Note: Initial beta estimated For October. Text subject to change . Explanatory images and videos will be included .
Cities, key elements in Heaven and Fire .
Cities are key in Heaven and Fire . In fact, they are the centers of power for angels and demons (which I will collectively refer to as entities here). There are other tasks to accomplish, but without control of the cities, your future will be compromised.
Active cities and inactive cities.
When the game begins, there are a number of active cities, each with a certain population. Keep in mind that this population figure isn’t real; it may differ from the actual population living in the city. However, the number will be relatively close.
If you hover your mouse over a city, a window with basic city information will open by default. Moving the mouse away will close the window. This behavior can be changed using the button in the bottom left corner. If you disable it, the windows will not open.
When you click on a city, the main city window will open, which has several tabs. By default, the city has no entities, so your influence over the city is zero. You will need to send your entities to a nearby area, right-click on your entity, and request that it search for the nearest cities. Then simply choose a city, and your entity will become part of that city, where it can begin to act.
Activate a city.
Many cities are deactivated by default, meaning you can’t add your entities to them. But if you want to activate a city, simply click on it, and when a confirmation window appears, indicate that you want to activate it.
From that moment on, that population will be exactly the same as the others, and you will be able to manage it, just like all the other cities.
The seven tasks.
In each city, your angels or demons—that is, the entities under your command—can perform seven tasks, each with significant ramifications and implications. Keep in mind that an entity can only perform a maximum of two tasks at a time, and that each task divides its effort by two.
Let’s then see what those tasks are:
The seven tasks of cities.
- Human conversions.
- Search for enemy entities.
- Management of city services.
- City exteriors.
- Attention to citizens.
- Businesses in the city.
- Temple construction in the city.
Note: Soulers are the standard currency in the Afterlife.
First and foremost, remember: cities can become havens of peace, love, and freedom if you work with your angels. Or they can become centers of absolute power, destruction, pain, and suffering if you allow your demons to control every human being to serve your cause.
Human conversions.
Citizens are neutral at the start of the game. To acquire Soulers and win over cities, you must convert a majority of citizens to your cause. Your entities must arrive in the city and begin the conversions. But be aware, their abilities and level are crucial for this task, as with all others. This is explained on the entity abilities page.
Keep in mind that there may be enemy entities also attempting to convert humans to their cause. And, if they are of a higher level or possess greater abilities, they will eventually gain control of the city. You should therefore consider seeking out these enemy entities and eliminating them, or at least expelling them from the city.
Search for enemy entities.
It’s not strictly necessary to search for enemy entities in the city, but if you don’t locate them, and they are present, they will be acting to counter your actions. Of course, enemy entities also don’t know if you have their own entities in your city. Information is power, and knowing your enemy’s movements is crucial. But don’t get too caught up in it: there are many cities, and neither you nor the enemy has the capacity to operate in multiple cities simultaneously.
In any case, you can have some entities specialized in searching for enemy entities.
Keep in mind that you can also have humans and androids hired for special missions, and these humans and androids can investigate the material effects of enemy actions. Yes, they won’t be able to find the enemy entities themselves, because they are mortal humans or androids. But they can inform you of suspected enemy actions based on the consequences of those actions.
Also keep in mind that, upon discovering an enemy entity in the city, you can do three things:
- Staying out of it. If you do nothing, the enemy entity will continue its activity, but you’ll be able to see what it’s doing, and thus counter its efforts. Only an agent of a higher level than the enemy can remain on the sidelines.
- Combat: This is the basic option. Combat means your entity will face the enemy entity. Here, the combat qualities of both your entity and the enemy are crucial, as is their level.
- Fleeing: If the fight is going badly, you can flee, but again, it will depend on your abilities versus those of the adversary.
If there are other entities in the city, they can provide combat support to your entity.
Keep in mind that an enemy entity can discover you and act accordingly, depending on its decision. Prepare for combat, then.
Management of city services.
The city’s services basically include electricity, gas, and water. Hospitals and schools are also essential. These five services, whether public or private, are fundamental for the proper functioning of the city and for the development of its inhabitants. If a city begins to experience problems with any or all of these services, it will face serious difficulties. Therefore, the angels will ensure that these services not only function correctly but will also strive to improve them, because these improvements will lead to greater well-being for the people, and more individuals will be motivated to join the cause through the organizations working on this task.
On the other hand, the demons will revel in destroying these services, which will provoke anger, unrest, and rage, thus encouraging malevolent entities seeking humans for their cause to be converted. Provoking conflicts, strikes, and famine are the perfect tools for seizing power in the city.
Businesses will also see improved performance if the angels take care of these services, while productivity will plummet if the demons manage to cause problems. Therefore, once again, you must keep a watchful eye out for any signs of what’s happening with the city’s services.
A city with perfectly functioning services will be a powerful source of power for your angels, and a generator of Soulers for them. A city without basic services will be perfect if you manage a group of brave demons, willing to let people die of thirst, hunger, and all kinds of diseases.
City exteriors.
The external areas of the city comprise mainly the access roads, the outer neighborhoods, and, especially, the surrounding nature: plants (in forests, parks, sea areas, lakes, etc. ), animals, and the associated lands.
Caring for the environment and nature is important for the development of human societies. Lake waters, farmland, forests, fauna, and flora are fundamental elements for sustaining progress and life. Your angels will take care of that.
Of course your demons have a different opinion . Cities with burned forests, dead animals, and rotten farmland are the perfect excuse for the city to embrace your ideas and goals.
In any case, maintaining the city’s outer areas is essential to fully control a city.
Attention to citizens.
Here we arrive at the heart of the city, quite literally: its citizens. We can win them over to our cause, but we must also care for them. Are they sick? Heal them. Sad? Comfort them. Depressed? Encourage them.
Or we can act like hell itself, and turn their lives into just that: a living hell. The more the citizens suffer, the more miserable their lives become, the greater our chances of controlling the city.
Citizens are undoubtedly our top priority. All other actions concerning cities support our focus on citizens, but ultimately, we will either save humanity or destroy it, depending on how we manage humanity within our cities.
Businesses in the city.
If we were talking about city services earlier, now we’ll focus on businesses. How are companies thriving? Good salaries, family-friendly schedules, and a fantastic work environment with supportive bosses and all sorts of employee benefits.
Or, if we work for hell, we can carry out a transformation of companies: 14-hour shifts from Monday to Saturday, no social benefits, and poverty wages. This will lead workers—that is, the human beings who are our targets—to face all kinds of stressful situations: broken marriages, shattered families, psychological problems, and a truly hellish work environment.
Temple construction in the city.
Building temples is essential for our entities to recover the energy they use to move around the map and perform various activities. Activities in cities consume energy, so our angels or demons must leave the city where they are operating, ceasing their current tasks, to go to a temple and replenish their energy.
However, if we assign at least one agent to build a temple in the city, once its construction is complete, the angels and demons will still consume energy, but at a much lower level, so they can continue working on their tasks for much longer before having to leave the city and go to a temple outside of it.
also have other effects: they help locate enemy entities, and they also allow agents’ levels to increase by one while the entity is in the city. Therefore, they are truly useful.
Keep in mind that enemy entities may want to destroy your temple, and you can order them to destroy any enemy temple within the city.
On the other hand, temples outside of cities can also be destroyed, so they require monitoring and surveillance. But we’ll discuss that in the section on temples.
Summary.
Life isn’t easy in cities. Citizens have to go to work, pay their bills, put up with neighbors and in-laws, and, though they may not realize it, succumb to temptations from angels and demons. They also witness their own city, their surroundings, their services, and their businesses fall victim to an invisible and brutal war between heaven and hell.
But that’s where you come in. Will you help citizens live in peace and freedom? Or do you prefer to subject them to all kinds of torment and punishment, so they suffer simply for being mortal? The choice is yours.
