Begin with a country, a role and a paused review
Begin your Geoplanetical campaign by choosing a country and either its government or an opposition party, then pause to review the Agenda, country reports and minister advice. Prepare budget changes in Budget, submit laws through Legislation, and follow each decision’s status and results as time advances.
Choose your country, political role and guidance
- Select a country by searching its name, choosing it on the globe or picking a suggested start. Your choice determines the country whose economy, population and institutions you will manage.
- Choose government for governing responsibilities, or an opposition party to work from outside government. An opposition party needs seats in a chamber with legislative powers to sponsor a bill.
- Set Leaders’ temperament before starting. Calm, Normal and Tense change political figures’ inclination to negotiate or use force, and this setting remains fixed during the campaign.
- Choose Learn to play for a guided introduction. Essential guidance provides lighter help, while Help on demand lets you seek explanations when you need them.
Pause, save and check what your office controls
- Press Escape to open the pause menu and create a named save. Named saves sit alongside autosaves, so keep a checkpoint before a reform you may want to revisit. The pause menu also lets you load a campaign or switch political actors without resetting the world.
- Open Politics → Institutions to inspect the chambers and executive powers. Your office and constitution determine which decisions you control, including whether you can provide executive assent to a bill.
Turn the Agenda into a practical priority
- Read the Agenda to identify approaching deadlines, problems needing attention and events worth watching. Use those pressures to choose what deserves attention before starting a discretionary reform.
- Read your country reports to catch up on recent changes. Compare what has changed with the problem you intend to address, so your next decision responds to the country’s situation.
- Ask a minister for advice on the relevant portfolio. Minister advice can guide you to policy files; use it to work out whether your priority calls for a budget adjustment, legislation or a project.
Prepare and apply your first budget proposal
- Open Budget → Revenue & taxes and select the tax you want to edit. Income tax and social contributions have detailed editors, while VAT supports different product categories.
- Open Budget → Spending to adjust expenditure. Spending edits join the same proposal as your tax changes, letting you assess the package together before committing.
- Use Test a household when checking an income-tax reform. It compares tax, the amount left and the calculation by band without changing policy or a real household.
- Compare current and projected revenue, spending and balance. Review the effects on social groups as well as the overall budget, so you can judge who bears the change and whether the package suits your goal.
- Select Apply in the Budget project bar to adopt the proposal. If you decide to abandon the draft, Discard removes its pending changes and reloads the current budget.
Carry a proposed law through its procedure
- Open Legislation and find the measure you want to change. Its card lets you select a proposed value or legal option, such as a change to working hours or retirement age.
- Inspect the voting forecast and required majority in each relevant chamber. Coalition membership does not guarantee support for every bill; your party’s voting line and other parties’ support matter.
- Select Table the bill to submit the proposal. Viewing the preview or choosing a value does not enact the law; submission starts its parliamentary procedure.
- Follow the law card through debate, voting and any further requirements. Executive assent, a veto or judicial review can affect whether a parliamentary victory becomes an effective law. You can make an assent decision only when you control the relevant office.
Read the reason when an action stalls
- For an unavailable budget Apply button, wait for the forecast and correct flagged values. Income-tax thresholds must increase, and marginal rates must remain level or rise between bands. If the budget changed underneath your draft, discard it and prepare the reform again.
- For a blocked constitutional reform, inspect your authority, constitutional restrictions, another reform already underway and election timing. Use the explanation on the measure to identify the actual restriction.
- For an authorised investment programme that has not started construction, check financing, technology and industrial requirements. Authorisation can leave a programme waiting for the country to be ready, and its budget ceiling is not spent immediately.
- For unavailable borrowing, read the reason beside the controls in Budget → Summary. Default, financial distress, investor demand or the wait between debt issues can block it. Borrowing is separate from applying tax and spending changes.
Follow implementation and the country’s response
- Return to Society after implementing a tax or spending change. Inspect affected groups’ finances and reactions; national averages can conceal different pressures from living costs, unemployment, housing and services.
- Read Where these numbers come from when approval or stability changes. It breaks down those indicators, while country reports help you catch up on wider developments.
- Reopen an investment programme’s file as time advances. Follow committed spending and construction rather than judging success from authorisation alone; stopping new commitments leaves construction already committed continuing.
Understand console effects and Early Access changes
Console cheats can alter the simulation directly. A successful cheat permanently disables achievements for that campaign, and turning a toggle off does not restore eligibility. Help and display commands preserve achievement eligibility.
Early Access updates have revised bill forecasts and construction explanations. Bills show the votes needed when a presidential veto is expected, and blocked projects explain shortages of money or materials. Read the current preview and blocking reason when older advice differs from your screen.