Making money

Where money comes from

Everything that pays is measured against one thing: what crimes pay per hour at your rank. Nothing is allowed to beat that.

So there is no trick and no best strategy hiding somewhere. The way to earn more is to play more, and to raise your rank so every hour is worth more than the last one.

What each one is worth

These are shares of the crime rate, per hour actually spent.

Crimes: The yardstick. Everything else is a share of this.
GTA: 0.85
Agency: 0.80
Bounties: 0.60
Search the Streets: 0.55
Steal: 0.55, and the lowest on the list on purpose.
OC: Between 0.275 for a pair and 0.7 for a five.

GTA, and the three places to take a car from

Each one has its own clock, its own risk and its own five cars. The better the cars, the more often it goes wrong. A job is 3 cars at one lot, and which of the three in the picture you go for makes no odds to what you drive off in. After the third that lot is too hot for its wait.

Backstreet Chop Shop: Opens at rank 1. 8 minute wait, 15% of the time it goes wrong.
Docklands Import Lot: Opens at rank 14. 10 minute wait, 25% of the time it goes wrong.
Show Room Lot: Opens at rank 27. 13 minute wait, 35% of the time it goes wrong.

A car goes in your Garage and you sell it when you like. There are 20 of them and they run from £12,600 to £6,000,000.

Getting caught costs you the wait and nothing else. The car is what you were risking, not your money.

The Agency, and how a contract works

A contract is a name the Agency wants dealt with. You can ask for one every 15 minutes. The Agency picks who, and which of the ten cities they are in, so you may have to travel to get to them. Each one waits 2 hours before it goes cold, so you can have a few going at once.

You get 2 goes at each one. About 35% of shots miss, so a contract is not a certainty and two misses is the end of that one.

Contract kills are counted for life and they are on the leaderboard. It is the one earner that keeps a public score.

Search the Streets

A walk is 3 looks: the bins, a doorway and a car, in whatever order you like. Each look is its own roll, and where you look makes no odds to what you find. After the last one you are off the street for 5 minutes.

Money on the floor: About 27% of searches.
Somebody mugs you: About 23% of searches.
Something to sell: About 23% of searches.
Nothing at all: About 15% of searches.
A set of car keys: About 4% of searches.
Police: About 4% of searches.
Tip: About 4% of searches.

You can be mugged out here. That is the risk, and it comes off what you are carrying rather than your bank.

The keys are the reason to keep walking. They are the rarest thing on the table and they are a car you do not have to pay for.

Passive money

Businesses pay while you are away, and every two hours the money lands in your pocket whether you are there or not, where anybody can take it. They are the smallest rates in the game and that is deliberate. Money that arrives while you sleep is never going to beat money you go and get.

Autocrime

It runs crimes for you while you are not here. It is real money and it is worth turning on. It is also slower than doing it yourself, so it is a floor and not a plan.

The bank

Nobody can take anything out of your bank. Not a fight, not a steal, not a reward. If you are carrying a lot and you are about to stop playing, put it in.