The Political Machine 2012

Nefaro · July 31, 2012, 02:22:45 PM

This just released on Scream right now.

Gonna check it out.

Tpek · July 31, 2012, 02:38:28 PM

It's quite similar to the other 2 games in that series (the 2 that came before it).

Annoyingly you can't create uber-powerful candidates anymore.
Though you can create horrible ones! :P

Greybriar · July 31, 2012, 04:21:33 PM

The Political Machine 2012 is also available from StarDock (as well as GameFly and GameStop) for $9.99, but it still requires Steam.

tgb · July 31, 2012, 05:09:48 PM

I had to make him Republican to run against Obama - the game doesn't allow you to create an independent. Of course, that will make the game harder as alienating the base costs you votes. We'll see how it goes.

Nefaro · July 31, 2012, 06:41:25 PM

I'm getting stuttering.

The ticker tape news and the movements on the map start stuttering after about 40 minutes. A restart clears it up so I must be memory leaks. :'(

It's still playable at that point but watching a candidate fly across the US takes longer and this thing takes no time to re-load. So it's a minor nuisance right now - still hope that gets figured out.

As for the gameplay, it's definitely got a boardgame feel to it, which is nice. I'm still unsure of the exact mechanics of how some things work, but a vague idea is getting me by on Easy difficulty (one up from the default on first game). I wonder when & how much help bonuses the computer gets on the difficulty levels.

Nefaro · July 31, 2012, 07:11:17 PM

Just confirmed the terrible memory leak(s).

I hit Turn 21 (after restarting from about 15) and it slowed to pretty much unplayable. Checked the memory usage on the game, and it was pushing about 1.3GB and varying a bit too wildly (another problem indicator too). Considering the game was around 440MB in d/l size, I'd say that's some serious runaway shiza.

tgb · July 31, 2012, 07:23:45 PM

I'm not having that problem at all. What are your specs?

Nefaro · July 31, 2012, 07:40:21 PM

Quote from: tgb on July 31, 2012, 07:23:45 PM
I'm not having that problem at all. What are your specs?

I posted the issue, and my specs, in their Tech Support forum here: http://forums.politicalmachine.com/428846

Just as I did, someone else posted the exact same issue. He didn't seem to have it until much later in turns than I did, but then again I was taking my sweet time and would let it run in between doing other stuff here.

If two people have already experienced it, and posted about it, then surely they already knew from testing of the latest version. Or they just found out the same time we did. :P Those Day-0 patches are given the swift route since Steam lets them push updates straight through.. probably something that cropped up in the latest test update or something.. I hope.

tgb · July 31, 2012, 09:36:08 PM

Quote from: Nefaro on July 31, 2012, 07:40:21 PM
Quote from: tgb on July 31, 2012, 07:23:45 PM
I'm not having that problem at all. What are your specs?

I posted the issue, and my specs, in their Tech Support forum here: http://forums.politicalmachine.com/428846

If you can't be bothered reposting it, I can't be bothered looking it up.

tgb · July 31, 2012, 09:40:52 PM

And that, as they say, is that. That's Donald Trump to my left - my running mate. I figured I'd go all in and double down on the crazy,but it didn't help.

Nefaro · July 31, 2012, 11:00:19 PM

Quote from: tgb on July 31, 2012, 09:36:08 PM
Quote from: Nefaro on July 31, 2012, 07:40:21 PM
Quote from: tgb on July 31, 2012, 07:23:45 PM
I'm not having that problem at all. What are your specs?

I posted the issue, and my specs, in their Tech Support forum here: http://forums.politicalmachine.com/428846

If you can't be bothered reposting it, I can't be bothered looking it up.

I'm not asking for CS from you. Just giving a heads-up about it. Why the attitude? Some people may experience the same issue. :-\

tgb · August 01, 2012, 05:56:33 AM

Apologies. I was up all night with chronic back pain and in a lousy mood.

Nefaro · August 01, 2012, 12:22:00 PM

Quote from: tgb on August 01, 2012, 05:56:33 AM
Apologies. I was up all night with chronic back pain and in a lousy mood.

I understand, believe me (four ruptured lumbar discs make me a wimpy version of the Hulk on a regular basis :-[ ).

Anyway, have you started one with a higher difficulty yet?

There's no manual or anything so I'm groping in the dark about all the little details, and how the difficulty settings work. *shrug*

Steelgrave · August 01, 2012, 12:28:40 PM

I would be more tempted if they had greater choices in candidates, including more historical choices. There was a great Presidential election game out years ago around the BushI/Clinton days that had dozens of candidates. The candidate choices of TPM is simply too weak. And the "joke" candidates like Michelle Obama....really? Her husband is enough of a joke candidate to suit my tastes 8)

tgb · August 01, 2012, 01:59:08 PM

Quote from: Steelgrave on August 01, 2012, 12:28:40 PM
I would be more tempted if they had greater choices in candidates, including more historical choices. There was a great Presidential election game out years ago around the BushI/Clinton days that had dozens of candidates. The candidate choices of TPM is simply too weak. And the "joke" candidates like Michelle Obama....really? Her husband is enough of a joke candidate to suit my tastes 8)

I don't know if it can still be purchased anywhere, but the 2008 version had a whole roster of historical candidates, as well as a campaign. Along the same lines, Nefaro, if you can find the 2008 manual (perhaps replacementdocs.com), it should work, as the changes to the game are minimal. In fact, I think the tutorial that shipped with this version is the same as the previous.

I did up the difficulty this morning and lost as Romney vs. Obama, but I blame my wife as she interrupted me during one of the timed interview segments, and I inadvertently alienated my base right before the election. Up to then I was doing pretty good, with Condaliza Rice as my running mate.