Apologies if this comes across a little presumptuous, since I'm fairly new here, but:
Does anyone else feel that the way elections are handled is a little too volatile?
For instance I set up a new party and then bang - two game-years later I've leapfrogged two long-estabished parties into third place nationally, with 20% of the vote, and with an even newer party placing 2nd.
It just doesn't seem very realistic. Real world parties take a long time to go from foundation to "major" status. A lot of that is down to FPTP, so obviously Particracy's compulsary PR would help, but there are other factors. The benefits of incumbancy, combined with the fear of "wasted votes" and the unknown quantity of a new political organisation. Add to that tribalism and the fact that not all voters are potential swing voters.
Why does this matter? Because it suddenly feels as if there's no challenge involved. I was anticipating a gradual build up of seats and support, eventually edging up into double figures in percent terms, gaining disproportionate influence in a hung parliament as a junior partner... maybe, after fifty or so game years, breaking into the "top two". In the UK it took 45 years for the Labour Party to go from 1st MP to Majority Government. The Lib Dems took 20 years to break 20%. In Particracy I'm HoS in four years. For a game where half the fun is in the RP, such lack of realism rather breaks the immersion.
After three elections the formula for Party Seats seems to basically boil down to: (Total Seats in Legislature / Number of "Active" Parties) +/- 20% variation. No bonuses for incumbancy. No voter loyalty to the established parties. No differentiation between the party with a consistent three century record of legislating and the party set up last week in someones basement.
Again, apologies if this is all very presumptuous of me. It may be that this is the way its always been, and the community likes it this way, in which case fair enough. Its just that I've not found any discussion of this topic elsewhere on the forums, and I was wondering what the general view of the community was.