On this page 12 sections
TL;DR
- Your salary grows slowest (4% a level). Your fists, registers and the docks make you rich.
- Solve a cold case first: it wipes your heat and makes you un-arrestable for 6 hours. That's your crime window.
- Robbing Fuel-Up and FreshWay registers and smuggling don't use a daily attack. Save the 12 attacks for muggings and property jobs.
- The best property marks are absentee landlords: robbers take 45–90% of a register, and registers hold a full day.
- Pay for property straight from your pocket. The 5% deposit fee only hits money you bank.
The profile
Strengths
- ×1.30 attack
- Keep 150% of loot
- 12 attacks a day
- Rob registers and properties
- Park hustles and dock smuggling
- 20% off weapons
Weaknesses
- Wages grow 4% a level ($742/day at level 10)
- Crimes raise heat; police can arrest you
- Property costs +10%, earns −10%
- 5% fee on every deposit
- ×0.90 defense
Your first hour, day and week
First hour
First day
First week
Every way to make dirty money
| Job | Pays | Costs | Heat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mugging | 6–15% × 1.5 of cash above their safe | 20 energy, 1 attack | +1 |
| Rob a property | 45–90% of its register | 20 energy, 1 attack; once an hour per property | +1.2 |
| Rob a register (Fuel-Up, FreshWay) | About $22 + $9 per level | 15 energy; every 30 min per register; no attack used | +1.5 |
| Smuggle (Marlow Docks) | About $80 + $25 per level | 25 energy; hourly; no attack used | +2 |
| Park hustle | 2× your hourly wage | 20 energy; 30-minute shift timer | +0.4 |
| The vault (bank) | A small take, bigger with tries to spare | Once a day | +1 |
| Getaway drive (gas) | $4 + $1 per level, per bag | Every 4 hours | 0 |
| Heists | An even split of $1,200 to $20,000+ | A crew and a planning timer | +1.5 |
Averages before the city's 10% cut on fights and robberies. Odds on registers and smuggling rise with strength: registers 55% up to 85%, smuggling 55% up to 80%.
Muggings
Look in the player directory for good odds and fat wallets. You can beat the same person only twice a day, a target below your level pays less, and in a starting city a target 5+ levels down pays nothing. Spread it around.
Property jobs
Defense is security × 10, plus level × 4, plus half the owner's defense. A level 1 Food Cart owned by a level 3 civilian defends at about 24; a level 3 criminal with a bat attacks at 31: 62% odds. (Owners still under new-player protection can't be robbed at all.) Upgraded, high-security buildings owned by tanky police are a waste of attacks. Check how long since the owner collected: a full register is a full day of rent.
- Base cut: $50 + $15 × 5
- $125
- Roll (0.7–1.5, average 1.1) × 1.5 loot
- ×1.65
- Average take on a clean run
- $206
- Boarded by harbor patrol (fine $40 × level)
- −$200
- At strength 20 (59% clean)
- ≈ $40/run
Strength is everything here. At strength 60 the run clears 75% of the time and averages over $100 a go, with no daily attack spent. Train before you smuggle.
Heat, immunity and jail
Heat is your wanted level, 0 to 5 stars. With a single star, any cop in your city can arrest you. An arrest costs a fine of 10% of your cash plus $10 × level × stars, wipes your heat and jails you for 10 minutes a star, up to an hour.
| Way to cool off | Effect | Cost | How often |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wait | −1 star | Free | Every hour |
| Hang out in Liberty Park | −0.5 star, +8 health | Free | Every 15 min |
| Cold case or lineup (PD HQ) | Heat wiped, 6 h arrest immunity | Solve it | 24 h / 12 h |
| Paperwork (City Hall) | −2 stars and $15 × level | Spot 3 errors | Daily |
| Chess hustler (park) | −1 star and $25 + $5 × level | Lose $20 if wrong | Daily |
| Back taxes (City Hall) | −1 star | $40 × level | Any time |
| VIP Lounge (Neon Bay) | −0.5 star, full energy | $150 + $15 × level | Every 2 h |
| Bribe a detective (PD HQ) | Heat wiped | $60 × stars × level | Any time |
- Level 6, 3 stars, $8,000 on hand
- Fine: $800 + $10 × 6 × 3
- $980
- Jail
- 30 min
- Bail, if you can't wait: 30 × 6 × $25
- $4,500
- A bribe beforehand: $60 × 3 × 6
- $1,080
Cheapest of all: bank first, then a park hangout or two. Two hangouts and an hour's wait take 3 stars to 1.
Jailed anyway? Wait it out, post bail (it can come from your bank), or have a crewmate try to bust you out: a coin flip, and if it fails they're in the next cell for 15 minutes.
Rook's contracts
Three contracts a day, sized to your level: win fights, pull robberies, hustle, make a run to another city, take part in a heist. Each claim raises your standing (Unknown, Known, Trusted, Made, Legend), every tier pays 10% more, and all three in a day pays a 50% bonus. See the long game.
Laundering into property
You pay 10% more for property and earn 10% less. It's still the only income that pays while you sleep. Three ways to make it hurt less:
- Buy from your pocket. The 5% fee hits deposits only. Loot spent straight on a lot or an upgrade never pays it.
- Cheap land. Sundale (level 3) is 40% off and Ironbridge (level 5) 30% off. Your markup on a $1,250 lot is $125.
- City bonuses. A Sundale gas station earns +30%, which more than cancels your −10%.
Whatever you don't spend, bank. A 5% fee is cheap next to a mugging, or a fine of 10% of everything you're carrying.
Gear and training
- Train first: ten gym sessions from strength 10 to 20 cost about $120 plus energy. Then guns: 20% off makes the 9mm Pistol $3,200 and the Shotgun $9,600.
- Don't skip armor. Your ×0.90 defense invites revenge, and revenge is free for them.
- The Vintage Tommy Gun (+46, $56,000 for you) is sold only at the Havenbrook Auction House.
- Shoot 15+ at the range for +15% attack for two hours, then spend your attacks.
Crews and heists
Every crewmate in your city adds +5% attack and defense, up to +25%. Crewmates can't rob each other and can bust you out of jail. You need a crew to pull a heist. Criminals make natural Muscle; recruit a civilian for Face and Inside man. Everyone but civilians picks up 1.5 stars on a job, so time it with a cold case. Read heists and the long game.
Common mistakes
- Carrying cash at five stars. You're a walking payday: the fine is 10% of everything on you.
- Spending attacks on registers you could rob for free. Fuel-Up and FreshWay don't use one.
- Smuggling at strength 10. Harbor patrol fines eat most of the profit.
- Bribing at high level. $60 × stars × level gets expensive fast. A park bench is free.
- Mugging newcomers in Marlow or Havenbrook. Five levels down pays nothing and doubles your heat.
- Ignoring bounties on you. A big price turns every fighter in town into a cop.
Pro tips
- Circuit the downtowns. Each city's Fuel-Up and FreshWay has its own 30-minute timer. A bus loop is a register loop.
- Read the feed. Big casino and Speedway winners are announced. They're carrying cash.
- Hunt absentee landlords. Registers fill hourly. A landlord who hasn't logged in since yesterday is sitting on a full day.
- Cold case at the start of your session, not the end. The immunity is the prize; the heat wipe is a bonus.