Getting Started

Welcome to A House Divided, a persistent political and economic simulation. One real hour is one game turn. Elections, legislation, markets, and non-player politicians continue to move while players are offline.

Choose a country#

The character-creation screen is the authority for the countries open to new politicians in the current world. The static country registry currently marks these six as active:

The selected start-date preset can add historical countries and background economies to the world map. A country appearing in the world simulation does not necessarily mean that new player characters can be created there.

First steps#

1. Create a character. Choose a country, a valid home region, and economic and social positions from -5 to +5.
2. Choose a party or remain independent. Party members enter party primaries. Independents can use the independent-primary route where the configured office supports it.
3. Build Political Influence. Campaign in your home region and watch the cost rise as your influence tier increases.
4. Fund the campaign. Fundraising yield depends on donor level, state influence, the Fundraising stat, currency, and the current economy.
5. Enter an election. The candidate filing surface shows eligibility, timing, and whether the race uses a party or independent primary.
6. Sustain the general-election effort. Vote accumulation rewards activity throughout the general, with 30% of the total weight in the final four turns.
7. Use the office. Elected officials gain actions and National Political Influence and can access the legislation, cabinet, or executive tools attached to the office.

Core resources#

Party membership and independents#

Party membership provides a primary ballot line, leadership elections, treasury tools, organization, whips, and a share of the party bonus-action pool. Independent play is a real route, not a spectator mode, but it gives up party infrastructure and follows separate election-entry rules.

Party organization is state-specific. In elections the game normalizes a party's organization against the total organization in that state and raises the share to the 0.2 exponent. Presidential primaries do not use this organization multiplier. See Political Parties and Party Building.

A practical opening checklist#

• Read the live action cards before spending. Campaign, advertising, and donor-network costs are dynamic.
• Build enough PI to be visible without spending the whole action income on upkeep.
• Fundraise early and compare the quoted local-currency yield before confirming.
• Inspect the active election's phase and candidate rules before filing.
• Use a poll to identify weak demographic groups before a large ad or canvassing push.
• Save enough actions for the final four general-election turns, which carry 30% of the race weight.

Presidential travel#

During a US presidential general election, an active candidate can travel to a state. A move costs 3, 5, 7, or 10 actions based on that state's electoral-vote band. Remaining there adds +1 Favorability per turn and enables the travel-linked campaign surfaces. Moving again pays the new state's cost.

Parliamentary government#

In the UK, Germany, Japan, and Ireland, winning seats is not the same as forming a government. The lower chamber must seat a Prime Minister, Chancellor, or Taoiseach through the configured confidence process. If government formation remains vacant for 96 turns, the simulation can trigger a snap election. See Parliamentary Government.

Where to go next#

• Stats & Actions for current formulas and dynamic costs
• Election Mechanics for primaries, general weighting, and seat allocation
• Political Parties for organization, leadership, and treasury tools
• Bills & Legislation for country-specific lawmaking
• Corporations for plants, markets, shares, and bonds
• World and Era Systems for presets, simulation tiers, statehood, and transitions