Upcoming President Infinity – Version Ericson – 2.3.9

94 thoughts on “Upcoming President Infinity – Version Ericson – 2.3.9”

1. Will this be the “Big update”? With Voting Blocs,Favortism,or issue spectra

2. No, there probably won’t be one big update with those features. The first thing is to update the issues, but this update may or may not include it. Since this update will contain bug fixes for the editor, it will probably be released sooner rather than later.

3. I was wondering if it would be possible to keep someone off the ballot. Just the opposite of getting on the ballot. Also i was wondering if it was possible to change the requirements to get on the ballot in some states. Because i know that in some states you have to get a number of signatures, or pay.

4. – added simulation mode, can now run n trials of a general election campaign and see what the average results are

5. I love the simulation mode.

6. i agree with nick but in the future will the primary’s be included

7. @Anthony

   I don’t know, whether you read that or not, therefore I’ll post it again. 🙂

   I turned on all Dems and Reps with 0 %, who didn’t run in real life and I played as John Kerry. All other real life candidates were turned off.
   But the problem was it simply didn’t play out. No candidate was able to get more percents and at the Iowa caucus every candidate got 1 vote and 0 delegates, except for Brian Schweitzer. He got also just 1 vote but all delegates, because despite not reaching the threshold he was the first candidate and got all the EVs. The same happened in the next states..
   Could you perhaps fix that, Anthony? 🙂

8. Would you ever consider adding the Constitution Party (Darrell Castle) and the independent candidacy of Evan McMullin as third party options for the 2016 scenario, or probably not?

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10. @EAY,

    Constitution party, yes. McMullin, maybe – if he starts to gain traction.

11. @Luki,

    Yes, it’s a bug, thanks for this. It will be fixed with Favorability.

12. @Gabe re primaries in sim mode,

    I don’t know – maybe.

13. @Nick,

    Thanks for this feedback!

14. @William,

    Re activity to keep another campaign off the ballot, it’s an interesting idea – we’ll see.

    Re different requirements for different ballots, yes – I believe there’s already a variable for this in the code, but they have been kept the same for simplicity’s sake. Feedback noted.

15. Okay thanks!
    For McMullin you said, you’ll probably add him if he gains traction. Does this also apply for Rocky De La Fuente? 🙂

16. Hello , is it possible to improve the game by letting us choose a proportional or a majority repartition of the seats for the general election , as it is already possible for the primaries . Thank you

17. Stupid question: how exactly do you enable simulation mode? I can’t find it anywhere.

18. I noticed that when I try to change the id of something (particularly a party id), I get this message

    “Access violation at address 004D6FA4 in module ‘PI.exe’. Read of address 00000018.”

19. @Arjav,

    Select Campaign Screen > Simulation -> On.

20. @Thomas,

    Yes, it might happen at some point.

21. @Luki,

    It applies to anyone.

22. – Select Campaign Screen > can press ‘k’ to enable KickStarter surrogate and endorser rewards
    – 2016 > Green > Vice-Leaders > added Ajamu Baraka
    – 2016 > Green > Jill Stein > Ajamu Barak as default vice-leader

23. @EAY,

    Which campaign are you editing (are you using an official one or one with significant customization)?

24. I was using the official one (1972).

25. Thanks – I’ve now replicated this. Should be fixed in next release.

26. @EAY,

    Editing the party id in 1972 now works in the latest internal. Was there anywhere else you were encountering an error with 1972?

27. Not that I know of for now. Thanks for fixing the bug BTW!!!

28. Welcome!

29. – can now use polling data for leaders for the general election
    – 2016 > start dates > Sep. 7th, 2016 -> Sep. 1st, 2016
    – 2016 > polling data for Sep. 1st entered (Clinton, Trump, Johnson, Stein)
    – fixed bug when editing party id in official 1972 campaign
    – Ad Screen > if delete ad and then no more ads being displayed, will page up if not on first page
    – Primaries > fixed bug where candidates starting with 0% can’t gain support
    – fixed bug when start 1980 campaign in primaries mode
    – fixed bug where setting campaigns to start in primaries by default was not working

30. My candidate never gets invited to any media appearances. Is there a setting I need to change or enable?

    Using the latest release on mac.

    Thank you!

31. Anthony,

    Bug when starting a scenario where you have customized the ads file. “Error reading ads.xml”

    It worked fine in previous versions.

32. Might be a good idea to add the “commander in chief” forum as a debate in the game.

33. hi the scenario of 1968 are bugged too

34. A very funny thing happened in 1972. I was playing Nixon, got the event about him going to China then made a speech about China. “OK Chinese people; let me tell you about China…”

35. @victorraiders,

    Can you tell me exactly what problem you are encountering with 1968?

36. @Kevin,

    This has changed since earlier releases. You have to click the Interviewer circle on the Spin Screen when it has > 0. Then check the relevant check-boxes.

37. @Andres re bug with ads.xml in customized campaign,

    Please send me a compressed (zipped) copy of the custom campaign folder that is receiving the error. I can then look into it.

38. @Toby,

    Ya … It wasn’t exactly a debate, though. More like 2 back-to-back interviews. We’ll see.

39. in primaries i try play and appear error

40. in general election

41. – Strategy Screen > if region has 0 seats, not listed for %s, momentum listing modes

42. Do you have an ETA on this in terms of weeks?

43. @Caleb,

    I’m putting the finishing touches on allowing polling data for the general election. Maybe next week.

44. Thanks for the quick reply! It might be interesting for the forum campaign… 😉

45. So for polling data for canidates for GE does that mean each canidate has serperate GE percentages?
    Thatd be awesome

46. The game is a good bit better than it used to be but the AI still never builds up its command strength and so on even if I have a huge lead in those regards and also the goals for getting on the high score are often unrealistic such as the Democrats getting 270 electoral votes in 1968 or 1980. I would suggest the highscore requirement be the historical electoral vote number a party got +1 give or take depending on the candidate strength and electoral votes compared to the historical candidate. For example Humphrey in 1972 would have a higher goal than McGovern.

47. More of a question- have we changed how you get offered/do TV interviews. I never get the option anymore?

48. Maybe an event can be added for Hillary about her basket of deplorables comment and her fainting.

49. Clinton’s stamina should definitely be at 2.

50. @Rophil,

    Considering changing it.

51. @Jesse,

    The ‘deplorables’ comment is internal to the campaign, and scripted events for the official 2016 campaign are for events external to the campaigns.

    Her fainting (or whatever happened) is a little different. Given what I understand about the situation, it would be more comparable to a ‘gaffe’ event that occurs when a candidate has low EPs.

52. I find it really odd to consider Clinton’s stamina to be 2. She was diagnosed with pneumonia, yet had at least 3 events on that same day, including a press conference and a fundraiser. She has had a VERY full schedule. (One that couldn’t be replicated with the stamina points that she has in the game) Hard to say that since she got ill (and still held multiple events while being ill) and had to leave an outdoor event on a morning where the humidity was described as “oppressive”, is hard to justify.

    The best way to replicate would be to adjust the way “gaffes” work in the game. When a candidate is close to “0” in stamina for multiple turns, there could be a certain possibility of becoming “exhausted” or “ill” which would then cut down CP’s for a certain amount of turns.

53. @Aaron,

    Yes, having an ‘exhausted’ or ‘ill’ news event makes sense, where one’s Stamina is temporarily lowered.

    I’m not sold on moving Clinton’s Stamina -> 2. Feedback welcome on it.

54. I 100% agree Clintons stamina should be a 2 think of her vs Trump…she litteraly only comes out for 15 min and has not nearly as many rallys or press confrences as Trump I almost think Trump deserves the rare 5 for stamina
    Also will percentages for the GE be per canidate not per party now?

55. @Anthony

    I think she’s been campaigning about as much as any candidate. I think a 3 reflect about how much she campaigns. I think anything attributed to her health should be an event or something.

    Trump should be a 4 in stamina. Not a 5. I don’t see the news sources or pundits making any special notice of having a Teddy Roosevelt-like stamina. He’s campaigning about as much as Obama did in his first term.

56. Libertarian re “I almost think Trump deserves the rare 5 for stamina”,

    I’m considering it, like I’m considering a 2 for Clinton. I’m not for either change at this point, though.

    “will percentages for the GE be per canidate not per party now?”

    By candidate or by generic party numbers, automatically modified to reflect candidate strengths.

57. @SANC,

    Highscores go up the more seats you win than you start with.

58. @Alistair,

    Spin Screen > Interviews circle > click if more than 0 > check relevant check boxes.

59. So for example if im in the campaign editor do i still enter the % under region for the party or canidate in the GE?

60. @Jonathen you realize the most she comes out is 15 min at max and like i mentioned. And the media hates trump why would they compare him to rossevelt?

61. @libertarian

    If there was a clearly difference between there levels of stamina, I think the media would point this out pretty regularly, as a point of concern. The media had no problem talking about how the scandals, Clinton’s ties to things, the fact that she got pneumonia could all pose a problem. Her stamina hasn’t been in doubt.

    When she’s on TV, she gives long speeches. But she’s also constantly traveling. You’d have to determine if Trump is also visiting more cities and towns every week. If he’s hosting and speaking at as many fundraisers, etc.

    I don’t think she’s taking days off because she’s worn out or anything. To me, a stamina of 2 would be someone that isn’t really campaigning. Perot’s VP, Admiral Stockdale would be a 2 in stamina. She probably campaigned more than Bernie Sanders as well.

    I agree with Trump being a 4. But I’d have to hear more about his stamina as being legendary for him to be a 5, in my opinion. The news doesn’t have to like him to take notice of it, if it is worthy of being a 5. It would be self-evident.

    In my opinion, any 5, is for legendary status. I think if there was a trait called “entertainment/media” for people that know how to be news and stay news, he would be a 5 in that. This legendary trait definitely helps him–he knows when and how to say something to draw attention to himself.

62. @Lib,

    It’s still an option, and the game still uses the committed-leaning-undecided numbers from that whether polling is enabled or not.

63. Re Clinton’s Stamina and lack of rallies,

    It’s not clear to me if this is from lack of stamina or lack of enthusiasm. She can’t hold big rallies if she can’t draw thousands of people. This might change as we get closer to the election.

64. Im asking because i personally just delete all the polls cause I mainly do historical play by plays any eta? @anthony

65. Must remember that the “stamina” in this game reflects ALL actions. issue knowledge, debate prep (two of which Clinton is tops at). Fundraising, making ads, getting endorsements, surrogates (2 CP’s per day for 5 days to convince Bill to campaign for her again? Just seems strange, but it’s a lot of energy to take up. Maybe better that he just needs 5 days off? Not that the candidate has to use up the candidates energy?), not to mention scandals. And that the stamina also effects what can be done with the VP. And then building up foot-soldiers and organization strength and polling. Playing as Clinton in the game, as stamina is at the moment, you can’t come anywhere near realistic of what she is actually doing. Lowering her stamina would just make campaign actions for her in the game even more unrealistic.

    Remember Trump isn’t doing all these fundraisers, or brushing up on issues knowledge, or doing any debate prep. He hasn’t been working on getting more endorsers or really any big name surrogates. He hasn’t created many ads either. Doing the same actions in the game as he does in real life leaves EXTRA CP’s every turn.

    **Point being: Having Clinton as a 2 or 3 and Trump as a 4 makes absolutely no sense unless you radically rework how actions are completed in the game. (making debate prep and issue knowledge prep more effective and thus less time consuming and degrade slower, making ad creation not cost energy, making scandal research not take energy, increase behind the scenes fundraising, removing CP costs of surrogates)

66. @Lib re ETA,

    Best guess is end of next week.

67. “Remember Trump isn’t […] brushing up on issues knowledge, or doing any debate prep.”

    How do you know this?

68. @anthony

    It’s been reported by most every news outlet. His son made a comment about it recently and so has Donald. Saying, in effect, he doesn’t want to sound rehearsed. He also sent out a really strange poll (if you want to call it that) to backers in an email asking about how he should approach the debate. Questions ranged from “Should Trump refer to her as ‘Crooked Hillary'” and “Should Donald contrast his tell it like it is style with Clinton’s corruption.”

    Recently, Trump’s latest campaign manager said this: “He’s an unconventional candidate, so debate prep in the classic sense doesn’t apply to him. That applies to the accoutrements that are usually associated with getting ready for debates: contrived gestures, lecterns, a group of consultants in belted khakis holed up in a cabin, the Socratic method of peppering questions. That’s not him.”

    In an interview with the NYT, Trump said “I believe you can prep too much for those things. It can be dangerous. You can sound scripted or phony — like you’re trying to be someone you’re not.”

69. @Aaron,

    I think it’s true that Trump isn’t doing conventional debate prep. However, watch his recent interview with Jimmy Fallon, where Trump explicitly says he’s doing (and has done) debate prep.

70. – Editor > if no polling for given leader or generic for immediately prior to start date, game will look for polling from other dates
    – Starting %s > Polls > if using generic %s, modifies based on candidate’s personal attributes (Leadership, Experience, Integrity, Issue Familiarity, Charisma) and platform
    – Editor > fixed bug where deleting an issue could cause a bug related to scripted events about that issue

71. Can I ask why sometimes the Democrats will have a 60-31-10 spead when you look at the Percentage Details? Isn’t it supposed to add up to 100?

    Democrats have this in several states. Never seen it for a Republican.

    Any reasoning for this?

72. @Jim,

    Probably a typo. Computer automatically adjusts %s proportionately to sum to 100.

73. Quick question for Anthony. What about the early vote? Mostly the absentee ballots. Does that have any chance of being put in the game? Could make a big difference if you’re losing early on and then start to make up ground. Could fall short on Election Day. Over half of North Carolina votes before Election Day. Be cool to see that be a thing in President infinity. I understand though, easier said then done.

74. anthony_270admin September 19, 2016 at 2:17 pm #

    Thanks! I always wondered if it was some trick to ensure the Democratic candidate didn’t lose a state it shouldn’t or something. Appreciate the response.

75. @Brent,

    It’s a good idea – we’ll see.

76. I know you’re doing a million other things right now with crunch time with the election coming up. Keep up the awesome work!

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78. – no longer offered > 5 interviews per day
    – Editor > Vice-Leaders > fixed bug where could convert all vice-leaders to leaders and so have no base vice-leader to create new vice-leaders from

79. @Anthony

    I find the candidates are far too likely to cancel debates in the general election. Is there a way to make this very rare? I’m finding that it happens at least 50%, if not slightly more often than not.

80. @Anthony

    Any chance that more newspaper endorsements could be included? I’ve been seeing more mentions of papers that have always endorsed Conservatives, going for Clinton. Another paper went for Johnson.

81. fixed bug with Offers > create offer to withdraw > x% > offer > close screen > open again > 0%

82. @Jonathan re debates,

    Can you say more about this? Debates should only be canceled if only 1 candidate meets the threshold.

83. @Jonathan re papers,

    If you have specific suggestions, feel free to suggest them here. I’ll consider it.

84. @anthony re: debates

    This is happening in the general election. I don’t know if it was included since Trump has threatened in the past to not show up to debates or what. Maybe it happens only when I start from the primaries. The few times I started from the general, the debates seem to always be held. When someone cancels out of the debate, the message in the “notes” section says, “______cancels the debate, because the opponent isn’t worth debating” or something along those lines.

    @anthony re: newspapers

    – Dallas Morning News endorses Clinton (first Dem since FDR)
    – Cincinnati Enquirer endorses Clinton (first Dem since FDR)
    – New Hampshire Union Leader endorses Johnson (first non-Rep in a century)
    – Richmond Times-Dispatch endorses Johnson (after routinely endorsing Reps)

    Here are some other major papers:
    – New York Daily News for Clinton, went for Romney last time.
    – Houston Chronicle for Clinton, went for Romney last time.
    – San Francisco Chronicle — Clinton
    – Winston-Salem Journal, endorses Johnson, went for Obama last time
    – LA Times — Clinton
    – NY Times — Clinton

    2016 Primary endorsements of major papers:
    – Des Moines Register — Clinton & Rubio
    – Concord Monitor – Clinton & Kasich
    – Boston Globe – Clinton & Kasich
    – Iowa City Press-Citizen – Clinton & Kasich
    – Tampa Bay Times – Clinton & Bush
    – San Antonio Express-News – Clinton & Bush
    – Las Vegas Sun – Clinton
    – Star Tribune – Clinton
    – Detroit Free Press – Clinton & Kasich
    – Miami Herald – Clinton & Rubio
    – The Charlotte Observer – Clinton
    – St. Louis Post-Dispatch – Clinton
    – The Plain Dealer – Clinton
    – The Philadelphia Inquirer – Clinton
    – Hartford Courant – Clinton
    – Baltimore Sun – Clinton
    – Rolling Stone – Clinton
    – The Nation – Sanders
    – The Seattle Times – Sanders
    – Philadelphia Tribune – Sanders
    – The Portland Mercury – Sanders
    – San Francisco Bay Guardian – Sanders
    – San Francisco Examiner – Sanders
    – Huffington Post
    – Boston Herald – Christie & Rubio
    – New York Sun – Cruz
    – The Post and Courier – Kasich
    – Chicago Tribune – Rubio
    – National Enquirer – Trump
    – New York Observer – Trump
    – New York Post – Trump

    Here’s a list of the top 25 circulating US newspapers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_the_United_States

    The tricky thing with Newspaper is that they endorse in the primaries and general. I was thinking that all endorsers/surrogates of candidates the drop out, should be released once again. Since Bill Clinton would campaign for a Democrat if Hillary Clinton lost in the primaries, for instance.

85. @Jonathan,

    “This is happening in the general election. I don’t know if it was included since Trump has threatened in the past to not show up to debates or what. Maybe it happens only when I start from the primaries. The few times I started from the general, the debates seem to always be held.”

    No, nothing added to reflect Trump threatening not to show up for a debate. Sounds like a bug related to starting in the primaries. Is it possible one of the major candidates is falling below the % threshold?

86. @Jonathan re newspaper endorsements,

    Thanks for these – my question is just how much these matter. I’m starting to think social media is now more powerful than old-school media, and this is being reflected in the campaign.

87. @Anthony

    No. Both parties are over 40% in popular vote heading into the debates.

    As far as the newspapers go. I’m sure social media might be more important, but I think the major papers might have some influence. I’d consider just adding those top 25 papers and make them a slight local influence. But maybe you’re right and they aren’t important enough for inclusion. They’d at least be events for the game. Boston Globe endorses _____ !

88. Ok, thanks for this – noted.

89. – primaries > using polls for start %s > fixed bug where candidate with 0% wouldn’t gain % during campaign
    – Mac > Election Screen > export button no longer overlaps other buttons
    – Options > can now set whether showing days until primaries on map

90. @Jonathan,

    I found a bug in the debate code that might have been causing this. Fixed in latest internal.

91. general election > debates > fixed bug where debates canceled

92. Just had a result for 2008 primaries that seems like it needs a fix. On Dem side (I’m playing GOP), by the time of the convention only candidates that had not pulled out was Obama (1970 delegates, 2028 needed for a majority) and Edwards (704 delegates, had been attacking Obama and vice versa, very bad relations). Hillary Clinton had dropped out (542 Delegates), and so had Biden (417 Delegates). Dodd, Richardson, Kucinich all had a few delegates but had dropped out. Hillary hadn’t endorsed anyone since dropping out.

    As people were eliminated one by one their delegates kept going to either Edwards, Clinton, or Biden. Ultimately it came down to Clinton being eliminated, giving her support to Biden, then Edwards being eliminated, giving his support to Biden, and Obama being left with 1970 delegates. Biden is the nominee.

    Obviously, it seems like a problem if a candidate can go in 50 delegates shy of a majority, and more than 1000 delegates ahead of the competition, and ends up getting beat out by a candidate that had dropped out of the race. Maybe a rule that if no one has a majority in a round of voting, the eliminated person’s support can only go to campaigns that haven’t dropped out?

93. – Editor > Polls > fixed bug where creating new poll you couldn’t edit already selected party’s %s

94. @Tanner,

    Thanks for this example and noted.