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Dev Diary: Diplomacy & Gangsters changes in 1.03

EoS_DevDiaryThumbnail16x9.png

What’s up, bootleggers?

We’ve had our moles and reporters working double time the last month to find another scoop on what’s been happening in Chicago’s underworld. They had to grease a lot of palms and call in more than a few favors, but they got the goods and met us at a derelict this morning to hand it over. Here’s what’s going down!

DIPLOMACY​

Expanding your empire and keeping relations sweet with other bosses is a tightrope walk that’s never going to be easy. Chicago is a competitive market and business is brutal. As it stood, things were a free-for-all with relations usually fraught between capos, and diplomacy suffered. Though they may not agree on much, they knew things had to change.
Firstly, the grab-and-go tactics of stealing rackets out from under each other had to stop. It took too much time that they could better invest in business. After a secret Sitdown with Chris King, senior designer and mob boss mediator, the bosses reached a consensus: attacking a racket is now an act of war. Gone are the days of acquiring a racket through a few rounds of single combat. Now you put your money where your mouth is and let a faction know how you really feel about them. Still think that stealing Salazar Reyna’s speakeasy is worth starting a war over? Go right ahead!

Act of war.png


The change has had a positive knock-on effect throughout Chicago. Before, taking over rackets resulted in frequent and repetitive attacks from enemy AI until bosses agreed on some kind of treaty. This has been removed with the war update. What’s more, removing this option actually made the AI get better.

With less time devoted to planning ambushes on your rackets, enemy AI has become more calculated in how it engages with you outside of war and expands its own business ventures.

Expanding AI.png


Every diplomatic gangster knows a lot is achieved by talking. Sure, you can send your regards across town, but the real business is done face to face and that means Sitdowns. For a boss new to the city, you could have numerous other bosses wanting to size you up and before you know it, you’ve got more meetings in a day than barrels in your brewery. Missing a requested Sitdown means starting on the back foot with another faction. So after some coercing, the bosses agreed to let a little more time pass before they take offense. The Sitdown timeout has been moved from 5 minutes to 15, so it’ll stop you sweating through your suit or sequins rushing from one end of the neighborhood to the other.

Sit-down timeout.png


It comes with a compromise though. Things were never going to be sunshine and rainbows between the bosses for that long! Factions are keeping some things even more guarded than before. If guards are patrolling the streets for a boss you haven’t met yet, they’re under strict instructions not to reveal who they are if they get mixed up in combat. Their faction name won’t show up in pre-combat, and you’re not going to find out who they’re with until after you pull the trigger. Just another way for bosses to find out exactly where your sentiments lie.

So where do George MacDonough and company sit with all these changes to diplomacy? His crew in blue are always in need of more fundraising and turning a blind eye to your rackets is a great way to get fast cash out of you. If you refuse, more power to you, but the higher your notoriety, the lower the faction rating you’re gonna get with the police. It seems the State has George’s back against the wall and keeping him sweet to your notorious criminal empire is going to cost you.

Bribing George.png

GANGSTERS​

As for your gangsters, there have been some changes. Low-tier gangsters have all reduced their cost of hiring. They’re competing for work with one another and it’s a buyer’s market. This means you can get more bullets for your money when you start out, and once you have a good crew set up, you could still have cash left to invest in your empire.
We heard a lot of feedback from players about the gangster talent tree. Once hired, gangsters should still have to prove their worth before they handle a bunch of fancy moves.
Thanks to this feedback, we’ve locked gangster talent trees. They’ll have to put in some work to earn one talent per tier, one tier at a time. As for hiring top-tier gangsters, there’s little they don’t already know. They’ll join your crew with all but tier 5 ready to use. Hey, you get what you pay for!

Grovers Talent Tree (1).png


Beyond their talents, how else can they prove they’re part of your crew? Well, of late they found another way to pledge allegiance to your cause. In combat, if any member of your faction performs an execution, you’re going to get a notoriety boost from it. It’s your gangster’s way of giving a little back because if it wasn’t for you, they may not be in the back of a racket slicing someone’s throat. It’s only fair you get some recognition for it, right?

Gangster Execution.png


That about wraps up all the updates we could get you without arousing too much suspicion. Let us know what you think of the changes. Until next time, happy Sinning!
 
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All very positive changes that have changed the game in big ways.

The one diplomatic change I think they still need to make ties directly to the in game economy, and that is the sale and trading of booze. Right now, even at higher difficulties, I almost never see enemy factions making anything higher than swill - and I see several of them making no booze at all. This cripples their ability to fight back and invalidates the economic/trade side of the strategic layer of the game. I would like to see the enemy boss AI specialize (either based on their personalities or completely at random) in ways that diversify the economics of the game and make the trade tabs more interesting/useful to use.

Beyond that, Romero needs to take a hard look at the mole system (needs a complete rework to be more active, imo) and the safehouse discovery system (also needs to be more active - players should have to work to discover enemy safehouses, not randomly uncover them even if they are completely across the city in a neighborhood we havent even been to you).

Again, the recent changes are all for the better - thanks again and keep up the great work.
 
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All very positive changes that have changed the game in big ways.

The one diplomatic change I think they still need to make ties directly to the in game economy, and that is the sale and trading of booze. Right now, even at higher difficulties, I almost never see enemy factions making anything higher than swill - and I see several of them making no booze at all. This cripples their ability to fight back and invalidates the economic/trade side of the strategic layer of the game. I would like to see the enemy boss AI specialize (either based on their personalities or completely at random) in ways that diversify the economics of the game and make the trade tabs more interesting/useful to use.

Beyond that, Romero needs to take a hard look at the mole system (needs a complete rework to be more active, imo) and the safehouse discovery system (also needs to be more active - players should have to work to discover enemy safehouses, not randomly uncover them even if they are completely across the city in a neighborhood we havent even been to you).

Again, the recent changes are all for the better - thanks again and keep up the great work.

Thank you for the feedback! Regarding the mole system, if you could make _one_ change to it, what would it be?
 

View attachment 685869

What’s up, bootleggers?

We’ve had our moles and reporters working double time the last month to find another scoop on what’s been happening in Chicago’s underworld. They had to grease a lot of palms and call in more than a few favors, but they got the goods and met us at a derelict this morning to hand it over. Here’s what’s going down!

DIPLOMACY​

Expanding your empire and keeping relations sweet with other bosses is a tightrope walk that’s never going to be easy. Chicago is a competitive market and business is brutal. As it stood, things were a free-for-all with relations usually fraught between capos, and diplomacy suffered. Though they may not agree on much, they knew things had to change.
Firstly, the grab-and-go tactics of stealing rackets out from under each other had to stop. It took too much time that they could better invest in business. After a secret Sitdown with Chris King, senior designer and mob boss mediator, the bosses reached a consensus: attacking a racket is now an act of war. Gone are the days of acquiring a racket through a few rounds of single combat. Now you put your money where your mouth is and let a faction know how you really feel about them. Still think that stealing Salazar Reyna’s speakeasy is worth starting a war over? Go right ahead!

View attachment 685868

The change has had a positive knock-on effect throughout Chicago. Before, taking over rackets resulted in frequent and repetitive attacks from enemy AI until bosses agreed on some kind of treaty. This has been removed with the war update. What’s more, removing this option actually made the AI get better.

With less time devoted to planning ambushes on your rackets, enemy AI has become more calculated in how it engages with you outside of war and expands its own business ventures.

View attachment 685867

Every diplomatic gangster knows a lot is achieved by talking. Sure, you can send your regards across town, but the real business is done face to face and that means Sitdowns. For a boss new to the city, you could have numerous other bosses wanting to size you up and before you know it, you’ve got more meetings in a day than barrels in your brewery. Missing a requested Sitdown means starting on the back foot with another faction. So after some coercing, the bosses agreed to let a little more time pass before they take offense. The Sitdown timeout has been moved from 5 minutes to 15, so it’ll stop you sweating through your suit or sequins rushing from one end of the neighborhood to the other.

View attachment 685866

It comes with a compromise though. Things were never going to be sunshine and rainbows between the bosses for that long! Factions are keeping some things even more guarded than before. If guards are patrolling the streets for a boss you haven’t met yet, they’re under strict instructions not to reveal who they are if they get mixed up in combat. Their faction name won’t show up in pre-combat, and you’re not going to find out who they’re with until after you pull the trigger. Just another way for bosses to find out exactly where your sentiments lie.

So where do George MacDonough and company sit with all these changes to diplomacy? His crew in blue are always in need of more fundraising and turning a blind eye to your rackets is a great way to get fast cash out of you. If you refuse, more power to you, but the higher your notoriety, the lower the faction rating you’re gonna get with the police. It seems the State has George’s back against the wall and keeping him sweet to your notorious criminal empire is going to cost you.

View attachment 685865

GANGSTERS​

As for your gangsters, there have been some changes. Low-tier gangsters have all reduced their cost of hiring. They’re competing for work with one another and it’s a buyer’s market. This means you can get more bullets for your money when you start out, and once you have a good crew set up, you could still have cash left to invest in your empire.
We heard a lot of feedback from players about the gangster talent tree. Once hired, gangsters should still have to prove their worth before they handle a bunch of fancy moves.
Thanks to this feedback, we’ve locked gangster talent trees. They’ll have to put in some work to earn one talent per tier, one tier at a time. As for hiring top-tier gangsters, there’s little they don’t already know. They’ll join your crew with all but tier 5 ready to use. Hey, you get what you pay for!

View attachment 685864

Beyond their talents, how else can they prove they’re part of your crew? Well, of late they found another way to pledge allegiance to your cause. In combat, if any member of your faction performs an execution, you’re going to get a notoriety boost from it. It’s your gangster’s way of giving a little back because if it wasn’t for you, they may not be in the back of a racket slicing someone’s throat. It’s only fair you get some recognition for it, right?

View attachment 685863

That about wraps up all the updates we could get you without arousing too much suspicion. Let us know what you think of the changes. Until next time, happy Sinning!
enemy AI has become more calculated in how it engages with you outside of war and expands its own business ventures.
Do explain how and in which way.
u call the patch diplomacy so i would love to hear how the diplomacy has improved?
all i read was more time to get to the sitdowns.
please eleborate:
 
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Thank you for the feedback! Regarding the mole system, if you could make _one_ change to it, what would it be?
It needs to involve active decision making, even if it is rudimentary.

Once we've embedded a mole, we should have a short list of active options - including (examples only):

  • generic (search for safehouse, reveal gangster movements across the map, etc)

  • class specific (demolitionist = blow up brewery, con artist = steal money/booze, doctor = poison booze, hired guns = assassinate lieutenant, etc)

  • and a final option to pull the mole out early (at an increased chance of discovery/execution).

These should all be percentage chance based. Keeping a mole embedded longer should up the chance of success for each - while also increasing the chance they are discovered/executed.

I know that would likely require some UI work, but that is the ideal, imo.

Right now, the only reason I ever even consider embedding a mole is because of the mission. Losing a gangster for six months (especially when your campaigns rarely last much longer than that to begin) for what we get feels punitive and a waste of time. If we had a little more control, it would both be more interesting and make it worth actually considering embedding a mole.

I know this probably doesnt help, but if you have the ability, take a look at the spy system in the CA grand strategy game Total War: Three Kingdoms. It isn't very sophisticated, but it does the above in a way that is both simple and very fun (offering meaningful decisions).
 
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It needs to involve active decision making, even if it is rudimentary.

Once we've embedded a mole, we should have a short list of active options - including (examples only):

  • generic (search for safehouse, reveal gangster movements across the map, etc)

  • class specific (demolitionist = blow up brewery, con artist = steal money/booze, doctor = poison booze, hired guns = assassinate lieutenant, etc)

  • and a final option to pull the mole out early (at an increased chance of discovery/execution).

These should all be percentage chance based. Keeping a mole embedded longer should up the chance of success for each - while also increasing the chance they are discovered/executed.

I know that would likely require some UI work, but that is the ideal, imo.

Right now, the only reason I ever even consider embedding a mole is because of the mission. Losing a gangster for six months (especially when your campaigns rarely last much longer than that to begin) for what we get feels punitive and a waste of time. If we had a little more control, it would both be more interesting and make it worth actually considering embedding a mole.

I know this probably doesnt help, but if you have the ability, take a look at the spy system in the CA grand strategy game Total War: Three Kingdoms. It isn't very sophisticated, but it does the above in a way that is both simple and very fun (offering meaningful decisions).

Truly excellent.

Piggybacking off Blaeys, I would like to add is the ability to send a trained killer down as a mole to use as an asset on the assault of the enemy safehouse. High risk mission, good chance the mole dies before the assault begins six months after embedding. But it would make for some epic AAR roleplaying scenarios.
 
  • 2Like
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It needs to involve active decision making, even if it is rudimentary.

Once we've embedded a mole, we should have a short list of active options - including (examples only):

  • generic (search for safehouse, reveal gangster movements across the map, etc)

  • class specific (demolitionist = blow up brewery, con artist = steal money/booze, doctor = poison booze, hired guns = assassinate lieutenant, etc)

  • and a final option to pull the mole out early (at an increased chance of discovery/execution).

These should all be percentage chance based. Keeping a mole embedded longer should up the chance of success for each - while also increasing the chance they are discovered/executed.

I know that would likely require some UI work, but that is the ideal, imo.

Right now, the only reason I ever even consider embedding a mole is because of the mission. Losing a gangster for six months (especially when your campaigns rarely last much longer than that to begin) for what we get feels punitive and a waste of time. If we had a little more control, it would both be more interesting and make it worth actually considering embedding a mole.

I know this probably doesnt help, but if you have the ability, take a look at the spy system in the CA grand strategy game Total War: Three Kingdoms. It isn't very sophisticated, but it does the above in a way that is both simple and very fun (offering meaningful decisions).
Great ideas!
 
Truly excellent.

Piggybacking off Blaeys, I would like to add is the ability to send a trained killer down as a mole to use as an asset on the assault of the enemy safehouse. High risk mission, good chance the mole dies before the assault begins six months after embedding. But it would make for some epic AAR roleplaying scenarios.
This would be a great option for the enforcer or hit man - thinning out the number of enemies we have to face in the final assault on an enemy safehouse - I know there was another thread about facing too many enemies when an enemy boss is tier 5 - this would be a great - active (meaning player actually has to do something) way to address that issue.
 
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I believe the forum caters for unsolicited ideas / feedback / constructive criticism. The floor is yours.
he asked the question three weeks ago. You are the first person to remotely reply to the comment. Think that might have a bit to do with the lack of followup and lack of interest?
 
he asked the question three weeks ago. You are the first person to remotely reply to the comment. Think that might have a bit to do with the lack of followup and lack of interest?

Looks like I misread it! I think I assumed he was asking if he could input ideas whilst somehow I missed that he had. I must have been distracted.
 
I see what you were going for by having gangsters already having talents when they’re hired, but I’d much rather choose their skills myself than have them already pre selected. I mean, what’s the point having a feature where you choose their talents if it only applies to lower tier gangsters now? Having the option to unlearn talents in favour of new ones would be great. You’ve kind of ruined one of the game’s key features here.
 
I see what you were going for by having gangsters already having talents when they’re hired, but I’d much rather choose their skills myself than have them already pre selected. I mean, what’s the point having a feature where you choose their talents if it only applies to lower tier gangsters now? Having the option to unlearn talents in favour of new ones would be great. You’ve kind of ruined one of the game’s key features here.
We saw a lot of chatter about being able to respec your skills, especially in situations as you've mentioned and we're happy to report that as of 1.05 (that should go live this month), you can now respec your skills from the folks you've hired, so go wild with all sorts of combos or min-max to your heart's content. :)