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[Funk]

the idea of the car giving a skill boost is to make it equal to a police cruiser and give to a way to get a good car at the start.
if it gives to a 2+skill boost then there is still a reason to try to steal a sports car.

as for how to balance the other options, the maps and the ak are the two less usefull options.
id change the ak to a machinegun
and the maps to some thing maybe a few Disguises

the cash can help all over the place.
the sleeper lawyer has a long term pay off cheap skilled legal defense.

[Reelya]

Nah, the AK is fine, no reason to start with an M249. This isn't meant to be an easy game. Maybe throw a body-armor in with the AK47.

It's easy to seduce or persuade a lawyer, it's not that great. It takes more effort to get the $1000 and you generate Heat. The lawyer one is just about the weakest.

[dreadmullet]

I changed the text to "I got my hands on a sports car. The owner must have been pissed."

Even with adding heat to the starting car it can still be sold for 800$. :/


As for starting options:

A - Sports car. Very useful. Although it wouldn't be too hard to aquire one yourself.
B - AK47. Very nice starting weapon.
C - $1000. Ehh, way too easy to come by normally.
D - Lawyer sleeper. Pretty useful, and somewhat difficult to find normally, as you need persuasion or seduction.
E - Secret maps. I never used it, and I'm not sure which buildings it applies to.


I think the thousand bucks should be increased to two thousand. Anyone else agree with me? The AK47 costs thousands of dollars on its own. (At least to purchase)

[Jonathan S. Fox]

I'm wary of inflating the money -- a thousand bucks is a nice round number, and it looks like a nice nest egg. Why would I celebrate two thousand dollars? So much less impressive of a milestone. Of course, the idea that you still have exactly as much money as when you were eighteen is a bit odd.

I don't mind being able to sell the car for almost as much, or even equally as much as the money -- as long as the actual cash choice is equal or more, there's no reason to take and sell the car, so its sell value won't matter.

I also don't mind the AK being worth far more than the money could buy, since again, the meaningful choice is "I want an AK" versus "I want something else." The AK could be impossible to acquire otherwise, but unless you want an AK, you'll still go with something else.

The maps are a weird choice -- I wonder if a free printing press might be a better fifth option. The logistics are difficult though, since only the gang member starts in an upgradable safehouse.

[usr_share]

For the "E" option, what about "I found an abandoned building which had a printing press for some reason. I still visit it from time to time.", then?

Though, given how overpowered printing the Liberal Guardian is, I would say such an option would be a bit too much.

[Chronas]

I always take the secret maps on my thief build.
>I can easily steal a better car.
>I Don't need a gun.
>I can make way more than a grand in a single good heist.
>Lawyer was the only other option i actually considered.
>I can see exactly where i need to go to get the best payoff in a risky mission downtown without having to interrogate/recruit anyone there.

[KA101]

Well, sleeper lawyer did give the Courthouse map when I took it (first run), so not a bad tradeoff.  Having a Romantic Interest slooowly raises Seduction so there's that going for it too.

What buildings are included in the map package?

For that matter, does the Gang Member start give control of the Crack House from the start, or start the player in one of the abandoned buildings?  If the crack house, that's a decent argument in favor of it--have a third upgradeable safehouse w/o having to kill for it in-game.  (I try to keep the violence to the CCS and safehouse-defense.  Less legal/ethical problems that way.)

[Reelya]

I seem to recall getting the crackhouse just from tagging LCS grafitti. I'm pretty certain about this since i very, very rarely use any guns.

[dreadmullet]

The gang member option gives you a squad of gang members with weapons and control of the crackhouse. Otherwise, if you don't control the crackhouse, you can just spray enough graffiti until it's under your control.

[KA101]

OK, so tagging during a site visit does do something worth the pile of Vandalism charges.  Hadn't ever gotten that far when I still tagged.  Will check that out--Liberals support legalizing marijuana, not crack.

Thanks for the advice.

[GreatJustice]

Yeah, the Gang Member start is pretty convenient IMO.

Actually, I coulda sworn that you take the crackhouse over just by committing enough crime. Strolling in and shooting a pile of gang members and teenagers seemed to do the job for me, though maybe I'm remembering it wrong.

[Pesi]

Actually, I coulda sworn that you take the crackhouse over just by committing enough crime. Strolling in and shooting a pile of gang members and teenagers seemed to do the job for me, though maybe I'm remembering it wrong.

Tagging every wall did the job for me.

[KA101]

Yeah, about the same here.  Bit inconvenient to bluff through 20 or so Death Squad groups while leaving, but they did clear out the crack dealers fairly well.

(That said, the Crack House has about the same secrecy as the Homeless Shelter--after the Front & flag.  Is that intentional?)

[Jonathan S. Fox]

(That said, the Crack House has about the same secrecy as the Homeless Shelter--after the Front & flag.  Is that intentional?)

It'll have more if you station less people there; anywhere you crowd a bunch of Liberals in one place will have substantially impaired secrecy.

[KA101]

Thanks, though right now both are empty, the Crack House has a front/flag and the Shelter has a flag.  C+ Flag Burning if that matters.

Both have secrecy of 60%, with nobody home.  An empty/fronted/flagged Abandoned Building regularly goes to 95% secrecy.  I would guess the Crack House is a known criminal hotspot and therefore attracts more police attention, but as it is it's decidedly inferior to either of the two open sites.