MASSIVE SPOILERS: To determine WHY all of the elections fail to reach a conclusion, you must (during the SECOND caucus – you can’t discover any of this at the first one) you MUST…
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No longer be in the running (e.g. you must give up your seat if you were standing for election). It is best if you don’t even try to run, as it gives you more time to politic during the caucus.
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Have eliminated one of the candidates (it must be two way race) during the /second/ caucus, which must be done BEFORE the caucus (via letter writing). Note that if you burn one of the candidates during the FIRST caucus, they come back for the second and you can’t burn them again, so be careful! Mallory is by far the easiest to eliminate with Pickering being much, much more difficult).
==To burn Mallory, you must do ONE of the following:
…* Talk to her (during the chance encounter OR during the first reception) and ask about her creator (sets “heard_of_ogier”). OR
…* Establish contact with Senator Timmers during the letter writing sequence and ask him about Mallory’s creator (also sets “heard_of_ogier”)
…* Then you must establish contact with Senator Bailey during or before the letter writing sequence and you’ll have the option to mention Mallory’s creator, which will prevent her from appearing as a candidate.
==To burn Pickering, you must set the “pickering_and_pike” flag, and to do THAT you must set the “met_albert_pike” flag. Setting the “met_albert_pike” flag is very, very hard, but there are a couple of paths to get there:
…* Part 1: There is some prep work you can do in Part 1 to make your life easier in part 2:
…* You can set “hersey_of_masons” by joining the Freemason’s in part 1.
…* Set learn_of_masons (by asking your sire about them): Meet all of the following:
…* You must choose to improve your rapport with your Quaestor.
…* Your sire must be alive (and, therefore also your Quaestor).
…* Your sire must be Sainte-Chapelle.
…* Your perception must be 1 or greater.
…* EITHER your lore must be 2 or greater OR your intelligence must be 3 or greater.
…* Your sire must not think of himself as a god, nor can he be highly faithful.
…* To actually set “hersey_of_masons”, you must ALSO
…* Wait until after the governor’s visit
…* Be male
…* Have a reasonably good relationship with your sire (> 65, which isn’t hard to achieve at all)
…* Agree to join when offered the opportunity (there are several paths, depending on race and religious background)
…* You can set “met_albert_pike” in part 1 by starting down the path to join the KKK, but veering off (this is forced if you are female, but can be done if you are male as well)
…* You must be offered the opportunity to attend a soiree (party) immediately after purchasing a new outfit / investing in Memphis city bonds. To achieve this, you must meet all of the following criteria:
…* Your race must not be African or Indian (duh!)
…* You must be Reformed (not Catholic or pagan)
…* You must speak English
…* If you are a Yankee and male, your charm must be 3 or greater
…* If you are a Yankee and female, your charm must be 2 or greater
…* Note that attending the party is automatic if you meet the criteria – otherwise, you’ll get the “Watch a KKK lynching” scene instead.
…* At the party, if male you must NOT select the option “I too follow the menfolk into the library, to hear what General Forrest has to say”. Note that this is the option that leads to actually joining the KKK – thus, “veering off” earlier. If you are female, you won’t even be offered the chance to make a mistake here.
…* During the discussion that follows with Mary Ann, you must:
…* DON’T offer to take her outside (“Why don’t we step outside? It seems like a lovely evening, and we can better speak away from prying eyes.” Clearly, she is in need of comforting, and I feel called to assist her.") – at least, not until after you’ve selected the key choice (below)
…* Have a perception of 2 or greater
…* Select the option “Who is that man with the magnificent beard?”
…* Part 2:
…* You can ALSO set “met_albert_pike” in part 2 if:
…* Your preferred prey is soldiers (the key scene occurs AFTER you get the opportunity to change your prey, so this is easy to achieve), plus ONE of the following is true:
…* The flag “hersey_of_masons” is set (this set if if you join the Freemason’s – see above) OR
…* Your religious tradition is “Reformed” (e.g. “Not Catholic”) AND your charm is 4 or greater (yes, this is achievable – you can start out with a Charm of 4, and if you have a Charm of 3 AND you are playing a version of Part 1 that allows you to go through the vicksburg_denouement scene, you may have an opportunity to get Samantha to train you to Charm of 4 during this scene) OR
…* You are an Indian
…* FINALLY, having gotten the “met_albert_pike” flag set, you can get the critical “pickering_and_pike” flag. You must meet one of two criteria to get the key scene (in addition to having “met_albert_pike” set):
…* Your preferred prey must be soldiers OR
…* Your must have the “hersey_of_masons” flag set (joined the Freemasons)
…* The key scene will occur immediately after you finish preparations for the first reception (either by organizing the party or recruiting refreshments) automatically.
…* What choices you make during the following conversation doesn’t matter – the key fact is that you need to learn that Pickering is a Freemason, which happens automatically between the first and second questions.
…* FINALLY (again!) you are in a position to burn Pickering. To do this, you must establish contact with Senator Lockridge (either during the letter writing segment or before) and you’ll be offered a choice to mention Pickering’s association with the Freemason’s. This will block his candidacy.
==Edited by @jasonstevanhilll
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Most have convinced enough Senators to vote for Stone’s candidate (Mallory or Lesczynski, depending on who remains) that Partridge must vote for the anti-Stone (either Lesczynski or Pickering) candidate to preserve the impasse. This sets the “partridge_betrayal” flag.
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Now you must set the “notice_partridge_betrayal” flag. There an explicit question to set this flag (“I ask Carothers how it is that we are at such an impasse again.”) or you can pass a perception test (need perception 3 or greater). Be very careful here – if you ask the question /before/ setting the “partridge_betrayal” flag, you won’t get the “notice_partridge_betrayal” flag set AND you won’t be able to ask the question again. You can still pass the perception test, though.
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