A Safehouse is any location where your Liberals can lay low and rest. There are two basic types of Safehouse: Upgradeable and Non-Upgradeable.
To be clear: all Safehouses can (and really should) be "upgraded" with a Flag. Most Safehouses do not support the Liberal Infrastructure available from the Safehouse screen, though.
Upgradeable Safehouses
The two Abandoned Buildings in the Industrial District (Old Factory, Abandoned Building Site, etc) can, with a little love and some Liberal Expenditures, be the LCS' greatest asset. If the LCS grows from a Gang or manages to evict the Gang Members from the Crack House, that location can be upgraded as well, but its criminal past will ensure greater attention and thus lower Secrecy. From the main screen (where you usually view your Squads), hit Z to shift to viewing Safehouses, then use Z to cycle through them. Hit Tab to shift back to Squads when you're finished.
Upgrades:
- Business Front: Adds significant Secrecy to the location by mocking it up as a boring office, temp agency, etc.
- Printing Press: Permits mass-production of the Liberal Guardian, the official newspaper of the LCS. Day-to-day writing requires that the staff be present on-site, but Special Editions can be written remotely.
- Fortified Compound: It's unfortunate that Conservative Police and Military snipers cannot restrain themselves from extrajudicially executing Liberal Activists they've besieged. Fortunately, fortifying the safehouse will protect besieged Liberals from those murderous urges. Further, the heavier walls will help defend against Conservative driving skills…
- Tank Traps: If for some reason the Military sees fit to bring armor to your compound, these attractive concrete planters will ensure that they (or anyone else) don't accidentally drive into your safehouse. Unfortunately, the Military Engineers may find themselves bored during a siege and decide that removing these would be fun.
- Generator: It's a good idea to have backup power in case of disasters such as storms, brownouts, or Government sieges knocking out the building's electricity.
- Cameras: Though ubiquitous surveillance is an unfortunately Conservative notion, it's important to make sure you know where visitors to the safehouse are, lest you Conservatively bump into someone by mistake. These require a source of electricity to operate.
- Booby Traps: There may be times when uninvited visitors barge into the safehouse. These devices ensure that such surprise guests Liberally wait for you to greet them, rather than Conservatively wandering around the safehouse and possibly hurting themselves or others. (Please note that the current design does inflict minor damage as part of the Liberal Immobilization process. We're working on that.)
- AA Gun: This is a fully-operational fine illustration of the problems inherent in the Arch-Conservative viewpoint. Letting anyone with $35,000 buy and set up something that exists only to shoot down planes boggles the mind. If Liberals have any say in the matter at all, the AA Gun will be illegal and cost a full $200,000 to install and conceal.
- Rations: Conservative siegers cannot be trusted to provide food to those they've besieged: they've been known to drug it. Having a good stockpile of Rations will enable Liberal Activists to remain active and healthy during the Conservative standoff.
Non-Upgradeable Safehouses
The Homeless Shelter is a basic safehouse, and can be raided should the LCS wish to interact with other residents or the staff.
Apartments may be rented to become safehouses; in general, the better the neighborhood, the better Secrecy the Apartment can provide. However, Apartments are not good at handling high amounts of Liberals. LCS Squads can raid the apartment building should they wish to interact with the other occupants; oddly, though, there will not actually be an LCS apartment.
Successful attacks on CCS facilities such as the Desert Eagle Bar & Grill will drive them from the facility, maximize the Heat on it, and permit the LCS to move in. Such facilities seem able to host one or two full squads without suffering significant Secrecy penalties.
