Reaching the Heights
Heights Developments Strategy
I have successfully infiltrated the Heights district of this accursed city, and let me tell you--the Yugai enjoy harassing you here. They are all over the place! With that being said I managed to get by whether it was by blasting a few patrols or paying them off with some of my illicit gambling money from the casino. With that being said, if you're not up to speed, remember we have already talked about the Slums developments and the Midtown developments. Fortunately the Heights is a good place to be. There are a lot of good and solid developments to be had here, although at the same time there are useful warnings to be had on many as well.
To begin with, you shouldn't rush to get any Heights developments. I saw a gang leader save up for a round just to buy one quickly, and it didn't wind up benefitting him all that much. Many midtown developments can get you some big boosts to your early game and shouldn't be passed up just to get some shiny building in the center of town. Most of the time you won't be affording these building until rounds 4-5 anyhow, and there are so few of them, they are rarely central to any strategy anyhow--they are mostly just going to be a building block to help you out. Rarely will they be a central place to your strategy for a game, although they still can be important buildings to consider. In addition, there will only be about 4-5 of these development tiles available on average during a game, so if you're in a 3 or 4 player game you shouldn't really expect to be owning more than one. There are easier ways to up your influence generally anyhow. The districts here include the Underground Casino, Warehouse, and Weapons District which are most similar to some of the developments we have seen before. The other three--Club Silver X, Fight Club, and Gatorum Towers--are somewhat more unique. Let's cover the more similar ones first.
To begin with the Warehouse costs 10,000, can be built in blue or green, is a double space development, and it provides 2 product tokens worth 4,000 each when taking a produce >>> develop action. There are 2 copies of this tile in the game. Overall this is basically a Junkyard, but slightly toned down, although it has one major potential upside--the renown it gives. This development will give you renown equal to the number of developments you control, including this one. For those who engage in a strategy reliant on a large number of developments, much like Blue might, this development can pull down the most renown in the game. This development is very much worth it if you are able to earn 5 or more renown off of it, and maybe even 4. If you have few other developments though, I wouldn't worry so much about it. The other obvious downside of a Warehouse is how much of a target it becomes. It has to be placed near the center of the board where it will be easier to attack, and as it pulls in plenty of renown for you, and you have 2 spaces to defend it on, you'll likely see some opposition quickly. It can be difficult to hold down, and if there's a strong military near you, it might not be worth putting out such a juicy target. Otherwise, try to build one and pull in a huge amount of renown some turn.
Now the Underground Casino is extremely similar to the Back Alley Games we talked about in the slums. This development costs 10,000, brings in 3 renown, is a 2 space development, and can be placed in midtown or the heights. The great ability is what makes this place so tempting though. During a produce >>> develop action you get to roll a die, and 5/6 of the time instantly earn 6,000. In addition, there are 2 of these tiles in the game. You don't have to go through the normal produce, sell to get your money with this set up, and you do get your money a very reliable amount of the time. In addition you can then immediately use this cash to build another development. Overall the casino is a great choice for making some money, especially if you have some Back Alley Games going off with it. In this way you can easily fuel your economic ventures without having to engage in the typical produce >>> develop, sell, buy action cycle, and just cut to produce >>> develop, buy if you desire to. In a recurring theme though, it can be difficult to hold down a Casino from those who might choose to fight you for it. Pay attention to the board position and your combat strength before deciding to invest in one of these and see if stolen from you right away.
Next we have the Weapons District. This building provides 4 renown, is a single space, can be put in midtown or the heights, costs 11,000 (making it the single most expensive development in the game), and there are 2 copies of it in the game. The Weapons District produces one product worth 4,000. In addition, a Weapons District in your control allows you to roll one addition battle die in all of your fights. One battle die might not sound like a ton, but that is a significant advantage. That's on average an addition 1.5 boost to your attack value for all battles. You can easily turn that it to some extra combat success, or even just an easier way to fight off Yugai when you need to. Weapons Districts aren't too difficult to hold on to as you can put them in midtown near your entrance to the map and so defend them easier. Just remember you don't have control of a development when it is contested, so you can't apply a Weapons District's bonus combat die if you are having the battle over the Weapons District.
Now the next three developments are similar to each other, but are all a bit distinct over the rest of the developments in the game. First off each one only has a single copy in the game, unique to these three developments. Unique to these developments as well is the fact that all three MUST be but in the Heights, they cannot be put in midtown or the slums. Finally each of the developments have abilities that focus on renown, rather than economics.
Let's start off with the Gatorum Towers development. This single space development costs 6,000. It's ability forces you to roll a die at the end of every round and earn that much renown. This means you are averaging 3.5 renown per turn with this development. This puts you right on par with the majority of developments at or near this price that produce 3-4 renown--but do so reliably and consistently. I personally have a bit of an issue taking a development that can be so swingy on renown rather than spending it on almost any of the other options in the game. It's a lot easier to defend a development in midtown, and if it provides me a beneficial ability in addition to 3-4 renown a turn, I would almost always take it. For this reason, I'd recommend leaving the Gatorum Towers for your other gang leaders to grab and hopefully fight each other over. You can do better.
When I first began to investigate Fight Club, no one would tell me about Fight Club due to the "First Rule of Fight Club" or so I was told. Eventually I worked my way in and found out what was up. This development costs you 9,000 but at the beginning of each round you can steal 1 renown from another player. It provides 3 renown normally. This means that this development effectively produces 4 renown, but it's a bit better than that even. By taking that renown away from the top player you are facing, you are effectively getting to be 5 closer in renown to him. This is a pretty big advantage for a single development. Remember though this is a sizeable investment, so don't purchase the Fight Club too early and ruin your economics in future rounds. In addition remember that Fight Club is going to attract fights as gang leaders do not enjoy renown being taken from them. You're going to be making enemies which might not be worth it. Finally you earn this renown at the start of every round, meaning that it is a bit less effective than it could be, because stealing it on the final round won't ever give you a chance to utilize it. Overall this is a building that can aid you in the end game when you have the cash and are looking for a great renown earner, but don't bother with it much earlier than that or you will probably wind up costing yourself in total renown.
Finally we round out the heights with the Club Silver X development. This place costs 10,000 but provides an astounding 6 renown. In addition if you steal it from an opponent, you immediately get to earn 2 renown. This makes Club Silver X to be a HUGE target. If an opponent can snatch it right towards the end of a round they can get away with a total of 8 renown from attacking it, easily more than any other target. Added to the fact that Club Silver X is only a single tile and has to be put in the center, and you're going to have a very difficult building to keep control of. Personally I would rather aim to let someone else place this development and spend the money on it, and then just snatch it from them. That is unless I could put it down right at the end of a round knowing I'd earn the 6 at least once right away. Just remember to be careful and analyze the ability of your enemies to fight you off of Club Silver X before building this renown maker.
Well, that's all I have. That's a rundown of all 18 developments you'll find in this City of Remnants. I can't help you much more than that on the developments, but in my traveling I have run into a lot of strange gang members and their illicit items that they have. I've learned quite a bit on those. I might just share some of my knowledge of that with you next time. Until then, have fun earning renown, and remember some of what you've learned about your development options.
