Barriss

Lol. I've seen servers come up and die within two weeks with auto PK rules (Permanent-Kill, same thing as a CK). These rules in my experience are often heavily abused and more or less make players less likely to take action. The overall conduct and general attitude players I've seen on GTAW lead me to believe it'd be no different. After all, there's always a player report that bemoans someone for not groveling and pissing their pants for FearRP. Big fat no, this idea is just meaningless and serves absolutely no one.

Username: Littlefoot Comment: Aww, aren't you adorable. Hardest of the hardcore, what is that you even do? Sell a bunch of shitty meth to trailer trash? Sell skunk-weed? Go work out on Vespucci and then hide away from the world? You ain't shit, the Serbians and even the black gangs are scarier than you lot. All you do is shave your heads and look like rejects from a Disturbed cover band. All you idiots do is post on Facebrowser at HARD you are, but delete comments and block people because you couldn't handle getting "Poor little white bois."

Username: Littlefoot Comment: There's a massive problem with it. How is it a city with tons of diverse people somehow festers with Neo-Nazi wannabes who all look the same? It baffles me that even with how liberal our state is, we have these mall-rat kids thinking it's cool to be "WOOD." or any number of their dumbshit little sayings. Or branding kids with swastikas on the beach in the early hours, driving around in all-black vehicles with plates that say ARYAN, or showing their Nazi ink and then having the audacity to say. "We aren't Nazis." They're a problem.

That's not Gravedweller Wars.

Username: Littlefo0t Comment: Imagine having to align yourself with Nazis and degenerates to try and think you belong in a brotherhood. Whoa, you guys say 1488 and other dumbshit. Nobody likes any of you scum fucks, let alone want to go through the hassle of having to explain to the LSPD why you and twenty other people went down to Oceanside Customs with guns and killed a bunch of flipper kids who spout racial purity while getting railed by their black boyfriends. Just do us all a favor and go shoot up in a corner and OD. At least the rats and the homeless can use your bodies as sex toys. ?

A lot of criminal RP at times is almost inherently not RP. Faction threads often show people selling drugs or murder. I've yet to see a criminal gang attempt to hook their teeth into something interesting, why aren't they robbing truck drivers to steal their cargo? Where's the extortion that isn't hamfistedly done by bikers who think people in the city are actually going to bend to their will? Why aren't there more white-collar criminals? Worse thing I've heard is gangs using macro'd or pre-written /me's in order to force fearRP on people. Then get very uppity when they find that people won't instantly melt when they're put under pressure. Shockingly this seems to be the norm for many of the gangs as they don't seem to want to be anything BUT badly portrayed caricatures of southern LA in the 90's. Could guarantee there are plenty of Americans here who've lived close to or in gang territory that could give you better examples of criminal RP.

Lol another one.

Start writing your ban appeal buckaroo.

Here's my idea, since a lot of the talk in this thread seems to be around specific gangs in certain areas. How about these gangs get held to higher RP standards and actually RP more interesting criminal dynamics such as community outreach and business ownership. Instead of bang-bang I used my macro'd/pre-written actions to go around and try blasting rival gangs. Criminal activities don't have to be murder and shit.

You're ignoring other instances where I said that this was the keyline focus. Accents, Height, Tattoos, Weight, other details that aren't able to be conveyed via the models.

DJ Egroka Interview "Egorka." Aska Redan Over the past month, we've seen many fresh new DJs rise, some fall and others remain under the radar in niche markets. DJ AoI comes to mind when you hear the words popular club DJ, but there is one other. The usurper who gained such a massive cult following that dedicated fans and occasional listeners know by a single, nonsensical word. "Egorka." The word means absolutely nothing, it's gibberish but is a come to be a greeting and expression of love for the young immigrant Svetlana Koltsova. AR - Aska Redan EG - DJ Egorka/Svetlana *Note Svetlana speaks with a very dense Russian accent.* AR: What's your origin, you know where you were born, came from, how'd you get here? EG: I'm from Novosibirsk,Russia. I came here when I was sixteen, by plane. I was born into scrap business, my parents, they send me here to start my own life, and help with uncle's junkyard. Junkyard, it go under and uncle, he go back to Russian, but I decided to stay here, y'know? It's better here. AR: Do you know why the business went under or was it symptomatic of the recession towards the 2010s? EG: Eh it was after Recession. Uncle he have problems, economy, drinking and there was a lot of anti-Russian sentiment here. Because of politics, dates back to the Cold War I guess. AR: So amid all the issue with coming to America, and your uncle's business falling through. How'd you find yourself becoming a DJ? EG: A friend, she inspired me. Rina, she DJ at local clubs and parties, with all the popular hit music. I'm not entirely about that kind of music, but she gave me inspiration to DJ and play the kind of music I like to play. *At this point she received a phone call, and apologized for the interruption* AR: Please continue if you have any other words on that subject(her inspiration). EG: So she gives me support and I get all the stuff together to start my own radio. It turned out to be more popular than I was thinking because of the type of music. It's not entirely mainstream, like modern music. But people like it, and it's different than the normal music and I play requests from time to time. AR: How exactly did you meet Rina? EG: Through an old friend, named Lee. He moved away now but was one the firsts I had here. They were dating when he introduced me to Rina. Me and her have become great friends, still, are. AR: Your style and your own radio station is quite unconventi0onal. Normally people stick to a certain theme. You play anything from Nickleback to Post Malone, why is that? EG: Because it's different, instead of listening to the same old stuff, it's a bit of variety. A little something for every. To break the monotony of listening to rap, metal, or a pop station. You can have all in one place. But I don't play rap or hip-hop often. Only on occasion. AR: What inspires your love of music? EG: Well is simple, music is a universal language. Even if I speak Russian, and neighbor speaks English, music is something we can all understand. World revolves around music it would be miserable without in our lives. It's everywhere. AR: If you had to pick, who are your top band, arts, or groups? EG: That is a good question. AR: Who would you dedicate part of your station, setlists or even make a new station dedicated to them? EG: Daft Punk, Gorillaz, Disturbed, Tool, and Iron Maiden. Is hard to pick five. I love so many different groups, artists and genres. If I had to dedicate anything it'd be to a few people. To Rina, Lee, my late sister, Liz, Bobbeh, Odin. All the people that helped take care of me when I first came here. I would be here if not for them. AR: And if you had anything to say to our readers, and people of LS. Whether they're new to the city or fervent listeners, what would it be? EG: Never sell out who you are as a person., love everybody. Even if you don't agree with them, and you don't have to like someone to be nice to them. Manners and courtesy are free, not many things in this world are free. It never kills to be nice to others. The hour or so we spent together was quite relaxed, at the time she was managing her radio station and taking requests. It didn't hamper our interview in any regard, as a matter of fact, it showed her dedication to interact with her fans. We took pauses for her to put on music, but as we can all see DJ Egorka is nothing but a wholesome woman. Her words in this interview uplifted me as we spoke, and hopefully, her dedication to her friends and fans will reach far and wide. "Who knew that you could arrange words and sounds in such a way that makes like trance. It's magic."  - DJ Egorka More From Saints DJ AoI interview Interview with a Dominatrix Saints News #ForSaintsBySaints 

AURA - Grand Opening Review An Aura of mediocrity Aska Redan Angel or Demon - you decide. Does Los Santos' newest theme club ascend to the heavens, or is it to be cast down into a lake of fire and brimstone? All the marketing around this club had me very interested - dueling DJs, theme outfits, and tons of promotion on Facebrowser. The makings of a bombastic party with all the biggest names around town having expressed interest in attending. Despite all the noise made on social media, the club opened with the sound of a firecracker. Sadly AURA's aura was quite weak. A devil in red, a threatening aura When I entered the club, I bore witness to this rather interesting amalgamation of HEAT and The Garden. Similar themes and motifs are explored everywhere in the design - white marble around the front bar, an expansive dance floor with two cozy lounges to each side, and private booths hinged on the upper rungs. Up the stairs is the lounge of the club, complete with a viewing deck - the perfect spot to brood, take pics and relax as a pseudo-VIP area of the club. To the rear, we had another stairway that led into the lofty VIP area. VIP was quite spacious and had a view of the Crastenburg across the street. Overall, I quite liked the interior design of the club. The Location left much to be desired, though. The sounds of aircraft flying over isn't something you'll be able to drown out. A packed dance floor of Angels and Demons. Straight from the comics The promise of a DJ battle was big. I almost expected to see two booths, the DJs going back and forth trying to entice the crowds over to their side. Alas, we got mostly average beats from each DJ, both of them having fairly similar sounding setlists that didn't inspire much. I'm more disappointed that there weren't remixed versions of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." or "Stairway to Heaven." Missed opportunities all around. However, I enjoyed all the outfits and costumes that came from this promotion. Various design issues did plague the club. To quote Ashley Hendricks, owner of AURA, "The building is surrounded with top-notch isolation materials, hence you don't hear the planes." She said this despite her office not being but twenty-feet from a large bay window. The VIP lounge before peak time. The most glaring design oversight was in the VIP area. There is a glass balcony there overlooking the club. The problem is that it's transparent - from the underside too - so women who stood on there tonight, including myself, unwittingly let most the club take a peek. She acknowledged this flaw and pledged to have it remedied by the time they open next week, but this shouldn't have been an issue at all. Oddly, Hendricks boasted to me, "We're the only club that has a parking lot.", which is a false statement. Harmony Lounge, The Garden, and Galaxy all have some means of a parking lot. The high price of entrance will dissuade many people from wanting to enter. The pricey door fee, location and the slew of issues faced tonight will not be forgotten easily. Negatives aside the club has immense promise. Ashley has informed me that the club is ever-changing and that she will remedy many of these issues prior to the next opening. She also told me that each opening will have its own unique theme. To make this happen from week-to-week furniture will be changed, moved around, or replaced entirely to suit the given theme. Aura is worth a visit when they open their doors but this grand opening left much to be desired. Saints News #ForSaintsBySaints More From Saints Saints News - A Harmony Review Saints News - Hales' Tales: Club Royale

Regardless. We're not debating how someone will react IRL. I'd like to use this image to illustrate why descriptions are actively important to RP. Like I said this has been features in RP communities far and wide, from MMOs to Garrysmod you'll see people make descriptions. Some are novels, some are brief. However, right here is a crux issue. Said Player doesn't wish to be associated with being a skinhead/Nazi. The only form of description he ever gave to the character was in /me's doing OOCly he's saying he isn't a Skinhead/Nazi. The only key thing we have to note is 88'. But he does this in a /me it's currently not part of his attributes. So you can't examine him to gather information that is reasonably able to be deduced. Thus by association with his IC actions, choice of hair cut, and 88, we can rationally assume he's a part of that specific brand of roleplayers. Comparatively, I've seen other Skinhead/Nazi actually put forth some effort into using this feature because they know it's important to RP. You lose any right to be upset because someone is IDing you as a skinhead because you're bald, a biker, with tattoos. That CAN EASILY fade away when you have a description of like; Bob McTom - Has a menagerie of Russian prison tattoos/-GangName- Tattoos/Tattoo of an eggplant emoji- Now lets round back to the issue I had is that criminal RPers will use this to their advantage. You can examine people with masks on. It's not hard. Someone whose wearing a mask isn't impossible to be ID'd. I've examined masked people and gotten physical characteristics that I can ICly deem to make sense. But when you don't have one set up, I'm completely powerless to attempt to bring you to justice at a later time. In a sense this is power-gaming because you're saying nobody is capable of knowing who you are if they take a closer look. It's also possible that people are ignorant of this feature and don't know about it. But if you're a criminal RPer, and you know to take shadowplay, screenshots, and are prepared to upload your videos of you shooting people. Then you're smart enough to know that this command exsist.

I'm not asking you put six paragraphs of what your character looks like. But I am telling you not to be lazy and intentionally vague. Somethings I did list were erroneous(hair, eyes, skin) for a slightly detailed description. But if you opt to leave those out since it's a defining physical characteristic then go right ahead. Nor am I saying you're going to know the EXACT height of everyone you meet, but you can ballpark it(as you would IRL). If I'm 5'6, and I have friends who are 5'8,5'10, and 6'0 then I can assume that the person who towered over me was between 5'10 and 6'0. But the person who wasn't even a head taller than me was somewhere between 5'7-5'9. To which one should say. "Yeah, my friend Bob is a few inches taller than me." compared to "Yeah, my friend Bob is a bit tall." Gotta realize this is contextual information that people use literally every day. Not some special power that only the gifted can have lol. If were to get robbed in person I could guarantee you that I'd be able to roughly describe the person without needing a recording(because amazingly this happens out in the real world. Shocking)

Regardless of how you feel about name tags. Descriptions must be mandatory to all players. The only time I've ever seen descriptions never used by characters were often on servers that had throw away/reusable event characters. To my knowledge, I've yet to see people who are just that, characters used to promote events. Off that, when I mean a BASIC description it implies information that anyone can rationally gleam as a normal human being. "5'10, Grey Eyes, Medium length brown hair, speaks with a Liberty accent. Visible Dog, Gun, Lion, Swastika, Floral tattoos on arms if uncovered. Walks with an odd limp." What we can take from this description is that this a guy who is tall, but not too tall. He walks in a funny manner due a limp, he has medium length brown hair and grey eyes. Tattoos are often helpful to identify people as it's ICly,OOCly, and possible IRL to find someone because they have a certain tattoo on their body. NOT "Tall, Muscular, Speaks with a Southern Accent, Tattoos, Blue eyes, Black Hair" We cannot gather anything from this description. This is an intentionally vague, boring and thoughtless description because it wrangles in dozens of different players. You're tall, but how tall are you? You're muscular but are you ripped or just toned? You speak with a southern accent, so does half of Sandy Shores. You have tattoos, what person on the server DOESN'T have tattoos. There have only been a few criminal characters I've met, seen, or have gotten screenshots/videos of that have descriptions. These are often for the majority well RP'd characters. Those who DON'T have descriptions or incredibly vague/broad ones are the people who often show poor RP, have intentions to grief, and seek to gain script items. This is something you'll see commonly in games like Garrysmod for example. Because if there isn't a rule to have a description then people can and will seek to abuse this rule. As I said before, it will be near impossible to find someone who is wearing black shoes, black pants, and a black hoodie with a black mask on. While IRL people get caught all the time, even from grainy 24/7 store cameras because they met a broad description such as being short, or worse this specific brand of hoodie.

A Harmonious Review LS' Newest Relaxation Destination Aska Redan The hustle and bustle of LS often leaves many of us drained. From over-zealous celebrities trying to flaunt their ability to get out of speeding tickets, or occasional gang conflict in Davis leaves you long for a little peace and quiet. Clubs and bars are aplenty in this Inland Empire are here to sate your hunger to unwind, but not all created equal. Relaxed and chill is often what you see in many clubs, while the aspects of this exist none exemplify it. Harmony is often described as everything coming together to put you at ease, at peace. Harmony at sunset This lounge, not club is located in West Vinewood on Eclipse boulevard. The exterior is heavily reminiscent of Shuri Castle in Japan, but with some Vinewood flair on the outside. However, the main attraction to this slice of Nihon is what lies inside, from the classic to the modern as you enter the wooden portals. Greeted with a sleek modern interior with a rigid starfield design as you enter the lounge. The blue hue of the lights, presenting a calming aura as Japanese city-pop plays over the sound system. The atmosphere is truly harmonious as each and every aspect combine to form a beautiful melody. No walls hiding others or corralling groups of influences. A bar bathed in welcoming lights that beckon you over to mingle with your new friends, and large comfy couches to lighten the load of a stressful day. Two "private" lounges do the utter corners of the lounge unrestricted and freely available to anyone who wishes to spend a slow night alone with their partner or have a small party away from the main foyer. A view from the balcony booths The staff of Harmony is top-notch, extremely polite and prompt with their service. From what this writer noticed capable of handling the large influx of anxious guests. The security team provided handled a disruptive guest, snuffing out the issue and quickly getting the police on the scene. Prior to the opening of Harmony, I was invited to preview and interview Ms. Jun Kishimoto the owner and one of the designers. Below is the transcript of our interview. _______ Where are you from originally and what made you come to LS? I grew up in Portland. Went to the University of Oregon and studied finance. Spent a lot of years pencil-pushing for banks and investment firms. When I was... oh... twenty-seven? Two years ago or so, yeah. I stepped into the nightlife industry. A few friends and I ran a club back in Portland for a short time. Made some connections. Managed a few more spots. I decided to come to LS because I saw a market niche not being filled and had a unique idea for the city. You say it is a niche market, however, there are other such lounges. What will this one, in particular, bring that the others don't? Look around. Listen to the music. I think we're going to compete well. And I'm glad to have a competition. There should always be competition in a healthy market. But a place that's as casual, relaxing, and pleasant as here - I haven't seen it. For our readers. What is the general concept of this club? If we had a mission statement it'd be to provide a laid back, relaxing atmosphere for the people of LS to wind down - enjoy themselves. I think something that's lost in a lot of clubs is the opportunity for people to have genuine conversations. The vibe is important. Sticking to a vibe is important. That's what I plan to do here. A lot of spots morph to cater to an audience. Harmony is for everyone. So an actual hangout? It's a lounge without the pretentiousness and frills. Are you the designer as well? From the seating to the light placement, it's all deliberate. It's been a collaborative process between myself and my good friend. _______ Ms. Kishimoto is an extremely welcoming host her words quite genuine as she could hardly contain her excitement for the grand opening. What an opening it was, once the clock struck nine the gates opened. While it started slow Harmony soon quickly filled up with dozens filling the seats and enjoying themselves at the bar. The chill vibes of Harmony were enough to even pacify some of the local motorcycle enthusiasts as they walked through the doors. Rumors of an artist displaying their works passed to me as I drank my sake with several friends at my side. A gaggle of guests enjoying their stay For once the city has a cozy spot that has no reservations, lists, and unlike some competitors stock a full supply of various spirits and booze to sate our thirst. Events are capable of being hosted within Harmony, Ms. Kishimoto expressed interested in allowing groups to rent out the place to suit their needs. Sadly, there is no kitchen in the lounge so food must be catered, or you can seek out Sakana. A lovely sushi house not too far from Harmony. With as crazy of an opening, Bloodhound might need to offer additional security. As well as Harmony hire more bartenders to keep up with demand, otherwise, as queues were only likely to continue growing with the crowd that was present in the venue. In addition, there was no door-staff, nor did we see any ID'ing occurring. In summary, Harmony is truly the place where it all comes together in a beautiful symphony of relaxation. I highly recommend the readers to pick out their best outfits and stop by Harmony soon. Bring your friends or a date, you won't regret it. Saints News #ForHaley - We'll Never Forget You MORE FROM SAINTS Hale's Tales - Sakana Review Interview with DJ AoI Howling Relic: Great Chaparral Mine Shaft

I know in other places they only have nametags appearing within a specific range and/or looking at the person directly. I don't know the inner workings of RAGEMP but that could be a solution. It can also cut down on meta-gaming too.

Short Description: Most RP servers far and wide have flavor text/description commands that are put in place for players to detail in brief what their character looks like, sounds,etc. Criminal RPs take advantage of this by choosing to not describe their characters. Detailed Description: I know personally speaking to people who have been long-time community members, to admins have expressed their disapproval over players not having descriptions. It's not entirely a needed component to RP but it allows your character to be an individual to others. Non-Criminal RPers don't see much of an issue to this, sometimes they have joke descriptions. But having a description doesn't necessitate that you are a criminal. However criminal RPers can take advantage of this easily. Dressing up in all black or an extremely generic colored outfit and masking up without a description can very easily allow you to commit crimes and get away with them. I find this as slight vergence into powergaming and well just bad RP in general. Not everyone is going to look, sound, and act all the same. People have been easily captured IRL due them being a specific height, they have a limp when they run, or some other crucial feature. Most criminal players I've seen on the server(often are made up of groups of friends who going to be actively using discord or similar) roll around with no descriptions. How will this improve the server: I fully believe that if there is an enforced description policy for all players to come up with a basic description, it could promote healthier RP. Criminal players would now have to effectively RP smarter to avoid getting caught. As it stands my experience and witnessing groups of not-descript people robbing/murdering are often people RP poorly and are mainly here to cause some grief. As well it will help newer RPers or people to the server to make their character stand out more.

I say this as a slight-expert on this subject. It's not only far better and easier to use a phone. But those handheld walkie-talkies have very short range. To even get something out MILES you need a large antenna usually that's using a powered amplifier. And those are specifically designed to do such.

A comforting, yet conforming bar in the non-conformist neighborhood The Banjo String ReviewOut of Tune ASKA REDAN When you hear banjos sounding you often think to yourself in the heart of the South, and often it's a warning sign to leave, and fast! However, some banjos make you feel at home and give off a simple and sweet call to a simpler time. The Banjo String in Santos' gentrified and lovely Mirror Park has a sound of your local bluegrass band, promising but room to improve. Much like the classic instrument of Dixie this bar is nothing unique save for the sound. While it strives to be a Gibson, it perhaps settles for the Christmas time Epiphone. The location is quite nice, Mirror Park is always an ideal place to have a business. And is lacking in interesting and unique bars. However the interior is very cookie-cutter, nothing makes it different than the other bars in LS, the dark painting and grimy walls coupled with a small dance floor and stage leave it less than desirable to visit. The music they play is a delight, often a mix of classic rock and 2000's active rock I enjoy the variety of the stations they play, but it only plays into the dull atmosphere of the club. A standard bar compliment and layout are present along with some balcony seats but they don't do anything other than giving a nice look at some dull red walls. The patrons at among the best part as there are often different faces in here most nights. You'd have thought the hipsters and rainbow community of Mirror Park wouldn't dare let such a drab place exist. The employees are quite hospitable and provide prompt service but none the less it doesn't make this place any better than similar attractions. While far from the worst joint in Los Santos, the entire experience comes off as generic and cookie-cutter, Come for the quick drinks and friendly faces, but don't linger too long else you might find yourself drinking quietly before a hasty exit. MORE FROM SAINTS Interview With DJ aOi Howling Relic: Great Chaparral Mine Shaft The Perception of Gangs  DRESS TO IMPRESS (Businesswear) Saints News #ForSaintsBySaints

Rave at the Warehouse Aska Redan When one hears the word "warehouse" they often expect cargo containers, boxes, and if the movies are to be taken seriously - a hot location for all manner of illegal activities, from arms deals to illegal teddy bear sweatshops. However, the Warehouse in La Mesa is one part stereotype and one part unique location. When I first stepped into the club, I had half expected it to be like many of the others. Bahama Mama's, Galaxy, and HEAT all have fairly similar DJ rotations and laid back atmospheres. They're perfect places to meet strangers, have a drink, and dance your sorrows away before Sunday morning. This was not the case with Warehouse, however. I was met with this amazingly brutal industrial themed music. Pallets, battered crates, and oil-drums were being used as tables. Old car seats and discarded couches were used for seating. Cargo containers were made into ramps and wall covers. Flashing emergency lights and traffic signals syncing to the beat of the delightfully moody and experimental DJ. This was beyond something any other club has done in my experience. For once, a place had actual style and substance to it. Warehouse is only truly rivaled by the Garden in this regard. When I entered I went up to the bar. It was well stocked and I asked for the house favorite. Not but a few minutes after ordering my drink I was given a double whiskey, neat. Nothing extraordinary but the service was top notch. I mingled with a few friends for a minute, due to how bare the club was looking. This wasn't their fault, however, as two other clubs were open that night and divided attention. The interior of the Warehouse The whole club captured me and as any reasonable writer would do, I went to find the owner. I was lead to the lovely Mrs. Steph Taskovic who was more than willing to tell me about her club (AR is Aska Redan while ST is Steph Taskovic):   AR: Whoever designed this was a genius. ST: Thanks, it was a good friend of mine, from back home in Australia. We worked on it together. AR: He has excellent taste. ST: He flew in to help, I have a specific in mind. I had planned on asking her what the inspiration and concept for the club was going to be. However, she managed to answer that well before I asked. ST: At the time there were a lot of clubs that were just, carbon copies of each other. Same look, feel, and music. I wanted to do something different. AR: You just answered a question I was about to ask.  ST: I'm also a mind reader.    Steph Taskovic, owner of the Warehouse. We continued to discuss the club at length before finally getting to the music. The DJ of the night was DJ TM, who had recently moved back to LS after some time. His music was nothing less than a much-needed reprieve from the same standard club beats. The feel was dark and brooding industrial music but interlaced with heavy synths and bass. There were even Harry Potter and some unknown video game voice lines sampled into the music - something I've never heard before in any of the clubs in Los Santos. The experience I had was world-class, and I highly recommend anyone seeking a new place to spice up their routine to visit this wonderful location in La Mesa. Saints News

   LSFD's New Fleet Aska Redan The Los Santos fire department recently got some much-needed upgrades to their aging fleet of fire engines and emergency vehicles. After weeks of waiting, these new vehicles are ready to service the fine city of Los Santos. I spoke with Fire Chief Chloe MacKenzie on the acquisition of the new fleet. She detailed to me briefly that, "We've been waiting for some time to get these new trucks. They arrived early this morning and I'm rather excited to show them off!" She later took me into her office and gave me a brief but detailed rundown of her new fleet. Her enthusiasm for the new trucks and serving the people of LS was palpable. Most of these new assets are on modern and updated Vapid Chassis, so expect speedy response times in the coming years. We started with possibly the most iconic of all fire engines: the ladder truck.  "This is our ladder truck, call signed Quint-1. It's a combined fire engine and ladder truck. It carries 500 gallons of water, a 105' tower ladder and lots of technical rescue equipment." , Chief MacKenzie said of the machine. This new red monster of a truck is the pride and joy of the Los Santos Fire Department, so much so that this reporter was allowed to be one the first non-FD staff to be given a ride. And to my childhood pleasure, allowed to turn the sirens on before we departed the station. From high-rises to little Billy's cat being stuck in a tree, put your mind at ease because Quint-1 will be on the scene. Following that, I was introduced to their Brush Patrol fleet. These smaller more agile and nimble engines are to be used for rural calls and combating wildfires as well as search and recuse operations out in the rugged terrain of Blaine county. Expect to see them out and about during this late summer season. Alongside the brush patrol, they have the Swift Water Rescue Vehicle, an oddity among this fleet as it's the only one that houses a boat and other water rescue equipment. Shockingly one the few non-Vapid additions to the fleet are the Bravado Ambulances.  Chief MacKenzie said about the new ambulances, "While the chassis is newer and built for speed, much of the interior equipment remains. But with the newer framework and great visibility provided by LED Lights and reflectors they should increase response times significantly." Last but not least, they have some of the more street legal but modified Vapid line of Caracara pick-up trucks. These won't be on the scene fighting anything smaller than a beach bonfire but will often be at scenes serving as a point of contact to EMS, Police, and other Fire Departments to coordinate their efforts in large-scale emergencies. Chief MacKenzie has high hopes for these new trucks. Her beaming smile and desire to show her new additions off to me is a mark of someone who enjoys their job. When asked if she expects the new fleet to improve the FD's ability to respond to emergencies she said, "Drastically. This has been over a year in testing and evaluation. I visited several different manufacturers and fire departments across the southwest to learn about these new vehicles. We had a severe lack of specialized and everyday equipment. It was old and out-dated, and some just didn't fit our specifications. So the new additions to the fleet will be a huge improvement in providing fire, rescue, and medical services to the city and people.  In the coming years, these vehicles will be invaluable in providing prompt assistance whenever and wherever needed in Los Santos and Blaine County. Saints News would like to thank Chief MacKenzie and the other Fire Department staff for providing access to view their new fleet, and we also thank them for their service and professionalism while on duty.  Saints News