(Board game) Mr. President: The American Presidency

[MrPotatoTed]

2 minutes ago, 10centjimmy said:

Also I saw on the website that they have a online chat, I assume you've reached out to GMT directly?

I emailed them last week when I realized they sent it to my old house even after I updated my address a month prior to shipping.  They apologized and fixed the address in transit.  

I've since emailed them twice again (including this morning) to let them know I still haven't received it and that UPS has no idea when I'll ever get the game.  I asked this morning that they either send me a new game or refund me.

I have no doubt the game will eventually arrive, but who knows how many weeks or months down the line that will be.

[Umbrella]

Sorry, was on vacation and just got back.  I assume you have the rules by now, right?

ETA: Just read the thread, and realized you don't.  Allies phase is a little tricky.  Give me a minute, and I can give you options...

 

Edited July 3, 2023 by Umbrella

[Umbrella]

First thing you need to do is draw a chit.  Let me know if it's A, B, C, or D, and I'll try and help out.  There's a lot of rolls and tables for this part.

[MrPotatoTed]

A little birdy sent me a few more chapters of the rules and charts -- thank you!

ALLIES & ROGUES TURN

European Union:  The EU helps stabilize the economy in the Eurozone and drops the regional crisis level by one, as Europe begins to get better processes in place to handle all the recent refugees.

NATO: We conduct a serious of joint operations with NATO resulting in us gathering data and locating a lone terror cell in Eastern Europe.

NATO conducts training exercises, evening out their strength compared to Russia, who previously had the advantage.

REPUBLIC OF KOREA: We conduct a series of joint operations with ROK resulting in us gathering data and locating a level 2 terror cell in the Asia Pacific region.

South Korea engages in dialogue, removing one tension (the only tension) from North Korea.  

IRAN:  Backs Sunni rebels, creating a civil war in Africa.  God damn it, guys -- I was so proud that I'd ended all civil wars everywhere.  Iran's conflict level with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States increases.  Iran gains influence in the Middle East and advances its development of nuclear weapons, miniaturizing/mating warheads, causing increased tension in Iran, Israel, and Saudi Arabia/the Gulf States.  Fuuuuck.

VENEZUELA:  The unstable state actually stabilizes on its own.  Score!

[MrPotatoTed]

5 minutes ago, Umbrella said:

First thing you need to do is draw a chit.  Let me know if it's A, B, C, or D, and I'll try and help out.  There's a lot of rolls and tables for this part.

Thanks!  Someone actually sent me photos of their rulebook for this right as you were commenting.  haha.

[MrPotatoTed]

Cabinet priorities

I mentioned early in this thread that I had to rank my priorities from most important to least.  It's time to reap the benefits!

We successfully improve our PR and Press Relations.  Media relations improve to "friendly," while my approval rating improves to 36%.  

We also improve our cabinet effectiveness level to the mid-tier, and erase our final (for now) domestic crisis.  Things seem to be going extremely well at home!  (So far...)

[MrPotatoTed]

Media relations fall back to neutral.  Well, that was fun while it lasted.

I get to perform two domestic actions.  I choose...

1)  Try to corral my cabinet to improve them.  Failed!

2)  Try to improve bipartisanship in Congress.  Victory!  This is a key win, as we're about to head into the legislative phase and we've now reached a level of bipartisanship that guarantees I'll be able to make a proposal (only had a 50/50 shot before).

[MrPotatoTed]

I improve my relationship with Congress, which is now nearly maxed.  That sounds helpful.

The opposition party proposes their own Tax Reform bill.  Crap.  On the one hand, this is the public's top priority so I made tax reform my top priority too, and I'll get benefits for accomplishing this regardless of which party proposed it.  On the other hand, I'll also get penalized (mostly by my own party) for signing the opposition's proposal into law.

Also, the fact that they proposed the law means I can't propose my own version at this time.  My best options are probably either to deliver on the public's second highest priority, immigration reform...or my campaign promise, welfare reform.

After reviewing my options, I decide to propose a bill aimed at creating immigration reform.

My opponents are more media savvy than my congressional friends are, so the opposition party successfully spins the legislative session.  My approval rating falls back to 32%.  Sigh.

Bipartisanship slips away back to conciliatory, the half-way mark on the meter.  This means that moving forward (until it improves again), only one bill can be proposed at a time.

It'll be a while for our immigration and the opponent's tax reform bills to make their way through the congressional process, so that's it for now on the legislative front.

 

[MrPotatoTed]

EVENT:  "Thousands die from new outbreak in China; pandemic feared"  It was possible the impact would be relatively minimal, but we rolled that this is basically full-blown COVID.  Highly contagious and deadly, etc etc.  European, Russian, and Chinese economies drop into stagnation.  The US economy drops as well, but we were in good shape before, so we're still above the stagnation line.  Our allies and enemies alike get hit, limiting how many actions they can do, moving forward for now.  US-Chinese relations deteriorate to neutral.  I decide to remove 2 Chinese influence tokens from the Middle East, destroying their plans to build a base there.  My approval rating drops to 28%.  This becomes a lingering domestic issue (I was JUST talking about how well things are going domestically), and bipartisanship falls apart.  I spend nearly all of my remaining action points (I only have one left for the rest of the year!) to support the creation and roll-out of a new vaccine.

Well...fuck.  That card was devastating as shit.

EVENT: "Taliban resurgent in Afghanistan."  Taliban overruns Kabul, as the Afghani government flees.  A new level 2 rogue state appears, my approval rating falls to 24%, and things just are not going well today.



 

 

[Umbrella]

I just finished my first game, and it went terribly.  Let's just say the last table I had to look at says "You are widely considered the the most ineffective President in history".  Ouch!

[MrPotatoTed]

To close out the first three months of my Presidency, I get to take four diplomatic or war actions:

1)  I tell DARPA to focus on strategic missiles and missile defense.  There's no immediate benefit, but this is a long-term strategy to eventually (hopefully!) catch up to Russia's capabilities here, because they are absolutely crushing us in missile technology right now and that feels like a really bad place to be losing.

2)  I successfully sign a trade deal in the Central/South Asia region, getting our relations with that region stabilized again after the Taliban took Kabul.

3)  I try to broker peace for the civil war in Africa (instigated by Iran backing Sunni rebels).  I fail, and the fighting intensifies, causing an increase in Africa's crisis level.  Whoops.

4)  I launch an air strike on a level 2 terror cell in the Middle East.  Success!  The surgical strike kills key terror leaders, leaving the survivors to scatter in the wind.   I destroy the terror cell, permanently removing them from the region.  My public approval rating improves to 26%.

That's it -- I'm officially at the 3 month mark of my Presidency.  What a busy three months it has been!

[MrPotatoTed]

Now that we're three months in, let's take a look at how things are going.

Obviously, our big problem here is that Russia is way ahead of us in the strategic missiles/missile defense area.  This feels really really, bad.  But I've got DARPA focusing on it, so hopefully we'll start to regain some ground on this front.

Iran has been improving their nuclear/missile capabilities as well, half way towards mass deployment of nuclear missiles.  If they achieve that and then go to war with Israel, it's an automatic game-over for me.

Russia/Ukraine and Gulf States+Saudi Arabia/Iran are each half way towards war with each other.  I'm hoping to prevent both wars, as my allies are likely to lose either one.

My beloved bipartisanship has evaporated over COVID and the Taliban taking Kabul.  We have split control in Congress (one of us has the House, the other has control of the Senate.  My immigration proposal and my opponents' tax reform bill both have moderate support, not leaning in one direction or another right now.  But if bipartisanship continues to crumble, they'll both become dead in the water.

Our various meters are around the mid-level point, not having changed much since I was sworn in.  The economy has dipped due to COVID, but we still have the strongest economy in the world since the world got hit by COVID too.



No changes here, just a reminder of where we are.  I wouldn't mind replacing my useless Secretary of State as some point.  (And thankfully I haven't actually needed the teflon counter to any scandals yet).

Things have actually been going well at home, especially after I easily fixed the banking crisis.  But I'm keeping an eye on the lingering domestic issues tracker, which recently increased due to COVID.  It's at a 2 right now.  If it hits six, it's automatic game over.

Things are mostly going okay in Europe, though they're in economic stagnation now due to COVID, and I don't like that Russia is poking around.  I'm also working on eliminating a small terror group in eastern Europe.


Russia's economy has also fallen to stagnation due to COVID.  Thank god -- that will limit their abilities, which have been pretty aggressive.  In fact, we're on the verge of restarting the Cold War with them.


Central America has been pretty quiet so far, though of course I'm uneasy about those terror groups.  I'd also like to increase their regional stabiliy and/or mitigate their regional crisis levels, since I'm sure their problems will flow into our border soon.  The immigration bill I proposed may also help with our relations here.
ther

There's been a ton going on here, but mostly it's worked out in our favor.  We achieved a cease fire in Syria and UN Peacekeepers are enforcing it, and China's investments helped stabilize the region a bit.   We recently took out an entire terror cell with targeted air strikes, and the regional crisis level is actually a zero which feels remarkable in the Middle East.  Of course, there's still plenty of terror groups, and Russia, China, and Iran are all generally acting against our interests here.


We're at war with the Taliban, who recently took over Kabul.  Russia's poking around, we're hunting down the world's largest terror group, and India is heating up fast as they look to become more aggressive with their neighbors.  Regional crisis is at zero at least -- I hope to keep it there.  I also have a trade agreement with the region, which hopefully will pay off in several positive ways by the end of my first year in office.


China's economy is stagnated due to COVID, and our relations are neutral, but I'm nervous about all those tension markers (which can make China more aggressive.)  They've been building up troops along the Indian border -- will they cross over soon?


South America has been mostly quiet so far. after Venezuela stabilized itself.  Let's keep it that way.

We brokered peace in Somalia, but Iran backed Sunni rebels in another country, causing a new Civil War.  The region is unstable as it gets, terror groups are moving in, and the continent is trending against positive relations with the US.  We have our work cut out for us here.

Things have actually been going pretty well over here lately.  We have three very close alliances in the region, South Korea is helping us take on a terror cell in the region, and South Korean's discussions with North Korea have actually been going well.

Our approval rating is a crushing 26%, which isn't great.  But my main problem is that I have zero Action Points left -- I burned through my entire annual allotment in three months.

Whoops!

 

Edited July 4, 2023 by MrPotatoTed

[MrPotatoTed]

My National Security Council lets me take a sneak peak at the next two crisis cards -- removing one permanently from the game, and putting the other straight into the reshuffle pile.

Ooh, choices...they're both bad, and the Presidential Election scandal is especially bad because it's a cascading event, meaning that it can keep coming back and getting worse each time.

But on the other hand, I have teflon.  So...

I remove bureaucratic incompetence from the game and toss the presidential election scandal into the reshuffle pile.

I also remain very amused that the NSA is primarily focused on warning me about my cabinet and my own behavior.

 

[dkh64]

Damn, 3 months and you've got a 26% approval rating? You squandered your honeymoon period.

[Blockmon]

I am thinking of getting the game, but one thing I heavily wanted to know is how modifiable is the game? Can I create my own rules and crisis cards that could spice up the game? for ex, could I add the ability for a second player that could be the vice president and handle some situation such as party officials and other custom systems that I could have created.

[MrPotatoTed]

18 minutes ago, Blockmon said:

I am thinking of getting the game, but one thing I heavily wanted to know is how modifiable is the game? Can I create my own rules and crisis cards that could spice up the game? for ex, could I add the ability for a second player that could be the vice president and handle some situation such as party officials and other custom systems that I could have created.

I play on Tabletop Simulator — If that’s moddable, I don’t know anything about how to.

The game is primarily a board game though, so in theory you can do whatever you want, but presumably your cards will be distinguishable from the pro-made ones.

[Umbrella]

1 hour ago, Blockmon said:

I am thinking of getting the game, but one thing I heavily wanted to know is how modifiable is the game? Can I create my own rules and crisis cards that could spice up the game? for ex, could I add the ability for a second player that could be the vice president and handle some situation such as party officials and other custom systems that I could have created.

I suppose you could create your own cards if you wanted to, but I don't know how they would affect the balance.  The game does come with quite a few scenarios, which removes certain cards, and makes sure other cards are in the deck, so that might be something that could interest you.  You might even be able to create your own custom scenarios with existing cards.

They also have suggestions about multi-player similar to what you are suggesting.  For example, you could have someone play as Secretary of State and have them handle all the domestic decisions made. 

[MrPotatoTed]

This event is too funny for me to not copy and paste it:

(Yes, this is an actual game event)

Host UN Leaders at a White House Dinner and Concert -- The White House Chef prepares an amazing gourmet meal featuring an entrée of Columbia River Poached Salmon.  Then an A-list of current pop and country stars rock the house in a 2-hour concert.  Beyonce closes the show with soaring vocals and an inspiring performance of her newest song and music video, "All of Us," that shows stark images of worldwide poverty, war, and oppression, and specifically calls out political leaders to do more to ease suffering this world.  In the awestruck audience, tears flow freely, responsibilities are recognized, and promises are made.

My public approval increases to 28%.  I gain a UN goodwill counter.  The Africa and Asian-Pacific regions each lose 1 regional crisis level.

That's right -- Beyonce is bringing us world peace!

[Euri]

The world's breaking out in war, COVID is spreading across continents, and Russia is ahead in missile technology... but at least we got Beyonce so it's all good

Edited July 5, 2023 by Euri

[MrPotatoTed]

Having destroyed the world's economy with COVID, China begins replacing workers with robots.  Ha.  
The good news is we're still close enough to China to receive all the applicable gains as well.

The bad news is both of China's influence markers go to the Asian Pacific region, awhere China now has the 3 influence needed to build a base there.

Rolled an 8.  Eastern Europe is on the verge of a full blown major crisis.



Rolled a 10.  Motherfuck...IRAN HAS NUCLEAR WEAPONS NOW.

Regional crisis level in the Middle East increases by 2, stability drops by 1, everyone in the Middle East gets a whole handful of tension (increasing their aggression levels), and we're now half way to an Iran/Israel war (which will now be game-ending thanks to nukes.)

BEYONCE...COME BACK.

 

Edited July 5, 2023 by MrPotatoTed

[MrPotatoTed]

I successfully impose multilateral sanctions on Iran over their development of nuclear weapons.  ("Hey, look at that huge, deadly, angry bear!  I'm going to go poke it into submission!)

I attempt an air strike on an Asian Pacific terror group, but have to call off the mission due to potential civilian casualties.

I attempt to broker peace in the Iran-backed civil war in Africa.  Success!  A cease-fire is signed.  We're back to having no civil wars on the planet (one of my chief concerns given the crisis I inherited from my predecessor).  I also decrease the regional crisis level in Africa.

My public approval rating improves to 32%!  I mean...that's still terrible, and it's lower than I started at (40%)...but it's much better than it's been in a while.  Haha.

 

[MrPotatoTed]

The Israel/Iran conflict level increases by one -- we're now just ONE BLOCK AWAY FROM GAME-ENDING NUCLEAR WAR.  That's...not ideal.  I probably should have addressed that in the last round.  I thought the multilateral sanctions would help, but I didn't expect things to increase so rapidly.

My domestic crisis level increases by one, as citizens fret about a serious nuclear war for the first time since the USSR collapsed.  My relationship with Congress falls to the neutral level, my approval rating falls to 28% (ah, that feels like home again), and things get tense amongst my cabinet members.

Fuuuuuuuck.



 

[MrPotatoTed]

Allies and Rogues turn!

Canada conducts a joint operation with our forces to successfully start tracking down a level 2 terror cell in Central America.

They then conduct a joint anti-terror campaign with the US, successfully trimming that terror cell down to level 1 in Central America.

Gulf States/Saudi Arabia renew their offenses in Yemen.  Gulf States/Saudi Arabia and Iran (fuck) gain +2 tension each.  The conflict marker for Gulf States/Saudi Arabi increases by one.  

Gulf States/Saudi Arabia are now at war with Yemen.

Gulf States/Saudi Arabia are now just one block away from war with Iran.  Thankfully, that war at least wouldn't be an automatic game over.

Taliban-led Afghanistan tries to acquire weapons of mass destruction.  Jesus Christ!  Thankfully, they fail.

An unstable state in the Central-South Asia region erupts into civil war.  Oh come on...

[MrPotatoTed]

Now that I no longer actually need the game (I think I've been sent literally all of the rules and charts by now), I just received notice that my game will arrive tomorrow afternoon.   Haha.

THE UNITED NATIONS

The UN engages in humanitarian aid in Eastern Europe, successfully walking the region back from the brink of a major regional crisis. 

The UN tries to improve infrastructure (stability) in Africa, but fails.

The UN tries a youth empowerment program in Africa to decrease terrorism there, but fails.

The UN successfully brokers peace in Somalia, turning the civil war cease fire into a permanent end to hostilities!

We partner with the UN to engage in arms control negotiations, successfully decreasing Iran's nuclear capabilities and bringing us back from the brink of nuclear war! (though we're certainly not out of the woods yet).

Edited July 5, 2023 by MrPotatoTed

[MrPotatoTed]

I try to discredit a Congressional opponent but it backfires, causing my relationship with Congress to dip below the neutral level.  Whoops.

I successfully improve a domestic crisis (concern about nuclear war), taking our crisis level to zero.  My public approval rating increases to 30%.

I hit the media circuit with my presidential presence, successfully improving our relationship with the media to above the neutral level.