Campaign Strategy
A practical guide to building influence, allocating actions, and winning elections in A House Divided.
Core Principle#
Every action you spend should move you closer to one goal: winning your next election. Early game is about building a base; mid-game is about positioning; late game is about turnout.
Building Influence#
Political Influence (0-100) is your footprint in your home state. Higher influence = more votes.
- Campaign action - +1% Political Influence per action. The bread-and-butter early move.
- Influence decay - 1%/turn at high levels, 0.1%/turn below 1%. You must keep campaigning to maintain your base.
- Office bonuses - Holding office gives bonus actions, making it easier to maintain influence.
Action Allocation#
You have limited actions each turn. Prioritize based on your situation:
| Situation | Priority |
|---|---|
| New character, no office | Campaign > Fundraise > Poll |
| Primary season | Campaign heavily > targeted ads |
| General election | Campaign + ads in weak demographics |
| Incumbent seeking re-election | Maintain influence + fundraise for war chest |
Campaign Funds#
Presidential and general-election candidates have a separate campaign fund pool distinct from personal Cash on Hand. This pool is:
- Funded by - Per-turn fundraising income (based on fundraising level), player donations, and party donations
- Spent on - Upgrade purchases and maintenance costs
- Not transferable - Campaign funds cannot be moved to personal Cash on Hand
Fundraising Levels#
Each campaign has a fundraising level (0-10) that determines passive income per turn:
| Level | Income/turn |
|---|---|
| 0 | $20,000 |
| 1 | $35,000 |
| 2 | $60,000 |
| 3 | $100,000 |
| 4 | $150,000 |
| 5 | $200,000 |
| 6 | $350,000 |
| 7 | $600,000 |
| 8 | $1,000,000 |
| 9 | $2,500,000 |
| 10 | $5,000,000 |
Upgrading is expensive and gets progressively steeper - costs multiply by 1.5× once the election enters the general phase.
Donations#
Any player can donate personal Cash on Hand to any campaign. Party chairs can donate from the party treasury. All donations are logged publicly on the campaign page.
Campaign Actions#
Your campaign generates a pool of campaign actions each turn, separate from your character's action pool.
- Base floor - Every campaign generates at least 1 action/turn.
- Endorsements - NPP and player endorsements (presidential only) increase actions via
1 + floor(sqrt(endorsements) × 3).
Campaign actions are spent on strategic upgrades.
Strategic Upgrades#
Upgrade four dimensions of your campaign from the campaign page. Each has up to 5 levels (opposition research, ground game, media spending) or 10 levels (fundraising):
| Upgrade | Effect |
|---|---|
| Fundraising | Passive income per turn (10 levels, $20k-$5M/turn) |
| Media Spending | +0.5% favorability per level per turn (passive) |
| Ground Game | +3% turnout boost in swing states per level (ongoing bonus) |
| Opposition Research | −0.5% favorability drain to your target per level per turn |
Upgrade Costs#
Entry point:
Fundraising (10 levels):
| Level | Cost | Actions | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | 10 | +$35k/turn |
| 2 | $120,000 | 15 | +$60k/turn |
| 3 | $250,000 | 20 | +$100k/turn |
| 4 | $500,000 | 25 | +$150k/turn |
| 5 | $900,000 | 30 | +$200k/turn |
| 6 | $1,500,000 | 40 | +$350k/turn |
| 7 | $2,500,000 | 50 | +$600k/turn |
| 8 | $4,000,000 | 60 | +$1M/turn |
| 9 | $6,500,000 | 75 | +$2.5M/turn |
| 10 | $10,000,000 | 90 | +$5M/turn |
Opposition Research (5 levels):
| Level | Cost | Actions | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | 8 | −0.5%/turn to target |
| 2 | $80,000 | 12 | −1.0%/turn to target |
| 3 | $160,000 | 16 | −1.5%/turn to target |
| 4 | $320,000 | 20 | −2.0%/turn to target |
| 5 | $640,000 | 24 | −2.5%/turn to target |
Ground Game (5 levels, has maintenance):
| Level | Cost | Actions | Effect | Maintenance/turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $55,000 | 10 | +3% in swing states | $5,500 |
| 2 | $110,000 | 15 | +6% in swing states | $16,500 |
| 3 | $220,000 | 20 | +9% in swing states | $38,500 |
| 4 | $440,000 | 25 | +12% in swing states | $82,500 |
| 5 | $880,000 | 30 | +15% in swing states | $170,500 |
Media Spending (5 levels, has maintenance):
| Level | Cost | Actions | Effect | Maintenance/turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $60,000 | 12 | +0.5%/turn favorability | $6,000 |
| 2 | $120,000 | 16 | +1.0%/turn favorability | $18,000 |
| 3 | $240,000 | 20 | +1.5%/turn favorability | $42,000 |
| 4 | $480,000 | 24 | +2.0%/turn favorability | $90,000 |
| 5 | $960,000 | 28 | +2.5%/turn favorability | $186,000 |
General phase multiplier: Costs are 1.5× higher once the election enters the general phase.
Maintenance Costs#
Ground game and media spending have ongoing maintenance costs deducted each turn:
Entry point:
// Total maintenance = sum of all purchased levels
// Example: Ground Game level 3 = $5,500 + $16,500 + $38,500 = $60,500/turn
Maintenance is deducted from campaign funds before any other spending.
Insolvency & Auto-Downgrade#
If projected funds (funds + income) can't cover the next turn's maintenance, the turn processor automatically demotes the campaign one level at a time until maintenance is affordable or both tiers reach level 0.
Entry point:
- Priority - The tier with the higher incremental maintenance at its current level drops first (i.e., the most expensive marginal level gets cut).
- Tie-breaker - Media Spending goes first (advertising is easier to pull than canvassers).
- No refund - The player paid for the level; they don't get the money back.
- Passive effects still fire this turn - Favorability effects from media/opposition/travel use the pre-downgrade levels - one last gasp before the downgrade takes effect. The maintenance deduction uses the post-downgrade levels, so the campaign doesn't bleed further.
- Audit trail - Each demotion pushes a
downgradeentry toactivityHistorywithreason: "insolvency".
Existing negative funds values are not healed - the campaign still owes what it overspent. It simply stops draining further and can slowly recover from fundraising income.
Fundraising Income#
Entry point:
// FUNDRAISING_INCOME array (src/lib/campaigns/upgradeCosts.ts)
[20k, 35k, 60k, 100k, 150k, 200k, 350k, 600k, 1M, 2.5M, 5M]
Income is added to campaign funds at the start of each turn (Group 1 processing).
Opposition Research Retargeting#
Once you have opposition research, you can change who you're targeting at any time from the campaign page. A 6-hour cooldown applies between retargets.
Election Timing#
Campaign Season Multiplier#
During the final 4 turns before an election closes, passive campaign effects automatically double (2×):
- Media spending favorability boost:
level × 0.5 × 2 = level × 1.0/turn - Opposition research drain:
level × 0.5 × 2 = level × 1.0/turn to target
No player action is required - the multiplier activates automatically based on the election timer.
Phase Strategy#
- During primaries - Focus on your party's base demographics. Upgrade fundraising early to build the war chest.
- General phase - Upgrade costs are 1.5× higher. Front-load upgrades in the primary phase.
- Final 4 turns - Media spending and opposition research double in effectiveness. Time your opponent targeting carefully.
Party Organization Bonus#
Your party's organization level provides a vote multiplier applied across all your party's votes:
- Formula -
1.0 + (org/100) × 0.6→ 1.0× at org=0, 1.6× at org=100 - No penalty - Low org gives baseline (1.0×), not a handicap
- Building org rewards your whole party's electoral performance
Fog of War#
Opponents don't see your exact upgrade levels - they see a fogged estimate:
Entry point: → updateCampaignFogOfWar()
| Viewer | Variance | Example: If you're level 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Public | ±3 levels | They see 2-8 |
| Party members | ±1 level | They see 4-6 |
Update frequency: Every turn during campaign processing (Group 6)
Implementation:
// applyFog(actualLevel, variance)
const offset = Math.floor(Math.random() * (variance * 2 + 1)) - variance;
const displayedLevel = actualLevel + offset;
Fog applies to all four upgrade categories independently.
Related Pages#
- Election Mechanics - How elections actually work
- Demographics & Targeting - Understanding voter groups
- Stats & Actions - Action costs and stat effects
- Campaign Manager - Using the campaign page