Social Democracy: An Alternate History
Play as the Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1928, and try to stop the NSDAP from taking power. Guide the party through elections and parliamentary politics. Deal with the Great Depression and the spiraling political violence that characterized the late "Weimar Republic".
This is a quality-based narrative game using the DendryNexus engine, which is in turn based on StoryNexus, the engine originally designed for Fallen London.
Originally made for Spring Thing 2024.
Unofficial subreddit: https://reddit.com/r/RedAutumnSPD/
Cover image copyright
This is a collage of 4 images: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-13624,_Berlin,_Versammlung_der_Republikaner.jpg. CC-BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arbeiterbew.jpg. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eiserne_Front_Symbol.svg. CC-BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LA2-Blitz-0083.jpg Public DomainContent Warnings
References to antisemitism, nazism, period-typical racism, misogyny, and homophobia, obsolete terms for gender/sexual minorities.Download
Development log
- v0.13 - Visualizing history11 days ago
- v0.12.2 - small bug fixes22 days ago
- v0.12.1 - Economics changes, bug fixes27 days ago
- v0.12 - Economics, coups, and technical improvements27 days ago
- v0.11.1 - bugfixes, save system updates33 days ago
- v0.11 - End of 193340 days ago
- Android apk is available46 days ago
Comments
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Okay, I think I suck at this game. I can never manage to get voter percent over 31% on easy 💀.
How the hell do you people get so much support?
this genre of game (like crisis in the kremlin or ostaslgie) is all about finding out whats the best and its part of its gameplay lol, in general if you want high numbers do the WTB (labor economy) ASAP, hiring wyotinsiki if needed, keep doing the WTB reforms everytime you get the economy card. then spam wtb rally or radio. pfuff people's party is also useful at the costs of further angering the communists (they're bunch of useless kgb agents anyway)
Bug report: DVP controls finance ministry if it’s vacant in the scenario of a Weimar Coalition
bruning is at it again...
There is a typo in Toni Sender's advisor description:
"Toni Sender is an organizer and writer who came from a bourgeois family, but was radicalized into socialism by her. She was a member of the anti-war USPD, but did not support armed revolution."
The first sentence cuts off before finishing.
Suggestion: It wouldn't make much sense for the DNVP militants Der Stahlhlem to call for Hitler to be appointed chancellor during the right-wing militants march event when the DNVP has higher popularity and Der Stahlhlem has far more members than the SA when Hitler is deported. It would make much more sense that they demand Papen or someone else from the DNVP be appointed.
I'm seeing some people getting majorities, even more then 60%(I assume on normal) But I can't get 40% on easy. How do you get a majority?
I was safe scumming
Ah, yes yes, of course. How do you do that?
Warning! It makes the game much less fun.
Make a safe, get a card, if it is not the card you like, go back to your previous save, press the advisor, press return back to main, get another card. If it is not the card you like, go back to your previous save, press the advisor, press return back to main, press the advisor again, press return back to main again the get another card. Repeat until you get the card you want. You can also save after pressing the advisor and going back to main several times, without getting the card, in order to prevent having the press the advisor many times again to change to the card you want. Remember that the sequence of the card that comes out is always the same if you repeat the process the same number of times.
Can also do the return card process. If you have political rally card and you cannot do it because of the SA, the process does not magically bypass the SA, but you can get another card or use another card to change the outcome. Also, there are cooldowns to cards.
I think I'll stick with luck
Good for you.
Can you make it so that the neo revisionist card would appear as soon as the nsdap gets high enough polling? From a realism perspective, people would notice that they are getting more popular with or without the election taking place, so the neo revisionist movement would still begin. From a game play perspective, it is not possible for those who play by getting the weimar coalition early in (me), and then try and constantly buy time, never having an early election to get the card. By the time the election happens, the nsdap would have lost so much support that the neo revisionist movement cannot happen. Or some other way the neo revisionist cards can appear for those that never have early elections.
Sorry, I am a bit of an idiot, or just unlucky, because it is still possible to get the movement. You only need an election with them at more than 10% support, I think.
My best on normal mode
I apologise for not mentioning, I was safe scumming.
Bug report: Enacting pro-labor policies in 1930 do not help with reducing WTB deficit if the WTB card is already in place
UHHHHH
Sorry, I don’t know why this is happening. Sent an appeal to Play Protect…
Its just that the file is new and unscanned, i made a unscanned file and got the same response, it's ok
The "Election Simulation" part of the game isnt updated to the new election format
Suggestion:
1. You should be able to implement the left plan without compensation/seize factories even when you have enough budget for it
2. Add "capital dissent"
My friend, I really wanna say; this is just a damn wonderful {and my type} of Game!
Now idk if this is made for education or ideological reasons or whatever, but I'd just like to pitch a few things from me:
This seems like a damn wonderful base to add more parties {hopefully excluding the Nazis cuz doing that in good taste seems hard to pull off}, or even countries and what not. Or at the very least this is a proof of a system cuz, at least to me, this is a damn good game - like seriously bravo!
I will have to note a small suggestion though, PLEASE make the Reichswehr a bigger tally. I once managed to get the Reichswehr to side with me in civil war, and they lost even with the Reichsbanner. Which I thought was a bit strange since, well. . .the Reichswehr was the guys with artillery, armored cars, etc. So please just a bit more tally to them?
Otherwise, full speed ahead sir!
If you like the current game, then I PROMISE you it can pull off including the Nazis in a way that doesn't offend your tastes.
(Google "NSDAP")
i'm not knowledgeable enough about the detailed german history in this timeframe but german military were literally STRIPPED by the allies in addition to suffering heavy casualties during the great war, being flanked in two fronts, verdun, etc.
also many military guys actually sympathize a lot with the right wingers (DNVP and the rising Nazis), so maybe their paramilitary wings might also have access to those fancy military toys but yeah i agree, logically if you can have the formal military guys on your side it should be easier to win the war (not only you get their manpower, but the reichsbanner would also LOGICALLY benefits from close relstionship with the army, with them providing training, intelligence, access to fancy equipments, potentially weaking the right's connection to the army, etc).
And yes i also personally think at least decent relationship with the army should be crucial in deciding who wins the civil war, after all the army is not only about manpower but also connections andthe key to politicking with guns. For now imo it's silly as hell how much easier it is to militarize the reichsbanner into basically a maoist militia, lol.
Absolutely, I personally think an expansion focusing on the liberal parties (DDP and DVP) could be very interesting
Bug report: The election graph doesn't display if you load an old save.
Old saves (prior to this version) won’t have the electoral history graph because the data wasn’t saved before.
I meant that they won't display in the current version. The graph is empty when you load an election result.
If you save on the election results screen, then the graph won’t be regenerated after loading. You should still be able to see the result in the library if you exit and then reenter the Figures choice in the library.
In terms of Foreign Ministry options it might be a good idea to break it down into east and west.
The east should have the free city of Danzig as something we can incorporate as well as freedom of movement for people and goods from the Sudetenland. This should only be possible if Poland and Czechoslovakia aren't afraid of aggression and therefore Germany should be demilitarized (blocking the battleship + 2x defund Reichswehr + expose rearmament).
The West already has pretty good options with the renegotiation of obligations. Maybe if we help the left alliance win in the 1932 French elections we could form a "European Coal and Steel Community"? Maybe get FDR to join the League of Nations? Both of those are pretty late game, so idk if something better is possible.
This rocks so damn hard
This seems consistently broken
I can’t seem to replicate this - what system/browser are you using? Have you tried exiting the library screen and re-entering it?
If that still doesn’t work, can you show the browser console output (right click -> Inspect element -> Console)?
Edit: If it’s an old save, then the graph would not show up because the electoral history data wasn’t being saved.
Oh hell yes. The visualizations are a great addition thank you so much!
Per your comment I think a single decimal point is okay. The seat count breakdown is imo more important than getting the vote shares to exactly add up to 100%.
WHY IS IT LIKE THIS? I HATE IT IT CAN CLEARLY FIT IN A 2X2
My best run
Though, I should have let the nazi get stronger, hold an election, then get the neo revisionism card, since they would have further improve the polling.
Does anyone know how to get the option to give free tickets for the all silent in the western front movie. How much loyalty does the police need? How much police is needed. I am able to get 'mostly loyal' and 150 thousand police, but was still unable to choose the option.
3x improve loyalty is enough
What number of police do we need? Also, what is the difference between purge the bureaucracy of reactionary element and bolster loyalty. Also, does the event where you get to purge to bureaucracy of reactionary element during the may day counts as one when you have done judiciary reforms?
Never mind, 130 thousand and generally loyal is enough
Question: How to form a "constitutional coalition"?
High not negative relations with Z + BVP when going into the 32' election
Thanks.
Suggestion: Can there be an event a few months before a regularly scheduled election (an election that hasn't been called due to the player or a vote of no confidence). It could simply mention that the parties are gearing up for campaign season. It would be helpful to remind the player that an election is upcoming. It would also give these elections a bit more fanfare. Other elections get an event (vote of no confidence), a card (coalition affairs), or an advisor action, all of which make the election feel more important. An event reminding the player that their will be a regularly scheduled election in a few months would have a similar effect
maybe it's a known bug but it's very annoying, if you open advisor card and decided to cancel it (return to hand), it's often (at least i noticed it more often than not) will be counted as "used" and the cooldown starts. often i had to restart runs because of this, it's annoying as hell 😔
Totally get that the answer may be "because otherwise it would be too broken", but what's the logic for Brüning still being the caretaker chancellor if a government falls under President Braun? Wouldn't he appoint an SPD chancellor (though perhaps you should have a weaker policy mandate to signify you are in a temporary capacity)?
simple suggestion - maybe add some kind of warning system when the coalition is about to break?
it's just i don't understand how coalition works, just realized that good relations doesn't guarantee lasting coalition, votes of no confidence can be called even though you're best buddies with the DVP and Zentrum. If theres some kind of warning system i can kinda know when to take a break from implementing too many leftist policies and work on party relationship instead (things like "Zentrum leaders spoke against too much socialist policies in a parliament session, fearing economic catastrophe").
Yeah, a warning event by coalition partners like the business warnings would make it less random
Doesn't the 'Coalition Affairs' card currently do this?
it's a card, not a warning system. for now the whole coalition breakdown system just feels too random and too sudden, i know it might be messing with "balance" but realistically you should know when your coalition partner starts to resent your policies, especially if you have good relations with them.
alternatively a "tiered" resentment system can be implemented with cheaper cost at the first vote of no confidence threat (maybe a mere 1-2 resource or a minister spot) but one "repeat offense" would result in a progressively increasing cost
It's a lot more difficult to get less than 1% unemployment now (the game automatically sets it to 1% if it's below 1%).
My method is, get two land reforms during 1929, get WTB-plan implemented ones 1929 and once more january 1930 (unemploment is then 15.6% which makes WTB nr 2 remove 5% unemployment), then land reform twice during 1930 (unepoyment has to be over 5% for land reform and WTB and lowering taxes to have an effect), AND lower overal taxes ones 1930 (if done 1929 in conjungtion with two land reforms WTB nr 2 is weaker), do the WTB-plan again january 1931 and then do the third work council reform 1931 (removes 2% unemployment, if done earlier it gets uneployemnt to low for the WTB-plan to have the dissired effect), january 1932 and 1933 do the nationalizations (remove 1.2% uneployment twice) and if you keep capital strike progress low enough you can survive high inflation without business even getting worried (raises unemployment).
Bug: The adoption of the WTB-plan still doesn't work. If you have wtb support at 2 save, and test it a few times, sometimes you get it adopted, sometimes you don't (this also applies to the left plan and probably also the reformist plan so I think it's a quite serious bug). If you change an advisor before the card shows up it sometimes starts working.
My theory on the problem (this might be completely wrong btw): The card checks the requirements when it shows up, but it doesn't "see" the wtb support (or left support or reform support) until you change scene maybe? Not sure about this since going to the library or doing another card does not fix the problem, only removing (adding?) an advisor.
This was a typo in one of the variable names; it should be fixed now.
I forgot to mention it before, you can pass the WTB before the crisis if you chose to deal with economic crisis first in the Confronting the Nazis card. I'm guessing that this is not intentional.
The center-right can call a vote of no-confidence due to the implementation of the compromise unemployment insurance plan that they agreed upon. This seems unrealistic, and also not very balanced from a gameplay standpoint, as the benefit for compromising instead of ending the coalition should be that the coalition survives.
This is changed now, so that accepting the compromise no longer increases coalition dissent.
what was your strategy?
Improve relations with the KPD, always campaign with the unemployed so that your support doesn't suffer too much when the stock market crashes, consolidate support among the left and labor factions so that you can adopt the left plan normally and use Wotinsky(I butchered that name probably) to adopt the WTB-plan. Enact both ASAP. Get Braun elected by using good relations with the KPD and resources on the center. I chose Bruning as the emergency chancellor to reduce the chance of a march on Berlin. After that, it should be smooth sailing as you have all cabinet positions and a no-confidence vote can't really unseat you. Also, invest in Radio a lot.
I noticed that the app for Android doesn't update to the newest version released over the past couple days. Is the a way to do so, especially without deleting achievements?
There’s no auto-update right now; you would have to download and reinstall the APK. In my experience, saves and achievements will not be deleted.
Suggestion: Reduce useless cards like homosexuality in early game.
When you don't have a 50% majority the card is essentially useless and stops you from getting actually IMPORTANT cards like Interior and Foreign ministries. This is particularly frustrating in a united left run when you can't get the important cards needed to proceed.
yeah, or at least implement some other mulligan system other than using wels and losing that advisor cooldown
Suspected bug report: Clicking an adviser’s action card but return card costs 1 action point
Bug report: You lose the finance ministry if you enacted reformist economic plan and couldn't get it back in Weimar coalition
I’m not sure I understand the second bug - could you describe in detail what happened?
If you enact the reformist plan and also have the finance ministry, you will lose the ministry and can never bargain it back in a Weimar Coalition. Idk if it’s because I made the finance minister of Hindenburg resign though
After you get the Schact against Hilferding event, you should still be able to get the Finance Ministry back through Shuffle Cabinet…
Unsure if this is intended behavior or not: Woytinsky's implement the economic plan option only works if you specifically have the WTB plan adopted, but lets you implement any economic plan. It also lets you implement the non-WTB economic plans an unlimited number of times, but the WTB plan only twice.
Also, is it intended that Schacht still calls for the government to fall in the high inflation event even after I expose his dealings in the Schacht against Hilferding event?
Bug: Labor unrest fired for me while I had the labor ministry.
Bug: Clear the agenda does not work (testing the new easy mode, so it might be related to that)
This should be fixed now.
Bug (I think): the reformist economic plan actually decreases inflation. It would increase inflation much less than the other plans, but it's still fundamentally a stimulus and certainly wouldn't make it actively go down.
I can’t seem to replicate this; the plan only increases inflation - it might be that you’re doing the economic plan on a new year, which is when the deflation from the global Great Depression would hit, or there’s something else lowering inflation…
Bug report: In easy mode, when the SPD won a majority, clearing agenda of Wels doesn't work in October 1933
This should be fixed now.
Suggestion #1: Carl Severing should get a reformist economic policy advice card since he currently has only two cards.
Suggestion #2: We should be able to see the relationship with the capitalists.
Suspected bug report: You can no longer implement the WTB plan if reformist plan adopted.
Hindenburg still appoints Hitler as chancellor instead of Goring despite the funny mustache man being deported from Germany.
First one should be fixed now. For the second one, it should be that depending on the circumstances, either Goebbels becomes chancellor, or it’s stated that Hindenburg invites Hitler back and gives him citizenship…
It is a bright time for democracy in the Reich... (Kaiserreich)
That looks really cool!
How tf did you get the Kaiserreich back?
Inspect element. It's a Swedish map from before WW1, but cropped so that it looks like the world of Kaiserreich.
Oh i thought you got the kaiser back in the actuall game
Bug report: I managed to get Braun elected President, but then had a march on Berlin happen and held snap elections. The NSDAP+DNVP won a majority, but I was still able to click "no clear majority" and hold new elections again and again.
Also bug report: I managed to get the people's party card showing up, but chose the option for not becoming a people's party. Later on I played campaigning and it said the SPD was still a people's party anyway, then got the achievement for becoming a people's party.
I can’t seem to replicate the second bug - can you provide more details on how it happens?
On easy: Have Pfulf as an advisor, use her building a people's party ability, choose "No, we will always be a party of the working class.", and then campaign with the middle class/rural workers. Still gives the text "As a people's party, we have an easier time increasing support among the middle class than before.".
Thanks, this should be fixed now.
difficult af
True but it’s too fun to quit