The anti-hegemony coalition
If any nation — you or an AI — rises toward hegemony, the great powers set ideology aside and assemble a self-balancing anti-hegemon coalition to contain it.
How it works
The game measures hegemony with a blended share: 55% of your military power share plus 45% of your GDP share, so a giant army with a weak economy is not mistaken for a runaway hegemon. That share feeds a threat score, boosted by your number of subject states (×3 each) and any nuclear-pariah status, and softened by your foreign minister's skill. The world scales the whole thing by the Hegemony-pushback rule.
The coalition triggers on you whenever the threat clears its bands: above 15 the great powers start reacting, above 19 you get a formal warning, and above 30 they begin declaring containment wars. For AI hegemons there is an extra gate — a runaway AI is only contained once its power exceeds the second-strongest nation's by more than 1.8×.
Once active, the top-power nations sour relations with the target in proportion to the threat, squeeze its trade, and form alliances with each other. Actual war declarations are rolled per candidate (needing power at least 0.35× the target's, not already at war, not allied), but capped: no more than 4 simultaneous coalition wars, so the coalition stays a concentrated threat rather than an endless dogpile.
Formulas
forms when your power > 1.8× the 2nd-strongest, and threat score > 30share = 0.55 × (power / total) + 0.45 × (GDP / total)(share×100 + subjects×3 + nuclearPariah?15 − foreignMinister×1.4) × Hegemony-pushbackKey numbers
How to play
- ▸Because hegemony is 55% military and 45% GDP, a lopsided army spikes your threat score fast — balance economic weight to fly under the radar.
- ▸Every subject state adds 3 to your threat; a sprawling empire of vassals draws a coalition sooner than a compact, rich nation.
- ▸Invest in your foreign minister — their skill directly subtracts (×1.4) from the threat score and can keep you below the war-declaration band.