Piracy

Search for content, download it, then sell the file on the Street or mBay. Each sale pays cash and XP, and can get the file seized.

Search for content, download it, then sell the file on the Street or mBay. Each sale pays cash and XP, and can get the file seized.

UnlocksRank 43 (Enforcer).CostsNerve. 2 to search, 1 / 2 / 3 to download (easy / medium / hard), 5 per sale. Upgrades cost cash.On successCash and XP on each sale. 12% chance of an item. +1 crew influence if you are in a crew.On failureThe file is seized. No cash or XP. The sale's nerve is still spent.RiskCaught on a sale: file seized and a jail roll. Caught chance comes from the file's heat, the channel and your VPN.On deathYour skill level, VPN and storage upgrades are kept. They are tied to your account.Improves withVPN level and integrity, storage size, skill level, Street instead of mBay.
How it works
The Piracy page: Search, two offers, and the Collection with Street and mBay sell buttons12345
1Tap Search to get 2–3 offers. It costs 2 nerve.
2Tap an offer to download it. The card shows its nerve cost and ETA. You can run 3 downloads at once.
3A finished download moves to your Collection by itself.
4Tap Street or mBay to sell a file. The % on the button is your caught risk. Each sale costs 5 nerve.
5A file is Spent after 8 sales. Tap the bin to Purge it and free its storage.

Your VPN and storage sit above Available Content. Both are explained below.

The numbers
SkillNerveTime
Easy115–15 min
Medium10215–60 min
Hard2531–4 hours
Offers are 50% easy, 35% medium and 15% hard. Skill is the Piracy skill level an offer needs.
Selling
ValueStreetmBay
Easy$50–3003.2%10.8%
Medium$300–1,2006.3%21%
Hard
,200–5,000
9.9%33%
Value is the first sale at 100% Freshness. Street and mBay show the caught chance at VPN level 1 with full Integrity. Skill adds +1% cash per level.
How does selling work?
  • Street pays 25% of the file's value. mBay pays 50%.
  • Payout scales with the file's Freshness. Each sale lowers Freshness by 12%.
  • A file is Spent when Freshness reaches 5% or less. From 100% that is 8 sales.
  • Street costs 1 VPN integrity per sale. mBay costs 4.
  • Over its whole life, a file pays about 116% of its value on Street or 232% on mBay, before skill bonuses.
When can I be jailed?

You can only be jailed when a sale is caught. Searching, downloading and successful sales never jail you.

  • Caught chance = the file's heat x channel risk x (1 − VPN protection). It is never below 1% or above 90%.
  • Heat is set by the offer: 18 easy, 35 medium, 55 hard. mBay has 3.3 times the risk of Street.
  • Every sale raises your wanted level by 1.5, caught or not.
  • With no wanted stars, a caught sale seizes the file but cannot jail you.
  • Once you have wanted stars, a caught sale jails you at a higher rate than other crimes: 2 stars 16.5%, 3 stars 40%, 4 stars 73%, 5 stars 100%.
  • Sentence is 45–90 seconds, reduced by Speed. Being jailed resets your wanted level.
What does the VPN do?

Your VPN lowers the caught chance on every sale.

  • Protection is the VPN level's cover x its Integrity. Level 1 covers 40%, level 2 covers 60%, level 3 covers 80%.
  • Selling lowers Integrity. At 0% Integrity you have no cover.
  • Restore returns Integrity to 100%. It costs $500 at level 1,
    ,500 at level 2, $4,000 at level 3.
  • The Cover button upgrades the VPN: $5,000 for level 2 (Cover 60%), $20,000 for level 3 (Cover 80%). It also restores Integrity.
  • VPN level is tied to your account and survives death.
How much can I store?

Downloads and files both take storage. Seized files free their space.

  • Files are 50–300 MB (easy), 300–800 MB (medium) or 800–1,600 MB (hard).
  • Storage starts at 1,200 MB and grows by 1,200 MB per level, up to 6,000 MB at level 5.
  • Expand costs
    0,000 (level 2), $40,000 (level 3),
    20,000 (level 4) and $300,000 (level 5).
  • Spent files keep taking space until you tap Purge. Purge is free.
  • A download only starts if the file fits in your free storage.
How do I get better at it?
  • Skill. Every successful sale gives 15 base XP. Each skill level adds +1% to cash and XP. Max skill level 100.
  • Skill unlocks. Medium offers need skill level 10. Hard offers need skill level 25.
  • VPN. A higher level and full Integrity cut your caught chance.
  • Storage. More storage lets you hold more files and run all 3 downloads.
  • Gear and drugs. Cash boost and XP gear add to each sale. Item find gear adds to the 12% item chance. Success bonuses do not apply: there is no success roll.
Tips
  • Check the % on the sell button before you tap. It changes as your VPN Integrity falls.
  • Restore your VPN before selling a hard file on mBay. Integrity directly changes the caught chance.
  • A caught sale gives no XP, but the nerve is still spent.
  • Items need free inventory space. With a full inventory, no items drop.