President Forever 2016 v. 1.3.5 has been released. This adds Joe Biden as a leader (off by default) in 2016, adds Kirsten Gillibrand, Brian Schweitzer, and Mike Huckabee as vice-leaders in 2016, and adds an initial Editor (Beta).
Note: if you are a President Forever 2012 owner, you are eligible for this upgrade.
To update:
http://270soft.com/updates-redownloads/
Version information:
http://270soft.com/updates-redownloads/president-forever-2016-version-information/
Can yall also add Huckabee as a leader for the primaries?
Re: Surrogate Tracker
It would be interesting to see what the opponent’s surrogates are doing.
Kind of like how you can you the side way arrows to scroll through player information.
I agree with Will.
Also, please add Huntsman to 2016. He should probably be the most moderate Republican.
Thanks for the update!
Re: Rally
Is it possible to do a joint mega-rally with a surrogate?
If you’re going to Jersey, you can rally w/ Christie; Florida w/ Rubio; Cali w/ Jerry Brown
etc…
Thanks for the update and being responsive to your customers.
@kevin,
Huckabee will probably be added as a candidate soon.
@Will re: joint mega-rallies, ideas noted – we’ll see.
@Will re: surrogate tracker,
Thanks for this – noted.
@Jonathan,
I’ve added Huntsman to the list of possible candidates to add.
Could you add Santorum as a candidate?
Are the plans to make the map a little bigger, or have a zoom in/out feature?
When I’m trying to campaign in RI, CT, and DE, it’s quite difficult to line up my airplane icon just right to hit those states.
Also with that, is it possible to send your candidates to the territories/DC? If not, could it be?
Playing as Biden with Clinton as my running mate, I tried to barnstorm using Clinton in New Mexico in October 2016, and an error message came up saying, “Canvas does not allow drawing”.
Last couple times I’ve tried playing, when I’m ready to check for endorsements, I’m getting “Out of Bounds” errors.
It don’t seem to matter how many candidates I’m including in the primaries.
This seems to happen fairly early in the game, too.
Would really appreciate an option to skip the debate or to have an automatic button for debate prep.
Could we make so that if a candidate has dropped out during the primary in “human mode,” they’re completely skipped when their turn would come up?
If they’re no longer competing, what’s the point of having to have their turn come up?
I like the idea of a “Mega Rally”
Playing now as santorum came out of primaries attacking Gingrich in debates and now that i am in the ge i cant promote myself in debates
Having the same problem as Kevin on the debate target. I was Christie. I had targeted Rubio. In the general i was attacking rubio, while facing O’Malley.
O’Mally, on the other hand, didn’t do debate prep… he got weaker every time.
When is the next update?
I concur on mega-rallies, sounds like one of the best ways to use surrogates.
Question about the surrogates… i was wondering if you could after the first time you activate them make it where they dont cost PIP’s or not have to use the PIP’s after you spend them on the endorsement because then you have no PIP’s to get more endorsements or get other candidates out of the race it is very unrealistic
My guess is that you have a limited amount of PIP so you have to prioritize what is important to you. However, the endorsement system in the game is flawed, I should be able to use more than one CP to influence endorsers. I had a game where Obama was endorsed by Susana Martinez mainly because there are way to many endorsers in this game and I (or the other gop candidates) did not manage to get the endorsement of all, so Obama kept getting them.
There are still some inaccuracies regarding endorsers as well, Jay Nixon is a democrat and is not center-right as the game says.
Another thing to note, I played the game on the Hard difficulty level as Obama the other day and by April I was winning Texas (without campaigning, just fundraising there) as well as Arkansas, South Carolina, West Virginia, North Carolina tied in South Dakota and Arizona while loosing Wisconsin. This game needs to become more accurate and realistic before I continue playing it.
I’d change the 2016 states slightly in regards to how they vote. If you look at this map, you can see the voting shifts: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/11/07/us/politics/obamas-diverse-base-of-support.html
Obviously, these maps don’t mean the states will shift to another party; however, it may make some states more of a possibility of switching.
I dont find the endorsement flawed just turning them into surrogates u already used pips for the endorsement you shouldnt have to use more pips to make them campaign for you
Being able to use more CP’s would be nice. Other than that the main flaw I see is that I have to spend a PIP and 10 total CPs to activate a Governor surrogate (not to mention CP’s used to get the endorsement), then they can only campaign 5 turns. Governor and senator endorsers should at least be able to go 10 turns before you have to reactivate them.
It would be nice to eventually see a few more 3rd party candidates like P4E 2008 had. Perhaps Johnson’s main competitor for the LP nomination, R. Lee Wrights (VP choice: Bill Still), as well as Green candidates Dr. Jill Stein and Roseanne Barr (VP choices could be Cheri Honkala and Cindy Sheehan, respectively). It would be interesting to see what kind of vote totals Barr would have gotten – after losing the Green nomination, she ran a half-serious campaign for the Peace and Freedom Party that still got .4% in California. Here’s a Green Party ballot access map from this year: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ballot_access_of_Jill_Stein_in_the_2012_US_presidential_election.svg
Also in the game I noticed Pennsylvania is off by default for the Libertarians, but they actually made the ballot in that state. Lastly, others have said this in the past, but it would be nice to see Herman Cain in the 2012 scenario (though off by default). I realize other things like expanding the candidate editor are a higher priority right now, but these are just ideas for things that could be added down the road.
Continuing with the topic of PIPs…
One thing I have trouble with understanding is why all the Democrats in the 2016 Scenario all have 15 PIP, All the Republicans (except Rand Paul) have 10 PIP, and Sen. Paul has only 5 PIP.
Where this REALLY disconnects with me is that Sen. Elect Elizabeth Warren from the Democrats has 15 PIP.
In 2016, it’s an open field, and not necessarily will it be an “Advantage: Democrats” scenario that year. Shouldn’t all candidates be equal on this? If not, what’s the justification behind Elizabeth Warren, who has yet to even be inaugurated, having 15 PIP when a Senator like Rand Paul, who’s actually served for two years now, having only 5 PIP?
They really should be equalized, considering how far out 2016 is. But if not, Rand Paul is worthy of more than 5 (when his competition all would have 10), and Warren from the Democrats should have less than her competitors from her party.
I know it’s probably a really large request; but is there any chance of adding in specifically where in a state you choose to campaign. For example you could choose specific congressional districts to campaign in rather than just the state as a whole.
@James,
Not at this point – it would require adding an additional layer of data, essentially putting everything in at the congressional layer (say) instead of the state level. This would involve a significant amount of alterations of how the game worked.
@DJ re: PIPs distribution for 2016,
I agree – I’ll take a look at this for 2016.
Instead of having Maine and Nebraska as one political unit (since the code isn’t there to provide a win by congressional district), you should just break Nebraska into two political units.
& Maine too
@ICX, “Also in the game I noticed Pennsylvania is off by default for the Libertarians, but they actually made the ballot in that state.”
I believe at the point of the game start, they were not on the ballot. A player can work to gain access as the Libertarian candidate (double-click on Pennsylvania, click the ballot button).
@Kevin re: PIPs for surrogates,
Feedback noted – thanks.
@Jonathan re: 2016 percentages,
Thanks for this – updating the starting party percentages for 2016 based on 2012 results is on the list.
@Reuben re: CPs and endorsers,
The endorser system has been changed in the latest internal to allow for CPs to be used on multiple endorsers per turn (although each endorser still has a 1 CP limit per turn).
@Reuben re: Jay Nixon,
Thanks for this – noted.
Another thing you can consider adding
Straw polls – for momentum. Maybe an icon in the Iowa window that gives you the option to use cp to get people to the straw poll and also invest money option (like congress forever) of how much you want to invest into it. This isn’t something pivotal or really important but all the infrastructure is already in place for you to code it.
@Rz re: Nebraska,
Can you say more about what you mean by ‘break Nebraska into two units’?
The problem as I understand it is that the votes are connected – 1 EV for each CD, and then 2 for the state combined, which includes the CDs.
That’s really what I meant. I guess since it is technically inaccurate to how it is already is I would rather have the expanded option of seeing how each congressional district breaks down even if it’s still inaccurate.
As for the political units, I meant split it in two and name it by congressional (NE-1, NE-2)
Since whoever controls the House wins if neither candidate gets 270 EVs, how about making the House less likely to select their party member if one of the following occurs:
1. Their party loses by a significant percentage in the popular vote.
2. Many of the majority party ends up endorsing someone of another party.
Also, please change the convention in case a “locked up” nominee should be contested. For example, candidate locks up the nomination, but ends up collapsing before the convention and stubborn candidate appears to be the new popular favorite.
Also, for old scenarios, like 1912, all the candidates should stay in at the end, so the convention can be more like the old conventions.
Anthony admin, game crashes if you change the default candidate characteristics on candidate editor.
Also the game is very easy. I had won 76% of the popular vote with Gary Johnson against Obama and Santorum. I had won win all candidates on HARD MODE with large victories on General Election and Primaries, even Huntsman, who is the candidate at last place.
WEB ads too powerful, very cheap and if you run them for 2 months and you don’t do anything else, you are the nominee.
If you run them on general election against our opponent, the ”negative momentum” story will appear, which will result on ultimate defeat for your opponent no matter if you are not doing anything.
Yes, I think there should be a lot of negative feedback for candidates if they aren’t moving around enough, or doing nothing. However, this should not occur in older past elections as candidates sometimes didn’t even leave their porch.
I also think it should be impossible for certain candidates to endorse candidates that are wildly different. I’ve been endorsed by very liberal endorsers while playing as a conservative and I’ve been endorsed by Unions despite switching to an anti-Union platform.
Although rare, I think there should be a mega-scandal which can cause a leading candidate to drop out or become very unlikely to win. Generally, I see the scandals only slightly hurt candidates in this game. A good example is Herman Cain, Cain was one of the leading Republicans in the primary and the mega-scandal hit him before the primaries began and he had to drop out. He could have stayed in, but he would have had to do a lot to work off the scandal and reestablish is elect-ability. Generally, when I get a scandal in the game, I just spin it and run positive ads about myself, and barnstorm in the more populous states. After a week, sometimes less, it goes away. I think the mega-scandal should last a month and lower the integrity rating down to 2 or 1, depending on the previous integrity of the candidate. I think candidates with a 5 integrity should be immune to mega-scandal.
This might be a long shot, but I think it would be cool if there was a way to link elections together; for instance, if you win the 2016 election (or even a past election like, 1848), then you move on to the next election, automatically with your candidate.The goal is to achieve party dominance. I don’t know how you’d tie in the accomplishments of the president–could be randomized. For instance, if your candidate wins the election, and then it turns out that the presidency was exceptional, then he will get to run uncontested for his parties nomination. If he was terrible, then a bunch of candidates will declare candidacy and run again you. Additionally, your odds would be tougher as the people might be against you.
Likewise, if you select a candidate originally that gains the nomination, but loses badly, your chance of gaining the nomination next year will be tougher.
Also, party domination will also lead to a desire for change. Therefore, the game becomes naturally more difficult as people get tired of Republican, Democratic, or even 3rd party rule.
This would allow for many what-ifs. What if Washington tried for a 3rd term? What if Hamilton jumps in during 1796 or 1800? What if WHHarrison or Lincoln doesn’t die and if Lincoln runs for a 3rd term? What if CA Arthur had won nomination during his reelection bid? What if TRoosevelt won in 1912, but died in office? What if FDR had died before Truman became VP and the pro-Socialist Henry A Wallace became president? What if Eisenhower had not survived his heart attack and Nixon became president in the 50s? What if LBJ stayed in the race in 1968? What if Perot had not jumped in the race? What if Nader had not?
It would be interesting to change US history. I have some ideas of how the success of the winning candidates could be “randomized” to allow for a realistic and various transition at each election.
Future elections, could include real-life politicians, probable future politicians and obviously fictional candidates, as we don’t know who sme of the candidates might be in the 2020s–we will probably see more women and minority candidates, probably less from political dynasties as well.
Just a long-term idea.
Here are some 1912 endorsers. These are some of the major congress people of the time.
Sen. Simon Guggenheim of CO (R)
Sen. Henry A. du Pont of DE (R)
Sen. William Borah of ID (R)
Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge of MA (R) *huge endorsement
Sen. James A. Reed of MO (D)
Sen. Robert M. La Follette, Sr. (R) *also Rep Candidate
Sen. Reed Smoot of UT (R) *should have huge bonus in Utah
Sen. Benjamin Tillman of SC (D)
Sen. Thomas Gore of OK (D)
Sen. Elihu Root of NY (R)
Sen. Albert B. Fall of NM (R)
Rep. Champ Clark of MO (D) *also candidate and speaker of the house
Rep. Carter Glass of VA (D)
Rep. John Nance Garner of TX (D)
Rep. Cordell Hull of TN (D)
Rep. Willis C. Hawley of OR (R)
Rep. Charles August Lindbergh of MI (R)
Rep. Oscar Underwood of AL (D) *also candidate
When can we expect the next update and what will be on it?
@Kevin,
I’m guessing next update will be at the end of this week, and will include a button to automate surrogates, the ability to spend 1 CP on multiple endorsers per turn, and more.
@Jonathan re: 1912 endorsers,
Thanks for these – should be included in the next 1912 update.
@Jonathan re: linking together elections,
I think this would make more sense if the simulation were expanded to include playing between elections as well. Like you say, it’s a long-term idea.
@And re: “game crashes if you change the default candidate characteristics on candidate editor.”
Thanks for this – can you be more specific?
Hi everyone,
Just a note that all comments are read, whether I respond specifically or not.
Hope we will see a lot more features being added!
Adm, please ADD escenario editor, so we can make new maps, new escenarios, this will help for example that you don’t have to do changes to existing escenarios for us. This should be the top priority right now.
When is the next release? It’s been oddly quiet on this blog the past few days.
I’m guessing with the recent news of Sen. Jim DeMint retiring from the Senate, once his replacement is appointed, DeMint’s replacement will take his place as a potential endorser for the 2016 scenario.
Oh, shouldn’t Obama be an endorser for the 2016 election. He should probably lean Biden.
Is the new update going to include Huckabee as a candidate and i think Santorum, Perry, Huntsman, and Bauchman should be added as VP’s even though Perry or Santorum might decide to enter the race later, Perry is meeting with donors, and Santorum is telling close friends that it is a good possibility that he will run
And when will be the next update?
When’s the next update it’s been 19 days
I can’t even play through a game without some error coming up. I tried to save one game and I kept getting a message that it cannot write specific save file and then when I go to load it I get the out of bounds error. I am sick and tired of a game that I cannot play all the way through. I suggest you work out all the bugs for your game before claiming a “official release” I don’t have to go through 200 updates for any other computer or video game I buy so you should be no different. I’m sick and tired of going weeks without any indication of any of these problems ever being resolved. I bought this game back in May and I find it very ridiculous that I’m approaching year 2 of having this program and not being able to enjoy it at all. I even went a period of weeks where I just stopped trying to play it in hopes that an actual finished version would be released.
I am still seeing some performance issues with this version. Often when I open a “state screen” or secondary screen, it turns blue and the game freezes.
Any suggestions for a fix?
Thank you!
@Kevin K,
After the next release, I will focus on finding and fixing these bugs and fixing them. If you have any more specific accounts of when and where any error or bug might occur, please let me know.
@KM,
Thank you for this feedback – and my apologies for the errors you are experiencing. Yes, I would like to be able to wait until everything is sorted out before release, but a hard external timeline (the election) prompted release before every bug had been ironed out. I am changing the way that new releases will be done, and as noted above, finding and fixing these bugs is the top priority after the next release. As with the above, and specifics on when and where any error might occur is appreciated.
@Craig,
Next update should be later today.
@Kevin,
We’ll keep an eye on things – thanks for this. Santorum is on the list of candidates to add, and I’ve added Perry as well.
@DJ,
Yes, once a Senator retires, they will be changed in the 2016 scenario.
(Once a new Senator is elected or appointed.)