Start Rob Run by completing the introduction, talking to Lenny, and scouting Looty Bay unmasked before attempting a small robbery.
You begin as a Hobo, fresh out of prison, with no cash and a room at Lenny’s Motel. Your first useful goal is an earning route you can repeat without risking equipment you cannot replace. A short robbery can teach you how to approach a target, escape, and collect payment. From there, work toward the documents and facilities needed for your first rented plot. This is a suggested learning route, not a required quest chain.
Get your bearings at Lenny’s Motel
Finish the intro quests and speak to Lenny about the core mechanics. After the introduction, you can pursue heists, cargo hauling, base production, police work, or territory competition. Pick one activity to learn before spending money on equipment for several.
Practise before carrying valuables
As in other action games, practise movement, aiming, and interactions before depending on them during a fight. Use the opening quests to get comfortable navigating streets, entering buildings, and using services.
Your first preparation task is simple: learn how to reach a target and leave it. Buying a weapon will not fix an escape route you have never followed.
Claim a free rental vehicle
If you have no active vehicle, use a Parking Terminal to rent one for free. A personally owned car comes later and requires a plot with a house or garage.
Take the rental on a scouting trip before using it for a robbery. Learn where you can approach your chosen target, park, and turn toward the exit without first having to work out where you are.
Free transport for your first trip
Find equipment you can replace
Weapons appear as loot around the city, and Lenny sells them through the Black Market. Starter weapons spawn in the world, so do not build your plan around receiving a free pistol after every respawn.
Keep early purchases modest. If replacing a weapon would consume the money needed to prepare another run, postpone the upgrade. Choose equipment for the small job you intend to attempt, not for a prolonged fight against a party.
Scout Looty Bay before starting a robbery
Enter Looty Bay unmasked and study the area as a Civilian. Putting on a mask enables robberies and makes you a Criminal, exposing you to Police and other Criminals.
Before committing, answer four questions:
- What will you rob? Look at a small target, such as a corner store.
- How will you leave? Trace the route from the building to your vehicle and toward a road out of the city.
- Who uses that route? Watch other players and police patrols near your approach and escape.
- Where will you sell? Locate a van marked with a dollar sign or the Sales Center before carrying stolen goods.
An accessible entrance does not guarantee a workable escape. Follow your planned route during scouting, and check where it leads before returning to the target.
Plan the route before the robbery
Finish one small job
A corner-store-sized job is a practical first attempt because it finishes quickly. Use it to learn the complete robbery-to-payment sequence without adding several stops to the trip.
- Park your vehicle facing your planned escape direction.
- Put on your mask when you are ready to enter.
- Take one bag of loot.
- Leave the building immediately.
- Follow your escape route and finish the selling trip before considering another target.
Notoriety builds through a heist streak during a single city visit. Higher Notoriety improves fence deals, but it also brings a stronger police response. Skip the second target while you are still learning how to complete the first run reliably.
Know when to escape or surrender
Police officers are other players, so their pursuit decisions and willingness to negotiate vary. Avoid assuming that every patrol will follow the same route or respond the same way.
Your role and location determine the cost of getting caught or killed:
| Situation | Bag or inventory outcome | Equipped gear outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Civilian dies in Looty Bay | Bag contents are retained | Retained |
| Criminal surrenders to Police | Bag contents are confiscated | Retained |
| Criminal dies in Looty Bay | Inventory is lost | Lost |
| Any role dies in the desert | Everything carried is lost | Lost |
If an officer corners you and there is no workable escape, surrender instead of forcing a hopeless fight. Consider the cost of replacing your loadout before trying to save a single bag.
The desert requires a separate travel plan. Do not treat leaving the city as permission to wander with unsold loot or your only useful equipment.
Treat bribes as an option
With money in the bank, you can offer a bribe and keep your loot if the officer accepts. Acceptance is the officer’s choice, so a bribe is not a guaranteed escape plan.
If you are struggling with repeated police encounters, identify where your route gets blocked. Try another approach or a different small target before spending more on weapons to fight through the same problem.
Keep your kit through surrender
Collect payment and protect your cash
Sell stolen goods at a dollar-sign van or the Sales Center, then take the cash from the counter immediately. Reaching the buyer does not finish the transaction.
Lenny can hold cash while you save, but the motel does not store stolen goods. Plan around what you are carrying: an unsold bag and collected money need different handling.
Open a bank account as a Civilian
Visit the Looty Bay Bank while you are a Civilian to open an account. Once you have a base, use the Laundering Desk to process cash into protected bank funds. Laundering takes time, and ATMs let you withdraw money afterward.
A successful sale does not automatically protect its proceeds. Loose cash can be stolen or confiscated; cash being processed has not yet completed the laundering step. Learn the full sequence before increasing the amount you carry between activities.
Process cash before spending more
Prepare the documents for your first plot
Your first plot must be in a settlement that already has an owner. Find an available plot and inspect the sign beside it. Empty ground alone does not establish that you can rent there.
Tier 1 rentals require Black Market documents, not a direct cash payment at the plot. Check the requirement before spending your earnings on a weapon upgrade or assuming one completed robbery is enough to move in.
Build around your earning activity
Work through the property checks in this order:
- Confirm that the settlement has an owner.
- Find an available plot and read its rental requirements.
- Obtain the required documents through the Black Market.
- Rent the plot and establish the facilities your activity needs.
Renting makes you a Settlement Resident, and your base also serves as a respawn point. Storage and a workbench support preparation between trips. Farms and laboratories provide further earning options as you develop the property.
Prioritize a plot and basic facilities when your current equipment already handles your small jobs. A useful upgrade solves a problem you have encountered, such as lacking a facility for your chosen activity. An expensive rifle should not consume your base budget simply because it is available.
Check the rental documents first
Adjust your plan for solo or group play
Keep solo targets manageable
Solo play is viable, but direct clashes against full parties are difficult. Choose smaller targets, spend more time scouting, and avoid treating every player you encounter as an opponent you need to defeat.
Choose a route that leaves you room to withdraw. A job that requires you to win a fight against an organized group is a poor fit for learning the earning loop alone.
Assign jobs in a party
Parties support up to 3 players. Divide the work between entering the target, carrying loot, and covering the escape. Agree on the exit before anyone puts on a mask.
Extra players can share responsibilities, but everyone still needs to know the route. Decide who is handling each task before entering so the group does not stop to organize while carrying loot.
Check the wipe before making long-term plans
The Federal Raid ends the seven-day progression cycle. It clears plots, bases, weapons, and cash, converting progression into jail time and authority. Protected bank funds also reset. Cosmetics, your player name, tutorial completion, settings, and accumulated jail time carry forward.
Check your own server’s wipe information before committing resources to a longer project. A new base near the end of a cycle has less time to support your activities than one established earlier.
Leave clans, district politics, and the Shadow Governor race until you have an income and a functioning base. For your next session, repeat one complete earning route, note where it breaks down, and spend only on the equipment or facilities that help you finish it.
