Skip to main content

Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
TagsGame Engines

Antihero First Access

Fast-paced strategy with an (Oliver) Twist. Bribe, blackmail, and assassinate your opposition. · By Versus Evil

Strategy

A topic by Versus Evil created Dec 13, 2016 Views: 2,554 Replies: 8
Viewing posts 1 to 5
Developer

Hello

This would be a good place to share helpful strategies for those starting out! I've got a few tips I'll share off the bat:

Thugs! Their guard feature is handy, but upgrading your gangs can be the difference between winning and losing in close games.

Traps from the Saboteur are extremely useful if you can get them early enough to deter your opponent from scouting around the map. Depending on your starting buildings around you, an early Saboteur can make for a pesky early game.

Assassination Contracts can be the easiest to get, but be sure to be smart about how you "earn" those victory points. Don't let an injured target stay alive if you can help it.

I learned the hard way that the AI will routinely finish an Assassination Contract that I started.

Developer

Depending on where I start, I'll often forego urchins on turn 1 in exchange for either Scouting or Gang. It slows your economy down slightly but the extra aggression can pay off quickly.

I've been facing a guy who is making lots of thugs and ramping them up early. Not being able to one shot a 4 health thug (ever) with your thief makes that seem like a really strong strategy! Time will tell though.

Developer (1 edit)

The strategy may in fact be too powerful! Thugs have actually been nerfed a couple times already - it used to be that they guarded a tile until they were killed, and that guarding thugs wouldn't count towards thug-tax on subsequent turns. This made them ridiculously overpowered, but I'm strongly considering the following changes to the next version:

  • Thugs start with 1 health; alcohol upgrades get them 2 and 3 health
  • 2nd-level Strangefellows upgrade gives all Thugs AND Gangs +1 health

This would bring thugs more in line with where I think they ultimately need to be, and would also make the 2nd-level Strangefellows upgrade much more compelling (as it is, I rarely see players continuing to upgrade the Strangefellows after sticking 1 urchin in it).

(1 edit)

That seems to be a good plan. From a gameplay perspective I feel like an opponent that abuses thug strategies (especially if they had a strong start) can shut down their opponent and make it very hard to come back. What if increased thug health was at 2/3 urchins in the Strangefellows? I'm guessing you have a reason for not having a 1, 2, 3 upgrade path for everything though.

I had a player put Thugs on both sides of my start point, which feels a little cheap. I probably could've avoided it, but I generally prefer designing to prevent base-camping (maybe if there were 3 directions of movement from all start points?)

Deleted post
Developer

Good info! I've found that there are quite a few differences once you get to turn 3 against humans and the maps do play a large role in what happens too.

Economy is a thing I feel like a lot of people take a while to learn and Antihero is more akin to an RTS in that fact. Good points here for sure!