Fundraising & Ads

Campaign funds are the fuel for advertising and party operations. This guide covers how to generate funds, spend them effectively, and manage your campaign budget.

Fund Generation#

There are two related but distinct fund-generation mechanics: personal character funds (src/lib/utils/fundGeneration.ts10d ago) and campaign funds (src/lib/campaigns/). Neither has a per-demographic-group ad-targeting feature.

Passive Income (personal funds)#

Every turn, a character earns passive income based on:

• State GDP scalar, wealthier states raise more
• Donor bonus, scales with donor base level
• Office bonus, flat, per-hour, tied to the office actually held (OFFICE_FUND_BONUS in fundGeneration.ts):
  • House / Commons / Bundestag: +$5k/hr
  • State Senate / Landtag: +$3k/hr
  • Senate: +$15k/hr
  • Governor: +$15k/hr (same as Senate, not $20k)
  • Minister-President: +$15k/hr
  • Vice President: +$25k/hr
  • President / Prime Minister / Chancellor: +$50k/hr

Campaign income (fundraisingLevel)#

Separately, each campaign has a fundraisingLevel (0-10, legacy linear scale) or an unlocked Strategic Operations fundraising tree that determines per-turn passive campaign income, scaled by race type (president 1.0x baseline down to State Senate 0.2x). FUNDRAISING_INCOME[0] = $20k/turn (no upgrade) up to higher levels at higher investment; this is separate from, and stacks with, the personal office-bonus income above.

Fundraise Action#

The Fundraise action generates immediate funds:

• Base amount: $50k + $2k × donorBaseLevel, scaled by state PI/GDP
• Building the donor base (Build Donor Network action, one-time unlock per level, L0-L75) increases the yield of future Fundraise actions
• Consider opportunity cost vs. campaigning

Party Tax System#

Your party takes a tax on your income (0-33%):

• Tax rate set by party leadership
• Funds go to party treasury (national or state)
• Plan your budget around the tax cut
• Higher-level offices make tax less painful due to larger base income

Advertising#

How Ads Work#

• Advertise ("Run Advertisements"), Spend funds to boost favorability. There is no audience-targeting: the action is untargeted and moves the candidate's overall favorability, not a specific demographic group's approval.
• Effect: base +3 favorability (advertiseFavorabilityGain() in src/lib/actions.ts2d ago), with diminishing returns above 70% favorability (−0.1 per point over 70, floored at 1), then scaled by the candidate's charisma multiplier (±20%)
• Cost: scales with current favorability (tier 0-4, base cost 5-9 action points) and state GDP per capita

Media Spending (separate upgrade track)#

Independent of the Advertise action, campaigns have a mediaSpendingLevel (or Strategic Operations media-spending tree) that is an upgrade, not a per-turn action: it pays a recurring passive favorability gain each turn (getMediaFavPerTurn(), mediaSpendingLevel × 0.5 on the legacy linear scale, or the tree's Broadcast + Television magnitudes once unlocked). This is diminishing-returns-capped in aggregate by PASSIVE_FAV_DIMINISH_THRESHOLD/RATE so a maxed media stack cannot permanently pin favorability at 100.

Ad Strategy#

• Advertise is a blunt instrument, it raises overall favorability, not a specific group's approval. Targeting specific demographics happens through policy alignment and canvassing (see Demographics & Targeting), not through ads.
• Diminishing returns above 70% favorability make late-game ad spending less efficient than early spending.
• Match your positions, policy alignment, not ad targeting, is what makes a candidate resonate with a given demographic group.

Budget Management#

The campaign page budget tab shows:

• Income vs. spending over time
• Category breakdown, Where your money is going
• Per-turn rate, Your net income after expenses and taxes

Tips#

1. Fundraise early, Build a war chest before election season
2. Don't hoard, Unspent funds don't compound; spend on ads when it matters
3. Office income is king, Winning even a House seat dramatically increases your income
4. Watch party tax, If your party has a high tax rate, factor it into your planning

Related Pages#

• Campaign Strategy, Overall campaign planning
• Stats & Actions, Action costs
• Campaign Manager, Using the campaign page budget tab