Fight & Stash Update // Devlog 25

Hola Capos!

The first major update of 2023 is almost here, and today I’ll tell you all about what’s inside. Aand when it’s coming out. And when you can enter the playtest to try the update before the release!

Watch the devlog right now!

Prefer the written word? We've got you covered. The full transcript is available below:

Hola Capos! It’s me, once again. The first major update of 2023 is almost here, and today I’ll tell you all about what’s inside. Aand when it’s coming out. Aaand when you can enter the playtest to try the update before the release. Let’s get right into it.

I. FIGHT ːcartel_loveː

First, let’s talk about the long-awaited rework of combat. The core is still the same - you win if you have more power, no tricks here. But in the new system power is not everything. And if you’re not careful enough - you can lose any fight. We want combat to be more impactful and require some strategic planning beforehand.

Your Lieutenants are playing a crucial role in the reworked combat. They can be injured during the fight, they can lose their power, some of them can run away from the battlefield, while others will fight to their dying breath. It’s no longer just about winning the fight with more power points - it’s about building a team with different tactics in mind.

Every Lieutenant now has an Endurance bar which depletes during a fight. The lower it is - the higher the chance to acquire a certain debuff: power loss, injury, or even an arrest. After the fight ends Lieutenants must rest for a bit to refill their Endurance, certain buildings like Residencies or Hotels will speed up this process!

Power loss and Arrest are pretty self-explanatory but you’re probably wondering how an “Injury” will work. When your Lieutenant is injured during a fight their power no longer counts, so it can be a pretty big blow to your operation! And you also have a choice - you can evacuate your injured Lieutenant from the fight immediately. It will cost some money, of course, but they will be safely recovering in one of your buildings. Or you can decide to leave them on the battlefield. If you win the fight, you’ll still have time to evacuate them. But if you lose… they will die.

Because Lieutenants are so crucial in the reworked combat system, we made more than 10 new abilities for them and reworked some old ones. The Coordinator ability is much more useful now! Some of the new abilities are active, some are passive. For example, some of your Lieutenants fight better when they’re alone, and some will make everyone else more powerful. Certain Lieutenants will also acquire buffs to their power instead of debuffs if their Endurance is low.

We want combat to be much more meaningful and refined, and we want to test it out with all of you before the public release, but that’s not the only thing coming with this update.

With a more complex combat system, we’re also introducing a new illegal resource - Weapons. You can’t grow weapons on your farms but you’ll be able to buy them from certain places like Guerillas and Enemy Gangs. Weapons give a boost to your overall power in combat and allow you to perform powerful attacks that can change the tide of the fight. Weapons are optional combat and they are pretty expensive but they can certainly help you out in fights you had no chance of winning without them!

There are a lot of nuances, a lot of new abilities, and smaller changes that are connected to the Combat Rework. If I listed them all here, this video would’ve been longer than the Godfather trilogy. But I know that all of you are eager to know more and that’s why we’ll be publishing a more detailed guide to the new system in the coming days. And, of course, all of the changes will be listed in the Patch Notes.

But Combat is only half of the update. So let’s get to the second part.

II. STASH ːcartel_loveː

We all know that money can be Dirty or Clean. by the mid-game you can be swimming in Dirty Cash which sounds nice, but also brings a lot of attention to you. Your Selling Points are overflowing, and you’re frantically putting all of your excess Dirty Money in Cities and the Terror is slowly rising. But what if… What if you just hide it?

”But where” you may ask. And that’s where Caches come in.

Cache is a new type of building, and its purpose is to let you hide things from the government’s eyes. You can build two types of Caches - Dugouts and Subterreant Storages with different storage sizes which will be useful in different stages of the game or for different purposes. These buildings are hidden and they won’t get attention if you’re not in the process of hiding or taking out the money.

Feel like a real Capo with hidden caches all around the country! You can hide the excesses for a rainy day when you need to pay a bribe or need some extra cash for laundering buildings. You can, of course, build multiple stashes, and don’t be afraid that some police car will notice them!

Of course, there’s also a catch - Cartel Tycoon can be a harsh game after all! When your money is hidden in stashes, it will deteriorate over time. There are all kinds of critters underground, so if you forget about your stash for a couple of years you might find an empty storage and a very fat rat.

We can’t wait for you to check out these buildings and hide dirty money all over your property!

III. PLAYTEST ːcartel_loveː

The playtest of the upcoming update will be starting this week!

We’ll post all of the links on Steam and our Discord!

We’re still playing around with the sizes of Caches and with new combat mechanics, so during the playtest, we’ll need your help to figure all of this out and release the update with your feedback in mind!

The update itself is scheduled to release in early April, so we’ll have time to analyze your thoughts and make necessary changes before it hits the stores! And the update won’t be the only thing hitting the stores - we’ve created a new Lieutenant Pack with 5 brand-new Lieutenants with abilities related to the new combat system. We’ll make a separate video about them closer to the release of the DLC.

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The Fight & Stash Update is the first update we’re releasing this year, but we’ve got a lot more planned for 2023. We hope that you’ll enjoy the changes and new content, and we’re so excited to continue expanding and reforming Cartel Tycoon.

See you soon, Capos! Bye-Bye!