A player in the discussions found it: lose your first general election, and the game could quietly never ask you about the next one. That was a bug, and it is fixed. This update also brings the calendar people kept asking for, background stories that actually begin, and letters for your heir.

Lose once, run again
The "Will you run?" question had a cooldown slightly shorter than the gap between two general elections. If the last race asked you late in its registration window, the next one could find the question still locked and skip you for the whole cycle. Every election now asks.

A calendar on your desk
Every local, general and presidential election for the next four years, in date order — plus your party's conventions if you are a member, and floor leader races once you hold a seat. The nearest race of each kind shows its registration window, whether you qualify, and where you stand.

Your background's story now begins
Each of the nine backgrounds opens with its own first-year question — the one the rest of that life keeps coming back to. It was left to a random draw with a narrow window, and in our test runs most lives never saw it. The rest of each background's story branches from that moment, so most of those stories never started. It now arrives in every life, early in your first year. In our test runs a life now sees more than twice as much of its own story.

Letters for your heir
When you carry on as your child, the person who wrote to you all your life now writes to them — from your real record. When your heir reaches a moment you once did — a first win, a first loss, an office you held, a trial, the age you were when you left — a page arrives about what you did then. Every starting background has them.

People who stay in your life
Your rival, your first comrade and the reporter on your beat now appear by name in 31 events, up from 13. What you do to them adds up, and four choices only open once a relationship has earned them. A rival who dies stays dead. Someone you never hired no longer turns up by name.

Big moments you play out
When a story moment puts you in front of the press, at a podium or at a town hall, it now opens the table instead of ending in a line of text — eleven of them, up from one.

Honesty is no longer the worst move
Turning down a conglomerate's campaign money used to leave you with nothing while every dirty option paid. Refusing now builds trust, goes into your hall of honor, and the conglomerate remembers.

Prison, fixed
Custody is now per case. An acquittal frees you from that case only, bail is only for detention before trial, and you cannot be arrested again while you are already inside. The arrest scene no longer arrives after you have already planned the next quarter. Running from a cell now has its own election night.

You have no gender
Your character is whoever you named. In places the game still said "he", "sir", "son", "Congressman" or "your wife". Hundreds of lines across all six languages now say what they should.

Also
· The Federation's twelve player portraits were redrawn to match the rest of the game.
· Presidents and elders no longer end up holding a second office, or get events and press questions meant for other ranks.
· Prisoners and sitting presidents can no longer run for party leader.
· Campaign funds can no longer drop below zero — when the account runs dry, the shortfall comes out of your own pocket.
· Scheduled events no longer repeat, and lines in the weekly brief no longer vanish or appear twice.
· Loading a save from the menu no longer replays the last vote-count broadcast.
· Rumors follow your language setting.
· Story text speaks to you in the second person in every language, and "in 1 weeks" is gone.

Thank you to the player who reported the election bug, and to everyone playing in Early Access.