This year I've got 8 hives. Of those 8 hives, none of them are doing what I'd say great but all but one is doing okay.
Though, the ones doing okay I use the term loosely.
One of them is doing crazy stuff inside the hive.
The Political Machine requires video cards that support pixel shader 2.0. Namely:
- NVidia FX series and higher
- ATI Radeon 9500 and higher
- Intel 9-series chipsets and higher (http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/cs-014257.htm)
(If you do not have a supported card, you can probably find one for as little as $24.99 from places such as newegg.com.)
Normally, on our other games, this isn't a problem as nearly all video cards support this.
But due to the more mainstream appeal of The Political Machine, we're getting a number of people with old video cards which simply can't run the game. Because they were purchased at retail where returns are generally not allowed, those people, especially people with older laptops, are usually out of luck.
However, Stardock will take your game and provide a FULL refund even if you bought it from a retail outlet. All we need you to do is send us the box, the receipt, and a brief letter letting us know what type of video card you have (so we can document this). The only caveat is that you need to do this within the first 10 days of having purchased it.
Send to:
Stardock Entertainment
15090 Beck Rd.
Plymouth MI 48170
Make sure you include your name and mailing address.
It's not that I intentionally speed as much as I just don't like being the victim of speed traps that I have made it my business to know what the best radar detectors are.
For the last 4 years in particular, I've been using various models of K40 radar detectors with the most recent one being a K40 Calibre installed last year. The K40s are special because they are integrated into the car. That is, someone would not know that you had a radar detector. The radar detector itself is installed professionally in the front of the vehicle (under the hood) and a remote receiver informs the driver of any radar threats. Once installed, the read out is part of the dashboard (typically a pair of LEDs).
Also during this time, I've been a daily lurker on many different car websites and the consensus, by far, is that the Valentine V1 is the best radar detector out there. However, the V1 is a traditional radar detector which means it is quite conspicuous there on your windshield. If you're reasonably handy, you can help this situation by hooking it up to a power source in the car, but it's still not nearly as seamless or subtle as a K40.
Pricing
The price difference between the K40 and the V1 is significant. A fully set up K40 Calibre (with laser defuser) can end up around $2K. The V1 is around $400.
Going head to head
Recently, while driving up north, I got a speeding ticket. The K40 went off but it was with so little notice that it was far far too late (I was the trooper before the K40 went off). So I decided to pick up a V1 and conduct a series of unscientific head to head tests over the past month or so.
So which radar detector is the best? The V1, by far, is superior. It's not even remotely close. The V1 gave off far fewer false positives, seems to be much more intelligent in picking up what matters, was able to detect instant ons that were going on in the distance (The K40 never even went off), and gave far more advance warning.
Eventually, I decided to put them both in the car at the same time. I had read that having two radar detectors in the car at once could cause them to interfere with each other. But at least in this case, there was no problem at all. The two were far enough apart (since the K40 is in the front under the hood) that they got along just fine. It allowed me to really compare the two in performance and like my separate testings showed, the K40 was no where near as effective as the V1.
What I was really amazed at is the lack of false positives the V1 gives when it's in "advanced logic" mode. It really works phenomenally well. The other thing I noticed was how well the V1 handled detecting troopers on the highway who were using instant on to nail targets. The K40 never even picked them up. This evening, while driving up north, the V1 gave me plenty of notice of a state trooper on I75 but the K40 didn't pick it up until after I could see the trooper -- at which point I would have been dead meat if I had been relying on the K40.
The Verdict
So which would I use? The Valentine V1 right? Not necessarily. The V1 is better. No doubt about it. The question really revolves around what is "good enough". For cruising around town, the K40 gives ample notice. And let's face it, for most of us, that's when we get nailed. Going 45 in a 35 or 40 in a 25 is the scenario most people run into and the K40 works very well for that. It doesn't work as well as the V1 but the K40 is completely integrated into the car. I can't do this with a V1. The best I could do with a V1 would be to get a professional to install it up near my visor and put a remote display somewhere which would still be more than I would want on a day to day basis in my car. What's nice about the K40 is that it works fairly well and it's largely invisible.
That said, the K40 is basically worthless for highway driving. I've had my installation checked a couple of times and I am sure part of the weakness of the K40 is how low to the ground it is (since it's installed near the front grill) compared to a traditional radar detector. But I can also tell that it's programming is fairly stupid compared to the V1. So if you do a lot of highway driving, the K40 is pretty useless. So it really boils down to whether you speed a lot when you're on the highway as well as whether the "stealthiness" of the radar detector matters.
Hi guys!
First, thank you for purchasing The Political Machine!
Since release and in our internal testing we've made notes of some issues that you may run into. This post has some of them in it.
#1 The game video is choppy.
Solution: You probably have an older nVidia card. To solve, go to the game options and turn OFF anti-aliasing.
#2 The game crashes after the first turn.
Cause: Odds are you're playing on a laptop that has integrated video which doesn't support Pixel Shader 2.0 (the bear minimum hardware needed to play a modern computer game). We are currently working to see what we can do to work around this.
#3 The bobble heads stutter and face parts don't move smoothly together.
Cause: Older video drivers. Even the February 2008 ATI drivers exhibited this problem. Update your video drivers and this game and your other games will likely play a lot better. This is particularly true if you have Windows Vista.
In the directory \my documents\my games\polmachine there is a file called debug.err. Near the top of it you will see information on your system. We can use this to help you.
We basically live on these forums and you're dealing directly with us - the development team - as well as Stardock's support team so we're here to help pretty much all the time.
This is an excerpt from something I wrote for our internal business plan. I've had a number of people comment that they think I should publish this so here it is:
Why do people make what they make? If you ask someone, they will answer that it’s based on how good of a job they do or their level of training or perhaps because that’s the “going rate”. But none of those answers get to the root of why people make what they make.
How much people are paid is derived from how much wealth they produce. The typical amount of wealth produced by a particular job title helps set the base salary – i.e. the market forces that set the “going rate”.
But the reason why an engineer makes X and a secretary makes Y has to do with the wealth they produce. To make more money, you have to find ways to produce more wealth.
People are not compensated simply because they are good at their job. They are compensated for what they produce either directly or indirectly through their labor via others. It’s not about fairness or skill or personality. Those things may be elements that lead to opportunities to generate more wealth but they are, in themselves, not the root sources of their salary.
The greatest worker will still not be as well paid as a mediocre worker if the product of the great worker’s labor doesn’t make as much wealth as the mediocre worker’s efforts.
For example, the reason the CEO of Stardock works so many hours, brings his laptop on vacation and is available on it all the time isn’t out of a sense of duty or guilt. It is because the CEO of Stardock wants to make more money and does this by producing more wealth through his efforts.
No one forces or suggests that a particular employee should work every weekend or be available on his laptop while away on vacation. But at the same time, he should realize he is making a choice. Most people are unaware that they’ve made a choice. Most companies are too rigid to even allow for such a choice. But in the right company, the management team will make sure employees have as many choices as possible in order to harness their native abilities to generate more wealth.
Compensation isn’t about fairness or hard work. Compensation is the result of the wealth the individual has produced. That Wealth can be measured as the difference in wealth that would have been generated by an organization if that person wasn’t there versus how much was produced by his contribution.
The individual who believes they are entitled to wealth simply because they are surrounded by it is always doomed to disappointment because they do not understand that those who obtained the wealth are the ones who are entitled to it.
Compensation is not given as a prize or gift. It is not a fief given by the benevolent corporation. Compensation is simply the portion of the wealth that the individual already controlled. The individual already controlled that wealth because they were the ones who produced it and the corporation is reliant on the individual to continue to produce that wealth.
The money people earn was always their money even before it was paid to them. The employee always had control over that compensation because they generated it. Compensation is not dispensed as a bribe or as tribute. Compensation is merely the affirmation of the wealth that the individual already produced. It was already their money. Companies that do not turn over this money are stealing is just as much as a thief who breaks into someone’s home.
Companies do not give compensation because they are generous or fair. Companies provide compensation because they want those individuals to continue to generate the wealth that allows them to mutually benefit.
The greedy company that attempts to withhold the share of the wealth that rightfully belongs to the individual destroys itself because by withholding the earned wealth, the individual can take their productivity elsewhere.
However, if an organization can successfully argue that a given amount of wealth would have been generated whether a particular person was there or not, then that particular person has no sovereign claim to any of that wealth and to think otherwise will only lead to baseless resentment. A person only “deserves” the compensation that they control. And they only control it if they produced it through their labor or investment.
The Political Machine 2008 has arrived!
If you have any problems, please post here. Please include your OS and video card info as well. The debug.err file located in My Documents\My Games\PolMachine2008 has a print out from dxdiag listing your system information, so you can copy and paste the information from that.
Here are things to try:
#1 Update your video drivers. The Political Machine WILL crash if your video drivers are old. Not might. Will. It absolutely relies on pixel shader 2. This was done so that we could provide good graphics even on older video cards but it does rely on updated video drivers to do it.
#2 XP Users experiencing problems should install and run SmartException, an app that will find the actual address of any crashes you experience. That data can then be sent to the developers to GREATLY assist them in fixing your bug.
#3 When you post a crash or graphical oddity, please include the system specs listed in the top of your 'my games/polmachine2008/debug.err' file. Feel free to post the last three lines in the file as well...pertinent data may be displayed that will help us in our bug-hunting efforts 
Update: The game needs a card that natively supports Pixel Shader 2.0, namely:
NVidia FX series and higher
ATI Radeon 9500 and higher
Intel cards: http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/cs-014257.htm
If you do not have a supported card, you can probably find one for as little as $24.99.
If you just want a refund and you bought your copy from a retail store, please read this thread:
https://forums.politicalmachine.com/316509
Update:
Particularly if you don't have a lot of RAM, you should check to make sure that you have enough virtual memory allocated for windows.
To increase the amount of Virtual Memory available to Windows:
1) Right click on the My Computer icon and chose properties
2) Click on the advanced tab
3) Under performance, click on the Settings button.
4) Click on the advanced tab
5) Click on the change button
6) Change the initial size to the recommended size and then increase the maximum size.
As a note, you should make sure that you have enough hard drive space left for the maximum virtual memory size or you'll start having problems whenever Windows has to allocate more virtual memory. You can get the size of the virtual memory in gigs by dividing the number by 1024.
Just learning about The Political Machine? Take this guided tour through the game with tips and tricks to get the most out of it.
https://forums.politicalmachine.com/315289
The Political Machine 2008
By Brad Wardell, Designer, AI developer, Political Junkie.
The Political Machine 2008 is a PC strategy game in which players run for President. Players choose the scenario they want to play in (USA 2008, USA 1860, “Europa”, and Drengi), choose a candidate (or make one) and then do what needs to be done to rack up the electoral votes on election day.
The game includes a campaign mode in which players go up against increasingly more difficult computer controlled opponents as well as Internet multiplayer in which players can play others online.
The 4 scenarios that the sand box mode (quick play) includes are:
1) Campaign 2008. The United States as of 2008.
2) The US Civil War. A what-if of the 1860 election if the US operated on a 2-party system.
3) Europa. Europe as seen by a typical American high school student (humor).
4) Drengi. Run for leader of the Drengin Empire (the evil aliens from Galactic Civilizations).
We recommend playing the quick play with one of the 4 scenarios for review purposes as it is the most common way people will be playing the game.
The data for Campaign 2008 is based on real-world information such as census data, exit polling information, and a variety of other sources that when combined, give us a pretty clear picture of what the current issues are and the position of different politicians.
Players must use their limited resources to build campaign headquarters, give speeches, travel the country, take out advertisements, hire political operatives, win endorsements, raise money, and more.
The Political Machine is most definitely a strategy game, not a simulation. We have tried to make it reasonably realistic for the Campaign 2008 and the US Civil War scenarios, while the other two scenarios are there for fun.
Players can face off against either computer-controlled opponents, or humans over the Internet via the included matchmaking service. Best of all, the Political Machine 2008 retails for only $19.95, less than half the price of a typical new PC game.
When starting The Political Machine, make sure you check for updates. Stardock will be updating the game polling data throughout the election cycle. As the campaign progresses, different issues will take on new default importances.
Figure 1: The intro screen
Once you start a game, you are asked to pick a scenario:
With the scenario you can pick how long the game lasts. We don’t recommend going over 41 weeks unless you are a real die hard. Even a political junkie such as myself finds the epic settings to be quite grueling.
The difficulty level determines how intelligent the computer players will behave. Be careful in selecting this if you are new to the game as the computer players can be quite challenging.
Figure 2: Select an existing candidate or create a new one.
Existing candidates have set statistics. When we designed the game, we tried to let the game’s underlying mathematical models do the work but when creating the default candidates, we did have to make some judgment calls on real-world candidate specifications.
If you choose to create your own candidate, you have total control over everything about them.
Figure 3: Create your own candidate
By default, all of your stances come from what political party you choose. You can override the party position by taking a formal stance on an issue.
Figure 4: Did we mention that everything about the candidate can be changed?
Once you are in the game, you see a map of the scenario’s country that you are running for President of.
Each state is worth a certain amount of electoral votes. To win the state, you need to gain awareness in those states and get the voters in that state to prefer you over your opponent.
Figure 5: The game begins
Players start out in the home states of their candidates. The resources candidates have are:
· Money. Players need money for virtually everything. Players can gain money either by fund raising in a particular state (the wealthier states provide more money) or from building campaign HQ’s which generate money based on what level they are.
· Stamina. This determines how much your candidate can actually do in a given turn. Every action from traveling to giving a speech uses stamina.
· Clout. Clout is generated from outreach centers which you build. Clout is then used to win endorsements which are critical to victory.
· Political Capital (PC). Political Capital is generated from consulting offices as well as giving speeches. PC is needed to attract key political consultants into your campaign.
There are countless ways to play the game, my suggestion would be to decide early on which states you absolutely need to win and begin building campaign HQs, outreach centers and consulting offices in those states. That’s because your structures generate awareness in those states which is one key thing you will need.
I recommend building campaign HQs early on because they generate money and you will need a lot of money later on.
At the top of the map, there is a combo box which lets you view the map in different ways. Poltical Strategy lets you toggle states between blue (Democrat) and red (Republican) so you can figure out which states you really need to win.
Not all states are equally easy (or hard) to win for your party. Some states are just naturally liberal or conservative. For instance, a Republican is going to have a hard time winning New York but a much easier time winning Texas and vice versa.
Figure 6: Endorsement screen
Winning endorsements is crucial. They require a certain amount of clout to win and some are more expensive to win than others based on your political party. Each scenario has different endorsements. You must win many of these to have a chance.
Every so often, a popular cable news show will appear that you can visit. These include “hard hitter”, “the colvert report”, “the o’malley scenario”, and “barry king live”. They appear in the game as TV cameras.
Figure 7: Appearing on TV
Each show has its own unique set of questions with multiple choice answers. Based on the answers, the player’s overall rating with voters is affected.
Political operatives are special units that the player can buy using their political capital (received from consulting offices). These operatives have a wide variety of powers but get increasingly expensive each time you hire one.
Figure 8: Players can zoom in to any part of the map.
Figure 9: Battle ground states tend to get a lot of operatives and ads in them.
In each state your candidate has taken a position on the topics of the day such as health care, the economy, the environment, etc. Within each state, democrats, republicans, and independents (who change depending on the scenario) have taken a position on these issues as well.
In each state, the percentage of the population that considers themselves a democrat, republican, or independent is different. So some states are easier to win than others depending on your political party.
The game essentially takes your position and compares it to the positions of voters in that state and provides a score. It then multiplies that score by your awareness (how much people are aware of you in a given state). Then the engine compares that to your opponent’s score and awareness, and generates the number of votes.
Voters also care a lot about things like charisma, comeliness, credibility, and experience. These traits are equally important and are valued by voters in a state at the same level as the default value of the most important issue.
Players win by taking out ads which affect the score of players on a given issue, hiring operatives who can affect the score in a given state, or by giving speeches which naturally alters your position on a given issue nationally.
Players can also go onto television shows like the ColdCut Report, the O’Malley Scenario, and other cable TV shows where they are asked questions on various issues which will greatly affect their score.
Figure 10: Use the view combo box at the top to control the map views
The Political Machine 2008 is available at most retail outlets starting the week of June 17, 2008. It is also available directly from www.politicalmachine.com.
It will also be the first game to support Stardock’s new digital distribution platform, Impulse, as well as support the new Common Multiplayer Platform which is being used for future Ironclad, Stardock, and Gas Powered Games titles.
Figure 11: Impulse
Third party titles from most major publishers will be available on Impulse either on launch or shortly after launch.
The PC game industry has kind of drifted into two very different directions. You have the big name releases that are typically $40 to $60 and then what are called “budget” titles or “casual games” which often feel like they were made by “some guy” and are sold in a jewel case by fish screen savers at the store.
It doesn’t have to be that way. How about bringing AAA quality to a title that’s only $20? The Political Machine isn’t just a really fun and timely PC strategy game. Its production values match anything one would expect at $40.
· Built in multiplayer match making.
· A fun and sophisticated character creator
· High quality graphics that can smartly scale based on the hardware so that people with older computers can play it as well as people with top of the line systems.
· And just a high degree of polish.
Plus it has Stardock’s traditional policy of free updates after release with new features.
In 2004, Stardock released the Political Machine 2004 which received generally favorable reviews. However, while reviewers felt that while the 2004 edition was addictive, the consensus was that there wasn’t enough replayability due to having only one scenario to play and limited game options.
For the 2008 edition, we’ve made a lot of changes:
1) Multiple Scenarios. Before there was only the U.S. campaign; now there’s three others with two additional coming after release.
2) More types of operatives to hire, which gives players more tools to play with.
3) Custom candidates. Players can literally design their own candidates now. They don’t have to use the pre-built candidates, but can control how they look and their positions at the start of the game.
4) More start-up options such as length of a game.
5) The polish level of the 2008 edition is much higher, with improved multiplayer, better graphics, a true 3D engine, issue descriptions, etc.
Visit www.politicalmachine.com for updates, news, and more.
When designing your own character, there is a button in the bottom right that you can use to take a snapshot.
Use the arrow keys to move the box around (keyboard arrows that is) and the two buttons on the control panel there to size it.
The saved file is then kept in documents\my games\polmachine2008\snapshots
