Influence

Connections and ties of the political, commercial, and public varieties. Among other things, the Influence Statistic measures your clout with the famous, your position in the social registers of the rich, and the sway you hold over a mindless, sheep-like public. Influence doesn’t help you very much during general game play, but just like Power and Intelligence, it contributes to your Base Votes. A low Influence means that you’re either unknown or universally reviled, but you’ll be able to function perfectly well for long periods of time even if your Influence is zero. Influence is cheap, and so are the methods of depriving players of it, so you should expect it to go up and down considerably during the game. About 300 points is average for a fresh new face on the political scene.

The most common way to increase your Influence is by stopping at the Network to run a Publicity Campaign, although you can also do it through the Catalog by purchasing Celebrity Endorsements. Full rules on the Network can be found in the Glorious Progress supplement.