Part 25: - The Not-Quite-So-Grand Finale: Zodiac Strikes Back
The Not-Quite-So-Grand Finale: Zodiac Strikes BackI don't have a hard vote count for this time, because things are a bit more in flux this time. We have about two people that made actual suggestions, somebody wanted to blow it all up, and a fair share of people just wanted me to go nuts and go for the character assassination of Michelle Obama.
...is that sentence going to get Lowtax in trouble again because it has "assassination of Michelle Obama" in it? Oh well.
Anyway, we're blowing it all up, and we're blowing it up in a special way.
First off, Zodiac is coming home again, and that's where he'll largely be staying. I've said before that nationwide issue rating manipulation is very hard, so we're going to concentrate, and we're going to merge our current plan of "ruin Obama's ratings so that she looks conservative compared to Ted Fucking Cruz" with the old, not quite put into action, plan of "win California at any cost".
To note, this update will just fly through the weeks as they go along. I'm also not really keeping track of what Michelle is doing, because we don't give a shit about her anymore (though of course that changes when she enters California). All we care about is what the people of California think of her.
First, ground game ads on every one of the top 5 issues. This will make for a good baseline.
Occasionally, I'll sprinkle in some speeches, since they're free and we're not hurting for stamina now that we only give a shit about one state.
Also, a speech gives us enough political capital to get a Smear Merchant to further push her ratings down.
Of course, we also need some money. At this point, Michelle also puts down some ground game ads in California, so I put down more to counter them.
Fuck you. You can't possibly comprehend our grand plan.
At this point, I start stopping some ads we're running in other states because they're eating money we could be putting into California.
We also get some TV ads into the mix, since they should be more powerful.
Her awareness caps at 100%, and the situation looks kind of bad. I'm not sure if we can turn it around, but I'll sure as hell try.
For reference, this is what one speech slamming her for being against Legalization of Marijuana does.
At the beginning of turn 23, I grab the operative that improves speeches, since that's primarily what we're going to be doing in the endgame, since ads take time to be really effective. That's one place where speeches are good.
By the beginning of turn 24, I'm not sure what to attack on. I think going full tilt on The Environment might be the winning angle here, but I have no real way of knowing. So fuck it, let's do it.
By the end of turn 25, we've gotten enough political capital to get a Spin Doctor to maybe give us the little boost we need. I also bring the Definer over from Iowa. Stupidly, I already played the Media Darling in Florida, and she can't be moved after being played.
Also, since I have one stamina point left and can use the extra stamina point I'd have after two speeches to go back to California at the start of the next turn, I pick up a political opportunity in Maryland. The result is probably the best we could have hoped for - an extra boost for our speeches on the last turn. It might not be a lot...
...but we're so close.
The final turn. Michelle gives a speech in California, but it was probably on a non-top five issue like Reducing Wealth Gap.
We, on the other hand, slam full tilt into new #1 issue The Environment for one last turn.
This is it.
**************************************************************************************************************
ELECTION RESULTS - SERIOUSLY, WATCH THIS, YOU WILL NOT GET THE RESULTS OTHERWISE **************************************************************************************************************