Crimes use Nerve to earn cash, character XP and Crime XP. Crime progression is separate from your overall player level and opens more demanding activities over time.
| Crime | Nerve cost | Base cooldown | Required Crime Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beg for money | 2 | 10 seconds | 0 |
| Pickpocket | 4 | 18 seconds | 1 |
| Shoplifting | 6 | 28 seconds | 2 |
| Mugging | 10 | 70 seconds | 6 |
| Armed Robbery | 18 | 3 minutes | 12 |
Crime Rank is the derived Crime Level minus one. Mugging requires an equipped melee weapon; Armed Robbery requires an eligible equipped firearm. Owning equipment without equipping it does not meet that requirement.
Attempts can succeed, fail softly or critically fail. Success modifiers affect the initial success roll. A critical-failure roll is made if that first roll fails, so an improved success chance is not the same as immunity to serious consequences.
Cash and penalties vary by outcome. Heat, Life loss, jail and hospital consequences depend on the crime and applicable modifiers. Successful crimes can also roll loot from server-managed tables; a cash reward does not guarantee an item drop.
Each crime has its own cooldown, modified by applicable progression, upgrades and city rules. Base crimes and Crime Specialties also share a two-second global cooldown. Switching between them does not bypass that shared limit.
General Crime progression can improve base-crime success, Heat gain and cooldowns. Specialties unlock at Crime Level 25 and have separate discipline progression.
Compare resource cost, displayed chance, equipment requirements and possible penalties. A higher payout can come with a longer recovery cost. Check your current Heat and keep enough Nerve for your other plans.
Mechanics checked against the game code on 17 September 2026.