Polarization & legitimacy
Polarization measures how far your factions have split apart, and legitimacy tracks whether your leader is seen as the rightful ruler. High polarization plus low stability is the recipe for ideological civil war.
How it works
Polarization (_polarize) is the influence-weighted standard deviation of the five faction moods around the national average. When every bloc feels roughly the same, it stays near zero; when factions fly to opposite extremes it climbs, and a value above 30 lights the 'polarization' warning on your dashboard. It also feeds the uprising pressure formula, so a fractured elite makes street unrest build faster.
Legitimacy is a per-leader value that eases toward a target derived from approval and stability. A popular, stable ruler consolidates toward the low 90s cap; a hated, chaotic one erodes toward the floor of 10. Legitimacy then feeds back everywhere: it scales coup probability (low legitimacy multiplies coup odds up to 1.6×), it cushions the pressure term in uprisings, and it raises the support a deposed leader keeps in exile.
Ideological civil war has its own trigger separate from territorial rebellion: if stability falls below 28 while polarization exceeds 34, there's a 4% roll each quarter for factions to take up arms. Once civil war erupts, government army strength is pitted against a rebel force that grows with low stability and any aggrieved language minority.
Formulas
_polarize = √( Σ(infl×(mood − _polMood)²) / Σ(infl) )legT = clamp(40 + (approval−50)×0.4 + (stability−50)×0.3, 10, 92)legitimacy = lerp(legitimacy, legT, 0.03)if stability < 28 AND _polarize > 34 → 4% chance/quarterKey numbers
How to play
- ▸Polarization, not average mood, drives ideological civil war — a nation where the average is fine but factions are split 90/10 is more dangerous than a uniformly grumpy one.
- ▸Rebuild legitimacy through approval and stability, since it eases only 3% per tick — there is no instant fix, so recover early.
- ▸If polarization creeps past 30, either appease the outlier factions or raise stability above 28 to stay clear of the civil-war roll.
- ▸Legitimacy is your coup insurance: keeping it high can more than halve the coup probability multiplier.