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Dev Diary: A Sneak Peek At 1.03

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Hey bootleggers!

Word on the street says things are shaking up in Chicago’s underworld. Luckily, we’ve got sources very close to the action, and they’ve got the whole scoop. We ain’t no rats, but this information is too good not to share.

Safehouse Changes

Information is harder to come by these days. Something spooked the bosses around the city, and they’re not taking any more chances. They’ve hidden their Safehouses, and are making extra efforts to keep the location well guarded. On game start, a Safehouse is just another white building somewhere in the neighborhood that can only be revealed by the most shrewd gangsters. They’re not even letting their guards stand out front.

Hidden SafeHouses.png


Sitdowns with other bosses can still go ahead, but you’re only invited to talk in the backroom of one of their rackets as opposed to the fancy office in their Safehouse. If the sitdown doesn’t end well, the enemy boss is still well protected, and there’s a lot of brawling to get through before they reveal their Safehouse location.

To find out how close you are to finding where another boss is hiding, check your diplomacy screen. As you can see in the pictures below, your Discovery Chance is a Safehouse icon and progress wheel shown on the enemy boss’s profile. Once you meet a new faction, your chance of finding them increases by 1% each in-game week.

Discovery Chance 1.png

Discovery Chance 2.png


So how do you find out where a boss is hiding? We’re so glad you asked!

There’s always the old fashioned way of attacking their rackets. This is prohibition Chicago we’re talking about, where anything goes, and enemy bosses are easily pissed off. The chance of them revealing their location increases with each one of their rackets you attack (though that’s a lot easier said than done, more on that later!) There is potential to find clues in their rackets that can lead you to their location, so keep your eyes peeled. Planting a mole amongst their ranks is another way to gain information on their whereabouts. They feed you information as and when they find it.

Your discovery chance is checked every month, and if you pass the threshold, the enemy’s Safehouse is revealed. Once they’ve been rumbled, an event pop-up will tell you where the Safehouse is. As the below image shows, you can decide to view it straight away or wait until you’re good and ready.

SafeHouse Revealed.png


What you do with this information is entirely up to you, but as you know, Chicago’s not built for sharing. The boss knows this too, and once they’re discovered, you’ll notice their guards patrolling out front in preparation for your next move.

Combat changes

Let’s start with exterior combat. Thugs have wised up and are deciding to pick their battles. They don’t just start fighting with anyone in the street anymore, least of all a gang boss. The only way they can be tempted into a brawl is if you try to steal their loot crates.

As for security upgrades with major factions, there must be something in the hooch they’re drinking because security guards have gotten stronger. Tiers have increased so that with each security upgrade, they get much tougher. They have a higher HP and better armor and their attributes have also been seen to - so you can count on them having a better aim for one thing. Their inventories have remained the same, but the gear available to them has gotten better too. Security guards now have access to a stash of uncommon and rare weapons that they’re only itching to use against any opportunistic gang bosses. At security levels 4 and 5, there’s a whole new tier of racket guards on shift, and they are bigger and better than what has come before. In the picture below, you’ll see Goldie giving up the ghost. Take that as a fair warning not to arrive to combat unprepared.

Death Shot.png
If that wasn’t enough to contend with, weapons have lost some of their bite. Critical Damage has been brought down across the board, along with some other attributes. Rifles, for instance, have had their armor damage removed, and the range for sub-machine guns has also been trimmed. As of 1.03, the functionality for armor has been revamped. As utility items, they haven’t changed, but you no longer lose your armor when it’s been riddled with lead. Now, armor gets repaired after combat and over time it gets better and rejuvenates to full protection.

Combat AI has gotten smarter too. Guards are far more likely to calculate their moves as carefully as you do during a fight. Some of the more cowardly guards, known for running around a lot, have had a stern talking-to from the Capos. They’ve grown nerves of steel and now prefer to stand their ground and empty their weapons on you.

tougher-guards-png.675494


Mini-Auto-Resolve

Something we’ve been seeing a lot from player’s feedback is the desire for an auto-resolve in combat. The city is a volatile place, and sometimes it’s better to let skirmishes settle themselves without getting involved. Auto-resolve is a feature that’s coming up soon on our roadmap, though the road to full functionality will happen incrementally. Changes will appear in stages and combat designer Ian O’ Neill has shared what to expect from each one. The first stage, included in 1.03, is a mini-resolve feature. Any external combat that doesn’t include a boss or a gangster will have a pop-up where you can choose to fight, or surrender.

Mini-resolve.png

Following that, the next stage of implementation will have a very simple version of auto-resolve with an option to fight, abandon, or auto-resolve. The final steps will come to fruition over three stages with full UI, full features, and full auto-resolve for combat. But it’s coming!

General Changes

In addition to everything above, there are a number of other tweaks here and there that you’re going to notice around Chicago. There’s been a host of improvements to make your playing experience better. We’ve added some building variation, UI and locale polish, as well as an auto-focusing feature that makes any new mission from boss missions or quest givers the top priority.

Also, remember fast travel? It’s now a thing of the past! Sal’s cabs have undergone a mass exodus of staff - probably from the fear of taxiing around bloodthirsty gangsters all the time - and most of the city’s taxi routes are cut. Bosses and gangsters alike can only travel by taxi to their Safehouse or from one taxi-point to another. Anything beyond that and you’re walking, pal.

No fast travel.png


Thugs have started expressing their individuality! Giving up on copying each other’s appearance, they now have thirteen variations in appearance, all of which are randomly selected. Get a load of their new look in the picture below.

New Thugs.png


That’s all the information we could squeeze from the streets of Chicago for this round. We’ll be sure to report back as soon as we have more. Are you excited to see the new changes? Let us know in the comments below. Until next time gangsters, Happy Sinning!
 
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REALLY nice list.

Removing the teleport anywhere, anytime, all the time is an absolute must.
I presume we can still move from Taxi location to Taxi location (so edge of neighborhood to edge of neighborhood)?

Upping the value of defensive investments was also a must have - can't really comment if it is sufficient enough to deal with the offense vs defense game play until we actually play it though.

The safe house mystery game is also a nice touch.
Definitely looking forward to playing with 1.03 - WELL DONE!
 
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I do not see the mention of bug fixes and optimizations.
I hope display of, or actual change of stats such as +Marksmanship turning into -negative value at random times will be addressed, along with armor value of most armors dropping at random times (Ex. Police Armor changing its value from 60 to 50 for no apparent reason at times).
Also, if devs would be kind enough to add weather effects On or Off toggle option in the Graphics settings, it would be a blast. I get 100+ fps at all times except when it's raining in game. It actually drops my fps down to less than 20 then (how on Earth?). Moving my units around the city while zoomed out using map view does not help when it rains either, strangely.
Instead of hard workaround of trying to optimize rain effects, I recommand giving players an option to turn off weather effects for smoother gameplay.

On the side note, I read somewhere that the game ends against player's will after little over a decade in-game time period. Seeing how quick years passby, may I also suggest another option of "Timescale" in the Menu, or Dev Mode menu? I do not like seeing deadline of 2 weeks remaining until I have to go have a sit down with all the bosses. Especially now that instant fast travel will be removed, I reckon things will get even more annoying.
Running couple of blocks and taking a corner takes a full day, according to current Timescale game is set up with. This ain't right.
Please add "Timescale" in the Dev menu so that some players who prefer realism can enjoy this masterpiece at their own pace without having to rush everything. For instance, changing Timescale to 0.5 would make game time run 0.5x, and "Set Timescale to 0.00011574" to make the game move at a real time for those of... eccentric players like myself. Games like Fallout 4 by Bethesda had Timescale in the Dev menu, and it has created some amazing gameplay for some of the playerbase.
Now, there already is "Dev.setGameSpeed(speed)" in the Dev menu, but this is an entirely different thing, either slowing down or making everything move faster in the game, hence GameSpeed, not Timescale.

Thank you all for your hard work, but thank you mostly for the ingenious game design. Even with the mind crushing bugs around every corner, I can't take a break from this narcotic for my brain.
 
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REALLY nice list.

Removing the teleport anywhere, anytime, all the time is an absolute must.
I presume we can still move from Taxi location to Taxi location (so edge of neighborhood to edge of neighborhood)?

Upping the value of defensive investments was also a must have - can't really comment if it is sufficient enough to deal with the offense vs defense game play until we actually play it though.

The safe house mystery game is also a nice touch.
Definitely looking forward to playing with 1.03 - WELL DONE!

I agree. Finding the safe house requires you to systematically hammer his operation rather than a simple alpha strike through the front door. That was a nice touch indeed.
 
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I do not see the mention of bug fixes and optimizations.
I hope display of, or actual change of stats such as +Marksmanship turning into -negative value at random times will be addressed, along with armor value of most armors dropping at random times (Ex. Police Armor changing its value from 60 to 50 for no apparent reason at times).
Also, if devs would be kind enough to add weather effects On or Off toggle option in the Graphics settings, it would be a blast. I get 100+ fps at all times except when it's raining in game. It actually drops my fps down to less than 20 then (how on Earth?). Moving my units around the city while zoomed out using map view does not help when it rains either, strangely.
Instead of hard workaround of trying to optimize rain effects, I recommand giving players an option to turn off weather effects for smoother gameplay.

On the side note, I read somewhere that the game ends against player's will after little over a decade in-game time period. Seeing how quick years passby, may I also suggest another option of "Timescale" in the Menu, or Dev Mode menu? I do not like seeing deadline of 2 weeks remaining until I have to go have a sit down with all the bosses. Especially now that instant fast travel will be removed, I reckon things will get even more annoying.
Running couple of blocks and taking a corner takes a full day, according to current Timescale game is set up with. This ain't right.
Please add "Timescale" in the Dev menu so that some players who prefer realism can enjoy this masterpiece at their own pace without having to rush everything. For instance, changing Timescale to 0.5 would make game time run 0.5x, and "Set Timescale to 0.00011574" to make the game move at a real time for those of... eccentric players like myself. Games like Fallout 4 by Bethesda had Timescale in the Dev menu, and it has created some amazing gameplay for some of the playerbase.
Now, there already is "Dev.setGameSpeed(speed)" in the Dev menu, but this is an entirely different thing, either slowing down or making everything move faster in the game, hence GameSpeed, not Timescale.

Thank you all for your hard work, but thank you mostly for the ingenious game design. Even with the mind crushing bugs around every corner, I can't take a break from this narcotic for my brain.

One variation of that message, or a secondary note by one of the devs, stated that 'bug fixes aren't sexy and aren't listed as part of the update, but rest assured they are there'. Paraphrased, but that was the message.
 
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Its a Start now deepen the diplomacy more rackets and legal businesses the ability to hire and send out no name gagster and after the hit lvl one they become someone.
and some gangsters u can hire not for fighting but to make your bussines run better or make more dough.
make the police a actual threat and let us buy them off to send to our compition.
and they can go after the specific cops we got bought and who are in our pocket.
make the combat more bloody.
let us lay ambushes and do assassination.
and backstab people with secret alliances.
AND if the enemy Boss has multiple zones u take out the underboss first.
what happens with the remaining teritory once u killl a boss??
i say u only get a third one third is lost and one third becomes a minor faction.
and pleas understand that if u have 30 + rackets u dont give a shit about them anymore
rather have fewer and if u lose one it really hurts or if u upgrade one its your precious little milk cow and u care!!
quality over quantity please.
 
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I'm not sure getting rid of fast travel to any location is going to help. I didn't see any mention of the "Boss stuck walking" issue that many players have encountered, in the list of fixes. As someone who plays on Nintendo Switch (as in I cannot modify a save file to resolve the issue manually), the only way I've been able to get to any of my rivals rackets is through using the map and choosing fast travel to them. I didn't even know there was a way to fast travel to every location until I was forced to by this game breaking issue. These changes may actually make the game unplayable until the next round of updates, or even longer if the issue persists.
 
The instant travel works brilliantly after 4 hours playing last night. There are two taxi stands per district, and a key strategy will be to control them by prioritizing rackets in their defensive radius.
 
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Game definitely feels better with 1.03, but there are still some big steps yet to be made.

For me, the two biggest are:

  1. Combat is still WAY too easy. It is rare any of my gangsters take any damage whatsoever.
  2. It is too easy to lose track of gangsters. They really need to implement the CTRL-1,CTRL-2, etc to group that is BASELINE in almost every tactical game on the market. I know that is keyboard specific, but they are competing with primarily PC games - they need controls that offer - at minimum - the same level of control.

Beyond that, I still think some polish is needed. I still dont like the kill boss = get everything mechanic. It just feels gimmicky and too easy. And I also would like to see more non-combat ways to subvert other bosses eventually added.

That said, 1.03 makes the game enjoyable enough for me to start playing again - and, when it is no longer in beta, I plan to change my review on Steam to recommend (not that my single review means anything). I want to see more polish (and more is definitely needed before we see any DLC), but the game is in a decent place now (not great- but definitely decent).
 
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totally agree with the Kill boss = get everything mechanic.
my suggestion would be similar to what many others have said:
Kill boss = receive racket the safe house was in, loot bosses unique weapon, gain notoriety. All other boss rackets become vacant and go up for sale.

Along with this you should never be able to trade a bosses Unique weapon and can only acquire it through killing the boss.
 
I don’t see it as a ‘no taxi’ option. It’s a ‘no fast travel’ option which I 100% agree with. The taxi ranks did seem pointless except to use once to travel to a new neighbourhood due to fast travel. I agree remove fast travel but keep the 2 or 3 taxi ranks in each neighbourhood to allow travelling around and between them. You may now have to separate your gang to cover different areas and upgrade security rather than warp all 10 gangsters around the map so there’s a huge tactical and gameplay addition here.
The problem I faced when playing was as soon as I built up any kind of empire, the guards I'd employed proved useless at defending my rackets so I ended up watching the screen relentlessly (not great fun, admittedly) so I could quickly fast travel my main mob to any potential threats. So the removal of the fast travel needs some balancing in other places or it'll simply become more tedious (for me), not less.
 
The problem I faced when playing was as soon as I built up any kind of empire, the guards I'd employed proved useless at defending my rackets...
Yep I agree and that’s where the tedium and balance issue lies. Hopefully 1.03 combat improves this and auto-resolve in later versions fixes it.
 
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Yep I agree and that’s where the tedium and balance issue lies. Hopefully 1.03 combat improves this and auto-resolve in later versions fixes it.
It's funny really, I diligently built slowly and carefully and got nowhere really, whilst others worked out how to rush the safe houses and won in no time at all lol. Yes, a lot of balancing to be done.
 
Historically in the Mob, 'kill boss and take over all his rackets' is very common. It happens in the Godfather, it happens outside Sparks Steak House. It happens because the Machine has to keep running regardless of who is driving. And Gangsters at the end of the day are businessmen, not fanatics looking for a quick death.
 
The primary issue I see at this point are cops. Cops are better, tougher. But, every other time I shoot a thug guarding a crate; every neutral Guard on the map makes a beeline for that ONE Cop WAAAAAAAAY over there in the corner and will run across the map to shoot him while I hide in an alley to remain invisible on the police radar.

This needs to be tweaked. A bit annoying and a craic killer.
 
Historically in the Mob, 'kill boss and take over all his rackets' is very common. It happens in the Godfather, it happens outside Sparks Steak House. It happens because the Machine has to keep running regardless of who is driving. And Gangsters at the end of the day are businessmen, not fanatics looking for a quick death.
I agree that taking out a boss pretty much wipes out their empire. But that ought to be difficult to do. In the Godfather (I'm assuming you mean film but you might mean computer game) they didn't go for him first, they weakened him by taking out folk who strengthened him like Luca Brasi whilst strengthening themselves.

Edit: You can't mean the film as the Corleone family prevailed, albeit without Vito but he died of natural causes.
 
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I agree that taking out a boss pretty much wipes out their empire. But that ought to be difficult to do. In the Godfather (I'm assuming you mean film but you might mean computer game) they didn't go for him first, they weakened him by taking out folk who strengthened him like Luca Brasi whilst strengthening themselves.


The novel makes a bit more sense. Michael Corleone pretends to be weak while building a secret regime under Rocco Lampone while also hiring a dangerous, vicious, honorable ex-cop named Al Neri who was betrayed by NYPD to be his new Luca Brazzi. Pressure is put on Clemenza, Tessio and Carlo Rizzi with the assumption Rizzi would betray the family yet again - but a traitor MUST arise from one of these three for the plan to succeed. Tessio rolls over on Mike, and the game is afoot. The heads of the Five Families are not hit; Rocco Lampone takes out Tattaglia, Neri takes out Moe Greene and Barzini. Then Mike unleashes the wolves of Clemenza's and Lampone's regimes in a carefully planned offensive to brutally retake their stolen rackets and begin hammering those of their enemies. The primary Capos of the two enemy factions willingly transfer loyalty within hours to prevent being executed in turn.

Outside Sparks Steak House, Paul Castellano of the Gambino family was executed (famously) by four gunmen wearing Russian hats under the supervision of Sammy Gravano while John Gotti watched from across the street; Gotti famously takes over the Gambino family.

The organization trumps the individual, it is why Criminal Families exist in the first place - the individual is expendable, the Family endures.

It is the way.
 
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The novel makes a bit more sense. Mike pretends to be weak while building a secret regime under Rocco Lampone and hiring an ex-cop named Al Neri to be his new Luca Brazzi. The heads of the Five Families are not hit; Rocco Lampone takes out Tattaglia, Neri takes out Moe Greene and Barzini. Then they unleash the wolves of Clemenza's and Lampone's regimes and the primary Capos of the two enemy factions willingly transfer loyalty within hours to prevent being executed in turn.

Outside Sparks Steak House, Paul Castellano of the Gambino family was executed (famously) by four gunmen wearing Russian hats under the supervision of Sammy Gravano while John Gotti watched from across the street; Gotti famously takes over the Gambino family.

The organization trumps the individual, it is why Criminal Families exist in the first place - the individual is expendable.

It is the way.

I haven't read the novel but definitely will now as soon as I'm finished with reading my current one about Putin. Not dissimilar lol. Or any kind of state to varying degrees. Where's there's power and resources, there's death.
 
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I haven't read the novel but definitely will now as soon as I'm finished with reading my current one about Putin. Not dissimilar lol. Or any kind of state to varying degrees. Where's there's power and resources, there's death.
Amen

And I highly recommend the book, it provides a tremendous amount of backstory.
 
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Historically in the Mob, 'kill boss and take over all his rackets' is very common. It happens in the Godfather, it happens outside Sparks Steak House. It happens because the Machine has to keep running regardless of who is driving. And Gangsters at the end of the day are businessmen, not fanatics looking for a quick death.
I suppose that’s where you try and find the balance between historical and gameplay.
Also, I’m guessing now you need to forcefully take over rackets to reveal the safe house location in 1.03 you may only take over the remaining 2 or 3 anyway instead of receiving about 10 free. So this may not be as much of an issue.
 
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Historically in the Mob, 'kill boss and take over all his rackets' is very common. It happens in the Godfather, it happens outside Sparks Steak House. It happens because the Machine has to keep running regardless of who is driving. And Gangsters at the end of the day are businessmen, not fanatics looking for a quick death.
I agree up to a point, but I think there needs to be more to it. Each individual racket should have a manager or owner - and it should be up to them whether or not they fall in line with the new boss, defect and offer allegience to their competitor or even break out on their own. If an owner or underboss is very loyal to their previous boss, then it stands to reason that they would hate - or at least dislike - the man or woman that kills them.

My biggest issue is with gameplay - and including more of the "smart businessman" element to the game. I want it to be more than just combat and the few boss fights you are going to have. Part of it needs to be smart management - and building the loyalty of lower level gangsters who might eventually join your cause - or who may choose to join you because they see you have strong business savvy (meaning they know they will make more money working for you). The kill = get everything simplifies the game too much imo. Basically, you can ignore everything else and just focus on hunting down and killing other bosses - which really oversimplifies the strategic layer of the game.