Bala

The MDC was very recently fixed IIRC.

More cosmetic customisation can only be a good thing.

I think if you alter Post FX in game, it should take the blinding bloom out of the snow.

Nerfed Revolvers for Law Enforcement and Thompson Machine Guns for criminals, yeah boi.

08.11 "Old Habits Die Hard." Luca went about his normal routine, when he bumped into an old associate at the Bank. Ricardo Mancini, a one-time member of Three C was in town, visiting his sick grandma. She foolishly lend him her vehicle and he managed to rack up an unhealthy amount of speed violations in a short period of time. He questioned Luca about how he could approach resolving this, but Luca was unable to help his old friend from continuing old habits. Ricardo offered to help Luca with the disposal of a clapped out old Journey. Together, they set off in Ricardo's Grandmother's vehicle and the Journey to find the chop-shop. Along the way, Ricardo's erratic driving got the better of him and his Blista collided with two black vehicles on the highway. Luca could do nothing for Ricardo in this case and carried on. He headed to all the usual haunts for where the black market mechanics were operating and happened upon the log cabins up on Chilliad. There, Luca encountered the Rooks for the first time, as they had full control of the area. Luca and "The Black Bird" Brandon Fitz discussed the former's arrival in the city, some light business talk and exchanged pleasantries and names and the like. Luca made his excuses and left the area, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire of the perpetual violence between warring factions in the county. Luca checked some other spots around Blaine County and happened upon the right one. Alone at first, Luca was joined by The Wanted at the chop shop. Business wasn't really on the menu for discussion at this time, the vehicles that had been brought there were scrapped with no issue. Luca hung around and made some idle conversation with some of the members, even asking for a lift back to town. Awkwardly then, out of nowhere, a Wanted member drove Ricardo's Blista to the chop area with no Ricardo insight. Luca pondered the fate of his old friend for a moment, but in times like these, he remembered that it's all about the present and the future. 09.11 "The Old Ball and Chain." Saturday night means one thing in Los Santos, Mirror Park Tavern holding some kind of party. Luca decided he'd attend, to try and build on last week's calamities. He'd had a good week so he treated himself to a new suit, partly to make an impression and partly to try and avoid comparisons with the Soviet Connection, that seemed to continue to irritate him. However, he had neglected to read any of the promotional material. The Tavern was holding a Wild West themed evening and Luca stood out like a well-dressed thumb. Luca paid the admission fee, in full this week and entered, looking to continue to announce The Syndicate's presence in the city. The event however was a little bit of a washout. The Tavern was modestly populated, the music often took a little poetic license with the theme and most heartbreaking of all, the stripper from last week that had caught Luca's eye was not working that night. Luca took his two customary bottles of whiskey and left the Tavern, a little disappointed. Not before greeting Mr. and Mrs. Zeta themselves, Jay and Kelly Gamble (not pictured). At this point, Luca recieved a phone call from both Johnny Thick and "Sanjay". They were back in town and looking to pick up where they'd left off. They all made their way to the parking lot and hoped into John's Baller. The plan was simple, head around to some stores and relieve them of the contents of their registers. The first couple stores went off without a hitch, with even a couple civilians remarking that The Syndicate had gotten there first. There was an opportunity to perhaps help them with their baggage but robbing a convenience store seems to be somewhat time sensitive. They made their way up to Grapeseed, a quiet little farming community and burst into the store. Luca made the decision to have both of his guys assist him in the robbery but it proved to be a mistake. A nosy neighbour had seen the Baller that had visited that area a few times, heard the commotion and informed the Sheriffs Department. Deputy Deys and a trainee arrived on scene and we fled back to the vehicle, but it was too late. Never one for stopping to think, Johnny pulled his weapon on the officer but was promptly dispatched. John and Luca surrendered themselves. The policy for The Syndicate isn't to engage Law Enforcement in combat unless absolutely necessary. The stakes weren't that great, the losses weren't irrecoverable so surrender seemed like the smartest play. The Sheriffs once again for the most part, proved to be rude and disrespectful. It was understandable that tensions may of been a little high as shots were fired but the eager beaver Trainee used foul language and yelling to try and maintain control of the situation. A senior member of the department also offered some choice insults, which were met with a rebuttal by Luca, never one to be outdone. The arresting officer however approached the situation with calmness, class and respect. His partner, an uptight blonde, would not indulge Luca in idle conversation as they made their way to Paleto Bay. Both Durry and Luca found themselves in Paleto, Luca with still his full inventory, perhaps due to the green and overzealous nature of the rookie deputy. Luca got his old cell back and took out a small bottle of whiskey from the Tavern out of his pocket. While John tried to find his spiritual centre, Luca drank the bottle defiantly in the face of the officer that had injured their associate. Johnny Thick would go down for weapons charges, attempted murder of a Government Employee and finally, Armed Robbery. Luca and John got Accessory to Armed Robbery. Following their release, Luca and Sanjay were straight back out onto the street. With holes in their pockets from their brush with the law, money was on their minds. They attempted to score a weapon from the Los Zetas but balked at both the asking price and the hardware on offer. On their way back to the city, to speak with their contact, they encountered a recently injured man, who by his own admission had been relieved of his personal effects. They asked him if he had called a medic, which he had. They asked if the medic was on the way, which it was. They wished him well, but spotting the opportunity, took the man's vehicle, a black Panto and fled the area. All in all, they managed through good fortune to find three unlocked vehicles around Blaine County and took care of them, splitting the profits. Luca and John headed back to the city, wishing to call it a day. Time for one last brush with the law. John was stopped by the same senior Sheriff as earlier and his underling, for speeding. A ticket was issued and the men were sent on their way. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - FACTION DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS KEY: THE HIGHER THE NUMBER, THE BETTER THE RELATIONS. RED IS BAD, GREEN IS GOOD. This is respective of our IC encounters so far. THE WANTED [7] - Almost all positive interactions. SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT [3]- Rude and disrespectful. THE ROOKS [5] - Mixed interactions, good and bad. LOS ZETAS [5] - Some very good interactions, some very bad. WEST COAST ASSASSINS [4]- A lack of trust there, but some civility. THE RUSSIANS [4]- No interactions with them so far, but the mistaken identities is getting very annoying. THE TRIADS [6]- Almost all positive interactions, respectful but elusive. LOS SANTOS POLICE DEPARTMENT [5] - Not really any interactions with them, aside from some light questioning. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I wasn't aware, but it doesn't really matter anyway. If it closed ages ago, people are only gunna remember this anyways.

Through looking at the way the other factions operate and refer to themselves in character and out, we're going to be operating under a much simpler name, to avoid it becoming a sticking point for people that are used to the simpler faction names (i.e. Rooks, Zetas, WCA, Wanted, Triads etc..) The faction's official name is Sempre Neopolitan but the nickname/common name used will be Il Syndicato or The Syndicate.

Because it's not restricted to memey posts, is it? It's on people's reports, it's on their suggestions, it's on their regular discussions etc.. If you're stopping people from contributing to discussions or even posting altogether because they worry they aren't gunna be taken seriously, that's shitty. The forum is for those posts, no?

I'm sure there have been quite a few suggestion threads about removing speed cameras and all this business. Full disclosure, I don't like them and haven't ever liked them. I can see why they were implemented, in areas like the Bank but for the most part, it's an OOC solution to an IC problem in my eyes. Anyway, to the suggestion, pretty simple but remove the Reckless Operation charge from the Speed Cameras and just leave the 1st/2nd/3rd degree speeding fines on there. The reasoning for this The original jail time for this was 45 minutes, which was very excessive. It was reduced like 20(?) some time after and more recently, reduced to 10. 10 minutes just makes the charge itself meaningless. That's a toilet and get something to drink break. We get people surrendering for 1-2 of these every day at Mission Row and in my view, on a practical level, it's the worst type of arrest. People don't want to roleplay it out, but you still have to do the procedure. You put them in the cell, go back upstairs and a couple minutes later, poof they are back and learned nothing. The speed camera adding charges takes away the ability for PD to make independent decisions regarding traffic violations. At least in this instance anyway, we can't remove it if you aren't a Lieutenant+and you don't want to bother PD/SD command with the charge because it's not significant enough. Yes, if you go over x amount of speed, you get the charge and you definitely were driving but no person is actually seeing you do it. The lack of awareness that you can actually go to jail for excessive speeding. Every single day, you will get people that are getting reckless operation for the first time and they can't understand why when they have paid their tickets, they have to go to jail as well. I'm not sure it actually solves the speeding issue because people still get these charges and don't give a fuck anyway. This is just my opinion of course, I can't speak for any other cop but I like to feel like i've earned an arrest when I charge someone. These Reckless Operation charges just make you feel a bit like a Librarian that is fining someone for bringing back their books late. To me, it's not police work.

The problem is, most of the 'hood' areas are quite far away from the populated areas and with the Blaine County expansion, people are further and further away from those areas. Zetas have it right, they post up behind the bank and that two blocks is where it's at as far as server activity is.

This. Done it myself as well, but it's probably not conducive to a more community friendly feel. Like/Dislike, Funny, Sad, Angry. All you need really.

Yeah I like this, particularly as a cop, I don't mind waiting the time needed for people to return as long as I know they are coming back.

I think the posts before mine have summed it up. On the one hand, I feel like it's information that would be readily available to a person if they wanted it in real life. On the other, the suggestion would eliminate the need for person-person roleplay at the PD for background checks. Probably not needed, imo.

As someone that spends most of their time in the city, I'd rather they didn't put more things in to split players up. We have 250-300 people max in the server at any one time but at times it might as well be a 10th of that.

We all appreciate that kind of comment, people have asked about what our plans for the faction are and for me, it's pretty much to have fun and try and do things in a different way to the other factions. I think perhaps with us being all alts and doing this part time, being official isn't really on the cards for us but again, really nice comment to read.

04 November Luca started the day off solo, trying to climb the employment ladder to afford some permanent transportation. He figured, everyone thinks 'waste management' when they think Italian crime organisations so why not? Turns out, the pay is terrible. The smell is terrible. However, when life hands you lemons, just say fuck it and bail. Luca happened upon a bike by the Parking Lot, abandoned and in need of chopping. Upon arrival, he was greeted by 2-3 members of The Wanted. They asked who he was with and were generally quite friendly and going about their business. Stranded without a vehicle, far from town, Luca offered to trade some narcotics production for a lift. The man on the Hakachou, who called himself Hakan, declined but offered Luca a ride to the parking lot. Luca headed down to Bayview to speak with the mechanics down there and by chance, encountered Hakan once again. At this point, Tony called and informed Luca he'd stolen a vehicle from Los Santos Customs. Luca got picked up and they headed off to Blaine County to chop the vehicle. While heading through Grapeseed, they spotted a Warrener. An ideal unsuspecting accompanying ride for a chopping run. Tony got in and they made their way to the chop shop, first stopping to rob the store in Grapeseed then continued on their way. At this point, two men in Specter accosted Luca on the dirt road. They asked probing questions about the chop and clearly something was off and it wasn't Luca's clothes. He told them that the chop shop was elsewhere to try and divert them away, but they wanted the Banshee for themselves. They started to follow Luca, Tony followed them in the Warrener. As they came to the bridge, the Specter pulled in front and stopped. Instantly the driver, got out with a shotgun on his back and Luca hit the gas, speeding through a gap on the bridge. Tony evidently caught up and they went to lay low at Paul's Farm, for a little. After about ten minutes of farmer watching, the two made their way to the chop once again. Upon arrival, no-one was there. We began chopping and then out of nowhere, the man with the shotgun appeared once again and began firing. Luca had nowhere to go but forward. He hit the gas and ran over the man with the shotgun, killing him. He headed towards the exit but realised he had left Tony behind. He returned to find Tony triumphant. Not only were both would-be robbers injured, they had secured a shotgun. A Triad then showed up and began chasing after the Banshee. After a brief exchange, it seems that they had been mistaken for the Russians who are causing problems in the city. The Triad apologised and they went their seperate ways. At this point, Luca and Tony were joined by John, Johnny and also, a friend from the other side, Vittori Calzone. At this point, the chop shop was getting unnervingly full. There were members of WCA there, as well as possibly a member or two of The Rooks. Once the Banshee had been chopped, everyone moved to the vehicles and attempted to leave. Except a convoy of cars was now surrounding the Baller and harassing it, eventually resorting to ramming it. There were many questions, but the decision was made to go to Los Santos Customs to try and defuse the situation. Tony and Luca were in the Warrener. John and Johnny in the Baller. Tony's heavy foot attracted the attention of a Cadet and Supervisor and they chased the two men into parking at LSC where John and Johnny were sat, along with their pursuers. Luca exited the vehicle and ran upstairs to change his clothes. He came back down and headed over to those that had been following. After a couple minutes, it became apparent that like with the Triads, it had been a case of mistaken identity and things tenuously died down. Tony managed to bullshit his way out of a Grand Theft Auto charge and the four men reconnected at the Bank to discuss finances and the events that had transpired. Senza tentazioni, senza onore.

I'm excited for seeing how this goes, I know you've got plenty of experience as a criminal from your time as a cop but you're one of the most switched on people when it comes to the crime dynamic in the city so it'll be interesting to see how this goes. Best of luck.

Lyrics: This one girl with the red hair, you can call her Lele. I'm bout to kick it off, so you can call me Pele. I'm Dezzy on Eclipse but in real life I'm AJ. Nobodies crying because a wolf is on vacay. If i ever see a Rivers, I'll have to grab the AK. Enzo Bozzuto can get killed in the maylay. Told you "I'm Supervisor, I can't do this" and all I want is peace, like i'm a fucking buddhist.

As of 02/11, faction relations are as follows.

Also, it appears near impossible to operate without a mask on the server, but we're going to try and avoid using them unless conducting criminal acts, as we want to build a reputation and if people don't know who you are exactly, it's hard to do that. The idea of being masked up all the time doesn't appeal, as it doesn't seem practical or realistic to do so. It's about finding a blend.

November 2nd, 2019. Written from my perspective, no offence intended. After hearing of a weekly party on a Saturday at the Mirror Park Tavern, where the who's who of the city rub shoulders, Sempre decided to attend. SN at this point are an unknown quantity to the other criminal elements in the city, but sort out the party with the goal of establishing communications and diplomatic relations. Plus, for half price entry and free food/drink, who can argue right? We ran into a friend, "IRA Michael" as he's affectionately known. He claims to have ties to the Irish but with a distinct lack of an accent and a trash bag for a mask, we were seriously starting to doubt whether he was telling the truth about his credentials. We met him on Great Ocean Highway and over the course of an hour, got to know absolutely nothing about him. Never the less, he was the first one that took us seriously. That's clearly a battle hardened, freedom fighting terrorist, right there. The Tavern's Exotic dancers proved to be quite the eye candy, especially the blonde, who I swear winked at me. Johnny checked out the array of free drinks and food on offer while Luca inspected the Tavern's main attraction. Suffice to say, they are hazardous to any one trying to keep to their 'No Nut November' pledges. At 4k a private dance though, Luca opted to take a mental image for later. The bar service was however, prompt and polite. Armed with a Heavy Pistol and some dutch courage, Johnny and Luca decided to knock over a 24/7 to try and recoup some of their losses. Times are still quite hard for SN, so every penny counts and you have to operate outside your wheel house. The money was taken, but the poor clerk was left unharmed. Sticking to the Filosofia, we saw lights on Paul's Farm and went over, to find a farmer working away. We had no desire to ruin this man's livelihood, clearly a man doing this kind of honest work has very little to give. His vehicle was unlocked and prime for any unscrupulous character that fancied an easy payout from the chop or a joyride at the man's expense. We asked him which vehicle was his, as there were a few there. He replied that the Black Warrener was his and we advised him to lock it. Then we proceeded to steal the white one. A good deed is it's own reward, but it doesn't pay the bills after all. At this point, Johnny and Luca were joined by Tony and John. We drove around in John's hybrid vehicle. Unfortunately after sorting out John's suit in Paleto, we attracted the unwelcome attention of the law, specifically the Sheriffs Department. We ran into the same deputy that had previously troubled us earlier in the week and he pulled us over under the veiled excuse of a 'random traffic stop'. A supervisor was called for, we were determined to not be victimised this time and the supervisor reasonably saw sense and let us go. Looking fresh in our suits, we stopped for a momentary photo opportunity. John (aka Sanjay) - Luca - Johnny - Tony. Not too sure where this photo was taken, but it was right before the chaos that was about to ensue. The robberies were going well, money was being made but still, no one that matters knew who we were. There are key moments that tend to define you, this was one of ours. We returned to the party, high on adrenaline and feeling good about the future. We parked up amongst the crowd with the intention of making some conversation. Johnny then proceeded to jump out of the car, onto a bike and flee the area. This angered both the Tavern's resident psychopaths, the Zetas and also, another gang, the WCA. The reason why it upset the WCA was because the bike stolen belonged to them. We faced an anxious ten minute wait, with Tony contacting Johnny to return the bike immediately. Johnny returned and wasn't popular with anyone, least of all his associates. WCA repeatedly pointed the finger, trying to hold us accountable for his mistake, whilst the Zetas tried to protect the sanctity of their establishment. Tensions were on a knife edge, with only a moderate amount of weapons, a violent outcome was not favourable. Johnny had his hair cut by those that had been wronged but disappeared again. Matters were made worse by the alleged disappearance of the owner's heavy pistol and a price was set for restitution. Relucantly, with no avenue to go down, the debt was paid by Luca and SN lived to fight another day. The heated exchange however lead to the desired result, names were exchanged and introductions were made. Firstly to the owners of the establishment and then to the WCA as well. It was a tenuous peace pact, but nonetheless, SN found dealing with the enigmatic Roman Groves to be an interesting experience. Both to the point and also, a reasonable man. Just when you thought we were out.. A new vehicle was purchased and the plan was to end the night on a high by stealing from a store or two up in Chumash. Luca told the group, we wouldn't be holding people up at gunpoint as it's not the way we behave. However, the best laid plans and all that.. Johnny was at it again, this time robbing a civilian of his heavy pistol and valuables. Luca had been in his head for a few minutes but things had gone too far by that point. We were committed. The discovery of both a red Hakachou, a heavy pistol and a radio posed some dangerous questions. Was this civilian as much of a nobody, as he appeared? Of course he fucking wasn't. It became apparent within minutes, the man dressed like a banana was in fact a member of the Triads. The group had divided themselves on Chilliad on a fool's errand and Sanjay was chased in his new vehicle by some very angry Chinese. The shot him down but the police intervened and the job could not be finished. At this point, it became clear that we had to stop another fire spreading so we sort out the Zetas, hoping they could organise a meet with the Triads to calm the situation. The Triads came and the Zetas let us use the alley as a meeting point, away from prying eyes. SN finally had their meeting with Bruce Wong, the head of the Chinese Criminal Serpent. Flanked by his son and three other associates, the situation was explained delicately and respectfully. Both sides seemed to appreciate the mutual respect and the open and frank discussion lead to the establishing of both SN as a small time player and the Triads as a hand that feeds. There is never trust, but as both cultures are ones of respect, the meeting went better than expected. Numbers were exchanged and I get the feeling it won't be long until we see them again. Having met several key players, in perhaps slightly less than ideal circumstances, Luca and Sanjay attempted to speak with Mr. Zeta himself, only seemingly to be blown off as there was, as there is often, a lot going on at the store. Jay promptly left the area and we had the misfortune of once again encountering the man in the cat mask. He had been incredibly rude, for no reason earlier and continued his tirade. Sanjay to his credit had stood up for himself, even surrounded by this pack of hyenas but Johnny had returned from Chilliad at this point and the cat man was now threatening violence. A lack of respect and would not be forgotten but one can assume that every time a Zeta is created, a coin is flipped. They seem either reasonable, restrained and business-like or uncompromising, loud and hyper aggressive.

(( I got the forums mixed up, thought it was the suggestion forum, which support staff reminded me of. @Jbacon ))

I can understand the mentality of what he was saying, essentially the reason for your report would be no longer valid, so you taking the time to file an IA report and then us in IA taking the time to investigate charges that no longer exist, seems a little bit like a fool's errand. Like I'd rather devote my time to a situation where there is something still outstanding to investigate. I can't go into details on the IA investigation methods but it is time consuming for us and we want to make sure that if we're putting that time in, it's for good reason. If the matter was solved there and then, taking it further seems a little unnecessary. The only person in PD I can defend with 100% assurance is myself, but what I will say is that for the most part, each officer tends to get most of their situations right. I know that statement might raise some eyebrows but like, on duty as a cop, depending on your shift hours, you are having to a lot of these decisions which you have to live and die by. You might make 9 good decisions but get 1 wrong and that's the stick you'll get beaten with, it's the nature of the faction. I've recently ventured into criminal roleplay on an alt and in terms of the freedom, it's like night and day in PD but you can only really understand what you know, so it's a big ask for me to expect you guys to see the PD side.

As far as I know, the PD standard is the same as the server standard. If we can see it, it's there, basically.

In eight months, I've never asked a single person to move that wasn't a) too close to a crime scene, b) fucking around and/or acting stupid when i'm trying to do police work or c) standing somewhere where they aren't supposed to stand. Can't comment on intimidating someone, because frankly no one role-plays fear correctly on the server, cops or criminals or civilians. In eight months, I've never ran a name without being asked to by someone or without prior knowledge of that person's name. I can go in game right now and search up anyone's name on the database if I know it IC. In eight months, i've never arrested anyone without probable cause or with reasonable doubt over their charges. Your weapon license is at the discretion of law enforcement, so yes, we have every right to check to see if you have a licensed weapon if you are carrying it openly on your person. California state law prohibits open carry if you want to get technical but we let that slide. If you are complaining about having to prove you are licensed to carry a firearm with a murder rate that Los Santos has then you're a snowflake. I can't hand on heart say that individual officers have never done anything wrong based on what you've said, we all know we have but for the most part, we are just trying to fulfill our role in the server, the same as the criminals, except our role is to stop crime. If you see an officer doing something wrong, then take the time to file an Internal Affairs report about it, otherwise stop moaning.