This is minor, but when I recruit Yakau, the pop up says that the fleet will now escort the palace, but their actual instructions remain as "Hold position at Heru I". If I spend another action to talk to Yakau and tell him to escort me, then the fleet actually starts following, but either he should do that by default or the popup should just say that Zorana now has the ability to give directions to the fleet (although I'm not sure if there's actually any point to moving the fleet at this stage of the game).
New record of 28 votes. Managed to flip Muistis back by rewinding to turn 28 of my previous attempt and welcoming the Mau first in the jubilee, and then not doing Rippling Eternity's quest (apparently he'll vote for me without it, and it seems like something that would upset non-Heru. The third elector got approved in the epilogue anyway). Rejit was the only vote for Lukamir (besides Lukamir himself ofc). I might need to go back and test out the requirements for Milan's quest again. If it's actually possible to get both Zolot and Milan via quests before Lukamir grabs them, then I can just absorb all of Tharkas Prime's electors into the cabinet to secure their votes.
I just went for a vote-maxing run and won the election 27 votes to 3. Holdouts were Lukomir, Milan, and Khdarr (presumably). 22 of those were pledged votes and then I got 5 out of 6 undecideds to break for me. I didn't use blackmail at all, but I did max my allure and made significant use of "charm and flatter" to either nudge people into friendly so that I could secure their vote without a quest, or to at least get neutral voters leaning positive. I ended up securing Zolot, Radomil, Krovos, Three Rocks Nestled, Rippling Eternity, Chapadoc, and One Bite via doing their quests (in that order), Eve via marriage alliance, and Stoyan, Mirielle, Erilotti, Oberod, Ozara, and Lorkas by adding them to my cabinet. I had the cabinet planned from the start with the goals of getting high stats, not including any pair of enemies, and grabbing people that Lukamir likes to target early (which is why Oberod is there).
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it's possible to get 29 votes with careful planning (I'm assuming it's not possible to keep Lukomir from entering the election and voting for himself). It seems difficult to get Milan's quest done (although I haven't mapped out all the exact stat requirements) before Lukomir snatches him up, but he could probably replace Lorkas in the cabinet as Logothete of Culture. The polling ability of high media is great for planning, but it isn't actually necessary once you have a full route mapped out and already know how everybody is going to feel about your actions (Lorkas is the only person in my current cabinet that doesn't get along with Milan, and I have not seen Lukamir prioritize her at all). Khdarr was "neutral" when I visited her in person on turn 30, and she was showing up as positive in my turn 34 poll, so I'm pretty sure I just barely lost her vote (technically I guess I could have lost Robe & Starlight instead, but they were more solidly positive when we last talked). It would probably be possible to swing her just by making a different decision on one or two of the issues she cares about. There may also be some way to get her to guarantee you a vote or to at least give you a quest, but if so I haven't found it yet. Alternatively it might be possible to add her to the cabinet, but Heru II is a pain to get to early.
My current route was "Beeline to Draug for Stoyan and his enhanced movement. Get back to Myrkka I by turn 10 to grab Zolot. Head to Myrkka II, then Mau, then Tharkas I and II, collecting cabinet members. Swing over to Heru III to grab unsympathetic electors, before returning to Myrkka 1 to grab Ethexae and be there for turn 24. Head over to the rest of Heru (grabbing Sinniparrt on the way), and end in Tharkas III (saved for last b/c Sola is basically free)."
I definitely think the threshold for an achievement should be higher than 20.
