Franky [1529693] —
Original article
Unless you're a newcomer or you've been hiding away in your parents' basement for the last few years, you'll already know that the Torn City Jail does not do a great job of containing inmates for the duration of their sentence.
This lax attitude towards prison security may seem shocking to those outside the city, but it becomes less so when you consider the time citizens have put into investigating and testing how to escape this final part of the judicial process.
Pictured: The part of Torn where the jail is, in case you didn't know.
In Torn, it is common knowledge that crime does pay. Beatings and bounties are both legal, and selling vast quantities of drugs won't get you so much as a stern word from the often elusive police force. But if you are the daring type and want to risk spending time with a new friend by the name of Beefy Bubba, you may wish to try something more adventurous, like hacking the banks or the FBI for that extra bit of play money.
Success in these ventures can bring in around 400k; a relatively paltry figure now, but back in the day, that was certainly good value for your nerve usage. However, if you were unlucky enough to fail and have your door bashed in by the police, you would find yourself on the wrong side of the jail hugging your blanket and too afraid to use the toilet for up to twelve hours.
Before presidential assassinations were a thing, a twelve-hour sentence was pretty harsh, especially when no one was busting players out of jail. However, there were added benefits to training defense in the jail gym, which, before the revamp, was better for defense gains than the regular gym.
Nowadays, it is not uncommon to find eight or more players in jail with a thirty-six-hour sentence for being a suspect in a political assassination. In Torn's upside down society, that is where many players aspire to be - having their name carved into the wall of the prison for being a part of a team that took down the Mexican diplomat.
Pictured: One of thousands of diplomats who for some reason keep visiting Torn.
In addition to player initiatives, there are a huge number of faction upgrades available to reduce your time in the slammer further or to avoid it all together. This simulator, kindly created by IceBlueFire has a list of all the upgrades and relative respect cost and challenge requirements for the upgrades.
The authorities have known about these secret tricks and the corrupt wardens who allow their use for some time now, and in June 2015 a secret enterprise was begun in an attempt to make the jail feared again. Without so much as an announcement, busting was made more difficult by around 10%, and those who had made a living from this practice noticed immediately.
This wasn't the first time that changes had been made which increased the jail population, but it was perhaps the first time it had been done deliberately.
Pictured: Torn Jail in April 2011.
In April 2011, it was not unusual to see around 400 players languishing in jail. The reason for this is that many had failed to realise a popular self-busting gain had recently been removed. Prior to this change, those who self-busted would gain a 0.05% boost to their dexterity stat each time they were successful. People were very eager to make the most of this opportunity, and many would end up busting people and committing "unsafe" crimes in order to be jailed.
Self-busting requires half of your maximum nerve, making this difficult for those with more experience. At the time the highest natural nerve bar you could obtain was 45 so that meant you'd have to use 23 nerve (yes, rounded up) to bust yourself out of jail unless you'd completed the education to reduce that cost. However, at this point booster cooldowns had not yet been introduced, so the whole city consumed alcohol in a mass drunken frenzy in order to maximize the use of the self-busting bonus. Several education bonuses also helped with self-busting, as LAW2890 reduced your chances of being caught escaping jail, and LAW 2900 allowed you to bail yourself out with cash.
The most useful education course was LAW 2990, which reduced the nerve required to escape from jail. Since its only prerequisite was the Introduction to Law course, this perk was easily achievable by many people. Players could now self-bust with wanton abandon, and they were so often focused on doing so that many would change their name to something like DONTBUSTME so that busters would leave them be. Those who failed to heed this warning would receive a stern warning at least, with bounties often posted in response to your carelessness.
Pictured: A self-buster desperately trying to return to jail.
For those that don't know, self-busting can be attempted only if you are in jail for under 200 minutes. The time penalty for getting caught attempting to bust is three hours (180 minutes) hence why prospective self-busters would first try to bust others out in the hope of getting caught. If you were apprehended trying to bust someone, you were able to try and escape from the jail as your sentence would always be lower than the maximum allowed for self-busting to take place.
To make the most of this system players would commit crimes that would negatively affect their crime experience causing them
to have a lower natural nerve bar. Once they reached the minimum bar of ten, and with the education done, it would then only require three nerve to attempt to escape from jail. This was a small price to pay for the dexterity on offer, even with the additional energy requirements of the time. It is no surprise that so many players took advantage of this training method over the gym. And it is also no surprise that so many were caught out on that fateful day in April 2011.
The first players knew of the change was when a post in the Announcement Forum that dexterity gains from self-busting had been removed. With all the self-busters gone there appeared to be no one to rescue you if you should be so foolhardy as to be imprisoned. The jail filled up rapidly, with hundreds upon hundreds of incarcerated souls at any one time.
This ushered in the era of the CE (Crime Experience) buster. Before much was known of the new system, tests were undertaken by players to determine the validity of their theory that busting people from jail would give you crime experience. Once it was established and proven that this was indeed the case, the jail once more became like a haunted house. As a result, busters lined up outside ready to pounce on any unsuspecting victims that might enter the jail, many of whom were well-known busters who spent hours refreshing the jail in the hope of being the first to spring a new inmate.
This behavior continued unabated for around three years until September 2014 when our esteemed leader once again stepped in and announced major changes to the busting system. You can read about what happened here, but in short, these alterations pretty much ended the career of most Hall of Fame busters in an instant. Although some continue to this day in the belief that crime experience is still gained from busting, the announcement below from Chedburn clearly states otherwise.
Despite these amendments, there is always the possibility that future updates may increase the number of people in the jail once more. I have it on good authority that a forthcoming company special may lead to such a situation, and if this comes to pass, players must be equipped to self-bust from day one. So, to further aid those with the intention of releasing inmates, I would like to point out that the following relevant specials are available in the form of Education.
LAW2890 Reduced chance of being caught when trying to escape from jail
LAW2920 5% bonus to your skill in busting
LAW2930 5% discount when buying people out of jail
LAW2970 10% bonus to your skill in busting
LAW2980 10% discount when buying people out of jail
LAW3102 Busting is 50% easier and bailing is 50% cheaper
A lawyer's business card may also prove useful, and this item is available via the item market, given out as a subscriber reward and as a payout from the SLAG stock benefit block. To further increase your ability to bust, you may also wish to acquire a nerve refill from the points market for 25 points, or purchase some of the following items, a few of which can also be won via seasonal events.
When combined with faction upgrades, company specials and books these items will be of great use to boosting your nerve and helping you bust. Speaking of which:
You drink the cool, refreshing Bottle of Beer. You gain 2 nerve.
Additionally, there are a number of companies that can aid your venture into the soap on a rope club. Here we're only looking at which specials can affect your nerve / busting / or booster cooldown at certain stars in the company:
A number of subscriber books can also help shorten your stay or help your busting chances, with the following titles proving the most useful:
Book 765: No More Soap On A Rope. - Decreases all jail times by 50% for 31 days.
Book 769: Shawshank Sure Ain't For Me! - Large jail bust & escape boost for the next 31 days.
Book 775: The Real Dutch Courage. - Doubles nerve regeneration for 31 days.
Book 781: Get Drunk And Lose Dignity. - Doubles alcohol effects for 31 days.
So that's pretty much the ins and outs of the Torn City prison system as it stands. But what does the future hold for Torn's inmates? Could we soon see the start of prison riots or a new prison area with a maximum security system? Maybe one day we'll see a police department city job which will allow wardens to force inmates to fulfil their sentence. More prison activity would be good too. Imagine a new era of prison brawls, prison hospitals and prison trades; new items such as shanks only available on the inside so you can slice up your cellmate who's been harassing you. Beefy Bubba wouldn't be so handsy anymore. And maybe soap-on-a-rope would finally have a purpose.
Before After
The possibilities are endless. Sadly, not many suggestions are currently in circulation regarding future changes to the jail. The most probable reason is that this section of the forums is mostly left untended due to the huge development tasks currently underway. But with the news that the prisons may soon be filling up once more thanks to a brand new company feature, perhaps change is in the air after all.
We all know the common saying "Crime doesn't pay", but in this lawless society known as Torn, maybe it actually does...for now.
This lax attitude towards prison security may seem shocking to those outside the city, but it becomes less so when you consider the time citizens have put into investigating and testing how to escape this final part of the judicial process.
Pictured: The part of Torn where the jail is, in case you didn't know.
In Torn, it is common knowledge that crime does pay. Beatings and bounties are both legal, and selling vast quantities of drugs won't get you so much as a stern word from the often elusive police force. But if you are the daring type and want to risk spending time with a new friend by the name of Beefy Bubba, you may wish to try something more adventurous, like hacking the banks or the FBI for that extra bit of play money.
Success in these ventures can bring in around 400k; a relatively paltry figure now, but back in the day, that was certainly good value for your nerve usage. However, if you were unlucky enough to fail and have your door bashed in by the police, you would find yourself on the wrong side of the jail hugging your blanket and too afraid to use the toilet for up to twelve hours.
Before presidential assassinations were a thing, a twelve-hour sentence was pretty harsh, especially when no one was busting players out of jail. However, there were added benefits to training defense in the jail gym, which, before the revamp, was better for defense gains than the regular gym.
Nowadays, it is not uncommon to find eight or more players in jail with a thirty-six-hour sentence for being a suspect in a political assassination. In Torn's upside down society, that is where many players aspire to be - having their name carved into the wall of the prison for being a part of a team that took down the Mexican diplomat.
Pictured: One of thousands of diplomats who for some reason keep visiting Torn.
In addition to player initiatives, there are a huge number of faction upgrades available to reduce your time in the slammer further or to avoid it all together. This simulator, kindly created by IceBlueFire has a list of all the upgrades and relative respect cost and challenge requirements for the upgrades.
The authorities have known about these secret tricks and the corrupt wardens who allow their use for some time now, and in June 2015 a secret enterprise was begun in an attempt to make the jail feared again. Without so much as an announcement, busting was made more difficult by around 10%, and those who had made a living from this practice noticed immediately.
This wasn't the first time that changes had been made which increased the jail population, but it was perhaps the first time it had been done deliberately.
Pictured: Torn Jail in April 2011.
In April 2011, it was not unusual to see around 400 players languishing in jail. The reason for this is that many had failed to realise a popular self-busting gain had recently been removed. Prior to this change, those who self-busted would gain a 0.05% boost to their dexterity stat each time they were successful. People were very eager to make the most of this opportunity, and many would end up busting people and committing "unsafe" crimes in order to be jailed.
Self-busting requires half of your maximum nerve, making this difficult for those with more experience. At the time the highest natural nerve bar you could obtain was 45 so that meant you'd have to use 23 nerve (yes, rounded up) to bust yourself out of jail unless you'd completed the education to reduce that cost. However, at this point booster cooldowns had not yet been introduced, so the whole city consumed alcohol in a mass drunken frenzy in order to maximize the use of the self-busting bonus. Several education bonuses also helped with self-busting, as LAW2890 reduced your chances of being caught escaping jail, and LAW 2900 allowed you to bail yourself out with cash.
The most useful education course was LAW 2990, which reduced the nerve required to escape from jail. Since its only prerequisite was the Introduction to Law course, this perk was easily achievable by many people. Players could now self-bust with wanton abandon, and they were so often focused on doing so that many would change their name to something like DONTBUSTME so that busters would leave them be. Those who failed to heed this warning would receive a stern warning at least, with bounties often posted in response to your carelessness.
Pictured: A self-buster desperately trying to return to jail.
For those that don't know, self-busting can be attempted only if you are in jail for under 200 minutes. The time penalty for getting caught attempting to bust is three hours (180 minutes) hence why prospective self-busters would first try to bust others out in the hope of getting caught. If you were apprehended trying to bust someone, you were able to try and escape from the jail as your sentence would always be lower than the maximum allowed for self-busting to take place.
To make the most of this system players would commit crimes that would negatively affect their crime experience causing them
to have a lower natural nerve bar. Once they reached the minimum bar of ten, and with the education done, it would then only require three nerve to attempt to escape from jail. This was a small price to pay for the dexterity on offer, even with the additional energy requirements of the time. It is no surprise that so many players took advantage of this training method over the gym. And it is also no surprise that so many were caught out on that fateful day in April 2011.
The first players knew of the change was when a post in the Announcement Forum that dexterity gains from self-busting had been removed. With all the self-busters gone there appeared to be no one to rescue you if you should be so foolhardy as to be imprisoned. The jail filled up rapidly, with hundreds upon hundreds of incarcerated souls at any one time.
This ushered in the era of the CE (Crime Experience) buster. Before much was known of the new system, tests were undertaken by players to determine the validity of their theory that busting people from jail would give you crime experience. Once it was established and proven that this was indeed the case, the jail once more became like a haunted house. As a result, busters lined up outside ready to pounce on any unsuspecting victims that might enter the jail, many of whom were well-known busters who spent hours refreshing the jail in the hope of being the first to spring a new inmate.
This behavior continued unabated for around three years until September 2014 when our esteemed leader once again stepped in and announced major changes to the busting system. You can read about what happened here, but in short, these alterations pretty much ended the career of most Hall of Fame busters in an instant. Although some continue to this day in the belief that crime experience is still gained from busting, the announcement below from Chedburn clearly states otherwise.
Despite these amendments, there is always the possibility that future updates may increase the number of people in the jail once more. I have it on good authority that a forthcoming company special may lead to such a situation, and if this comes to pass, players must be equipped to self-bust from day one. So, to further aid those with the intention of releasing inmates, I would like to point out that the following relevant specials are available in the form of Education.
LAW2890 Reduced chance of being caught when trying to escape from jail
LAW2920 5% bonus to your skill in busting
LAW2930 5% discount when buying people out of jail
LAW2970 10% bonus to your skill in busting
LAW2980 10% discount when buying people out of jail
LAW3102 Busting is 50% easier and bailing is 50% cheaper
A lawyer's business card may also prove useful, and this item is available via the item market, given out as a subscriber reward and as a payout from the SLAG stock benefit block. To further increase your ability to bust, you may also wish to acquire a nerve refill from the points market for 25 points, or purchase some of the following items, a few of which can also be won via seasonal events.
| Item | Location | Effect |
| Bottle of Beer available at $10 per bottle | Bits 'n Bobs | Provides a small Nerve Boost when drunk |
| Bottle of Champagne available at $4,500 per bottle | Bits 'n Bobs | Provides a small Nerve Boost when drunk |
| Bottle of tequila available at $85 per bottle | Mexico | Provides a small Nerve Boost when drunk |
| Bottle of Sake available in Japan at $30 a bottle | Japan | Provides a small Nerve Boost when drunk |
| Bottle of Kandy Kane | Xmas events | Provides a small nerve Boost when drunk |
| Bottle of Minty Mayhem | Xmas events | Provides a moderate nerve Boost when drunk |
| Bottle of Mistletoe Madness | Xmas events | Provides a large nerve Boost when drunk |
| Bottle of Pumpkin Brew | Halloween events | Provides a small nerve Boost when drunk |
| Bottle of Stinky Swamp Punch | Halloween events | Provides a large nerve Boost when drunk |
| Bottle of Wicked Witch | Halloween events | Provides a moderate nerve Boost when drunk |
When combined with faction upgrades, company specials and books these items will be of great use to boosting your nerve and helping you bust. Speaking of which:
You drink the cool, refreshing Bottle of Beer. You gain 2 nerve.
Additionally, there are a number of companies that can aid your venture into the soap on a rope club. Here we're only looking at which specials can affect your nerve / busting / or booster cooldown at certain stars in the company:
| Company Specials | ||||
| Company Type | Star | Name | Cost (Job Points) | Effect |
| Amusement park | 1 | Dauntless | 1 | 1 nerve |
| 5 | Unflinching | Passive | 10 maximum nerve | |
| 10 | Thrill Seeker | Passive | 10% crime skill and experience gain | |
| Candle shop | 5 | Calming Therapy | 1 | 2 nerve |
| Firework stand | 1 | Audaciousness | 1 | 1 nerve |
| Pub | 5 | Liquid Courage | 25 | Refill nerve bar |
| 7 | Lightweight | Passive | 50% bottle of alcohol boost | |
| 10 | Buzzed | Passive | 15 maximum nerve | |
| Game shop | 10 | Overpowered | 1 | 1 nerve, 5 energy, 50 happiness |
| Grocery Store | 3 | Fast Metabolism | Passive | 10% consumable cooldown reduction |
| 5 | Bottled Up | 5 | Bottle of alcohol | |
| 7 | Absorption | Passive | 10% consumable boost | |
| Meat warehouse | 1 | Blood Thirst | 1 | 1 nerve |
| 5 | Carnage | Passive | 10 maximum nerve | |
| Mining corporation | 3 | Thirsty Work | Passive | 30% alcohol cooldown reduction |
| Restaurant | 10 | Professional Metabolism | Passive | 25% consumable cooldown reduction |
| Law firm | 1 | Bail Bondsman | Passive | 50% decreased bail costs |
| 5 | Closing Argument | Passive | Easier to bust more people at once | |
| 10 | Educated Decisions | Passive | View success chance of potential busts |
A number of subscriber books can also help shorten your stay or help your busting chances, with the following titles proving the most useful:
Book 765: No More Soap On A Rope. - Decreases all jail times by 50% for 31 days.
Book 769: Shawshank Sure Ain't For Me! - Large jail bust & escape boost for the next 31 days.
Book 775: The Real Dutch Courage. - Doubles nerve regeneration for 31 days.
Book 781: Get Drunk And Lose Dignity. - Doubles alcohol effects for 31 days.
So that's pretty much the ins and outs of the Torn City prison system as it stands. But what does the future hold for Torn's inmates? Could we soon see the start of prison riots or a new prison area with a maximum security system? Maybe one day we'll see a police department city job which will allow wardens to force inmates to fulfil their sentence. More prison activity would be good too. Imagine a new era of prison brawls, prison hospitals and prison trades; new items such as shanks only available on the inside so you can slice up your cellmate who's been harassing you. Beefy Bubba wouldn't be so handsy anymore. And maybe soap-on-a-rope would finally have a purpose.
Before After
The possibilities are endless. Sadly, not many suggestions are currently in circulation regarding future changes to the jail. The most probable reason is that this section of the forums is mostly left untended due to the huge development tasks currently underway. But with the news that the prisons may soon be filling up once more thanks to a brand new company feature, perhaps change is in the air after all.
We all know the common saying "Crime doesn't pay", but in this lawless society known as Torn, maybe it actually does...for now.
Original article
Comments
Post a Comment