"Security eyes you and you think you should come back another time"

[Zedd]

Put yourself in the mind of a bank robbing criminal. You've gotten all the materials it takes to hit a bank you've been planning on hitting for around 30-40 minutes. Your group puts together a "well thought out" plan that'll for sure get everyone and the loot out successfully. Once everything is rounded up, you head out to get the final piece, leverage. You kidnap a guy named Paul who was running down the street because his car recently got stolen by some random group of Homeless men. Paul is now in zipties and in the trunk of your getaway vehicle. Pulling up to the bank it looks completely clear and ready to hit so you get inside, get Paul down on his knees with his hands up, and begin the process of the robbery. Then suddenly you're hit with it, "Security eyes you and you think you should come back another time." Your group and even the Hostage is now put in the infamously awkward halt that can't really be explained well in Character. Someone beat you to hitting a bank. You pack up all the gear and you'll be lucky enough no cops saw you attempt to rob a bank with an obvious hostage. All the hostile dialog you gave Paul now feels just weird as you drive him to Downbad. 

I'd like to recommend an idea to end this weird gray area of situations like this. Similar to the beloved Colin, we have to be on the lookout of another NPC. A mysterious person that offers you the knowledge of if a specific job can be hit at that moment and potentially when the security will be off high alert. This service of course wouldn't be free but would go up in price depending on the jobs you ask about. His knowledge could also include how much defense is clocked in for the more secretive/high tier jobs. I feel like a system like this is necessary as the community grows in size and more people are finding out how to become a "bank busta." If you know the current method of finding out if you're able to hit something, it feels cheap and far too mechanical rather than immersive. But this is necessary step to avoid the ultimate let down of not being able to do your robbery.

Although this solution is immersive and convenient I imagine there would be a few cons and issues. One I immediately think of is people using the NPC to find out if they're no cops around to sell drugs. (Personally I don't have a problem with players getting their cash up with mindlessly drug grinding but some might?) To balance this I think it'd be a good idea to make that option be on the higher end, costing more than the rest. Considering the current payout of selling about 200 drugs of choice this sounds like a fair solution. Another potential problem is this gives players the tools of putting on some kind of timer or even begin chain robbing with this. I don't have a solution for this to be honest, but if players are doing this I think they're in Badlands for the wrong reasons and should be dealt with accordingly either way.

I have more ideas to add to this NPC so if anyone else has any feedback or tweaks to the idea, I'd love to hear them and bounce more ideas off each other! Thoughts? 

[Timr]

The formula that computes when what can be robbed is complex and takes into account many factors. Even with a magical ped who could look into his crystal ball of available robberies, by the time you get to a robbery it may be locked out again.

[Yama]

I like the idea of casing a job before hitting it, no idea how it could be implemented though... Maybe something you can do at the bank itself, without actually starting the robbery but can trigger "suspicious activity" calls. Could mean more trespassing charges?

[dK_]

9 minutes ago, Yama said:

I like the idea of casing a job before hitting it, no idea how it could be implemented though... Maybe something you can do at the bank itself, without actually starting the robbery but can trigger "suspicious activity" calls. Could mean more trespassing charges?

Yea I like this idea, right now the only way to check is to go in and see if you can start it, maybe you can peek inside somewhere to see if there’s heightened security and it can be done. Or if there is more security the whole process can take significantly longer idk 

[Connor O'Shea]

49 minutes ago, Richie Jax said:

Yea I like this idea, right now the only way to check is to go in and see if you can start it, maybe you can peek inside somewhere to see if there’s heightened security and it can be done. Or if there is more security the whole process can take significantly longer idk 

I also like this Idea. The suggestion I have with all the above as well, is more player side. I know some of the larger gangs have "minions" who will do work for them. MANY new players are looking for an easy 10K. This being said, you could literally get "loyal" ppl who keep eyes on banks or digi dens and such. This would allow you to have someone with a radio, to actually let you know if something has been "hit" within the last 30 minutes or so. As to avoid gang numbers, as soon as the place is hit, the "lookout" will have simply drive away so as not to be implicated.