The Constitution

The start of a long set of negotiations

This is probably one of the most important parts of the game. A good constitution can make your life a lot easier and prevent your impeachment (either through the old guard taking you down for a failed attempt at constitutional reform or if your corruption is discovered later on), whilst also giving you a lot more freedom on decrees and passing legislation. When given the option to tailor your draft, here's what I recommend going with:

• Section 1. Presidential Vetoes: Limit with Pocket Vetoes
  • With Koronis media on your side, this amendment gives you enough public pressure to present the constitution as progressive, although you keep an absolute veto should you want to use it.
• Section 2. Constitutional Amendment process: Remove supreme courts vote
  • Self-explanatory (plus your only option)
• Section 3. Impeachment process: Do not change
  • This tanks your support in the assembly and USP as its seen as removing any checks om your power. Later sections will ensure you're not impeached in practice, so leave this section alone.
• Section 4. Appointment of Ministers: Confidence Vote
  • Probably the most contradictory part of the constitution to your playstyle, but it increases all factions willingness to back the constitution and, in practice, the USP will always have a majority in the assembly
• Section 5. Electoral Threshold: Increase Threshold to 15%
  • Attracts the support of veteran USP Members of the Assembly (MAs) whilst also making it harder for other parties to get in. Necessary for an achievement, plus kicks out the NFP at the next election
• Section 6. Presidential Decrees: Priority Over Statute Law + No Judicial Reviews
  • Basically the most dictatorial element of the constitution. Gives you free reign on your decrees and allows you to pass other bills without having to go through the assembly
• Section 7. Term Limits: Do not change
  • Not needed for passing the constitution, so why not allow yourself unlimited terms?
• Section 8. Immunity of Justices: President Can Replace Judges
  • This is literally required to pass the constitution, so choosing this is a must. Also allows you to avoid impeachment later on through a court reshuffle
• Section 9. Honorary Membership of Tarquin Soll: Every President Is An Honorary Member
  • This isn't necessary and has no effect unless you retire, but what dictatorship isn't complete without a fancy title, absolute legal immunity and an expensive house?

This constitutional Layout is the closest you can get to a functionally dictatorial political system that doesn't alienate your party and the NFP. You get all powerful decrees, security if/when you retire and legislative control whilst ensuring all concessions only apply to an assembly/Supreme Court under your control. Now its time to gather some signatures:

Negotiations: The USP Conservatives

To get the vote to the assembly, you first need the signatures of 150 MAs, most of which will come from the USP and its various wings.

The first wing are the conservatives, lead by Gloria Tory. As the name suggests, they want as close to the current constitution as possible, with a balance of powers favouring the old guard and a constitution that favours the USP.

• When you start negotiating with her, make sure to emphasise how the reforms are in the name of democracy and the USP and how you'd never betray the party.
• When it comes to amendments to the first draft, don't budge an inch. Refuse to give concessions on decrees or judicial impeachments and deny her attempt to rebuke the section on the presidential Members of Honour
• If you didn't promise to align with the east at the beginning, refused to privatise education and sided with Soll in the prologue, you should push her tolerance of reforms to the very edge without going over the cliff. She will promise to back your reforms only if you consider her for the Supreme Court and remove your wive from speaking at Benfi, both of which you should agree too. If you do any of the above, however, you'll have to abandon the Members of Honour Requirement to get their support, which is needed to pass the constitution.

You Should now have the backing of the conservatives when It comes to the vote

Negotiations: The USP Reformists

Whilst theoretically this wing of the party should strike you down immediately (due to their sympathies to "Democracy" and "Separation of powers" and "believing that the president shouldn't do whatever he wishes"), the corruption of their leader allows you to win them over

• After the opening small talk, explain that you respect the reformists perspective on Labour reforms and decrees, although refuse to budge on the decrees.
• When he states that even his support might not be enough, argue there must be another way, then Promise him the VP spot in the next cabinet. Going with a current cabinet position will harm you as he tries to take credit for the reforms down the line, but the VP promise can be abandoned at a later date.

With their leader bought off, the Reformists will back you for signatures and votes at the assembly

Negotiations: The NFP

The NFP is the final piece in the puzzle when it comes to securing the constitution, as its success lives or dies on their endorsement.

• When dealing with the 15% election threshold, offer him an alliance. By the end of the game the NFP should drop out of the assembly anyway, so this is just a formality
• After some berating of you for being too pro bludish, he will require either that the Red Youth be banned or the Language Education Bill is vetoed. Go with banning the Red Youth (since its something you would have normally done anyway) and Kesaro will back your suggested constitution.

With The NFPs backing, all thats left is the Assembly and the Supreme Court before the constitutional draft becomes official

The Assembly

Now that we've got all the signatures and the support of every faction minus the PFJP, its time to pass the first step and get a two thirds approval in the Assembly.

• As stated in the Personal Finance section, it's advised that you spend as much money as possible on lobbying for safety (As I haven't tried this route out with less spending than this)
• After the first reading of the new constitution, voting will begin. Head down to the Assembly Floor and you'll meet both the leader of the NFP and independents. The NFP leader will confirm he's voting for the bill, whilst the leader of the independents should inform you that despite flaws with the bill (as it still protects Solls legal immunity), the independents will be voting for the bill.
  • If the leader of the independents greets you but doesn't enter a conversation, you've lost the supports of the independents by being too anti-blud, which can result in losing the vote depending on the playthrough.
• After you reach the floor, you'll be made aware that Soll is present in the assembly and is trying to convince MAs to vote against the constitution. To minimise his effect, get Gloria to speed up the counting (which she will only do if she backed your constitution initially), which reduces his effects.
• After this and some talks with the reformists, you should be updated that the vote passed 179-72, getting over the two thirds majority required for the constitution to pass.

During the conservation following the passing of the constitution, Kesaro will approach "The most dangerous men in the Maroon Palace and query about the supreme court. Make sure to emphasise how bad the court situation looks. Because we organised an alliance with the NFP, he will offer to organise a meeting with the deputy old guard justice. Accept this offer, as its required for passing the constitution through:

​

The Supreme Court

This is the last and, at first glance, the hardest part of passing the constitution. As opposed to advocating for empowering the Assembly, a constitution that empowers the executive will leave you with no initial allies on the court as the reformists are dead set against these changes. As such, you have to get a combination of 6 Old Guard and Centrists on the court to back these reforms for it to pass.

Winning over the centrists with an executive empowering constitution is probably the hardest negotiation in the game, as Isabel, the leader of the Centrist justices, is diametrically opposed to everything your constitution represents. She wants a balance of powers without corruption or despotism, whilst you literally want a constitution that transfers legislative powers from the judiciary (judges) to the executive (the president) and a section which grants you legal immunity and a free house for life. As such, everything has to be set up perfectly for her to back your constitution.

My first set of advice is this. Get up from your computer, go out to your local supermarket and buy some healthy ingredients, like some lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, seedless cucumbers, red wine vinegar, feta cheese and fresh oregano. Head back home to the kitchen, cut the ingredients up, toss them together with an olive oil dressing and eat it during the negotiations. To successfully negotiate with a salad appreciator, you must become a salad appreciator

It's disappointing you have to eat herbs that arent from Sordland, but its a sacrifice you'll have to make

Seriously though, here's what you need to do:

• After some small talk with a seriously miffed Justice Secretary, hold off on ordering food until Isabel arrives. Greet her and when asked by the waiter what you want, order the salad, which she will also order. This somehow increases her receptiveness to you
• Ask how the court is and what she thinks of the proposal, emphasising the balance of powers this constitution will bring (it wont, but the game doesn't seem to know that)
• Emphasise how this constitution will bring about a better democracy, how respectable justices are against the Old Guard, how you'll transparently carry out your new functions and the need to be in this together
• Explain your opposition to the current constitution because of the judiciaries power over legislative processes (amending the constitution) and what future reforms can be brought about if this succeeds
• When she queries about your model Supreme Court, explain its role as a defender of the constitution, striking down unconstitutional laws and engaging in judicial review, a necessary practise to ensure each branch of government recognises its own limits.
• Despite the constitution explicitly giving the executive powers to create legislation that is immune to judicial review, she will believe you only if you studied law in the prologue. Lacking this education background will sink any chance of getting the centrists support.
• Explain when she queries about the costs and danger of extending the MoH title to all presidents, explain that Soll was rather quiet after he retired, so all presidents deserve the title.

If you follow these instructions, the salad lover herself will give in and agree to back your constitutional reform. After the successful meeting, Kesaro should contact you to let you know he successfully organised a meeting with the Deputy Chief Justice. This meeting can be organised without allying with the NFP, but either requires bribing the deputy Chief Justice (which you cant afford) or getting lucian to do it (which has a 50% chance of failing). All you need to do hear is ask for his help, which he will agree to in return for being appointed Chief Justice after Hawker is removed (this is only possible if you allow the assembly or president to impeach justices), which you should agree too.

Following this, you should have a tense wait for the results to be announced, declaring that the constitution passed the supreme court 6 votes to 5. Congrats, you now have unchecked powers, a luxury house and security team down the line and the most unfair electoral system in Merkopa ready for the next election.

The War

The meeting that makes or breaks the run

"War, war never changes"

- Valken Kruger before Sordland got militarily decimated because Anton trusted his advice that war never changes.

So, War. The act which turns boys into men and men into corpses. For some playthroughs (fully socialist democratic run) its necessary to stop the army from turning its weapons on the enemy and start turning their weapons on you. For others, it's a large boost in opinion that can turn a mediocre run with low popularity into a successful electoral domination. For a dictator/autocrat run, its good for opinion, but also helps add to the roleplay by carving out a bit of Rumberg for you and your allies for your/their troubles.

To succeed in the war, I've found that there are four main areas of preparation that need to be met to prevent Rumberg knocking down the doors to the Maroon Palace. Under the four categories Ill cover what they generally mean, what requirements you have to fulfil in order to achieve that area of prep and how this is achieved in this guide.

An Effective Military (Equipment)

Due to the immense size difference in terms of army between you and Rumberg, you need to make sure that when Naval, Land and Air parity is taken into account, one Soldish soldier is equipped enough to kill more than 1 Rumbergian soldier when the fighting starts. This requires a military that plays to its strengths and dominates the areas of warfare it needs to. To beat Rumberg, you need to make sure that the following is true:

​

• The military as a whole is somewhat Modernised:
  • This is achieved by either spending more money on the military and choosing to invest in modernisation rather than expanding the size of the military (what we do in this run) or joining either the ATO or CSP. Note this route requires you to leave your allies out of the fighting (as calling them in will result in a worldwide nuclear war).
• Achieving air superiority against the Rumbergian air force to prevent troop bombardments and enable strategic bombing.
  • This is achieved either by specifically designating that the Air Force be fully modernised (what we do in this run) following the modernisation decision above, allying with Lespia before the war breaks out (as they have a superior air force from the get-go) or joining the ATO (as stated above, this means you must fight alone)
• Avoiding conflicts at Sea or having a well equipped Navy.
  • The first Requirement (what this guide does) is only required if you're allied with Agnolia, as they're on the Edge of fighting with Valgsland over the central island on the map. This requires you to end the war asap with a quick strategy and adequate infrastructure to enable quick movements (covered later). Basically, avoid starting a war of attrition and avoid pissing them off that much at the UN. You'll know this is successful if you get alerted that they call for peace after the war has started.
  • Same as modernising air force, so either fund that wing of the military during modernisation, ally with Valgsland (who have a superior navy) or join the CSP.

This, combined with keeping the gendarmerie in the army, should put your army in a good enough position to heavily damage Rumberg when they invade

An Effective Military (Size)

​

Even if you outgun the Rumbergian army man for man, they still have three/five times the men when the war breaks out. As such, you need to even out the numbers when the fighting starts. This necessitates two requirements before the war starts:

• Reliable allies on your side:
  • Although logically having Lespia on your side is enough on its own to put you on parity with Rumberg, you need at least two allies on your side who are willing to join the war to win. You only be able to have three sets of alliances that can win you the war:
    • Eyes to the left (Welhen + Valgsland socialist bloc)
    • Eyes to the right (Agnolia + Lespia capitalist bloc)
    • Eyes to the centre (Angolia + Welhen neutral bloc)
  • For every counter besides Welhen, you get an alliance by signing a trade deal with the respective nation. For some nations, however, certain actions will lock you out of an alliance. Valgsland won't ally with a nation that has already recognised Agnolias claims, privatised any companies, banned the Red Youth or allowed an ATO base on their territory. Lespia won't ally with a nation that cooperates with Welhen in any way, nationalises any companies or allows a CSP base on their territory. As long as you avoid this, a trade deal should guarantee an alliance
  • For Welhen, due to their president's eccentricities, they arent the biggest fans of official treaties. Welhen will join you in the fight against Rumberg even if the news only announces a trade deal between Sordland and Welhen, but for him to offer his full support, you must participate in Operation Bear Trap. Resisting at first and agreeing to keep your boarders shut will result in him sitting the war out, meaning you must fully help him with killing the bluds before he will fully help you in the war.
• Infrastructure to ensure those troops arrive on time
  • Ultimately an army is useless if it can't be where the war is on time. Depending on who you ally, their armies will either start off far enough away that normal transport will take way too long to arrive to join in the fighting or have to cross through hostile territory to get there. For the following allies, you need to take these precautions to ensure their armies are effective:
    • Agnolia: Build the Highway. Most of the Agnolian troops will move down south to help out i the first phase of the war, but unless you invest in the highway they will become delayed due to bad infrastructure. For this guide, invest in the highway over the Railway
    • Lespia: Build the Railway. In contrast, Lespias army is on the other side of the continent, meaning they would be delayed if they took the normal route. To ensure they get there on time, make sure you construct the Railway to allow faster transportation for the Lespian army. If you've allied with the capitalist bloc, prioritise the railway over the highway (as the Lespian army is much better than the Agnolian one)
    • Welhen: Either Declare Bergia a Special Zone or Don't Piss of the Bluds. Whilst the Welhelian army is close enough to join in the fighting immediately, they have to pass through Bergia to get to the front lines, which is populated by a people who were slaughtered on mass by the very army marching through their lands. If you fail to adequately appease the Bluds during game, they'll harass the Welhelian army as it moves through the province, eventually resulting in Smolak getting fed up and calling his army back. This resistance can be prevented either by declaring Bergia a Special Administrative Region through decree (which gives the governor enough power to repress the Bluds into submission) or by appeasing them enough that they peacefully protest instead. Either way, it ensures the Welhelian army can reach the front lines in time to contribute to the war

If you wish to fight on your own, then you instead need to ensure that your army is at a big enough size to contend with Rumberg. This requires you to:

• Fund the army and use the extra resources to expand its size
• Refuse to remove conscription to keep the extra reserves
• enter the CSP or ATO for the army and navy/Airforce modernisation it provides.

An Effective Supply Line/Economy

​

No matter how good your army is and (surprisingly) how short the war is, you need to ensure you have an economy prepared enough to ensure your army has all the small arms, support equipment, food and raw materials necessary to fight the war to its end. There are two factors that affect how prepared your economy is for war:

• Integration into the global economy/International Supply lines
  • Depending on which allies you side with, you'll have different levels of integration with the international economy.
    • If you side with the neutral bloc, your economy will be exposed to trade for some extent but isn't integrated enough to adequately access foreign production for the war effort. If you take this route (like this guide advises), you'll have to have a good enough domestic economy to compensate.
    • If you side with either the capitalist or socialist bloc, you'll be able to rely on trade with your respective group of nations to effectively supplement your domestic production. If trading by sea, however, you'll have to deal with Rumbergian subs to prevent all your tonnage from being sunk
    • Also think your infrastructure investments change how effective your capitalist/socialist trade lines are (Airport for capital, Port for socialist)), but haven't tried it out
• Domestic levels of production:
  • If you either hope to go into war alone or with the Neutral block, it's critical that you have enough domestic production to sustain the Sordland war machine. This requires you to achieve the following:
    • Have the "increased production" modifier when the war breaks out, which necessitates a heavy focus on boosting production. For this, you need to invest in either of the productivity megaprojects and the industry expansion decision, which results in Iosef commenting that the domestic industry is prepared enough for the war.
    • You can also avoid this requirement by choosing to invest in the Military industry specifically (which is useful for lone fights with Rumberg), but isn't advised since it doesn't give any side benefits and costs 1 more than other industry investments. This guide calls for investing in agriculture specifically

An Effective Set of Tactics

Even if you an effective and well prepared military, infrastructure and economy, tactics that don't play to your strengths negate these benefits immediately. Depending on how you structure your army, your allies and your economy, different tactics are recommended:

• Human wave doctrine: Avoid at all costs
  • Basically detrimental as a doctrine, as it makes no strategic sense and doesn't play to any possible playstyle. Don't use it at all unless you're curious.
• Bunker down strategy: Quantity over Quality
  • This strategy works best if you're focusing on recruiting a mass army with air parity and a strong economy, making it useful for solo wars. This is essentially the attrition strategy, waiting for Rumberg to throw its thousands of men at your lines whilst you have an adequate manpower reserve to draw from and an economy which can sustain long term warfare. Falls apart with a modernist strategy, as your army isn't large enough to hold the line.
• Iosefs Pincer Strategy: Quality over Quantity
  • This strategy works best if you're focusing on an experienced, well-drilled and well-equipped military with an economy strong enough to tolerate a short period of war, supplemented by allied forces able to push the front quickly. This is the strategy I recommend using with this guide, as it's confirmed to work successfully and plays best to the strengths we've created. It doesn't work with a large, clunky army, Rumberg dominating the air and fighting on your own, as you need both strength, air superiority and supplementary manpower to succeed.

The Winning Strategy: Allies called in

This is the strategy I used in the guide to win the war against Rumberg whilst calling in allies but staying neutral in the greater cold war. Here's what you need to do:

• Invest in the Highway over the Railway
• Fund the Military, invest in modernisation, prioritise the Airforce and abolish conscription
• Give the CSP a base of operation in Sordland
• Ally with Angnolia, take part in Bear Trap with Welhen
• Veto Racist legislation and do everything you can to increase Blud opinion/ turn Blundia into a special zone via decree
• Invest in production via Sarna and Agriculture
• Accept the defecting scientist
• Secretly arrest the spy to avoid public backlash
• Keep the gendarmerie in the ministry of defence
• Shoot down a Rumbergian plane in response to their aggression and expose Rumbergs nuclear weapons at the UN
• Encourage economic growth such that you get the Sordish recovery before the war
• Go for a modernist set of tactics:
  • Go for Iosef's pincer manoeuvre, call in your allies and ask them to supplement your existing forces rather than going off on their own.
  • For the second round, choose to rush down Rumbergs capital, order Welhen to stay back to protect your flank. Agnolia will siege Dome regardless of your orders

By following this advice, The first stage should be an overwhelming success. After being lured into Sordish Territory, the Rumbergian army will be assaulted on both sides by experienced troops, with complete air domination destroying their supplies from behind and damaging their forces, resulting in the conquest of Estord. Both the Agnolian and Welhelian armies were present to assist in the fight, Agnolia from the east thanks to improved infrastructure and Welhen thanks to little resistance from the native Bludian population. Using the increased economic capacity of the economy, medical supplies were quickly shipped to the front lines, minimising casualties when possible. Using speed and agility, the Sordish army then pushed on to Rumbergs capital, capturing the queen and ending the war. The queen will then surrender Tzarboerg, Dome and parts of southern Rumberg to your alliance, winning the conflict.

​

\"Conqueror Rayne, Reformer of Constitutions and Suzerain of Rumberg\"

The Winning Strategy: Fighting Alone

This isn't specified in the guide and is less effective, but good for a player who wants a challenge. You'll need to fulfil all 4 categories using this strategy:

​

• Invest in whatever infrastructure you want
• Fund the military, invest in expanding the army and keep conscription
• Give either power a base, although not necessary
• Trade either with Valgsland or Lespia, although other allies don't matter
• Invest in the military industry and additional infrastructure (Airport if Lespia trade deal, Port if Valgsland Trade deal)
• Accept Defecting Scientist
• Do what you want with the spy, as long as shes arrested/killed
• Keep the gendarmerie in the ministry of defense
• Shoot down a Rumbergian plane in response to their aggression and expose Rumbergs nuclear weapons + Weapons Smuggling at the UN
• Encourage economic growth such that you get the sordish recovery before the war
• Go for a defensive set of tactics:
  • Choose to bunker down and withstand the Rumbergian human waves
  • For the second round, choose to rush down Dome and capture it before going for their Capital

Because I haven't done this tactic since 1.1.2 was released, i don't know much details on the conflict. I do know that these decisions result in your plans succeeding and the Rumbergian army losing first its momentum and second its strategic infrastructure and economic heartland. After this victory, Rumberg's Queen will offer a surrender, gaining you the territories of Tzarboerg and humiliating the queen. Because of how bold a plan going in alone was, you should also make sure to send her a message from your son (which you'll know when you try this out yourself)

Conclusion:

So, you've reached the end of the game. You've brought back the economy from ruins with improved living standards, consolidated your hold on power with a crippled opposition and created a constitution which has given you nearly unchecked power for your second term.

This is the end screen I got:

Now those are the achievements of a true dictator

It's not the best results, as this type of route is never suppose to be fully wholesome, but is enough to get a couple of achievements and place your accomplishments in the annals of Sordish history. Reflecting on this playthrough, there are a couple of additional notes which I want to add:

​

• For people who don't want to treat the Bluds as well as is done here, you can win the war without Welhens help if you invest in the military industry instead (which costs -1 budget in the long run). If you do this, I would recommend that you don't sign all the anti- Blundish legislation (specifically sign the religion bill but veto the language act) that Kesaro puts on your desk, as signing both causes a Blundish terrorist attack which seriously harms your popularity and economy.
• For Autocratic players, this strategy can be adapted to an old guard playthrough rather easily, just make sure to do the following:
  • Disregard all spending and decisions related to the constitution and its section of the guide. You'll be ruling through the old one anyway, so expenditures/corruption that would be necessary on that route aren't needed now.
    • This also means you don't have to start off middle class or choose law as your educational background.
  • Campaign on and tighten immigration when you're given the opportunity, as well as nationalising HOS in addition to Bergia steel (the -1 budget can be offset by privatising prisons instead of creating the fair trade commission), as not doing this after you extend the emergency decree will result in your impeachment by the supreme court, leading to what is essentially a "game over".