How to call for UN Sec/Gen Voting?

[poppawoppa]

Can someone help me by posting what needs to be done to get a Vote initiated? I built the UN and right away there was a window that asked if I wanted to have a vote for Secretary General. I said yes, and after voting the result was a tie. Now over 25 turns have passed, I have 4 other civs who are (Gracious) and the others are (Polite) and I would like to end this game...
to start another... but I dont seem to be getting the "periodic" offer to have another vote for Sec/Gen.
Is there some function that I can trigger to open up that option. Or is this just a case of I have to wait until the "game" decides to allow another vote?
Any advice?

[vondrack]

You can't MAKE the vote happen. The vote "happens"... if and when the game decides it should. However, I read somewhere (I think Aeson wrote it somewhere)that the vote would be taking place once in 11 turns. Are you sure that 25 turns passed without the vote being held again?

[punkbass2000]

I had always thought it was supposed to be every 20 turns.

[poppawoppa]

I had the UN built in 1876 in New York and it is now 1910, so that is only 17 turns... that must be the answer. ( I was probably going by the fact that nearly 34 YEARS had gone by, not that many turns) Thanks for the clarification.

[ArmaGeddin]

Whats the best way to build public support before an election? How soon before the election would you start building support?

[vondrack]

Well, I am not exactly sure if I rephrase precisely what I read in the forums (I never did that myself)... but the most effective approach seems to be securing as many MPPs as possible and then having somebody attack you in your territory (you can try planting a spy with another civ, which may fail and cause a war with that civ... once you get attacked on your soil, your MPP buddies will come to you aid and... well, that is it... you'll have their vote). Timing is not that crucial, I guess, but something like 5 turns ahead of the UN vote should be okay - that should give the "chosen" civ time enough to actually attack you...

[DaveMcW]

Figure out who your opponents will be (25% of the world's land or population, or the most population if no one qualifies). Then sign MPP/alliance against them. Everyone who is polte will vote for you.

[punkbass2000]

Just sign MPP's, in my experience. I can't remember a specific incident of my employing this strategy since 1.21, so it may have changed, but I'm pretty sure that any civ with an MPP with you will vote for you. As long as half the other civs have MPP's with you, you will win. Watch out if they have MPP's with the civ you're running against, though.

[Catt]

I saw the Aeson quote as well (regarding a vote every 11 turns) and decided to watch for it the next time I built the UN. Since then, I've kept track of the frequency of the UN vote opportunity, and across several games it has always been every 11 turns.

Two guesses on why you've gone 17 turns without another vote: (1) a bug; or (2) the interim waiting period is different if you actually call a vote that is inconclusive (during all of my observations of 11-turn intervals, I never actually called a vote).

Catt

[Meshelic]

Don't worry, in my quests to win the diplomatic game it always seemed to take FOREVER between votes. This should be normal. I can't give you any hints to speak of because I think it's all be discussed here already, but I do agree that signing MPP's help a lot.

[poppawoppa]

HOW IT TURNED OUT --
I continued playing. In 1912, the 19th turn the 2nd most powerful civ (French), St Joan of Arc, declared war on my civ. Just out of the blue.
Don't think the AI wasn't tracking that the vote was due to happen the 20th turn. IT DID!
Since I had Mutual Protection Pacts MPPs with every other civilization, the next time my advisor gave me info on the foreign status, each of those civs "came to my rescue" and declared war on the French.
In 1914, the 20th turn, sure enough, the Elections were called and only St Joan of the French voted for herself. All others voted for President Lincoln, and the victory was mine.
For fun, since we had not had any wars except to fight the barbarians, I opted to continue for a few more turns. Now at the end of 1922, I have taken about 15 of the French cities on two continents. The esteemed allies have sent many troops, swordsmen, archers, riflemen and some mech infantry. They have sacrificed themselves against the French cities defended with Mech Infantry and Veteran Infantry, even a few Marines. But so far, none of the 'Allies' have taken a French city.
Thanks again for your help. And hope you enjoy your games as much as I do.

[djafrot]

I find the rate of allowing you to vote varies. Sometimes it's every turn... but in my most recent game it happened the turn I built it, but not for at least 20 turns after.

[Master Marcus]

I find the diplo victory the most difficult to achieve, at least for my gameplay style...I never make MPPs. In fact it's the sole victory type I've never achieved ( tried 3 times ). the "elections" were much better rendered in SMAC and MoO2 so I don't really mind - always disable it now.

[Aeson]

If you don't call for the vote, it will ask every 11th turn. I just finished playing a game where I timed it to call for the vote in 2050AD (turn 540), having built the UN in 1705AD (turn 331). All 19 votes happened just when they were supposed to in that stretch. If someone calls the vote and no one wins it will be 20 turns before there is another vote though.