Update 1.6.0 — Borders, Banks & the Information War

The biggest update since v1.5.0: two whole new strategic layers — a living banking & financial sector and a deep media & information war — plus a complete overhaul of territory (sub-country map detail, international recognition of conquest, and a clean percentage-of-territory model). Dozens of player-requested fixes round it out. Now on Windows, macOS and Linux.

💰 New: Banking & Financial System

Every country has a living banking sector — assets, deposits, loans, capital adequacy, liquidity, NPLs, profitability, and household / business / mortgage credit.

Wired into everything: the central-bank rate, public debt, growth, inflation, corruption and the currency move it; it feeds back into credit, housing, sovereign-debt risk and stability (the debt/bank "doom loop" is real).

Systemic, shadow-banking and fraud risk, sovereign + FX exposure, a Banking Stability dashboard with regulation levers, AI banking strategy, and a monthly financial digest.

📰 New: Media & Information War

A regime-aware media stack — press freedom, media trust, narrative control, propaganda, censorship, internet freedom, misinformation and foreign-influence risk, polarization, journalist safety and more.

Media policy levers and laws with real trade-offs: propaganda buys short-term control but erodes trust; a free press exposes scandals yet lifts legitimacy; censorship stabilizes but backlashes.

Media crises with real choices — leaks, viral protest footage, deepfakes, bot-network exposure, state-TV collapse. AI nations wage their own information wars.

🗺️ New: Sub-Country Map Detail

Province / state / city geometry where real data exists, with a Country / Province / City detail toggle.

Ownership highlighting and click-to-owner at the most detailed level a country has, with a clean country-level fallback. No geometry is ever faked.

⚖️ New: Territorial Recognition

Annex, occupy or colonize and the world reacts — democracies condemn, autocracies shrug, allies look away, rivals pile on (weighted by power).

Real consequences: sanctions, cancelled alliances/treaties, suspended trade & arms deals, eroded world order, regional instability, and condemnations from international bodies.

An impact popup shows who will condemn, what's at risk, and your Political Capital + International Standing before you commit.

A new Territorial Disputes view lets you Recognize / Condemn / Sanction others' seizures and campaign for or release your own. AI does all of this dynamically.

🌍 New: % of Territory Model

Annexations, purchases and peace deals move a chosen percentage of territory — a proportional share of GDP, population, resources and land goes with it. Both countries' borders and data update.

Peace treaties can include a negotiated cession (capped by how decisively you won) — far more recognized than a unilateral grab.

Some land is never for sale: great powers and nationalist/strategic states won't cede core territory at any price.

⚔️ War & Military Depth

Finite manpower — soldiers are a limited resource. National-service vs professional-army laws and your military budget shape force size, competency and experience (you and the AI).

A global arms market to buy and sell weapons, gated by arms-sale agreements tied to relations + strategic interest.

Build units from acquired/researched tech with realistic costs and lead times — rush production by paying more (it draws more manpower).

Dynamic inventory + maintenance, logistics, supply and campaign-readiness. Buy and sell provinces by negotiation.

⏱️ Pacing & Quality of Life

Weekly / bi-weekly time steps with a day-accurate date everywhere.

Political Capital now accrues by the day and accumulates (long-run balance unchanged).

Political Capital + Legitimacy on every screen AND a live before → after cost on big decisions.

Regime collapse is now a CHOICE — accept it, cling to power, or form a transition/reconciliation government with a real honeymoon.

Optional autosave, staple event art, and stability fixes (civil-war freeze-on-advance, "can't delete projects").

🔧 Under the Hood

3,475 automated checks passing. Old saves load unchanged. Deterministic simulation. Hardened against crashes/freezes across all the new systems.

Thanks to everyone in the Discord — especially Nitram68 and schoolwalker682000 — this release is built straight from your feedback. Keep it coming! 🚀