Game balance issues

from PolMach Forums
I understand that the game is supposed to get harder and harder but this is moving past fun to down right irritating.

Can you please either get rid of the newspaper or stop the computer from being able to do things while its on my screen? I can't count the number of times I have missed an opportunity at a question mark because before I can move I am greeted with a newspaper and before I can close it my opponent has already got the advisor, moved it to a new state, and placed an ad in yet another state. Often I am unable to do anything before my opponent completely finishes his turn because of that paper.

Also, are the computer opponents held to the same financial constraints the player is? I am stuck on Clinton right now because I simply can't come close to keeping up with his spending. I just quit a game because in week 6 he had 5 tv ads, 2 radio ads, and 9 newspaper ads with only 5 HQ's. I was still trying to pick up states and BOOM half the country is in his corner.

I have tried everything I can think of from not moving until I had all the endorsements, which looked promising until Clinton finished the game with 12 TV ads and suddenly I was the also ran, to replicating his every move which I simply couldn't match monetarily despite having a user made player with just as high of a fund raising skill.

I like a game that gets more challenging but this is quickly becoming more frustrating than fun.
5,849 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from PolMach Forums Top
I'm sorry to those who keep seeing my replies in these threads, but I am convinced that the computer "cheats." The other possibilty is that as the campaign mode gets increasingly more challenging you start with less money--but perhaps the cpu still gets the same amount as the beginner setting (default $3.8mil I think). Anyway, it's nearly impossible to beat Clinton with a custom player, and even some of the created players will be tough. Your best bet is to pick the best Dem candidate and beat as many Rep as you can, then use the best Rep and beat the Dems, etc. I takes forever and can get tedious and monotonous.
Reply #2 from PolMach Forums Top
The AI does cheat starting at the challenging difficulty level and getting worse on tough and above.

I asked in the polmachine chat room yesterday and this was confirmed to me.

I'm abandoning the campaign for this reason. I see no reason to play 5-6 matches against opponents when I'm not trying to win the election, just piece together 271 electoral votes as cheaply as possible. I've seen how Frogboy and Dearmad won their upper level matches and I have no interest in replicating that feat.
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Reply #3 from PolMach Forums Top
That explains it. I don't mind harder challenges but IMHO it would be better to give the computer a national awareness at the beginning that you have to overcome rather than letting them just do whatever they want.