The following is the full patch notes for the Precinct Update of Empire of Sin, from new features to a plethora of fixes and changes coming to the game.
We’re happy to present you with the incredible work and devotion of the team, and hope you’ll have a ton of fun playing the Precinct Update and Make It Count today!
GENERAL
Added Enemy Reveals when attacking a Boss Safehouse.
Added Negotiate paths to the First Meet Sit-Down between all factions.
Added a Rename option to Rackets.
Added additional melee weapons in all rarities.
Added a Faction Ranking event.
Added Eras to the game that trigger as you’re progressing.
Added Memento Mori events for Bosses & Gangsters.
Changed the Minimum amount of Neighborhoods & Bosses to 7.
Skill checks now use a chance + Trait bonus to determine Pass/Fail instead of a static check.
Events no longer occur for characters that are injured, incarcerated or sent away.
Reworked asset loading to improve performance.
Now showing skulls on tooltips of all enemy attackable buildings.
Updated gear score calculations to reduce the impact of consumable/multiple weapons on Auto Resolve.
Removed historical facts from the Loading Screen and replaced them with gameplay tips.
Ronnie now has a Shotgun as a Primary Weapon in the Tutorial.
Added tooltips to command wheel.
ECONOMY
Added the potential for Loot Crates to reward cash.
Increased the number of healing items that appear in the Black Market.
Reduced the cost of Melee Weapons by 50%.
Rebalanced the cost and time of Rackets & Improvements.
Reduced the Starting Cash amount.
Fixed racket income modifiers that were not previously working.
Changed “value” to “buyback value” when viewing items in the shop in sell mode.
DIPLOMACY
Updated the Empire Bonuses & Business Arrangements.
Temporary Business Arrangements – Increased duration from 1 month to 3 months.
Adjusted AI pop up events so that there are only two options.
Added text that is more descriptive for stealing cash.
Changed the color of police relationship effect on police activity.
Allow factions to offer non-agression pacts as long as they are not at war against the other faction.
GANGSTERS
Tutorial – Replaced Hugh with Norah as a starting Gangster.
Norah Quinn – Decreased Notoriety requirement from 15 to 0.
Tommy Biscuits – Increased Notoriety requirement from 0 to 15.
Bau – Replaced Bau’s Machine Gun with a Submachine Gun.
Black Book Gangsters will no longer have their Notoriety Gate removed every month, instead Gangsters found on the streets can be hired without a Notoriety Gate.
Con Artists can now be Moles and will try to Steal Money when placed.
Profession ‘Hired Gun’ – Removed the Health Reduction Bonus.
Profession ‘Enforcer’ – Increased the Health Bonus.
Trait ‘Amazing What Talking Can Achieve’ – Lowered the Persuasion bonus from 20 down to 5.
Trait ‘Flirt’ – Removed from all Gangsters.
Trinket ‘Gun Maintenance Toolkit’ – Removed the Marksmanship bonus from the Gun Maintenance Toolkit.
New employment notification displays “Crew Loyalty” when showing multiple characters affected.
Hired gangsters now spawn directly beside the currently selected group instead of blocks away when outside.
The Doctor Heal profession ability now removes all negative status effects on a character.
MISSION
Mission locations now work with Points of Interest instead of being based on the player location.
Completing Empire Missions will now reward weapons as part of their mission rewards.
Added a Talent Tree reminder event.
Replaced ‘Ye Mighty Despair’ with ‘A Big Hit’ event.
Izzy’s Been Busy – Lowered the Prerequisites for the mission to trigger. No longer requires an Underboss or Random Roll.
Romy Makes The News – Faction ratings with known factions are now shown directly in the window instead of Tooltip.
We now show an alert when trying to attack a Mission locked building through the Radial Menu.
Stolen Rackets – Updated to take over a Minor Faction instead of 3 Thug Rackets.
Bad Brew – Added an Additional option to pay less cash.
Your Cheatin’ Heart – Added an event for killing Jim.
Added tooltips to mission screen tabs.
Added tooltips to mission reward items.
COMBAT
Reduced the damage of all Rifles & Sniper Rifles by 10%.
Reworked the way Bloodlust works. Instead of getting an area buff it now heals the executor.
Knife Throw and Axe Throw kills now count towards the Melee Weapon Proficiency.
Healing Items – When used on a Bleeding out Character, they now heal for the full amount instead of 20% of the target’s Max Health.
Rebalanced Minor Factions and introduced the Foreman Class.
Rebalanced Thugs and added the Thug Heavy Class.
Updates to Thug spawning & initial movement behaviour during Thug Combat.
Added the initiative modifier to the Suppressed status effect.
Updated Hunker Down to provide 100% crit resistance.
Added Combat Missions to track Primary & Secondary goals during depot/safehouse takeover.
Added Combat Stashes for additional loot during combat.
Gangsters will now start combat with their Primary Weapon, if one is equipped, even if the previous combat ended with their Secondary.
Updated the Weapon Ranges of all weapons.
Melee – Removed Hit Chance (always hit).
Boss Abilities – Lowered AP Cost to 1 AP.
Boss Abilities – Lowered the Kill Down count to 3 kills.
Shotgun Blast – Now requires and uses a full clip when firing.
Shotgun Blast – Reduced damage from 70% to 60%.
Gun ‘Em Down – Changed from a Character Select ability to an Area Select ability.
Suppressing Fire – Improved the Telegraphing by adding animation & SFX variations and clearer effect icons.
Trench Knife – Reduced the Chance to Bleed on the Uncommon variant from 100% to 50%.
Threat against characters who do not have a “combat” tag has been prevented. This stops newly created moles being attacked when walking near enemies.
Increased the range of Last Rites from 8 tiles to 12 tiles.
Unconscious NPCs no longer show rounds remaining on their tooltip. Unconsciousness should not be removed until after combat.
Healing outside of combat is explained.
Stopped gangsters running away from combat.
Removed “Afraid” trait from gangsters.
Melee hit kill animations are now synced with their source of attack.
Added string for boss autoresolving when they only have one safehouse left.
There are green hats when choosing targets for healing/buffing items/abilities.
Added armor to combat queue.
Updated the combat camera system to frame characters better when selecting targets.
Reduced the amount of camera movement that happens during combat.
Reduced unnecessary combat camera zooming in and out.
Made sure the combat status floater is selected when the AI takes their turn.
Hid status effects from the combat status floater of unselected characters.
Blood pools now linger until the body is removed or the location unloads.
The combat camera will only focus on bleeding out enemies when they’re about to die.
Made it so Devil’s Plaything isn’t removed when the character is healed by any healing source.
Removed the panic effect from allies being killed.
Made enemy boss abilities available at the beginning of combat.
Removed peeking from the source when selecting targets while in cover.
Ensured active item is reset for active weapon HUD when reselecting characters.
Made tutorial cover icons use colourblind rules.
Enemy AI will no longer run away from their target after using the Meat Hook ability.
Overwatch should now always be marked as available after spamming the swap weapon ability.
Bleeding Out enemies should now drop loot at the end of combat.
The active character will no longer be selected as default if the selected ability does not consider it a valid target.
Range of Meat Hook has been reduced to 7 meters.
Made sure gangsters that die from bleeding out when the player flees are killed correctly at the end of combat.
AI (STRATEGIC)
Minor Factions now gain Faction Rating each week during a Protection Agreement.
Minor Faction Trades are now limited and they remember previous deals.
Major Factions are now prevented from offering tribute.
Major Factions are prevented from offering the same deal to the player as another Faction for 1 week.
Loot Crates – Reduced the frequency that enemy factions pick up loot crates.
Loot Crates – When interacting with the thugs surrounding a loot crate or attempting to open it will interrupt nearby AI from stealing it out under your nose.
AI will be more aggressive about taking over thug precinct depots depending on difficulty level.
The casing time on thug rackets is also reduced depending on difficulty level.
Reduced the number of Melee Roles in Enemy Squads.
Reduced the War Exhaustion from losing Characters.
Reduced the rates of the Sabotage agenda occurring.
Factions can only be protected by one faction at a time. Protection treaties are only activated if the protector can attack the attackers.
Negative faction rating is removed when you are polite to the AI in event pop ups.
Added notification for Police Activity Changes.
Ensured AI does not send too many or too few squads when attacking buildings at war.
Slightly increased the rate the AI will consider fortifying buildings.
Kills are shown in Police Activity tooltip.
Set up message events to appear when a faction is wiped out.
Enemy squads are deleted upon faction elimination. Old saves are updated to reflect this change.
INTERFACE
The Black Book will now always show 60 Gangsters.
The Diplomacy screen will now open to the Discuss Tab instead of the Compare Tab.
Controller – Moving the cursor will automatically deselect a targeted action.
Controller – The Pause Button now works for Delay Turn/Skip Turn during Combat.
Controller – Hit Chance & Crit Chance are now easier accessible.
Tooltips – Added Tooltips to the Black Market Tabs.
Tooltips – Added Tooltips in the Gangster’s Rap Sheet.
Tooltips – Added Tooltips to the Options in the Diplomacy Screen.
Tooltips – Updated the tooltips for Afraid and Guile to improve consistency and remove redundant information.
Tooltips – Added Outlines to Floating Text such as Damage Numbers.
Tooltips – Racket building tooltips now show if a building is open/closed and other modifiers.
Improved clarity for enabling/disabling DLC in the Settings.
Replace the Sell Racket option with Demolish Racket.
Overhauled the Diplomacy screen to show Treaties, Faction Ratings & Diplomatic Abilities.
Overhauled the Mission Complete screen to give a Mission Recap and better reward details.
Overhauled the Character Rap Sheet to better highlight Profession Bonuses, Active Talents and Role/Promotions.
Overhauled the Miscellaneous slot to a Trinket slot and removed Trinkets from being equippable on the Armor Slot.
Character Deaths will show in red text and play the Death SFX when choosing Auto-Resolve.
Added a Reminder Event regarding missions when the player is low on cash.
Updated the Heal Text to use the same visibility overhaul as damage numbers.
Updated the Weapon Proficiency Unlocked popup windows.
Removed the Gangster Tier from the Auto-Resolve Screen.
Reworked the way Racket Tooltips are displayed during Purchasing.
Improved visibility of the Action Points & End Turn information during combat.
Resized a few radial menu icons.
Adjusted visuals for racket income changes in upgrades.
Added tooltip text when the player can’t afford an upgrade.
Updated font assets for all languages.
Added better visualization for standing order amounts.
War icon tooltips now show from the player’s perspective.
Tooltip was added for mole return time on crew screen.
Racket icon while inside a building was changed to an image instead of a button.
Added descriptions to Black book tooltips.
Added Police Activity to Diplomacy Screen.
Added additional tooltip information for Weekly Alcohol Net Production.
ART, AUDIO & TEXT
Updated the Sit Down pose to be less slouched, and planting feet on the ground.
Added new minor faction names.
Updated the “Babies of Empire of Sin” credits section.
Removed a Metal Ting from the Brass Knuckles SFX.
Made a change so Thugs don’t all yell at the same time.
Updated Blood VFX.
Updated the Cover Icons in the Combat Tutorial popups.
Updated Loot Crate VFX to be more visible.
Added new team members to the credits.
Improved building colors on the world map.
Fixed Angelo’s combat voice lines.
FIXES
GENERAL
Added cigar back into Character Select Screen for Al Capone.
Fixed an issue where Gangsters would continue moving after using a Taxi.
Fixed 0 notoriety gangsters from being randomly unlocked.
Fixed some save load issues.
Fixed an issue where Gangsters would not be healed up when returning from an Injury.
Fixed an issue where Major Factions that were part of a Joint War would not join the Interior & Exterior Attacks on Marked Buildings.
Fixed an issue where objects in the Player Safehouse couldn’t be interacted with.
Fixed Thugs not disappearing after a Loot Crate has been looted by the AI.
Prevented final offers from being repeated after loading a saved game.
Reset Gangster/character’s acquired stations when they’re loaded to make sure they have a valid station if their acquired station was moved to an invalid spot/deleted.
Made controller combat agent selection more precise during combat.
Fixed Life Lesson bonuses.
Adjusted the modifier system to allow buildings to refresh income when modifiers are applied.
Stopped the player from being able to access invalid screens.
Stopped the tutorial messages from showing on the settings and save screens.
Fixed an issue where the camera failed to load a building interior when zooming back into the building your crew is in (but instead stays on street view).
Fixed pseudo Softlock on controller in tutorial after speakeasy when the player entered Movement Cursor mode.
Stopped the Hire A Crew tutorial steps from firing in quick succession if the player hires both quickly on the first step.
Fixed “You’re Broke” popup appearing when attempting to hire a dead gangster you can’t afford.
Fixed issue where a boss, or gangster, would get stuck in a walking speed after combat ended.
Fixed Black Market breaking when selling everything on a page on controller.
Mole event is no longer triggered if the mole has since left your crew.
We have prevented thug factions from adding interior guards via security upgrades.
Fixed an issue that would happen when your only character was assigned to a safehouse.
MISSION
CMA Storyline – Fixed the CMA Missions not triggering after the player completed the Boss Storyline.
Mission characters will no longer sit down in chairs which could cause animation issues when interacted with.
Stopping players from scrolling to map view while in derelict buildings in Lost & Found, Better To Have Loved and Lost and Part Time Hero missions.
In The Trenches – Replacing Candace and Brittany in brothel after it’s taken over.
Boys and his Toys – Fixed an issue where Liam could not be interacted with after the fight and would block mission progress.
A Friend in Need – Fixed an issue where Marcus would disappear through the floorboards.
Downhearted Blues – Fixed an issue where the incorrect Cash reward would be displayed when completing the mission.
Pineapple Primary – Fixed an issue where talking to Bill about Eva after destroying the first two Polling Booths would block the player from blowing up the final booth.
High Class House – Removed the timer from Sit Down.
Lost And Found – Fixed mission completing early if bar with Sal is upgraded.
Word On Street – Fixed the mission not progressing if Jonny falls unconscious after shooting him.
Clay Pigeon – Fixed the conversation flow with Sal when using the Persuasion Skill Check.
Clay Pigeon – Fixed the mission using safehouse instead of building name for objective.
Two Brew – Fixed the mission from failing when the target brewery is taken over without talking to Henry first.
Queenie Says – Bumpy now joins you in combat.
Better To Have Loved And Lost – Fixed the mission from autocompleting if derelict for it is taken over during Hammer To Fall mission.
For Kaiser and Country – Fixed an infinite loop that could occur when talking to Bill if the player had cleared the Brothel in the preceding mission.
Rumours And Hearsay – Fixed mission failing and throwing multiple errors when derelict gets taken over before it’s used in the mission.
Two Brew – Added an option if you already have the mash tun.
The Great Railroad Strike – Fixed an exploit where you could repeatedly talk to Hamilton to get the cash reward.
Minor grammar fixes in Poached event and Maggie’s missions.
The Great Railroad Strike – The mission will try to find more generic placement for the guards and crate.
Fixed thugs not fighting with Eva when blowing up the last polling station in Pineapple Primary.
Changed modifiers added during missions to show on the reward screen.
Set gangsters to be involved in missions from the trigger rather than waiting until the mission starts.
Added check for lieutenant to gangsters involved in missions. Gangsters stationed as a lieutenant will not have their missions fired.
Racket is no longer removed from the player in Down Hearted Blues, instead it is just closed.
Fixed Biyu getting lost while following the player.
Fixed Eva not spawning in For Kaiser And Country.
Fixed Bloody Brew mission not completing if the placement changed.
Fixed error updating mission locations when a mission is holding onto a deleted character.
Fixed issues in St. Clair’s Better To Have Loved And Lost mission.
Fixed protestors not spawning correctly in Protestors mission.
Fixed invisible NPC in Four Digits mission.
Fixed The Family Business final event not firing and the mission never completing.
Fixed mission not failing if underboss quits, gets fired, dies or is sent away as a mole before talking to the underboss.
Fixed wrong gender used to refer to boss character in Getting More Personal mission.
Fixed player being able to talk to Jeremy after choosing Helen in Broken Menagerie.
Fixed wrong pop up showing if you persuaded Helen to leave after turning on Jeremy in Death Do Us Part.
Stopped the Big Winner At Your Casino tutorial from firing if events are blocked.
Made Biyu leave the safehouse once Clay Pigeon is completed.
Fixed Legacies event not getting the right cash when player is in negative income.
Fixed Shea being out in the void during protestor mission.
Fixed Two Brew failing instantly if it spawned at the same time as Gift And The Grain.
Removed placeholder text in Hugh Miller’s mission.
Fixed mission journal showing all tabs as interactable at the start of the game, even when there were no missions active.
Fixed Get Guns mission marker not updating when placement is invalidated in Frankie mission.
Fixed Bumpy clipping with Nathalie if he gets lost while following you in Who Wants To Live Forever.
Fixed My Brother’s Keeper showing racket takeover before the racket had been entered.
Fixed rewards in Protestor Peril mission not showing in journal or reward screen.
Adjusted mission rewards for Stephanie St. Clair’s mission “Hammer to Fall.”
Fixed placeholder text appearing when the player had no healing items in Kicking The Habit.
Stopped The Family Business mission from triggering if the underboss is already involved in a mission.
Fixed objective text not changing when the speakeasy location changed in Taking Care Of The Neighborhood.
COMBAT
Fixed the issue where the notoriety notification for killing a mission npc would show guard instead of their name.
Enemy characters should no longer peek the wrong way, when targeted by a character that is not their current primary focus.
Target of healing no longer changes to the last actor you hover over when the doctor arrives at the heal location.
Upgraded old saves where dead factions had lingering diplomatic states.
You are no longer able to attack faction buildings without being at war.
Fixed Bull Rush having incorrect AP usage.
Fixed several animation issues with Suppressing Fire.
Fixed issues with Skip Move occurring after Strike & Move and Run & Gun Actions.
Fixed an exploit that allowed Status Effects to become indefinite through use of Ambush.
Fixed an incorrect animation playing when using the Meat Cleaver melee weapon.
Fixed enemies that die from bleeding out not counting for Weapon Proficiencies.
Fixed an issue where a nearby gangster getting Hair Triggered would apply morale effect on a Drunk gangster.
Fixed an Exploit that would allow Weapon Swapping after ‘Strike and Move’.
Fixed Choke Points in Casino Interiors.
Stopped meatpacker racket guards from respawning during the tutorial.
Fixed an issue where Characters being knocked-back two tiles would re-enter cover incorrectly.
Fixed an issue where Characters in full-cover alongside a wall would re-enter cover incorrectly when deselecting an ability that requires a target.
Fixed an issue where Characters in full-cover behind a pillar would switch sides from an incorrect angle when switching targets where an enemy would be in an effective no-cover position.
Fixed a soft lock that could occur during combat on the world turn.
Fixed Area of Effect components not getting removed correctly from multi-select AoE Abilities.
Allow the player to click through combat agents when using area select abilities.
Fixed an issue where Santa Muerte wouldn’t activate on the controller.
Fixed a Softlock when Deep Wounds would Kill a Character that is moving.
Fix an issue where characters wouldn’t clear their Overwatch or Suppressing Fire effects correctly.
Fixed an issue where the player is able to attack, or get attacked by, guards they shouldn’t be fighting during the tutorial.
Removed the Melee attribute.
Fixed thugs not walking away properly when AI picks up loot crates.
Made sure the ransack status is cleared from buildings at the end of the tutorial.
Bosses, when the last target in combat, are now correctly knocked out instead of their hostility changing when Devil’s Breath is used.
The combat queue now refreshes when characters die.
Stopped chance of escape when auto-resolving in player’s last safehouse. Added pop-up to warn the player that there is no chance of escape.
Fixed soft lock on guards having their dead state removed from them.
Action abilities that start combat but don’t have a target in its AOE range can still start combat by applying an “ill intention radius” to either the action position or target position and find targets within that range and find the one with the lowest faction rating. That target will become the defender in the hostility map which will start combat appropriately.
Sucker Punch no longer causes an issue on killing a target as it was trying to force a dead character to play a sound.
Stopped incorrect animation from playing when an enemy was hit by Bull Rush.
Fixed Blastphemy’s targeting so that the AOE (area of effect) is placed in the correct spot.
Fixed an issue where AOE was acquired for all ability actions, even if that ability didn’t need an AOE.
Fixed an issue where the attack option could think an enemy was close enough for combat to start despite that enemy being too far away for combat to start.
Quickly cycling between targets should no longer put the attacker in an invalid cover state/rotation. Fixed miscellaneous targeting while in full cover issues.
Ensured dead characters aren’t moved outside when ransacking.
Fixed characters stuck in the subdued position after combat.
Made sure healing items that remove Devil’s Plaything don’t kill the possessed character anymore.
Made sure area select abilities with a range have a smoother selection on the controller.
Fixed “Save Game” button being non-functional when entering Main Menu at the same time as Combat Alert screen.
Ensured when players attack a building that they are grouped closer to the door they entered from.
Fixed the Bleed Out icon being shown in incorrect order of turns.
Fixed an issue where the area of effect line of sight renderer would not display properly.
Fixed awkward camera panning when using Shotgun Blast as the first action in combat.
Made sure Santa Muerte’s target validation doesn’t target enemies as if it can step out.
Made sure Devil’s Breath can’t be used on bleeding out or knocked out targets.
Fixed typo in the Stunned behaviour description.
Fixed issue where combat input prompts could linger on the screen while they were not active.
Suppressing Fire is no longer able to be used on a character that’s already suppressed.
All abilities now use their correct AP cost.
Fixed auto-resolve screen showing empty sections when there are no attackers or no defenders.
Fixed a soft lock that could happen when an AI character used Strike and Move.
AI (STRATEGIC)
When police raid a building the message no longer says they defeated your exterior guards before they enter the building.
Fixed Minor Faction Exploit. Minor Factions now have a cap on how much Alcohol they buy from the player each week.
Fixed Minor Faction Exploit. Minor factions only accept standing orders of alcohol less than your gross production.
Fix issues where safehouse guards respawn too quickly after combat.
Preventing buildings with missions in them being used for sitdowns.
Fixed trade requests from minor factions not working properly.
Ensured that AI resumes their patrols correctly after a save and load.
Ensured that factions cannot be hostile towards themselves.
Removed the placeholder text showing when breaking the non-aggression pact.
INTERFACE
Fixed an incorrect war message appearing when declaring war on Minor Factions.
Fixed an issue where Controller Prompts would not update on the World map.
Fixed an issue where ‘At war with you’ icons on enemy rackets wouldn’t update if the player is looking at them.
Fixed an issue where zooming out limits the space the controller cursor can be moved.
Fixed an issue where World Map buildings would retract again after focusing the window.
Fixed a spelling error in a Sing Mock event.
Fixed an issue where the incorrect tooltip would appear when hovering over a hired gangsters Profession.
Fixed an issue where Defeated parties in an Allied War were still listed as alive in the War tooltip.
Fixed missing description for the Draw Fire Status Effect tooltip.
Fixed a refusal message showing wrong information after switching languages when a gangster can’t be hired due to a hate relationship.
Fixed camera still being inside of a racket after the fight was lost.
Fixed audio animation issue where the bat was out of sync.
Fixed upgrade time on the tooltip.
Fixed cash drop issue when ransacking.
Fixed the Progress Bar not appearing when giving an Upgrade command through the Radial Menu when the game was Paused.
Fixed the ‘Mark Target’ tutorial from triggering during Combat.
Fixes an issue with the action bar not refreshing the available actions properly.
Fixed issue where command wheel tooltips would fail to display when moving directly between options.
Made sure tutorial arrows are correct when loading a game.
Fixed racket icons not updating on minimap after getting ransacked.
Resolved minimap icons displaying wrong for Available Racket Buildings.
Made sure all options in the Settings screen are interactable during the tutorial.
Fixed the Mission interface not displaying properly when at a high zoom level on the World Map.
Fixed the Auto-Resolve button being selectable when the action was unavailable.
ART, AUDIO & TEXT
Fixed an issue where escaping combat as Genna would cause an error.
Fixed an issue where the title for the Missed Payment event was incorrect.
Fixed an issue where the credits for the External QA teams were incorrect.
Fixed an issue where Description text on certain abilities (e.g. ‘Hunker Down’ or ‘Shotgun Blast’) would fail to scroll on some languages if the English localisation didn’t need scrolling.
Fixed an issue where Maggie’s death reaction was duplicated.
Fixed an issue where strings in the Outfit’s guard section to say Lieutenant and Underboss instead of “Guard”.
Fixed an issue where character voice lines would not play when purchasing racket from the world map.
Fixed the capitalization of Weapon Proficiency.
Fixed an issue where Frank Ragan would not play his Boss-killing lines.
Fixed the Brass Knuckles being held incorrectly when the Melee attack was selected.
Updated all item and weapon sprites to use Normal Quality compression to avoid artifact issues.
Fixed a couple of sizing issues with item and weapon sprites.
Fixed an issue that can occur during a Sit-Down with Stephanie St. Clair due to Lip Sync errors.
Fixing Al Capone’s eyes in the renders.
Added some collision to the major stair parts to stop ragdolls from sinking.
Small string fixes in several Sit-Downs conversations.
Fixed incorrect text being displayed for Alphonse Capone’s special ability.
Fixed several typos causing issues in Ragdoll animations.
Updated texture saturation.
Fixed Goldie and Maggie’s odd-looking eyes in the character select screen.
Fixed a grammar issue on injured gangster tooltip when there is 1 day left of injury.
Fixed VFX playing whenever a poisoned behavior gets added/removed from an actor.
Fixed shotgun consistency and set the aim animation.
Fixed success VO playing when auto-resolved combat was lost.
Fixed a lighting issue on World Map after auto-resolved combat.
Fixed taxi icons sometimes not being centred on taxis.
Fixed a missing lipsync in Stephanie St. Clair and Genna’s sitdown.
Fixed wrong audio line playing in Stephanie St. Clair and Elvira’s sitdown.
Fixed missing audio in sitdown with Daniel McKee Jackson and Reyna.
Fixed missing audio for Daniel McKee Jackson and Maggie’s sitdown.
Fixed several typos.
Here's looking at you, Modders!
Good day to you sinners,
Are you full of ideas and intrigued for things to mod in Empire of Sin? Well, we're here to help ya, pal. Over the next month, we'll be releasing Dev Diaries with information on how to get your Lua scripts in order. Expect to see in full detail what you can do at this current phase in modding and what we expect for future phases.
If you're interested, feel free to check out our pinned post on the steam forums. Currently, this is not an open build/release, so contact us via the methods mentioned in the post; I'll do my best to answer any questions you may have over there too.
We're excited to see what you'll make, crew, so keep on sinning, and we'll chat soon,
Cheers 🍻
Dev Diary: Loan Sharks & Economy
Welcome back, Gangsters! Make It Count DLC is just around the corner, and with it, a new way for you to make money in Chicago. It seems right to give you a little heads up on how things are gonna work when money lending opens its doors. Let’s get into it, shall we?
Loan Sharking
Up to now, your rackets have thrived thanks to one ingredient: alcohol. Sure, some places can manage by focusing attention on other forms of vice, but booze is the oil for a well-run machine. That means building breweries, keeping speakeasies fluid, and ensuring that gamblers are carrying full cargoes of Dutch courage to roll the bones down the Craps table.
Loan sharking offers a new source of income, without the need for a constant supply of alcohol, though it takes a particular type of gangster to get one up and running. Any old knucklehead can sling alcohol, but running numbers and ensuring they turn a profit?
That requires business acumen. While all Gangsters in the Black Book have useful skills and talents, not all of them extend to accountancy.
You’ll need a Fixer in your crew in order to open a Loan Shark racket. With brains best suited for keeping track of payments, they can make sure the books stay balanced in your favor. This extends to Chicago’s newest boss, Maxim Zelnick, too. While adept with numbers himself, he is a boss first, and still has to delegate Loan Shark operations to the Fixers in his crew.
Wherever there’s money, there are people trying to get their hands on as much of it as possible. The locals are no different. Open too many Loan Sharks in one place and there’ll no doubt be opportunists trying to borrow from everywhere. To protect yourself from chancers trying to bankrupt you, you can only open one Loan Shark per Precinct. Keeping the Precinct’s debtors tied to one place means a clearer paper trail and reduces the likelihood of losing track of who owes you money.
Loan Sharks require an initial investment. You can’t start lending money until you’ve got some to lend, right? Depending on the size of the racket you take over - and the size of your bank account - Loan Sharks have small or large start-up costs.
A small racket type should cost you around $5,000, and a large one around $25,000. Over a year, Loan Sharks stand to earn a lot through their interest rates, with the potential to earn you up to five times your investment cost.
You might be wondering what types of upgrades are available to Loan Sharking. Given that customers don’t spend all that long there, the ambiance of the place isn’t going to hold much of an influence. There are three possible upgrades for Loan Sharks:
Deflect: Money lending is still a bit of a legal gray area, so anything that keeps the cops from looking too closely is a good thing.
Security: With wads of hard-earned cash stacked in the back room, it’s wise to keep your Loan Sharks well guarded.
Accountancy: A unique upgrade that ensures your staff knows exactly how to cook the books and increase the earnings of your Loan Shark racket.
Events
It won’t be all plain sailing once your Loan Shark’s up and running. In a city of colorful individuals, Chicagoans can have any number of reasons to borrow from you, and twice as many excuses on why they can’t pay you back.
Loan Sharks come with their own unique set of events for you to tackle. However you choose to handle them depends on the type of Boss you are, but be warned: if you let too many things go, it could have negative effects on your honor rating. Each event gives you three options:
Demand Money: You don’t care what kind of sob story a debtor is giving you, they owe you money and you want it back in full. There is still a chance that they won’t have what they owe and you could lose out on the debt.
Partial Payment: Here, you’re willing to give your debtor the benefit of the doubt. They have the option to pay what they have now and give you the remainder in 30 days. Again, there is a chance that they won’t be able to scrounge together what they owe, but what you do at that point is up to you.
Give More Time: Something in the debtor’s story has made you believe them, or, they just caught you on a good day. Either way, you grant your debtor an extra 30 days to get the payment together. There’s every chance they will, but there’s a chance they could skip town on you too.
Given that your debtors come from all walks of life, making their living doing different things, now and then they may present you with an extra option for you to choose in place of payment. Maybe they’re a contractor who can get you a cheap upgrade on your speakeasies, or maybe they know someone who can tell you where an enemy boss’s Safehouse is. It all rides on who the debtor is that’s borrowing from you, and how desperate they are for you not to break their legs.
Economy
So, there’s a new racket type to broaden business horizons and Precincts mapped out to occupy and defend. That could be a lot to manage while still making time for missions and other Boss tasks. Worry not, we’ve streamlined economic controls for Make It Count, so managing your empire has never been easier.
The updated Neighborhood Overview screen is where you get the lowdown on other gangs operating in this part of the city, broken down by which Precinct they own. You can also see your earnings from this neighborhood so it’s easy to tell at a glance if you need to step things up or not. Any racket synergies that you have, as well bonuses specific to this neighborhood, can be found here too. Hovering over each synergy will show you what synergy you have, the rackets included in it, and the bonus you get from it.
Precinct Overview
The Precinct Overview allows you to manage all your rackets, and their upgrades, on a Precinct-wide level. This offers a more sleek and efficient way to manage your empire and keep tabs on parts that need attention. No more will a speakeasy on the outer reach of Municipal Pier get overlooked due to having heaps of rackets scattered around different parts of the city.
Available buildings can be purchased and the cost of each potential racket is displayed on the right-hand side of your screen. The Precinct Overview also allows you to keep track of the Police activity in your area, your customers, and the amount of money you’re earning from the Precinct. Lastly, you can toggle the type of alcohol you want to serve in that Precinct.
When you own a Precinct you also have the option to open an Improvement building. These are non-physical buildings that provide bonuses to specific parts of your Precinct. For instance, opening a Boxing Club will buff the security on your rackets in the Precinct, whereas a Mob Lawyer can influence the Police Activity number.
Customers
Of course, all these rackets and upgrades would mean nothing without customers coming through the doors and spending their money. With the introduction of Precincts, there is a new customer model. Each Precinct has a small number of customers. Building rackets in a Precinct means that more customers will become available. However, if a Precinct gets too crowded and there are too many options available, customer growth will be slow.
Each racket type plays a role in garnering more customers for you. Speakeasies are the workhorse for your empire, bringing in the main source of your income. Casinos, with all their flashy lights and promises of wealth, lure customers to your Precincts. Brothels help to grow the customer base for the Precinct.
As you upgrade your rackets, the number of customers will increase, as people are drawn to swankier places and the option of a better quality of alcohol. However, if not managed wisely, your Precinct could end up with negative customer growth. If the Police Activity number gets too high and their presence is felt around the Precinct, people are less likely to indulge their vices. What’s more, if you have a busy Precinct, you need to serve good quality alcohol to entice more customers in.
Loan Sharks can also lower your customer growth. Though they are a good source of revenue, people who are struggling to repay you are not likely to spend any spare cash in the pub. Like any other racket, they increase criminal activity and so the cops cannot ignore them forever. It’s all a balance, to fine-tune and perfect so that your empire comes out on top.
Well, that should leave plenty for you to chew on for the next little while. Once Chicago lets slip on some more updates, you’ll be the first to know. Until next time, keep Sinning!
Boss Spotlight: Maxim Zelnick And Introducing The Fixers
Bio
Maxim Zelnick is a compulsive problem solver. If he wakes up facing Doomsday, he has it in a vice by breakfast and turning a profit by lunch. In the chaos of prohibition Chicago, he’s the eye of the storm. An accountant for organized crime, there’s no room in his head for a hot temper, that just overcomplicates things. He deals only in two currencies: money and violence. It’s all business.
It didn’t matter to Zelnick that he was born poor, success was always going to be the outcome. As a butcher’s son, he got used to blood and bones from a young age and saw the direct relationship they had with earning a living. His was a head better suited for what he calls ‘real-world numbers’ and he dropped out of school young to hustle a floating dice game around the streets of Brooklyn. By sixteen, his enterprise had him earning more than his father, though he was just as reliant on the butcher’s knife.
He began bookkeeping for the family business after noticing his father’s accountant was skimming their already meager profits. When the accountant disappeared Maxim drew the attention of a local criminal gang. Seemingly the Zelnicks were not the accountant’s only clients. With his handiwork leaving no trace of a body, and his obvious intellect talking around the local heavies, Maxim was offered a new job as an accountant for Murder Inc. The instructions were straightforward, cook the books and trim the fat from the organization.
Zelnick excelled at both. Within a year his sharp eye had doubled their profits and sniffed out the dead weight, leaving no sign of a paper trail. Now, Zelnick’s at the top of his game, but for all his success, he remains tight-lipped about his business and values discretion. Still, he knows what he wants and Chicago is next on the chopping block. As far as he’s concerned, his new venture in this city is just another opportunity with ‘blank cheque’ written all over it.
Maxim Zelnick’s Choice Cuts
The following is a letter taken in evidence by Chicago P.D. It is an alleged correspondence between Mr. [REDACTED], a high-ranking alderman, and Maxim Zelnick. The packages cited in the letter have never been found.
60603 21st Place LK, Loop, Chicago.
Dear Mr. [REDACTED], I trust this finds you well. I hope you don’t mind, I took the liberty of procuring your home address. The personal touch may have been lost in transit had this arrived at your office. Worse still, it may have never reached your desk, and with the sensitive nature of this message, I could not risk that happening. I’m sure you understand. Mr. [REDACTED], I hope you can tell from my decision to contact you directly that I am a fair man, interested in upholding the utmost discretion, provided we can reach an agreement.
I appreciate that I must be something of a novelty around the city. Having just moved here, there must be some interest among you locals as to my intentions and potential business ventures, so I can understand your inquisitive efforts to find out more. What I do not appreciate, however, is your insistence on plunging your nose into my business. My affairs, business or otherwise, are of no concern of yours, and if I may be direct for a moment, Mr. [REDACTED],to find your employees snooping around my establishments appeared highly unprofessional on your part.
Still, I was sorry to hear of their disappearance afterward. Missing over four days now, and still no clue as to their whereabouts? It's a shame to think that three grown persons can disappear like that in broad daylight. It’s audacious, really. I can imagine it must be deeply unsettling for you, a high-ranking city official, to feel so defenseless at present, to know that no one in this city is truly untouchable.
It is why I feel it necessary to forge good relationships having just moved here. In a place as wild as this, it would be helpful to know that there are allies amongst us, that we can help each other out when the time comes. As I’m sure your little birds told you, I was a butcher in a past life. To show you there are no hard feelings between us, and that I know you will not be dabbling in my affairs again, please accept the enclosed as a little peace offering.
Package #1: Some may recoil at the thought of eating tongue, but I assure you, Mr. [REDACTED], it is a fine cut of meat. Given the quality of this one, in particular, I imagine it was used extensively prior to finding its way to my butcher's counter.
Package #2: Admittedly, limbs are generally the tougher cuts of meat, but I went to the effort of tenderizing this leg for you before dicing and sending it. This is perfect for a stew if you don’t mind a little gristle.
Package #3: This little piggy seemed to be fed well. I took this cut from the shoulder, you can see an abundant marbling through the meat. One for the slow roast, if I may offer a suggestion.
Package #4: Honestly, there’s not much that can be gleaned from the head, but it could make a nice centerpiece at your next high falutin dinner party. I feel it really makes a statement, don’t you think?
Now Mr. [REDACTED], I’m sure there is a part of you that is only crying out to make a song and dance about all this, but please, there is no need to thank me. There is plenty more where that came from, should I ever find myself in an excess of meat again. Perhaps you and I could do business once I’ve fully settled in. Until then.
Sincerely,
M.Z.
Introducing the Fixers
Maxim Zelnick isn’t the only new face around Chicago. Along with him is a whole new type of gangster that specializes in making problems disappear without raising a bullet storm. Though they may offer roughly the same service, each of these fixers has a different background, traits, and are more diverse than the last. Let’s allow them to introduce themselves.
Judge Ma “The Pillar” Miller
A judge from Arkansas, Judge Miller earned the nickname, “The Pillar”, for being such a pivotal part of her community. Little did the public know, she was a pillar of the criminal underworld, too, using her connections to enrich herself and her criminal compatriots. She believes she can get anywhere with slick talk and the life she’s made for herself has proven it. After being run out of Arkansas by a crusading, idealistic young lawyer, she’s come to Chicago to get back to her old ways.
Gertrud Brandt
The daughter of a Herero government official and a German artist, Gertrud’s family came to America when she was young. A trans woman, she flourished in New York’s underground scene. The strong community she found fostered a sense of kindness in her as well as a belief in finding one’s tribe. Used to creating spaces for her and her chosen family, through less than legal means, she is a skilled organizer. Brandt has a warm open heart matched by her cold ruthlessness in dealing with those who threaten her and those she cares for.
Rachel Steinman
Rachel Steinman grew up poor in New York’s Lower East Side and was the only Jewish kid in an Italian neighborhood. Before long her shrewd mind and sharp tongue had her working as a teenage drug dealer, loan shark, and as a numbers runner for a Sicilian crime syndicate. Still, she found her Jewish heritage made her an outsider among the mafia. Rather than letting this destroy her, she turned it to her advantage and moved to Chicago, using her underworld connections to develop with all of the criminal communities in the city, becoming a friend to all, but loyal to none but herself.
Dr. Ada Santos Souza
Dr. Ada Santos Souza grew up in São Paulo to a wealthy family that fell on hard times. Though her circumstances changed, her tastes did not, and Dr. Souza used her high-class connections to commit high-class crimes, selling museum artifacts on the black market. But, she found a sense of adventure that pushed her to take even greater risks. This resulted in one of her co-conspirators turning her in for their own skin and she tumbled down to the underground where her circle of influence grew larger. Now, with the high-stakes thrill that such a life brings, she has found she may be exactly where she belongs.
Dixie Chan
A resident Chicagoan, Dixie is the only son of decent law-abiding parents. As lawyers, they worked hard to get their son a good education, though, after years of watching them fight injustice to gain nothing more than squalor and early graves, Dixie vowed never to forgo a good payday in favor of doing the right thing. Becoming a lawyer solely for profit, Dixie found his niche representing criminals desperate to avoid prison and willing to pay anything to find a loophole. As the owner of several properties, with several high-profile criminals on his Christmas card list, Dixie has never looked back.
Well, that’s all we could squeeze in for this month. While you get yourself acquainted with the new blood, our moles will be out there getting more information for next month’s update. See you then, Boss!
Tell Us Something Sin-tillating!
Hey Gangsters!
Everybody still Sinning? Great!
With Make it Count and The Precinct updates getting ever closer, we devs are only dying to know: what are you most excited to see in the new updates?
In previous Dev Diaries, here and here, we let you in on some details about what’s in store for Chicago. Any features in there that you’re really looking forward to? I’ll bet some of you are already thinking of strategies. Tell us all in the comments below or hop over to our forum to leave your thoughts.
Oh, and before we go, we’ll have another Dev Diary coming real soon that’s gonna put the spotlight on one of Chicago’s newest residents. Y’hear that whistle? Sounds like the hype train is rolling into Platform 1.
All Aboard! 😎
Dev Diary: Police, Precincts & Supply Lines
Hot from the streets of Chicago we’re back with another bulletin from a city in flux. Bosses are claiming their territories and setting up supply lines. Meanwhile, the police are preparing for a new way to engage with gangs. It’s all about to go off in Chicago, and there’s a bunch to get through. Here goes!
Precincts
As we found out in a previous Dev Diary, precincts are subdivisions of the neighborhood that you control. With a larger chunk of the neighborhood to win or lose in one fell swoop, your decisions and strategy hold a lot more weight.
Right now, you can open a racket anywhere in the city. Gather enough rackets throughout your time in Chicago and it’s fair to say that losing one or two won’t have a major impact on your overall empire. Give the bosses larger territories to compete for, however, and suddenly the stakes are a lot higher. Every inch of the city becomes a valuable asset that nobody can afford to lose.
What’s more, not all precincts are equal. Some are larger than others, are better located, and stand to make more cash, so there are advantages to occupying certain precincts. The AI is aware of this and will look at the number of buildings a precinct has, as well as the number of connecting precincts, before making its move to strike. With more calculative factions to consider, it’s going to mean more strategy from you, too. Having more on the line will demand more interesting and meaningful choices from you in how you run your empire.
Well, that’s maintaining your empire covered, but what about expansion? When it comes to taking new precincts, there are changes to combat, too. Every precinct has a depot, which is the control building for the whole precinct. Claim the depot, claim the precinct. Depots are heavily guarded and when under attack, draw reinforcements from surrounding rackets to help with the onslaught. This gives you two options when taking over a precinct: attack and loot the rackets to get rid of those reinforcements or go right for the depot. Attacking the depot offers a longer, more tactical fight, with a bigger risk. Although, if you win, gaining a whole precinct could potentially swing the balance of the larger game in your favor.
You can also use Sal’s taxi cabs to your strategic advantage. To accommodate the turf wars, Sal has made more taxi ranks available, but still, not all precincts have them. From the World Map, you can see that taxi ranks link the neighborhoods. When moving to attack a new neighborhood, you go from a taxi rank you control to the rank it links to. This makes taxi ranks vital real estate as controlling the taxi ranks means you can control where the AI attacks you. Also, controlling the ranks will provide you with the links to expand further into the city.
Supply Lines
A quick recap on supply lines: when you own two adjoining precincts, you set up a supply line. Supply lines are essential to your empire, providing a path for you to get supplies out to your precincts while ensuring your money has a safe trajectory back to you.
Breaking a supply line can really disrupt an empire. If your precincts are cut off from the rest, then you have no way of supplying them with product and the negative effects of this are immediate. Beyond that, the introduction of supply lines means the AI has become a lot more focused on how it operates and is making some clever deductions. Currently, the AI can attack any of your rackets across the city, and depending on the health of your empire, losing one or two of these buildings may not be a critical loss for you.
With precincts and supply lines, the AI now has fewer options to choose from in where it attacks and has a larger focus on breaking supply lines specifically, creating another reason to ensure you keep a firm grip on your supply lines. When you take over another precinct and break a faction’s supply line, don’t expect them to forget about it too easily. Once the line is broken, the AI works to value that broken line and puts all of its efforts into claiming it back.
Supply lines also demand a more involved strategy. As soon as a chain is set up, precinct positions become a factor, which in turn affects what type of upgrade you choose to invest in for each precinct. For example, supply lines mean there are frontier precincts that are most likely to be attacked first. In that case, it’s worthwhile to beef up security in those precincts, leaving more protected precincts to pick up the slack with more financially lucrative upgrades.
Police
Precincts also affect how the police interact with you. By introducing Police Activity to the game, the crew in blue are not only more present as you build your empire, but their intentions are a lot more transparent. The suspicion value that police have on your rackets can be a little hard to decipher at times. Given that it affects each racket differently it’s difficult to keep on top of and requires you to rely on your own judgment. With precincts, Police Activity is a precinct-wide value that is easier for you to keep track of and easier for Police Chief George MacDonough to collect bribe money.
Bribing police through the diplomacy screen will directly improve your standing with law enforcers and turn them off raiding your rackets. This has made the connection between the police on your diplomacy screen and the police on the street more apparent and offers clarity on how to navigate your relationship with the police while taking over Chicago.
Why is the Police Activity number so important? The more active the police are in your precincts, the harder it is for you to make money. Customers are less likely to indulge their vices when police presence is strong and your racket profits will dwindle. With every upgrade and racket you invest in, it becomes harder for police to ignore the illegalities involved. That’s why it’s good to manage your relationship with the police just as you manage the rest of your empire.
That about covers it for this bulletin. We’ll be sure to get back with more updates as soon as our moles manage to uncover more. Let us know what you think of the upcoming changes and what you’re most looking forward to seeing in the comments below.
Until next time, Happy Sinning.
The Chicago News Stream #8
Join us tomorrow, crew, as Maezza and Fiona return to 1920's Chicago!
It will be our last sitdown for the summer. Our goals? 💲 Buy Goldie the Golden Tommy Gun (because she deserves to shoot in style) 👊Take back our rackets lost from our last session. 🐝Be the Queen Bee.
“Friday night they’ll be dressed to kill, Down at Dino’s Bar & Grill”
It takes all sorts of criminals to build an underworld. Since launch, they’ve formed crews, double-crossed each other, and made money from their specific skills, but there’s about to be a shake-up. Combat designer Ian O’Neill has started a fight club behind a speakeasy in South Loop where some of the city’s mobsters are gearing themselves up to be a whole new type of gangster. These guys and gals ain’t interested in guns. They prefer doing things the old-fashioned way, with a lead pipe and some elbow grease. They call themselves Brawlers. Here’s what we know so far.
Overview
Unleashing themselves upon Chicago later this year, Brawlers will arrive in a free update independent of any DLC content. You, the community, are going to help sculpt these Brawlers into their new profession. There are no figures set in stone just yet, so keep in mind that anything mentioned here is liable to change.
A Brawler is a straight-up melee attacker, scouted from a few of our Hired Guns who always considered themselves too brutal for range weapons. Their talent tree is based around some of the existing core talents of Enforcers, so it’s worth mentioning here that Enforcers are going to see a bit of an overhaul in the next few months. The new and improved Enforcers will make their debut around the same time as the Brawlers.
Profession Bonus
What can you expect from a Brawler’s profession bonus?
Born Fighter: Increases your melee attribute by +20.
Fight Light: Gain a bonus to your initiative and movement based on your loadout. This ensures that Brawlers who stroll into combat without a secondary or primary weapon are granted bonuses to their initiative and movement. Now, that’s straddling the line between brave and crazy!
Adrenaline Rush: Critical hits from melee attacks grant a free bonus move action. Adrenaline Rush rewards a Brawler’s critical hit on an opponent, by granting them an extra move afterward, which should be plenty to get them back into cover after an attack. However, this is only for critical hits, so it’s essential to keep an eye on each Brawler’s critical hit chance when hiring them.
Lastly, there is a brand new profession talent for all Brawlers. This is a talent that the Brawler already has when you hire them:
Flurry of Blows: Allows Brawlers to rearrange faces by hitting the target 3 times with their current melee weapon.
Talent Tree
Now, let’s get to the part where you folks come in. In Empire of Sin, the talent tree has five tiers of active and passive abilities. In the case of the Brawler, these talents are all melee-based, some of which are shown below:
Anything that’s shown in white won’t change as these are the core abilities for each tier. Tier 1 is already baked in with talents taken from the Enforcer talent tree. See all those question marks? That’s where you get to have your say and choose the talents that should fill those slots.
Starting with Tier 2 - Passive Abilities, here are the potential talents that brawlers can choose from:
The core ability for Tier 2 is going to be Revenge; a knee-jerk reaction for any Brawler, sure, but also a useful skill to access early in the talent tree. The remaining talents are open for you to vote on.
There are five glorious new options to choose from, but only the top two will make it to the Brawler’s Talent Tree. Let’s take a closer look, shall we?
A - Shattering Impact: Any melee attack, from Meat Hook to Bull Rush has the chance to deal armor damage to an enemy.
B - Bloodsport: Any unlucky sucker who’s nursing a bleed during battle is going to have a lot more to contend with when your melee attack deals another 20% damage to them.
C - Slugger: Plain and simple, this allows melee attackers to stun the opponent. As stunned opponents have less AP during their turn, this could come in handy if used strategically.
D - Gore: Bull Rush applies bleed to the target, which complements Bloodsport nicely if you were to say, hire two Brawlers and bully your opponents to death.
E - Thrill of the Kill: For the sadist Brawlers out there, Thrill of the Kill will restore 10% HP for every melee kill they make.
Onto Tier 3 - Active Abilities, with the core talent, Uppercut. This brand new talent, unique to Brawlers, is guaranteed to deal critical damage when used. For the clued-in among you, you’ll know this pairs well with the Adrenaline Rush profession bonus mentioned above. Using Uppercut guarantees your brawler gets an extra move to make their escape after shattering an enemy’s jaw.
Again, the remaining talents are up for a vote. There are five choices, and the most popular two will be chosen for the tier. They are:
A - Big Kick: The first ability to guarantee knockback. Useful if you were to kick the enemy into your ally’s Overwatch cone, or a poison deposit.
B - Sledge Blower: A heavy-handed attack that’s guaranteed to knock out the poor soul who’s gonna be eating it.
C - Brace Yourself: Allows the Brawler to withstand the next attack on them, without dealing them any damage.
D - Head Smash/Glasgow Kiss: Good Brawlers fight with their heads. Head smash is a case in point. A brutal head butt that deals 50% bonus melee damage.
E - Arm Cracker: This is essentially a disarm ability for Brawlers. Taking the fight to an opponent’s arm ensures they can’t use it to hold up their primary weapon.
Tier 4 - Passive Abilities, has the core ability Executioner, which rewards brutality by reducing the cooldown of all brawler abilities every time you give an enemy a grisly end.
As for the rest, you know the drill by now, five options, the most popular two are chosen.
A - Prowl: With plans to make more bespoke versions of Hunker Down, using it as a Brawler will boost your melee and initiative by 50+ for the following round. This has the potential to max out your melee attribute and place you much higher in the combat queue for the next round.
B - Grudge: Focusing the fight on the same target increases the chance for a critical hit, which goes a long way towards granting you that extra move we mentioned earlier.
C - Double Down: Got an opponent who keeps dodging punches? Using Double Down guarantees that you will beat the smirk off their face if you target them a second time.
D - Low Blow: Brawlers can be dirty fighters, and Low Blow increases the chance of a critical hit through melee attack by 20%. It’s all about getting that bonus move!
E - Cut Man: All that bare-knuckle boxing gives Brawlers a thick skin. Cut Man puts it on show, making them immune to bleeding and rupture effects.
Profession Keystone Ability
At the end of every gangster’s talent tree is their keystone ability. These are the talents that every gangster is working towards to really cement them as a badass.
For Brawlers, three brand new talents are up for grabs, but in true Royal Rumble fashion, they have to duke it out and only one will make the cut. Here are the talents contending:
A - Brutal Challenge: Call out any enemy, boss or otherwise, for a one on one fight and they will only target you in combat until one of you dies.
B - Warmonger: Every fighter has a war cry. Warmonger reduces all damage taken by 50% and increases melee damage dealt by 50% for two rounds. Not only that, but any execution performed within these two rounds prolongs Warmonger effects for an additional 1 round. Keep executing enemies, keep Warmonger ticking.
C - Zig-Zag: A multi-target charge. Select three targets and dash between them, delivering a melee attack that’s a guaranteed hit. What if some of those are critical hits? You guessed it, you get a bonus move to return to cover after the attack.
How to Vote
So you’ve seen the talents and know the ones you want your Brawler to focus their energy on, what now? Well, voting is open for each tier and you can have your say by following this link and clicking your preferred abilities. We will announce the winning talents in the coming weeks.
Still in the mood for some fighting talk? This video takes a detailed look at the new Brawler profession and talent tree, guided by none other than the Brawler coach himself, Ian O’Neill. Now, get out there and fight for the abilities you want to see in the game!
Until next time, keep Sinning!
The Chicago News Stream #7
Join us tomorrow, crew, as Maezza and Fiona return to 1920's Chicago!
🗣Smooth talkin' 💲Takin' over rackets 👨Once again, stickin' her neck out for her brother
It's all happening as Goldie continues to take over the city.
4PM CET at https://www.twitch.tv/paradoxinteractive
Introducing Empire of Sin's First Expansion: Make It Count!
Well, crew, we have some swell news for you!
Empire of Sin's first expansion, ‘Make It Count’, launches later this year alongside the previously announced free Precinct update.
[previewyoutube="3KCNVugM6Eo;full"]
Make It Count will introduce boss Maxim Zelnick and his gangsters, the ‘Fixers.’ Play through a string of missions telling the story of Zelnick and the Fixers, unlocking game features like the Loan Sharking Racket, and more.
Make It Count Key Features
Maxim Zelnick - Play as the ‘Mob's Accountant,’ a boss that excels at economics and creates synergy in combat. He uses his smooth-talking to "make peace" with money and connections.
‘The Fixers’ - Five gangsters are up for hire, bringing their loan sharking Racket and combat abilities. This Racket unlocks Blackmail over other characters and factions.
A string of missions that tell the story of Zelnick and the Fixers, unlocking game features like Loan Sharking, and more.
New rackets, new abilities, new gangsters and new missions- more details to come!
