I think it would be very interesting to have a corruption meter in Humankind for flavor reasons. It often seems like everything is going to hell and the government always gets worse over time (at least here in the US), but compared to historical times things are actually a lot better. Corruption helps tell that very important part of the story of humankind. Additionally there have been a lot of interesting historical movements based around corruption. The Chinese believed that history endlessly repeated itself, that each dynasty would become more decadent and corrupt until inevitably it was overthrown and a new one was installed, and each time that happened one of the big reforms the new dynasty did to fight corruption was reinstate the civil service system.

I think there should be a meter which goes from 0 to 100 to represent the current corruption level of your country, higher being worse. For each point you get -.3% income, -.2 happiness, and enemies get 1% less war weariness from fighting you. Additionally there can be events and mechanics which trigger on higher or lower corruption. For example, you might get an offer from a rich merchant to grant 100 gold now, in exchange for granting him a legal title, which gives +1 corruption.

Essentially it should be a "deal with the devil" system, where you gain corruption as a side effect of taking quid pro quo decisions. You gain a short term benefit, which might be nessecary in a pinch, if you are trying to be the first to get something, or have rebels or an invasion, but later you pay the price. Also certain laws might cost more or less or be only available with high or low corruption. You can play a corrupt fascist power where your secret police enforce your will, or a benevolent democracy where the people choose what they want. If you have democracy and low corruption perhaps your people decide for themselves what laws they want enacted!

There could also be interactions with diplomacy, such as making democracies hate you and gain casus bellis agaisnt you for high corruption. It would be cool to see a 'fall of the roman empire' based around failing government.

A lot of the systems in civilization were done to fight corruption, but that mechanic wasn't in the game so instead it just affected happiness and income directly. Code of Law, courthouses, bureuocracy, the civil service system, constitution, democracy, propoganda and much of goverment and philosophy throughout time has been done directly with the intention of fighting corruption. A courthouse might give -.1 corruption per turn, wheras adopting Feudalism might grant one free knight unit in each city, but raise the minimum corruption level by 10.

The final reform agaisnt corruption would be public elections. Rather than the system currently used where candidates fundraise money for their campaign, which leads to backroom deals, all candidates run for office using government funds and systems. Until this reform is made corruption cannot reach 0.

I think that this would compliment the influence system (which I really liked in ES2 and I hope returns), help convey the internal struggle of a nation, and help balance larger nations as they struggle to hold themselves together.

They certainly have not mentioned any internal politics, but I think internal politics would be a great addition to the game. Perhaps it's too late for it to be included at launch, but they might consider it in a DLC. My idea is only one potential implementation of an internal politics system and I certainly don't claim for it to be perfect, but if the community discusses it maybe we can come up with a better system that might get added further down the road.

Phonograf wrote:

With the development of civilization, corruption also developed. As soon as Greek and Roman democracy ended and armies of officials appeared. And this is, of course, part of our society. So, Yes, it would really be a good idea to implement this. I think it should grow, depending on the level of happiness (less - more) and the type of government. It would be nice to introduce a scale of "integrity of management" of the state, the further the power is from the ordinary people (i.e., the higher the pyramid of power, the greater the corruption (and other factors associated with it)). But as for special actions against corruption, this should also be (influence on the population, lobbying for decisions, etc.), but they will have to hit the economy and happiness very hard.

Considering that I think you could argue that corruption is a part of the happiness. In previous titles happiness already impacted your yields. I would say that unhappy people are more prone to be corrupt, thous higher rate of corruption and less dust/gold with low happiness. Having that dust/gold (or generally any FIDSI modifier, since corruption does not need to be about money all the time) modifier already with happiness makes an additional corruption meter redundant imo. Of course it is by far not as detailed as an actuall corruption meter.

Edit: Realized that Dust is probably not a thing in HK anymore xD

I think that corruption and happiness are definitely separate, especially with the development of propaganda. I'd also strongly disagree that being unhappy makes people corrupt. Corruption certainly makes people unhappy, but corruption comes from greed and a lack of morals. That's why I think it warrants is own meter. It also enables certain effects to be limited. Court houses oppose corruption, which thereby makes people happier, but if you already have a non-corrupt society building more court houses won't have the same effect on happiness as if criminal justice was being handled by corrupt arbiters.

Also we will almost certainly have money instead of dust.

Yes, All of you are all right that misery (some of it) comes from corruption. And corruption itself depends on the structure of the state (as I mentioned, by the way).

But, first of all, it is difficult to implement a targeted internal policy, and secondly, there may be some reason in my words.

Argument:

1) a Happy person is happy that he has everything for his happiness and is less likely to take a bribe. So to speak, it will be more pious.

2) a Happy person will care more about society (when personal benefits are satisfied, you can also pay attention to the space around you).

3) an Unhappy person who does not have their own material and spiritual benefits - will look for workarounds to swim up.

4) in a happy society, the very concept of corruption will be sensitively understood, since the mentality of people will change in a more virtuous direction.

Well... Something like that.