The Drug Wars Guide
I'm writing this guide to introduce new players to the world of Drug Wars: one which survival is determined by a mob's ability to generate profit and control territories within each city.
Drug Wars requires a mobile device that supports GPS, such as the iPhone, most Blackberry devices, and most Android devices. It runs in the browser, so you only need to go to www.drugwars.mobi to play it.
Game Objectives
Each game period will run for 90 days at a time. In those 90 days, the objective is to establish a gang within a city, form partnerships with gangs in other cities, and dominate the entire U.S. through territory control. This will require tremendous teamwork and trusted leadership. After 90 days, a mob is declared the winner and the game restarts with new teams and territories.
Each player maintains a record of their gang involvement and achievements. As a player builds up a reputation, their chances of becoming a gang leader increase in future games.
You start the game with a loan from the loan sharks (these are typically gangs that have agreed to loan out their money reserves in exchange for your agreement to pay it back with interest). It is often easier to join gangs once you have paid off this debt.
If you do not pay this debt, you will be attacked by the loan sharks until you die or until the loan is paid off in full. Loan sharks are simply members of a gang who loaned the money out to you.
Supported cities and mobile devices
Currently, Drug Wars works only for the UIUC campus in Champaign, Illinois. More locations will be added shortly after the initial launch. It takes time to draw geographic boundaries for gang territories, which is why we're rolling Drug Wars out city-by-city.
Joining Your First Gang
There are three gangs to choose from, each with their own special abilities (listed below) You will select the gang you wish to join at the start of the game. This process is known as Soliciting a Bid for Membership. As soon as you express interest, the gang leader will approve or reject your application.
You are not guaranteed entry into the gang of your choice, since the gang's activities are questionable at best and they seek to protect their own interests. New members must pay a fee to remain in the organization, otherwise they lose their membership and must deal drugs independently without any protection. The gang leader will set the fee amount.
Survival odds without gang membership are very low in Drug Wars; it will require teamwork and cooperation to win. A Civilian is a player who isn't part of any gang and becomes a very easy target to attack by gangs.
When a player starts out, they have a grace period of 15 days to build up their bankroll to pay their future gang fees. The grace period prevents gangs from attacking you and lowers the odds of police busts.
The 3 Gangs
The Russian Mafia - Masters of elaborate planning and manipulation
- Ability to send aid to gangs in other cities very quickly
- Ability to carry out assassinations on particular members of opposing gangs, including leaders
- Ability to bribe members of opposing gang members to turn against their own gangs
Yakuza - Highly aggressive in combat and territorial; strength lies in numbers
- Ability to reinforce territories with more players than other gangs
- Ability to perform more attacks in a shorter time period
- Ability to raid jails to bust out members faster
Zaibatsu - Savvy business men; run highly profitable drug trade operations
- Ability to negotiate higher prices on selling drugs
- Ability to import drugs at very low costs
- Ability to purchase weapons at lower costs
In addition, all gangs have the option to purchase add-ons within their gang:
- Leader Metrics - allows a gang to easily see how their leader is performing. Provides a "report card" to measure things like response time on new member bids, ability to generate profit, and more.
- Member Metrics - allows a gang to measure the performance of their membership. Shows a leaderboard with a breakdown of who is earning the most money, dominating the most territories, etc.
- Safe Deposits - a network of safe storage places to store drugs so that gang members can hold more drugs safely without the risk of being busted by police
- Reinforcements - the ability to reinforce territories with hired mercanaries; these are usually purchased and distributed by the gang leader
Structure of a Gang
Drug Wars has adopted the gang structure of the real-life gang Westside Crips. All players start out as street soldiers, dealing drugs to earn money for their city's gang. As a player obtains reputation and money, they earn promotions and special abilities.
As you trade drugs, defend territory, generate profit, complete missions, and dominate new territory, you will find yourself rising in rank and earning key decision-making powers within the gang. These can range from how to deal with inner-gang conflicts to strategic moves for attacking enemy territory.
Gang Leaders
Only particular gang members with sufficient reputation are eligible for gang leadership and are voted on at the start of each 90-day period.
Members of a gang can work together to overthrow a leader. A new gang leader will be voted into position if this happens. If a vote to remove the leader fails (requires at least half the gang's membership to pass), there's a risk that the identity of the voting members will be revealed and they may be attacked by the gang itself for their questionable loyalty. Each gang leader has a different personality and may react differently to these situations--it's ultimately up to the members to vote for the leader they think will perform best, even under inner-gang conflicts.
Overall, cooperation and teamwork is in the long-term best interest of the gang. Without teamwork, a gang is vulnerable to being attacked by competing gangs.
Gang leaders may vote to ban certain members who may not be acting in the gang's interest. For example, a member of the Russian Mafia may offer a bribe to a street soldier of Yakuza. If this is discovered by the gang, the leader may start a vote to ban or attack the member for their betrayal.
Death, Jail, and Attacks
There are many sitautions where you risk death:
- If you take a bribe and are discovered to have betrayed your gang, they may kill you.
- The police might arrest you and jail you in an undercover sting or a failed mission.
- Another gang member might kill you for being in their territory.
All of these situations present various options. After dying, you are able to respawn, however you will lose a portion of your money and possessions if the crime is serious enough. Most offenses only require a bond to be bailed out--your gang can help post bond in those situations. Your record will stay in tact, which helps you obtain loans and membership into gangs.
