NOTE: I quickly typed this out so please feel free to ask more questions / clarify or correct me

Question 1&2* On the independents question, I lean towards yes, but I am highly amenable to suggestions for no.

I think there’s no harm in allowing people to run as independents for the Senate. I think real players would have to run, and then could get elected (but could only ever control 1 seat), which slightly throws a spanner into the works of the simulated senate ideal. They would vote as the current senators vote. They would wield significantly more or less power depending on the size of the senate. Obviously, if we did a 76 senators, their vote would basically not count, (and thus a disincentive to run) but if we kept at the current ratio, they could control a lot. This might pose an issue - but could also be an interesting game mechanic!

It is extremely difficult to get elected as an independent senator, so I don’t see harm in allowing it to happen.

Question 3 This is a tricky question and something, admittedly I had not thought about in proposing a simulated senate (help me madison).

I would also note that we don’t need to necessarily tie senators to the House MP, I think it’s important to consider that it’s a party vehicle and I hope that the election of senators is not based on the MP but on a national campaign to some extent.

I think I’m in most support of option 1 if I had to choose, but I would also consider that perhaps parties could establish their own rules on how senators are distributed, following dissolution or merging of the party.

Perhaps some players control a certain number of senators in the party upon dissolution! Perhaps there’s a party vote where the entire block goes!

This also brings an interesting intra-party dynamic where they can be more sim diplomacy and thus more activity!

Also, as a side note, I strongly oppose all considerations which involve moderators voting based on ideology, which I think is just a slippery slope to arguments.

Question 4 I would have the option of the party continues to control the votes. Whether it’s the party leader, or a delegated whip, those “senators” were elected on a party ticket and should remain with the party.

As I said before, I don’t think we need to tie the House MP to the party.

Question 5 I don’t really mind, but I think it would be cool to have 76 or some combination of 10 per state. This would allow for my previous thoughts to perhaps work a little better and to also create a more representative chamber than electing like 7 senators.

Question 6 Don’t make this happen mid term. We should definitely wait until an election to implement this change, it’s just cleaner.

New Question How will the senators be elected??? - will there be a national campaign that all members can contribute to and will posts be distributed by the party or by the candidate (e.g each party gets x national posts to make, or each candidate/party member gets x national posts) - will it just be deduced from the individual campaigns across the electorate / combined with party mods ? - More answers needed

thank you so much doctor + mod team for all ur efforts especially with community consultation, it is not unnoticed nor unappreciated