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Hey bootleggers!

We’ve got something you might wanna see. One of our moles has been working double-time and has some exclusive information that few people have laid eyes on. It was just too good to keep quiet, so we had to pass it along. You didn’t hear it from us, but here are some things you can expect to see in The Precinct update!


Precincts - Painting the Map

Bosses are planning to get a lot more territorial within their neighborhoods. It’s no longer a case of setting up shop wherever you damn well please. Borders of blood have been drawn and those willing to cross them better come equipped because neighborhoods aren’t what they used to be. In The Precinct, each neighborhood will be split into smaller precincts that are controlled by you and other major factions. Some precincts will be held by thugs, much in the same way some rackets are now. Take the depot and clear the thugs, and the precinct is yours.

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Like the bosses that run them, precincts can be friendly, neutral, or hostile. You are free to move about precincts, but if you like the look of one and want it for yourself, you must declare war on the faction who owns it. When it comes to faction relations and precincts, it’s all duck or no dinner, so choose your battles wisely.

Each precinct has set boundaries, so they stay the same every game. When you own a precinct, it’s painted in your boss’s colors to let everyone know who’s running the show in that part of town. Precincts have rackets as they do now, but ownership of them flips entirely to whomever owns the precinct depot.

Precinct Concept.png


What’s the depot? This is the precinct control building: own the depot, own the precinct. You can still attack rackets within the precinct, but it doesn’t result in you taking over the precinct. That being said, if you attack the depot, open rackets will send in reinforcements, so it could be worth your while taking out a few rackets before setting your sights on the depot.

Major factions still have their Safehouse within a neighborhood and as always, this is where you fight the enemy boss. Take them out and the war is over.

Not only that but after hearing feedback from you, our dedicated Sinners, we are happy to say that you will no longer automatically acquire rackets when you take out an enemy boss. Their remaining precincts and rackets crumble and fall under thug control.

Supply Lines

Beyond marking your territory lines and painting the neighborhood in your colors, precincts serve another very important purpose. They set you up with supply lines, which if not managed strategically, can have adverse effects that ripple throughout your empire. Adjoin two or more of your precincts and you set up a supply line. This provides all the rackets in your precincts with booze, while also ensuring your money has a safe path to get back to you. No supply line between your precincts and your rackets are in trouble, and in prohibition Chicago, that’s not something you want to happen for too long.

Supply lines must form an unbroken line of contact back to your Safehouse for them to work, so you’ll have to think carefully about which precincts deserve your attention, and which ones are worth starting wars over. Of course, you can play this to your advantage too. There’s nothing to stop you from claiming a precinct between two of another boss’s to break their supply line. This is still Empire of Sin we’re talking about. If you see an advantage for yourself, take it.

Precinct Screen

With all this radical change coming to Chicago, you’re going to need somewhere to get acquainted with your new precinct layout. Thankfully, you’ll have to look no further than your precinct screen. Things have been streamlined!

Everything you need to know about your precincts is gathered in one place: precinct name, the number of rackets, their type, police presence, and all your financial information. You can also do all your upgrades in one place; there’s no need to individually upgrade every racket in a precinct.

What’s more, you’ll notice there are improvement slots. Every precinct has improvement slots for virtual buildings that enhance certain aspects of your empire. Improvements work a bit like hotels do now and will always better the state of the precinct they are in, though they don’t come easy. Many improvements are gated by rackets, neighborhoods, or factions, so you will have to put in some work to reap the benefits.

Another thing to remember is that there are more improvements available than there are slots. So, you’ll have to carefully consider how you improve parts of your empire.

Police

You may be wondering how George MacDonough and his law enforcers are reacting to the news of precincts. Well, there are many factors that influence how active police are in a precinct. The more rackets there are in a precinct, the harder it is for them to turn a blind eye. Similarly, if there have been a lot of recent ‘unexplained’ deaths in a precinct, the police simply cannot ignore it. Still, as a precinct owner, you can build improvements that can blunt the effectiveness of Chicago’s crew in blue.

Another big factor is your relationship with the police. Unlike the other factors, this affects all the precincts in your criminal empire. Send a generous donation to the chief of police’s retirement fund and his officers will make sure their vision gets poorer when they walk the beat through your part of town.

Bribes.png


One last thing...

For many of you out there, we’ve reached a moment you have been waiting for: we have begun preparations on introducing modding to Empire of Sin. It’s early days for this particular racket, but starting from The Precinct, we will be gradually rolling out modding support starting with phase 1.

You will be able to subscribe to mods through the Steam workshop and Paradox Mods and manage them through the Paradox launcher. In the initial stages planned, the modders among you can work on text-based assets like Lua gameplay scripts, with more modding capabilities planned for the future.

So, that’s all our source could bring us on The Precinct for now. The good news is that while you’re still wrapping your head around all the new features, you won’t have to wait long before you hear more. Word on the street is that Capos and Dons are eyeing up PDXCON as the next Sit-Down location to share even more news about future updates. Make sure you don’t miss out, it’s going to be big!

Until next time, Happy Sinning.
 
More strategic decisions to consider, more difficulty, more relevant police presence, and modding support? :chefskiss:

Needless to say, this is VERY exciting news. Thanks so much, team!
 
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I definitely like the sound of the precincts. Plus having modding support will be a boon for the game and the community. Looking forward to it!
 
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I definitely like the sound of the precincts. Plus having modding support will be a boon for the game and the community. Looking forward to it!

I completely agree. The Paradoxical pattern that DLC and subsequent release fixes the potential of the initial release is in full effect backed with a free patch that enhances the existing game dramatically.

The thing I am excited about is these things address the specific items hammered over and over again, and sets the stage for what is to come. Less Circus animals, more legit Mob behavior.

Plus, Meyer Lansky is coming to town. He and I are very, very old friends. I know the story of the Bugs and Meyer Gang by rote. If they reached into a bag and pulled out a name I wanted to see, hard to imagine one I wanted more than this.

A clever twist, they put Ma Ferguson in to balance out Meyer. Ma is essentially going to fill a Frank Costello, Prime Minister of the Mob, who has all the judges and politicians in his pocket. Ma Ferguson is legendary in Texas for running a state in which criminal behavior could be overlooked for a stack of cash. Real easy to do a compare and contrast between those two.

With Meyer on one side, and Frank on the other; the player's position will more and more resemble Lucky and the Commission. I don't care its in Chicago, it's the right path to take!

Nothing but good news this go round!
 
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I agree. The path taken seems to me to be right, more difficulties, more realism. Now we need to think about the most advantageous strategy. A game like this should put you in front of some tough decisions ...! I think they have given a lot I think that initially fast games, for Sunday players ... now we are moving towards a more mature game.
 
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This is very exciting but I am wary of how it will actually play. Definitely should up the strategy factor, which is good. And the improvement "slots" are very intriguing. Really appreciate it will be free (saving the Expansion pass for Make It Count plus another one).

My only gripe is the use of the term, "Precinct", as it reminds me more of a police precinct. Ward, Community, District or Locale would have been better IMHO.
 
This is very exciting but I am wary of how it will actually play. Definitely should up the strategy factor, which is good. And the improvement "slots" are very intriguing. Really appreciate it will be free (saving the Expansion pass for Make It Count plus another one).

My only gripe is the use of the term, "Precinct", as it reminds me more of a police precinct. Ward, Community, District or Locale would have been better IMHO.

I think 'Precinct' is specifically chosen because this is how the police and DA will be controlled/harnessed in the years to come. SPECIFICALLY since they are adding in a character who is a genius at political payoffs for whatever reason you can imagine - Ma Ferguson of Texas.

Charlie Luciano has Meyer Lansky at his left hand and Frank Costello on his right. Frank Costello IS Vito Coreleone, he has all the judges and lawyers in his pocket and is a fixture as charity events when everyone know when they are talking to him they are talking to Charlie. Ma Ferguson will fit into the Frank Costello slot to keep the Boy/Girl Boss numbers roughly equal.

You pick Meyer because of Murder Inc. and the contract hit, you pick Ma Ferguson to create the political payoff system necessary to allow organized crime to operate. Organized Crime CAN NOT operate without the assistance of the police and the district attorney.

Want an example? First thing Benny Seigel does when he moves to LA to take over criminal operations for Charlie Luciano and Meyer Lansky is make a massive campaign contribution to the incumbent district attorney in cash. After that, everything falls into line because you shoot Benny Seigel you start a war you can't win against Charlie; and if Charlie takes Albert Anastasia - the 'Lord High Executioner' - off his leash, good luck.

Pa Ferguson? He is the only man to be removed from the governer's office of Texas for wrongdoing, ever. So Ma Ferguson ran for governor and won. Twice. During Ma Ferguson's first term 3,000 pardons were granted (bought and paid for by their families) and Texas becomes a major haven for well known criminals on the run because law enforcement chasing people who pay a bribe not to be found is ineffective at best.

Contract Murder / Political Payoffs
Modded maps with historically correct placement of factions and their friends
Say goodbye to the circus. Happy days are here again.
 
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I only got into this game yesterday (got hooked), and from what Ive seen in my few hours of gameplay, I am not sold whether this precinct change is a good change.

If rackets are owned by the one who owns the precinct depot, it should effectively LOWER the strategy, since there are less things you have to take control of. If you can't take control of businesses individually? I don't see this as good...

It seems like its simplifying the game so it more resembles other games of the genre, also not a good thing.
 
I only got into this game yesterday (got hooked), and from what Ive seen in my few hours of gameplay, I am not sold whether this precinct change is a good change.

If rackets are owned by the one who owns the precinct depot, it should effectively LOWER the strategy, since there are less things you have to take control of. If you can't take control of businesses individually? I don't see this as good...

It seems like its simplifying the game so it more resembles other games of the genre, also not a good thing.
Historically criminal activity is permitted in an area controlled by a gang by outside parties paying a street tax to the gang that controls the territory. In return that party gains the protection of the local gang from other gangsters.

In other words, the Boss doesn’t directly control the business but permits it because it is essentially free money every week when the entrepreneur pays his nut.
 
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I only got into this game yesterday (got hooked), and from what Ive seen in my few hours of gameplay, I am not sold whether this precinct change is a good change.

If rackets are owned by the one who owns the precinct depot, it should effectively LOWER the strategy, since there are less things you have to take control of. If you can't take control of businesses individually? I don't see this as good...

It seems like its simplifying the game so it more resembles other games of the genre, also not a good thing.
It will all depend on its implementation, I'm thinking. Rackets may still matter b/c as mentioned above, you may want to take them out before heading to the Depot b/c they will be sources of reinforcements.

I'm expecting (but again, don't know) that Precincts will enforce tighter "borders" and have supply lines (both ours and disrupting rival factions), so that's a strategic element not found in the current game. I've seen suggestions (and I've made them as well) for supply lines, so hopefully, this will fulfil some of that.

Finally, the devs mentioned Precinct-level improvements (money making? defense?) which adds another layer that's not in the current racket set up.

I'm taking a "wait and see" approach until I'm actually able to see how Precincts turns out.
 
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I'm very sorry to hear Meyer is out of the picture, but I get the feeling the Devs are as disappointed as I am. C'est la vie, I don't like it but the Devs had nothing to do from what I can tell.

Good luck with Precinct and The Fixers!
 
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