I'm in substantially the same setup, 5th year so still in-progress.
Yet another playthrough has come and gone : Nightmare/WDSTF/Extended endgame, and involved shooting up the CCS for the first time.
Remarks/Notes/Impressions:
The constant CCS site-raids turned people liberal on the issue of Gun Control all on their own.
CCS members are too easy to recognize among the public.
Guaranteed approach was to troll the Cigar Bar/Gentlemen's Club: Yokels, Fast Food Workers, etc get dates. That hasn't changed--are Bikers, etc now guaranteed CCS members so that finding them anywhere works?
To seduce them, take them on vacations.
Successive CCS safehouses don't feel like they have a difficulty curve one might expect from making it further into a video game, but of doing the same thing often enough to sate the game.
Seconded. A decent combat squad can wipe out the Bunker as easily as the Bar & Grill. One solution might be making the latter two safehouses not have the public space--the Bar & Grill needs a public space for the actual service area. (It's a Business Front!) The Bunker in particular should last longer, though.
That bit of "public space" at the entrance to their hideouts lets one build up combat skills in a completely safe environment.
Being able to avoid Guard Dogs by virtue of having 15 heart is completely broken. Guard Dogs are the only thing that keep sneak-thiefs out of the so-called "difficult" sites.
Guard Dogs were tuned down a bit in the latest version, so I don't typically need/remember to talk to them. If one remembers to subvert the dogs, true, 15 Heart is generally achievable. 17 or 18 might be better; 20 is comparatively high and leads to actual
Ninja Hippies. Being able to talk to genetic creatures can affect early Juicing, so that may be worth thinking about for early balance checks, too.
Extended endgame means there will be 4-6 years between public opinion becoming liberal enough to unseat the Arch-Conservatives in the senate, and their replacements being able to actually vote new laws into place.
During which the LCS is basically marking time if the CCS is gone. If everyone's Acting Individually, it may be worth letting players Wait for a (M)onth or until the next (E)vent. (Newspaper headline, safehouse raid, law-change, etc.) LCS' endgame is one thing that doesn't actually need extending; I [thought I] turned off the SupCt purge as blatantly unrealistic. Haven't had the Congressional amendment either, despite public opinion being sufficiently
Elite Liberal for 3 years or so.
(The
Conservative Party ran a
moderate for President. Nice touch to help justify the vote going 60-40.)
Bugs encountered:
The [ R-5 ] menu lists sleepers that have been recruited by other sleepers as all being "downtown"; even Radio Personalities and Lawyers. The [ B ] menu lists their correct location.
Scattering the mob prints "The mob scatters!" on top of "The <liberal> brandishes the <weapon>!" without clearing it first.
The final victory message over the CCS has the indents all over the place. Needs realignment.
[Edited as the SupCt purge came along after all; I guess I didn't turn it off this game. Thought I did.--KA101]