Devlog #2: Your People, Your Politics — and the Bomb

Hello, world leaders!

Global Protocol: New World Order v0.5.10 is live — and it rebuilds the part of the world that matters most: its people . Every nation now has a full population pyramid, and every person in it is born, ages, moves and votes in the simulation.

We get asked "why is my population shrinking?" and "why did the socialists just win?" a lot — and we've never explained how any of it works. So that's what our second devlog is about, along with missile defence, mutually assured destruction and modding.

Where the 2026 population comes from

• Every playable country curated from real World Bank data: population by age and sex, birth and death rates, fertility, life expectancy and child mortality
• Every single age from 0 to 100+, for men and women — 202 groups per country
• Moved forward to 1 January 2026 and calibrated so each country's first year matches its real birth and death rates

The result: about 8.25 billion people , growing roughly 0.86 % in the first year — close to the UN's projection.

How a population lives

Your population doesn't follow a predetermined curve. Every month, deaths are worked out age by age, births come from the women of childbearing age, and migration moves people in and out. Every January, everyone gets a year older.

• Education raises life expectancy but lowers fertility — the real demographic transition
• Healthcare and wealth add years of life
• War and radiation raise death rates, hitting children and the elderly hardest
• Young men turning 18 now fill your military reserve

Migration and unrest

People drift towards developed, calm provinces inside your country; across borders they follow real migration rates — and flee as refugees when unrest passes 60. Worldwide, migration always stays in balance. Lots of young adults plus unemployment above 8 % means unrest.

Inside politics

Everyone 18 and over votes, and ages vote differently: turnout rises from 55 % among 18–35-year-olds to 80 % among over-55s, and older voters lean nationalist and authoritarian. Unemployment feeds socialists, inflation nationalists, unrest authoritarians and growth liberals. 104 countries have their own real party lineup.

How to change it for the better

• Live longer: fund social programmes and research, build Hospitals (+0.8 years) and Water Treatment (+0.5), pass Comprehensive Welfare (+1.2 years)
• More children: Comprehensive Welfare (+4 % births), Housing Projects (+2 %), Reduced Workweek (+1 %)
• Attract people: Open Borders (×1.15) or Digital Visa Corridors (×1.3), and keep unrest below 60
• Keep the peace: jobs for the young, social spending, education

Hover life expectancy or fertility in any province to see exactly what is moving it.

Missile defence and MAD

• 43 missile-defence batteries across 41 sites around the world, and you can build more
• Two interceptors per missile, fired the day before impact: short-range missiles are stopped about 73 % of the time, ICBMs about 33 %, submarine-launched missiles only 17 % — radars and technology improve the odds
• Launch on warning: attack a nuclear power and it fires back before your missiles land — in proportion, aimed at your launch sites, up to 50 warheads
• A first strike costs 100 relation points with every non-allied country; retaliating carries no diplomatic penalty
• The AI only strikes first as a last resort

Modding: JSON, WASM and .NET

• JSON — change the data and build whole scenarios; the Mod Builder now has an Events tab
• WASM — sandboxed, permission-gated scripts reacting to 13 game hooks, now in the Windows and Linux release builds
• .NET — full C# mods with custom UI, for when you need everything

In multiplayer the lobby now tells you exactly which player and which mod differ.

And many more changes

• AI nations think twice before attacking their biggest trading partners
• Peace deals price territory by what it's really worth; total conquerors reach +100 war score
• In multiplayer, peace offers from other players wait for your answer
• AI grudges fade, and calls to arms never ask you to fight your own ally
• Ground-zero unit kills, fallout rings and counted transport losses
• Destroyed units vanish from the map immediately, and camera panning is smoother

Read the full devlog

Every number, every law and every missile type: read Devlog #2 on our website.

What's next

Our roadmap is public — see what we're working on.

Thank you for playing and for every question that pushed us to build this properly. If you're enjoying the game, a Steam review helps a small team like ours more than you know.

Join us on Discord!

See you on the world stage.