Currently as it stands at some times the majority of “people” online are NPMs.  New CLs appear and the first thing they do is stock up on some NPMs and they aren’t daft, they pass up loads of cash, contribute to OCs, catch witness statements and generate easy kills at the end of the day.

I’d like to suggest a change to the NPMs. Make them cheaper to recruit, give them a job to do, require upkeep while bringing in a bit of “drama” to the proceedings.

Currently, we act with impunity.  We can crime, kill, pass on criminal proceeds and deal drugs with an occasional jail sentence that doesn’t really have any effect on earning potential.  I assume most illegal organisations have a legitimate front for money laundering purposes.  I think the NPMs should become legitimate business associates (LBAs if you still want a fancy three letter acronym).

Here’s how I envision them working:

Say I enlist the use of six LBAs.  It only costs 1 credit to hire them but like a DFP, I have to pay for their upkeep.  This could be 1 credit per LBA for a 5 day retainer up to a maximum of 5 retainers per LBA to keep them at their current 30-ish day limit.  If I don’t pay the retainer, he drops off my crew list and I’m sent a message that says “JoeBones feels unappreciated and has started gathering information for the feds”.  I then have one hour to find and kill him before all online crew members are put in jail losing their current drug units.

At this point I’d like to digress.  Why do we retain all our carried drug units when we go in and out of jail?  Surely these would be removed from us on arrest?

So the use of the LBAs?  They act as a go between for crew members and leaders for the tributing of cash.  If there’s an LBA in your city you can transfer the cash to him/her who then passes it up spread between the cities (which the NPMs currently do anyway).  They take a cut, which ultimately gets sent to you anyway when they have nothing else to send up so nothing is lost.  If there isn’t an LBA in your city you can pass it straight up however that will attract the attention of the feds and unless both you and your CL are pretty stealthy you’ll end up in jail, again with your current drug units lost.

However here comes the other use of the LBA, if you’re quick enough, you can “hire” him/her as a family lawyer.  It costs a straight 0.1 credits to hire the lawyer but the lawyer gets you off and you keep your units.  If someone busts you out you still lose your units.

Ultimately the LBAs can still take part in OCs though, as the inside informant that can help with these sorts of things.  I think that they should not be available for promotion.  They should maybe have the OC earning potential of a made man just as a standard earning %age through their lifetime.

So I’ve paid my fifth retainer and at the end of the day my LBA feels that aiding such bloody minded criminals isn’t for him.  Rather than being given a day to organise their death and then they all disappear at a pre-destined time, at some point after 28 days I’d be given four hours notice that they’ve had enough.  After three hours they drop off the crew list and I’m told “JoeBones’ office is empty.  The feds are outside his office and an arrest warrant has been issued for him.”.  If he’s not dead by the end of the hour, once more all my online members are put in jail and lose their units.

The last thing would be a limit.  I would only be able to have "hired" 10 LBAs in any 30 day period much like 3 MIAs in 48 hours.  This should avoid the LBAs being used as cheap, easy kills.