Hey everybody, welcome back to another developer update. We know a lot of you have been asking about how combat works in City of Gangsters, so today we thought we’d talk about that aspect of the game more fully.

Weapons and combat

While economy and relationship management are the main two pillars of City of Gangsters, conflict does play an important role as well. As you start to build up your criminal outfit and expand your territory, you’ll run up against aggressive troublemakers and competing rival outfits. It’s often more pragmatic to take a diplomatic approach to these encounters, but you’ll occasionally have to resort to direct conflict and violence. Be warned, though, that any negative actions you take against your rivals will be remembered, and what initially started out as a street brawl might escalate into a full-scale war!

Obtaining weapons

If you’re gonna pick a fight you’ll need to make sure you’re well prepared. Fortunately there’s a whole range of weapons, both conventional and improvised, that you’ll be able to obtain in a number of different ways during your campaign:

Buying from businesses - Improvised melee weapons such as bats and crowbars can be bought from some of the businesses you discover, but supplies tend to be limited and businesses that sell these items can be few and far between.



“Gifts” from bribed cops - Police issue weapons such as billy clubs and colt revolvers, alongside various other confiscated firearms, can be obtained from cops who are friendly and on the take.



Deals with troublemakers - Amongst the many troublemakers you encounter, some will be interested in business dealings, and if you manage to get them on your side they will offer you business deals, which sometimes involve bulk deliveries of cheap weapons. Handy when you need to tool up your entire crew!

Rewards for completing missions - Helping out your business contacts will not only earn you respect and improve your relationship levels, it may also result in some intriguing and useful rewards.

Combat

Combat can occur when two or more crew members from unaffiliated outfits meet on the same street corner. If you initiate an attack you’ll be presented with a few options:

Attack priority - Decide the order in which your crew members will attack.
Target - Pick individual targets for each crew member.
Method - Pick which weapon each crew member will use.



All weapons possess two stats, a base chance to hit and a damage range, and these vary across the board. For example, a baseball bat is an accurate weapon, but is unlikely to do much harm, while a pistol is far less reliable, but has a much higher potential to do serious damage.



It's worth noting that some traits such as strong and sharpeyed, along with crew member experience in backstreet brawling, can also provide additional bonuses to both of these stats. Similarly, certain other traits can produce negative modifiers as well, so be careful!

Combat results

Once a round of combat is over you’ll see the results, with participants losing hit points and becoming roughed up, injured, or just plain dead. It's important to remember that a crew member that is injured will not work so make sure you rest them up at a safehouse before you send them out again.



As we mentioned at the beginning of this post, combat should be used sparingly, and often as a last resort, particularly when rival outfits are involved. Police will take notice of violent activity, and you can bet that the relatives of people you have hurt will remember your actions and change how they deal with you in the future, so plan out your hits carefully.

Matt & Rob
Co-founders - SomaSim