Hola, Capos!
Our Balance Update is now live across all the platforms! The Update is out of the Beta, and in it, we have implemented a less punishing Terror system, reworked Attention Stars, gave your Lieutenants another useful function, and introduced many balance changes to the game that ultimately give you more choice in your playstyle! We'll continue working on further Balance changes and system reworks, and will have more for you in our next Major Update - Special Buildings! As always, thank you for your support and we'll see you on the lands of Cartel Tycoon!
Cartel Tycoon v 0.9.3.2610 (January Balance Update)
Major changes
ːcartel_loveː Major Terror rework: We wanted to make Terror less punishing, and that’s why now Terror reduces over time by itself and Attention Stars deactivate after the attack. The Terror scale has been changed, and now gaining each new Attention Star will require more Terror. We’ve also added more ways to gain Terror to balance things out. We will continue working on the Terror system in future updates.
ːcartel_loveː Major attacks rework: We’re also introducing changes to Attention Star attacks themselves: Order of Attention Stars has been changed. Now it’s: Police, Federales, DEA, National Army, CIA, US Army. New Attack type added for Police - Road Cordons which will block roads for a limited amount of time (don’t send your Lieutenants there), Federales now arrest buildings, DEA now searches multiple buildings, the “Investigation” attack has been removed. US Army follows your Lieutenants even if you move them.
ːcartel_loveː Major Village rework: With this update, we wanted to make interactions with Villages more complex and fun: Villages are now upgradable, upgrades unlock new legal products. You are now able to choose the price for legal products in Villages. Buying for a higher price grants you more Loyalty, taking products for free rises your Terror. You can now use Dirty Money to buy products from villages.
ːcartel_loveː Smuggling points rework: We wanted to make Smuggling Points more money-efficient and also introduce new ways to use your Lieutenants. The delivery time now also includes product loading time. Smuggling Points now have 1 Delivery Slot, each Lieutenant stationed in the Smuggling Point will grant an additional Delivery Slot. Each Smuggling point has a different amount of additional Delivery Slots. You can now sell illegal products without packaging in all Smuggling Points, but selling them this way through Seaports and Border Checkpoints will grant you, additional Terror. You can sell packed drugs in all the Smuggling Points also.
ːcartel_loveː Global Unlocks rework: All of the regions have been removed from Global Unlocks, you can use all of them in Sandbox and Survival Modes without additional unlocks now! Conditions for unlocking Pathos Residence were changed. Players who already unlocked it will keep it. We will continue to improve the Global Unlocks system in future updates.
Quest-Events rework: We feel like Quest-Events brought more storytelling variety to the game, but also ːcartel_loveː brought more challenge, especially in the early game - we wanted to address it in this update. More Quest-Events were added, and now you’ll see more positive Quest-Events that will help you grow your Empire. Lieutenants Quest-Events appear more often now.
ːcartel_loveː Lieutenants' experience no longer grows when they’re idle. Now If you want your Lieutenants to gain XP, you’ll have to use them!
Balance
- Market Balance has been changed: Base prices for Opium and Dried Cannabis have been lowered, their price on the Market will change more frequently but in a smaller range. Base prices for Meth and Cocaine have been increased, their price on the Market will change less frequently but in a larger range, The market also won’t affect Opium and Cannabis at the start of the game that much.
- Survival Mode balance has changed to reflect the current Balance changes.
- The Cannabis production Balance has been tweaked.
- Efficiency Layers have been changed across difficulty levels of Sandbox Mode.
- Difficulty levels for Sandbox have been changed: Easy now has 5 neutral regions, Normal has 3 neutral regions.
- The speed of cars on sand and gravel roads has been lowered, and the speed of cars on all the roads has been reworked.
- Prices of roads have been lowered.
- Prices and Upkeep Costs of these Tier I buildings in the Research Tree have been lowered: Farm, Warehouse, Transport Company, Workshop, River Pier.
- Prices of Passive Effects on Tier I of Research Tree have been lowered in half.
- Cities now lose control over the course of 16 days.
- Workshop Upgrades has been changed: drugs won’t need additional research, only the packaging
- One delivery of Dirty Money to Laundering Buildings now lasts for a larger amount of Laundering cycles. Storage capacities of Laundering Buildings now reflect this change, and now they can be overflowed.
- Your Starting Region now may have an enemy and arrested buildings on the start. The Player still controls the Smuggling Point of the Region.
- Confiscation now lasts 12 days instead of 7.
- You can construct a Stadium and a Catherdral in any city now. (But still 1 on the Map)
- The time between Mayor Favors has been increased.
- Mayor Favor “Lower Terror” now lowers much more Terror, and you can’t get Attention Stars while it happens.
- Price for Mayor Favor: Arrest Removal has been increased.
- You gain more Loyalty for City Events
- Construction of non-city buildings now grants a bit of Loyalty.
- Building Demolition with Lieutenant Ability now grants you 90% of the building cost instead of 50%.
- The highest Lieutenants' upkeep price during the negotiation phase is now higher.
- Conditions of some Deals with Lieutenants have been updated - more products need to be sold.
Other updates & changes
- Lieutenants now require a certain level of Terror to be recruited.
- An Assassination of your Lieutenant that you ordered will lower the Allegiance of all other Lieutenants in the Cartel.
- Silent Assassination ability won’t rise Terror anymore. But it lowers the Allegiance of all Lieutenants.
- A lot of minor adjustments and updates to Lieutenant Abilities to bring them up to the current balance changes.
- Multiple Tutorial changes to reflect the new update and improve the experience.
Visual
- City Menu now shows all of the Mayor Favors. No need to start a dialogue every time you need a favor!
- New Animation added to Terror Scale to signal the moment it starts lowering.
- Tooltips for City and Building War Scales now display the time until the end of the confrontation.
- City War Scale has been widened.
- Multiple UI reworks for arrested and captured buildings.
- Updated Plantation Visuals and Animations
- Updated Transport Company Visuals and Animations.
- Added Animation for failing the Quest.
- Changed the Storage window in the City Menu, making it easier to navigate.
Bug Fixes
- Multiple Localization fixes.
- Multiple wording fixes.
- Multiple Tutorial fixes.
- Multiple minor Quest-Events fixes.
- Fixed: The game treats Diane and Lyova in the “That Sinking Feeling” campaign as regular lieutenants.
- Fixed: Some Quest-Events didn’t start when pressing their marker.
- Fixed: CIA sometimes attacks player buildings that haven’t been used.
- Fixed: Incorrect names of Quest-Events were displayed.
- Fixed: Rarely identical Quest-Events could start at the same time.
- Fixed: Incorrect upkeep price for the preinstalled Aerodrome I.
- Fixed: Incorrect upgrade time for Aerodrome in Foscani region.
- Fixed: Warehouse wasn’t highlighting villages in its radius.
- Fixed: incorrect quantity of some products was sold in Border Checkpoints and Seaports.
- Fixed: Unlimited number of constructions for Quest-Event granted buildings, now you’re able to build them once.
- Fixed: Hotels didn’t have a Turn Off button in UI
- The Economics screen now displays money stored in the building during the construction phase.
- Removed Boxes from Cargo Filters in Smuggling Points
- Fixed: Transport Company capacity bug
- Fixed: City Buildings stay turned off when a building was burned during the Concert
- Fixed: Completing "Fill or Kill" Quest didn’t update the Money UI.
- Hotel and Residence can no longer send money to neutral buildings.
- Fixed: Dirty Money for construction doesn’t deliver to Charity Houses
- Lieutenants now are able to deliver the correct number of TVs and Consoles in one go.
- Lieutenants are no longer able to deliver money to arrested buildings.
- Fixed: Researching Workshop I granted “Extended Capacity I” Passive Effect.
- You are no longer able to change the upkeep kind for the arrested building.
- Fixed: Unable to hire a new Capo after the end of the “That Sinking Feeling” campaign.
- Fixed: Players are able to research River Piers II and III before acquiring them through Quests in Story Mode.
- Fixed: City Attacks from US Army don’t stop after saving and loading the game again.
- Fixed: Saving and loading after the US Army attack keep their Attack Circle permanent.
- Fixed: Quest-Event 'Fill Or Kill” granted a reward even after the player fails the Quest.
- Fixed: Cesar’s new Ability in the “That Sinking Feeling” campaign is displayed incorrectly.
- Fixed: Cannabis Deal with Carlos Giménez Morales displayed incorrect numbers.
Known bugs
- Researcher Ability doesn’t show visual feedback in the Research Center.
- Police icons disappear after loading the game in some instances.
- Lieutenants with Coordinator Ability sometimes start attacking buildings in their range when performing a different task.
- Double attack power is displayed when Lieutenants with Coordinator Ability is moved between buildings in his ability radius.
- Manual Icon keeps flashing after you load a Save Game.
- Capo selection screen in Sandbox and Survival Modes doesn’t display negative abilities.
- Sound effects don’t play in the Transition Screen after Capo’s death.
- Lieutenants stay highlighted after using them as a group.
- An incorrect tip is displayed in Lieutenant Profile when he doesn’t have enough XP for promotion.
- War with US Army Progress Bar is displayed below other UI elements.
- Products and Money are not confiscated when an Enemy Gang captures your building.
- WASD Navigation doesn’t work in Research Tree Menu.
- An incorrect tip is displayed when building a Chemical Factory.
- During the “Industrial Action” event Lieutenant upkeep rise is not displayed.
- After loading a save progress in "Cash is king" Quest is reset.
- Stopping Abilities, Kidnapping, Theft, and Concert may not always work the first time.
- Dealer Ability only works for the building the Lieutenant is in.
- [Tutorial] Incorrect name of Dryer in the Tutorial Quest is displayed.