Party Ideology

Every party in A House Divided has an explicit ideology position on a two-dimensional grid. This position drives primary scoring, NPP alignment, and voter appeal. Understanding the ideology system is essential for picking the right party and understanding why some candidates outperform others.

The Two-Axis Grid

Party ideology is set on two independent axes:

Your character also has personal policy positions on these same axes. Your character's positions are not required to match your party's — but divergence costs you primary score.

How Ideology Affects Primaries

Primary scoring compares your character's economic and social positions against the party's official positions. The alignment component of your primary score is:

econDiff = |yourEcon − partyEcon|
socialDiff = |yourSocial − partySocial|
alignment = max(0, 40 − (econDiff + socialDiff) × 2.0)

This gives a maximum alignment score of 40 points when you're at the party's exact position. Each point of Manhattan distance (econ + social combined) costs you 2 alignment points. A candidate 10 points away from the party center scores 0 alignment — even if they're ideologically reasonable, they won't win the primary without enormous favorability or influence advantages.

How Ideology Affects NPP Alignment

NPPs have their own personal positions on the same two axes. When NPPs vote on bills or evaluate Speaker and leadership candidates, they use an alignment score to measure how close they are to each option:

alignmentScore(a, b) = max(0, 100 − |aEcon − bEcon| × 5 − |aSoc − bSoc| × 5)

An NPP and a candidate at identical positions score 100 (full alignment). Opposite on both axes scores 0. This formula drives NPP bill votes, Speaker votes, and leadership election votes.

NPPs also get a +80 bonus for candidates who share their party (country-scoped), and a +15 bonus for real player candidates over NPPs. In practice, a player candidate close in ideology who shares the NPP's party will almost always get the NPP's vote.

How Ideology Affects Voter Appeal

In general elections, voter appeal uses the same distance math but in a different formula:

appeal (per demographic group) = (50 − |econDiff| × 5 − |socialDiff| × 5)² / 100 + reachBonus

This is quadratic — small ideological gaps reduce appeal much less than large gaps. A candidate 1 point away from a demographic group's center loses only about 10% of max appeal. A candidate 3 points away loses nearly 50%. The quadratic formula rewards ideological proximity but doesn't punish modest deviation harshly.

Different demographic groups have different ideological centers. Rural white voters, urban college-educated voters, and minority communities each sit at different points on the grid. Candidates who match their demographics outperform those who don't, regardless of party.

How Party Positions Are Set

Party positions are set at party creation and can be updated by party leadership:

• Economic position — economicPosition on the PoliticalParty document
• Social position — socialPosition on the PoliticalParty document

Changing party positions affects every ongoing primary score calculation and every NPP alignment calculation immediately — there is no lag. If a party shifts its official position sharply, incumbents close to the old position may suddenly find their primary score dropping.

Built-in parties (Democrat, Republican, etc.) have historically calibrated positions. Custom parties can be placed anywhere on the grid.

Ideology and the Whip

Party whips can override NPP ideology preferences when they issue a directive. An NPP with 80% compliance might vote against their ideology if the state chair whips them. But low-loyalty, high-stubbornness NPPs resist whipping — ideology wins out.

Related

• Political Parties — Party overview, positions, sequentialId system.
• Party Membership — Why matching party ideology matters for primaries.
• NPP Behavior — How NPPs use ideology when voting on bills and leadership.
• Demographics & Targeting — How demographic groups' ideological centers affect vote appeal.