I started the weekend thinking I would maybe buy M:TW 2 and Shogun 2 via Steam Sale. Then I saw President Forever 2016 was out and tried the demo. The improvements over PF2K8 were so immense, that I bought it after the demo concluded.
Really Big Improvements From My Viewpoint
*Foot Soldiers appear to no longer expire
*You can build up the organization in each state separate from the foot soldiers
*You control where surrogates go and what they do
*Each state has a Platform Distance, which shows how far you are from the middle platform position of that state
*Overall a cleaner, easier to navigate interface
And that's just from playing the demo.
Now, as you might imagine from the title, I'm taking one of my favorite politicians,
Elizabeth Warren, in the pre-loaded 2016 campaign. And because this is what I do, errrybody up in this joint.
Republican Candidates
Chris Christie
Rand Paul
Marco Rubio
Paul Ryan (Fuck you, asshole)
Ted Cruz
Bobby Jindal
John Thune
Peter King (not the SI writer, sadly, though that'd be hilarious)
Ben Carson
Scott Walker (Fuck you up the ass with plague-infested mosquito dicks.)
Jeb Bush
Rick Perry
Bob McDonnell
Brian Sandoval (Fuck you, too)
Jon Huntsman
Rick Santorum (Hehe. Santorum.)
Sarah Palin
Mike Huckabee
Susana Martinez
Democratic Candidates
Hillary Clinton (I was a big supporter in 2008. Not anymore.)
Joe Biden
Elizabeth Warren (Still breaks my heart she's not running IRL)
Andrew Cuomo
Martin O'Malley
Mark Warner
Brian Schweitzer
Amy Klobuchar
Julian Castro
Tim Kaine
Cory Booker
John Hickenlooper
Deval Patrick
Alan Grayson
Libertarian Candidates
Gary Johnson
Jesse Ventura (I'll run a campaign at some point with The Body, just to see how I do)
Green Party
Jill Stein (See Ventura)
Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg (I don't like this guy, personally)
So yeah, as you can imagine, turns will be slow processing in the early going.
Spies are Turned Off, since I never used them.
As you can see, that's all
Hillary Clinton yellow, so we've got work to do. Republicans have an interesting map thus far where most people are winning their home states, including
Susana Martinez in New Mexico and
John Thune in South Dakota.
What's interesting is that though
Chris Christie (the yellow in New England) and
Bob McDonnell (the non-Arkansas blue of the Mid-Atlantic and South) have clear strongholds, it's a national dogfight. In fact,
McDonnell is currently mid-pack with 4.9% despite the bloc he has built for himself.
As for our heroine?
Not the worst starting point in the world, but not the best either from a candidate standpoint. Seems like Issue Knowledge and Debate Prep are really going to be the way to go in the first set of characteristics.
The second set is completely new to me, and I think it's new to 2K16. I don't know why Warren has such low charisma in this database, but it's a definite strike when trying to Barnstorm.
Given that Charisma liability, I think the best way to go about this campaign is to do it via grassroots and winning endorsements. We've got 80 days until the Iowa caucuses, so the 60 days and 1 Command Point per turn it takes to build up the Command Strength seems like the best bet - because increasing the Command Strength increases CPs per turn, ability to increase regional Organizational Strength, and though it doesn't say so in the text, I discovered in the demo that it also serves as a multiplier for CPs spent on Endorsements.
The opening polls. A lot of work to do. Another change from 2008 that I actually love - instead of just toggling target states, you now have to spend CP and turns to make states targets. But there's benefits to that.
Benefits For Making A State Target
-Organizational Strength increases by 1
-Creating Organizational Strength, Footsoldiers, Ads, and Polling takes less time.
It costs 2 CP/turn and 5 turns to make a state a Target. Since the
Platform Distance is only 0.3 in Iowa and New Hampshire, we're going to make those our first two target states and try to get some early momentum going.
There's a debate very soon, so let's make sure Debate Prep doesn't fall below 3. We'll spend our last CP there. Oh, and you can now choose who to focus on in your Debate Prep. Since we need to take down Clinton, we'll attack her as a dirty conservative opportunist.
Turn 1 Notes
A couple of 1 profile negative things for a couple Republicans. Not really worth noting.
I forgot to set my Theme in the first turn. The closest issue Warren comes to matching the overall national Public is Government Spending, where she's Center and the US is Center-Right. So we'll pump up Warren on that and her Integrity, and we'll Attack Clinton on Tax Rates (Nevermind that Warren is in the same ballpark).
Debate is this turn, so we'll fluff up Issue Knowledge to be sure that stays at 4. We don't have the CPs to spend elsewhere, as we're working on our infrastructure.
Turn 2 Notes
*4 Power -
Martin O'Malley wins the debate. We finish a very respectable 4th, just ahead of
Hillary
*Endorsers Available Nationally and in Iowa.
National Endorsers To Consider
Al Gore - $50,00; 0.1 Ground Ops, Can Be Surrogate
Jimmy Carter - +2 Momentum, 0.1 Ground Ops, Can Be Surrogate
Left-wing Talk Radio: +2 Momentum, 0.3 Ground Ops
Bill Maher: $100,000, +2 Momentum, Can Be Surrogate
George Soros: $1 million
Iowa Endorsers To Consider
Sen. Tom Harkin - +2 Momentum, Can Be Surrogate
To be honest, I'm not sure how much the national endorsements matter right now, and it's really about building a head of steam in Iowa and New Hampshire, so over the next several turns, we'll work on swaying Harkin's endorsement - particularly since we're already 3rd with 27 points, tied with Biden for 2nd, and 4 points behind Hillary at 31 (First to 100 gets endorsement). You can spend CP or PIP to influence the endorsement, so we'll cash in a CP to start moving the line.
Turn 3 Notes
O'Malley's Debate Win still getting play, and I won't repeat the reappearances because that'd get tedious
2 Power Peter King O'Reilly Factor shining appearance
Clinton's up to 33 points in Harkin's endorsement, but we're in second with 30 points, so we're just going to keep pushing that angle.
Turn 4 Notes
-3 Profile
Hillary Clinton Scandal
-
Mike Huckabee and
Marco Rubio debate to a draw.
A small Clinton scandal, but it might be the first in a campaign derailment. I'm guessing it's the pack of opponents beneath her all targeting, which is cool by me. 35 Clinton, 33 Warren in the Harkin endorsement race, but we'll drop another CP in.
Turn 5 Notes
Iowa and New Hampshire now target states.
Now we can start putting the plan into action in earnest. A foot soldier each for Iowa and New Hampshire under construction. Normally it takes 10 turns, but because we have them as targeted states, a turn gets shaved off each (Org. Strength at 1 in both).
That leaves us with 3 CPs. And much like the previous version, there's a gradual drift on the part of endorsers to their preferred candidates, so it's 37 Clinton, 36 Warren in the Harkin sweepstakes. We're getting closer and drop another CP in.
2 CPs left. We could build up the Organizational Strength of a Target state some more, which gives us a multiplier for our Foot Soldiers, or we could work on Issue Knowledge/Debate Prep, or Fundraise, or Work on an Ad. Hmm. Or add another Target State.
On the other hand...
New Hampshire Endorsers
Gov. Maggie Hassan - +2 Momentum, Ground Ops 1.0, can be Surrogate
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen - +2 Momentum, can be Surrogate
This might be a better use of our time. Our 30 for each is behind Clinton's 37, but it's a gap we can overcome.
Turn 6 Notes
-3 Profile Clinton Scandal
-Patrick, Sandoval Do Well On TV
-Lot of ads produced this turn
We're just going to keep working on swaying endorsements for now. Another small profile scandal for Hillary, though she still has all the map to herself for now.
Turn 7 Notes
Wow!
Cory Booker must have dropped a Political Influence Point or two, because he's suddenly in the
Tom Harkin lead at 46, and we're at 42. No worries. Let's keep endorsing.
Turn 8 Notes
-Warren USA Super Pac releases Attack Ad on Clinton on War on Terror in New Hampshire (Power 2)
Turn 10 Notes
Hillary had a 41% polling in Iowa last they ran them, but she's -19.9 Momentum and is -6.9 Momentum in New Hampshire, so she's about to start crashing hard. 3 way tie at 48 for the
Tom Harkin endorsement now.
Turn 12 Notes
2 Power Kaine Campaign Too Negative?
2 Power Cruz Shines On Show
I now have a 3 point cushion over Clinton on the two New Hampshire endorsements, so I work on Issue Knowledge and Debate Prep, preparing for the debate in 2 weeks.
Turn 13 Notes
2 Profile Clinton Scandal
2 Power Warner Does Well On O'Reilly Factor
Warren USA Super Pac runs Highly Successful Ad attacking Clinton on Abortion on Iowa
Turn 14 Notes
2 Profile Clinton Scandal
2 Profile Hit To O'Malley, Warren For Not Campaigning
...Yeah. I kind of haven't left Massachusetts yet, and when you don't campaign, you're slammed in the media for it after a while. We'll hold a rally in Iowa and try to counteract the -2.9 Momentum we were just hit with there. Also work on upping our Strength Organization now that we have a Foot Soldier in both Iowa and New Hampshire.
Turn 15 Notes
As expected, the Iowa barnstorming failed, so we'll add another Foot Soldier in the list for Iowa and up Org. Str. in New Hampshire.
Turn 16 Notes
Tim Kaine endorsed by Jimmy Carter
Let's see what type of effect that has for him.
Turn 17 Notes
3 Power Clinton Scandal
2 Power Huntsman Gaffe
2 Power Patrick Great Media Appearance
Turn 18 Notes
The first crack in the
Hillary Clinton monopoly comes when
Joe Biden takes a slight lead in Iowa, making it a white state, and Virginia is also blank - a three-way tossup between Hillary, Kaine, and Warner. Also,
Martin O'Malley has polevaulted to a huge lead in New Hampshire with 23.3% to Clinton and Warner's 14%.
As for us? We haven't been able to make any traction anywhere, so it might be time to start holding rallys soon to get something going.
Turn 19 Notes
Walker Defense Spending Speech Backfires (Ha-ha!)
Castro Shines TV
Warren USA Super Pac runs ad against O'Malley on Immigration in New Hampshire
Turn 20 Notes
Warren USA Super Pac runs ad against Biden on Immigration in Iowa
Iowa Rally Success! +5 To Warren's momentum in total and -3 to Clinton's momentum
Now we can start finally making headway, I think.