Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories - Empire Building Part 2

Song of the Day

Sexual Healing - Marvin Gaye

As soon as the empire building is available you are able to build three kinds of businesses, Protection Racket, Loan Shark and Prostitution. For each property you build you get a certain amount of money per day, which is paid  directly to you at 16:00. However, your businesses won't make real money until you max out your reputation in that sector. In order to do this, you must do side missions.

Each business type has their own side-mission, complete 15 of them and you will max out your reputation in that kind of business. They're all pretty easy, but can be quite time consuming and they offer little variation. 

Protection Racket

You can't expect to run a business in a town run by gangs without having to pay a little protection money. The whole point of these missions is to "convince" new clients to pay you, protect your current clients from rival gangs and then take a client off of them in retaliation. Out of the first three businesses these are the most time consuming and offers the least reward.

There are three stages to these missions, though there's no structure as to when certain ones pop up. The easiest one is where you merely have to convince a shopkeeper to pay you protection money. Just roll in, break stuff and he'll agree to pay you. Sometimes he'll call the cops but all you get is a one star wanted level, easy enough to get rid of.

The second is where a rival gang will attack one of your clients. This just involves driving to the site, killing the guards and killing the attackers inside the store. The shopkeeper will moan at you because he's a whining bitch (he's also cloned himself at least thirty times), but he'll carry on paying.

The third is a mix of the two, where you forcibly take a rival gang's client. Kill the guards, break the stuff inside. Break enough stuff more gang members will come inside the store in a futile attempt to protect it. Kill two or three of them and the whining bitch will agree to pay.

Each one counts as a job, finish fifteen jobs and you will max out your reputation in the Protection Racket industry, thus maximising your profits.

Also, once you build your first High-Roller premises you unlock a new outfit, the 'Hired Muscle'...

Loan Shark

Need money? But the bank won't lend you any? Don't worry, Uncle Vic will lend you some. Just be sure to pay him back, or else you may find your vehicle getting repossessed. Yes, the whole point of these missions is to steal vehicles. However, these are the easiest ones as there is only two kinds of vehicles to steal: a fast motorbike (the PCJ 600) and a delivery van full of cargo (a Benson).

The PCJ 600

First, to steal the motorbike is easy, you can either drive into the bike causing the driver to fly off, or if you get well ahead of them you can target them with your gun. Shoot them off and the bike is yours. Drive it back to base and you get $150 and the next job starts.

Benson

The next one is to steal a Benson truck full of cargo. It is recommended that you don't attack the vehicle directly, if you lose the cargo you fail the job. However, it's still simple, shoot the front of the van or ram your car into it and the passengers will either get out and flee, or get out and attack. Kill them if they attack, grab the van and drive it (carefully) back to base. Another $150 in the bank.

If you manage three in a row you get a bonus $250. The same will happen at six, nine, twelve and etc. It never goes up, so if you only want to do three at a time then that is fair. These missions are timed, but the time from the previous job gets carried over and eventually you'll have more than enough time to complete each job.

Repossess fifteen vehicles and you will maximise your reputation in the Loan Shark industry. Also, building your first High-Roller building will unlock a new costume, the 'Repo Man'...

Well, it should have been this, HMPH.

But instead it's this. Boring.

Prostitution

Are you a lonely rich man? Or just a bored rich man? Well, our girls will satisfy your every desire. Even if all you desire is a buddy to play Pong with, our girls can do that...for a price. Yes, it's time to be a pimp. These missions start out simple enough, drive one girl to her client, pick up another girl, drop her off with the next client and then pick up the first girl. Sometimes it will go without a hitch and you'll get a cut of the money. It will rarely go without a hitch.

The car you'll be using, the Polaris V8, is nice n' fast!

There are three things that can happen. 

1) The customer tries to run away without paying. This is easy to settle...run him over. You can collect the money he drops as a reward.

2) The customer tries to beat up the girl. While your girls can fight back, it's much more safer to just shoot the bastard down. 

3) The customer tries to kidnap the girl. The car you're in is fast so you can easily catch them. Ram their car, or shoot at it, they'll come out and try to attack you. Kill them. Win.

Do all of these fifteen times and you will maximise your reputation in the Prostitution industry. Also, building your first High-Roller brothel will unlock the 'Leisure' costume...

Motherf'ing P.I.M.P.

If you want lots of money early on, build lots of High-Roller Prostitution properties, you will get a healthy amount every day.

There are still three more business types, but they won't become available until we unlock them later on in the game. There will be a part three when that happens.

Next Time on VCS: Progress Report IV