How do you manage minion numbers late game?

[Mokona]

Between minion deaths that happen far to often with no way to control and the pretty much forced -3 minions to decrease heat in a single part of the map I finally got to a point where I just couldnt keep the minion count up. It doesnt help that things spawn on the map for 1 minute with either no indication or really poor indication that either spawn stronger super agents or add more heat forcing a lockdown causing stronger agents. Like seriously why is there a +35 heat to a 50 max heat zone mission that spawns and doesnt warn me. Maybe I'm just supposed to stare at that terrible map the whole game instead of my lair.

[KhanIndustries]

You can hire 5 for 10k instantly in the minion screen (the one where you can say I want x number of scientist, etc...).

[Mokona]

Originally posted by KhanIndustries:

You can hire 5 for 10k instantly in the minion screen (the one where you can say I want x number of scientist, etc...).

Then how do you get a ♥♥♥♥ ton of money to do this? Running money missions just increase how often you need to lose minions and they also take more minions. Oddly enough I was getting a good 10k about every 5 minutes without running any missions at all but I dont even know how.

[Quinox]

It's mostly a combination of early game money production, tier 1 criminal networks are terrible for this, and using the fast money option repeatedly. It gets you to most money fastest, but cuts into your minion supply as you expand.

The solution is easy, because the second tier of network provides jobs that are far more lucrative, and the long term missions are much more efficient and less stressful / micro intensive to manage. Even without buying minions it's easy to have the population grow over time using that. Basically you should be racing to establish tier 2 networks to get significant profits and stable minion growth.

That said buying minions when you have space for them, and money you won't need to spend soon, is well worth keeping in mind.

[HeathenSW]

When you upgrade the network to lvl 2 you'll get much more profitable missions. Like a mission to use guards or scientists to make 60k or 120-160k. They'll take close to an hour though... This way you'll get constant and rather fast stream of money, to bulk buy more minions. Also this'll generate missions to get bulks of already trained minions for money, like 5 guards for same 10k, or 10 workers.
It's more useful to go for missions with longer needed time, so that you won't feel their absence and could retrain safely with no deficit in minions.

[ClayburnGriffin]

It's pretty whack. You basically have to spend like 6 minions to make $20,000 so you can spend $10,000 to buy back 5 minions. Plus you'll get some passive income and bonuses from optional objectives.

But since you need the minions for story missions and to die in your base routinely, it's not really sustainable.

[KhanIndustries]

The best money maker I found so far is level 2 crime scheme where you can get 160k for the cost of 3 scientist and 5 intel. My tech level 3 is still locked like many others so I can only speak for level 2.

With these schemes, the most valuable resource starts to become intel. You can earn a little bit with those computer consoles but the most reliable way I found is capturing and interrogating investigators.

[LotR[Henchman]]

Originally posted by KhanIndustries:

The best money maker I found so far is level 2 crime scheme where you can get 160k for the cost of 3 scientist and 5 intel. My tech level 3 is still locked like many others so I can only speak for level 2.

With these schemes, the most valuable resource starts to become intel. You can earn a little bit with those computer consoles but the most reliable way I found is capturing and interrogating investigators.

There seem to be repeatable schemes linked towards certain Henchman which might help out. But i'm not certain if that's a design choice or a bug, as i've only seen it for one henchman yet.

[Darkaiser]

Don't forget to put slot machine in your casino. The tourists will play them (no Valets needed to make them work) and that provides a steady trickle of funds. It's small (19-21 per tourist) but it seems to click over every few seconds or so.

[Mokona]

Originally posted by Darkaiser:

Don't forget to put slot machine in your casino. The tourists will play them (no Valets needed to make them work) and that provides a steady trickle of funds. It's small (19-21 per tourist) but it seems to click over every few seconds or so.

I didnt even get to slot machines before the minions became a problem. I was almost done with a moment of calm by the time I lost. Minions where becoming a problem about when I started that mission, what killed me faster was thinking "crime lord" meant another henchmen since I was in a desperate need of another. Robots/Symmetry/Olga all spawned pretty much the same time blew up my base and a good 80% of my minions before I finally got it settled. Managed to recover the minions from the random gold I was getting from nothing but the heat on the map kept maxing out. Dont even want to try to recover any more now.