| Start | Opens after To Victor, the Spoils; attack a rival site marked on the map |
|---|---|
| Needed for 100% | Own all 30 sites and reach the top respect title in all six businesses |
| Reward | Daily income at 16:00, a save point in every site, bulletproof vehicles outside once all 30 are yours |
Empire building is how Vic earns his money. You take business sites from the Bikers, the Cholos and the Sharks, build one of six businesses on each, and run the jobs on offer inside to raise your respect. For 100% you need all 30 sites and the top title in every business: Ultimate Badass, Crim Reaper, Mack Daddy, Smack Daddy, Pirate Captain and Heist Meister.
The six businesses
Three businesses are open from the start: Protection Racket, Loan Shark and Prostitution. The other three, Drugs, Smuggling and Robbery, only unlock after From Zero to Hero, when you take over a site that already runs one of them. Cost and daily profit both climb with each size.
| Business | Small-time | Medium Venture | High-Roller |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protection Racket | $1,500 for $100 a day | $2,900 for $200 a day | $4,400 for $300 a day |
| Loan Shark | $2,000 for $150 a day | $3,900 for $300 a day | $6,800 for $600 a day |
| Prostitution | $3,000 for $200 a day | $5,900 for $400 a day | $8,800 for $800 a day |
| Drugs | $4,500 for $250 a day | $8,900 for $500 a day | $13,300 for $1,000 a day |
| Smuggling | $5,000 for $300 a day | $9,900 for $600 a day | $14,800 for $1,200 a day |
| Robbery | $6,000 for $350 a day | $11,900 for $700 a day | $17,800 for $1,400 a day |
Of the legal three, Prostitution pays best and Protection Racket worst. Of the illegal three, Robbery pays best and Drugs worst. Your first High-Roller site of a business also unlocks an outfit for Vic at your safehouses.
Taking a site
Four sites go up for sale when To Victor, the Spoils ends. After that you take sites from other gangs. Drive to a rival site and the game tells you to destroy the gang vehicle parked outside. That starts the attack, and every attack raises the gang’s hate towards you, so arrive ready for a fight.
Gangsters pour out and defend their turf. Kill them, then enter the premises. Inside, the last members fight with fists or bats, and you smash the assets of the business: beds in a brothel, printers at a loan shark. When that is done the site goes up for sale. Each win pays $1,000 for a Small-time site, $1,500 for a Medium Venture and $2,000 for a High-Roller site.
Stand on the site marker and press R3 to buy it, then use the notice board inside to pick a business and a size. Gang members standing outside can be recruited with R3 too, which helps on the next attack.
Each gang hits back differently once you take its site. The Cholos send two men in a Sabre, the Bikers send two on a bike, and the Sharks send four in a Rancher with the heaviest guns, so leave the Sharks for last. After Havana Good Time the Cholos put their sites up for sale, and you or the Bikers can claim them.
Defending your sites
Once you start a war with a gang, it tries to take your sites back. A message tells you which business is under attack and where, and a distress icon shows on the radar. Reach the site before the damage bar fills and shoot the attackers down.
Each intact site can take four hits. Every attack you miss costs one, income from a damaged site drops, and at zero the site is sold off and a rival can buy it. Repairing a damaged site costs $500 or $1,500. Once all 30 sites are yours, the vehicles outside turn bulletproof and the attacks stop.
Business missions
Many sites hold a gang member marked by a blue arrow. Press R3 near them to start a job for that business. The jobs raise your respect, and higher respect pays more income on that business. Protection Racket, Loan Shark and Prostitution each have 15 jobs. Drugs, Smuggling and Robbery each have 6.
| Business | Jobs | What you do | Top title |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protection Racket | 15 | Smash up store stock and convince owners to pay | Ultimate Badass |
| Loan Shark | 15 | Repossess vehicles and their cargo | Crim Reaper |
| Prostitution | 15 | Drive girls to clients and stop runners | Mack Daddy |
| Drugs | 6 | Make deals and steal rival stock | Smack Daddy |
| Smuggling | 6 | Collect packages from the water and bring them to a jetty | Pirate Captain |
| Robbery | 6 | Briefcase and money truck jobs | Heist Meister |
Quit a job and the game keeps your progress, so you can retry it from the current point.
Missable: the Drugs business
Build a High-Roller Drugs site before you finish Hostile Takeover. That mission hands you a Drugs business anyway, but the 100% count only gives credit for unlocking Drugs if you already built one between From Zero to Hero and Hostile Takeover.
Do not take over sites on Vice City Beach before From Zero to Hero either. If you buy up every site before the unlock, you cannot build the three illegal businesses and lose the 100% for good. Wait for the mission, then start with an enemy site that already runs a Drugs, Smuggling or Robbery business.
Daily income
Income arrives every day at 16:00, or when your current mission ends. A job that spans several days, such as Paramedic, only pays for the latest day. Every site holds a save point, but no garage, health or clothes.
