Welcome back to another dev log! Today, we’re going to discuss an important subset of campaign activities: rallies and fundraisers. Other activities, like advertising, are larger and more intricate systems, along with media events and whatnot, and require their own dev logs. The following are the moves you’ll be interacting with more often than anything else, so I figured it would be good to get a full overview of how these work.
Overall, rallies are used to boost turnout, and fundraisers are used to raise money. Let’s talk about each activity.
Rallies
At the core of your campaign are rallies. As we know in the real world, rallies are a boisterous representation of a political campaign. It’s a chance for candidates to connect with their supporters in an engaging setting where they can take their political masks off and be a real human. It boosts enthusiasm, makes voters feel connected to the campaign, and, of course, is an opportunity to sell a lot of merch.
Rallies in The Electorate are your key tool to boosting turnout where you need it most. With access to every county in the United States, planning your strategy requires identifying key regions where turnout can make or break your campaign on election night.
Despite being one of the more simple actions in the game, rallies have quite a bit of logic behind them.
First, rallies cost stamina. Currently, it costs 8 stamina to hold a rally, but this is likely to change.
Second, rallies cost money. Every rally’s cost is equal to 5% of the county’s population size. For example, Miami-Dade County’s population is ~2.8M, which means it will cost your campaign ~$140,000 to rally there. This is used to model the real-world requirements of rallying, which includes staffing, security, venue costs, etc., and also prevents candidates from simply spamming the largest counties.
Third, once a rally is held in a county, that county has a four-turn cooldown. Any rally held in that county during the cooldown will incur a 50% penalty to its turnout impact.
Fourth, your candidate’s effectiveness at rallying is directly tied to their charisma attribute, which is used in the calculation for the rally’s turnout. Additionally, any traits a candidate has that impact rallying are added to a cumulative modifier.
Fifth, rallies can generate revenue for the campaign via merchandise sales. Total merch sales are equal to twice the size of the rally. This is a great way to offset some of the costs incurred from holding the rally, but keep in mind that you still pay the full cost of a rally even when the cooldown penalty is active, but you will receive half the turnout and, therefore, half the sales.
Sixth, and finally, the county’s share of ideology groups determines how effective a rally’s turnout is. Ideologies most aligned with your candidate will turnout at a rate equal to your candidate’s overall likelihood of winning a particular voter. This means that candidates like Gavin Newsom, a social democrat, will find it much more rewarding to rally in urban areas like Charlotte, NC, as opposed to rural North Carolina.
Planning your rallies accordingly is vital. Not every county is equally important. Republicans face the challenge of choosing from many counties with small populations, while Democrats face the challenge of fewer counties with higher populations, but devastating cooldown penalties.
Fundraisers
Fundraisers are incredibly important to a campaign, and in The Electorate, I’ve tried to model them realistically. In many political games, fundraisers are simply a button you press on a state, and you receive funds as a percentage of that state’s population. In The Electorate, we go a step further.
There are three different fundraiser types: Grassroots Drive, Exclusive Gala, and Interest Group Meetup.
Grassroots Drive
Grassroots Drives are small, low-cost, low-stamina fundraisers that connect directly to the frontlines of your campaign. These fundraisers simulate email blasts and small community meetups, and generate contributions equal to 5% of the county’s population. They also cost the least amount of stamina (5) of the fundraisers, and do not cost money to run, as they are operated by volunteers of the campaign.
Exclusive Gala
Galas are the black-tie events of your campaign where you sell high-ticket plates to your guests. Since these require a good chunk of your time and effort, you’ll have to spend 12 stamina on these events as well as invest in quality food, a venue, and event planners. That means galas are not free, and will go down in your balance sheet as a hefty expense, costing a total equal to 3% of the county’s population.
However, they’re major money makers. Expect to earn contributions equal to 25% of the county’s population. That means a gala held in Miami-Dade County will cost ~$84,000 but yield ~$700,000 in contributions. Keep in mind, though, that these events can only be held in a county once.
Interest Group Meetup
These fundraisers target an interest group that aligns with a particular ideology. Think of large labor unions, or conventions like CPAC or AIPAC. The Electorate has dozens of interest groups with varying levels of funds to commit to your campaign. You can hold fundraisers with these groups for 10 stamina and expect to receive 35% of the group’s available funds. Some groups have larger treasuries than others, but depending on the ideology of each group, you’ll also receive a slight boost to turnout after holding a fundraiser with them, creating a balance between raising funds and getting more votes.
What’s Next
Soon, I’ll have some new screenshots to show off some of the new features and UI elements I’ve been working on. I’m working towards showing off some gameplay footage soon as well, so stay tuned for more.
That’s all for today! As always, feel free to join the Discord server to discuss the game, give suggestions, and help make the ultimate election simulator!
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Thanks for tuning in!