Large countries are split into macro-regions along statistical divisions: nine US census divisions, eight Russian federal districts, fifteen Chinese regions, Europe's NUTS-1 and so on - 61 countries, 273 regions. A region is drawn by its borders, labelled at strong zoom and opens the country dossier on click.
Two new map modes, Economy and Population: output density and population density for the game year (Our World in Data), regions inside a country by their share. The mode bar moved to the bottom right, now icons, with a legend.
Relief twice as detailed, a coast rim and a border ribbon: land reads as raised above the water and borders no longer sink between two bright fills. Inland seas and large lakes (IJsselmeer, Vättern, Balkhash) are water now.
The country dossier has a Regions block: share of output, output, shift versus the table, density and the gap between the richest and the poorest region. The dossier is wider, four columns of figures.
Model
Romer and Piketty mechanics are in the base model: a hybrid Phillips curve, Brainard caution, investment inertia, saturating forward guidance, Cagan seigniorage with a ceiling, top 10 % and 1 % shares with an r − g attractor, tax structure, wealth tax and capital levy, an investment tax credit, a fiscal reaction rule.
Third wave: a demographic transition by era, the social state as the era baseline, entitlements and a pension system, public capital, real wage rigidity, a rollover auction for public debt. The century campaign is recalibrated: the US debt curve by decade is closer to the record than ever.
Games started on earlier versions keep playing by their own rules - nothing switches mid-game.
Advisor and interface
"Advisor drives" checkbox: the autopilot sets the MR-rule rate, light growth levers and a smooth consolidation under a debt overhang. You can take the levers between turns - handy for first games.
The Response button is now Forecast: the central-bank fan chart first, the impulse response second. Long fiscal levers moved to a new Treasury tab, so Budget no longer scrolls.
Your own setup templates: save a set of options under a name and apply it in later games.
Cleanup: chips without outlines, a zero without a dot in the indicators, a smooth entry into a game, the regime-change bar no longer squeezes the map, newspapers no longer dim the desk on routine spread shocks, Chinese dock tabs without scrolling.