Nixon!?

from PolMach Forums
What a thorn in my side! I've tried everything I can think of and I can't beat him. My worst attempt was losing all but one state and my best was winning 150 or so EC votes. Here's what I've tried:
~Building level 3 HQ's and doing nothing but until I run out of cash, then build up capital to get endorsements.
Didn't work so I:
~Built capital, got almost every endorsement and neglected building HQ's until later; lost miserably.
~Took turns building capital and HQ's winning endorsements, planting operatives, still got my butt kicked.
The only thing that did seem to work a little was postitive TV ads. Every time I did the anti-Nixon ones I got creamed. The only time I came close was with doing only positive ads about myself.
Anyone have any help at all? I must be missing something. He's making me crazy!
8,988 views 11 replies
Reply #1 from PolMach Forums Top
Try saving the operatives for later in the game... when you're about two-thirds through, you can swoop in on the more wishy-washy states to pull them over to your side. TV ads are the best- you probably shouldn't bother too much with newspaper ones. Since TV ads have a national effect, try putting a lot of them in one state, and hiring a webmaster for that state to keep the upkeep costs down. Also, don't just focuse on 2 or 3 issues for the whole country. Put "Farm Subsidy" Tv ads in Midwestern states (like Missouri); put Environment tv ads in Washington, Oregon, and California; in other states you can try "more jobs" or "war or terrorism". This way, the ads will have a positive national effect for you, but still apply to what the locals care about. Especially in the beginning, HQ's are very important- put level 3's in battleground states, and when you run out of money, fundraise and use extra stamina to get endorsements (so that even though you're low on money, you're not wasting time). Also, remember that this comes down to electoral votes. Secure California, Illinois, NY, Florida, Ohio, and PA, but don't neglect other states which have 10 to 17 electoral votes (Michigan, Maryland, Mass. come to mind). The midwest can be VERY helpful, whereas much of the West (Montana, the Dakotas) aren't nearly as important. Hope this helps!
Reply #2 from PolMach Forums Top
It took me three attempts before I beat Nixon. Even then, I edged him out in electoral votes, but lost by about one million in the popular vote. The problem with Nixon is that he can get endorsements with only 6 PC points vs. the typical 8 in early weeks. Plus, he spends money like mad, throwing up ads all over the country. In fact, he outspent me by 4:1. My winning strategy is typically to beat opponents on the issues important to the country as a whole. However, Nixon tends to go after his issues hard, thus pushing issues where I'm weak farther up the ladder of importance. So, here's what I did.

1) I sat still in the early weeks, gaining politcal capital and immediately winning endorsements. I had a point left over at the end of each round, and used it to visit states to increase my awareness. With this, Nixon was only able to gain two endorsements.

2) By this time, I was sunk in the polls, with only about two dozen electoral votes predicted. I went to work on awareness by building Level 3 HQs in FL, TX, and CA (key states in which I was losing badly). I hunkered down in Texas with a webmaster and churned out TV ads until I was broke. I did this week after week until about halfway through the campaign.

3) At this point, I was beginning to beat back Nixon on the issues in the polls. So, I made my rounds through Nixon-controlled states, placing operatives...usually Smear and Spin ops with an occassional Consultant or Intimidater in states where Nixon already had 100% awareness. I occassionally used speeches and local newspaper ads on visits to close states where PC would've been too costly.

At week 35, I was up to 308 electoral votes; by week 40, it had dropped below 300, but I pulled it out.

One final note: I chose Clinton as my running mate mainly because I was losing in the South. I did win Arkansas, but Clinton didn't have much of an added effect. In fact, I believe he actually worsened my standings in a couple of areas.
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Reply #3 from PolMach Forums Top
Where you place your VP is also very important. Since he has an effect on the state he's in AND a small effect on the states around him, put him earlier on smack dab in the middle of could-go-either-way states. It can REALLY help.

See, I like to save the endorsements for when I've run out of $ for HQ's. Why? Because HQ's bring in revenue, so the earlier you can get those babies started, the more cash you'll have to run TV ads later in the game.
Reply #4 from PolMach Forums Top
Secure California, Illinois, NY, Florida, Ohio, and PA, but don't neglect other states which have 10 to 17 electoral votes (Michigan, Maryland, Mass. come to mind). The midwest can be VERY helpful, whereas much of the West (Montana, the Dakotas) aren't nearly as important. Hope this helps!

See, I like to save the endorsements for when I've run out of $ for HQ's. Why? Because HQ's bring in revenue, so the earlier you can get those babies started, the more cash you'll have to run TV ads later in the game.


I have yet to win Cali more than once. I actually concentrate on the states you mentioned and even lost MD (where my cand. is from ) once. I hope I can figure him out because I bust my butt trying to win the major states and half the time eke out half of them. I've been trying the level 3 HQ's first, then last. What I need is a Fixer for Nixon. Haha.Thanks MusiKitty!

One final note: I chose Clinton as my running mate mainly because I was losing in the South. I did win Arkansas, but Clinton didn't have much of an added effect. In fact, I believe he actually worsened my standings in a couple of areas.


Yeah, Clinton hasn't seemed to be much help to me against Nixon either. I created a running mate with tons of cash from TX but still lose TX and run out of $. Bummer. I'll try your stratgey and see how I fair. :o) Thanks kalitai!
Reply #5 from PolMach Forums Top
Just managed to beat Nixon after several tries. Whew! Not looking forward to T. Roosevelt.

Anyway, here was my basic strategy:

Go after CA, OR, and WA on the west coast. (Yes, California is Nixon's home, but very vulnerable) MN, IA, IL, WI, MI, OH, PA, MD, NJ, NY, CT, MA, and FL. Total 284 electoral votes. You may take or lose a few small states around these also as a result of your campaigning. I had a fictional candidate from FL, so this gave me a leg up in a key battleground.

The first several turns were the same. I put down one HQ in a large state, then banked capital until I could get an endorsement. I got all but three of the endorsements that way. I then built up my HQs until I had one in each target state and 2s or 3s in CA, PA, and OH. Fundraise as needed and try to bank at least one capital per turn (on average--sometimes I skipped 4 turns and banked an entire turns worth). I ran no TV ads during the first 1/2 of the campaign.

After choosing Hillary as my running mate, I began cranking out webmasters, tv ads (mostly in CA and PA), then ended up with 5 each of spin doctors and smear merchants.

In the last week of the campaign, it came down to a very close fight over OH, PA, and FL. We both piled on and I sqeaked out all three with a barrage of last minute ads and political agent visits. I won a few states like AZ and NM by accident.

Final tally:
Electoral: Me 305, him 233
He clobbered me in popular.
He outspent me 2-1.
I out-capitaled him 6-1.
Reply #6 from PolMach Forums Top
How much $ does your candidate start off with, katiekate? And what's his/her stamina?
Reply #7 from PolMach Forums Top
How much $ does your candidate start off with, katiekate? And what's his/her stamina?


Just over $4 mil and 13 of 14 stamina.
Reply #9 from PolMach Forums Top
I surprisingly found Nixon rather easy to beat. On the Dem side I had a great deal of trouble with the equivelent character Clinton. The computer starts ads very early and gets a great advantage from the start on the issues. Nixon hit hard on the war on Iraq but I left that alone, preferring to try to catch up on war on terror and homeland security. I built webmasters in Florida and California and hit the airwaves hard with 4 TV ads in each state. Nixon tried to send alot of ops that he earned to Virginia with a scandal monger, Media Darling, and Story Teller vs my Political op I got for building a level 3 HQ, War Hero and Spin Doctor. I am surprised he took that state to go so hard after since he did not have an HQ there. He placed ad in several areas where I had built up a good lead and did not overcome it. He pretty much let me have California after I ran the massive media campaign and put thru a ton of newspaper ads. He outspent me by about $10 million but for some reason with his high experience only used 3 political capital. I got the foreign policy and union endorsement and that made the map very blue. I took over 400 EC votes and killed him in the popular vote. This despite the fact that I did not even make an effort at Texas, even with Lloyd Bentsen as my running mate. I also ran out of time because of a time waster late in the game to use a smear merchant.
Reply #10 from PolMach Forums Top
Katie

You mentioned using anti Nixon ads earlier? Whenever I put an anti Nixon ad in a state, I made sure to place a positive one about myself along with it. I also made a habit of doing a fund raiser everytime I stepped foot in a state to have a little extra cash on me before I left. Take a moment and look at the map too of where Nixon (or any computer candidate for that matter) places a operative. I used fixers relentlessly to take out any advantages he had in any state, (Definers, Cheerleaders, Storytellers, Moneyman,etc). Early on I made very sure I placed intimidators in states where I knew it was going to be a fight. I set my map for the polling data so I could keep track of where I needed to be and adjust my EV strategy on the fly.

I faired very well at the end with 300 EV's even though he outspent me nearly 2:1. Hope this helps you out.

/Reagan's Clone/
Reply #11 from PolMach Forums Top
Early on I made very sure I placed intimidators in states where I knew it was going to be a fight.


I would use spin merchants or smear merchants in highly contested states, and intimidators in states that I did not plan to return to. The intimidator simply lowers opponents presence which can be made up by tv and radio ads from elsewhere or an infrequent visit to the state. Intimidators force your opponent to come back to the state to make up for their lost presence. That won't work in a state like Ohio, because you don't want them to come back there and start ads up. It works better in mid range states like NM, SC or OK to get the candidate to waste time and effort there. Smear merchants and spin masters skew the issues in your characters favor or against your opponent. Much more effective to win a close state when you control the issues.