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Short description: This is a suggestion to make chop-shop system great again and more realistic than it currently is. This suggestion embraces the current system and what it could be like in the next future, would the community and developers manage to go through this all. This also means that a few current features within the chop-shop system must be changed or completely erased. This is only a suggestion and if you have anything else you'd like to add or that you see as not being entirely realistic, please don't be shy to come forward. This thread comes to give us more venues of roleplay. Detailed description: Hello everyone, this is quite a bit to cover so bare with me. I have been thinking about this for a few weeks now and I came to the conclusion that I should come forward with a suggestion to revamp our current chop-shop system. The way it currently is, there are not many chop-shop activities going on due to the fact that there's more risk than reward and also because those who do it are very limited with what they can get in return for these activities, be it monetary gain or even material. As it currently stands, you have a list that updates every day after mid-night that contains names for the vehicles, along with the parts that they are worth it. After you have stolen the vehicle and chopped it up, you get parts in return, but they aren't being used in the most realistic way – And why? Should you ask – Well, after you've acquired these parts (selling them to others or not) they will end up being refined and turned into lock-picks, switch-blades or other items. Well, to begin with, I believe this is a bit too unrealistic and that's what brings down the point that people don't feel like engaging into these activities due to all the risk behind stealing a car to have a switch-blade or a lock-pick in return. As it stands, parts are also taken as an illegal good, but it shouldn't be that way – Why? Because what is illegal is the way you acquire the part and not the part itself. Nowadays you can easily sell stolen parts on the internet or even small mechanic shops without them asking for too much, given that the price is lower than the one they would have to pay whilst ordering it from somewhere/someone else (of course there is a very grey area when it comes to that, but it's not really far fetched). It's also worth to bring it up that you currently pay an average of 10,000$ for a single lock-pick and 12.000$ for a single switch-blade! With a little bit more you could buy a car, which is something essential to any human being, but instead, we have a single item that covers most of an average pay-check! I believe this is also due to the fact that there's a lack of chop-shop activities and people do not buy those so often, and that's why the prices come up high to make up for how long it takes you to get rid of them. Now that we've got a grasp of how the system currently works, I would like to show you my perspective of how it should be. So, to begin with I think that we should work around the list of cars you get to chop vehicles. My idea is... It is true that nowadays people don't go randomly stealing vehicles – They are usually ordered, but, it doesn't mean that people solely steal those. I believe that we should give each vehicle a X amount of parts that people would get back from chopping the vehicle instead of simply the ones that are on the list – In this case the list should contain a very limited number of vehicles that would, for example, return you the double of the parts. So, I am not sure if it makes much sense when I am writing it down but let me exemplify instead: - Every car is given a X amount of parts that players get in return for chopping those vehicles. - (Instead of having a 3 pages list with vehicles to chop) There is a list of 6 random vehicles per day that are worth double of their base parts (See these as parts that someone would order) With this, we would need to make sure that a limit of cars to be stolen or a cooldown is implemented to void any sort of abuse of the chop-shop system. This brings us to the next point – What happens now that I have the parts? Well, let's be real about it. Who in the hell is going to convert car parts into lock-picks or switch-blades? Right? So, when it comes to this part, I would suggest we completely remove these two features and find a suitable system to work around the way parts are taken care of. As it stands, IRL, parts that are stolen are usually sold to those who order them off-grid and most of them are sold through the internet. It is true that our script does not allow it or we do not have enough means to do so, but my suggestion is, we find a way so those who chop the parts can turn these parts into components and only then they could be distributed around the local garage businesses as actual stock for their businesses. So, we're now opening a new venue of roleplay we didn't have for the chop-shop system, which is: We are allowing players to acquire the parts and actually do something realistic with them, in this case, selling them to mechanic garages for a certain price and they are able to use these to install in cars whenever they are open to the public. The next question you'll ask is... Okay, so, but we just wiped the system that allowed us to craft lock-picks, how do we get those? Alright, so, yes, I also thought about t hat one! As it stands right now, we have a very reduced number of garages or chop-shop businesses that are active, and most of the chop-shops belong to illegal-factions. Well, I know that IFM is very busy with everything else, but I feel like this is something they could step in to. So, to acquire lock-picks, chop-shop businesses owners could put in a IFM request on forums to be given a certain amount of lock-picks per month for a certain price that IFM would deem fit. And what's the advantage? Well, to begin with, you'll stop seeing the 10,000$ lock-picks for sale and these will be strictly handled by those who have access to them, so, in this case, it would be up to the chop-shop businesses to distribute these items and have a certain price stablished with IFM so they don't go out over-priced. Not only chop-shop's should have access to this feature, but, if any mechanic garage is working off-grid, they should also be able to request these and have the very same system. When it comes to acquiring switch-blades, we currently have a supplier status for melee weapons and that's where switch-blades should be included. This is a way for people to show more interest into getting this status and handle the melee market instead of everyone and their mom being able to get these and flip them for triple the price due to the lack of melee dealers. So, I also took the time to look into the other side of things – Not only this comes out as very useful to illegal car theft rings but it also can bring roleplay all the way down the chain and influence every other group, be it illegal or legal. The question is, HOW? Well, if you look at it, implementing this new system will only benefit everyone. Chop-shops can become active and useful again and allow many venues of roleplay for illegal factions – Gang members could now be hired as muscle to acquire these parts in return of money (this will not only make them a good money but will help raising their status within the gang and pull the newcomers in as a more soft task to prove themselves worth for the gang and will also give a purpose behind them stealing the vehicles, other than the possible items stashed inside). Organized Crime will now be able to sort these rings if it comes to it and manage how they are ran as it is IRL – They can very well be the upper hand and embrace everything that comes under this business. As for LEO factions, they now have the chance to actually investigate these possible rings and go all the way up the chain to understand who's behind the entire scheme, instead of just finding random people who do it for a simple joy-ride or items that might be inside. This will bring chop-shop activities to a new level and it will certainly be funnier than it currently is. This suggestion isn't perfect and there might be aspects that I am not entirely right, but, I believe that with the community's input we can reach to a common ground and make this happen. Most of you will read through and come with new ideas that will very much help revamping this system. Commands to add: N/A Items to add: N/A How would your suggestion improve the server? This will bring new venues of roleplay to every group that is present on this server, be it legal or illegal factions and even the surrounding civilian group. It will bring realism to the chop-shop activities and a new whole concept of fun. Additional information: @JackieH With this suggestion, we can also give this guide some more use and hopefully have people improve the way the chop-shop is handled. I have found this suggestion that hasn't been yet addressed but I felt like writing one of my own, as detailed as possible. That one is also three months old. FYI: Below you can find all the suggestions created that are related to this topic: