*Longo* Posted Mar 7, 2013, 7:48 pm	Ok...whether your a new player, vet, casual few year player, or whatever.. you all have that ganger or two that you want to stay alive (Your leader at least applies here). Below are a few Longo tips to make sure he gets the best chance of living and growing old in the wonderful land we call Evan. 1) Strength - Before you even start to develop your VIP, note his strength. Ive had some great gangers who max out very high with low strength, but a low strength means if he/she has a vehicle that is breached and they get a little "blue text," they got a very good chance of dying on you. Just keep this in mind, and also if you succeed in keeping this ganger alive that when he/she gets older they will lose strength due to age/drug use and when strength hits 0, they will die in Somerset Hospital. 2) Vehicle - Keep your VIP in a safe car. Don't put him in a sedan with a 2L engine, or driving a lorry. Put him in a sturdy vehicle like an Apache/Landrunner/Buzzer or a fast car with rear guns that's not gonna get outrun by pursuing NPCS. 3) "Bodyguard" - Never underestimate the First Aid skill. Make sure there is a FA guy in the car with your VIP. You may read forum posts that say FA skill is worthless and it never works, but this 5+ year player has seen a decent amount of scout messages that say "so and so has stopped the bleeding of so and so." I use the term bodyguard loosely, it probably should be called a medic or nurse, but bodyguard just sounds cooler. 4) Loot Cars - Your VIP shouldn't drive loot cars unless its a Gates map. Plain and simple. What's the best common loot car sell for? A Phoenix in SS for $25,000? Isn't your VIP ganger worth more than that? There are exceptions to this....hey, if its a Firetruck or Squadcar, then it might be worth the risk? 5) "A" armor - When your gang becomes comfortable finacially, throw some "A" armor on the VIP's usual car. Yea, its expensive to repair, but you can't fix dead. 6) PvP - If your VIP enters a Pvp encounter, protect him. If his car gets breached, sometimes its best to cry mercy and live another day. Unless you have a reputation to uphold, then sometimes ya gotta just say "F$%% it" and roll the dice. Hope this guide helps out. I've noticed a few Hall Of Famers dying lately, and figured a quick post wouldn't hurt.
Juris Posted Mar 7, 2013, 7:58 pm	Good tips. Also read the 10 Ten Scouting Tips on the wiki. Some know-it-all wrote em but they're still useful
*goat starer* Posted Mar 7, 2013, 11:48 pm	i disagree with all of this put your guys in crap cars.. run around... have fun.. accept death don't join the car faming, stat farming, powergamers... join the scavengers and have much more fun... you are here because this game has permadeath... dont try to sidestep it my leader always drives a loot car back on the basis that a good leader will not ask people to do things they would not do themselves
23Baker27 Posted Mar 8, 2013, 12:57 am	goat starer said: my leader always drives a loot car back on the basis that a good leader will not ask people to do things they would not do themselves I'm a mix of Longo and Goat on this. I like my leader to get in the mix and will have him drive a loot car and such, but I also don't put him in stupid situations. I figure as leader he should be smart enough to avoid bad situations, but tough enough to show the troops he's not someone to be trifled with. I can attest to the validity of Longo's statements. Follow his advice and they will survive. Live life on the edge and they will live a short but glorious life. I had my first true leader worth his salt die in a solo scout. Took out a newly painted Moray for a photo op scout and was doing fine til I slowed down too much and got stuck bouncing from the recoil of shots hitting me. Side got breached and I surrendered only to have my leader killed by scorps on the ped home. Learned a valuable lesson and lost a sniper2. For a newly established gang that can be catastrophic.
*Bastille* Posted Mar 8, 2013, 2:04 am	Strength - For some reason my 70 str guys seem to die in one shot, often a bullet to the head, while 26 str weaklings cop 47 bullets and walk away. A night in the hospital and they are ready to go out again. Just lucky I guess.
*StCrispin* ce.services.mh@gmail.com Posted Mar 8, 2013, 5:41 am	23Baker27 said: Took out a newly painted Moray for a photo op scout... only to have my leader killed. Learned a valuable lesson Many lessons such as this have been learned IRL in wartime.  Vietnam is a prime example.  The Photo Op is never safe! But it would be cool if high fame gangs were pursued into scouts by Paparatzzi or even Legitimate Media.  Chance for some sort of fame or HP or some reward but only if the Media survives (AI non-combatant car or cars).  But the CR of the Media adds to the CR of your squad while figuring enemy, and return chance increased.  And the red foe might attack the media which seems to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time and in your way.  And maybe you could even smoke them yourself to reduce chances of return and the chance they wouldnt follow you again (and a bounty on you plus a rep decrease)
23Baker27 Posted Mar 8, 2013, 6:12 am	StCrispin said: Many lessons such as this have been learned IRL in wartime.  Vietnam is a prime example.  The Photo Op is never safe! But it would be cool if high fame gangs were pursued into scouts by Paparatzzi or even Legitimate Media. Off topic: I've seriously contemplated rolling a "journalist" character and having him conduct interviews with some of the gangs of Evan. I think it would be a pretty damn cool way to flesh out some of the different characters playing this game and their concepts for their crew.
*Boonwolf* Posted Mar 8, 2013, 7:26 am	I for one tend to self impose a personality on some of my core gangers. Some have traumatic experiences like having ther face ripped off by a bear 2 times, and the next time she ran into a bear crazy set in. Complete disregard for life malee atack. Didn't end as she had planes one of my other guys put her down befor she died of blood loss. I have guys that only drive loot cars one that will only drive a van others never will drive a thing. Longo makes a good point. A-armor gang bosses ride and I'll add treat him like the CEO that he is. A good specked ganger shouldn't be used like one of you meat bag flesh targets.
*Brunwulf* Posted Mar 8, 2013, 9:31 am	I somewhat agree with Goat on this. Two days ago I lost my favourite and most historic ganger in a stupid, meaningless event. For a few hours afterwards, I felt a genuine sense of loss and regret. Darkwind gives me higher highs, and lower lows, than any game I've ever played- and that's what seperates it from the crowd. I'm not saying that it's a good thing to lose a quality ganger, I'm just saying that save points and res shrines just don't do it for me anymore. Anyway, I do have a question. If I DO ever lose my leader, my 2nd in command will be entitled to fewer gang members. How does this work? Will I get to choose which gangers I must drop, or is it done randomly, or by some other method?
*Bastille* Posted Mar 8, 2013, 9:52 am	You keep your gangers, just with a new cap, so as they die, you cannot hire any above your cap.
*Brunwulf* Posted Mar 8, 2013, 12:08 pm	OK- Thanks Bastille
*Splash* Posted Mar 8, 2013, 5:28 pm	Quote: You keep your gangers, just with a new cap, so as they die, you cannot hire any above your cap. Yeah, and thank goodness for that; the leadership difference between my "number one" and his candidates for eventual replacement equals about 16-20 fewer gangers. Another reason to follow Longo's initial advice, I'd say. After all, lots of things may have changed after the apocalypse, but human nature hasn't--Generals still aren't leading the charge...
*Lugal* Posted Mar 9, 2013, 7:33 am	And it's never a bad idea to train up a second (or third, etc, as your gang increases in size) in command, should your boss decide to take a dirt nap. I split up my gang into primaries who'd I earnestly try to develop and keep alive, and "for-fun" characters I used for town events, questionable scouts, etc. Best of both worlds.
*Bastille* Posted Mar 9, 2013, 7:34 am	yeah, sound advice
Doc Death Posted Mar 9, 2013, 1:15 pm	My leader is in my main scouting group and goes out most for me. Thats how he gets to be a stronger leader now just past through 600.
Blackwill Posted Mar 9, 2013, 3:42 pm	When my leader died, I lost 4 gang members. I assumed they were randomly chosen. Its possible that I missed something, but it appears that they were simply removed to bring my gang to the lower cap. I could very well be wrong, though.
*Longo* Posted Mar 9, 2013, 5:54 pm	Blackwill said: When my leader died, I lost 4 gang members.  I assumed they were randomly chosen.  Its possible that I missed something, but it appears that they were simply removed to bring my gang to the lower cap.  I could very well be wrong, though. Unfortunately I can say I know from experience that this isnt the case, as was previously posted by one of the guys.
*Brunwulf* Posted Mar 9, 2013, 6:06 pm	Anyway- thanks for the guide Longo. definately worth reading and thinking about. Appreciated. Cheers, Brun.
Blackwill Posted Mar 9, 2013, 6:24 pm	Unfortunately I can say I know from experience that this isnt the case, as was previously posted by one of the guys.[/quote] Allrighty. I must have missed something. Thanks for the clarification.
*Longo* Posted Mar 9, 2013, 7:07 pm	[quote=Blackwill] Unfortunately I can say I know from experience that this isnt the case, as was previously posted by one of the guys.[/quote] Allrighty. I must have missed something. Thanks for the clarification.[/quote] Dont get me wrong...I was sweating bullets wondering the same thing right after he died.
*JD_Basher* jd.basher@charter.net Posted Mar 16, 2013, 1:26 am	*Bastille* said: Strength - For some reason my 70 str guys seem to die in one shot, often a bullet to the head, while 26 str weaklings cop 47 bullets and walk away. A night in the hospital and they are ready to go out again. Just lucky I guess. The big red Target on the foreheads might have an effect Bast!