Hi everyone, it’s great to be back and exploring more gameplay features! We’ve had a lot of people asking about a playable demo and can confirm that there will be some news coming on that next Tuesday, June 1 - so stay tuned.
Dealing with troublemakers
Today we’re going to be shining the spotlight on troublemakers, a type of NPC that you will encounter frequently during your campaign. These are not rival gangs - we’ll cover those another time. Instead, troublemakers are small-time operators who can be found all over the city, but they only occupy a single corner of territory and operate independently from larger criminal outfits. You’ll find that they will create both problems and opportunities for your crew, and they come in two types, each with differing priorities:
Interested in brawling - They roam around and attack other troublemakers, rival outfits and even your crew members. If you get them on your side, they could take care of people you don’t like, while you keep your hands clean.
Interested in business - These ones mostly keep to their corner, making them reliable and easy to contact. If you get them on your side, the next time something falls off the back of a truck in their territory, they might cut you in.
Problems they’ll cause
Burglary and harassment - Troublemakers sometimes enjoy harassing nearby NPCs, who will then become too afraid to do business with your outfit.
Business locking - Any businesses located within their corner of territory will be hesitant to work with you until they know that the local troublemaker won’t cause them any problems.
Territory control - If one of your crew members ends their turn inside a troublemaker’s territory, they might get angry with your outfit. While a troublemaker is angry, they’ll target any of your crew who stray too close to their corner!
Opportunities they create
Favors - As with everyone in City of Gangsters you can influence your relationship level with troublemakers and accumulate favors. Your mutual connections allow you to gain introductions and relationship boosts with troublemakers and vice versa.
Tip-offs (Business troublemakers) - Once you’ve built up a positive relationship with this type of troublemaker you’ll receive occasional tip offs about lucrative business opportunities. You pay cash up front, and receive large quantities of legal or illegal resources once they’re delivered.
Target rival outfits (Brawling troublemakers) - Once you’ve built up a positive relationship with this type, you can send them to attack your rivals, in a way that won’t get connected back to you and affect your relationships.
Navigating troublemakers
If you’re finding that a troublemaker is harassing a key business partner or blocking the expansion of your territory, you have a few options:
Coercion - Threats can be used to intimate troublemakers into ending their harassment of local businesses. You can even patronize businesses on their corner directly!
Violence - If words don’t work, violence will, just don’t expect the police to turn a blind eye when a body shows up on the sidewalk. Also, news of your actions will spread, and depending on how well-connected they were, this might impact your relationships with other people.
Employment - If you’ve got a good relationship and have room for a new crew member in your outfit, you can hire troublemakers. They might have some useful, exploitable traits.
Money - With enough cash you can pay off troublemakers. What they do with the cash you give them, well, that’s not your concern anymore.
We hope you enjoyed learning about these less than reputable characters who inhabit the great urban sprawls in City of Gangsters. Remember to keep a look out for the news coming next week, and until then feel free to join our Discord and follow us on Twitter.
Matt & Rob
Co-founders - SomaSim