Political lobby

A political lobby or lobby is a collection of one or more interest groups within one country that oppose or endorse another specific country. Each political lobby has an value between −10 and +10, which always tends towards 0.

Lobby types

There are four types of lobbies: two which endorse a target country and two which oppose it. Alternatively, two types of lobbies target a country's overlord, and two target

	Non-overlord target	Overlord target
Pro-	Pro-Country Lobby Seeks closer diplomatic ties with its target	Loyalist Lobby Seek closer ties with the country's overlord
Anti-	Anti-Country Lobby Seeks to antagonize its target	Independence Lobby Seeks more autonomy or even independence from the country's overlord

Each lobby has a semi-random name selected from a list depending on its type. Such as British-French Society or Anti-Prussian League.

Overlord and non-overlord lobbies convert to the other type if the target country becomes or stops being the overlord of the lobby's country.

Lobby formation

Lobbies have a chance to form when certain diplomatic catalysts occur. Not every catalyst has a chance for a lobby to form and most catalysts can only allow certain types of lobbies to form.

For non-overlord lobbies, the target country must be of the same rank or higher than the lobby's country. Lobbies can only target countries that are neighbors or have interests in the same strategic regions. Lobbies disband if these requirements are not met. Additionally, a lobby disbands if it has no non-marginalized interest group members.

Newly formed lobbies can have one to three interest groups, most often having two.

Interest group membership

Interest groups join or leave lobbies based on scripted weights. When a new lobby is formed, interest groups with at least 50 join weight may join the new lobby. If an interest group has 100 or more join weight, it is guaranteed to join the lobby.

Interest groups can only be in one lobby of each type and only lobby for a given target country. If an interest group is already part of a lobby of the same type, it must have 25% more join weight towards the new lobby to join it instead.

If an interest group in a lobby has a join weight of 0 or less, it may leave the lobby.

Interest groups may also join or leave lobbies by event.

Appeasement

represents how happy the lobby is, from −10 and +10. Appeasement always tends towards 0 over time, changing by ±1 every 2.8 years. Appeasement directly affects the approval of all member interest groups by an equal amount.

Depending on the type of lobby, different diplomatic actions increase or decrease that lobby's . Generally, actions that increase the appeasement for a pro-lobby decrease appeasement for an anti-lobby and vice-versa.

Lobby interactions

Occasionally, a lobby can present a demand or opportunity to the country in the form of a journal entry.

Fund lobbies

 Fund Lobbies is an ongoing diplomatic action. While a country is funding lobbies, and the recipient has no pro-lobby towards the funder, there is a 0.25% to 1% chance each week for a new pro-country lobby to form, or 2% for a pro-overlord lobby to form. This also increases the weight for interest groups to join lobbies that benefit the funder and less likely to join lobbies that are detrimental for the funder.

Lobby demands

Lobby demands are always various diplomatic actions related to the lobby's target country – sometimes the target country itself, and sometimes a rival or opponent of the target country. Completing the demand increases by +3, while allowing it to timeout reduces it by −5.

Lobby opportunities

Lobby opportunities make a given diplomatic action related to the lobby's target country easier to accomplish than normal. There is no direct effect on for completing the opportunity or letting it timeout.