Not so easy being an outlaw.

[Cornbeef]

First off. Amazing game. I love this game so much, I've been playing it non stop. Really love how it shoots for realism and that cinematic feel aswell.

But that's not what I'm here to talk about. It has issues. Small issues that are incredibly annoying and make the game irritating to play some days. I know I can't expect it to be perfect, but, the law system is completely broken. It's actually impossible to be an outlaw in this game outside of story missions, and isn't that what it's all about? Well, it's POSSIBLE. But not without a huge mess every single time. I've tried 5 different times to rob a train, miles outside of town. The law IMMEDIATELY shows up, and then recognizes exactly who I am even though Im wearing a mask. Mind you, this is miles outside the nearest town. Does the law just hide out in the trees and watch the trains all day long? The bandana and masks are completely useless as the law immediately knows who you are no matter how well you conceal your identity. In some ways this can work. Say if you wear a certain outfit, ride a specific horse, they would recognize you by that. But if you go through the trouble of getting a mask, buying new clothes, acquiring a new horse they wouldn't recognize, there's no way they should possibly be able to pin a bounty on you as long as you keep that mask on. I just tried to rob the Valentine doctors back room. And I wanted to be CAREFUL. Do it clean, no law, no witnesses. I scoped the place out. Decided to go in peacefully at first, as there was only one way in. They had a back door which would be my escape route incase things went bad. I got in and they Immediately started shooting. That's understandable. Darn o'driscols. So I ended up killing everone in the room, blew the safe, grabbed all the loot, sheriff at the door of the doctors office. And what do you know. You can't open the back door. I guess it was stupid for me to think I could, that would make too much sense. So I ended up having to kill every single freaking lawman in town to get out of there, and my bandana did absolutely nothing to hide my identity. So now I have a bounty that was bigger than my take from this job. I mean, really!? Come on.

This game has its issues but the way the law works is BY FAR the biggest one. It completely discourages me to play the game the way it seems to want you to play it. I'm supposed to be an outlaw, when being an outlaw is completely impossible.

[Callahan44]

It truly is far away from being really good...i got a 10$ bountry for basically nothing,returned to the city later,ran into a guy and the whole town started shooting. An officer grabbed me,instead of getting a choice to give up he punched me 20 times to death. I often dont want to fight but you really gotta be extremly careful what you do,even in the wolderness. Feels like sheriffs got security cams in most of the trees.

[Gallows]

I play as an outlaw, have minimum honour. I do every bad thing in the game as often as possible. I don’t get bounties very often, except in very rare circumstances where witnesses get away and I bump into the law. But that is so rare, like once in 10 hours of play.

 

The wanted system is not broken at all. Sure disturbing the peace can seem like a harsh call, but you as a player are perfectly capable of NEVER disturbing the peace or make sure no one knows it is you.

 

Train Robberies have been tested a lot and they are broken, and should be fixed. But the rest works fine, although it’s not a walk in the park. You need to be a snart criminal or you will not have a profit.

[LeonVegaSuarez]

24 minutes ago, Gallows said:

I play as an outlaw, have minimum honour. I do every bad thing in the game as often as possible. I don’t get bounties very often, except in very rare circumstances where witnesses get away and I bump into the law. But that is so rare, like once in 10 hours of play.

 

The wanted system is not broken at all. Sure disturbing the peace can seem like a harsh call, but you as a player are perfectly capable of NEVER disturbing the peace or make sure no one knows it is you.

 

Train Robberies have been tested a lot and they are broken, and should be fixed. But the rest works fine, although it’s not a walk in the park. You need to be a snart criminal or you will not have a profit.

How can I rob a store in let's say Saint Denis and NOT get a bounty?

[Gallows]

26 minutes ago, LeonVegaSuarez said:

How can I rob a store in let's say Saint Denis and NOT get a bounty?

There are several ways. First I check around the store to see where the police are. If it’s reasonably clear I put on one of my outlaw clothing sets, walk through the door and as I go through I put on my mask. I position myself, so that I am not easily seen through the Windows. Sometimes I will also scare potential witnesses off before I rob the store. Then I rob it, run out, get on my horse and ride away. I use the mini map to see the line of sight for policemen, so I don’t ride through their line of sight. I will be long gone before they investigate and no one will know who I am. The law will identify you instantly if you’re within range (a fairly long range), so stay clear of policemen completely. Sometimes I also murder someone being unseen, so the body is found and as soon as it is, I rob the store. If I have time I will also rob several townspeople before I leave the area for more profit.

 

Be discreet, observe your surroundings, be quick about it and have a good escape route. If you happen to have two policemen very close to a shop, then that shop is not a good target unless you can lure the policemen away.

 

I robbed a shop in either Valentine or Rhodes, where the sherif was close but I missed him somehow. I could not exit the store, so instead I killed the shop owner. This shop has a small hallway behind the counter and I hid there hugging the wall. The law entered the store and I could hear them comment on the crime, that one of them saw the body. They notes that the shop was empty and left. I could see them move around the back while commenting on the crime and when they reached the back corner I ran out of the shop, got on my horse, and got away with no Bounty.

 

in towns the law is not static. They will move around and have routines. You can also try going somewhere no one can see you and fire your gun. Get away before someone sees you. Often a witness will investigate and report the disturbance. The law goes to check.

Edited November 16, 2018 by Gallows

[yeezy203]

3 hours ago, Cornbeef said:

First off. Amazing game. I love this game so much, I've been playing it non stop. Really love how it shoots for realism and that cinematic feel aswell.

But that's not what I'm here to talk about. It has issues. Small issues that are incredibly annoying and make the game irritating to play some days. I know I can't expect it to be perfect, but, the law system is completely broken. It's actually impossible to be an outlaw in this game outside of story missions, and isn't that what it's all about? Well, it's POSSIBLE. But not without a huge mess every single time. I've tried 5 different times to rob a train, miles outside of town. The law IMMEDIATELY shows up, and then recognizes exactly who I am even though Im wearing a mask. Mind you, this is miles outside the nearest town. Does the law just hide out in the trees and watch the trains all day long? The bandana and masks are completely useless as the law immediately knows who you are no matter how well you conceal your identity. In some ways this can work. Say if you wear a certain outfit, ride a specific horse, they would recognize you by that. But if you go through the trouble of getting a mask, buying new clothes, acquiring a new horse they wouldn't recognize, there's no way they should possibly be able to pin a bounty on you as long as you keep that mask on. I just tried to rob the Valentine doctors back room. And I wanted to be CAREFUL. Do it clean, no law, no witnesses. I scoped the place out. Decided to go in peacefully at first, as there was only one way in. They had a back door which would be my escape route incase things went bad. I got in and they Immediately started shooting. That's understandable. Darn o'driscols. So I ended up killing everone in the room, blew the safe, grabbed all the loot, sheriff at the door of the doctors office. And what do you know. You can't open the back door. I guess it was stupid for me to think I could, that would make too much sense. So I ended up having to kill every single freaking lawman in town to get out of there, and my bandana did absolutely nothing to hide my identity. So now I have a bounty that was bigger than my take from this job. I mean, really!? Come on.

This game has its issues but the way the law works is BY FAR the biggest one. It completely discourages me to play the game the way it seems to want you to play it. I'm supposed to be an outlaw, when being an outlaw is completely impossible.

Agreed. It's crazy I just did literally the same thing last night. I scoped the place out went in peacefully trying to be smooth about it. Hold the clerk gunpoint, rob the cash register while I'm at it, then people outside start going crazy with no shots fired or anything which was annoying. Now here comes the law and now I have to rush everything. Go to the backroom, I also assumed the backdoor would be my escape I even left my horse there. I kill everyone in there, but now the law is already coming inside the store so I barely even have time to loot. As I'm reading your post here I'm mad because you mention a safe? What safe? I only had time to loot the bodies, grab some cash on the table and I thought there would at least be a good prize in the case on the table, but no just a standard revolver. By then I had already started killing lawmen so I tried to go out the back door and all I can do is peek? REALLLY??? So here I go blasting my way through the front racking up higher bounty and eventually escaped. They chased me all the way to another county even though I was much faster then them. Ended up coming out with about $100 profit after paying the bounty which was kind of not worth it at all. How much was in the safe?

 

Side note: Taking cover is EXTREMELY glitchy sometimes. Thankfully the enemies don't have GTA police accuracy.

[Gallows]

Another criminal tip is robbing people in town. Go for people with no or few witnesses where you can easily control the situation without even having to run away.

 

Also go for rich looking people in town.

 

One thing to remember is you can rob several people at once. Lets say three people are standing together. Start robbing one with the gun out, then aim at the two others and rob them too. This does two things. First you get more money and more loot. Second, people you rob will not become witnesses.

 

You can earn quite well doing this and if you are smart about it, then it’s very low risk and very quick.

 

As for trains. Don’t rob them except for the Challenge. They are not working as the rest of the Bounty system, so there is no way to do it without being recognized.

Edited November 16, 2018 by Gallows

[Ingrobny]

The only time the mask has worked for me is when I rob town people for the bandit challenge, find a person where it is not many others, put the mask on and rob the person and ride away, it have worked in Valentine and Saint Denis.

 

Edit.

 

For a perfect train robbery, I just found this video on YouTube from TagBackTV:

 

How To Rob Trains & NO BOUNTY! The PERFECT Robbery - Red Dead Redemption 2 Easy Money

Edited November 16, 2018 by Ingrobny

[Gallows]

29 minutes ago, Ingrobny said:

The only time the mask has worked for me is when I rob town people for the bandit challenge, find a person where it is not many others, put the mask on and rob the person and ride away, it have worked in Valentine and Saint Denis.

 

Edit.

 

For a perfect train robbery, I just found this video on YouTube from TagBackTV:

 

How To Rob Trains & NO BOUNTY! The PERFECT Robbery - Red Dead Redemption 2 Easy Money

The mask does not work against lawmen. But I have not seen the mask fail a single time against witnesses. You just have to respect the simple rule - do not let lawmen see you after you have committed a crime. As soon as they are done investigating and you are not seen by them, you are free to go with no Bounty.

 

That’s the reason the lawmen are visible on the mini map when you have committed a crime. You can even see their facing, so you can avoid them and avoid getting recognized.

 

I think a lot of people run into trouble because they get spottet by lawmen and fail to understand that core rule. Before committing a crime I scope out the area to see if there are lawmen close and where they are.

 

Today I set off a stick of dynamite in one end of town. The lawmen went to investigate and as soon as they went I robbed the store I was in. There is no need to do that kind of planning, I just find it fun, that you can, if you’re really quick and make sure you don’t cross paths with the lawmen while running away. Dropping a corpse on a road into town, where the trafic is such that you can get to a store before anyone finds it is also great

Edited November 16, 2018 by Gallows

[Cornbeef]

Well thank yall for the helpful tips! I still think it's kind of stupid that the lawmen magically see through your mask, but it's nice to know how to avoid them. They really do need to fix that train bug though.

[Gallows]

6 hours ago, Cornbeef said:

Well thank yall for the helpful tips! I still think it's kind of stupid that the lawmen magically see through your mask, but it's nice to know how to avoid them. They really do need to fix that train bug though.

If the lawmen didn’t you would never get a bounty. The system is fine to present a Challenge to the player, seeing as you can see lawmen on the minimap and see their facing. Perhaps their range at which rhey recognize you could be slightly smaller and perhaps the lawmen should be visible on the minimap before you become wanted. The only time I get a Bounty is when I miss to spot a lawman prior to doing a robbery, and he blocks my exit from the shop. But some shops are just better targets than others. Some have great escape routes and some even have a working back door. Robbing a saloon full of people can also be quite good if you’re quick about it and most of them have a back door. Leaving a corpse somewhere away from where you want to rob does work well when you get the timing right.

Edited November 17, 2018 by Gallows

[Satanta]

Interesting.  I've seen a lot of complaints about the Bounty System.  Haave them myself.  I was attacked by three Wolves along a riverbank, shot and killed two, shot one and it ran into the river and started swimming so I put a round into it's head-got a Bounty fo 'Murder' put on me.

 

Told this elswhere-was in Valentine in front of the Gun Shop-Sheriff's Office is across the street.  I said "Howdy" to some guys on the porch of the Gun Shop-one of them says "You gonna take that?" and another comes over, pulls me off my horse and starts beating me, joined by the other two.   I am trying to keep my end doown so not to get shot by the Sheriff so doing a lot of blocking, finally start seeing red and there is a crowd yelling about 'Help him!'.  Took a Tonic and healed then finally started fighting back, knocked one out but when I needed another tonic [[all this time awaiting the Sheriff]] I must have hit the knife button cause I stabbed one to death-immediately the cops are on me pointing guns and threatening to shoot me.   You can say "Well you STABBED the dude." but the truth is I had to either fight or die and the Sheriff supposedly comes to stop it and ends the other guys but nope, after ten minutes and two tonics I'm the 'Bad Guy'.   Not in anything but bizarro World.

[Ring Dang Do]

21 hours ago, LeonVegaSuarez said:

How can I rob a store in let's say Saint Denis and NOT get a bounty?

Pistol whip and lasso is your best friends. Remember you are an outlaw not a serial killer so killing everyone is going to get the laws attention especially when everyone outside in the street can hear gunshots.

 

Go in the shop and pistol whip or hogtie the people inside including the store owner. A lot of times people rob shops with secret back rooms they just forget about the store owner once he has opened the back door. What do you think the store owner is going to do once you start robbing his shop? He's going to tell the law.

 

The first time I robbed a shop it was the doctors in valentine and like for a lot of people it was a total mess. I went in leaving the store owner alone and started shooting the gang members, the law came as it's right next to the sheriffs office and the sheriff is also involved in the business you are robbing. I panicked and missed the gun on the table and missed the safe, I then tried to get out the back door which didn't work so I went guns blazing out the front door and died.

 

Next time I robbed a shop in St Denis, I pistol whipped the store owner and the gangsters, didn't kill anyone or fire a shot. I then robbed the place including the hidden safe and then just slowly walked out the back door to where my horse was waiting. No alarm was raised, I never got a bounty and no lawmen turned up.

[GusMcCree]

Many bugs with the wanted system in the game ...and skt denies ...is not only dont take you guns to town ...its dont take your horse to town

[Sandereas]

2 hours ago, GusMcCree said:

Many bugs with the wanted system in the game ...and skt denies ...is not only dont take you guns to town ...its dont take your horse to town

I always ride my horse through St. Denis without any problems. Really not that hard.

[Gallows]

10 minutes ago, Sandereas said:

I always ride my horse through St. Denis without any problems. Really not that hard.

To be fair, I did bump a lot of people in the first hours of the game and the first few rides through Saint denis. The horse however is a living animal and controls like that. I have become a much better rider and feel I now have a lot of control over my horses, so that I can ride through Saint denis at decent speeds without a single incident. But I also remember it being harder when I started out. Keep an eye on your horse, what it does with the head, the sounds it makes etc. It communicates a lot of info to you, and once you learn its language, riding becomes easier and more fun. My horse is a brilliant predator alarm and they never surprise me. 

[Satanta]

4 hours ago, Gallows said:

To be fair, I did bump a lot of people in the first hours of the game and the first few rides through Saint denis. The horse however is a living animal and controls like that. I have become a much better rider and feel I now have a lot of control over my horses, so that I can ride through Saint denis at decent speeds without a single incident. But I also remember it being harder when I started out. Keep an eye on your horse, what it does with the head, the sounds it makes etc. It communicates a lot of info to you, and once you learn its language, riding becomes easier and more fun. My horse is a brilliant predator alarm and they never surprise me. 

Same with me.  That said, once in St Denis I had stopped for the crowd of Peds magically appearing on the street making it too chancy to go thru and wagon came up, hit me from behind and knocked me into a Ped-immediate Wanted.   Same in Velentine last night-stopped to the side, Peds, Wagon goes Bump-spooke3d horse who then started doing the "OHsh*tASNAKE!" Dance but I had an alley right next to me to get her into to calm down.

[Sandereas]

10 hours ago, Gallows said:

To be fair, I did bump a lot of people in the first hours of the game and the first few rides through Saint denis. The horse however is a living animal and controls like that. I have become a much better rider and feel I now have a lot of control over my horses, so that I can ride through Saint denis at decent speeds without a single incident. But I also remember it being harder when I started out. Keep an eye on your horse, what it does with the head, the sounds it makes etc. It communicates a lot of info to you, and once you learn its language, riding becomes easier and more fun. My horse is a brilliant predator alarm and they never surprise me. 

Yea those r some nice tips man

[LakiNinja]

I once got a bounty in Saint Denis for literally doing nothing. I put Arthur to fast travel there and went to kitchen myself. He got there before I got back and just stood there with his horse. Then I heard some noise and went to see the game. There was a text reading something about that hanging too long in a same place raises the law's interest and a wanted level. Had not the chance to defuse the lawman so the situation ended up in a shootout (did not shoot back) and a bounty of 35$.

[Need drugs]

Im only on chapter 2 or 3. I just did the mission where the o driscoll tied to the tree in the camp took us to their cabin in the woods. They went back to camp and i was looting the cabin. Before i could finish i get wanted. Wtf? Out in the middle of nowhere and we just killed everybody! I ran away before i could finish looting the cabin. Stupid.

[SM00V 0PERAT0R]

Since I have finished the story and am now just exploring... screw the honor system. If I get a bounty for bumping into someone I'll just kill everyone and never pay it. The wanted levels in this game are a joke. Only reason I paid them as Arthur was because there was still so much left in the story and I'd end up going back there. Now though... I'll just suck it up and loot/murder everyone.