Propaganda slider not connected to economy

from Stardock Forums
Has anyone else noticed that the revenue directed towards propaganda is not subtracted at all, at any point from the economic model each month? Yes, it directely effects morale, and yes any boost you get in social or military production from this morale boost is subtracted, but if the slider says 11bc for 100% propaganda, you NEVER actually pay it. I have spent some time trying to see where I am missing this and I would love for someone to explain how this is not a bug OR for a quick bug fix for this otherwise cool game feature. I want to have to sacrifice for the propaganda but right now it does not seem to count. I mean, I want to have to pay for this, otherwise I could just set all planets to 100%. BTW, go ahead and do this, you will see that you only pay for the small production gains.

My theory is that this potential bug is related to the pre-bonus pack bug in which the propaganda slider would return back to zero with several refreshes of the detail screen. This was wonderfully fixed in the 1.01 patch, but I think the propaganda slider is still not functional. I am giving all of this detail so that someone will show me that I am missing something here. Regardless, I have no fear that if a bug it will be fixed soon.


~SDC~
568 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Actually, from what I can remember, it is subtracted from your income, it just doesn't appear in the Domestic Stats->Economy tab right now.

~SDC~
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Arturus,

I appreciate your reply, but I know almost for a fact that you are assuming this to be correct. I just went into a game, maximized my propaganda spending and compared my next turn treasury with and without propaganda spending. There is no effect except for the few bc of efficency gains from the morale increase. The game is not deducting the cost it claims for propaganda. As of right now, version 1.01a31 (or whatever it is today April 1), propaganda is free. Unless someone has a better explanation.


~SDC~
Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
I haven't examined it but is it possible that the cost of propaganda is being masked by the increased tax revenue due the increased population that comes with the morale increase?
Is it possible that propaganda can cause morale to go up enough that there are enough 'new' taxpayers paying in to cover it's cost?
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
Mr. Lucky,

I had thought something along those lines, but I admit I had not fully considered your point. Of course, by the very definition of the explanation, we cannot prove or disprove this theory, since the masking effect would not be observable, just assumed. I can say, that IF that is the explanation, then it is both unintentional from a game design aspect and needs to be fixed. I am currently playing a game on a medium size galaxy with 8 current colonies under a republic goverment. FROM THE START OF THE GAME, EVERY NEW PLANET I GET I HAVE BEEN MAXING THE PROPAGANDA. EVERY YEAR OR TWO I CHECK TO SEE IF I AM LOSING ANYTHING BY DOING THIS BY DOING A "WITH PROPAGANDA/WITHOUT" TEST. Currently in Gal Civ., propaganda is not a game factor. I am approaching "morale" fully from a post-propaganda perspective, because I have no choice. If I continue to "pretend" that propaganda is working and use it sparingly, I will develop bad game habits, since when they finally fix it I will not have truely learned to deal with the true economic costs. I have decided that it is better to wait for the fix and factor it out for now. When they fix it, Propaganda will then be a new game feature to my strategy.

I would still love for someone to show me that this is all intentional and explainable. Otherwise, please fix it (and please start work on an in-game searchable tech-tree like in CivIII, if you have not already). Now I need to get back to Gal Civ, I can't wait until this game is perfected!!! I have every confidence in Brad and Stardock that these issues will be resolved.

~SDC~
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
Dude, you don't have to YELL. ;) But yeah, I don't really know what's happening either. I always max propaganda on all my planets to get the morale boost and don't think to much about whether or not it getting paid for. On reflection my theory is probably wrong because the stated cost of propaganda goes up as population goes up. It can never really pay for itself because as new taxpayers join and raise revenue, the cost of propagandizing them also rises(I think).
I also agree if it's broke it'll probably get fixed, if it's not it'll probably get explained.

~SDC~
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
Definitely broken. Looks like a merge error in source. Fixed now. Will be in 1.01B.

~SDC~
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
Thanks Brad! Now I can stop my campaign to get this issue noticed :)
Congratulations on all your hard-work (which shows in the game) paying off with the master-piece called "Galactic Civilizations". Also, brilliant idea that it is still a work in progress, it truely scares me to think of where this game will be one year from now! Stardock has a lock on my future gaming money!!! ;)

~SDC~
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
Was this fixed in todays patch? noticed a comment about it but cant test it right now

~SDC~