There’s been a lot of interest in discovering the competitive gameplay options in Nightlancer.
Nightlancer has numerous features for making and breaking deals, opposing or evading each other, and other Take That style mechanics. The two most significant features are Crew mechanics, and Contact cards.
Crews
The Crew mechanics are for Missions. On a Mission the first Nightlancer to accept it is the Boss of the Crew. Other Nightlancers can ask to join the Crew on their turn and the Boss can accept or refuse them – normally depending on whether the help is enough to warrant splitting the money.
But there are a few ways you can play on this if you want to back-stab someone. You could accept a Nightlancer into your Crew, then choose a path on that mission that they can’t get through – if you can take the penalty and they can’t you can force them off.
On the other hand if you’re taken along for a mission for a critical part, you could pull out at a critical moment or – most ruthlessly – refuse to play your critical part. If you can take the hit for failing a challenge, while the rest of the Crew can’t, you still get ahead.
Further there’s the option of two Crews directly competing for a mission. If the Boss of the first Crew doesn’t want you? Just start a second Crew if you think you can take them on. If you both persist through the mission to the end, the Crews will have to brave a head-on fight!
Contacts
This is the factor that allows you to bargain, threaten and be at each other’s throats the entire game, your Contact network. You get to draw Contact cards every round which you can either exploit for your own advantage, or save for when an opponent is vulnerable. Someone else wants the hot new tech on the black market? Well your Fixer got there first! Someone is gunning for you and wants to compete on a Mission? Make an exclusive deal with the employer thanks to your Company man.
Contacts can be most exciting in the Missions, potentially making or breaking the plan for a mission. Many Contacts can help you out with Challenges, but they can also be used to hinder an opponent. Is your opponent supremely confident that they can beat the Mission you wanted solo and get that big pay-day of 15 KC all to himself? But he’s overlooked how many Contact cards you’re holding while you wait for him to make the wrong move…
And there’s nothing to stop you bargaining/threatening your way into a Mission. The Boss doesn’t want you? Tell him if he doesn’t take you you’ll be sure that your Contacts ruin the job. Maybe you have the Contacts to do it, maybe not…
Play as dirty as you can, or try to rise above it and focus on your own goals. Will you be able to win without playing dirty? Or will you sacrifice yourself to get ahead?
