Two ways to lose time. Jail comes from failed crimes and failed raids; the hospital comes from fights, overdoses and failed raids. Both lock you out of actions until the timer runs out or you pay.
- Bail and hospital bill share one base price: 5 × the biggest max reward of any crime you have unlocked. It jumps at tier boundaries, not with every level. "Bail Cost" and "Hospital Bill" gear effects reduce it, by at most 90%. It also falls with the time left: paying buys back the wait, so a timer nearly done is cheap. At 25 minutes of jail or 40 minutes of hospital you pay the full price; below that the bill slides down with the clock, never under 5% of the base. Both are paid pocket-first, and whatever is left comes out of the bank: nobody can rob you while you are locked up, so there is nothing to protect by making you withdraw first.
- Hospital times. PvP knockout: 2 minutes. Overdose: a random span in the drug's range (see Dealer). Failed raid: −30 HP and 10 minutes if that knocks you out.
- Jail times. Failed crime: tier × 5 minutes. Failed raid: 15 minutes + 5 minutes for every defense installed on the business you hit.
- Leaving the hospital restores full HP — by the clock or by paying. You never walk out one hit away from going back in.
- While locked up you can still use the chat, the bank and your profile. Releases are automatic and use the server clock; the app checks on every action, so a clock set wrong on your phone cannot cheat the timer.
Chief Bastos
- Who he is. In your cell, Talk to the chief opens the office of Chief Bastos, the police chief. He is played by an AI: you write, he answers, and any talk can be reported.
- What he can do. Cut up to 10% of the time left for free, or up to 50% for a bribe. He never lets anyone out: at least 30 seconds stay on the clock, and bail and The Family Lawyer remain the only ways out.
- The bribe. It costs that second's bail × the share of the sentence he cuts × a factor he picks between 40% and 100%. Cunning lowers that floor by 10 percentage points when it sits at least 10% above the average of your four stats, and by twice that at 40% above. It pays like bail: your pocket first, the rest from the bank.
- The limits. One talk per arrest and 3 a day, and only with at least 2 minutes of sentence ahead; up to 4 lines of yours per talk; an offer stands for 3 minutes. Talking about anything but your case counts as a slip (bargaining never does), and 2 slips end the talk: an offer already on the table still stands, but no new one comes.