Earning Money

[SolidBrim]

All Points Bulletin: Money Making Schemes

No matter what MMO you play there is money involved. This is usually true considering that most MMOs require a monthly subscription and have some sort of currency system in-game. It seems that a lot of players have trouble either holding on to their cash in-game or simply do not understand the mechanics of gaining the necessary funds to keep their characters well supplied. Well have no fear! This article was created to supply you with the necessary information of obtaining cash in APB.

Earning currency is APB really isn't that difficult. There are a variety of ways you can earn cash. To say that it is not time consuming (and a grinding process) would be lying. But if you want the cash, then you will have to put in the necessary time to earn it (legitimately and not illegally through currency farmers). Hopefully this article will help you spend your time more wisely and keep the cash flowing. These are not in any particular order but in a future edit I'll try and add how much cash you receive from each.

-Ways To Earn Cash-

Enforcers:
Missions.
This is pretty much the most common way of obtaining money in APB (at least for Enforcers). You pledge to a contact and await match making/missions to commence. You select a mission and you receive money for what you do during the mission. The more you do (i.e. raiding, inspecting, drop offs, etc.) the more cash you will receive at the end of the mission. You receive cash whether you win or lose. Cash rewards are fair but this process is very time consuming.

Tip: Running with a good crew enhances the chances of winning. As you rank up you may find that a group of two, three or even four may be pinned against you.

Returning stolen cars.
This involves finding stolen cars and then turning them into a garage meant for stolen cars. You can determine which cars are stolen by aiming your cross hairs over the car. The three criteria of cars are Useable, Commandeered, or Stolen. Stolen cars then may be nabbed from their previous occupants and turned in for cold hard cash. Each car has a different reward for turn in and fully repaired cars are worth more money.

Tip: Check gas stations, Joker ammo locations, mail boxes, side walks, criminal contact locations, large car pile ups/huge gun fights. If all else fails, follow a criminal around a steal his car for a turn in. Player cars cannot be stolen and turned in! Also, don't forget to look for stolen cars after a complete mission. You opposition had to get to the location somehow. Sometimes this was by stealing a ride.

Picking up stolen items.
Sometimes Criminals smash into window shops or metal buildings and cannot load all the items into their vehicle. This gives Enforcers the opportunity to loot a few items to make a few bucks. You can also run in and take an item or two immediately after they smash the shop or building. If you are matched with criminals in a mission you may find that they drop some items after their death. Sometimes these are mission items. Other times these are stolen items that they haven't turned in. These can be grabbed and turned in for cash at a Enforcer contact.

Tip: More of a griefing technique but funny. Follow a criminal that is using a stolen vehicle and smashing shops. Let him load a few items into the car and then jump into the drivers seat. You MUST be sneaky and there CANNOT be any Criminals in the car for this to work. Turn in the items, then go and turn in the stolen car.

Witnessing criminal activity.
Witnessing criminal activity doesn't make a whole lot of cash but it's cash nonetheless. If you get into the habit of witnessing anytime you see a criminal, you can imagine how much money you could obtain overall. $5 per witness. But as Benjamin Franklin is coined as saying. “A Penny saved is a penny earned!” That is $5 you won't have to make doing something else. Beware, this also raises threat level!

Tip: Get into the habit of witnessing every criminal. If you place your cross hairs on a Criminal player and the center reticule turns yellow, they are doing something illegal. Click the witnessing button (defaulted to the Alt button) and get $5!

Refurbishing/Selling old weapons/upgrades/old cars/equipment.
This is probably one of the most overlooked ways to make a little cash. In my experience it isn't really cost effective but if you are hard pressed for cash it is money in hand. Go to a Joker Ammo Vending machine. Open your locker. Select an old Weapon/Car/Upgrade/Equipment. Go to the right hand side of the screen and select details. Click Refurbish. Go through the same process and now click Sell. Refurbishing costs money but the overall sell price is always higher than what you spent for refurbishing.

Selling Designs, themes, music, custom cars on the Auction House.
This is the most time consuming way to make money! Some people are making a killing selling items for way too much cash. The best way for you to make money is to watch the prices and undercut the competition. If you sell your items just a fraction under everyone else, then you are more likely to sell your item. Be creative but don't get carried away. Put a few items up for Auction and see if they sell. If they don't, then don't waste your time and money trying to sell it again.

Tip: When selling designs, themes, music and custom cars; don't skimp out. Do a good job and people will appreciate you for it. There are lots of players looking for a unique design, theme, etc. In your down time fiddle around with the editors and your may find yourself rolling in the dough in no time.



Criminals:
Missions.
Pledge to a contact and make a name for yourself! When earning cash this is the way most people do it. As an Enforcer, this scheme is fine. As a Criminal this is not the quickest way to earn money. Don't get me wrong, it is decent. For Criminals, Missions, are more of a way to obtain new equipment. Your faction reputation and cash will come quicker by other means.

Stealing Cars.
By far one of the best ways to earn cash and faction reputation. Stealing cars is effective in building cash and can be done without any prerequisites. I recently spoke with a long time Criminal on the Zombie server named EvoK. He informed me that he makes approximately 30-35k an hour stealing cars. This is a great way to make cash and the best thing is that you can do it immediately. Stolen cars can be turned in at garages. These garages are in different locations. If you have played as an Enforcer these are in completely different locations so be aware of this fact. There are two stolen car garages in Waterfront and three in Financial. Once a vehicle is turned in there is a timer which keeps another car from being turned in at that location until the timer expires. Each vehicle can be turned in for a different cash reward.

Tip:Spawn your own vehicle and block traffic in one direction. This will block San Paro citizens so stealing cars will be like a manufactured process. Steal a car, turn it in, steal another car close to your location; rinse and repeat. The bigger the vehicle, the higher the reward.

Stealing items.
Not the best option for starting Criminals. The reason is due to carry capacity in beginning vehicles. If you steal a van or armored truck, you run the risk of being high-jacked (see above Enforcers: Picking up stolen items). You can steal items in at least three ways. One of which will be spoken of below. The other two ways involve ramming your vehicle into storage garage doors and windowed shops. Once you ram your vehicle into the designed area “loot” will drop onto the ground. Pickup the small items, these will be kept on your person. Medium items can be and held when entering a vehicle or placed in the back of the vehicle. Large items must be loaded into the rear of the vehicle. The carry capacity of the vehicle is what determines how many medium or large items may be loaded into that vehicle. A Criminal may carry 50 small items on his person at a time.

Tip: Before taking a mission, be sure to drop off any loot you have collected to a Criminal contact. If you die or if your car explodes, all of your loot will fall to the ground. There is an indicator of how much you are carrying on the top right hand window of your HUD.

Mugging pedestrians.
Stealing from pedestrians is not only an achievement but it also randomly drops small items. You can carry 50 small items on your character at a time. Mugging doesn't produce a lot of cash per incident but you can do it often in a well populated environment. Note to self: citizens of San Paro will call for Enforcers if they see you mugging a pedestrian. This raises threat level quickly and at this time is an excellent way to have a Bounty placed upon you.

Witnessing enforcers activity (snitching).
I will look into this particular item more closely and edit accordingly. From beta, I do know that Criminals can snitch or witness Enforcer activity. What I am not sure of is the payout for doing such.

Refurbishing/Selling old weapons/upgrades/old cars/equipment. (Same as Enforcers)
This is probably one of the most overlooked ways to make a little cash. In my experience it isn't really cost effective but if you are hard pressed for cash it is money in hand. Go to a Joker Ammo Vending machine. Open your locker. Select an old Weapon/Car/Upgrade/Equipment. Go to the right hand side of the screen and select details. Click Refurbish. Go through the same process and now click Sell. Refurbishing costs money but the overall sell price is always higher than what you spent for refurbishing.

Selling Designs, themes, music, custom cars on the Auction House. (Same as Enforcers)
This is the most time consuming way to make money! Some people are making a killing selling items for way too much cash. The best way for you to make money is to watch the prices and undercut the competition. If you sell your items just a fraction under everyone else, then you are more likely to sell your item. Be creative but don't get carried away. Put a few items up for Auction and see if they sell. If they don't, then don't waste your time and money trying to sell it again.

Tip:When selling designs, themes, music and custom cars; don't skimp out. Do a good job and people will appreciate you for it. There are lots of players looking for a unique design, theme, etc. In your down time fiddle around with the editors and your may find yourself rolling in the dough in no time.

[Kreeper]

Nice Solid, keep them coming.