What is your President Forever strategy?

[TheWildCard]

Okay for some reason I suck at this game... Everyonce in awhile I get lucky however and can get a small blow out.

Anyone have any good strategies I can try?

[Lunar]

Make sure your president has a lot of leadership, this translates into what you will be able to do each turn.

Begin researching a scandal immediately and also begin making the most expensive ad possible focusing on a positive aspect like leadership or experience.  Run this add in all of your fair states as well as any of your own states that have a less than 10% lead.

Look at the endorsement guys.  If there are no issue momentum guys just dump your PP into one of them and ignore it for the rest of the game.  If there is only one issue momentum guy do the same thing but grab that one with your PP.  If there are two or more, grab the two closest to your ideology with PP and CP in your first two days.

Now go around the country making policy speeches and barn storming until election day.  Spin the top news and you should be fine.  Keep making positive ads (won't backfire).   If you have that dynamic option on, run the ads in any of your oponent's states that you want too, you'll probably get them.

[nini2287]

I have a somewhat bizarre strategy but it usually works:

I immediately start researching a scandal on the top opponent.

Also for the first week or so, I put all my extra CPs towards picking up all 4 endorsements.  O nce I get into the 70-range, I divide my PPs into picking up all of them.

Sometimes, I also spend the first week doing nothing but issue knowledge to make sure I won debates/have good interviews.

After I pick up the endorsements, I spend most of the time placing foot soldiers in every state (especially those with good momentum or ones I'm about to visit, where the momentum will pick up).

Throughout the entire game I create ads, and delete bad ones to make sure I have 4 good ones.  I will run one or two at a time in either fair states or states I'm losing by between 0 and 5 percentage points.

About a week before the election or so, I release my scandals (not on the same day).

With 2 days to go, I release my ads everywhere I can so long as I have at least $1 left in my campaign.

With 1 day to go, I release all 4 ads in all 50 states.  This way, even though I end up at minus 20 million or so, the news article never gets leaked (keep running the ads on the last day too).

I picked up every state using this strategy with Bill Clinton with the exceptions of Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nebraska and Kansas.  I also won everything except Massachusetts (only lost by a round a point) and D.C. (pulled in 30% of the vote) as Colin Powell in 2008.

[The Duke]

Step 1.
Change your campaign theme to include issue familiarity.  After the debates, this will shoot up in imortance, and it will help to have a theme bonus in it.

Step 2.
Research scandals as soon as possible.  Scandals are the only way to take supporters of your opponent and move them into the undecided column in large numbers.

Step 3.
Hold off on ads until you have three to run at once.  Make 1 ad for each of your 3 campaign themes, once you have all of them, run them all.

Step 4.
Target two kinds of states.  The first is swig states.  The second is any state that begins in your opponent's column, but has a Republican Governor.  The goveernor bonus will deliver you New York, California, Connecticut, Maryland, and Minnesota if you play your cards right.

Step 5.
Give policy speeches and spend all your PPs and CPs on endorsements from issue mementum people (Screw money people when it comes to endorsements).  This will give you bonuses in your momentum.

Step 6.
To hell with footsoldiers, barnstorming, Crusaders, and fundraising.  There are only three things you should be doing with you CPs after the first week: Debate Prep, Issue Knowledge, and most importantly, Spinning News.  Doing well in TV interviews is worth 2% to you.  Winning the debates and spinning that story is worth at least 6%.  Dropping Scandals and spinning them is worth another 8%.

[ilikeverin]

Step 1.
Change your campaign theme to include issue familiarity.  After the debates, this will shoot up in imortance, and it will help to have a theme bonus in it.

Importance has nothing to do with theme bonuses  It's all about your candidate's issue familiarity!

Bleah.

[Justin]

Ford, I followed your advice. I played as Reagan in the 1980 scenario. However I ran out of money. I won only 260-something votes. Is thier anyway to prevent me from seld destructing like that?

[King]

If you really have trouble, play in Dynasimn mode, it starts you off with a lot more undecids.

[Justin]

If you really have trouble, play in Dynasimn mode, it starts you off with a lot more undecids.

That's what I usually do... I usuaslly do great within the last 2 weeks of the campaign, but I get screwed with scandals just a week or a few days before the election. It's like snatching defeat at the jaws of victory.

[ilikeverin]

If you really have trouble, play in Dynasimn mode, it starts you off with a lot more undecids.

People don't do that?

To quote bullmoose: >P

[Akno21]

How do you get President Forever?

[TheWildCard]

How do you get President Forever?

You buy it on-line at

http://www.80soft.com/index.htm

and thanks for the stratigies guys... I already knew most of the stuff about scandals and stuff... I never knew spinning news was that important though.

[Akno21]

How do you get President Forever?

You buy it on-line at

http://www.80soft.com/index.htm

and thanks for the stratigies guys... I already knew most of the stuff about scandals and stuff... I never knew spinning news was that important though.

Ok, Thanks.

[© tweed]

Campaign in tossup state with your presidential candidate and park your VP in his home state.

[??????????]

I had 1972 won for nixon with 49 states. He busted me with some bad ass scandal 3 days out and I lost the election. Fourty Five of the states I had were Bush Country but I still lost quite a few.

[The Duke]

Ford, I followed your advice. I played as Reagan in the 1980 scenario. However I ran out of money. I won only 260-something votes. Is thier anyway to prevent me from seld destructing like that?

Watch the money more closely.  It's hard to be aware of everything that is going on at all times, I know.  Watch what the other guy does, if he isn't running ads, you shouldn't.  Also, be sure to spin the scandal every single turn with 5 CPs until it goes away.

[The Duke]

Step 1.
Change your campaign theme to include issue familiarity.  After the debates, this will shoot up in imortance, and it will help to have a theme bonus in it.

Importance has nothing to do with theme bonuses  It's all about your candidate's issue familiarity!

Bleah.

Yes, it does matter.  If Issue Familiarity is in your theme, you can make TV ads about it and get 2 points as a theme bonus for the ad.  You need to do this because after the debates, the importance of Issue Familiarity does shoot up.

Bleah.

[12th Doctor]

Lots of leadership ( I refuse to play as anyone with less than 4 Leadership) and always, always, always take advantage of high state momentum to create as many foot solidiers as possible.  Even in states that you have a lock on, because then they will generate cash.

Something I just found out recently.  Remember, when you travel and have an activity on the same turn, the travel always comes last.  So if you are traveling from Washington to Ohio and make a speech on abortion in the same turn that speech will be made in Washington, not Ohio (not a good idea if you have a right-wing possition on it).

[12th Doctor]

Step 1.
Change your campaign theme to include issue familiarity.  After the debates, this will shoot up in imortance, and it will help to have a theme bonus in it.

Importance has nothing to do with theme bonuses  It's all about your candidate's issue familiarity!

Bleah.

Yes, it does matter.  If Issue Familiarity is in your theme, you can make TV ads about it and get 2 points as a theme bonus for the ad.  You need to do this because after the debates, the importance of Issue Familiarity does shoot up.

Bleah.

But if you are caught in a major scandle (which happens all to offten in this game) then the same can be said for Integrity.  Leadership and Expireince are always good to theme on, so you have to pick Issue Fam. or Integrity.  I always pick Integrity.  Scandles will do way more damage then losing debates.  I fact, one of my strategies that I employ if I know I'm going to lose the debates is I save all the scandles that I get on the other guy and release one after each debate, to kill his momentum from winning.  

[The Duke]

Its not that you should pick Issue Fam to win debates, its so that when Issue Fam turns bright pink, you can run ads touting your Issue Familiarity that are more effective because of the 2 point theme bonus for ads.

[12th Doctor]

Spin the top news and you should be fine.  Keep making positive ads (won't backfire).  

However, if you start out as the candidate losing candidate then you want to run negative ads against your opponent in the states that you need to knock lose to gain a majority.  Negative ads will bring down your opponents totals even in states that he is far ahead of you in (say 8% ) because they make votes want to not vote for that guy anymore and you can then swope in and pick up the votes.  That only if you are down though.

Negative ads will especially work when an opponents has a large artificial lead (ie Kerry 55% in Missouri) because those voters aren't really commited to Kerry, they are just leaning toward him.  Get my drift?  But they can also work in states that might seem solid for the other guy.  Once, I was playing Bush v Clark and Clark was beating me a couple of weeks before the election with +9% in Arkansas and +10 in West Virginia, all the states seemed to be certain to stay-put, so I threw all my eggs into one basket and campout in New Jersey.  Clark was up by +10 here, but he hadn't vistied it once yet and 10% were still undecided, so I absolutly bombarded it with possitive and negative ads and barnstromed the Hell out of the state (I left twice to keep Ohio and Missouri on my side).  On election night I won it by a whooping 19% and won the election.  Negative ads knocked lose a lot of voters from Clark who were unsure, that is their value.

[12th Doctor]

Its not that you should pick Issue Fam to win debates, its so that when Issue Fam turns bright pink, you can run ads touting your Issue Familiarity that are more effective because of the 2 point theme bonus for ads.

Yes, I know that.  I was simply saying that it isn't worth it to do that.  It is better to concentrate on Integrity incase you get hit with a scandle.

How about, getting caught in a scandle is far worse than not being able to concentrate on Issue Familiarity when the debate come around.  The only reason you would want  to do that is if you lose, you won't be smashed as badly.  Trust, defending youself from a major scandle is far more important.

[??????????]

Lots of leadership ( I refuse to play as anyone with less than 4 Leadership) and always, always, always take advantage of high state momentum to create as many foot solidiers as possible.  Even in states that you have a lock on, because then they will generate cash.

Something I just found out recently.  Remember, when you travel and have an activity on the same turn, the travel always comes last.  So if you are traveling from Washington to Ohio and make a speech on abortion in the same turn that speech will be made in Washington, not Ohio (not a good idea if you have a right-wing possition on it).

I figured that out when I did that in California! LOL

[ilikeverin]

Step 1.
Change your campaign theme to include issue familiarity.  After the debates, this will shoot up in imortance, and it will help to have a theme bonus in it.

Importance has nothing to do with theme bonuses  It's all about your candidate's issue familiarity!

Bleah.

Yes, it does matter.  If Issue Familiarity is in your theme, you can make TV ads about it and get 2 points as a theme bonus for the ad.  You need to do this because after the debates, the importance of Issue Familiarity does shoot up.

Bleah.

Well, yeah, but I barnstorm a whole lot and that's all about your actual issue familiarity score.

So bleah.

[TheWildCard]

Okay my new strategy is

I begin making ads until I have 4(one for my leadership, integrity, and experience, then one attacking my opponent on the issue of the worst scandal I have on him)

I also get as many ads as I can and put a spy in my opponents camp. Then balance keeping my issue knowledge and debate skills up with some barnstorming and spinning the news.

I'll normally be getting my butt kicked until the final week when I release all the scandals on my opponent and all my ads in all states that I'm down by 10 or less in.

[The Duke]

Its not that you should pick Issue Fam to win debates, its so that when Issue Fam turns bright pink, you can run ads touting your Issue Familiarity that are more effective because of the 2 point theme bonus for ads.

Yes, I know that.  I was simply saying that it isn't worth it to do that.  It is better to concentrate on Integrity incase you get hit with a scandle.

How about, getting caught in a scandle is far worse than not being able to concentrate on Issue Familiarity when the debate come around.  The only reason you would want  to do that is if you lose, you won't be smashed as badly.  Trust, defending youself from a major scandle is far more important.

But integrity isn't as important to voters as Issue Fam, so I still say Issue Fam is more important.