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[NRDL]

So Servant Corps, the issues aside, how goes the development of the actual game?

I'm planning on updating when I actually have progress.

Ok. 

[Servant Corps]

I have been thinking a bit about CCS. Still hasn't doing any coding yet, and probably won't do any coding for a while, but I have thought a bit about the framework of the US political system for the CCS game (since that's what I'll plan on coding first), and I want your opinions on this before I actually start doing it.

Spoiler: Three Branches of Government (click to show/hide)

--Congress: There will be no such thing as Congressional elections (which won't make much sense anyway as incumbency is a big deal in US politics). However, Congress can have different views on different issues: you can have a Congress that is pro-gun rights, but also pro-big government. To influence Congress, you can do one of two things:
A) Indirect Approach: Change popular opinion on specific issues. Individual members of Congress will just change their political beliefs to match whatever the American people thinks and believes, since they want to secure reelection in the future.
B) Direct Approach: Bribing/assassinating/blackmailing/etc. key Congressmen. This does have a higher chance of backfiring though.

--President is elected every 4 years on the basis of how "conservative" the American population is, as well as a random element to prevent the game from being predictable. President can not only veto laws, but also implement one Executive Order per year, which has the same status as changing law. President is solely dedicated to his ideology and is unlikely to be swayed by public opinion (at least not to the extent as a Congressman would).

--The political alignment of Supreme Court appointees would be an average of the political alignment of the President and of Congress. Supreme Court can change laws by ruling on court cases. Supreme Court justices aggressively pursue their ideology, yet they'll sometimes defer to judicial precedent. Sometimes.

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Also, President Barack Obama announced that he supports a free trade agreement with Europe. With that sort of proclaimation, keeping Free Trade as a conservative issue probably sounds kinda useless. So it's going to be replaced with the Political Speech issue.
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EDIT: It probably would have been better if I waited until I actually had something to show first before posting; I guess I wanted feedback on this political system because it seems to deviate quite a bit from LCS.

[EuchreJack]

It all seems fine.

I really like the executive order, it's a nice addition.

[Jonathan S. Fox]

Executive order is a nice touch. I don't think cutting Congressional elections loses too much; it actually gives you a lot more flexibility and agility when it comes to balance, since you can make it respond more readily to popular opinion.

Have you put any thought to how to deal with the Supreme Court potentially lagging too far behind the popular opinion, due to the appointment process?

[Servant Corps]

Two possibilities:

1) Instead of the Supreme Court's decisions being modified slightly by bias (as per LCS), the Supreme Court will also consult public opinion, but to a lesser extent than the President or Congress.
2) If Congress is controlled by extremists (L+ or C+), then Congress may begin impeaching and removing Justices who aren't "on their side" (L+ Congress will slowly impeach all Justices who aren't L or L+, C+ Congress will slowly impeach all Justices who aren't C or C+). A successful impeachment will initiate a new appointment process.

(Though Congress has the right to impeach and remove Supreme Court justices, it has only been attempted only once in US history, and the reason it failed was because several representatives feared that impeaching Justices would end up undermining the independence of the judiciary.

I figure extremists don't share that sort of qualms about judicial independence.)

[KA101]

Impeachment might be a tamer way to speed up the SupCt changeover in core LCS, too--specifically amending the Constitution to deprive the non-L+ Justices of citizenship is a much harsher check on the judiciary's independence than impeaching an individual Justice.