Any resident of the city can stand for mayor. You register as a candidate, the city's residents vote, and the winner runs the city until the next election: its taxes, its treasury, its port and its utilities.
How an election runs
Elections repeat on a regular cycle, and each one ends with three windows in a row.
- Registration. Any resident can declare their candidacy. It costs a fee, paid into the city treasury and not refunded, and the city feed announces every new candidate.
- Campaign. Registration closes and voting hasn't opened yet. Nobody can join the race or vote. This is the time to make your case to the city.
- Voting. Every eligible resident casts one vote.
- Result. The candidate with the most votes becomes mayor. There's no minimum turnout. If two or more candidates tie for first, there's a runoff between just those candidates, and everyone votes again. If the runoff ties as well, the winner is drawn at random from the tied candidates.
There's no limit on terms. A mayor can stand again, and keep winning, for as long as the city votes for them.
If nobody stands, the city appoints a caretaker from its own services, and the city's own companies keep running. A caretaker is no substitute for a player who wants the job.
Who gets to vote
Residents of the city, one vote each per round. There's one rule on top of that, and it exists because of sock puppets:
This doesn't make voting harder for anyone who actually plays. It makes it harder to win by spinning up accounts.
Where the treasury's money comes from
The treasury fills up from everyday life in the city. It collects a share of things that happen anyway.
| Source | When it's paid |
|---|---|
| Market tax | On every sale through a listing or a buy order on the player market |
| Port fee | On everything the ship buys and the port sells |
| Rent tax | Out of the rent landlords receive, if the mayor sets one |
| Land tax | Every day, on every privately owned plot |
| Plot sales | When the city sells a plot, and a cut when players sell plots to each other |
| Home upkeep | Every day, the creds part of the upkeep on every home and apartment building |
| Utility fees | From every working company, for the city's utilities |
| Candidacy fees | Each time a resident stands for mayor |
The mayor's taxes
Setting rates is the most visible part of the job. Every change is posted to the city feed.
- Market tax. A rate for each tier of goods: raw, processed and finished. It's capped, so no mayor can strangle trade, and it's paid by sellers. Barter and supply contracts stay tax-free.
- Rent tax. A share of every rent payment, taken from what the landlord receives. Tenants pay the price on their contract and nothing more (see where to live). It starts at zero, and it's the mayor's call whether to switch it on.
- Contract bond. How much a supplier puts down when they accept a supply contract. Higher means safer contracts and fewer of them. Lower means more deals and more risk.
- The port's markup. How much the port charges on top of market prices when it sells goods to players, within fixed limits.
What the mayor spends on
The treasury is a pile of creds, and the mayor decides where it goes. A mayor can't create money: everything they spend came in as taxes and fees, and goes back out into the city.
- City tenders. The mayor posts a buy order for goods the city needs, with the creds locked up front from the treasury. Players fill it from their own stock and get paid. This is the main way the treasury's money flows back to players. Each tender shows how its price compares with the market, so an overpaid tender is flagged for everyone to see.
- The port. Upgrading it costs treasury creds plus building materials, which are used up. Each level makes the ship pay more for cargo, carry more and bring a bigger daily budget, from the next voyage on. That raises the price floor for every good in the city.
- Utilities. The city owns power, water, logistics and bio-control. Companies pay a fee for using them, and when a utility is overloaded, production slows for everyone. The mayor upgrades them and buys the goods they need for upkeep.
- City jobs. The city runs companies of its own, and the mayor operates them. Their workers are paid from the treasury, which gives newcomers somewhere to earn from day one.
- Expanding the city. When the city runs out of land, it can grow by a whole new district of hexes. Opening one is a shared project: residents contribute creds and materials, and the mayor can pour in treasury money to speed it up. The mayor can also start the project early.
Nothing stops a mayor from buying from their own company at a generous price. Everyone can see it, and the next election answers it.
There are no rules against a greedy mayor, on purpose. Every spend from the treasury is on a public ledger with a chart of the balance, every action goes to the city feed, and anyone can open City Hall and read it.
Keeping the job
A mayor serves until the next election, and can stand again like anyone else.
Impeachment can end a term early. Residents can sign a petition against the mayor. If half of the city's active residents sign, an early election is called, and the mayor stays on as caretaker until it's decided. They can stand in it too. Counting only active residents keeps the bar reachable: players who left the game long ago don't count against the petition.
How to win
The voters are other players, so the usual politics apply. A few things help:
- Stand early in the registration window. The city feed announces you, and you have the whole campaign window to talk to people.
- Say what you'll do with the taxes. Market tax up or down, a rent tax or none, the port, the next district. Voters can't check a promise they never heard.
- Point at the ledger. Every mayor's spending is public. A candidate who promises fair tenders can be checked the day after the vote.
The mayor is the clearest example of why Override is a PBBG: the city doesn't reset, so a mayor's choices stay in the world, and so does the memory of them at the next election.
If you'd like to be there when the city opens, join the waitlist.
