Serious Problem with Special Events

from PolMach Forums
I'm not sure how this could have survived any beta testing, but why are the special events claimed in a real time format?

The AI can grab those special events before I even see that they exist and this is a huge advantage over the course of the game. The turn changes from one week to the next and before I know what has happened (sometimes when the news summary is popping up), the AI candidate is popping around the map grabbing the special events, turning them into storytellers, media darlings, or whatever.

How can this be the way this was intended to operate? The AI should not be able to get EVERY special event. Will this be fixed at some point?
16,311 views 14 replies
Reply #1 from PolMach Forums Top
The AI should be paused when popups have focus...if they're still flying around the screen when the Weekly News report is unhidden at the beginning of the turn, then that'd be a bug.

As for the game-dynamic of having to be the first to reach the special event, it really comes down to preference. You see that ? just popped up, so do you leave your current state and try to grab it? Of do you let the other guy have it.

Also, your opponents skill level has a major impact on their quickness in getting those random events. Dumb candidates take about 3 turns to realize there's a ? even there, where-as uber-intelligent candidates will be quick to snatch those operatives up. It was a very deliberate design choice, and is only frustrating when you're still learning the system (IMHO). After youre a pro, you find nothing's sweeter than barely beating your opponent to that "Money Man" or "Hollywood Friend"
Reply #2 from PolMach Forums Top
The trick is just to realize the special events are real time and be ready for them every time you click the 'TURN' button. As long as you're looking for them, I've found that they usually go to whichever candidate happens to be closer to the event (not to the AI every time). I have actually started to like this part of the game. It's something that requires quick hand-eye coordination and a little luck rather than just pure strategy and number crunching
Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from PolMach Forums Top
I agree with you in terms of a multiplayer game, but against the AI having something be real time gives the AI an enormous advantage.

I've only played a few Bush v. Kerry games (losing both because I still havent' got the knack for how to not run out of money in week 31-35) and Kerry grabs those ? immediately when they pop up.

Its just an unfair AI advantage. You need to cause the turn to pause when the turn changes. Mine does not. My weekly news only comes up periodically (maybe every 4th week) and nothing else seems to pause the turn at all. The turn flips and Kerry is in the air, grabbing the special event ?'s.
Reply #4 from PolMach Forums Top
Its just an unfair AI advantage. You need to cause the turn to pause when the turn changes. Mine does not. My weekly news only comes up periodically (maybe every 4th week) and nothing else seems to pause the turn at all. The turn flips and Kerry is in the air, grabbing the special event ?'s.


My news only comes up every so often as well, even though it is checked to show up each turn. Perhaps this is a bug?

I don't think this is an unfair advantage for the AI though. Just be ready when you click the TURN button and you can get some specials too.

You may want to consider playing campaign rather than quick play or whatever it is you're doing. That way you can play as Bush (or whatever candidate you choose) vs. increasingly more difficult opponents. I imagine Kerry is one of the harder ones.
Reply #5 from PolMach Forums Top
The AI *rarely* beats me to a special event. It just takes practice.
Reply #6 from PolMach Forums Top
Frogboy,

But is manual reflexes and arcadey style point and clicking really the kind of skill Political Machine is supposed to be testing?

It just seems silly in a game with so much strategy and depth that a major part of the game is decided by who clicks fastest. I didn't buy the game to hone my fast clicking reflexes.
Reply #7 from PolMach Forums Top
It's not arcadey. I think you need to give it a chance a bit. Once you get in the habit of LOOKING at the board at the start of a turn you'll notice that you have a good chunk of time. Not exactly lightning reflexes.
Reply #8 from PolMach Forums Top
Fair enough. Just voicing my theoretical concerns. I'm sure I'll get the hang of doing it, I just don't like the idea of using my reflexes in this kind of game.
Reply #9 from PolMach Forums Top
Sometimes ( a LOT of times) the AI is in the air going to the ?? in my game AS the ?? pops up...
Reply #10 from PolMach Forums Top
I notice that too. That happens a lot when I'm viewing the newspaper summary.
Reply #11 from PolMach Forums Top
Guess what guys, the AI NEVER gets special events from me. I have grabbed every single one. M aybe it's cause I have a super fast computer, but I just scan the map fast and click when I see it. The AI has never hit the question mark before me in 14 straight games.
Reply #13 from PolMach Forums Top
I've also had a problem with the pop-up newspapers interfering with getting to a "?". When this is the biggest problem is when the AI gives a speech in, say, South Carolina as soon as the turn starts, the newspaper pops up (Bush attacks Kerry's stance on cheeseburgers), and by the time you can dismiss it the AI is already in flight to the ?. It's definitely a problem. You can improve your odds by being prepared. You have to select your candidate at the end of each turn, because if you have your VP or an operative selected, you'll never have time to grab your candidate AND click on the ? before the AI gets there.

It's not the greatest design I've ever seen given the otherwise slow-paced nature of the game.

Also I'm bothered by what happens when a ? pops up in a state that you and your opponent both have a HQ in: you both see it's a RED ?, and don't go there. It sits there the rest of the game and nobody can campaign in Iowa again, for example. That's silly. You should be able to send an advance team in and take out the threat. (An advance team would have been an interesting unit: lowers the stamina required by 1 for every action in a state).
Reply #14 from PolMach Forums Top

This problem was never addressed by updates, which stopped at 1.02. It's a serious and fundamental bug which makes fair and fun gameplay impossible.

I'm personally hesitant to buy the 2008 version (having just learned of it), based on the fact that the only patches to the original game didn't fix the main problems.

Why wasn't this game ever fixed?