Where to live: the reference curve
starting atSafehouse tier 1
$25,000 · upkeep $71/day
starting atApartment tier 1
$150,000 · upkeep $429/day
starting atPenthouse tier 2
$1,125,000 · upkeep $2,229/day
starting atMansion tier 3
$7,500,000 · upkeep $11,429/dayHow we got here. A house is free energy coming in: while you're offline, laid up from an overdose or in the gap between one rotation and the next. On top of that, the district tier boosts your stats, which raises your crime success. The math uses a real player, not a bot: 8 drug rotations a day with 1h20 to 2h gaps inside 10 hours, 50% crime success, and each house only comes in once the money's there and there's still cash left over to buy drugs and pay for overdoses when needed.
Why tier 1, then 2, then 3
The tier belongs to the district the house is in, and it changes three things:
| Tier | House price | Upkeep | Regen | House energy bonus | All stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ×1.0 | ×1.0 | — | — | — |
| 2 | ×1.5 | ×1.3 | +10% | +10% | +5% |
| 3 | ×2.5 | ×2.0 | +20% | +20% | +10% |
The extra regen and energy help, but not by much (in the Mansion, tier 3 only gives +168 energy a day over tier 1). What really counts is the stat bonus — and it applies to crimes and to PvP (attack and defense).
But it's a percentage: 10% of not much is not much. The points you've trained by each level (not counting gear, which adds even more):
| Level | Trained stat points | Tier 2 gives up to | Tier 3 gives up to |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 70 | +3.5 | +7.0 |
| 20 | 120 | +6.0 | +12.0 |
| 30 | 170 | +8.5 | +17.0 |
| 40 | 220 | +11.0 | +22.0 |
| 50 | 270 | +13.5 | +27.0 |
At level 10, tier 3 would get you about 7 points — not worth a price 2.5× higher or upkeep 2× higher. By 30 you've got the stats to cash in on the 5%, and by 40 on the 10%. With good gear these numbers grow even more (the bonus applies to the total).
And why a small jump (tier 2 on the Penthouse, not tier 3)? Every house swap loses 25% of what you paid for the previous one:
| When leaving… | Paid | Lost on resale |
|---|---|---|
| Safehouse tier 1 | $25,000 | $6,250 |
| Apartment tier 1 | $150,000 | $37,500 |
| Penthouse tier 2 | $1,125,000 | $281,250 |
| Penthouse tier 3 (if you'd jumped straight to it) | $1,875,000 | $468,750 |
The Safehouse and the Apartment are so cheap that the 25% doesn't matter. The loss that hurts is on the expensive house, and on the curve you only take it once: going from the Penthouse to the Mansion. On a tier 2 Penthouse that loss comes to $281,250; on tier 3 it'd be $468,750, to gain 5% more stats right when they still don't pay off much. The tier 3 Mansion is the final house: nobody sells it, so that 25% never comes out of your pocket.
When you can buy, down to the dollar
Day-by-day simulation from level 1, buying each house on the curve as soon as the cash covers the price (already selling the previous one for 75%) with 1 day of drugs + 3 full hospital bills still left over. It's the earliest possible with all the leftover going into the house — that's why the curve above has slack.
| How you play | Safehouse t1 | Apartment t1 | Penthouse t2 | Mansion t3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 rotations, 50% success, never pays for OD | level 7 day 3 | level 10 day 7 | level 19 day 18 | level 30 day 32 |
| 8 rotations, 50%, pays the hospital in 1 of every 4 rotations | level 7 day 3 | level 11 day 8 | level 20 day 19 | level 32 day 34 |
| 4 rotations, 45%, pays the hospital in 1 of every 4 rotations | level 7 day 6 | level 11 day 16 | level 20 day 39 | level 32 day 70 |
Notice: playing less barely changes the level of each purchase (money and XP come from the same energy), only the number of days.
Energy
Base max of 100, it comes back at 1 every 3 min (also while jailed, in the hospital or offline). A full bar stops regenerating.
| House | Tier | Max energy | Fills from zero in | Energy per day (theoretical max) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
No house | 1 | 100 | 5 h 00 min | 480 |
| Safehouse | 1 | 110 | 3 h 40 min | 720 |
| Apartment | 1 | 120 | 3 h 00 min | 960 |
| Penthouse | 1 | 130 | 2 h 10 min | 1,440 |
| Mansion | 1 | 150 | 1 h 52 min | 1,920 |
| Mansion | 2 | 155 | 1 h 46 min | 2,112 |
| Mansion | 3 | 160 | 1 h 40 min | 2,304 |
Hospital and Jail
The bill (bail or hospital) is 5 × the highest max payout among the crimes you've unlocked, at full price with 25 min of jail or 40 min of hospital still ahead, and it drops along with the clock (never below 5%). A failed crime can land you in jail for tier × 5 min; the Penthouse cuts 10% and the Mansion 20%.
| From level | Full bill | Hospital: cost per minute | Jail: cost per minute |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $750 | $19 | $30 |
| 3 | $2,000 | $50 | $80 |
| 4 | $2,100 | $52 | $84 |
| 6 | $4,500 | $112 | $180 |
| 7 | $4,750 | $119 | $190 |
| 8 | $6,000 | $150 | $240 |
| 12 | $20,000 | $500 | $800 |
| 15 | $25,000 | $625 | $1,000 |
| 18 | $70,000 | $1,750 | $2,800 |
| 24 | $120,000 | $3,000 | $4,800 |
| 30 | $250,000 | $6,250 | $10,000 |
The math behind it
- Tier matters, a lot: besides a bit more energy, tier 2 / 3 gives +5% / +10% to all stats, and that raises your crime success chance.
- Hospital: this curve assumes the player waits out the hospital stay (it fits in the gap between rotations, and the house keeps regenerating). Whoever pays for the overdose and keeps the ladder going with Heroin gets more out of it — see Getting High.
- Up to level 11, light drugs (Speed Pill → Weed) make more profit than the Cocaine ladder; the ladder starts paying off from level 12 on.
The assumptions (a real player, not a bot): 8 drug rotations a day, with irregular gaps of 1h20 to 2h00, all within at most 10 h (the average gap came out to 85 min); for the rest of the day energy refills on its own up to the house max. 50% crime success living in a tier 1 district, coming from stats (no crime bonus from gear) — the house tier multiplies that part. Each rotation is a Soda Drink + the ladder, stopping when the risk goes over 30% or at overdose, without paying the hospital. One rotation of the Cocaine ladder averages 183 energy for $3,988; light-only, 103 for $562. A house swap only makes the plan if it pays for itself within 21 days (already counting selling the previous one for 75%).
Profit per day in each house
Highlighted: the house that makes the most profit and pays for itself within 21 days, coming from the previous one. The drug in each cell is the one that makes the most profit in that situation.
| House | Tier | House energy/day | Upkeep/day | Level 1+ | Level 6+ | Level 12+ | Level 18+ | Level 24+ | Level 30+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No house | 1 | 298 | $0 | 9k | 26k | 89k | 283k | 436k | 780k |
| Safehouse | 1 | 408 | $71 | 11k | 29k | 97k | 302k | 465k | 830k |
| Safehouse | 2 | 438 | $93 | 11k | 30k | 104k | 328k | 509k | 916k |
| Safehouse | 3 | 469 | $143 | 11k | 31k | 112k | 355k | 553k | 1,004k |
| Apartment | 1 | 517 | $429 | 12k | 31k | 104k | 321k | 494k | 880k |
| Apartment | 2 | 558 | $557 | 12k | 33k | 113k | 350k | 542k | 975k |
| Apartment | 3 | 600 | $857 | 12k | 34k | 121k | 380k | 592k | 1,074k |
| Penthouse | 1 | 725 | $1,714 | 13k | 36k | 117k | 357k | 548k | 975k |
| Penthouse | 2 | 788 | $2,229 | 13k | 37k | 127k | 392k | 606k | 1,088k |
| Penthouse | 3 | 850 | $3,429 | 13k | 39k | 137k | 427k | 665k | 1,205k |
| Mansion | 1 | 943 | $5,714 | 12k | 38k | 128k | 392k | 602k | 1,071k |
| Mansion | 2 | 1,028 | $7,429 | 11k | 39k | 139k | 432k | 669k | 1,202k |
| Mansion | 3 | 1,112 | $11,429 | 8k | 38k | 149k | 472k | 737k | 1,337k |