Playing as an independent » Forum Post by CSULB Samano

Is there a way to play as a functional independent in the game and if so how or if you cannot will we be able to play as an independent in the updated versions?

Why not jsut create a custom character?

such bad advice it really has nothing to do with the character as much as the political assosiation.

With a custom character you can pick yoru stance on the issues . . just like an independent. What did I miss? Or . . did you want to run as a third party against the other two? If so I can tell you how that game would end . . you would LOSE! {Just like in the real world}

lmao touché... would be sweet if there were an England campaign with all the different parties represented there... and real issues. would be very difficult but fun.

I would like to say that I am disappointed in the lack of third party support. There are several political parties with enough clout to have a chance at a national election. Unfortunately, the media and the election laws in various states *cough*Oklahoma*cough* are geared toward keeping the Republicans and Democrats in power.

I would like to see custom candidate support in the game.

I would like to see custom candidate support in the game.

It's there.

Here's a "work-around" that will let you appear as an "Independent" candidate:
(Please see NOTE at end of post)

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Open c:/program files/stardock/TotalGaming/The Political Machine 2008/Data/English/Scenarios/USAModern.PM2ScenarioXML in a text editor.

Find the line that says:
<ScenarioName>Campaign 2008</ScenarioName>

Change it to say:

<ScenarioName>Campaign 2008 - Indy vs. Dem</ScenarioName>

Now, find the section that begins with
<PolParties>
and ends with
</PolParties>

Replace that section with this:
<PolParties>
<Party ID="Left">
  <PartyName>Democrat</PartyName>
  <PartyNamePlural>Democrats</PartyNamePlural>
  <PartyImage>Democrats.png</PartyImage>
  <PartyColor COLOR="Red">10</PartyColor>
  <PartyColor COLOR="Green">10</PartyColor>
  <PartyColor COLOR="Blue">255</PartyColor>
</Party>
<Party ID="Indy">
  <PartyName>Republican</PartyName>
  <PartyNamePlural>Republicans</PartyNamePlural>
  <PartyImage>Republicans.png</PartyImage>
  <PartyColor COLOR="Red">255</PartyColor>
  <PartyColor COLOR="Green">10</PartyColor>
  <PartyColor COLOR="Blue">10</PartyColor>
</Party>
<Party ID="Right">
  <PartyName>Independent</PartyName>
  <PartyNamePlural>Independents</PartyNamePlural>
  <PartyImage>Independent.png</PartyImage>
  <PartyColor COLOR="Red">128</PartyColor>
  <PartyColor COLOR="Green">128</PartyColor>
  <PartyColor COLOR="Blue">128</PartyColor>
</Party>
</PolParties>

Now save the file as USAModernIndyVsDem.PM2ScenarioXML

Reload the original c:/program files/stardock/TotalGaming/The Political Machine 2008/Data/English/Scenarios/USAModern.PM2ScenarioXML file

Change the <ScenarioName> line to say:

<ScenarioName>Campaign 2008 - Indy vs. Rep</ScenarioName>

Replace the <PolParties> section with this:
<PolParties>
<Party ID="Indy">
  <PartyName>Democrat</PartyName>
  <PartyNamePlural>Democrats</PartyNamePlural>
  <PartyImage>Democrats.png</PartyImage>
  <PartyColor COLOR="Red">10</PartyColor>
  <PartyColor COLOR="Green">10</PartyColor>
  <PartyColor COLOR="Blue">255</PartyColor>
</Party>
<Party ID="Right">
  <PartyName>Republican</PartyName>
  <PartyNamePlural>Republicans</PartyNamePlural>
  <PartyImage>Republicans.png</PartyImage>
  <PartyColor COLOR="Red">255</PartyColor>
  <PartyColor COLOR="Green">10</PartyColor>
  <PartyColor COLOR="Blue">10</PartyColor>
</Party>
<Party ID="Left">
  <PartyName>Independent</PartyName>
  <PartyNamePlural>Independents</PartyNamePlural>
  <PartyImage>Independent.png</PartyImage>
  <PartyColor COLOR="Red">128</PartyColor>
  <PartyColor COLOR="Green">128</PartyColor>
  <PartyColor COLOR="Blue">128</PartyColor>
</Party>
</PolParties>

Save this file as USAModernIndyVsRep.PM2ScenarioXML

This will give you 2 new scenarios where you can play as:

+ independent vs. a republican
+ independent vs. democrat

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You could do a similar trick for all the other scenarios too.

NOTE: This only renames one party as "Independents," so it will look like states will have a large support for "Independent" candidates.
For example, if it's the "indy vs rep" scenario, NY would have high support for Indies since it is mostly a democrat state, and it would look like it supported Indies more than Democrats. Also, it would look like the party that replaced the independent party might support or disapprove things they normally wouldn't.

So it may not be perfect, but at least you can get the appearance as running as an independent.

Also, having extra scenario files may prevent you from playing multiplayer. The game will detect it as modified files.
If you only play single player, it wouldn't be a problem. You could always move the files out of the scenario folder when you want to play multiplayer, too.

Is there any chance of having three possible candidates in a single game, one for each party and the Independent?

Also, for my "independent" scenarios, I went with the Green Party vs. Republican and Libertarian vs. Democratic, and changed each parties' colors.

Is there any chance of having three possible candidates in a single game, one for each party and the Independent?

I'm afraid not. Without a major coding change, there is no way to have 3 candidates on the map at the same time competing against each other.

Editorial_Games

reply 5

I would like to say that I am disappointed in the lack of third party support. There are several political parties with enough clout to have a chance at a national election. Unfortunately, the media and the election laws in various states *cough*Oklahoma*cough* are geared toward keeping the Republicans and Democrats in power.I would like to see custom candidate support in the game.

What planet is this on? Here they have no chance. They don't put in the work on the statewide level to get candidates there. In Canada and England the third parties have people in their parliaments. Don't complain about the system and do nothing to change it. Let's see some state legislators and national congressmen before you think we have to hand a national election to you.