Short version
Talk to Lenny, take a free car from a Parking Terminal and spend your first 20 minutes in Looty Bay as an unmasked Citizen. Open a bank account while you’re there. Then mask up, rob a corner store, drive out and sell at a Fence van, and take the cash off the counter straight away. Spend the first few thousand on a Lockpick ($99), a Sports Bag and a Versatile Pouch. Everything after that goes toward a Land Plot Title ($150,000 all in) and a $10,000 Trailer, so about $180,000 gets you from Hobo to your own plot.
You need
You start with nothing, so this is a shopping list for the money from your first runs, in the order you buy it.
- Lockpick: opens doors and containers without the alarm. $5,000 research, $99 each.
- Sports Bag: 2 inventory rows. $5,000 research, $5,000.
- Versatile Pouch: quick slots. $5,000 research, $250.
- DP-9 Mk1 (optional): $300 on the laptop. Starter weapons also spawn around the city.
- Land Plot Title: $50,000 research, $100,000 to buy.
- Trailer: $10,000.
Total: about $180,350 ($180,650 with the pistol). Research is a one-off fee per state, so the second Lockpick costs $99, not $5,099.
Step by step
- Finish the intro quests and talk to Lenny. Lenny’s Motel is a safe zone and your home until you rent a plot. Lenny runs the Trade Laptop (the Black Market), holds your cash, launders for a cut and handles barter. As a Hobo, his storage is the only place your cash is safe from other players.
- Get a car. With no active vehicle you can rent one free at any Parking Terminal. You can’t mod rentals, and when you later get your own car the rental is recalled and whatever is in its trunk drops on the ground. Empty it first.
- Scout as a Citizen. Enter Looty Bay without a mask. Citizens can’t attack or be attacked, heal for free and keep everything on death. Find the three convenience stores, the dollar-sign vans (Fences) and the roads out of the city. You have a personal 40-minute timer in the city, so watch the clock.
- Open a bank account. Do it at the Looty Bay Bank while you’re still a Citizen. Money only gets in through laundering, but banked money can’t be stolen, and it’s what you pay a bribe with if a cop arrests you.
- Check dumpsters on the way. Kefir added more cash to them on 4 Nov. It’s small money, but it’s free and it buys your Lockpick.
- Rob a corner store. Park facing the exit, because the street you came in on is the one the police use. Put on the Heist Mask (you’re now a Criminal), hold the clerk at gunpoint so they don’t hit the alarm, and don’t break glass. Fill one bag and leave. Driving out of the city is the only way to drop Criminal status.
- Sell and grab the cash. Sell valuables at a Fence van. The cash lands on the counter, and anyone can take it or a cop can confiscate it, so pick it up immediately. Solo players start at Notoriety 4, which adds 35% to Fence prices, so a solo bag sold right after the run pays well.
- Buy your kit at Lenny’s. Lockpick first, then the Sports Bag and Versatile Pouch. Stash the rest with Lenny.
- Repeat until $160,000. Pick one target per trip. Once you have the title money, follow Renting your first plot.
Unconfirmed
Players report that a group of two starts at Notoriety 2, not 4. Kefir has only said that solo players and duos start higher than full crews.
Starter costs
| Item | Research | Price | Why buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lockpick | $5,000 | $99 | Silent doors and containers |
| Sports Bag | $5,000 | $5,000 | 2 rows of loot space |
| Versatile Pouch | $5,000 | $250 | Quick slots |
| DP-9 Mk1 | — | $300 | Something to point at the clerk |
| Land Plot Title | $50,000 | $100,000 | Lets you rent a plot in a level-1 district |
| Trailer | — | $10,000 | Your first house: laundering, respawn, storage |
What you lose if it goes wrong
Know this before you put the mask on. It decides whether you fight, run or surrender.
| Situation | Bag | Equipped gear | Bank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Citizen dies in the city | Kept | Kept | Safe |
| Criminal dies in the city | Lost | Lost | Safe |
| Criminal surrenders (Q) or is knocked out and arrested | Confiscated | Kept | Safe |
| Surrender and the cop accepts your bribe | Kept | Kept | Pays the bribe |
| Anyone dies in the desert or a settlement | Lost | Lost | Safe |
Gear loses durability every time you die and there’s no repair yet. If you’re cornered with a cheap bag, pressing Q to surrender is usually the right call. Bribes go in $10,000 steps up to $200,000, paid from your bank.
Your first weapon
You don’t get a free gun. Kefir considered a pistol on every respawn and dropped the idea to keep the start rags-to-riches. On 4 Nov he made the basic pistol cheaper and added more starter-weapon spawn points around the city instead. Look in shops and back rooms on your scouting run, or buy a DP-9 Mk1 for $300.
Remember that Citizens can’t use weapons at all. A gun only matters once you’re masked, and that’s also when you can lose it. Every death costs durability and nothing can repair it yet, so don’t spend big on a rifle in your first hour. A pistol is enough to keep a clerk’s hands up.
Mistakes to avoid
- Chaining targets. Notoriety and the police response both climb during a streak. One store, out, sell, repeat.
- Killing clerks. Each NPC kill adds a wanted point. At 3 you’re Most Wanted and everyone in the city sees where you are.
- Leaving cash on the Fence counter. Other players camp the vans for exactly this. Kefir says drop-off camping is intended.
- Quitting while masked. A Criminal who quits dies, and dying masked costs your bag and your gear.
- Driving loot through the desert carelessly. The desert is lawless. Anyone can kill you there, and death costs everything you carry.
- Gambling at Lenny’s roulette. The max bet is $200,000 and there’s no winning system. Your title money belongs in Lenny’s storage, not on the table.
- Buying the wrong document. A Settlement Title buys a whole settlement. You want the Land Plot Title.