Tag Archives: trading

Missions

Making the most of missions

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So finally.. a new release! The missions addition has certainly caused a bit of a stir, but a lot of people have been left asking ‘whats the point’

The missions range from attacking abroad, sending dodgy parcels through to gambling in the casino – and the rewards are pretty low so far ($20k is the most I’ve seen), which for the amount of energy used is far too low for most players to make a living from. So how can we make the most of this new missions system?

1. Don’t waste your time/energy

New missions appear daily, and you can have up to three not yet started at any time. So it pays to wait, have 2-3 missions ready and accept them all at the same time. If you get three attacking missions you might find you complete all three contracts with a single attack. For example one mission has you mug a specific person, another has you mug $1m, and another is to finish an attack with just your fists. Mugging that specific person with just your fists has saved you 25e, and if your lucky they may even give you the $1m in muggings too.

Another reason to wait is the way that new missions pick targets out. Quite often if I go to start a mission just as it has become available someone else has already hosped my target – they also had a mission with this players name, but not always is it the same mission. If you wait 12 hours you might find that you are now the only one with that target on your mission list.

2. Don’t waste your mission credits

The mission credits you earn can be spent on a variety of ‘prizes’, Most of which can be obtained from the item market. This is where you need to be savvy in what you spend these credits on – there is special ammunition available here that you can’t get anywhere else. So unless you see an RPG pop up for 1 point then store your mission credits and check your available mission prizes often. If you always use one type of ammo, only spend them on that type of ammo. You might find one day that ammo will give you the edge in an important battle.

3. Use the missions to trade

If you get a mission which involves using a specific weapon or item you will find that others will also be getting that mission. If you get in early you may be able to buy a bunch of that item cheap, and make a quick profit as other people buy them for the same mission.

4. Travel shouldn’t be wasted

Several missions involve travelling to a different country to mug/hosp someone inactive. But don’t forget to pick up some items while you are there – Plushies and Flowers should be the minimum, but in SA you can grab cheap xanax and combat gear most of the time as well.

Got your own mission tips? Feel free to comment below

Scamming

How to spot a scam

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Torn isn’t the safest place, whether you are “inside” the game or not. Recently I have experienced some very interesting attempts to scam me out of my hard earned money. I post them here with the aim to educate avoidance, rather than to teach you how to scam.

Trade scams

Quite simply to avoid scams you should only sell using the Trade function, item market, auction market or through your bazaar.

But some scams revolve around mis-selling items and was one of the very earliest scams Torn was introduced to. Always check your trade before accepting, make sure the things you are buying are the things they have put in the trade.

Somethings sound or look similar:

  • Can of Munster instead of Can of Taurine
  • Scimitars instead of Dual Scimitars
  • Snowboard instead of Skateboard
  • Twin tiger hooks instead of Dual Axes

Other times they may use something else like an item instead of a company, or a stock instead of an item:

fhc_share_trade

Watch out for those using comments to try and hide what they have done

fhc_comment_scam

 

Special items have also been used as a scam. My favorite is ‘the invisible cloak’, which of course only shows in your items after the trade.

IRC impersonation

Another of the most basic scams around. This one normally ends up with the scammer in fed, but the damage done if you fall for it can be massive.

The scammers usually try to pretend to be faction leaders or other well known players. Normally a player who has also been offline for sometime.

Normally it starts with a chat/mail on torn from someone you don’t know. The scammer will say something like ‘XXX is trying to contact you on IRC as they can’t get on to the site, s/he told me to tell you’. If you don’t use IRC, or tell them that, they will send you links and instructions on how to get on.

At this point they are watching the #lobby for your name to join

(If you are already in IRC they may skip this step)

Once you are on IRC they will message you using a username similar to (or the same as) the person they claim to be. Now at this point they will ask you to do something on torn for them. If you are lucky it will be loaning someone money for them as they’ve just joined and they are IP blocked (or some similar story to get you sending money/items to their own account). If you aren’t they will ask you to change either your password or email address.

DO NOT EVER CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD OR EMAIL IN TORN IF SOMEONE ASKS YOU TO.

If you change your email they will use the password reset feature, so it is the same as changing your password for them. They will log in as you, change password and email, then start selling off items, transferring them, maybe create some mischief in your name (sometimes scamming your friends)

More basically someone may just mail you, or mail you anonymously, asking you to tell them your password. Again NEVER GIVE ANYONE YOUR PASSWORD TO ANYTHING, EVER.

 Property/Company/Faction upgrades

There are benefits in the game that can make it cheaper to upgrade properties or companies, and some may claim they can do the same for factions. I have also seen some players claim to do ‘free’ upgrades as well.

To do the upgrades though they have to be the owner/director, and of course if you do send them (or trade them) one of these things they will of course just not give it back.

*If* you want to take advantage of such an offer insist on being given collateral during the upgrade, and trade back for the collateral and the cost of those upgrades. Ensure collateral is of same, or better, value to the thing you want upgraded.

Investment schemes/Bank interest/Lotteries/Loans

I can’t speak for all players, but there are some who will say they are providing an investment services, banking for others, holding a lottery or in need of a short term loan (with interest repaid, usually from a bank coming out). Unless you really know this player treat it as a potential scam. The only players not capable of scamming are staff. I myself do some of these things, but only for old friends who trust me.

Mug lists, trade lists, stat spies

Some of the harder ones to prove as scams are lists that people sell.

A ‘mug’ list is pretty useless, you will likely find better mugs just searching for players yourself.

A ‘trade’ list.. well if you are too lazy to work out prices to buy and sell at then go ahead and pay someone to tell you what to trade in. Just be aware that if 5 players start trading because of that list the price of that item will temporarily be inflated, then go back to normal, and likely you will just end up with a bunch of those items you can only sell at a loss.

‘Stat spies’ are hard to prove. If you asked me to get the stats of someone I could just make up numbers, or give you old numbers rather than spy again. If you need stat spies it’s best to start by asking them for stats of 5-6 players, with one of those players stats being known to you 100%. That way you can check they are giving you real results.

One you may see me post as a joke in trade is the ‘scammer’ list. No one has ever paid me the 50m I ask for my scammer list, but just for you reading this it is posted here:

L4suicide[15699]

I hope this all helps. Feel free to comment below with your own experiences of scammers

Trading

How to become mug proof

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Ok no one can ever truly be mug proof, I get randomly mugged all the time while I am online, and in that one split second I may happen to be moving some money around or buying items etc.

But the majority of the time I manage to do a lot of business without risk of mugs, and still have easy access to cash without risking scams or having to lose money. I’ve split being mug proof into 3 concepts, safe trading, self- hospitalizing and hiding money. Learn more about business management by checking this post about the definition of paystubs. If you’re seeking additional information on paystubs, you can find resources at eagerclub.com. If you want to build a partition into your office, contact Glazed Office Partitions to learn more about their services. Also, consider installing glass windows and doors to make your office look great. Having a successful business requires help from your team, and if you want to be a good leader, you can seek it by visiting this website: https://hr-services.uk/.

Safe Trading

If you have time the safest way to stay mug proof is to do all of your selling using the trade mechanism. Always set up the trade yourself if you are receiving cash – that way you will always be the one to confirm the trade and can control when it is accepted.

Beware some traders will cancel these trades though, and mug you, so try and combine this with self hosping to be 100% safe.

This isn’t something we all have time for, and bazaar selling is clearly the best way to get things sold. If you must sell things in your bazaar you should do two things: Only have a lot to sell when you are going to be in hospital for a long time (self hosp, war, just before you launch an OC or do crimes with hosp outcomes). Alternatively combine your selling with flying  – choosing a good destination for both time and likelyhood of stalkers mugging in that location (I don’t fly to Caymans when selling)

Self Hospitalization

Turn revives off, or only have friends/faction do them. Turn revives off, or only have friends/faction do them. How many times do I have to say this..

Turn revives off, or only have friends/faction do them. Three sounds good. So now we have that out the way we can talk about the benefit of self hosping. No one can mug you, but you can’t really do much.. Well all you have to do is make sure you use all your nerve and energy, and do all your buying from item market before you self hosp. Easy!

So how does one self hosp? Lets take a look, starting with short term. (This is not an exhaustive list)

  • 0-20 mins
    attack someone and lose (costs e)
    have someone mug/leave you (costs money)
    play RR until you lose (costs $10)
  • 30-90 mins
    attempt a run away and fail (25e, but if player is paying for success you can make money too)
    use a wrong blood bag (1hr med cooldown)
    time out in an RR game and have opponent shoot you in the back ($10)
  • 1-5hrs
    get a friend to bounty you (costs $10 x your level)
    SEDs (These stack, but cost 8-10m)
  • longer than 5 hrs
    fail warehouse crime
    OD on Xanax/PCP (ha! never happens when you want)
    Fail some OCs (hard to get right)

Hiding Money

Hiding money is a fine art. Especially for those who don’t own a company, or have trust/leadership in their faction. Again we can do this in a few ways, depending on how long we want to hide it for. For more guidance on this topic, check out our comprehensive accounting guide that covers various strategies for hiding money effectively.

15 minutes – create an RR game with a password and you can put as much money in there as you like – only issue is people can see your money 😉

6 hours – create a trade with a friend, put in your money, never accept the trade (ask your friend not to either), You can then add and remove money as you like.

min 24 hours -Bookies – Cheap trick, you can change your bet once it is made. Pick the last bet that will close and put your money in that, when it gets close to the day (or when you need it) change the bet to a lower amount, and you get your money back. (Please note, I do not know if this is seen as an exploit, check with staff)

min 24 hours – Auction House – good if you want to hide for min 24 hours, and get a good deal. Bid on something that you know you will be outbid on – choosing a length of auction suited to your hide time. If someone does outbid you then you will have 24 hours of safety for that cash

min 24 hours – Stocks – not an easy one, but if you buy the cheapest looking stock that is increasing or steady, buy and sell straight away. It can take time to sell, but once it does you again get up to 24 hours of safety.

You can also use this method during your flights to hide money from sales – just be aware you can’t get at it until you are in torn (if it sells) but it will stop muggers stalking your landing.

N/A – Caymans – If you don’t mind having to fly to the Caymans, and risk the stalkers, you can always fly to the Caymans and use the bank there. This is best done in two stages – use a fake trade with a friend whilst you are flying, once there and ready to bank use chat to get your friend to cancel the trade, banking almost instantly.

There are plenty more things you can do to keep your money safe

Safe Trading

If you have time the safest way to stay mug proof is to do all of your selling using the trade mechanism. Always set up the trade yourself if you are receiving cash – that way you will always be the one to confirm the trade and can control when it is accepted.

Beware some traders will cancel these trades though, and mug you, so try and combine this with self hosping to be 100% safe.

This isn’t something we all have time for, and bazaar selling is clearly the best way to get things sold. If you must sell things in your bazaar you should do two things: Only have a lot to sell when you are going to be in hospital for a long time (self hosp, war, just before you launch an OC or do crimes with hosp outcomes). Alternatively combine your selling with flying  – choosing a good destination for both time and likelyhood of stalkers mugging in that location (I don’t fly to Caymans when selling)

Self Hospitalization

Turn revives off, or only have friends/faction do them. Turn revives off, or only have friends/faction do them. How many times do I have to say this..

Turn revives off, or only have friends/faction do them. Three sounds good. So now we have that out the way we can talk about the benefit of self hosping. No one can mug you, but you can’t really do much.. Well all you have to do is make sure you use all your nerve and energy, and do all your buying from item market before you self hosp. Easy!

So how does one self hosp? Lets take a look, starting with short term. (This is not an exhaustive list)

  • 0-20 mins
    attack someone and lose (costs e)
    have someone mug/leave you (costs money)
    play RR until you lose (costs $10)
  • 30-90 mins
    attempt a run away and fail (25e, but if player is paying for success you can make money too)
    use a wrong blood bag (1hr med cooldown)
    time out in an RR game and have opponent shoot you in the back ($10)
  • 1-5hrs
    get a friend to bounty you (costs $10 x your level)
    SEDs (These stack, but cost 8-10m)
  • longer than 5 hrs
    fail warehouse crime
    OD on Xanax/PCP (ha! never happens when you want)
    Fail some OCs (hard to get right)

Hiding Money

Hiding money is a fine art. Especially for those who don’t own a company, or have trust/leadership in their faction. Again we can do this in a few ways, depending on how long we want to hide it for. For more guidance on this topic, check out our comprehensive accounting guide that covers various strategies for hiding money effectively.

15 minutes – create an RR game with a password and you can put as much money in there as you like – only issue is people can see your money 😉

6 hours – create a trade with a friend, put in your money, never accept the trade (ask your friend not to either), You can then add and remove money as you like.

min 24 hours -Bookies – Cheap trick, you can change your bet once it is made. Pick the last bet that will close and put your money in that, when it gets close to the day (or when you need it) change the bet to a lower amount, and you get your money back. (Please note, I do not know if this is seen as an exploit, check with staff)

min 24 hours – Auction House – good if you want to hide for min 24 hours, and get a good deal. Bid on something that you know you will be outbid on – choosing a length of auction suited to your hide time. If someone does outbid you then you will have 24 hours of safety for that cash

min 24 hours – Stocks – not an easy one, but if you buy the cheapest looking stock that is increasing or steady, buy and sell straight away. It can take time to sell, but once it does you again get up to 24 hours of safety.

You can also use this method during your flights to hide money from sales – just be aware you can’t get at it until you are in torn (if it sells) but it will stop muggers stalking your landing.

N/A – Caymans – If you don’t mind having to fly to the Caymans, and risk the stalkers, you can always fly to the Caymans and use the bank there. This is best done in two stages – use a fake trade with a friend whilst you are flying, once there and ready to bank use chat to get your friend to cancel the trade, banking almost instantly.

There are plenty more things you can do to keep your money safe