Part 19: - Week 12

Week 12

Hey, guess what? I just went and lost all the images I had for this week's update. So I guess you're just getting a short Cliff's Notes version for this week, because redoing the week means things go differently, and then I have to redo the Week 12 spreadsheet page, and honestly, fuck that. Here's what we did:

- Fundraised in California a lot. Made about 1 million from that.
- Got the Tea Party endorsement.

Here's what Michelle did on the next turn:

- Made a speech about Wall Street Regulations in Missouri.

We also got to choose our vice presidents:

- We, of course, picked Herman Cain.
- Michelle picked Hillary.

The VP does one thing: You put him into a state and he gives an awareness boost every week. 3% to that state, 1.5% to surrounding states. He also gives you money based on the VP's Money stat. Cain gave us a million bucks, and Hillary should have given Michelle the same amount. Donald Trump or Michael Bloomberg, my VPs of choice, give 2.5 million bucks, with no actual downside from what I can tell.

Wow, when I put it like that, it's almost like fuck all happens in these updates. Anyway, let's just get to the meat and potatoes of this week.

THEMCD'S HOT CAMPAIGN STRATEGIES, TIPS AND TRICKS


Well, first off, here's the spreadsheet with the page for the Week 12 stats. Now, what do I think of our situation? Well, to be quite frank, it fucking sucks. Here's how Michelle is beating us:

1) In the awareness game, pretty much across the entire country, bar a few specific states (California, Texas, Florida).
2) In the swing state game, beating us heavily in Michigan and Ohio, while we've gotten a slight lead in Florida and that's pretty much it.
3) While she isn't beating us in the endorsement game, she has tied us, which is basically a loss for us, given that we were supposed to beat her in it. Next turn, she's going to get the Christian Confederation endorsement, I already know this because I checked ahead.
4) In the infrastructure game, having a shitton more HQs and the same amount of level 3 HQs as we have.

Meanwhile, this is where we're winning:

1) ...in the ad game, maybe? She has two TV ads out, but only one is on an effective topic, and we have ground game ads placed that are effective? Then again, those TV ads are still a net boon to awareness nation-wide, so that's still good for her.
2) Also, the political operative game, but that's only because the AI at this level doesn't actually use them.

...you know, I'm starting to see why people might think this game is difficult.

So, what can we do to fix this conundrum? Well... that's tough to answer. It feels more and more like we bungled the early game, and all we can do at this point is damage control. A lot is going to come down to whether or not we can hold California, and just how many resources holding California is going to take. We have money now, and we could get started - late, but better than never - at putting down some much needed infrastructure and ads, but then we wouldn't be holding California. If we do try holding California, it will require building a political operative HQ somewhere out in bumfuck nowhere, and that's time not spent in swing states. Pretty sure we're either already, or very close to, being stuck in Morton's Fork. We need multiple things, and simply don't have enough stamina to do them.

I mean, if you told me to just take over and try and salvage this, here's what I'd probably do (if I really did, I'd probably spend more time thinking about it):

- Build a political operative HQ in Montana or somewhere like that. We simply put too much into California to not fight to the bloody death over it, and the key to that is Intimidators, a political operative type that reduces opponent awareness by 4% per week. Three of those and we could maybe stymie Michelle.
- Get another level 3 campaign HQ up in an important state. We need more base income.
- Run more fundraisers in California. The money we get is still far above what we'd get in Texas (about 300K right now in California vs. about 200K in a hypothetical 100% awareness Texas), and we need money.
- Start running positive TV ads praising us for supporting Fighting ISIS. Fighting ISIS is our winning issue, and attacking Obama, who has a pretty much null stance on it, over it is less effective than praising ourselves for it, since ads are not only directly additive, but also give a percentual increase per week.
- Start placing strategic ground game ads in the swing states we can still win. I'd give up on Michigan and Ohio at this point - too much effort to get back into the game there.
- Hope like hell my operative game is up to snuff.

That's basically what I'd probably do if I took over. I'm really not sure about this. The difficulty is low, but the lack of time is our biggest enemy. Hm, you know, speaking of me taking over...

VOTING

We're going to be doing something different this time. We're about halfway through, and we've had our share of campaign experiences. So now, I'm going to posit a simple question: Who should be running things from here on out? Basically, you have two answers.

A) No problem, keep on keeping on. You folks keep voting on decisions, and I interpret them in a way that seems similar to what you want. I continue giving more in-depth advice every four weeks.

B) Oh god, this campaigning is harder than we thought. I take over completely, explaining my reasoning for the particular actions I take in the updates.

You know, thinking about it, bailing on a campaign that's going up in flames and leaving the successor with a shitty infrastructure really is the politician's thing to do. Then again, you folks seem to be the type to want to ride this flaming zeppelin all the way to the ground. The choice is yours!