Billionaire CJ

[This is a repost. I tacked it onto a thread from last October, and I see
that makes it hard to find if you have the threads collapsed. So, I'm just
tossing it in again as a new thread.]



Okay, there's a hundred-million's digit in CJ's money display -- but not a
billion's. CJ's maxxed out at $999,999,999. And it's not just the display.
The system doesn't keep track in the background of the excess. (Buy a $12
plate of food, and your total goes down to $999,999,987.)

So. You can't quite be a billionaire in SA.

I Brown Thundered yesterday for about five hours, and took CJ from a little
over $500 million to the max. I reached level 312, and was making money at
the rate of just short of $5 million per mission.

I almost stopped the session at level 300. I had about $950,000,000 and
figured I'd finish it off next time. Fortunately, I did the math and
realized I was only about a dozen missions from reaching $1 billion, since I
was making almost $5 million per mission at that point! If I'd have started
from scratch another day, it would have taken me 144 missions. I decided to
spend another 15 minutes or so and do the final 12.

By the way. Do 391 missions in one session and you'll earn that billion all
in one go. I reached level 312, so clearly that's possible. I average
about a minute per level, so that's about 6.5 hours -- definitely do-able.
(You'll be making about $7.6 million per mission at the end.)


Here's an update to my previous tips:

For the first dozen levels, use only the machine guns. The missiles rack up
the stars too fast. After those first dozen missions, it gets much harder
to boost your stars, for some reason; blast on fools.

Only eat at carts/wagons. Never go inside an "interior" food establishment.
Even if you've been in the copter for hours -- even if you've gotten in and
out many times -- you can come out of a burger joint and find your Hunter is
gone. You're just a dick on foot, looking frantically for a cop car before
your last 20 seconds expire. Believe me when I tell you that that's
annoying if you're at level 50 or above. I recommend the two food carts
that are only about 10 yards apart on the eastern end of the Old Strip.
There's a nice island to land the copter on, just across the street from
them.

STAY OUT OF LOS SANTOS! There's a spawn spot for Vigilante missions in Los
Santos that will ruin your whole run: underground at the LS airport. They
just cycle inside; you'd have to go inside yourself to get them. I tried
pounding the "roof" (the roadway overhead) with missiles, but it's no use.
If the action is getting near LS, just run for LV and hope that the villains
respawn in or near LV. (This seems to work -- unless the guys have gotten
out of one of the cars. Then it fails. You HAVE to go get them where they
are. Try again with the next mission.)

If you've achieved 100%, you'll appreciate that extra 50% of vehicle
hardiness. It's very evident. If you don't have 100%, be very careful of
your copter's health. Don't fire those missiles at close range, and don't
get near a pack of 12 villians who're all out of their vehicles and shooting
at you. (The copter "heals" after every mission, but that won't save you if
you blow it up DURING a mission (or just after).


--cleve





============================

My previous post:

"Cleve" <clevens DeleteThis @cox.net> wrote in message
news:6lQ_g.2827$La2.828@fed1read08...
> Cleve's CJ is proud to have Brown Thundered his way through level 200,
> before he hung it up and went to bed. I know some of you vigilant dogs
> will
> scoff at this. (I'm sure there are guys out there who just pause the game
> and resume the next day.) So, what's YOUR record?
>
> I was making $2M per pop there at the end. I got the counter to add that
> extra digit at $100M. (In VC, I'm not sure you COULD get $100M to
> register.
> Didn't it max out at 99,999,999?)
>
> Not long ago, I was under the impression that you just couldn't do an
> unending Brown Thunder in SA like you could in VC, because of things like
> Hydras and hunger. Sure you can. Here are Cleve's tips:
>
> (1) Start in LV where there are at least 4 helicopter-accessible bribes
> (on
> the freeway divider S of the Four Dragons; in a back lot just NW of there;
> next to the pirate ship at Pirates in Men's Pants; on a rooftop just NE of
> the pyramid).
>
> (2) Stars will mount quickly at first. When you think you're nearing 4
> (risking Hydras), knock one off. (Once a Hydra spawns, it will haunt you
> until it crashes. They don't go away when you drop back to 3 stars.
> Perhaps if you remove ALL stars, but I'm not sure.) Somewhere around
> level
> 12, it becomes MUCH harder to accidentally increase your wanted level,
> which
> is a relief. Try and keep no more than 2.
>
> (3) Fight like hell to remain in LV. Perhaps you've noticed that the
> game
> loves to spawn the next threat behind you so that you have to turn around
> to
> go get it. Use that. When a threat spawns across the water in northern
> LS,
> make sure your facing S (having your back to LV) when you eliminate the
> last
> guy. It doesn't work EVERY time, but will with patience. Even in LV, try
> to take out the last guy while you're facing away from central LV. You
> want to stay there for the level terrain, the low buildings, and the
> bribes.
>
> (4) When you're up 8+ minutes, ignore the bad guys and go eat. Don't
> wait
> until you're "hungry". Do it when it's convenient -- not necessary.
> Knock
> off your stars first. Find a place you can land close to. There are a
> couple of good ones in E LV. Be very careful about the "disappearing
> copter
> syndrome". This was a far greater problem in VC, but can happen in SA,
> too.
> I was at level 65 during one run, and stopped to eat. Came out. No
> copter.
> CJ was a little pissed. Now I get in and out an extra time before I leave
> it, and "leave the door open" by telling CJ to "move away" as soon as he
> hits the ground. If you have LOTS of time, then, even if you're not in
> LV,
> fly to LV to lose your stars and eat. Often, the bad guys die while
> you're
> inside, or simply respawn closer to you, bringing the action back to LV.
>
> (5) Be aware that the game CAN hang. I'm on a PS2. I've had a few hangs
> over the years -- some of them during Brown Thunder, presumably because of
> all the work that the processor is being asked to do. So, beware. Going
> for days, leaving the system paused between times, may be a bad idea. (We
> don't want to read about a guy found dead on his sofa with a gun in his
> lap
> and the image of a GTA Hunter burned into his TV screen.)
>
>
> Ever wondered how the pay scale is calculated? I researched this for VC
> (and posted it, long ago). SA uses the same formula.
>
> Pay for level L is 50*L^2 (L squared times 50).
>
> Cumulative pay amounts to a sum of squares. The formula works out to be
>
> T = 50n(n+1)(2n+1)/6
>
> where T is the total pay for levels 1 through n.
>
> For example, when I finished level 200, I made (50)(200)(200) = 2,000,000,
> and, since the start, I had made (50)(200)(201)(401)/6 = 134,335,000.
>
> Happy thundering.
>
> --cleve
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