via @TedderBear: VGS Round 19 will officially begin on Friday 9/20!
The IC game calendar has been released for 2024-2026, including the snap 2024 elections and the 2026 midterm elections. You'll notice that the game will be closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's days, with the 2026 elections being pushed until after the holidays. https://www.dynamicsim.online/forums/topic/671-game-calendar
via @Tuna:
Good morning everyone,
R19 will begin with snap presidential and congressional elections. While some information will remain under wraps until the appropriate time, we do want to give you as much guidance as how to prepare for each...
2024 Presidential Election Prep
You will not be submitting a formal policy platform. We instead strongly recommend each prospective candidate research and flesh out their opinions on the most important issues of the day, including the War in Gaza, border and immigration, the Supreme Court, abortion/reproductive rights, inflation and the economy, January 6th and democracy, and more.
There will NOT be primary rounds so there is no point in drawing up long-form speeches now. Don't worry, there will be a "primary" for each party to choose their nominee. Stay tuned to see how it happens.
For the general election, instead of full speeches for campaign events, we will be doing excerpts. We are looking for the main thrust, the soundbite portion of your speech that you want voters to be left with. This will hopefully reduce the workload for everyone. Quality over quantity.
We recommend you begin networking with your fellow players and bargaining for their support. It will matter in ways you will soon see.
2024 Congressional Election Prep
For the 2024 midterm elections, we will be going with the RL slate of Senate candidates. However, each side has the opportunity to replace up to 4 NPC Senate candidates with an alternative. However, any replacement Senate nominee must have the approval of all three party caucuses and the AB.
Senate and House campaigns will be using a combination of Events with excerpt speeches and talking points.
There will be two rounds to the congressional campaign.
One more thing for the presidential race. There will be a debate between the two nominees. And the debate will matter a lot.
via @TedderBear: I've corrected about a third of the states in the Senate Roster to fix their senate classes. It is now correct if anyone needs to update their bio. My apologies for the confusion. We also corrected an error of party affiliation for a seat in New Hampshire. The party breakdown is 51 Democrats and 49 Republicans following the RL Senate in 2024.