quote:

Raised in rural Austria by foster parents, Maximilian did not have the happiest of childhoods. Already the bully’s favourite because of his stockiness and squint; the young Maximilan became even more isolated from his peers when he developed chronic stress-related alopecia (hair loss) after a weekend-long ritual beating from his foster father, incurred for the crime of looking at him askew.
Such early setbacks might have deterred lesser men, but it only made Maximilian stronger, and he went on to found an extremely lucrative empire, fuelled by a desire to prove his worth to the world. Yet even his riches, Maximilian found himself rejected by his friends and beautiful women he thought he could buy. Spurned once more, he turned to misanthropy, and began to plot his revenge. If he could not make the world like him, he would have to make the world fear him…

quote:

Maximilian’s industrialist background gives him a strong interest in scientific research. If you select Maximilian to be your Evil Genius, you will be promised a reduction to any cash incentive payment used while doing research. His starting Henchman is Jubei and his aura of influence is average-sized, with average recovery capabilities.
Finally, his execution method is a handgun. Maximilian calls the minion over, and then puts a bullet into the minion’s head. Execution of a minion boosts nearby minion’s stats by 5.

quote:

Jubei is the starting henchman for Maximilian.
His primary weapon is a sword, which is used with deadly efficiency. His first special move "eviscerate" does a large amount of damage with his sword, and his blade has an orange glow when it is being performed. It is interesting to note that while Jubei can use the capture command, he still hits people with the blade of his sword, but this time causing the green glow of the target that shows capture instead of the red glow which shows damage.
His second ability "windwalk" is very useful as it allows Jubei to teleport anywhere on the island, taking no more time than half a second for the animation to play through. This enables players to quickly and easily reach an important target (super agent,burglar etc') or a vital defense point (your avatar, control room etc').
Like some other henchmen, he has a bias against a particular task. In this case, Jubei will not retrieve any enemies that have been killed or knocked out by someone that isn't him.

quote:

When Alexis’s father died, bequeathing his multi-million dollar fortune and media empire to her; it would have been easy for her to conform to the tradition young heiress template, frittering the money away on wining, dining, and generally living the high life. Despite being spoiled rotten, however, Alexis was also highly motivated and intelligent with a sharp awareness of the way the world works. Her hard work and piercing intelligence saw her take the helm of her father’s media empire with aplomb, and global revenues soon quadrupled under her shrewd leadership.
However, Alexis was not without her vices. Years of being daddy’s little princess gave her a colossal ego and need for constant adoration. After a brief few years of contentment, the sycophantic praise she received from the lackeys in her company was no longer enough. Seeking a wider audience to worship her, she moved in front of the cameras and soon became America’s darling, gaining widespread acclaim for her television and movie roles. All too soon, the glamour faded. Alexis wanted more: more adulation, more wealth, more power. Alexis wanted the world.

quote:

Her beautiful appearance and background in media allows her to command unswerving devotion from her followers. Thus, Alexis has the largest circle of influence, and her minions' loyalty drain rate is much slower. If you choose Alexis, your starting Henchman is Eli Barracuda.
Her execution method is burning. Alexis ignites the minion with her cigarette, causing him to burst into flames. Execution of a minion boosts nearby minion’s stats by 10.

quote:

Super Headshot: Taking careful aim with his revolver, Eli can deal some serious damage with one shot.
Ghetto Posse: Eli's ghetto blaster pumps out a funky sound with encoded hypnotic beats, making agents involuntarily dance along and follow Eli. This ability may fail if the target has high loyalty.

quote:

Shen Yu’s criminal career began on the streets of Hong Kong, and none of his street urchin peers could possibly have predicted that this humble pickpocket would eventually rise to become one of the most powerful criminal masterminds in the world. As a teenager, Shen Yu joined a local Triad gang and quickly rose up the ranks. Despite his rapid elevation, he would never have risen any further were not for a fortuitous encounter with a pair of A.N.V.I.L. agents. Shen Yu was arrested immediately for his multiple homicides. They gave him a simple choice: be an A.N.V.I.L mole, or be executed.
A.N.V.I.L implanted a communication chip inside Shen Yu’s brain so that they could spy on Triad activity, but they underestimated the resources of the Triad. After performing yet more brain surgery on him the Triads were able to reverse the chip wiring access the operating system at A.N.V.I.L. Desperate to avoid more meddling with his grey matter, Shen Yu defected and used his knowledge his chip provided to build his own criminal empire. With advance knowledge of every move A.N.V.I.L. made, he was untouchable, and soon found himself in a position to bid for world domination…

quote:

Shen Yu’s nefarious international network of spies and conspirators are constantly at work, misdirecting information and gathering intelligence. If you choose Shen Yu, it takes a longer time for agents to sneak onto your island in response to your actions in the game. His starting Henchman is Lord Kane.
He has the smallest aura of influence out of the three character choices, but also has the fastest stat boosting effect. His execution weapon is a knife which he thrusts into the minion that he is killing. Execution of a minion boosts nearby minions’ stats by 7.

quote:

With the European aristocracy wrapped around his little finger and the unwashed masses quaking in fear at his very name, Lord Kane is both a master manipulator and deadly combatant. When he uses Smooth Operator on a super agent, the super agent is frozen in place until the super agent is knocked out or when Lord Kane arrives. This can be useful as the super agent can be attacked when frozen in place.

Night10194 posted:

I always liked Alexis's starting henchman.

Grey Hunter posted:

Zanzibar Ham posted:

Does his low area of influence mean he needs to take regular tours around the base?

luxury handset posted:

as the player you have enough to do without dragging your genius all over the base, normally i just park them somewhere high traffic and forget about them

Zanzibar Ham posted:

I'm guessing that means you can't set patrol routes or something for the Genius.

Zanzibar Ham posted:

That's why you make a decoy Genius to sit somewhere looking important while the real one does work.

Zanzibar Ham posted:

So if you pick Shen Yu you need to do a balancing act of placing him in a place that's both high-traffic for minions but also heavily protected?

thetruegentleman posted:

The game really needs mods: some minions are useless, they won't carry guns unless you put up with the yellow alert sound, some henchmen will destroy your own base...yeah. On the bright side, at least fixing the worst of it is more-or-less easy.

luxury handset posted:

good spots are in the control room, security rooms, or creepily looming over your minions as they sleep

Weed Wolf posted:

Voting for Alexis; IIRC the previous LP wayyyy back in the day was Shen Yu so let's try something new!

mllaneza posted:

Maximilian because Blofeld is one of the few competent evil masterminds, and cheap tech is always a strong advantage.

luxury handset posted:

if you double click the alert button the sound fades away

thank you, my brain, for remembering this pro tip but not remembering my mom's birthday

Zanzibar Ham posted:

Was it? I tried to check but it's archived here but not on The Archives so I couldn't tell. If true I'll also switch my vote.

Weed Wolf posted:

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3211877 yep, all the pics are dead but Shen was the voted in genius.

Byers2142 posted:

There is a right answer here. The right answer is Alexis. Why?

Because:


Look at this man. Look at that afro. This is a man the deserves our admiration. If he has chosen to follow Alexis, we must listen to him.

Follow the Fro. Fear the Fro.

thetruegentleman posted:

He doesn't have cheaper tech; a bug prevents that from working.

quote:

The Criminal mastermind, the only Evil genius to not start in the 1%.