Nations

Nations on Earth serve as battlegrounds for the aliens' designs on Earth and are sites of both political and military conflict. Human factions, using councilors and armies, will compete to control nations in order to make use of their resources to fulfil their objectives.

Most nations in Terra Invicta correspond to a single real-world Earth country, although in several cases adjacent groups of small nations are aggregated into a single nation so they have more relevance to the scale of the game, and any inter-nation issues between within these generally take place below the scale of the simulation. Factions function as something like covert investors in nations, and with enough focus they can take control over the nation's economy and foreign policy.

National Stats
The prosperity and stability of Earth's nations, already tenuous in many places, has been thrown into doubt in light of the alien arrival. Different events throughout the game may alter the qualities of a nation significantly. These circumstances are tracked and made visible to the player, who can take various actions to modify them.

Government
A nation's Government score measures the amount of democracy in a country, which represents things like civil liberties, popular selection of leaders, press freedoms, and rule of law via an independent judiciary. This impacts many things, including national stability and cohesion, research production, corruption, economic growth and the effectiveness of the military in controlling unrest.

Government increases by 0.005 per 2 Investment Point(s) in the Knowledge priority. It changes by -0.001 per 2 Investment Point(s) in the Unity priority.

The Government score impacts the Cohesion score. Lower Government score increases the Cohesion score resting point, while higher Government score draws Cohesion score to the mean value of 5, and simultaneously increases research production. Higher Government score also lower Spoils priority requirement to keep the national elites happy in order to avoid resetting of CPs by coup d'etat and boosts economic growth. Lower Government score increases the effectiveness of the military priority and armies at reducing unrest.

Goverment score ranges from 0 to 10:

Population
Nations have populations measured in millions. Throughout the course of the game these populations will grow or shrink based on various factors. The following section discusses population growth.

Developed countries have at least one region OR are a fake union in the game (Benelux, Alpine States, etc), and have the following be true: education + democracy + (gdp per capita / 4000) >= 25. Norway is not a developed nation; France is. The Baltics can be developed if the country improves, without expanding, because it's a fake union. etc.

(regional per capita GDP / 30 000) + min((10-education)2/10, (10-democracy)2/10, 3.5) + (IF DEVELOPED: 5 - |5 - cohesion|) + popGrowthModifier - xenoforming/200 - 4*nukings.

The game also does not let you shrink by more than 95% annually.

WHAT THAT MEANS:

1. More GDP per capita = faster population growth (+1% per 30k)

2. If Education or Democracy (whichever is highest) is above 4.08, growth is reduced (+3.5% -> 0% at 10 education or democracy. It's not a linear drop, and accelerates as you approach 10.)

3. If the country is developed, per the conditions outlined earlier, it will grow faster at 5 cohesion. (+5% at 5 cohesion and 0% at 0 or 10 cohesion)

4. Every nation has a pop growth modifier, which is defined in plain text in TINationTemplate.json in the game files (ranges between -1% and +1%)

5. Xenoforming reduces pop growth (-1% per 200 levels of xenoforming. For reference, the highest level is at 75, and xenofauna spawns at 100.

6. Nuclear bombs reduce pop growth (-4% per nuking)

This number is then used monthly to calculate pop growth;

(1 + popGrowth + (random number between -0.005 and 0.005))1/12

If the population decreases, Education does too. If you lose more than 5 million (no, it does not scale with total population), you get the maximum reduction of -0.005. This is only from natural growth, not nukes or other events.

Unrest
The Unrest score represents violent resistance to the political, economic or cultural status quo in this nation. High unrest hampers the economy and may result in a coup or revolution, which will transfer or clear many or all of the nation's Control Points at once. Unrest is fed by low Cohesion and low quality of life (per-capita GDP). Military spending and armies can reduce it, especially in non-democratic nations.

Unrest is decreased by  per 3 Investment Points in the Military priority.

Its resting point is increased by having low cohesion, low Per-Capita GDP, or unification with another nation. Unrest can be increased by councilor Increase unrest and reduced by stabilize nation assignments. It is also reduced by military priority and armies, both of which work better in nations with lower government score.

Unrest changes relatively quickly (0.25 per month) if it is not at its resting point. It's generally better to reduce unrest resting point before reducing its value with councilors and military priority, otherwise it will grow back naturally and quickly. With the most totalitarian Government(0), it would take an investment of 7.5 IP per month to stabilize Unrest below its' resting point. This grows exponentially: to 15 IP/month at 5 Government, 25 IP/month at 7 Government and 75 IP/month at 9 Government.

Base unrest is calculated as 10.5 - cohesion - (gdp per capita / 10000). Base unrest is also reduced by armies, but I can't tell what the values are. I *believe* it's -1 per army for a country with 0 democracy, scaling down to 0 with 10 democracy.

Naturally occurring coups can happen on high levels of unrest. Those can be countered through spoils and military investments. The spoils priority may be ignored if the level of unrest in a country is sufficiently low, even if the indicator appears red.

Unrest score ranges from 0 to 10. Every 0.1 point of Unrest above 2 will decrease Investment Points by 1%, capping at 80% at 10 unrest. If it reaches 10 the nation will suffer a Coup d'Etat effect.

GDP
A nation's GDP, or Gross Domestic Product, is a measure of its annual economic output in U.S. dollars adjusted by its purchasing power parity. The nation's GDP determines how many Control Points a nation has, how many Investment Points it produces, and how difficult certain missions are.

GDP is not directly influenced by economy priority, which affects PPP instead. It must be noted that a significant economic growth in a nation may also carry negative consequences to the planet's climate stability. Unification combines both nation's GDPs. Climate change has a negative effect on GDP based on the following states.

-4.032% for every degree C below pre-industrial levels

-1.344% for every degree C above pre-industrial levels

Every completed iteration of the Economy investment priority with raise GDP by 2.5 base, +1 per resource region, +1 per economic core region, +0.2 per democracy, +0.2 per education, +2.5 for cohesion = 5, tapering off to 0 for cohesion = 0 and 10.

This means that for maximum GDP growth, you want more resource regions, more democracy, more education, and middling cohesion, as well as as many economic regions as possible.

Per Capita GDP
A Per Capita nation's GDP its its Gross Domestic Product divided by its population. It represents the economic conditions for the average citizen of this nation. Nations with low per-capita GDP will face higher unrest while the people's needs are not met.

Putting investment points into the Economy priority can increase GDP. Conflict, population loss, and climate change are among the things that can cause it to decrease.

GDP Per Region
When distributing GDP to regions within a country, the game distributes them based on economic modifiers. It pretends regions with colonies have 50% the people who actually live there, and that resource and core economic regions have 125%, then distributes GDP evenly based on that modified population. This effectively means that regional GDP per capita is higher in core economic and resource states than in "regular" regions, and are lower in colonies. This has a great effect on population growth as described in the first section, as the GDP per capita calculation in that section is per region.

Development
Development represents how much monthly Funding, Research, Boost, Mission Control and Investment Points a nation will provide to factions owning Control Points.

Monthly Investment Points
These represent the nation's economic surplus that can be distributed by factions with Control Points in the Priorities tab. The value is set by the nation's GDP and reduced by the number of armies it fields and by high levels of unrest.
 * Unrest decreases Monthly Investment Points by 1% for every 0.1 point of Unrest, capping at -80% at 10 unrest.
 * Navies decrease Monthly Investment Points by 0.5 per navy.
 * Armies stationed in the nation decrease Monthly Investment Points by 0.5 per army.
 * Armies stationed in another nation decrease Monthly Investment Points by 1 per army.

Miltech
A nation's Military Technology value represents the capability of the nation's armed forces. Each tenth of a point in Miltech represents a 10% improvement in combat capability.

Mitech is increased by 0.00375(1 - min(10*unrest, 1 - 0.1 * democracy)) per 3 Investment Points in the Miltech priority. It takes 800 Investment Points to advance 1 Miltech level in the best case.
 * Any country with 0 unrest will gain the maximum possible 0.00375 Miltech.
 * If there is any unrest, the Miltech gain is scaled linearly by Government level.
 * The more Democratic(higher) the Government level, the more Miltech it gains.

Unification between two nations balances the Miltech score between the two nations. Miltech applies to both army strength, which changes together with national Miltech level, and regional defence power.

Miltech score ranges from 2 to 8. The Miltech age also determines the visual appearance of armies.

Initially the Miltech score is capped at level 5, which can be increased by 0.5 with each of the following global research technologies:
 * Tech info icon.png Cybernetics
 * Tech info icon.png Applied Artificial Intelligence
 * Tech material icon.png Next-Generation Aerospace
 * Tech material icon.png Diamondoids
 * Tech military icon.png Terrestrial Military Science
 * Tech military icon.png Networked Global Defense
 * Tech military icon.png Coilguns
 * Tech military icon.png Trans-Interface Warfare
 * Tech military icon.png Future Tech: Military Science

Navies
A nation's naval score is calculated by the number of navies it has attached to its armies multiplied by the nation's military technology score.

There are three possible navy states:
 * No Navies: No army has any navy attached.
 * Freedom of the Seas: At least one army has a navy attached and there are no enemies with a higher naval score.
 * Blockaded: At least one army has a navy attached and there are enemies with a higher naval score.

Strategic Nuclear Barrages
The number of strategic nuclear barrages that may be launched from this nation. Each barrage will devastate a single region and cause massive envirnmental damage globally. Nuclear strikes are directd by the faction in control of the executive control point.

Nuclear weapons can target any region belonging to current war enemies, or owned regions with enemy forces present. Note that advanced defenses will prevent any attack.

Education
A nation's Education value is scored based on the average years of schooling of a citizen in this nation. Nations with higher education scores produce more research and are more resistant to extreme propaganda but gain less cohesion from the Unity priority.

Education increases by 0.005 per 2 investment Point(s) in the Knowledge priority.

Education score ranges from 0 to 10:

Education is one of the largest factors influences national research output aside from populaiton.

0. Base of 7.5 + education (this only scales with 6-8)

1. Scales polynomially with population in millions; 0.8x1.1 (0.794331.1)

2. Scales linearly from 15k to 48.75k GDP per capita, with a floor at 15k and a roof at 48.75k (ie: a country with 30k GDPpc produces 2x science as one with 15k, but one with 60k does not produce 4x as much, as it caps at 48.75k. Similarly, a country with 15k gdp per capita produces the same amount as one with 1k.)

3. Scales by education squared (country with education level of 10 produces 100x as much as one with a level of 1)

4. Scales by democracy^0.2, with a floor democracy = 0.1 (min value 0.63, max value 1.58)

5. 60% efficient at 10 and 0 cohesion, scales linearly to 100% at 5 cohesion

6. 20% efficient at 10 unrest, 100% efficient at <2 unrest. Linear relationship. Same as IP efficiency.

7. n% increase from science advisor bonus - 1% per science of first advisor, 0.5% per science of second advisor. 0.25% from 3rd etc

Note that 1-5 is multiplied by 0.00225 before the base value is added.

In short: ((0 + 0.00225*1*2*3*4*5) * 6*7*8).

This is, I think, the only value in the country interaction screen that scales directly with the population of a country. And boy does it scale.

Cohesion
A nation's Cohesion represents the level of unity or conflict among the people of the nation. This includes cultural, ideological, ethnic and religious similarities and differences. High values describe a unified society that brooks little deviation or dissent. Middle values represent a diverse society that has both internal conflict and a healthy, creative counterculture. Middle-low values represent a high degree of political polarization, and the lowest values mean the nation's people are fragmented or even tribal.

Cohesion changes by 0.01 towards the value of 5 per to Investment Point(s) in the Knowledge priority.

Cohesion moves 0.1 per month towards its' resting point. This is rapid enough that it is usually better to move the resting point rather than trying to fight the tide: it would take 20 Investment Points per month in Knowledge priority, or roughly 4 in Unity priority to stabilize Cohesion above its' resting point. The resting point can be increased by decreasing inequality with the Welfare priority.

Cohesion score ranges from 0 to 10:

Cohesion is lowered by:
 * Medium government score
 * High inequality score
 * Population
 * Regions
 * Loss of armies
 * Difference between public opinion and the faction controlling the control points

Cohesion is centered by:
 * High goverment score
 * Knowledge priority

Cohesion is raised by:
 * Low government score
 * Wars
 * Unity priority
 * Rivalries with nations with a 1 control point difference at most

Base Cohesion
This is a long one.

Base cohesion depends on inequality, GDP per capita, population, number of regions, rivals, wars, ideological distance between the public and elites, and democracy.

Base cohesion is 20.25.

This is reduced by 3.25 for every level of inequality, and a further (inequality - 4.5)2 if inequality is above 4.5.

It is further reduced by 1 for every 1000 GDP per capita below 6000.

It's also reduced by (population in millions)0.15. 10 billion people would be a reduction of 4, 100 million would be -2, etc.

It's also reduced by 0.25 for every additional region above 1.

It's increased by 0.5 for every peer rival (same number of control points minus 1) up to a maximum of 5 cohesion.

It's increased by 1 for every war you're in, for a maximum of 5. '

It's lowered by the distance between the Elite and the Public's ideologies, as described above, multiplied by 2.

Finally, democracy comes into play. It's slightly more complicated.

If democracy < 3.5:

Cohesion is increased by 3.51.5, and lowered by democracy1.5, for a net gain of 0 at democracy = 3.5.

If democracy > 6.5:

Cohesion approaches 5 by 0.5 per level of democracy.

If democracy < 3.5 and > 6.5:

This is an odd one. Going from 3.49 to 3.5, your jump down c 1.5 levels of cohesion. You then climp up 1.5 again, until you're at 5 democracy, before going down 1.5 again. Upon reaching 6.5, you then jump up 1.5 again.

I think this is a bug, and it's really supposed to be "+ 2|5-x| - 3", not "-2|5-x|", as that would make the line continuous and fit the tooltip description of anocracy. In that case, it works like described - you have great cohesion as a totalitarian regime, with cohesion falling quickly once you reach ~5 democracy, and it then starts approaching 5 as you become democratic.

Here are a few graphs describing it. The x-axis is democracy, and the y-axis is base cohesion excluding democracy.

Public Opinion
The is the public opinion in the nation towards the aliens. Support for a particular ideology grants an influence income to the corresponding faction, and the faction receives bonuses when attempting to gain and maintain control of the nation.

The Public Campaign councilor mission will shift opinion in favor of a faction. Committing atrocities will shift it away from a faction.

Public opinion is also tied to effective ideology of a nation. The factions are mapped on a 2d-map:

1. Resistance (1, 0)

2. Humanity First (2, -0.5

3. Initiative (0, -1)

4. Servants (-2, 1)

5. Protectorate (-1.5, -0.5)

6. Academy (-0.5, 1)

7. Exodus (1.5, 1)

8. Aliens (-3, 0)

9. Undecided (0, 0)

10. Peaceful (2, 2)

When the game calculates the distance between ideologies, I believe these are the values they use. There's technically a third axis, but it's zero for every ideology.

When the game assigns an ideology to the public or the elite, it does so by averaging public support and control points, respectively. For instance, a country with 2 control points owned by the resistance and 1 by the servants, the elites would be at ((2*1 - 2)/3, 2*0 + 1) = (0, 1). This puts them closest to the Academy, so that's how they're viewed for the purposes of the game - they are thus saved at (-0.5, 1) and not (0, 1).

For public opinion, the game does the same thing - but with percentage of support instead of discrete control points. 67% resistance, 33% servants would be equivalent to the example above, but it's more continuous.

Ideology distance is calculated by normal means; good old pythagoras.

Inequality
A nation's Inequality score is a measure of how wealth and income is distributed in the nation. High values mean the nation doesn't have much of a middle class. Inequality grows by a little as a product of normal economic activity (the Economy Priority) or by a lot because of corruption (the Spoils Priority). Resource regions in a nation can contribute to inequality as well. High inequality reduces Cohesion as the nation divides into haves and have-nots.

Inequality changed by -0.005 per 1 Investment Points(s) in the Welfare priority.

Inequality score ranges from 0 to 7:

Corruption
Corruption is a hidden value which determines what percentage of the economy the elites want diverted to spoils. If this is not done then other factions will gain bonuses to coups and purges against this faction. The inverse is also true if the elites are satisfied.

corruption = (max(100 - 4*education - 6*democracy, 0) * (1 - max(cohesion - 7, 0) / 5))%

Meaning less educated, less democratic elites demand more spoils. maxing out education and democracy will pretty much remove the demand. completely. I haven't managed to figure out what the actual effect of the second part is, as it doesn't correspond to in game values.

Xenoforming
Xenoforming is a generally negative stat which is largely hidden from the player. It has negative effects population growth and grants bonuses to Servant and Alien activities in a nation.

If xenoforming level is above 100, a megafauna army spawns, reducing xenoforming level by 50. If not, growth is regulated by the following:

Base growth is 0.025.

A random number between 0 and 0.04 is added to this.

If the terrain type is rugged, divide the number in two.

If the region is above latitude 50, divide the number in two. (decided by TIRegionTemplate.json)

If the region has an alien facility, double the number.

Multiply this number by methane levels / 1.5. (or by 0.25, if methane levels are below 0.375)

Multiply this number by CO2-levels / 400. (or by 0.25, if CO2-levels are below 100ppm)

Xenoforming level is then incremented by this number.

If xenoforming level is above 50, it can spread to a neighboring region if it wins a dice roll of 0.05%*xenoforming level. This is a daily roll, so it's a deceptively low chance.

WHAT THAT MEANS:

1. High latitudes and rugged terrain are unfavorable to alien growth, each halving it.

2. Climate change slightly speeds up xenoforming, or slows it down if CO2 and Methane levels get below the levels mentioned.

3. Max xenoforming level is 100, as it will always try to spawn a megafauna army if it exceeds that. I have no idea if it's always successful, I can't imagine that the world just endlessly spawns megafauna, but I can't find any other limiters besides CO2 consumption.

4. A world with an average xenoflora coverage of 100 will reduce CO2 by 3.45 ppm yearly, with the reduction scaling down

Priorities
The settings in the Priorities tab control the distribution of Investmen Points, which represent surplus economic capital generated by the nation.

The owner of each control point may direct a share of investment Points into any number of priorities, either by selecting a present in the dropdown menu or setting them directly by clicking a spot in the grid.

Investment points are distributed by setting weights (0,1,2 or 3) for each priority, and the amount of investment going to a particular priority depends on the total number of weights set for a particular control point.

Investment Points gradually fill buckets for each priority; once filled, the nation receives the effects of that priority, and in most cases it may be filled again.

Some priorities will be highlighted red if they are considered critical to the nation.

Direct Investment
Direct Investment allows a faction to purchase Investment Points in a certain priority with Money and Influence. The cost increases with the nation's GDP. If the nation was conquered in war its new owner will not have to pay Influence. Only 200 Investment Points may be purchased each year in any nation.

Elites
Each nation requires a certain percentage of Investment Points to be put into the Spoils priority. Failing to provide enough Investment Points into Spoils, shown by the priority becoming red, increases the chance of a coup d'etat. The percentage required is reduced by high scores of Government, Education and Cohesion.

Nations with completed Spaceflight Program priority
The following nations at start have completed at least one Spaceflight Program priority:

Nations with completed Nuclear Weapons priority
The following nations at start have completed at least one Nuclear Weapons priority:

Regions
Regions are geographic areas that make up a nation.

The tab also includes information about the Boost and Mission Control resources that are based in each region.

The claims column lists other nations that may annex a territory.

Events, combat, councillor activity location and the presence of launch facilities or other installations all occur in a particular region rather than nationwide.

Regions may have the following characteristics:
 * Capital Region: Missions targeting the nation as a whole or its control points will take place here. Conquering the capital of a nation in wartime will trigger regime change and annexation of any claimed territory by its enemies.
 * Colony Region: Colony regions carry a lesser status within their nation, typically due to past imperial behavior by that nation. They contribute less to the national GDP and cannot support armies. Colonial status is lost if the region becomes an independent nation or joins a nation with a similar GDP. A colony region cannot support any mission control.
 * Core Economic Region: Core economic regions grant a bonus to the Economy policy. A core economic region can support a maximum of 8 mission control.
 * Resource Region: Resource regions grant a bonus to the nation's Economy priority, but also cause greater increases in inequality and environmental damage.
 * Rugged: Rugged regions take twice as long for an army to travel through, and offer significant combat bonuses for defending armies.
 * Ecologically Protected Region: These regions, typically in high latitudes in the northern hemisphrere, will not suffer economic loss due to global envirnmental damage.
 * Ecologically Vulnerable Region: Vulnerable regions suffer twice as much economic harm from global envirnmental damage as normal regions.
 * Alien Activity: Some form of alien activity has been detected in this region.
 * Fallout: This area has been struck by nuclear barrages. Regions damaged in this way suffer a permanent loss in population growth due to radiation and contaminated food and water supply.

Claims
Some nations have claims on regions that aren't theirs. These are the regions they may acquire through warfare or secession movements. Several social science projects can unlock new claims during the campaign.

Completing certain research projects projects will increase the number of claims. The following nations start with claims:
 * Flag France.png France and every member of the Flag European Union.png European Union
 * Flag Russia.png Russia and every member of the Flag Eurasian Union.png Eurasian Union
 * Flag Czech Republic.png Czech Republic and Flag Slovakia.png Slovakia
 * Flag United Kingdom.png United Kingdom and Flag Ireland.png Ireland
 * Flag Bosnia and Herzegovina.png Northern Balkan States and Flag Serbia.png Southern Balkan States
 * Flag China.png China and Flag India.png India
 * Flag India.png India and Flag Bangladesh.png Bangladesh
 * Flag Russia.png Russia and Flag Ukraine.png Ukraine
 * Flag Australia.png Australia and Flag New Zealand.png New Zealand
 * Flag Indonesia.png Indonesia and Flag Papua New Guinea.png Pacific States
 * Flag South Korea.png South Korea and Flag North Korea.png North Korea
 * Flag Ethiopia.png Ethiopia and Flag Somalia.png Somalia
 * Flag Guatemala.png Guatemala and Flag Belize.png Belize
 * Flag Sudan.png Sudan and Flag South Sudan.png South Sudan
 * Flag Venezuela.png Venezuela and Flag Guyana.png Guyana

Control Points
Control Points represent key nodes of political and economic power in a nation. The number of control points is set by the size of the nation's economy. The faction that owns a control point has loyal followers in positions of authority. Control points grant their faction a portion of the nation's critical resources, control over the nation's armies, and the ability to direct economic priorities.

Certain powerful policies, such as joining and leaving federations and merging nations, require Consolidated control of the executive, which means the executive faction either gained control of the nation through war or revolution, or must have held continuous control of the executive point for 180 days.

Once a faction has accumulated a sufficient amount of control in multiple nations, additional control points cost influence per month to maintain, and Crackdown and Purge missions against the faction's control points will receive a bonus. The cost increases with the more control points a faction owns, and the size of the economy of each nation the faction owns control in. Control points that have sustained a Crackdown do not cost any influence to maintain.

Every nation has between 1 and 6 control points, depending on their GDP. The GDP also determines how much influence it costs to hold control of a control point.

Control points come in a variety of types. Their type depends on the national government and other conditions, and provides a related bonus for the faction controlling it.
 * Executive: Enables the Set Policy mission as well as modifying foreign relations. Requires control of another control point first unless it's the only one.
 * Legislature: Bonus to Purge missions in the same nation if the Executive control point is controlled by another faction. Bonus to Purge defense in the same nation if the Executive point is controlled by the same faction.
 * Party: Bonus to Purge missions in the same nation against all control points except the Executive one.
 * Security Apparatus Bonus to Assassinate, Crackdown, Detain Councilor and Extract Councilor missions in the same nation.
 * Bureaucracy: Bonus to Control Nation missions in the same nation.
 * Identity Blocks: Bonus to Increase unrest missions in the same nation.
 * Mass Media: Bonus to Public Campaign missions in the same nation.
 * National Industries: Bonus to Hostile Takeover missions in the same nation.
 * Oligarchs: Bonus to Coup d'Etat missions in the same nation.
 * Regional Authorities: Bonus to Stabilize Nation missions in the same nation.
 * Aristocracy: Bonus to Money gained from the Unity priority in the same nation.
 * Financial Sector: Bonus to Money gained from the Funding priority in the same nation.
 * Religion: Bonus to Public Opinion gained from the Spoils priority in the same nation.
 * Corporations: Orgs based in the same nation cost less money.
 * Trade Unions: Orgs based in the same nation cost less influence.
 * Defense Sector: Owned armies in the same nation repair faster.

Besides CP specific bonuses each faction will also receive a fraction of funding, research, boost, mission control and spoils money produced by the nation. That fraction is equal to a proportion of controlled CPs versus all CPs of a nation.

If there are armies controlled by the nation, getting control of CP may also grant you direct control of said armies. CPs with armies attached to them are shown with yellow star in a green hexagon symbol next to them. If there is more than one army attached to a control point then the number of attached armies is shown over the symbol.

To gain control over a neutral CP one must perform a successful Control Nation mission with one of their councillors. Under normal circumstances, in nations with over 1 CP, executive CP can only be controlled if you already have a point in a nation and it is the last CP to be taken. If every nation has all of their CPs controlled by factions, Control Nation mission becomes unavailable. In that case you would need to perform a successful purge mission on an enemy controlled CP. To increase purge chances, it is recommended to conduct crackdown on these CPs first. Another alternative to Control Nation is Coup d'Etat. It can either be performed with your councillor or happen naturally. Successful Coup d'Etat missions will turn all the CP from that nation to your faction, while Coup d'Etat happening on its own will reset all of CPs in the country to neutral; this allows every faction to conduct Control Nation missions. Coup d'Etat is a lot more likely to be successfully performed or occur in nations with high unrest, so boosting chances often needs Increase Unrest missions beforehand.

Policies
Policies are actions the executive faction of a nation can take to dramatically alter the course of the nation. A councillor can use the Set Policy mission to enact policies. Certain policies require the target nation to accept them, the success rate depending on how similar the two nations are. Such policies are always acceptted if the same faction has executive control of both nations. Possible policies are: A symbol of a hand casting a ballot, found in the top right corner of overview screen, prompts a tooltip in which the available national policies are listed. Here one can also find cooldown periods for countries, with whom diplomatic actions may become available after the timer expires.

Federations
Federations are groupings of closely aligned nations that are pledged to provide mutual defence and share space program funding and boost. They are led by the predetermined member with the most significant international ambitions.

At the game start date there are two federations:
 * Flag European Union.png European Union: France, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Italy, Spain, Benelux, Alpine States, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, Northern Balkan States, Baltic States, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece
 * Flag Eurasian Union.png Eurasian Union: Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan

When a federation or unification is created it will have the name and flag of its initial nation. However certain nations will create federations or unifications with unique names and flags.

Unification
If the capital region of an absorbed country (Kazakhstan inside Russia, Tigray inside Ethiopia, etc) is not claimed by the absorbing nation (e.g. EU with extra claims absorbing Russia), there's a chance the country becomes a breakaway, like Taiwan is at game start. The chance is 75% if the absorbed nation has 0 cohesion, scaling to 0% if the absorbed nation has 5 cohesion. This chance applies per region that happens to be a capital, and creates a breakaway state that takes all claimed regions with it.

For instance, if the EU absorbed a Russia that had absorbed central asia, there are five regions they do not have claims on that happen to be capital regions; kyrgyzstan, tajikistan, uzbekistan, turkenistan, and nur-sultan. If Russia has a cohesion of 3, that means every one of these regions have a 30% chance of creating a breakaway. Kazakhstan would Almaty along for the ride. If the EU had a democracy score lower than 7, any armies stationed in breakaways would be destroyed. A democracy score higher than 7 means there is no breakaway state; the country just becomes independent.

All investments get added together (so if both had 20 investment points in MC, the host country now has 40, which means it loops around to 15 and adds a level of MC)

Miltech level becomes a weighted average based on regions. If country A has 20 regions and miltech 6, while country B has 10 regions and miltech 3, the new miltech value is 5.

If the joining nation has more than 1 point more democracy than the absorbing nation, unrest increases by the difference divided by two. If China absorbs South Korea, where China has 2 democracy and SK has 8, unrest increases by 3. If it absorbs North Korea, where North Korea has <3 democracy, nothing happens.

I can't find any info on inequality, education or democracy. The code leads me to believe they're unchanged by unification, but I'm pretty sure that's not the case.

Foreign Relations
The Relations tab describes the relations between different nations.
 * Allies are nations that will support this nation when attacked, and may hold a policy vote to join a war started by this nation. Allies may host one another's armies as well.
 * Rivals are nations with which this nation may go to war.

Changes in relations between nations are accomplished by policy votes, which may be initiated by a councilor or by the nation itself. Actions that improve relations also trigger a cooldown between the nations for improving relations again.

There are a few restrictions on who can ally and become rivals. Two nonadjacent nations with only one or two control points may not form alliances or rivalries unless one also has a navy. Nations allied with breakaway nations cannot ally with the breakaway's parent nation, and vice versa.

Improving relations requires the consent of the targeted nation. This can be skipped by controlling the executive control points in both nations.

Hovering over the alliance option will also show the detailed requirements for federation and unification.

Breakaway Nations
Nations that secend from another nations become breakaway nations. Breakaway nations are always Rivals with their parent nations and cannot declare wars, join wars or join federations. Allies of breakaway nations are also always Rivals with the parent nation. This state can be ended by either the breakaway nation using the Declare Independence policy or the parent nation using the Grant Independence policy.

When the game starts there is only one breakaway nation - Taiwan.