are not fully prepared or trained.
- While war exhaustion is evidently an underlying threat to Democracy during wartime in some cases, Democracies can invest heavily in many sectors that reduce war exhaustion gain, such as economic spending, political leaders, doctrines, and more. Regardless, Democracies are not completely immune to war exhaustion, so as any other form of ideology.
- Democracy only loses stability when declaring an offensive Conquest or Subjugation war. Defensive wars (i.e. entering an ally's war or responding to an enemy's declaration of war) do not reduce stability. Interestingly, declaring a Liberation War does not reduce stability, and the war justification time for Liberation is significantly shortened, which contrasts with Democracy's penalty for entering an offensive war.
Technology[]
WIP
Skill Floor[]
WIP
Flexibility[]
WIP
Communism[]
Economy[]
- Widely infamous for struggling economically if military upkeep and economic expenditures are high, sufficient factories and resource outputs are missing, or Consumer Goods trades are not secured. However, Communist countries can eventually bolster their economy long-term should they acquire a sufficient amount of resources, allowing them to spam factories without going into a resource deficit.
- Communist nations play as the leading role in serving as the industrial powerhouse as its significant factory and resource modifier boosts allow the accumulation of tons of factories and natural resources, allowing them to rely mostly on resource income.
- Due to communist nations generating an abundance of resources and materials consistently, they can participate in international trading.
- Struggles to grow economic laws without active deficit, especially for the Anti Corruption Spending, as it is the most expensive economic expenditure. Communism needs the Anti Corruption Spending as it inherently starts with passive corruption gain, and lack of mechanisms to prevent it from growing could lead to significant drawbacks. Nevertheless, with good luck and RNG, the player can hire a decent Chief Judge to offset the corruption gain, and with proper economic management and growth, they can eventually afford to expand their economic laws.
Military[]
- Communists can heavily rely on ground forces, mainly infantry, as their +100% manpower increase (can even be enlarged with 'Limited' conscription law, developed cities, and recruitment centers) allows them to mass recruit and replenish forces on the battlefield.
- Their massive resource and material generations, such as Oil, provides long-term preservation of a large military that is mostly composed of vehicular units.
- Communists with a moderate economy has a tendency to struggle on other branches of the military that is not associated with the army, such as the navy and the air force, which limits its production and usage.
War[]
- Communism is inherently built to sustain and fight long-term wars, specifically Player VS Player (PVP), due to its significant war exhaustion downgrade.
- Mass expansion can be commenced as justification times are reduced and war exhaustion is downgraded.
- Communism allows recruitment of large number of ground units, specifically infantries, to overwhelm and overpower their enemy's forces with the support of its substantial manpower boost. Additionally, with proper management of war exhaustion, Communism can continuously replenish units into the battlefield while concurrently facing tens of millions of losses.
- Prone to struggle financially when building and maintaining powerful and large navy and air force if the economy is incapable of allowing such buildup.
- Its notable war exhaustion reduction can be amplified even more with ideology improvements, which can be gained from political technologies, political leaders, formable modifiers, and more. Though one should be aware that augmenting Communism's modifiers also increase the drawbacks, such as increased corruption, decreased tax revenue, and more.
- This issue primarily surrounds in the early-middle stages of the game, but inadequate funds for research investments may result in Communism falling behind in military technology, which could hinder their units' performance upon engaging against a large and more technologically advanced enemy.
- Despite its essential reduction to war exhaustion, it is not completely immune from rampant exhaustion.
Technology[]
WIP
Skill Floor[]
WIP
Flexibility[]
WIP
Fascism[]
Economy[]
- While Fascism has no formal economic routes compared to Democracy and Communism, as Democracies rely on tax collection and Communists work in the industrial field, Fascist countries have a significant military upkeep reduction, allowing them to mass recruit a military while also having leftover funds to invest in various national interests, such as developed cities, technology, and economic spending.
- Fascist countries are usually outclassed economically during the later stages of the game, as military upkeep could become redundant when Communist and Democratic nations should have tens or hundreds of billions of money at their disposal while generating tens or hundreds of millions of more, if they managed their economy appropriately.
Military[]
- Fascism is known to be one of the best military ideologies in the game; however, it is not considered the "best of the best" in the military as the game is entirely situational, and Democracies and Communists can certainly outgrow a Fascist military in terms of size, funds, technology, etc.
- Fascism has a significant military upkeep reduction, which allows the majority of a Fascist economy to be diverted elsewhere other than the military, such as economic laws, developed cities, and more.
- Thanks to its military upkeep reduction, mass recruitment of various units can be employed without losing much money, which can result in a large and formidable military.
Wars[]
- Fascism is considered as one of the best war ideologies, as it is capable of rapidly expanding and gaining territories and treasuries across many regions, with the support of its significant war justification reduction and a +1 in diplomatic actions.
- War exhaustion is a major and dangerous threat to Fascism, as rapidly expanding without managing the fluctuation of war exhaustion could lead to serious consequences. Though war exhaustion can be countered via many factors, such as doctrines, economic laws, and more.
- The massive military upkeep discounts allow Fascism to wield large and robust military, from the army, navy, and air force, during war, which could improve their survivability especially when fighting a larger and more formidable enemy.
- Can focus on military technology as military funds should not be much of a burden.
- In the later stages of the game, Fascism is commonly outweighed and overpowered in wars, as Democracy and Communist players should have reached the peak of their economic and military strength.
Technology[]
WIP
Skill Floor[]
WIP
Flexibility[]
WIPTrivia[]
- Ideologies can be incorporated into the titles of factions (e.g., "Nationalist Pact").
- During the testing phase of coruption, Fascism originally had a corruption growth rate of a constant +0.15. However, this corruption modifier was later removed for unspecified reasons[2]
References[]
- ↑ Unlike Conquest and Subjugation, Democracy significantly reduces the time to justify a Liberation war.
- ↑ https://discord.com/channels/570684122519830540/1165352756417147031/1175491297365217401