New player's Survival Guide
How to survive the GangstaBigHouse without being massacred in the first hour!
READ THIS FIRST!!!
So, you've been sent to the Big House! Get ready for a wild ride. There will be attacks, betrayals, killings, and plenty of contraband...and that's just the first five minutes.
Here are some tips to survive and thrive at the big house:
1. First of all...DON'T DO ANYTHING THAT REQUIRES TURNS OR MONEY UNTIL YOU GET A CHANCE TO FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH THE GAME! Look at the bar on the left, named "Assets." At the bottom is your networth. If you followed our instructions and have not done anything yet, your networth will be $0. Actually, your networth, if you take into account your cash, drugs, etc. is more than that, but the game starts you at $0 networth in order to protect you from being attacked--NO ONE CAN TOUCH YOU WHILE YOU ARE AT $0 NETWORTH. However, as soon as you make a move that brings up your networth (hiring, collecting, attacking, buying in the black market, etc.), there will be scores of other convicts attacking you and before you know it they will kill all your men and steal all your stuff. So, take a deep breath and look around first.
2. The buttons at the bottom of the screen are for all kinds of things you can do and check out without affecting your networth, so you can go ahead and experiment safely with the bottom buttons. To come back to this guide, hover over the Help button on the lower left, and select "For New Players"
3. Unless you have experience with these kinds of games, WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU JOIN A GANG. A good gang will provide you with guidance and some level of protection (at least no one from the gang itself can attack you, but better yet, if you get attack they might help retaliate, so just the fact of being in a gang deters some attacks). To join a gang you must be invited first. Look in the Recruiting Board (hover over "Public Board") and see whether some gangs are recruiting or enter a post in the recruiting board yourself announcing that you are looking to join a gang. An invite will show up in a few minutes. You can also send a message to the gang members directly (only the boss, shot caller, and yard bosses can invite you) and ask for an invitation. To find the gangs, hover over "Ranks" at the bottom and select "Gangs." You can check out gangs and even join one without affecting your networth.
4. Early on (even while you are still at $0 networth) you will be GASSED by random other convicts. Although gassing is pretty nasty (read all about it in the full player's guide), it does not cause any lasting harm to your assets and does not affect your networth, so you can ignore it. Your first reaction at such an offense will be to retaliate by gassing the offender back. DON'T DO IT!!! Not only will gassing activate your networth, it will give to the recipient of the gassing what is called a "revenge" on you. This means that for the next 24 hours, he can attack you an unlimited number of times. Normally, you have some level of protection in that you cannot be attacked more that 24 times a day, and also the attacker can have no more than twice your networth. But if the attacker has a revenge on you all bets are off. So...you've been warned.
5. The buttons on the top (except for "Home" and "Logout") are the ones used to perform the key play actions of the game. Simply clicking on one of the buttons does not perform the activity, but takes you to a further screen in which you can input more details. So feel free to look around the different options now, but do not go forward unless you have finished reading this entire survival guide.
6. PROTECT YOURSELF --- Life at the Big House is all about attacks!!! Although you can make big money by collecting from operatives, attacks is how you will move ahead (or fall down hard). So...it is critical that the first thing you do is hire defensive units in order to be able to withstand a large attack (or even deter potential attackers). You automatically start with 10,000 but you'll need more; hire some as soon as you are ready to move past $0 networth. The defensive units are worthless without weapons, so go to the market and buy some--you need at least one weapon per defensive unit. While you're there buy drugs and booze which will keep your operatives and defensive units happy (look at the happiness meters in the left sidebar). This is the basics to get you started; there is more information about defensive units and different types of attacks in the Player's Guide. Secret hint: once you hire, you can get up to 60 seconds of protection from attack, so use that time wisely to buy weapons, for example.
7. Get ready for some action!!! PLEASE, PLEASE read the entire player's guide---there's enough info there to make you a winner during your first round. Also, ask around in your gang---they may have a plan to move to a particular prison, or attack a certain group. They may also have formed alliances with other gangs so you want to know who not to attack.
8. Have fun! Now it's up to you---collect from your operatives, attack, buy more drugs, transfer money...but most importantly, DON'T DROP THE SOAP!!!
READ THIS FIRST!!!
So, you've been sent to the Big House! Get ready for a wild ride. There will be attacks, betrayals, killings, and plenty of contraband...and that's just the first five minutes.
Here are some tips to survive and thrive at the big house:
1. First of all...DON'T DO ANYTHING THAT REQUIRES TURNS OR MONEY UNTIL YOU GET A CHANCE TO FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH THE GAME! Look at the bar on the left, named "Assets." At the bottom is your networth. If you followed our instructions and have not done anything yet, your networth will be $0. Actually, your networth, if you take into account your cash, drugs, etc. is more than that, but the game starts you at $0 networth in order to protect you from being attacked--NO ONE CAN TOUCH YOU WHILE YOU ARE AT $0 NETWORTH. However, as soon as you make a move that brings up your networth (hiring, collecting, attacking, buying in the black market, etc.), there will be scores of other convicts attacking you and before you know it they will kill all your men and steal all your stuff. So, take a deep breath and look around first.
2. The buttons at the bottom of the screen are for all kinds of things you can do and check out without affecting your networth, so you can go ahead and experiment safely with the bottom buttons. To come back to this guide, hover over the Help button on the lower left, and select "For New Players"
3. Unless you have experience with these kinds of games, WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU JOIN A GANG. A good gang will provide you with guidance and some level of protection (at least no one from the gang itself can attack you, but better yet, if you get attack they might help retaliate, so just the fact of being in a gang deters some attacks). To join a gang you must be invited first. Look in the Recruiting Board (hover over "Public Board") and see whether some gangs are recruiting or enter a post in the recruiting board yourself announcing that you are looking to join a gang. An invite will show up in a few minutes. You can also send a message to the gang members directly (only the boss, shot caller, and yard bosses can invite you) and ask for an invitation. To find the gangs, hover over "Ranks" at the bottom and select "Gangs." You can check out gangs and even join one without affecting your networth.
4. Early on (even while you are still at $0 networth) you will be GASSED by random other convicts. Although gassing is pretty nasty (read all about it in the full player's guide), it does not cause any lasting harm to your assets and does not affect your networth, so you can ignore it. Your first reaction at such an offense will be to retaliate by gassing the offender back. DON'T DO IT!!! Not only will gassing activate your networth, it will give to the recipient of the gassing what is called a "revenge" on you. This means that for the next 24 hours, he can attack you an unlimited number of times. Normally, you have some level of protection in that you cannot be attacked more that 24 times a day, and also the attacker can have no more than twice your networth. But if the attacker has a revenge on you all bets are off. So...you've been warned.
5. The buttons on the top (except for "Home" and "Logout") are the ones used to perform the key play actions of the game. Simply clicking on one of the buttons does not perform the activity, but takes you to a further screen in which you can input more details. So feel free to look around the different options now, but do not go forward unless you have finished reading this entire survival guide.
6. PROTECT YOURSELF --- Life at the Big House is all about attacks!!! Although you can make big money by collecting from operatives, attacks is how you will move ahead (or fall down hard). So...it is critical that the first thing you do is hire defensive units in order to be able to withstand a large attack (or even deter potential attackers). You automatically start with 10,000 but you'll need more; hire some as soon as you are ready to move past $0 networth. The defensive units are worthless without weapons, so go to the market and buy some--you need at least one weapon per defensive unit. While you're there buy drugs and booze which will keep your operatives and defensive units happy (look at the happiness meters in the left sidebar). This is the basics to get you started; there is more information about defensive units and different types of attacks in the Player's Guide. Secret hint: once you hire, you can get up to 60 seconds of protection from attack, so use that time wisely to buy weapons, for example.
7. Get ready for some action!!! PLEASE, PLEASE read the entire player's guide---there's enough info there to make you a winner during your first round. Also, ask around in your gang---they may have a plan to move to a particular prison, or attack a certain group. They may also have formed alliances with other gangs so you want to know who not to attack.
8. Have fun! Now it's up to you---collect from your operatives, attack, buy more drugs, transfer money...but most importantly, DON'T DROP THE SOAP!!!