Liberal Crime Squad, AKA Bad Ideas: The Game

[HypotheticallySpeaking]

Do you like the bloody and random stylings of Dwarf Fortress? Do you like old-school 80s CRPGs? Do you seeth with impotent Liberal rage and need a release? Then download the fuck out of Liberal Crime Squad and start with the fantasy Liberal revolution-ing!

Developed from 2002-2004 by Tarn Adams, the dude behind Dwarf Fortress, Liberal Crime Squad sets you in a dystopian then-future of 2009 in which ultra-conservatives have siezed control of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government. Left unchallenged, they will turn America into a nuclear-powered Death Squad-policed Reagen-worshopping fascist hellhole, and it's up to you to stop them by any means necessary. Starting with your founder, you're free to go about your task of creating an Elite Liberal paradise as you see fit - start a peaceful grassroots campaign that sways public opinion through the media and community service or wage a bloody war against the police, military, corporations and other tools of Conservative oppression.

• Persuede and seduce others to join your army of Liberal activists or kidnap conservatives and brainwash them into willing slaves!
• Raise funds by soliciting donations, creating art, performing music, committing credit card fraud, embezzling funds, selling drugs and burgling various locales!
• Sway public opinion by spraying graffitti, writing to and starting up newspapers, releasing secret documents, brainwashing people and using them as sleeper agents, vandelizing buildings and going on killing sprees!
• Adapt your playstyle as the laws of the land change! More Conservative laws mean greater risks to your activists, and Arch-Conservative laws willl unleash Death Squads that crush all dissent!
• Migrate from safehouse to safehouse to evade confrontation with the police, National Guard, FBI and other forces! Equip your safehouses with cameras, traps, fortifications, generators and other gadgets to make it more defensable in case of a siege!
• Die in horrible and hilarious ways! Combat can result in fatal and not-so-fatal maimings ("X's nose was blown off!") and injuries (you can be paralyzed from the neck down; you can get a wheelchair and keep fighting) in that Wasteland and Dwarf Fortress-esque fashion many know and love!

There's a wiki with loads of useful information here, though some of it's outdated and refers to the old version. The forum is located here.

Pointers:

• Intelligence is a vital stat for your founder character, even moreso than Charisma: Intelligence is the stat for the Psychology skill which is used for brainwashing folks, and there's no limit on the number of brainwashed mooks you can have.
• Brownies and Credit Cars Fraud are the way to go for making serious moolah. A squad of 6 dudes armed with Guitars can make around $1500 a month playing music if they're good enough. Selling Art is absolutly worthless so don't bother, as a squad of 6 will barely break $700 a month.
• You increase your skills by doing stuff and can increase them up to the level of its parent stat; stats is increased by gaining Juice and Liberal Ranks; and Juice is gained by doing stuff like performing vandelism, freeing test animals, interrupting broadcasts, going on killing sprees and pushing the Big Red Button at the Nuclear Power Plant. The easiest way to quickly increase Juice to buff your stats is to have a bunch of dudes (but not the founder) all doing the Hacking activity. A full squad of 6 dudes doing hacking can start getting results within a few days even with no Computer skill and the hacking can boost your Juice up to 200 (Urban Commando) which can increase your stats from 4 to 6 points each (including your Founder's stats, since his Juice is at least equal to that of his highest-Juiced follower). Needless to say, however, that this will result in the cops hunting your ass down on a regular basis so be prepared for regular safehouse shifts.
• The easiest way to train Persuesion is to talk to a bunch of Hippies at the co-op and get a full schedule of them lined up, then use the basic chat option to try and convince them. Keep talking to them for a few weeks even if they're ready to convert and your Persuesion skill will skyrocket.
• Corporations use Sweatshop Workers to make tremendous profits, and the best way to fight fire is with fire: liberate a bunch of Sweatshop Workers from the Garment Makers in the Industrial District, keep the ones with 5 Tailoring and have them pump out Guard Uniforms and similar $40 items. Sell the clothes at the Pawn Shop in the Commercial District when money gets tight and you'll reap a 100% profit. Just make sure they don't get caught in a raid as they'll probably rat you out due to their low Heart. They're also useful for beating the shit out of hostages to weaken their resolve and make them easier to convert.
• High levels of Stealth combined with a Ninja Outfit can make you virtually undetectable, and even if the alarm should be raised you'll be able to sneak past most encounters. You're completily hosed if you're forced into a fight while wearing a Ninja Outfit, though, as it offers no protection against damage and a single gunshot from a 9mm can kill in this game.
• Get sleepers in every single site that you can. You can create a sleeper by kidnapping someone from a site and successfully brainwashing them before the police declare their disappearance a kidnapping, and the sleeper will provide a detailed map (including the locations of loot and important stuff like safes and armories) and can perform espionage and the like for you, and will warn you about impending raids from the police, FBI, corporations and others. DEFINATELY get at least 5 sleeper Judges at the Courthouse, as that'll give you a great advantage in court if you get arrested and have to stand trial.

[iMagiNation]

This looks amazing.

[iMagiNation]

This game is amazing. Recruiting a hoard of programmers to commit credit card fraud is a great way to make some quick cash, just keep bouncing them around in safe houses every now and then or you'll get fucked.

One of my hackers is a great tailor, too, and I've been having them produce expensive suits to sell as well. Three of them also have 200+ juice and so can have 5 followers or so each, which I just realized. Only one of them has any persuasion at all so it might be a bit before they're all maxed out with their own squadrons.

I've recently been sending my leader to the army base to try to recruit soldiers. Most of the time it fails because they're super conservative and shit, but since I have a 10+ persuasion skill every now and then I get a few. They all come with army related skills & gears, like rifles. So I made a "death squad" of two soldiers to enter the prison and try to free one of my liberals that got imprisoned for 2 consecutive life sentences. I ended up saving that guy, releasing a shit ton of prisoners, recruiting several more to the cause, killing a bunch of conservative prison guards, and leaving. When I left though, I had 5 cop squad cars on me, and after a car chase scene worthy of any action movie (one of my soldiers heads got blown off, the other soldier took over driving with a car full of escaped prisoners and managed to blow up two cop cars, make two others crash into stuff, and evaded the final one), and now they've gotten back home and are hiding out while I figure out what to do with them. I really didn't expect them to make it, and since the soldier is conservative if he gets caught by the cops he'll rat me out, so I want him to die eventually.

like I said, amazing game. although you do have to be into roguelikes. my girlfriend finds a strange amusement with the game once I explain it to her, but otherwise its just esoteric nonsense. though lulzy, especially for someone into the whole occupy movement.

[Communicate]

yeah LCS is fucking sweet. can waste way too much time playing it though.

[iMagiNation]

lol I'm finally putting it down now after like 8 hours of playing or so. I never realized how much could happen in such a small screen. lol

Definitely need a rest and a fresh perspective on things. anyone recommend anything particularly fun or interesting to do in game?

[Communicate]

the no crime approach is a challenge.
just recruiting people, activism, a lot of writing.

also, the really 'easy' way where you build a super-hero. get the dodge stat up to a reasonable level (have fist fights with people and you'll get this), then load up with high-powered weapons and be a one man terminator. Combat is just essentially people firing at you, missing, and then you blowing their limbs off on your turn.

Oh, burning places down is also fun. You buy molotovs from the gun shop, but either you can't throw them loose or I don't know how to, so you have to get in combat and throw. Also, you now can't take multiple weapons on site, so if you go with a molotov you can't then shoot your way out as it burns, which sucks.

edit: you can kill your followers on their pages, though I've never done it so idk if they have a chance of resisting or what not.

[HypotheticallySpeaking]

Get someone to train the shit out of Stealth and Security (10+ is good) and have them sneak around the Army Base swiping stuff and cracking into the Armory. You're guarenteed to get a M249 machinegun and 9 drums of ammo and're also likely to find several M16s and M4s with ammo to boot, but you'll get intercepted by a squad of Soldiers right afterwards and're going to have to sneak the fuck away to stand a chance of survival, hence the need for a super-high Stealth skill.

Alternatively, get a bunch of Hippies, Juice them to Urban Commando with hacking and have them train the fuck out of the Music skill, then send them on raids equipped with Guitars. Guitars can turn conservatives Liberal at 10+ Music so go around enlightening a bunch of dudes and recruiting them to the cause. Even better go to the Genetics Lab and release some Genetic Monsters and convert them, most are useless but a few are super-badass.

If you're worried about that dude being a liability, strip him down and send him on a brownie run and just have him fight the cops when he eventualy gets caught dealing, you'll earn a bit of cash this way and the cops'll kill him good and proper.

EDIT: Killing followers and hostages (accidentally and otherwise) has a chance of causing the dude who did it to lose Heart, brownie runs are far safer.

EDIT: AWESOME. I just found some Heavy Body Armor while dicking around in the Intelligence HQ, and I thought you could only get those from CCS bosses. I'll have to remember to come back here when I do a Total War run (currently going pacifist outside of kidnapping dudes and brainwashing them).

[Dichromate]

To be honest I'd put it in the same category of Dwarf Fortress - the only really challenging thing about it is working around the shitty interface.

the dude behind Dwarf Fortress - oh just read that. Fancy that.

I don't have any problem with shit/nonexistent graphics though - I loved ADOM and am really looking forward to the day JADE is in a decent state.

[Mantikore]

Yeah, i remember this being posted back on totse a few years back. Its pretty addictive, but i kept getting killed once the SWAT raided my base. I had a whole bunch of weapons, but the people firing them were nurses and stuff

[iMagiNation]

Originally Posted by Mantikore

Yeah, i remember this being posted back on totse a few years back. Its pretty addictive, but i kept getting killed once the SWAT raided my base. I had a whole bunch of weapons, but the people firing them were nurses and stuff

lol SWAT raids are pretty much impossible without some well trained soldiers or something

[HypotheticallySpeaking]

Originally Posted by iMagiNation

lol SWAT raids are pretty much impossible without some well trained soldiers or something

Traps and a full squad equipped with M4s/M16s will turn most raiders into mincemeat.

[iMagiNation]

bump for epic win

[pseudonym]

Seems pretty win, I'll play once I quit being lazy and learn how to play it on mac.

[DJ Meaty Cheeks]

This game is pure lulz, +1 to OP

[Really Awesome Nickname]

ill subscribe to this thread to play game later when I have my computer back. i cant play it on this thing..

[DJ Meaty Cheeks]

How the heck to you fortify a safehouse? These raids are killing me. I've got to be more careful instead of just loading up on AK-47s and shooting up everywhere I go.

[zTi]

Needs more stories -- later this week.

[delysid]

Never had so much fun staring at a bunch of words.

[Malice]

Do they have a right wing version of this game? Anarcho-capitalist Freedom Squad or Classical Liberal 90% Freedom Squad?

[Pee Vee Proots, M.D.]

Originally Posted by DJ Meaty Cheeks

How the heck to you fortify a safehouse? These raids are killing me. I've got to be more careful instead of just loading up on AK-47s and shooting up everywhere I go.

Press Z to cycle through safehouses, you'll get a prompt to reinforce eligible safehouses by pressing I. This also lets you start a Liberal Newspaper and stuff.

I've been having way too much fun with this.

[iMagiNation]

Originally Posted by Malice

Do they have a right wing version of this game? Anarcho-capitalist Freedom Squad or Classical Liberal 90% Freedom Squad?

no. suck it up.

[RadicalApex]

How do you set up the Liberal Guardian newspaper? I have a safehouse and good writers but theres no option and no explanation on the web. I assume that feature was removed in the newer versions?

[Pee Vee Proots, M.D.]

Originally Posted by RadicalApex

How do you set up the Liberal Guardian newspaper? I have a safehouse and good writers but theres no option and no explanation on the web. I assume that feature was removed in the newer versions?

Nah, you just have to buy a printing press for your safehouse.

[Zombie Food]

Subscribed for later download

[RadicalApex]

Originally Posted by Pee Vee Proots, M.D.

Nah, you just have to buy a printing press for your safehouse.

Thanks man I was trying to do it to the wrong safehouse. I didnt realize there were upgrades for the other one. Know any good places to recruit authors? I only have 2 really good writers.

[The real slim spud]

is this a game? Where do I download

[Mantikore]

Originally Posted by The real slim spud

is this a game? Where do I download

theres a link in the OP.

Also, ive found that you can prevent raids by doing a pre emptive and shooting up the police station. In the beginning, its pretty easy to procure some AR-15's, and you can do some guerrilla attacks on the police station beforehand to get some decent nice armor

[Pee Vee Proots, M.D.]

Originally Posted by RadicalApex

Thanks man I was trying to do it to the wrong safehouse. I didnt realize there were upgrades for the other one. Know any good places to recruit authors? I only have 2 really good writers.

Cafes tend to have authors, but I'm not sure if there's some place they're especially likely to congregate. I just run around the net cafe/downtown cafe for a while when I'm looking to recruit specialists.

Also lol my favorite thing to do when I'm starting is to get naked and go to the garment factory and run around stealing shit and liberating people. If you "liberate" the sweatshop workers they join your gang. They're pretty damn useless most of the time, but they're usually pretty decent at tailoring and you might get a couple prostitutes or low level fighters out of it. I then run my own Liberal Sweatshop for a bit to build my funds (selling clothes at the pawn shop is damn profitable).

When I'm pleased with my finances I select a tailor and any other useful people to keep, then send the rest on naked, molotov lobbing suicide missions.

[iMagiNation]

Originally Posted by Pee Vee Proots, M.D.

Cafes tend to have authors, but I'm not sure if there's some place they're especially likely to congregate. I just run around the net cafe/downtown cafe for a while when I'm looking to recruit specialists.

Also lol my favorite thing to do when I'm starting is to get naked and go to the garment factory and run around stealing shit and liberating people. If you "liberate" the sweatshop workers they join your gang. They're pretty damn useless most of the time, but they're usually pretty decent at tailoring and you might get a couple prostitutes or low level fighters out of it. I then run my own Liberal Sweatshop for a bit to build my funds (selling clothes at the pawn shop is damn profitable).

When I'm pleased with my finances I select a tailor and any other useful people to keep, then send the rest on naked, molotov lobbing suicide missions.

I like to make my sweatshop workers tag some places up before I send them on suicide missions.