The New Campaign Trail

[Alben Barkley]

This is what happens when you play as Ralph Nader and answer everything as right-wing as possible.



Got literally 0 votes.

[Alben Barkley]

Seems like a 1996 mod is being worked on and could potentially be added to the base game if it receives enough support.

How do the mods work? I don't see the 1996 mod at all, and when I click on one and try to load it, it doesn't do anything.

[Alben Barkley]

Seems like a 1996 mod is being worked on and could potentially be added to the base game if it receives enough support.

How do the mods work? I don't see the 1996 mod at all, and when I click on one and try to load it, it doesn't do anything.

Okay. So first, Here's the link to the 1996 mod. https://www.reddit.com/r/thecampaigntrail/comments/o14bcg/improved_1996_mod/

You have to click "Mod Loader" And it'll put 2 code sets. You have to put code 1 into "Code Set 1" and code 2 into "Code Set 2". In order to make it easier. It's 2 long Google Docs documents but you can click Edit and then select all. You can then copy the codes into their proper places and when you click here to begin, you should see the 1996 mod is ready to play. You have to do this every time you want to play the mod. When you begin to play It'll be on a normal version but you just have to bring up the map and exit out and you'll be as Clinton or Dole. (Note, When you play as Dole it'll still show you as playing as Clinton but you are in fact playing Dole so don't worry)

There are 1980, 2004 and 2020 mods available and more are being worked on.

All right, thanks.

My first map as Clinton:



Now that's the kind of landslide some people thought would happen in 1996! If the polls weren't off, could have been pretty close to reality.

[Alben Barkley]

2004 Kerry/Graham map. For some reason I really like the looks of it:



More plausible as a Hillary 2008 map vs. someone other than McCain (due to blue AZ), I think.

[Alben Barkley]

This is what happens when you play as Ralph Nader and answer everything as right-wing as possible.



Got literally 0 votes.

Is that a result of Nader taking votes away from Bush instead from Gore?

Don't think so because like I said I got 0 votes as Nader LOL. I think the game just massively inflated his effects on Gore.

In reality if you took all of Nader's votes and gave them to Gore, I think Florida and New Hampshire are the only states that would flip. Enough for him to win, yes, but not for that kind of landslide.

Seems like a 1996 mod is being worked on and could potentially be added to the base game if it receives enough support.

How do the mods work? I don't see the 1996 mod at all, and when I click on one and try to load it, it doesn't do anything.

Okay. So first, Here's the link to the 1996 mod. https://www.reddit.com/r/thecampaigntrail/comments/o14bcg/improved_1996_mod/

You have to click "Mod Loader" And it'll put 2 code sets. You have to put code 1 into "Code Set 1" and code 2 into "Code Set 2". In order to make it easier. It's 2 long Google Docs documents but you can click Edit and then select all. You can then copy the codes into their proper places and when you click here to begin, you should see the 1996 mod is ready to play. You have to do this every time you want to play the mod. When you begin to play It'll be on a normal version but you just have to bring up the map and exit out and you'll be as Clinton or Dole. (Note, When you play as Dole it'll still show you as playing as Clinton but you are in fact playing Dole so don't worry)

There are 1980, 2004 and 2020 mods available and more are being worked on.

All right, thanks.

My first map as Clinton:



Now that's the kind of landslide some people thought would happen in 1996! If the polls weren't off, could have been pretty close to reality.

People legit thought Bill would win a 500 EV landslide?

Bill was up in the polls by margins in the high teens and even low twenties for much of October. If that actually happened, he could have easily won a 500+ EV landslide comparable to Reagan's. The polls were actually off in that election far worse than 2016 or 2020, it just doesn't get talked about too much, I guess in part because he still won comfortably anyway. Though unlike almost every poll predicted, he didn't even get over 50%.

But here's the map if you just do a universal swing of about 8 points so he wins by about 16 nationally instead of 8, representative of many polls in the lead-up to the election:

[Alben Barkley]

Hell yes, won 1980 as Carter on Normal:



Lost the debates but Operation Eagle Claw succeeded! That was apparently enough to just barely put me over the line in a race that came down to a nail-biter in Michigan, which I won by 0.3 points.

EDIT: Did it again, this time I won the debates AND Operation Eagle Claw succeeded AND I made no mistakes in my answers. Still got the exact same map LOL. Except this time it came down to Illinois (won by 0.3 points) instead of Michigan (won by 1.7). Came closer to winning the popular vote this time though. Lost it by I think 3-4 the first time, 2.5 this time. Seems it may be impossible to win the NPV as Carter (due to Anderson if nothing else) and that 284 map seems like it might be the ceiling. At least with Mondale as VP and a moderate strategy. I highly doubt Ted Kennedy VP and going hard left or anything like that would work better.

Here's the link to the 1980 mod by the way:

https://www.reddit.com/r/thecampaigntrail/comments/ntt7dw/1980_revised_mod_carter_reagan_rewritten/

[Alben Barkley]

Trumanslide:



Easy mode, but I maxed out I think. Focused exclusively on the plains states.

[Alben Barkley]

Possibly the weirdest map ever, but I played as Gore on normal and tied myself to Clinton.


Gore/Graham (D): 384 EV/52.5% PV
Bush/Cheney (R): 154 EV/44.9% PV

That map is just 1996 with KY and VA flipped. Not that weird.

[Alben Barkley]

First map as Biden/Whitmer, somehow won SC, IA, OH, but not TX or AK:

[Alben Barkley]

In 1980, Debate went well, Eagle Claw succeeded and no gaffes. I picked John Glenn to consolidate the midwest. Ran a 'Reagan is a dangerous extremist' campaign and actually won:

Ironically I only won the popular vote by four points.

How’d you manage to win states like MI, IL, OR, WA but lose most of the South?

I can see how Glenn gave you Ohio (I played only with Mondale) but IDK how the hell you won those states before Alabama, Tennessee, or Arkansas.

[Alben Barkley]

I got the same 306 map as real life playing on normal as Biden/Baldwin with the new mod. Came closer to winning NC and FL though, and won WI/MI/PA by more. Even Ohio was close.

[Alben Barkley]

2008 mod:

You can only play Obama right now but McCain will be playable soon the mod maker said.

https://www.reddit.com/r/thecampaigntrail/comments/ob8e09/now_playing_in_theatres_the_2008_presidential/

I'd kinda rather have a 2008 primary or 2008 general with Hillary mod (why isn't she even a VP choice?) but this is still cool.

Was able to get real 2008+MO/MT despite not winning the debate.

[Alben Barkley]

2008 on "Cakewalk" mode with Evan Bayh as running mate:



Won 59.2-39.5 in the NPV.

I think that's the best you can do other than maybe winning Mississippi. I think Sebelius can flip KS and NE, but you can't win states like KY and TN with her.

[Alben Barkley]

I'm incompetent at loading mods so I'm still playing the default campaigns - here's 1976 where I won as Ford while losing the popular vote. I spent my last night in Pennsylvania and managed to pull it (and also Hawaii somehow) out and win.

Ford/Baker - 48.8%
Carter/Mondale - 49.2%

It's not that hard once you figure it out. If the mod you want is already available from the mod loader at the new site (and most of them now are), simply select "Mod Loader" and then pick the candidate you want to play as in the mod year you want from the dropdown menu. So as an example "Jefferson (1796)." Then hit "Submit." Then the Mod Loader will disappear and you can just hit "Click here to begin" in the middle of the page as usual. Now you should see the mod you wanted loaded and ready to go (or you can now pick it from the dropdown menu mixed in with the other campaigns). Just go through the menus as normal but make sure you pick the candidate you selected in the mod loader (in this case Jefferson), and also if there are multiple VP options, pick the one you chose in the loader. (In a few cases, such as the Carter/Wallace VP mod, the VP won't show up in the menu; usually just choosing the first VP listed will load them.)

For mods that aren't in the mod loader (2008 is one of the few still not there), get the code from the subreddit. Here is the 2008 mod. Usually (including here) there will be multiple codes linked in a Google Doc, an intro code (which makes the campaign show up in the menus) and codes for the candidates/VPs you want to play as. In order to load them, select "Mod Loader" on the new site but leave the dropdown menu on "Other." Then copy and paste all the intro code from the Google Doc into the "Code 1" box. You always do that no matter who you're playing as. Then select one of the candidate/VP codes, whichever one you want to play as this time, and copy and paste all of that code into the "Code 2" box. Then hit "Submit" and proceed as if you'd loaded the mod normally.

For all mods, one important thing to note is that it will at first look like it didn't work and you launched a default campaign (so in the Jefferson 1796 example, it looks like I'm playing Polk 1844 at first), but that's OK. Before doing anything, you just have to click "Latest Polls/Electoral Map," then go back. Now the correct candidates and questions/answers should be loaded and you're good to go.

[Alben Barkley]

THE SOUTH HAS RISEN AGAIN!

[Alben Barkley]

1932 mod is out:

https://www.reddit.com/r/thecampaigntrail/comments/oha5p4/1932_modded_scenario_v10_playable_hoover/

Can only play as Hoover at the moment.

[Alben Barkley]

1984 Mondale released. Got this absurdly unrealistic map with Bill Clinton as my VP on my first try, albeit on Very Easy mode (which I figured should be the only way to win but maybe not):

[Alben Barkley]

Did it again, this time on Normal. Won again, this time by 1 point in the popular vote and with the below map. (Georgia was the tipping point.)

[Alben Barkley]

Eisenhower 1952 now out. I got a Civil War map with Earl Warren as my running mate and running as an outspoken anti-McCarthy/Taft, pro-Civil Rights liberal Republican:

[Alben Barkley]

So this is what a McGovern victory map looks like according to the new 1972 mod:



Easiest game mode. Tipping point was Maryland, won by 2.3 points; both Connecticut and West Virginia were closer. Lost the popular vote 48.3-50.

[Alben Barkley]

1972 Election



George McGovern/Shirley Chisholm:310, 38,551,158 49.4%

Richard Nixon/Spiro Agnew: 228, 38,223,462 49.0%



I'm almost certain this is the ceiling for McGovern on Cakewalk mode. Maybe you can expand into Alaska (decided by 3% in my game, but considering how carefully I had to balance campaigning in New Jersey, West Virginia, Hawaii, and Delaware (all decided by less than 1.5%) to win, I'm genuinely not sure if it's possible.

You won all those AND the popular vote with Chisholm? Impressive. I thought I hit the ceiling with Askew. Highly doubt your map can be topped though.

[Alben Barkley]

Oh how the turntables.

[Alben Barkley]

Is there a new link to this game? I haven't been able to find 1972 or 1984 are the link which was originally posted in this thread.

You have to pick 1984 from the Mod Loader in the bottom right corner.

1972 currently has to be manually loaded from a link in the subreddit. Look earlier in this thread for guides on how it works.

[Alben Barkley]

1992 out now.

My first game on Normal:

[Alben Barkley]

This site is all sorts of messed up for me. I can't find 1992, I tried playing their GA-GOV game and ended up with 2016-PRES, and when I tried to play 1996, I ended up with 1960.

I suck at these, though. I've never won a game above easy level. President Infinity is a lot more winnable for me, but their games also take way too much time.

That’s normal. All you have to do when the game first loads is click the button that shows the map, then hit the button that takes you back. The correct candidates/questions will then load. The reason it does that is the mods are built off one of the base campaigns; the assets for that campaign load first so you have to “refresh” it like this to get it to show up right.