NPP Opponents Guide

Non-Player Politicians (NPPs) are AI-controlled politicians that fill offices, run in elections, and vote on legislation. Understanding their behavior gives you a competitive edge.

This page is the player-facing companion to npp-system.md, which has the full mechanical detail. Where the two disagree, npp-system.md is authoritative.

NPP Election Behavior#

NPP election entry is deterministic and priority-based, not a random ambition roll (src/lib/turn/npp/electionEntry.ts5d ago, src/lib/turn/nppEntryLogic.ts9d ago). There is no entry-chance percentage and no per-turn dice roll for whether an NPP shows up.

Entry runs in a fixed order each turn:

1. Defending incumbents auto-file first for the seat they already hold, bypassing that seat's cooldown.
2. Accepted Slate NPPs file next, even if this creates a same-party primary against a defending incumbent.
3. Fallback fill then adds at most one generic same-party NPP to an otherwise open primary, following RACE_PRIORITY order (state senate and regional/subnational races before national legislature, governor last).

A small v3 ambitious-challenger pass can add a second same-party NPP to an already-filled primary: base 15% chance per already-filled party slot per cycle (CHALLENGER_BASE_PROBABILITY), halved in player-enabled countries (PLAYER_COUNTRY_CHALLENGER_MULT = 0.5), further capped by ChallengerBudget.

• Country isolation, NPPs only enter elections in their own countryId.
• One race at a time, an NPP already in an active race is not eligible to enter another.
• Presidential entry is blocked by default; SP3 lifts the bar only in autonomy-active, non-player-enabled countries, where there is no player to contest the presidency.

NPP Advantages#

• They maintain a minimum 10% Political Influence (floor that doesn't decay)
• They start with realistic policy positions based on party
• They have real politician avatars and names

NPP Disadvantages#

• 50% score penalty when competing against player characters in primaries (NPP_PRIMARY_SCORE_MULTIPLIER = 0.5)
• 20% vote-weight penalty in general elections when a player is in the race (NPP_GENERAL_WEIGHT_MULTIPLIER = 0.8)
• They receive an electionCooldowns entry when they drop out of a race, and fallback fill respects it (defending incumbents can still re-file for their own seat regardless)
• They can't strategically time their campaigns
• They can't run ads or fundraise strategically

Beating NPPs#

In Primaries#

1. Enter early, your presence still matters because of the NPP primary score penalty once you're in the race
2. Build influence, NPPs have a floor of 10%; exceed it significantly
3. Stay ideologically aligned, NPPs sit close to their party median; match or exceed their alignment
4. One race at a time, NPPs can only be in one primary at once; if they're in yours, they can't be elsewhere

In Generals#

1. Leverage your party org, NPPs benefit from party org too, but you can actively improve it
2. Campaign actively, NPPs can't canvass or run targeted ads
3. Target their weak demographics, NPPs have fixed positions; find demographics they don't appeal to

NPP Influence System#

The NPP profile page (/politicians/npp/[id]) exposes a deterministic direct-interaction action set (src/lib/capital/actions.ts6d ago), not a hidden-roll "influence request" table:

Party chairs and vice chairs get a separate party-side surface for NPP management (recruitment, boost_loyalty, reduce_stubbornness), see party-influence.md.

NPP Bill Voting#

NPPs vote on legislation through a deterministic cross-pressure verdict, not a pure ideology roll (src/lib/turn/npp/billVoting.ts9d ago, crossPressure.ts). Each vote sums four signed forces, ideology, whip, district/home-region sentiment, donors, and resolves to for above +15, against below -15, otherwise abstain. NPPs holding multiple seats contribute their seatsHeld weight to the tally.

Related Pages#

• npp-system.md, Full NPP mechanics documentation
• election-engine.md, How elections work
• campaign-strategy.md, Overall strategy guide