So I recently got back into Liberal Crime Squad, finished a pacifist run and made good progress from a violent run. I had some questions and feedback, if anyone is interested.
Before I start, I want to state it was a very fun experience. Kudos to those who have been working on it.
Feedback
First off I felt that hacking was way, way, way too overpowered. My end game sleeper network of over a dozen people was still producing less Liberal Guardian material than one hacker. This is somewhat balanced by the fact that hackers cannot obtain certain types of data (police, prison, cia files), but considering hackers can also influence issues directly I think the rate of them finding LG material could safely be reduced by an order of magnitude and still allow hackers to be useful. As things stand, they make "snooping around" for sleepers in the media, medical research, corporations or the judiciary useless for any reason beyond getting juice.
The Bank Robbery mechanics, specifically the choice between the violent approach and the sneaky one were fun.
I felt the heat mechanics were a bit too forgiving of a pacifistic-but-illegal play through. I never had any heat except on my hacker's hideout for my pacifist game, until relatively late when treason and terrorism charges came in. I imagine that a group of people that go around smashing, stealing, vandalizing and breaking and entering would still attract police attention and raids. Due to the heat mechanics, this also kept me safe from the CSS until I finally obtained sleepers in their ranks.
Questions
How feasible is it to seduce the higher-end conservatives? I never was able to seduce an Agent, Vigilante or any of the "Debate" conservatives (Eminent Scientist, Hangin' Judge etc.), even though I had people with 10+ seduction. I eventually had a liberal squad of guitarists first turn them liberal, then recruit them.
How do you deal with the CEO non-violently? My guitar strategy failed horribly against him.
By what standard does Club security deny entry? Early game, they wouldn't let me in at all until I got a sleeper. Late game, when my sleeper lost contact, I was able to enter regardless a few times.
Since the CEO is very bad ass and (as far as I can tell) unique, how does one get tipped off against Corporate Mercenaries without a CEO sleeper? Neither my elite security, not my corporate manager sleepers detected it beforehand.