“If he didn’t know that someone was robbing the bank, why did he drive to this place?” Allison asked.
“I think it was just a coincidence. He just happened to drive by this place. I think he was driving so slowly because he was studying available missions. He then pulled over. He was absorbed in his cell phone he paid the bank no mind, which is why he didn’t realize that someone was robbing it at the moment. After he picked some contract, he sped away so that to get to the place before whoever was robbing it got away.”
Allison was disappointed. She had clearly hoped for some action.
“By the way, the vault’s door has just opened,” Flynn said. “Allison, get over here and watch the hostages while we secure the money.”
“Okay,” she sighed.
Flynn and I entered the vault and started to fill our bags with bundles of hundred-dollar bills. Once it was done, I looked at the deposit boxes lining the walls of the room.
“Do we open them?” I asked.
“If you want,” Flynn replied. “But be aware that the longer we linger here, the more risk we take. Some other cops may chance on the bank and spot us. So it’s your call.”
I decided not to jinx our luck. I slung one bag over my shoulder and Flynn did the same with the other one. We then walked out of the vault and entered the lobby.
“What do we do now?” Allison asked.
“Once outside, run as quickly as possible for the van,” Flynn replied.
“What if some passer-by notices us?”
“It doesn’t matter now. The van is close to the bank. It always is. We should get over to it before some of the passers-by spot us and call the police. Or, if you want, we can make sure nobody’s nearby before leaving the building.”
“Okay, let’s go,” I said.
We walked to the main door. Flynn and I stuck our heads out the door and scanned the street. There were no NPCs near the bank. All three of us dashed out of the building and raced across the street. A couple of seconds later, we reached the van that was parked in a narrow alley. Flynn slid the side door open and we put the bags with the money in the vehicle. Flynn then glanced at the driver and said, “We’re done here.”
After he slid the door closed, the van instantly pulled from the alley and drove away.
“Okay, we can put our masks off now,” he said.
After I doffed my balaclava, a message popped up in my HUD.
> Mission Accomplished
> Money stolen: $6,000,000
> Money laundered: $3,000,000
> Stealth bonus: $750,000 (+25%)
> Penalty: none
> Gang members survived: 3
> Money earned: $1,250,000
Immediately afterward, another one emerged.
> +4000 exp
> +1000 exp (25% stealth bonus)
> Congrats! You have just leveled up to level 8! You have got 2 skill points to assign.
“Wow,” Allison exclaimed. “I’ve just gotten a million and a quarter dollars.”
“Yeah,” Flynn said. “Not bad.”
“This heist was extremely boring, but at least the money justified it,” she replied. “Okay, guys, what do we do now? Another heist?”
“Sorry guys, I gotta go,” I said.
“Yeah, me too,” Flynn said.
“Another time then?” Allison asked, a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
“Sure,” I said.
We then exchanged phone numbers. If was obvious that Flynn wasn’t all that keen on playing with Allison again, but he gave her his number anyway. After that, went our separate ways.
Once back in my safe house, I brought up the skill tree. Before leaving the game, I wanted to assign the two skill points I had recently received, so I examined the available skills.
> Level 6 Branch
> Name: First Aid Kit 1
> Description: You can deploy up to 3 first aid kids. It can be used by any gang member and it disappears after being used. After a first aid kit is deployed, it cannot be moved. When a player uses a first aid kit, it restores 25% of their Health and they also takes 5% less damage for 60 seconds.
> Cost: 1 skill point
> Name: Up you go 2
> Description: Your teammates take 30% less damage after you revive them for 60 seconds.
> Cost: 1 skill point
> Note: You cannot learn Up you go 3 if you do not have Up you go 2 unlocked.
> Name: Helpful Hostages 1
> Description: If you are downed, a hostage within ten feet of you can revive you.
> Cost: 3 skill points
> Name: Dodge 3
> Description: You have got a 15% chance of avoiding being hit by enemies’ bullets.
> Cost: 1 skill point
> Note: You cannot learn Dodge 3 if you do not have Dodge 2 unlocked.
> Name: Tactical Reload 3
> Description: Increases reload speed with all weapons by 75%.
> Cost: 1 skill points
> Note: You cannot learn Tactical Reload 3 if you do not have Tactical Reload 2 unlocked.
I learned Dodge 3. The next branch of the skill tree got unlocked. I took a moment to study the skills.
> Level 7 Branch
> Name: Painkiller 3
> Description: After being revived, you take 50% less damage for 120 seconds.
> Cost: 1 skill points
> Note: You cannot learn Painkiller 3 if you do not have Painkiller 2 unlocked.
> Name: Up you go 3
> Description: Your teammates take 60% less damage after you revive them for 120 seconds.
> Cost: 1 skill point
> Note: You cannot learn Up you go 3 if you do not have Up you go 2 unlocked.
> Name: The Real Deal
> Description: Increases the power of your intimidation by 75%, which meant that civilians get scared more easily when you shout at them.
> Cost: 1 skill point
> Name: Stim Pistol 1
> Description: Before going on a heist, you can take a stim pistol instead of a secondary weapon, with which you can heal crew members by firing at them. A stim pistol has 7 charges, each of which restores 5% of Health.
> Cost: 1 skill point
> Name: Helpful Hostages 2
> Description: If you are downed, a hostage within five feet of you can revive you.
> Cost: 3 skill points
After giving the matter some thought, I came to the conclusion that I should learn The Real Deal. I was a Shot Caller after all. This class was the only one that could control and manipulate civilians, so I had to learn not only the skills that improved my own stats but also the skills that aided the whole team.
With the Real Deal learned, the hostages would stay intimidated much longer and there would be no need for us to check on them too often. It would be really helpful when doing heists in stealth. I learned the skill.
The next branch of the skill tree was unlocked now, but I decided to check it out later on.
I then checked my current stats.
> Statistics:
> Health: 100/100
> Stamina: 100/100
> Speed: 3 m/s
> Skills learned:
> Medic bag: 3 charges, 50% Health Restoration (Medic Bag 1)
> Health Regeneration: 45% per minute (Health Regeneration 1 + Health Regeneration 2 + Health Regeneration 3)
> Dodge: 30% (Dodge 1 + Dodge 2 + Dodge 3)
> The Real Deal: 100% Intimidation (25% Basic Intimidation + 75% The Real Deal)
I logged off.
Chapter Seven
After completing the bank robbery in stealth, we played the game for ten or so more days. Some of the heists we did in “loud”, others in stealth.
As it turned out, Flynn wasn’t all that good at the “loud” approach. Not that he sucked at it. Not at all. It was just that his shooting skills were lacking somewhat. But he was ex
tremely good at stealth. He had come to love the quiet approach when he played the game during the beta test period. He had learned a lot about the game and his knowledge really came in handy when we did the heists in stealth.
Allison was the complete opposite. As we already knew, she hated stealth. She sucked at it. Not because she didn’t know how to play in stealth, but rather because it bored her to death. She just couldn’t stand examining guards’ patrolling patterns, waiting for them to walk outside where we could knock them out. She hated sitting on her ass, watching the hostages and waiting for a drill to open a vault door. Stealth was too slow and tedious in her opinion.
She preferred gunfights, car chases, explosions, action. And she really excelled in the “loud” approach. She was a crack shot because she loved shooter games and played them a lot.
So Flynn and Allison counterbalanced each other. Overall, we made a very good team.
I learned a lot about the game over these ten days. First of all, although Heist Online had some key elements of a roleplaying game, such as gaining experience points, leveling up, and assigning skill points to learn new skills, it wasn’t a full-fledged RPG. No, it was rather a shooter game with some elements of an RPG.
Being a shooter game, Heist Online had to keep balance. Which was why some character’s characteristics always stayed the same, the way it did in many other shooter games. For instance, the amount of Health Points. In the beginning of the game, a player had 100 HP. This amount didn’t change as a player progressed through the game. Even when he or she reached max level, their Health was still one hundred.
The same held true for weapons. Their stats always stayed the same. Moreover, there weren’t too powerful or too weak weapons in the game. Each gun was balanced and had its strengths and weaknesses. Each gun required some amount of skill. Once you got used to a particular weapon, you could effectively use it through the whole game.
Some of the game classes, such as Engineers or Punishers, could wear body armor. It didn’t give them additional HP but offered some protection. There were three types of body armor: level 1 or light, level 2 or medium, and level 3 or heavy.
I played as a Shot Caller, so I couldn’t wear any type of body armor because I had such skills as Dodge 1, Dodge 2, and Dodge 3 that allowed me to avoid being hit by enemies’ bullets.
Flynn played as an Engineer. He could wear either light or medium body armor. The light body armor offered little protection, but it had no movement penalty whatsoever. The medium body armor offered more protection, but it reduced one’s speed somewhat. Flynn preferred to wear the medium one.
Allison played as a Punisher so she always wore the heavy body armor. Out of the three heister classes, the Punisher class was the only one that could wear the heavy body armor.
Also, there were three helmets in the game: level 1 or light, level 2 or medium, and level 3 or heavy. The level 1 helmet offered 25% protection, the level 2 helmet 55% protection, the level 3 helmet 70% protection.
Again, being a Shot Caller, I couldn’t wear helmets and only Allison could wear the heavy or level 3 helmet.
There were a few types of weapons in the game: pistols, assault rifles, shotguns, submachine guns, squad automatic weapons, and explosives. Each type had three weapons to choose from. For example, there were three pistols in the game: Sig Sauer P226 MK25, Beretta 93R, and Desert Eagle.
> Name: Sig Sauer P226 MK25
> Place of origin: Switzerland
> Class: Handgun
> Damage: 35
> Headshot Multiplier: 3X
> Magazine Size: 15+1
> Firing Mode(s): Semi-automatic
> Name: Beretta 93R
> Place of origin: Italy
> Class: Handgun
> Damage: 20
> Headshot Multiplier: 3X
> Magazine Size: 20+1
> Firing Mode(s): 3-round burst
> Name: Desert Eagle
> Place of origin: Israel, United States
> Class: Handgun
> Damage: 70
> Headshot Multiplier: 3X
> Magazine Size: 7+1
> Firing Mode(s): Semi-automatic
The Sig Sauer was the first pistol––or the weapon, for that matter––that a player laid their hands on in this game. Many players got rid of this pistol as soon as they were able to acquire the other ones. However, despite being the first weapon you received, a Sig Sauer wasn’t weak. Not in the least. Players especially newbies, didn’t like the pistol because it was a pretty tricky pistol. Since it fired only one shot a time, it was pretty hard to use this gun efficiently.
Some people preferred a Desert Eagle for the enormous amount of damage it dealt. Others used a Beretta 93R because it fired three rounds at a time. It was basically not a pistol but a machine pistol. It didn’t require you to be proficient in pistols to occasionally hit what you were aiming at. Since it fired 3-round bursts, at least one of the bullets might hit the target even if you were not very good at aiming.
However, I wasn’t very fond of these two pistols. Although a Desert Eagle did good damage, it took you some time to recover from its considerable recoil. After each shot, you had to readjust your aim. Moreover, the pistol was too big and clumsy and could hold only eight bullets, seven in the magazine and one in the chamber. A Beretta 93R was a pretty good pistol, but it also had a considerable recoil.
On the other hand, a Sig Sauer has little recoil, but at the same time, it did very good damage. Moreover, it could hold as many as sixteen rounds in total. Sure, this handgun could fire only one shot a time, but if your aim was good, you could work wonders with this pistol. Since it had little recoil, you could readjust your aim very quickly after every shot and plant your slugs right on target. As I was very good at shooter games, I loved this pistol. But I could understand why most players avoided using it. If you were not very good at aiming, most of the bullets fired from this pistol would miss your target.
There was another reason why I always used a Sig Sauer as my secondary weapon. In this game, a shot to the unprotected head was always lethal, no matter how much damage the weapon you used dealt. But it wasn’t the case if a player had a helmet on.
A Sig Sauer’s damage was 35 and its headshot multiplier was 3X, meaning that a shot to the head dealt 105 damage. Like I had said, the level 1 helmet offered 25% protection, the level 2 helmet 55% protection, and the level 3 helmet 70% protection. So I did some simple calculations and found some interesting results.
When caught a bullet from a Sig Sauer to the head, a player wearing level 1 helmet received 78.75 damage instead of 105; a player wearing level 2 helmet 47.25; and a player wearing level 3 helmet 34.5.
This meant that to kill a player wearing a level 1 helmet with a Sig Sauer, I had to shoot him twice in the head. To kill a player with a level 2 helmet on with a Sig Sauer, I had to shoot him three times in the head, a player with level 3 helmet on four times.
So to kill a player with a heavy helmet on, I needed to shoot him only four times in the head. Sure, to hit a player in the head for times in a row wasn’t very easy, but it was doable if you were proficient with pistols.
I did the same calculations for the other two pistols. With a Desert Eagle, the most powerful weapon in the game, you could kill a player wearing a level 1 helmet with one shot to the head; a player with a level 2 helmet on with two shots; and a player with a level 3 helmet on with 2 shots as well.
With a Beretta 93R, you need to shoot a player wearing a level 3 helmet six times in the head to kill him or her.
As to the primary weapon, there were assault rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, and squad automatic weapons to choose from. SAWs were out of question because they were too heavy and slowed one’s movement speed down. Which was why one should use them only if he or she played as a Punisher and was wearing heavy armor. So SAWs were out of question for me.
I didn’t like to use shotguns because they were
good only for close quarters combat. And I also neglected to use submachine guns. They were light, easy to use, and had little recoil. On the flip side, they had a really high rate of fire. Submachine guns were tricky weapons to use, all right. Once you depressed the trigger, an SMG dumped the whole mag in about a second or two. Moreover, most of the SMGs couldn’t be switched to a three-round-burst mode or a single-round one. Due to their high rate of fire, submachine guns could be very dangerous, but one needed to get used to them before he or she could use such weapons efficiently.
So my choice for the primary weapon was one of the assault rifles. There were three types of assault rifles in the game.
> Name: AK-47
> Place of origin: Soviet Union
> Class: Assault Rifle
> Damage: 25
> Headshot Multiplier: 3X
> Rate of Fire: 650 RPM
> Magazine Size: 35+1
> Firing Mode(s): Automatic
> Name: M4A1
> Place of origin: United States
> Class: Assault rifle
> Damage: 15
> Headshot Multiplier: 3X
> Rate of Fire: 750 RPM
> Magazine Size: 30+1
> Firing Mode(s): Automatic, 3-round burst, Semi-automatic
> Name: FN SCAR
> Place of origin: Belgium
> Class: Assault Rifle
> Damage: 35
> Headshot Multiplier: 3X
> Rate of Fire: 550 RPM
> Magazine Size: 20+1
> Firing Mode(s): Automatic
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