0.15 Update: Staff!
Hiya!
Let’s cut to the chase: we just pushed our 0.15 update, and as “regular updates” go, it’s a biggie.
First and foremost, 0.15 introduces staff to Political Arena. Staff are arguably the most invisibly vital part of politics — and so they’re going to be among the most visibly vital parts of Political Arena.
Staff will eventually be deployed across all of the game’s systems — legislative, campaign, and more. For the time being (until our next update), staff’s main purpose is to bolster your stats. Specifically, each of your five staffers is responsible for one of your five stats. If a staffer role is left empty, you’ll suffer a penalty.
Staff Roles
Chief of Staff → Discipline
Legislative Director → Intelligence
District Director → Empathy
Communications Director → Charisma
Scheduler → Stamina
The single biggest challenge facing your staff is your limited budget. Members of Congress are allotted a relatively small budget to hire staff, so you’ll need to be strategic about where you spend your resources. Do you double down on your policy focus and prioritize a top-tier Legislative Director — or pay up for a strong Communications Director to counter your comparatively low charisma?
The system is designed so that, if you’d like, you can simply focus on your staff’s core skill bonuses and fill positions as they become vacant. However, managing a team is about more than just hiring the person with the most impressive résumé.
If you want to optimize your staff management, you’ll need to pay closer attention to who you’re hiring.
Staffers, like Politicians, have their own personalities and skills — each of which can impact (for better or worse) how efficiently your office runs.
Skills
Staffers have the same five skills as Politicians, and each skill affects how they perform in your office. Staffers with low stamina will fatigue faster and need vacations more often; staffers with high intelligence will grow their skills more quickly — and so on.
Cohesion
Cohesion represents how smoothly your office is running. The higher your Discipline — and your Chief of Staff’s Discipline — the higher your office’s cohesion. Newly hired staffers suffer temporary performance penalties while onboarding and will temporarily reduce overall cohesion.
Energy
Staffers wear out over time and will need to be sent on vacation periodically. As staffers become fatigued, their performance — and by extension your stats — will suffer.
Morale
Staffer morale is influenced by a variety of factors, including their energy levels, your politician’s skills, influence, and personality. A staff with high morale will perform above their baseline effectiveness, while low morale can significantly hamper your office.
Changelog
Staff Management System (New)
Hire and manage your congressional staff — recruit a Chief of Staff, Legislative Director, District Director, Communications Director, and Scheduler to boost your effectiveness
Staff skills and effectiveness — each staffer has unique skills that provide bonuses to your performance
Morale system — keep your staff happy to maintain productivity; low morale can lead to resignations
Energy and fatigue — staff grow tired over time; fatigued staffers are less effective
Vacation system — send exhausted staffers on vacation to restore energy and morale
Staff cohesion — new hires temporarily reduce cohesion while they get up to speed
Candidate hiring pool — browse applicants at different salary levels; pools refresh every two weeks
Staff events — random staff-related events that require decisions with meaningful consequences
Game Log (New)
Activity log — track favors, grudges, and other important events
Favor and grudge icons — visual indicators for relationship changes
User Interface
Improved window management — better handling of multiple open windows
Encyclopedia improvements — smoother navigation and scroll fixes
Alert system improvements — the Escape key now properly closes alerts
Quality of Life
Character creator improvements — clearer skill point allocation feedback
Bill drafting improvements — smoother drafting experience
Various performance fixes