Torn City Times

IIIlusionist [253384] — In one of our recent articles we reminisced at length about our memories of the old stock market system, aka the gold mine. This was a time when players would pool their money, either with strangers or among faction members, in order to drive up stocks and sell them for a fat profit. Although many wish we could return to such a profitable time, there is no doubt the stock market of old was not a sustainable system. The new and improved Torn stock market was fairer, less susceptible to manipulation, and also introduced the concept of shareholder dividends. As with real-life trading, the basic principle is fairly straightforward; buy low and sell high. Sounds easy enough right? So you click on over to the stock market and stumble across a ridiculously low-priced offering. Your eyes light up, and you begin mentally spending the imaginary dollars seemingly coming your way. However, on closer inspection, you also find a big fat zero next to the number of shares on ...

sugarvalves [1963573] — So the 2016 Elimination Competition is over, with Mountain Men emerging as winners after a conclusion which felt more anticlimactic than the ending to No Man's Sky combined with a sexless wedding night. Yet for all the lack of drama during Elimination's final weekend, the days running up to it proved as enthralling as anything we've seen in Torn before. Mountain Men started the week with an impressive tally of 61.1 hits per person, and such heavy activity drew the attention of weaker teams intent on dragging these dirty hill-folk down into the gutter. On Tuesday, with thirty minutes remaining until the elimination deadline, Mountain Men found themselves fighting for their lives alongside Knitting Circle, Original Gangsters and 'Murica. Mountain Men eventually hauled themselves out of the drop zone as 'Murica headed home early - presumably to pet their bald eagles and salute a home-made bust of Donald J Trump - but last-minute battles would ...

sugarvalves [1963573] — Earlier today Torn saw the dramatic last-minute ejection of Short Bus from the Elimination competition, securing their position as the 8th placed team after a tempestuous final half hour. With thirty minutes left before the deadline it seemed a straight fight between 'Murica on 0, Short Bus on 0 and the Original Gangsters with 2 points, as the 3rd from bottom OG's were a massive 156 points behind 5th placed Pink Power. However, within minutes Pink Power - whose logo seems more of a fuschia-tone to me - were right back in the mix after losing a massive 120 points in but one-quarter of an hour. With 15 minutes to go Pink Power had dropped to a measly 36 points, illustrating just how quickly a team can be dragged into the mix despite a healthy lead. Pink Power's lack of numbers seemingly contributed to their free-fall, as with many members hospitalised they were effectively powerless to resist repeated assaults upon them. 60 seconds were left on the c...

sugarvalves [1963573] — Having had little contact with Torn's company bigwigs before now, this investigation and subsequent article were prompted by a message from an anonymous source; an employee of a local law firm whose director was struggling to get by. He had been placed in temporary charge of the company and discovered to his chagrin that many of Torn's major players were making constant attempts to poach his staff. One particular worker, who shall also remain anonymous, was offered remuneration of $300,000 in exchange for employment, only to inform my source he wanted $500,000 for the pleasure of his presence, bringing with him a paltry 50,000 in working stats. This kind of wage is usually offered to only the most qualified individuals, or at least those with a penchant for short skirts and occasional pen-dropping. With such exorbitant fees being commanded by entirely average workers, over the past month I made myself known to Torn's most notable directors in order...

sugarvalves [1963573] — From sexperts to sales assistants, stylists to strippers; the registered companies of Torn employ over twenty thousand people throughout the city. Yet for all the responsibility which comes with directorship, it seems almost any old schmuck can set up shop here. Most companies fail to turn so much as a single dollar of profit, so those that do are clearly operating in a unique manner to the rest. Becoming a successful director requires a specific set of attributes and skills, so in this series of articles I aim to find out exactly what it takes to join Torn City's elite club of top-level company directors. Initially my inquiries were met with suspicion, with some fearing me to be involved in industrial espionage. Pussycat director Mad_Dog claimed that several rival business owners had already attempted to extract information from him, and when that failed, they made advances towards his employees; "Other directors mostly want to know what your prici...

IIIlusionist [253384] — In the final article of our trilogy regarding the Faction Wars 2.0 Beta, we'll move on from talk of stat monsters, money, and energy in order to focus on what the new system means for the little guys. After reading our previous article, smaller factions might be trembling in their boots, so let's see what lies in store for them when the update comes. Once the dust settles following the initial release, it is highly probable those factions looking to avoid war will be able to pick off the territories other factions don't want, so as to remain relatively quiet and out of the way. Therefore to a certain extent, some factions will be able to remain peaceful, but there remains a lack of clarity on whether non-warring factions will need to put members on the hills of abandoned or unoccupied territories in order to gain respect. Can they simply target unwanted areas with the only downfall being that the respect gain is lesser? Should other factions declar...

sugarvalves [1963573] — The citizens of Torn have long wondered whether their efforts in seeking the Lord's favour result in any form of tangible reward, or if the entire operation is merely a time sink, designed to entice some of our guiltier god-fearing individuals. Thus far nobody has been able to prove conclusively either way, yet we've all heard the rumours - prayers reduce jail time, obtaining the Forgiveness honour lowers the likelihood of incarceration, and that good fortune is bestowed upon those who make significant donations to the Church. Others maintain that such actions bear as much fruit as the average Scotsman - zilch, nada, nothing, and the findings of Perplex's 2014 investigation into the benefits of religious activity, whilst extremely thorough and interesting, was ultimately deemed inconclusive by the community. However, the recent discovery of a shipment of Church-approved merchandise has once more thrown the efficacy of worship back into the spotligh...

IIIlusionist [253384] — In the second piece of our article trilogy concerning the ongoing Faction 2.0 Beta testing, today we are looking at the punitive aspects of Faction Warring - specifically how much it will cost in cash, and what it requires in terms of energy The points target system means that wars, regardless of other factors, will last a minimum period of one day. This is the time it will take to reach 1,000,000 points with ten people involved, and it seems this will go some way towards limiting the advantage gained from surprise declarations, as the defending faction are now able to enter into the war without having to wait for leaders to declare filler factions. But will this mean the end of our beloved war chaining? Perhaps, but on the other hand, might the points system also introduce a maximum duration a war can last? Could we see competitive wars where players are continuously joining the hill and attacking each other limited to a couple of days? Before the Beta many p...

sugarvalves [1963573] — As many will have noticed, Torn's loan-shark Duke has been decidedly more active of late; his recent forum posts in response to planned attacks upon his person coming hot on the heels of a somewhat surprising offer of charitable aid to the people of the city. Many in Torn took this opportunity to offer up rivals and enemies as targets for the faux-Mafia bruiser, and while it is not yet known what became of those whose names found their way onto Mr Calabrese's naughty list, I have uncovered evidence that another group of people may have much more to fear - his clients. For several years now Duke has sent out generic messages to his tardy clientele, with most containing nothing more than payment demands or vague threats of retribution. Occasionally he receives a reply, but for the most part Duke refuses to read these, instead employing a team of underlings to do the work for him. However, thanks to a recent staff shortage Duke HAS been reading the respon...

IIIlusionist [253384] — The announcement of the factions 2.0 update is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated developments in recent years. Just recently the second batch of factions were introduced to 2.0 beta testing, and with many of Torn's users eager to see how this overhaul will affect their own faction, now seems as good a time as any to take a brief look at what players have gleaned from the process so far. For many, the beta experience involves a short burst of testing out the new features and a quick look at what changes were implemented after the first test run, before a much longer period twiddling their thumbs while the developers work through reported bugs. It doesn't take a whole lot of time to get your head around the beta system - a day at most - but here is a rough idea of what the beta faction update looks like. All territory is displayed and viewed through the city map, and your own blocks can also be viewed from the Territory tab on the faction main page...