Grand Theft Auto V - Finally On The PC

Fardaza · Post by **Fardaza** » Mon Jul 15, 2019 10:18 am

Paingod wrote: ↑Fri Jul 12, 2019 2:15 pm
Blackhawk wrote: ↑Fri Jul 12, 2019 12:52 pm Yeah, the one I was thinking of involved The Lost.
When I deal with them, I throw a grenade so they'll rush towards the Advent soldiers.

Woah! What??

I thought we were talking about GTAV. This sounds like XCOM2!

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Mon Jul 15, 2019 10:48 am

Fardaza wrote: ↑Mon Jul 15, 2019 10:18 am
Paingod wrote: ↑Fri Jul 12, 2019 2:15 pm
Blackhawk wrote: ↑Fri Jul 12, 2019 12:52 pm Yeah, the one I was thinking of involved The Lost.
When I deal with them, I throw a grenade so they'll rush towards the Advent soldiers.
Woah! What??

I thought we were talking about GTAV. This sounds like XCOM2!

I was wondering if anyone would catch that!

I was thinking back on playing last night and remember being surprised that there seemed to be a "best way" to use the Sasquatch monster truck to destroy a car. It involves running the car over with a front and back tire, not just bulldozing over the car head-on. Bulldozing like that pushes the cars around and sometimes they don't explode, but coming at them from a perpendicular angle and running them over with just one pair of tires seems to do the job very quickly without throwing the truck too much out of place. In the Sasquatch monster truck Repo mission, getting more vehicle kills with the truck (and not explosives) seems to yield a higher payout. Using grenades and sticky bombs yielded a much lower payout than going full on SMASH with the truck.

Are there any other specialty vehicle tips others know about?

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Jul 15, 2019 10:48 am

We'll get you through the Fleeca Job (the first heist) soon. That will unlock the armored Karuma for purchase (although you may want to start saving up now - it's a little over 500,000 as I recall.)

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Mon Jul 15, 2019 11:11 am

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Mon Jul 15, 2019 10:48 am We'll get you through the Fleeca Job (the first heist) soon. That will unlock the armored Karuma for purchase (although you may want to start saving up now - it's a little over 500,000 as I recall.)

I'd appreciate it, but feel bad for swindling a second person into a 90 minute mission that'll pay less than you make doing other things. It only takes 2, right? I did see the Kuruma for sale online, and it looks like it's close to $600,000. Part of the mission reward says it's a reduced price on that.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Jul 15, 2019 11:25 am

I play the game because it is fun to drive around and engage in shenanigans, especially with friends. Not to efficiently make money.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Mon Jul 15, 2019 11:42 am

Well, if that's why you play - I'd love to try and work through all the heists in the correct order for the $1,000,000 bonus, though using the same team for all (another $1,000,000) and without dying at all ($10,000,000) seems like too much to ask.

I'll be working towards that first goal as much as I can. I assume it's something I can pick away at deliberately. A mission here, a mission there, as long as I follow the order.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Mon Jul 15, 2019 3:13 pm

Count me in whenever you decide to make your run through the heists. If you'll have me.

I've been through all of them at least twice and some of them three or four times.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Mon Jul 15, 2019 3:20 pm

I'd certainly welcome the good & knowledgeable company on heists. As the "silent partner" in these endeavors I may not be the best leader for them, though. I think the first one is a two-man shot with three parts?

My play times are usually between 8:00pm and 12:00pm ET - sometimes coming in a little later or leaving a little earlier. I have an added hiccup in sometimes needing to let a dog out that's decided it needs to PEE SO BAD right then that it starts to bark and dance on my wife until she wakes up if I don't get to it first... that's usually around 11:30 if it happens.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 7:51 am

Bumped into my first griefer last night.

Before that, I had been randomly attacked by people - sometimes resulting in me killing them before they kill me... but this time I had someone who only seemed interested in deliberately wasting my time. He joined a random mission I undertook which turned out to be the Sasquatch repo mission I'm so familiar with. He's a level below me, but is sporting a flying rocket bike. He waits for me to get to the trucks and we both hop in them and go in different directions. I break down one group of cars and discover he's destroyed maybe 4 on his side of the map. I get there and see him engaged in a protracted gunfight with the cops. Whatever I guess. I stomp through and keep the mission rolling. The second set of tasks come up and he puts in some effort there, and we clear the map. On to delivering the trucks. We get all the way down to the docks and he drives off into the ocean. Boom. Mission failure.

How is that fun for anyone?

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 11:08 am

He found it fun because, for a brief instant, he was in complete control of what happened to you. People like that are often so sad and pathetic in their daily lives that having that kind of control over others is like a drug to them.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 12:31 pm

Maybe he just fell victim to the siren's song.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 1:28 pm

That's what people do on Heists to ruin them, then? They get all the way to the end and deliberately fail it for everyone?

Most griefing I've ever seen involves some kind of gain for the griefer. He wasted all the same time I did on that mission. That's not even good math.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 5:43 pm

Paingod wrote: ↑Tue Jul 16, 2019 1:28 pm
Most griefing I've ever seen involves some kind of gain for the griefer.

It's likely that the gain, from his perspective, was that moment of having power over others.

As to whether that happens in heists, I have no idea. I've never tried heists with a PUG. My impression from what I've read has been mostly that the heists require a degree of coordination and teamwork that just doesn't happen in random groups. You saw the other night the benefits to playing with voice chat, and those weren't terribly complex missions.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 8:00 pm

I wanted to thank you for the Suspend Process trick. Not to avoid other players, but to force the game to let me back into the world when it hangs. Works wonders. I can sit and watch the loading screens for what feels like 3 minutes sometimes while it tries to get me oriented with other players. If I Suspend Process for 10 seconds and turn it back on, I'm often dropped right into the Online world (by myself, but that's fine).

I tried some of the flight school training last night and it really pushes your flying skills. I only made it through landing the Titan in a storm with 3 engines on a beach, though. I didn't get a Gold on that one. Jumping out of a plane without a chute and having to catch it mid-air was ... an odd choice, and landing deliberately on a 5m dot is not my strong suit; though luck provided a Gold on the first landing I did achieve in the circle - when the other 10 attempts were all deaths and failures.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 8:27 am

A couple more questions from my recent play.

I bought a Clubhouse. I wanted to see what the "business" aspect of the game was and didn't want to wait for a Bunker; now I'm wishing I had waited for a bunker. It looks like they do the same thing, but the bunker is a LOT cooler. I'm guessing I'll end up trading in my Clubhouse for 1/3 of what I paid and give myself a little kick. I won't be investing in upgrading it.

The clubhouse doesn't seem to do anything by itself, is this true? It's just a cheap launchpad for business ventures, but doesn't earn anything by itself? I want to make sure I'm not missing something I should be doing. Right now it doesn't seem to do anything except be a $300,000 hole in the wall with lurid posters and grime everywhere.
I've noticed each business I can buy has a different cost. Do they "produce" faster if they're more expensive, or are you just paying for a location convenience?
Since I already have the clubhouse, I'm considering buying a business and trying it out with it. If I do this, will the businesses I buy translate to a bunker when I finally get one, or would I just be wasting my money?
It's not a lot of fun to get into the Arena with a camper. Someone clearly loves it, but they ensure everyone else never places 1st. This person was level 400+ and had massively tricked out cars and bikes - on the bike combat they chose, I had a crowbar to their gattling laser, and I couldn't even figure out how to swing the crowbar. I did consistently place 2nd, but felt pretty annoyed. Is there a way to limit the level differences between players if I spawn the mission myself?
What controls the "rank" at the end of a Heist mission? I tried out a couple last night and placed Bronze each time. The first time I placed Bronze, though, I felt I was the most useful person - in the Prison Bus mission, I cleanly assassinated the bus driver and took out the chopper. The only thing I didn't do was drive the bus back. Other people that never got out of their cars and never fired a shot and got Gold and Silver; the driver got Platinum.
Is there a place where I can find the "best" free cars in each category? I've been working on trial and error, with test drives.
- My everyday driver is the BF Injection and I've almost mastered its handling - I keep up with faster cars by handling better, but they lose me on long stretches. I love that it works well off-road and can often push over curbs that might hang up other cars.
- My muscle/speed car is the Gauntlet; the Dominator was just sloppy and spun out constantly. I used this a lot last night and might switch to it as my everyday car, but I expect I won't enjoy it off-road like I do the Injection. It looks "Death Proof" and works well for me.
- I've got an Elegy RH8 and a Fugitive in my garage that I've never really used, though looking at the stats on the Elegy I should be using that instead of the Gauntlet or Injection.
- I haven't picked a motorcycle. Every one I bring home tells me I need to buy it online.
This Google Docs spreadsheet is handy, but doesn't cover actual handling characteristics.

Some other observations from playing last night...

I discovered that I can simply steal cars and sell them to the auto shop to turn a quick buck. A Sentinel or Felon sells for $9,000+ and are pretty common, but I can only do this periodically (I'm not sure how often yet). So far I've taken them home first to make them "mine" and then sold them, but am not sure I even need to do that. The only one I stole off the street and tried to sell was rejected, but I had recently sold a car.
Sometimes a bunch of quick bucks is an easy payday. It still seems worth it to rob convenience stores as I pass by and I don't feel compelled to remove the "quick" (3-5 minutes) Repo missions from my playlist that only reward me with $5,000. When I dedicate myself to it, I can earn something like $75,000+ per hour of play. I'm still looking for a good optimal cash/hour scheme for myself.
The Titan job and Crime Scene job aren't all that hard with a lot of preparatory sniping before driving in. With up-armored cars, I easily pull off the Titan and have gotten the Crime Scene done a few times (50/50 chance I'll die; I just need to be more patient as I drive in).

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 10:42 am

First, fair warning: While I do know some of the tricks, I am not one for playing games in the most efficient, optimized way possible. If it ends up feeling like a spreadsheet I get bored and stop playing.

I bought a Clubhouse. I wanted to see what the "business" aspect of the game was and didn't want to wait for a Bunker; now I'm wishing I had waited for a bunker. It looks like they do the same thing, but the bunker is a LOT cooler. I'm guessing I'll end up trading in my Clubhouse for 1/3 of what I paid and give myself a little kick. I won't be investing in upgrading it.

The clubhouse doesn't seem to do anything by itself, is this true? It's just a cheap launchpad for business ventures, but doesn't earn anything by itself? I want to make sure I'm not missing something I should be doing. Right now it doesn't seem to do anything except be a $300,000 hole in the wall with lurid posters and grime everywhere.

The clubhouse gives you access to buy and operate a bunch of other businesses. You'll want it eventually, so you'd might as well keep it.

[*]I've noticed each business I can buy has a different cost. Do they "produce" faster if they're more expensive, or are you just paying for a location convenience?

Location. My advice is to buy businesses near each other. It makes life easier later on. Start with cocaine, then add meth. Get the rest afterward. The upgrades within each business do make a significant difference in profitability.

[*]Since I already have the clubhouse, I'm considering buying a business and trying it out with it. If I do this, will the businesses I buy translate to a bunker when I finally get one, or would I just be wasting my money?

I'm not sure what you mean by 'translate to a bunker.' Biker businesses are completely separate from the bunker.

[*]It's not a lot of fun to get into the Arena with a camper. Someone clearly loves it, but they ensure everyone else never places 1st. This person was level 400+ and had massively tricked out cars and bikes - on the bike combat they chose, I had a crowbar to their gattling laser, and I couldn't even figure out how to swing the crowbar. I did consistently place 2nd, but felt pretty annoyed. Is there a way to limit the level differences between players if I spawn the mission myself?

Sorry, I don't know the arena.

[*]What controls the "rank" at the end of a Heist mission? I tried out a couple last night and placed Bronze each time. The first time I placed Bronze, though, I felt I was the most useful person - in the Prison Bus mission, I cleanly assassinated the bus driver and took out the chopper. The only thing I didn't do was drive the bus back. Other people that never got out of their cars and never fired a shot and got Gold and Silver; the driver got Platinum.

Damned if I've ever figured out the math.

[*]Is there a place where I can find the "best" free cars in each category? I've been working on trial and error, with test drives.
My everyday driver is the BF Injection and I've almost mastered its handling - I keep up with faster cars by handling better, but they lose me on long stretches. I love that it works well off-road and can often push over curbs that might hang up other cars.

My muscle/speed car is the Gauntlet; the Dominator was just sloppy and spun out constantly. I used this a lot last night and might switch to it as my everyday car, but I expect I won't enjoy it off-road like I do the Injection. It looks "Death Proof" and works well for me.

I've got an Elegy RH8 and a Fugitive in my garage that I've never really used, though looking at the stats on the Elegy I should be using that instead of the Gauntlet or Injection.

I haven't picked a motorcycle. Every one I bring home tells me I need to buy it online.
[*]This Google Docs spreadsheet is handy, but doesn't cover actual handling characteristics.[/list]

To be honest, there are two kinds of cars: cool ones to drive, and practical ones. Practical: The only ones I drive regularly are the Vigilante, the Duke o' Death, and the armored Karuma. The Duke because it is explosive resistant, the Vigilante for the rocket boost an because it is armed to the teeth, and you know about the Karuma. Their utility is so high that everything else is simply making it harder on myself. Motorcycles are almost never practical. The second kind were the cool cars. These are the cars that you drive because they look cool or are fun. For those, just get whatever appeals to you personally. I have motorcycles, bikes, trucks, cars, all sorts of things in this category.

I'm still looking for a good optimal cash/hour scheme for myself.
[*]The Titan job and Crime Scene job aren't all that hard with a lot of preparatory sniping before driving in. With up-armored cars, I easily pull off the Titan and have gotten the Crime Scene done a few times (50/50 chance I'll die; I just need to be more patient as I drive in).

The optimal cash/hour scheme is to build up to passive income. Buy and upgrade the bunker, the cocaine lab, and the meth lab. Fully upgraded, you can make a profit on the bunker, coke, and meth by buying supplies rather than going on missions to steal them. Next, buy a nightclub. If you own a business, the nightclub will also produce product for that business, and does so without supplies. Finally, buy the other motorcycle businesses and the hangar (but don't worry too much about upgrading them until you're flush - this is to allow the nightclub to produce their products.)

Now, go around to your businesses, buy supplies, and then run whatever playlist makes you happy. Run heists, run missions, steal cars, etc. You'll have the bunker, coke lab, meth lab, and nighclub all producing income for you without your input, save buying new supplies every couple of hours. If you're making your 75k (or whatever) an hour, you'll be more than doubling it with the passive income.

Since you like stealing cars, there is a business dedicated to that. Brian has it, I don't. He can probably fill you in later.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 11:12 am

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Thu Jul 18, 2019 10:42 am Since you like stealing cars, there is a business dedicated to that. Brian has it, I don't. He can probably fill you in later.

I have a doctor appointment that I'm heading out for but when I get back I can give my thoughts on this.

In the meantime, the trailer for the Casino dropped today. The actual DLC comes out on Tuesday.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 12:01 pm

Plus, if you have the linked Twitch Prime account, you get a free casino penthouse.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 12:03 pm

I appreciate the tips and will keep going the way I've been going. I'm having fun, even repeating solo missions. I'd like to add more to my list, and any I bump into I add, even ones that are hard solo or take a while.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Thu Jul 18, 2019 10:42 amI'm not sure what you mean by 'translate to a bunker.' Biker businesses are completely separate from the bunker.

Okay then. I was reading about these online and thought that the Bunker ended up like a super-Clubhouse. I was worried that the Documents/Counterfeit/Etc businesses associated with the Clubhouse might not switch over to a Bunker - but it sounds like the Bunker is more of a production facility to diminish the need for running missions than a replacement - or maybe I still don't understand how all the businesses tie together, if at all.

This whole side of the game is completely foreign to me. I might need to go search for a visual aid to outline how it all clicks, because I thought they were related somehow.

*Edit: Okay. It looks like each business opens up different avenues of employment and opportunity. It looks like the Clubhouse can spawn its own missions if I use the mission board, but I'll need to invite random folks to participate.

It looks like everything from here out is big-ticket items of increasing scale.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Thu Jul 18, 2019 10:42 am Since you like stealing cars, there is a business dedicated to that. Brian has it, I don't. He can probably fill you in later.

I mostly enjoy having more to do. It's why I participate in the random events, rob liquor stores, sometimes pick fights with the cops, and generally look for trouble wherever I can. Running my solo mission loop twice is about my limit for that in one night, and succeeding at all of them yields $75000-$80000 typically. Last night I took in maybe $200,000 from all of my activities minus spending on ammo and some car tweaks. Looking around for a couple cars to steal during the night adds more flavor to the list of things to do. If there's a business for it, I'd be on it.

Does it make me an asshole if I spend some time chasing someone who's running a shipment? I had no intention of even trying to destroy it, but felt like giving them a little adrenaline rush; they probably felt more of an achievement for completing the delivery than they would have otherwise.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 12:26 pm

Paingod wrote: ↑Thu Jul 18, 2019 12:03 pm maybe I still don't understand how all the businesses tie together, if at all.

Ah, that's easier. The Nightclub gains production from other businesses you own. If you are making meth, the nightclub makes a little meth, too. Not much, but if you have six businesses, the nightclub makes a little from all six businesses, which really adds up.

Beyond that, they don't connect. The basic business model is: Steal something valuable (supplies, cars), let your business make it more valuable, then sell it via a delivery mission. The businesses are all variations on that theme, with varying missions, benefits, etc. But they don't work together. You'll never sit down at one computer and run all of your businesses (all the the Terrobyte gives you limited control over all your motorcycle club businesses...)

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 12:33 pm

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Thu Jul 18, 2019 12:01 pm Plus, if you have the linked Twitch Prime account, you get a free casino penthouse.

I don't have a Twitch account, but do have Amazon prime. I'm not overly interested in tying my household's shopping habits to my gaming experience, even if it means I don't get the incentives.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 2:30 pm

Back from the doctor's office (BP was a little high so he's upping my dosage) but otherwise I'm not doing too bad for an overweight 53 year old.

Here's my breakdown on all of the various businesses and money making properties:

Import/Export:

Import/Export is the business that Blackhawk mentioned in which you steal a car and drive it back to store it in a garage and then sell it for a commission price. You will have to pay for the repair on any damages caused to the vehicle while bringing it back to the garage.
In this business there are 3 types of cars; Standard, Mid, and Top Tier cars, each selling for a different amount. You can increase the amount of profit by spending money on upgrades before selling the car.

Pros:

- Easy to play solo
- Decent money per car, especially if you paid for upgrades
- Easy to complete most steal missions with one or two exceptions.

Cons:

- Expensive to set up. You first need to purchase a CEO business (see below) and then a vehicle warehouse.
- There is a cooldown timer time between sales. (20 minutes I think.)
- R* denies it but everybody is pretty certain that NPC's will purposely drive erratic during the return to the garage and will sometimes purposely try to hit your vehicle.

I've got an example here from one of my own missions:

Thoughts:

Overall this business is good for players looking to get into a money making business. Although it has a big start up price you can easily make that money back in no time, as each car (assuming you are selling top range) can net you around 75-80K profit.
I recommend that you run this business when you can as it's very easy to solo and makes decent money.

I keep a pretty full warehouse and will do a quick sell mission while waiting on cooldowns for other business type missions.
Note: If you steal and keep 10 each of the Standard and Mid-Range cars and never sell them, then every new steal mission should be for a Top-Tier car which are the real money earners. Just keep stealing and selling Top-Tiers and you'll build up quite a bit of money which will enable you to buy a Bunker which leads us to...

Gunrunning:

Gunrunning consists of you buying a bunker which is used for manufacturing weapons or doing research. Since we're only looking at money earners for now we will ignore research. Gunrunning is a semi-passive business in that it needs supplies to generate stock (which you then sell) but you can either do missions to increase your supply stock or simply pay for the supplies. I pay for supplies (I will get into why shortly) but some of the missions are pretty fun to do if you've got some folk helping out.

Pros:

- You can generate a lot of profit from a full bunker. Especially during event weeks where they double payouts.
- The sell missions are usually easy to solo if you do them when your stockpile gets to about a quarter full. If you sell when you have more stock, it requires multiple vehicles so requires you have associates.

Cons:

- Paying for supplies is expensive (up to $75K per supply buy) but significant time saving vs doing resupply missions
- You can get raided with the risk of losing everything. The raids are uncommon but happen enough to be annoying. Raid chances increase the more stock you've built up so again, sell when you get to a quarter full if you are doing this solo.
- You need to pay for upgrades (security/staff/equipment) In order for the bunker to be profitable (especially when you are buying supplies instead of doing missions for them)
- It takes a long time to max out the bunker (12 hours with all upgrades, 17 hours with none, and that time only counts when you are online)

Thoughts:

Overall this is probably the easiest money making business. If you have the Import/export business you can make one car sell which will net you enough money to buy supplies for the bunker, and the bunker just sits there and farms you money, a must have for people who are looking to make as much money as they can.

Motorcycle Club Businesses

These are the Cocain/Meth/Counterfeit etc.. businesses you can run once you've acquired the MC Clubhouse.

Unfortunately, you first have to buy the clubhouse before you can buy any of the associated businesses so right away there's a significant cost outlay.
The cocain, meth, and counterfeit cash businesses are the only ones you should run. The other two (marijuana and forgery lab) are just not worth it. I still own them so that I can acquire product at my Nightclub but more on that later.
These businesses work in much the same way as thegunrunning business in that it is a semi-passive source of income wherein you either acquire of purchase supplies to enable the business to make the product that you are then going to sell.

Pros:

- Usually fill up pretty quickly
- Decent amount of money when selling a full stock of product

Cons:

- Have to pay for upgrades in order for it to be worth it if you are going to only purchase supplies
- Can get raided. Your bunker and nightclub can get raided as well but it happens far more often with the MC businesses and some of the raid missions are difficult while all of them are annoying and seem to happen at the least opportune times.
- Do not make as much profit as the Gunrunning, Nightclub sell missions
- You have to switch between being a Motorcycle Club President and a CEO when doing different delivery missions (Warehouse, Smuggler, Import/Export, and Nightclub missions are CEO while MC missions are MC President. Bunker missions can be run by either.)
- The sell missions are pretty much all annoying and (if you are selling a full stock) nearly impossible to complete on solo.

Thoughts:

Gunrunning and other sell missions work much better solo than the MC businesses due to the MC businesses having difficult sell missions but these businesses are still really good if not completely necessary to have if you are running a Nightclub. The MC business should be more a side project and not your main source of income.

Smugglers Business:

The smugglers business is all about aircraft. You have to purchase a hangar and then do missions involving air craft in order to collect different types of cargo (chemicals/narcotics/animal materials etc..) which you stockpile in your hangar to sell at a later date.

Pros:

- Some fun missions with interesting planes
- Most Missions are easy enough but many border on impossible to solo (or even with friends)
- If you have friends helping, you can acquire up to four crates per mission which will fill up your stock rather quickly

Cons:

- Sell missions can be exceptionally difficult and even impossible to complete when soloing
- Ron is annoying.
- You don't make much money for the effort you have to put into it.
- Extremely time consuming to fill your hangar if you are soloing.

Thoughts:

Overall this is the only business that i would not recommend as it is very time consuming and the missions are almost all annoying and you do not make as much money as the CEO business.
The one good thing i have to say about this business is that the hangar is really good for storing planes and upgrading them etc. So buy it when you have a ton of extra cash and want to buy some aircraft but in terms of making money I do not recommend this.

Side note: Owning a Buzzard attack helicopter (and having a place to store and modify it) makes soloing in this game a LOT easier.

CEO Business:

After the bunker, this should be your next purchase. All you do is buy a CEO building (get the cheapest one available. Maze Bank West I believe) and a warehouse and you are set to make money. In this business you steal cargo, similar to the smugglers run business and store it in a warehouse, which you can then sell them for a profit. You do have to pay to acquire the cargo which come with three options: 1 Cargo, which you can buy for $2000, 2 crates for $10000, of 3 crates for $18000. It is up to you if you prefer time over profit (By this I mean that you make the most profit acquiring only one crate at time but you can fill your warehouse faster buy getting them three at a time so a quicker trip to the big money from selling a full stock)

Pros:

- Easy to run and acquire stock
- Can make a LOT of money from selling a full warehouse
- Not as time consuming as filling a hangar in solo mode
- Occasional "Special" cargo missions worth big bucks crop up from time to time

Cons:

- Can get a bit boring doing the same missions over and over
- One mission in particular (the offshore mission) is really annoying if you are doing three crates at a time.
- Selling the products is a gamble as the sell mission types are randomly generated and some are a cake-walk while others are a huge pain in the ass
- Filling the warehouse takes a lot of time to do solo but it's faster than the hangar
- For bigger sales it's best to have multiple people helping

Thoughts:

Overall I think that this is a solid business to run. It's a good moneymaker (if a bit tedious to actually fill a warehouse) and can mostly be done solo pretty easily.

Nightclub:

The Nightclub is the most recent addition to the businesses (at least until the Casino drops) and it consolidates your Nightclub with your other businesses. While the Nightclub will passively earn money based on its popularity (you can run missions or pay $$ to increase its popularity) it's mostly used more in conjunction with your other businesses.
You have seven goods categories that passively stockpile during online gaming time as long as two conditions are met; 1: you own the appropriate business and 2: a technician is assigned to acquire those goods.
A list of the categories and their associated businesses are as follows:

1. Printing & Copying (MC Document Forgery)
2. Organic Produce (MC Marijuana Farm)
3. Cash Creation (MC Counterfeiting Shop)
4. Pharmaceutical Research (MC Meth Production Lab)
5. South American Imports (MC Cocaine Warehouse)
6. Sporting Goods (Gunrunning Bunker Weapons Manufacturing)
7. Cargo and Shipments (Smuggler's Run Hangar/Smuggled Cargo)

Note: You only have five technicians that you can assign (once you've paid for the Nightclub upgrades) at a time so make sure you start them on the slowest ones first (Sporting Goods and Cargo Shipments) first while the rest burn through the faster producing ones and you can move them to other units once one product fills up.

Pros:

- The Nightclub is a passive money earner
- Large profits from full stock sells
- You do not need to purchase or acquire stock in order to generate product
- It works with all the businesses you should already own at that point

Cons:

- You need to keep the popularity bar full in order to make the most $$ per night from the passive business
- Only becomes viable once you own other businesses
- It costs a lot to buy and upgrade
- The initial set up missions for the nightclub are kinda boring but they tell a fun narrative

Thoughts:

Overall the Nightclub is a fantastic earner once you've built it up but it's going to take a lot of time, money and effort to get there.

********************

I've got more to add but I have to go pick up my wife from work so will have to return to this later.
In the meantime, I hope that this has been informative.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 2:47 pm

Holy crap, that was helpful. Thank you. Import/Export seems like it's right up my alley. That's the next goal for me.

There's a whole side of GTA Online that, as far as I can tell, the game doesn't give you any real info on except "Hey, wouldn't buying this stuff be great!"

Given your nipple-plucking skills, I'm surprised you don't Cargobob all the stolen cars to where you want them. The follow-up video after the random AI crash was pretty damn good flying. I get in a chopper and I wobble, jerk, and flop. I still think my biggest enemy is the camera. It always faces the front of the chopper, so when I fly forward, I'm suddenly staring at the ground and not what I'm about to run into. There is nothing smooth about my flying, and that may be where a controller could help more - but I'll try just practicing more with the keyboard.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 2:58 pm

I've long been considering getting a Cargobob for that exact reason but I'm holding on to all my money right now in anticipation of the Casino dropping. Whatever is involved will likely require a significant outlay so no spending for me until it drops.

I'm currently sitting on about $12M right now but expect to need more for any special goodies they might have planned.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 3:24 pm

After looking at your post again and thinking about it, while I'm really interested in the most expensive things to get up and running, it's probably better for me in the long run to build up my Clubhouse with at least one business so I've got some cash earning I can do with what I've already bought, which will contribute in the long haul towards getting to the higher-end properties quicker. Dropping $400,000 is something I could probably do tonight and start making back quickly. Saving up for $2-4m will take some time, and a little forward investment might help that.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 3:40 pm

Just be aware that buying supplies won't result in a gain until you upgrade the businesses.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 4:25 pm

Even with all of the detail I dropped above, there's still a ton of additional information, tips, tricks, etc that I haven't even begun to delve into.

However, lots of other internet people have already done so and you can find guides that will help increase your money making skills.

Here is just one location that provides some helpful guides.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 4:56 pm

FYI: This isn't a guarantee, but we may be short a person tonight for a while. If you're free (it would likely be after 9 EST), we would be able to run around a bit. Again, no guarantees at this point.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Fri Jul 19, 2019 6:58 am

I enjoyed playing with you kids last night. It was -way- more fun than running solo missions on a loop.

I think I'm going to enjoy getting up to the vehicle import/export. I know I jabbered about setting up a Meth lab somewhere first, but it might only take a few days more to get the CEO building and warehouse if I'm working the jobs and saving cash.

I really don't have anything left to spend on. I'm not into clothes shopping, I have a set of guns I love using, and I blew a bundle making my Elegy RH8 as suped up as I could get it last night, only to discover that while it was faster than anything else I had, it has a sloppy ass and liked to spin out on hard turns at speed. I can probably learn to adapt my driving style for it, but the Gauntlet still "feels" better to me and looks much cooler. The Elegy was the last car I hadn't stuck some mods onto and given bullet proof tires. I now have 3 vehicles that I've poured maybe $175,000 into each - The BF Injection, the Gauntlet, and the Elegy RH8.

When Bad Demographic asked if I could fly the chopper on your building, Blackhawk, I felt a little bad getting into the pilot's seat. It was a rough ride down to where you and Brian were sitting.

Brian wrote: ↑Thu Jul 18, 2019 4:25 pmHere is just one location that provides some helpful guides.

I appreciate it. I normally don't go in for rigging the numbers on games when it comes to cash, but this being a game where I'm up against people who might have thrown fist fulls of cash at Rockstar, I don't mind it and am looking for any angles to help out. I don't intend to contribute to the $500,000,000 jackpot they've gotten with GTA Online.

From the above link, which might contradict Blackhawk's comment about all the businesses being separate?

The newest version of this particular method relies greatly on the Nightclub Warehouse. Basically the Nightclub Warehouse centralizes all of your businesses, allowing you to source, produce and start sell missions for all of them - including CEO work, Bikers businesses, Import/Export, Gunrunning and Smuggling. This streamlines the process significantly, cutting out travel time and all the faffing around with your pipeline.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Jul 19, 2019 10:27 am

On the last bit - not that I've heard.

Also, once you get your bunker set up, buy the MOC (the huge trucks), and buy a weapons workshop for the MOC, you'll have access to much better guns.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Mon Jul 22, 2019 8:34 am

Over the weekend I pulled together enough scratch to get the CEO Business up and running and was shocked at the cost of a vehicle warehouse. $2m seems like the entry price for those. I've got a lot more chaos to get involved in. Wow. I'm back to thinking I need to get my Clubhouse actually producing something, and/or I should try and get a Small Warehouse so I can do something with Crates (?).

Because I've been farting around with buying "bases" I haven't actually started producing anything of value. I'm the proud owner of the Clubhouse and CEO Business, but can't really do much with either in terms of high-end money missions - but I do like the VIP Missions in my menu list now. I played through a few of them last night and the rewards were okay but there's a bit of time investment - anywhere from $17,000 to $25,000. I think these missions could be intercepted/interfered with by other players, but no one seemed interested and my biggest problems were things like a four-star wanted rating.

Given the huge prices for all the content you can buy into, I understand now why Rockstar has heisted over $500,000,000 from players. It's a fun game, no doubt, but gets more fun as you open up options. Slogging through and saving takes time.

I had a couple interesting team experiences. The best was a group where we all silently agreed to farm RV There Yet, Simeonics, and Sasquashed. Each mission takes a little while, but goes very fast with four people who know what they're doing, but the payouts are over $15,000. Every time we got to chose a mission, we'd all pick and repeat one of those. It was easy money until one person dropped out and then it kind of slid into a gutter.

Quick question: Do the business generate revenue while you're offline? If I'm soloing a lot, is it easy to control how fast or how often I need to empty my stock so I can still handle it by myself? I think you had said "Wait until it's about 25% full" before emptying it for one person to run it - but how long does that take?

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Mon Jul 22, 2019 4:34 pm

Paingod wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22, 2019 8:34 amQuick question: Do the business generate revenue while you're offline?

Negative. The businesses only build stock/generate revenue while you are logged into Online mode.

Something I do a lot of is to log on, quickly buy a load of supplies for each business, then head to the nightclub.
Once in the nightclub office, I will sit on the couch, press X (on the XBox gamepad, keyboard option will be different but if you look at the TV while sitting on the couch, it should prompt you) to watch the DJ Livestream.

Once that's going, you can walk away from the computer and it will not kick you for being idle. I've done this before going to bed or going to work and just let it accumulate stock.

This will also allow the nightclub itself to earn the money that goes into the safe. Depending on how popular your night club is, you will earn varying amounts each game "day" which is every 48 minutes in realtime.

To increase your nightclub popularity without having to do the missions simply requires spending the $10K to switch out your DJ. Each switch will generate one half of a section in your popularity meter. Five sections of popularity means you can take it from zero popularity to full popularity for the low low accumulated price of $100,000.

The safe can only store $70,000 at a time so keep an eye on it as it won't earn money past that.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Jul 22, 2019 7:11 pm

When I'm not going to use the computer for a while I do the same thing. I'll buy supplies, then walk into a corner and stick a nickel in front of my 'forward' key to hold it down so that it doesn't kick me as AFK. I usually do it in the bunker so that I can periodically buy new supplies. So if you see me as being in-game and I'm ignoring you, that's probably why. I'm not actually playing.

Right now I'm out of money for supplies, though. I've AFKed through my budget! I've got an almost full bunker for next time, though! Just no more dune buggies.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Tue Jul 23, 2019 6:54 am

Brian wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22, 2019 4:34 pm
Paingod wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22, 2019 8:34 amQuick question: Do the business generate revenue while you're offline?
Negative.

This is good to know. I don't think I'm worried enough that I'm willing to let my PC idle for long periods of time with no one at the helm, though. Time will tell. It's not something I've considered since exploiting the beginning of Evil Genius for a pile of free cash. I can say that my facilities burn through supplies at an alarming rate, and being online for an hour drops my amount down to maybe 30%. I'm guessing the million-dollar upgrades to efficiency are helpful.

I broke down and got the Criminal Enterprise Starter Pack on Steam for $10. Looking at Shark Cards was absurd. $5 for $200,000. I make that much in an evening of play while working solo missions. The Starter Pack, though, includes $1,000,000 and a number of businesses and vehicles. It overlapped the Maze Bank site, a lesser apartment, and an inferior Clubhouse location - which is maybe a $850,000 "loss" on my part. I don't mind, though. It also gave me a few expensive cars to make use of, a couple bikes, a helicopter, and some luxury cars I have no intention of bringing out of the garage. Unfortunately, I think I need a Hangar to purchase the helicopter and that's what I'm saving for next. Basically, it saved me like 3 weeks of playing and scrounging.

So now I've got a gun runner's bunker, counterfeit press, 10-car garage, and a lot of vehicles I didn't have access to before. Once I get the Hangar and actually practice flying, it should matter a little less that my bunker is off in the north-west corner of the map.

I like that (so far) there's no "best" vehicle. My beloved Gauntlet still seems like a useful mix of street capability without being completely miserable in the dirt (like a super car). I think I've read that missions - solo or not - pay more when they take longer; this gives more usefulness to my very first car, the BF Injection buggy. The Turismo R is great for Headhunting missions where I need to tear across the map as fast as possible to kill 4 targets. I still don't have the armored Karuma, but can see where it'd probably replace the Buggy as my mission car; I only fail the Crime Scene mission half the time, but that's still half too much.

Brian wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22, 2019 4:34 pmPaying for supplies is expensive (up to $75K per supply buy) but significant time saving vs doing resupply missions

As a cash-poor CEO, this was a kick in the teeth when I got to my Bunker. I've got it set to Research & Produce and I don't have any personnel or efficiency upgrades, so I'm not really making money here yet. It's not even a break-even thing. Consuming $60,000 in supplies yielded $25,000 in goods and twice that in research. I assume that when I finish the 51 Research projects I'll be in the green here - but that's a LOT of hours online. For now I'm treating it as a side mission generator. The two resupply missions I got were a nice change, but raiding the Merryweather docks to get maybe 20% Supply was a huge pain in the ass with little return.

After I get a hangar and start flying around the map, I expect my next purchases will be the efficiency upgrades to stretch my cash and time investments.

Incidently, I couldn't remember where your hidey-hole was for evading the cops, but think I rediscovered it when I followed the train tracks into a subway tunnel near Simeon's place while looking to escape a 4-star rating. Either they re-used the scene or I found the exact spot.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Tue Jul 23, 2019 9:45 am

Paingod wrote: ↑Tue Jul 23, 2019 6:54 amIncidently, I couldn't remember where your hidey-hole was for evading the cops, but think I rediscovered it when I followed the train tracks into a subway tunnel near Simeon's place while looking to escape a 4-star rating. Either they re-used the scene or I found the exact spot.

That is the exact spot. There are several others scattered about but that's the easiest one to remember.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Jul 23, 2019 10:40 am

Paingod wrote: ↑Tue Jul 23, 2019 6:54 am I can say that my facilities burn through supplies at an alarming rate, and being online for an hour drops my amount down to maybe 30%. I'm guessing the million-dollar upgrades to efficiency are helpful.

Tremendously. Night and day. Without the upgrades, purchased supplies aren't worth it. They may be a near zero-sum game. With them, purchasing supplies more than pays for itself (assuming you're doing full production.)

Incidently, I couldn't remember where your hidey-hole was for evading the cops, but think I rediscovered it when I followed the train tracks into a subway tunnel near Simeon's place while looking to escape a 4-star rating. Either they re-used the scene or I found the exact spot.

Next time you're there, look at the minimap. There is a very distinct split in the tracks right where it is. Memorize that and you can pull up your map and mark it in a heartbeat.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Tue Jul 23, 2019 12:27 pm

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Tue Jul 23, 2019 10:40 amNext time you're there, look at the minimap. There is a very distinct split in the tracks right where it is. Memorize that and you can pull up your map and mark it in a heartbeat.

I've become very familiar with the area as I've run more than a few missions through there. Having re-discovered that spot you used will make future police evasions with stolen goods so much easier. Added bonus: It's like a block from Simeon's, so it's an easy finish to those missions.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Tue Jul 23, 2019 10:40 am
Paingod wrote: ↑Tue Jul 23, 2019 6:54 am I can say that my facilities burn through supplies at an alarming rate, and being online for an hour drops my amount down to maybe 30%. I'm guessing the million-dollar upgrades to efficiency are helpful.
Tremendously. Night and day. Without the upgrades, purchased supplies aren't worth it. They may be a near zero-sum game. With them, purchasing supplies more than pays for itself (assuming you're doing full production.)

I suppose my next question is: Should I focus on getting the efficiency upgrades for the bunker (which is out in no-man's land) over getting a helicopter (so I can get to my properties faster)?

It's going to require research. I think, as a CEO, I can summon a chopper when I want one - but to the tune of like $5,000 per ride. I'm not into that. I'd rather get a hangar and claim the basic one I got as part of the Starter kit.

I don't have a long string of facilities throwing money at me, so I need to plan carefully - something I haven't done well so far, given my pissing away over $1,000,000 in wasted properties so far (things I bought and replaced, or things I could have gotten with the Criminal Enterprise pack).

I really can't stress how much I wish I had gotten that starter kit before I started buying properties. It gives you a full spread of the basics. All in terrible locations, but it's a good start as part of the larger package.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Wed Jul 24, 2019 7:16 am

Last night my plans for a helicopter were shot down. It looks like whatever sale was happening that made it so I was almost able to afford one of the northern hangars evaporated. I'm all done buying "fill in" properties and only want to spend on the ones I intend to keep forever, not just "until I've got enough to get the better one" because that's just bad math.

That left me in a quandary. Invest in supply efficiency, or invest in another money-earner. I given that I wasn't feeling overwhelmed keeping up with supplies, I opted to get the Meth lab. I picked up the one near my existing Counterfeit location. Now I've got gun running, meth, and fake bills to resupply and sell. I did clear out my inventory at each site and made close to $100,000 from the two I had running. It was sheer excitement when I hopped into the mail truck and puttered my way across the map to deliver 5 boxes of funny money.

Another quick business question: If you wait to sell your stocks of goods, is it more valuable - or is each pip on the bar pretty much equal in value? For example, my Counterfeit bills sell for $25,000 with 1 pip of stock out of 5. If I waited until it's at 5, is that worth more than $125,000 or am I just saving time by waiting for a big run if I can get 3 people to help? I rarely see you guys online and I'm not trusting my cash with random people I don't know. That leaves me running solo, which is fine. I just want to make sure I'm not shooting myself in the foot (again). I could *probably* wait until I had 2 pips of inventory and do a double run by myself, but I'd be cutting the time really close; so far each delivery mission has ended with about half the clock left.

An etiquette question: A player appeared on my map with a Bounty. I was pretty close and figured it was a quick cash-in to collect it. I scooted over and caught him coming out of the Casino. I don't think he even saw me when I gunned him down. I made a quick $5000 and left. I didn't look for a pile of cash getting dropped or anything. I just left. He started pissing about how much of an asshole I was. I just shrugged and replied "Hey, I cleared your Bounty, so what?" ... so is it bad form to collect a bounty? At most he lost a few seconds of time and $500 in armor. Every bounty I've had on me has been collected by someone eventually and I didn't care as long as they didn't blow up my car to get it.

Extra notes: No one said being an MC President and riding your favorite bike was free health Regen! My fastest bike is now my favorite transport, and I'm always at 100% health, even if I get shot a couple times I heal right back up without fiddling with snacks and menus. The MG Dune Buggy I got in the Criminal Enterprise pack is my first and only vehicle with a gun, and man I LOVE it. I used this to clear out a rival warehouse and it was really satisfying to just unload firepower, and potent firepower at that; switching seats to use the gun (being parked, hold "H") was easy, too. I got a helicopter delivery mission and feel like I'm getting better with the chopper with my keyboard. I think the only thing I need is practice; I haven't had enough.

RuperT · Post by **RuperT** » Wed Jul 24, 2019 1:44 pm

I’ve played A Lot of GTAO since launch, starting at release on Xbox360 and later transferring to PS4. I finally uninstalled a couple of months ago for space, but I bet I go back someday. Hell, I’m tempted to restart on my kids PC copy to join you fools, but it might be tough to restart.
I think I made a lot of money in the Easy days, and before that the Boring days (I’ve seriously robbed thousands of stores and stolen countless Titans). When the biker club came out, I ran full crews of randoms and made the longest (most lucrative) deliveries from the desert to downtown on a full server to maxmise player count bonuses. This was of course before flying rocket bikes and explosive sniper rounds, although Hydras were always a bitch. I actually enjoy the risk (already having FU money and all desired toys), and honestly didn’t lose that many shipments. I did finally shut down those businesses, and used the bunker deliveries for my adrenaline needs. A fully upgraded bunker resupplied with a purchase will generate an amount of guns just under the amount which requires a second person to help deliver. Note that there are a couple of delivery missions that only use a single vehicle regardless of how much product is delivered (ie the armored semi and the single cloaked Insurgent). Some people will generate full bunkers and then quit and restart deliveries to get the solo friendly missions. Quitting abruptly during a delivery will lose you one tick of value from the product when you log back in (generally 8k or so), so if you’re quick and aware you can largely ameliorate the risk of a whole shipment loss. To answer your earlier question, selling larger amounts of product does not gain you any bonus over selling more frequently, apart from the fact that production is halted during resupply and delivery, IIRC. Production will continue while you’re online in contact missions, races or heists By the way,. Also, regarding raids on your locations, IIRC they only occur when you have 50% or more product waiting to deliver.
Watching TV or security cameras will keep you from being kicked while AFK.
Regarding helos, you can call Pegasus and they will deliver their base, unmodified version of your owned Pegasus vehicle to a nearby location. Hangars allow you to store air vehicles as Personal Vehicles, allowing modifications (which may include weapons or merely a color change, as with the Buzzard) and closer spawning. Add to the mentioned limited income, the hangar is mostly for real aerophiles. However, a Buzzrd by itself is an INCREDIBLE workhorse, as it trivializes many missions and you can instantly spawn one within spitting distance using the CEO vehicle quick menu. I seem to recall that a CEO can rent a Buzzard for an in game day for $10k...? The cloaking Akula is my personal favorite helo, as your blip is simply invisible, even during events like CEO Hunt (easy money then).
Kifflom!

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Wed Jul 24, 2019 3:12 pm

RuperT wrote: ↑Wed Jul 24, 2019 1:44 pmWhen the biker club came out, I ran full crews of randoms and made the longest (most lucrative) deliveries from the desert to downtown on a full server to maxmise player count bonuses.

Is there a bonus for running shipments with more people in the server? I've been doing solo missions with 1-4 people in there (me and 0-3 randoms) and didn't see any extra for that, but I may not have been paying attention.