Gameplay Basics

• Use your Evil Genius and Henchmen and their respective abilities to help your minions out in a battle to minimize casualties, they aren’t fragile flowers. After a battle is over replenish your Evil Geniuses and Henchmen’s stats at the Impressive Desk and the Conference Table in the Inner Sanctum. Repeat.
• Use your Evil Genius abilities to do things like speeding up Research or Training
• Lockers increase your Maximum Minion cap up to 300, so expect to build lots of those in the Barracks
• Research seems to be one of the most important things to do early game, especially useful are “Improved Mining Techniques” to be able to dig the slightly darker dirt, “Brainwasher 2000” to turn captured Agents into Workers/Guards/Valets and “Stun Club Rack”/”Stun Gun Rack” or “Club Rack/Pistol Rack” for your minions, so they are able to get through tougher battles. Also “Safe Rack” and “Nuclear Reactor” for the Lair to save lots of space for your Vault and Power Station rooms.
• Have a large Central Mess Hall and/or several smaller Minion-based ones (Deception Minions like the Valet or Socialite prefer the “Refreshment Bar” that unlocks with the Socialite and Muscle Minions like the Guard or Mercenaries prefer the “Dinner Bar” that unlocks with the Mercenary), you don’t want your Scientists to queue up for the Mess Hall instead of doing what they’re supposed to. Also consider that you can partition a single room into Mess Hall/Barracks/Staff Room or similar and don’t need a separate room for each in certain parts of your Lair.
  
• A well-staffed Casino drains Agents “Skill” that they use to disable Traps you have set for them and their “Resolve”, which has to drain before they leave your island every time they take part in an activity. They only visit gambling tables that aren’t set to “Scam Tourists” and making you money though.
• The placement of the Armory is important. For instance it’s good to have a staffed Armory ready near a Chokepoint Agents enter your Evil Lair through. Also Research Batons/Weapons to increase their effectiveness, making them ready for most threats. I have one at the end of a long corridor filled with traps coming from the Casino and the Helipad:
  
• Try to build out Criminal Networks evenly within the different Factions instead of going all-in on one early in the game (Scouting out 2 regions for each is good at the beginning). Heat is added up together from all regions of a Faction and the competence and amount of Agents they send to your island and you have to deal with is based on the total Heat you have built up with said Faction (keep an eye on the Heat Tracker at the top right)
• You can make a lot more money if you Upgrade your Criminal Network at the expense of more Heat and danger to your base, some of the Schemes on Lvl2 can already give 60k on the lower side and 270k on the higher side, although they attract a lot of Heat
• Bodies lying on the ground around Minions gradually lowers their Morale, which will lead to Desertions. When minions pick them up and are carrying them around with the gravity cannon to an Incinerator it has the same effect on every Minion they pass as if they see it on the ground. Be sure to place your Incinerators somewhere where not a lot of Minions congregate to lower this happening. Be aware that the amount of bodies that can be cleared at one time depends on the amount of Incinerators you’ve built. Minions will only pick up and carry a body to be incinerated if one is free. So with 5 Incinerators you can dispose of 5 bodies at once.
• There is a “HIRE NOW!” button hidden within the UI of the Minion screen. For some reason you have to click on the Helmet that says “Worker” and shows the number to the right, not the button above it like all the other classes would indicate. This gets you 5 additional Workers immediately for $10k. Don’t use at the beginning of the game and use sparingly otherwise, since they replenish by themselves, but good to have as an Option in case of emergency:
  

Getting New Henchmen

Most or all of the Side Activities tagged “Crime Lord” are Multi-step (3 or 4 part) Quests for unlocking more Henchmen (Jubei, Eli, Incendio, Naomi the Roboticist etc.).

It’s best not to attempt most of these right out of the Tutorial since they can be a bit tougher than your usual missions and can be stressful to deal with both on the World Map and Lair and disrupt what you’re doing requiring your attention (for instance being overrun with Squads of exploding robots setting your entire base on fire (have fire extinguishers!), having constant energy Blackouts and so on). Once you have some Research and base building done and have hired a bunch of Muscle Henchmen, you’re ready for most of them.

How does Heat work anyway?

Every region of the world you work in has an independent Heat rating that increases long-term whether you do anything or not (you can slow this via Research and the Control Room) and increases quickly when you do Schemes. There are also Heat reduction Schemes that help you drop it. You could also wait for the Heat to become Maximum, triggering a 5 Minute lockdown of your Criminal Network in the region and resetting to 0 afterwards. This is useful Early in the game or for Lvl1 regions, but you might not want a Lvl2+ region generating 150+ Heat for 5 minutes later in the game.

Every Faction like “P.A.T.R.I.O.T.” (Blue Torch); “S.M.A.S.H.” (Yellow Symbol); “H.A.M.M.E.R.” (Red Hammer); “A.N.V.I.L.” (Orange Anvil) and “S.A.B.R.E. (Green Sabers) has a Heat rating that adds all the Heat you have accumulated in their regions to a total number. So, say you have four Lvl2 Operations running in “H.A.M.M.E.R.” territory, the faction Heat can add up all of that to a Maximum of 400 (100 from each region).

You can see your current Heat Level for a Faction added up at the Top right of the Screen via the “F.O.J. (Forces of Justice) Heat Tracker”.

Usually the Faction you have the highest Heat Level with at the moment will send out Agents to your base next. It determines what kind (Type: Investigator/Soldier/etc.), what amount and what Level of Agents they send. Before the timer runs out you can still decrease the Heat. Once it runs out it’s determined and they’re on their way. They’ll arrive either with the next boat or via speedboat right away and you’ll have to deal with them in your base.

How to Deal with Super Agents

• Super Agents generally (outside of specific story events) just visit your base if you are Starting a Scheme in a region of the world they are currently watching. If you Start and Complete a Scheme there they will get a team of Agents together and visit your lair.
  
• The only Scheme that doesn’t Trigger a Super Agent visit in a region currently being watched is a long-term Heat Reduction one (30 minutes) using 3 Workers/Valets or similar
• If you have Faction coverage of several Scouted regions (like for instance North-Eastern and North-Western for P.A.T.R.I.O.T.) the Super Agents are more likely to appear in an area you don’t usually have important Events and Quests in like Greenland or Canada, and leave you alone to do your missions in the areas that actually matter like the East Coast of the US. If you only have 2 regions they just alternate between the two and are even more annoying to deal with on the World Map.
• Once you’ve gained their attention on the World Map because you have started and finished a Scheme in a region they were watching, you have 1-3 Minutes to intervene and send minions to reduce the amount of Agents that will arrive with the Super Agent. The Super Agent will always come, but they’ll be alone.
• When they visit your base, as long as they aren’t Combat types like Atomic Olga, who comes with a squad of armed Soldiers from the direction of your Helipad, they will do their intended job and leave your base without attacking. Symmetry for instance will appear with her team within your vault, steal all your gold, then run around your base a lot and leave with a boat. Agent X will appear in the Middle of your base with an Investigative team and try and gather evidence, then leave the island. They usually won’t attack you till you tag them for Killing/Capture.
• If it comes to a fight, Workers are almost completely useless against higher Level Super Agents and their teams. Your Evil Genius and Henchman are your primary Super Agent combat units early in the game. Make sure to walk them close to the action and trigger their combat Skills when necessary. Waiting to engage into combat with them while outside an Armory with 1-2 fully staffed Guard tables with Muscle Henchmen like Guards or Mercenaries (best if armed) might also be a good idea. Don’t start a fight in the Mess Hall if you’re not ready to deal with a lot of Worker bodies.

Achievements

Story Based (can’t be missed):

Moving In
Start a new game

A Cunning Intellect
Train a simple Science minion
Train a Scientist

A Little Muscle
Train a simple Muscle minion
Train a Guard

A Deceitful Grin
Train a simple Deception minion
Train a Valet

A Simple Technician
Train a simple Science minion
Train a Technician

Learning Experience
Complete the Tutorial

Assuming Indirect Control
Build a Control Room

A Place To Call Your Own
Build an Inner Sanctum

Just The Two Of Us
Recruit a Henchman

Greedy
Steal one Loot Item
Do one Side Story marked as “Loot”

A Weapons Expert
Train an advanced Muscle minion
Train a Mercenary

A Charming Wit
Train an advanced Deception minion
Train a Socialite

More Power!
Fire a Doomsday Device at Strength 2

Maximum Power!
Fire a Doomsday Device at Strength 3

Lair:

Up In Flames
Take care of an intruder, and then destroy the evidence

Minions:

20 Minions
Have 20 minions in the Lair

50 Minions
Have 50 minions in the Lair

100 Minions
Have 100 minions in the Lair

150 Minions
Have 150 minions in the Lair

200 Minions
Have 200 minions in the Lair

An Unstoppable Horde
Recruit 300 minions at once.

World Map:

They’re Onto You…
Have one Region enter Lockdown

Side Stories:

Traps:

C-C-C-Combo
Bounce one Agent against 3 Pinball Bumpers.
Put up 3 Pinball Bumper Traps in a way that an Agent would bump into all. Launch them with Giant Fan

Curling 101
Knock a Frozen Agent into a Pinball Bumper
Launch an Agent with a Giant Fan through a Freeze Ray into a Pinball Bumper Trap

Squeaky Clean
Combo Bubble Blower and Soap Effect
Put two Slippery Floor Traps between two Bubble Cannon Traps and wait for an Agent to Combo activate them or a Giant Fan to launch them through

Float like a Butterfly…
Combo Giant Fan into Boxing Glove

Super Agents:

I’ll Take Care of This Myself
Defeat a Super Agent with your Genius
Deal the final shot to a Super Agent with your Evil Genius in the Lair

Perfectly Balanced, As All Things Should Be
Allow the finest Rogue in the world to succeed
Allow Symmetry to steal Money from your Vault and make it to her speed boat with it

Achievements Playing as Max:

The Man With the M.I.D.A.S. Touch
Fire the M.I.D.A.S. Device for the first time

A Sparkling Tableau
As Max, create 20 Golden Statues, and add them to the Inner Sanctum
After firing the M.I.D.A.S. device the first, second and third time, take the Golden Minion Statues lying around your lair and put them into the Inner Sanctum. Enjoy your Impressive New Interior Decoration:

I hope you enjoy the Guide we share about Evil Genius 2 – Basic Gameplay FAQ & Achievements; if you think we forget to add or we should add more information, please let us know via commenting below! See you soon!