Strategy Guide
What all is in here?
I. Intro
II. Getting Started
a) First Orders
b) The Hoods
III. Moving On In The Game
a) Buying Businesses
b) Illegal Businesses
c) Accountants & Lawyers
d) The Election
IV. Your Opposition
a) Other Gangs
b) Those Damn Cops
I. Intro Gangsters is a game of city wide domination. It varies from giving orders, running business, dealing with other gangs and cops, committing crimes, and doing whatever it takes to gain income. It may sound hard trying to all this, but it's not... well, it won't be if you read this damn strategy guide I wrote up. Mainly, I learned these things either by myself, or by flipping through the Gangsters manual. Heck, a lot of it was taken from the manual.. but that's how I learned how to play the game. Everything else is original, nothing was stolen.. hell, to my knowledge, this is the first Gangsters FAQ out there.
I haven't been playing the game that long, so I'm sure there are some things I haven't figured out yet. Look for an update of this strategy guide in about two weeks or so.. if I feel like it =)
Go on, and let me teach you now.
II. Getting Started
a) First Orders You first orders should be to extort and recruit. Those two things should be all you're doing in the first week. In the second, you should add Money Collection to your priorities. Hence, the main three things to think of at start are: collecting money, getting more territory (by extorting) and recruiting new hoods. Protecting your area is something you could consider, but it isn't necessary since in the first weeks nobody will be starting a war.. not yet.
b) The Hoods Your boys, your gang, your men. You need to use these guys in the right way, or your orders will fail time and time again. The gang leaders are called Lieutenants, and should always be high in two things: intelligence and organization. Along with that should be a high rating in the skill needed for his team's task (ex. the Lieutenant of an extortion team should have a high intimidation factor).
At start, you should build four teams. One for protection, extortion, money collection and another for recruiting. The protection is the team that will guard businesses and patrol your territory. The hoods in this group should have high rating in firearms (at least four stars), and a good rating in fists would help as well. The extortion team will get more territory, and each hood in it should have at least four stars in intimidation. The recruiting team should include gangsters with high ratings in intelligence. As for the collectors team, it doesn't really matter since anyone can collect cash.
Equipping your Lieutenants is important, and you should consider whether they actually need guns or vehicles. Give weapons to those who really might need it- patrol teams and gangs that are going in to commit a crime. Give guns to the people who have a rating in firearms of at least four stars- they'll know how to use it best. As for vehicles, give them only to the people who you are sending far away. Cars don't come cheap- use them wisely.
III. Moving On In The Game
a) Buying Businesses Once you have some dough, think about buying a business. This brings in legal money. Since the business are legal, the FBI won't raid them as they would your illegal businesses. Legal cash will hide the amount of illegal money you have, somewhat. If you're making too much illegal money, the FBI will get suspicious- not something you want. However, if you have a good accountant, you don't have to worry about this- a good accountant can cover up the amount of illegal money you pull in.
Buying a legal business it pretty simple, and you don't need to worry about sending someone to run it- it's automatically done for you.
b) Illegal Businesses Once you feel like it, set up some of these. However, as with normal businesses, you have to place them correctly (ex. a casino would go in a wealthy area, prizefights go in poor areas). Want to know more? Hell, I'm a nice guy...
Card Games: put these only in the poor areas. Best location for card games is a pool hall or a book store.
Counterfeit: these won't bring in any profit, but will be spread out throughout your legal businesses. The best location for this is the Printer, however the Bank is fine as well.
Casinos: put these in wealthy areas and you'll get tons of cash. The Main Bank is the best location.
Gambling Den: let's just call this "the casino for the poor." The best location is the pool hall.
Dice Games: these go in the real poor areas of town. The best location is either a pool hall or a hotel.
Insider Trading: these belong in the commercial centre. Good locations are finance companies, banks and real estate.
Loan Sharks: these can be anywhere in the city, but do best in banks, real estate and finance companies.
Grifters: also known as pickpockets. They belong in the poor areas of the city, and the best locations are poll halls.
Moonshine Stills: no profit comes from these, but they are essential for your speakeasies. Best places to put them are drug stores.
Speakeasy: probably the best illegal businesses. It gets its liquor either from the moonshine stills, or you can steal it from other places. These can be easily hid in breakfast bars, cafes, milk bars and restaurants.
Teamsters: can only be set up behind the Union Building. This will let you control the strike of the industrial area and can also call on the block vote during an election.
Prizefights: boxing and gambling make a good couple. Doesn't matter what part of town they go in, as long as they are located in a gym or pool hall.
Numbers Racket: the lottery with one catch- it's fixed so that nobody ever wins. They do best in poorer areas and should be located in general stores, cafes or printers.
Whorehouses: these can go anywhere in the city, since everyone wants to get laid =) Good locations are dance studios, massage parlors and hotels.
Offices: no profit here, but they are important. Your hoods will depart for their jobs from the local office, so having more then one can improve your gang efficiency.
To set up an illegal business, you'll need a front and an empty lot in the center of a block. Pretty simple.
c) Accountants and Lawyers You should get both of these early in the game. The accountant covers up your illegal money, preventing an FBI raid. The more stars an accountant has, the better he is at this.
A good lawyer is also a necessity. He helps keep your men out of prison and bribe officials.
d) The Election If you decide to enter an election once it comes around, you'll need three things: an excellent lawyer, lots of cash and lots of land. Something to try is reducing the protection money, which will make the people happy and get more votes for you. As said before, the Teamster building helps you in the election. It will automatically give you at most 10% of the votes.
IV. Your Opposition
a) Other Gangs If they're bothering you, you'll have to take care of them- at one point or another. First off, try locating their office. Explore, and do it often. Try exploring areas in which you often see the opposing hoods, and sends a lot of people at once. Kidnapping is another way of finding the enemy base. To do this, you must find a building in which you often see the opposing hoods. Pulling this off will require a group of hoods that have high ratings in intelligence, intimidation, stealth, firearms, and organization. Succeed, and you will gain a list of businesses owned by the enemy. Investigate these buildings.
Once you find the office, decide what you really want to do. You can try to get the leader arrested. Destroying that gang's legal business will increase the suspicion of the police towards that gang. If the suspicion gets real high, the leader will get arrested. You can also take the hard way to it- kill the leader. If you decide to do just that, make sure you send a lot of hoods, make sure they have vehicles and guns, and make sure you have a lot of cash to get new hoods since many of yours will get killed. Send every hood that you can, and hit 'em with all you got.
b) Those Damn Cops There's no way around this- the cops will be after you. They patrol the city every week looking for crimes, or those who are accused of it.
Watch out for FBI agents near your businesses. If you see a group of them, you better get ready 'cause they're about to raid your illegal business. You can either attack them, or let them go forth with their actions if you have enough money to bribe the Judge to get yourself out of trouble. If you see an agent who is solo, it means that the FBI has some suspicion towards you. Either kill him, or close down the illegal business.
If one of your men gets arrested, bribe the judge. OR, you can bribe the District Attorney. By doing this, you'll get the names of the witnesses and jurors. You can either bribe them, or intimidate them... and if they don't work with you, you can kill them.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= E-mail me... SimFreak@aol.com
If you copy this strategy guide and try to take credit for it, I will rip your heart out, and feed it to a mad goat who will then proceed to wildly rape you. Got it? Good.
Copyright 1999 Mathew Jedrych / Asylum Productions
$3000 For Gangs...