Gang

This page is under construction. The following information may be incomplete. This article is currently being rewritten to reflect the changes in https://github.com/goonstation/goonstation/pull/18236

Multiple rival gangs are battling for control of the station, tagging and claiming territory, stockpiling drugs, guns, and cash, busting up opposing gang members, and parading around in silly outfits trying to be menacing.

The Gang Leader

Who can spawn as a gang leader?

If you have "Gang Leader" checked in your preferences, you're eligible to spawn as a gang leader when the game mode is gang. Security Officers, Security Assistants, the Detective, and the Heads of Staff (including the Head of Security) normally cannot spawn as gang leaders.

How do I know if I'm a gang leader?

It's pretty damn obvious. On round start, you are clearly informed that you're a gang leader by both a big chat message and a pop-up informing you of the basics of the game mode. Also, you have a capital G over your head. You get to choose a gang name from a randomly-generated set. You also gain access to the Set Gang Base ability which can, well, set your base, as well as pick your gang uniform. Gang tag is picked at random.

Set Gang Base

Use the Set Gang Base ability in your top left to set where your gang's gang locker will be; the gang locker is where you get gear and stash stuff for gang points. Using the ability will also let you set the gang uniform. You can't change locker location or gang uniform once it's set, so pick wisely!

A good location is important and should reflect on how you want to run your gang, while simultaneously keeping the gang locker safe and secure. The more public your locker, the easier it'll be for all gang members to stuff it with drugs, and cash. However, rival gang members can beat cash out of your locker and steal your loot, so your chosen location must strike a balance between accessibility and security. Furthermore, gang members wearing their full uniform while in an area they own get passive healing and stun-reduction effects that drop off the farther they are from their gang locker, so there's survivability aspect too.

Placing your locker will claim an area around it and allow you to start claiming territory with spray cans.

Your Job as a Gang Leader

Your goal is to lead your gang to victory by gaining the most points in the round. As a gang leader you also have access to street cred, a unique currency earned alongside regular points that can be used to purchase JankTank II revive syringes and to recruit replacement gang members.

Leading your gang to victory

• Gang members can be replaced, but you are the only one able to buy revival syringes and hire new members!
  • Give your members revival syringes, so they can revive you if you die horribly.
• Loot drops & crates often spawn behind access-locked doors. Quickhacks only take 3 seconds to work, and don't leave a trace. Just make sure you have enough charges to break out again.
• Placing your locker near populated areas is more risky, but populated areas are better tagging targets.
• Co-operating with crew can net you all sorts. Trade excess equipment with them for credits or more drugs!

The Gang Member

Initiation

When you spawn as a gang, your headset automatically gains access to the gang radio channel, which uses the prefix :g, like so.

say :g Got loads of meth and guns ready. Let's bust some bustas!

Now, go over to your gang's gang locker; you can check its location with the Notes command. Don't be afraid to ask for directions over the gang channel. Once there, click on the gang locker to claim your spray cans and gang uniform set. The former are essential for claiming turfs for the gang. The latter is technically optional, but it offers some excellent buffs.

Gang Uniforms

Gang uniforms can include a variety of silly hats/masks and jumpsuits, from horse masks to purple butts, from rainbow jumpsuits to Fallout Vault uniforms. You can claim yours at your gang locker!

Wearing the whole gang uniform is usually a good idea because the full set offers many benefits. For one, it greatly reduces the time required to claim a turf. Secondly, wearing the full set in your territory also grants +5 stamina regeneration, +40 max stamina, and +30 max health. Wearing any exosuit besides the gang-specific light vest will forfeit this bonus, so no trying to hide it!

Furthermore, if you're in your territory, you also sometimes heal BURN and BRUTE. If you're close to your locker, this also heals TOX. In practical terms, this means you can tank a few more taser shots than normal, greatly boosting your endurance in combat.

The main drawback is that the uniform clearly marks you as a gang member, so anybody, especially rival gang members, could attack and kill you at any time, hence all the combat bonuses. But let's be honest, why wouldn't you wear it? Just look at the man in the page image. How could you not want to emulate a man of such high fashion?

Other benefits

• Alongside the uniform benefits, gang members also gain a unique ability to pull members of their own gang who are on the ground without being slowed down, allowing a hasty retreat if things are going south. Though, this does not apply to grabs.

Rollin' in the dou- erm, points

Whether you're a gang leader or a regular member, your main goal is to earn points for your gang by claiming turf, stockpiling your gang locker with drugs, guns, and cash, and, occasionally, preventing or conducting kidnappings. You can find out your total score so far simply by Examining your gang locker. You can use these points to buy special items that'll help you take on rival gang members and other foes.

Taggin' up turf

Use your spray cans from your gang locker on any wall or floor bordering your territory to expand your influence, but be aware that rival gangs may spray over your tagging job to claim the area for themselves. The whole process will also take about 15 seconds, but it's reduced by 3 seconds for each piece of the gang uniform you wear.

Tags provide a regular income of points based upon how busy the area they 'see' is - if your tag sits in an empty maintenance hall, it won't provide many points! You want your influence over areas with high footfall like the main hallways, or a lot of people sat still, like Genetics.

If you want to tag an area, but don't have access to it, either try using a QuickHack from your locker, or try tagging it from the maintenance area around it. Remember, you want as many people to see your tag as possible!

Sight (left) and Claimable Tiles (right).

Money and guns and drugs oh my!

The other main way of earning points is by stashing money, drugs and/or guns in your gang locker. You can load items individually by clicking on the locker with the item in your hand and stuff multiple items at a time by click-dragging the sprite of one of them onto the locker sprite, as if stuffing a crate or satchel.

Drugs make a lot of points initially, but too much of one drug saturates your gang's market! You can view the current going prices for drugs in the locker.

Score Table

Name	Score	How to obtain	Notes
Tank Transfer valves	600 for the first, 300/valve after.	Steal them from Toxins	A surprisingly simple early target, if you're looking to get ahead.
Guns	300/Piece	Steal them the Armory or people who are packing heat, e.g. the Bartender, rival gangsters	Specifically excludes slam guns and zip guns. You may want to use some of these yourself.
Bath Salts	15/unit	Chemistry	Can be made with some Discount Dan's and a sufficiently large container.
Krokodil	15/unit	Chemistry	Also occasionally found in particularly shady areas.
LSBee	10/unit	Psychedelic Bees	Hard to source. But if you find any...
Methamphetamine	7.5/unit	Chemistry, Hydroponics	Much safer to make than crank and also quite robust.
Cat Drugs	5/unit	Hydroponics	Refined from catnip via still or chemistry
Morphine	5/unit	Hydroponics, Steal from Medbay	Medbay starts with enough with enough to saturate out a gang's market.
Crank	5/unit	Chemistry	Creates an explosion on mixing.
LSD	2.5/unit	Chemistry	Needs space fungus that can be scraped from maintenance walls or grown in hydroponics.
Psilocybin	2.5/unit	Hydroponics	Needed for making cat drugs without a still, though if you have it you probably also have a still.
THC	1.25/unit	Use a reagent extractor or still with cannabis.	Cannabis is trivial to mass grow, though there might be issues extracting and storing all the THC from so much weed.
Space Drugs	0.5/unit	Chemistry	Incredibly easy to mass produce.

Crate Wars

Twice a shift, a crate will be dropped into a room on the station, where it'll be locked into place for 5 minutes! If you can hold onto the crate without being turned into swiss cheese, the crate will unbolt itself from the floor. Once a robust, enterprising gang member has dragged it to their locker, they can interact with it to unlock it and gain a fat points bonus for doing so!

Why all the security? This particular crate is huge, and by being so large, it grants a much higher chance to roll bigger guns. Even the REALLY big ones. Even if you get unlucky, the remaining space will still be crammed with ammo, equipment, cash and drugs!

Contraband Smuggling

Every 15 minutes or so, each gang's mysterious gang announcer will have a few Duffle Bags hidden away; Not wanting to snitch your identities via your PDA, they've kindly had the information forwarded the information to the PDA of an innocent civilian on board. The civilians' identities and jobs will be forwarded to you via the Gang Radio. It's often better to co-operate with them for mutually beneficial terms - They know where your loot is, and while civilian crewmates are sane enough not to open it themselves, they can just as easily destroy it.

Duffle bags come with several measures to impede civilians (including the informant) trying to hand over unclaimed duffle bags to Sec. If a civilian tries to pull it, they'll be significantly slowed. If they manage to drag it away anyway, you'll be notified of the new location via Gang Radio. If they pick it up, the anti-theft barbs will trigger, slowing them down significantly and causing them to bleed, leaving behind a trail for you to follow, if the Gang Radio also broadcasting their location wasn't enough. In addition, they cannot drop or throw it, and other people cannot remove it unless they're a gang member. The victim can try to unhook themselves, but this takes 20 seconds of standing still.

Each of these duffle bags can be opened by a gang member to spill their contents everywhere. However, it's best to do this near your locker! Each bag will definitely contain a firearm or rare melee weapon, alongside ammunition, grenades, drugs, points and cash.

Money Laundering

By hitting your locker with a wad of credits, you can have the cash used to fund off-station crime. The credits will be slowly laundered over time to turn the cash into score + points. However, while laundering this cash, your locker will be open to being attacked and raided! Do your best to make sure someone's guarding your illegal laundering operation.

Gang Items

Locker Purchases

By clicking on your gang locker, you spend your Gang Points on variety of weapons and other items for fighting rival gangers and other opponents with. Gang Points are separate for gang member, so spend away!

Item	Image	Cost	Description
Medkit		1200	A basic medkit, comes with epinephrine and BRUTE/BURN patches.
Emergency auto-injector (omnizine)		1800	A single-use auto-injector filled with 5u of Omnizine.
Light Armor Vest		7500	A lighter armor vest than security's version, offering slightly less protection but still letting your cool gang uniform show through.
Tip off		8000	Schedules an early duffle bag drop full of goodies. A random civilian will be informed of the drop location.
Quickhack		1000	An illegal, home-made tool able to fake up to 5 AI 'open' signals to unbolted doors.
Rat Stick		1400	A basic melee weapon that does as much brute damage and almost as much stamina drain as an fire extinguisher, while also causing a fair bit of bleeding.
Switchblade		2000	A stylish knife you can hide in your clothes. Special attacks are exceptional at causing heavy bleeding. Use *snap emote to remove it.
Throwing Knife		2000	A cheap throwing knife specifically. When thrown, does almost fire extinguisher levels of brute damage, drains a fair bit of stamina, and causes a bit of bleeding on whoever's unfortunate enough to get hit.
Shuriken		1200	A pouch (i.e. its fits in pockets) of four shuriken, or throwing stars. When a shuriken is thrown, it does up to 11 BRUTE, inflicts Knocked-down for 2 seconds, and causes some bleeding. It also embeds in the victim, causing it to sometimes inflict a little BRUTE and briefly stun them; embedded shuriken are removed through the same procedure as shrapnel and bullets.
Faux C-Saber		9000	A d-saber, a melee weapon that creates a hot blade when activated in-hand. The blade does 18 raw BURN, which translates into 5-6 hits to send people below 0 health. Inactive, it causes 8 BRUTE. Generally inferior to the c-version; the d-saber cannot fit into pockets, does not stun on hit, and does not provide special abilities when blocking. You can still wielding a d-saber to "parry" hits from other d-sabers and c-sabers, reducing the attack to just a fair chunk stamina damage; this goes both ways! You can also open the dsaber with a screwdriver and pop in a glowstick.
Discount Katana		7000	Specifically a reverse katana. Actually does more BRUTE damage than the Syndicate version (18 vs 15), but it can't cause bleeding, and it only has a very rare (1%) chance to delimb when targeting a specific body part. Its special attack makes you charge a few tiles...reverse of the direction you clicked in; good for getting into melee range...or nope-ing out after you've bitten more than you can chew. Also, if you're wielding a reverse katana in your hand and get attacked by someone with a regular katana or another reverse katana, you'll "parry" their attacks, deflecting them at the cost of a fair chunk of stamina. This goes both ways.
Stolen Cop Car		20000	A security patrol car for on- and off-station travel, complete with a control scheme you might not be used to. Equipped with a pod taser system that never runs out of charge. Could work as a getaway car--if you've a good driver.

Street Cred Purchases

Gang leaders have additional purchases to keep their gang fighting.

Item	Image	Cost	Description
JankTank II		750, increasing by 1.5x for each syringe purchased.	A nasty looking cocktail of drugs and spices, able to bring a dead (non-rotten) gang member back to life. Will not work on non-gangsters. Gang members can use this on you, too! Given only you, the leader, can buy them, it's prudent to ensure they have one, or know where to get one.
Recruitment		500, increasing by 2.5x for each new member recruited.	Recruits a new gang member from the pool of eligible ghosts. Will fail and refund your points if your gang is full or no ghosts are available.

GUNS

Available from duffel bags and crate drops, each gun will come with a limited supply of ammo.

Item	Image	Ammo	Description
Webley Revolver		.455 speedloaders.	A cut down Webley break-action revolver. Has to be manually broken open in order to be reloaded and can "fan the hammer" if drawn from a pocket with both hands free, gaining a massive temporary fire-rate boost.
9mm Lo-Point		Standard 9mm ammunition.	A very cheap and disposable 9mm handgun. So disposable in fact that throwing an empty Lo-Point at someone will smash it to pieces and stun them for a short duration.
Hafgan Mod. 93R Repeating Laser		Single use Mod. 93R Repeating Laser Cells	A powerful burst laser pistol prone to overheating, requiring single-use disposable coolant cells.
MOR-30 Submachine Gun		Custom 9mm magazines.	A high fire-rate, no-frills, all damage 9mm automatic with custom ammunition.
Grease Gun		9mm Grease Gun magazines.	A cheap and old-fashioned SMG, known for having extremely inconsistent fire rate unless kept lubricated with some kind of grease. Space Lube, Oil, and Space-soybean oil all work well but whatever you do don't pour Glue into this thing.
Draco Machine Pistol		7.62x39mm Draco magazines.	A bizarre, incredibly high recoil 7.62 'Pistol'. Currently disabled pending the merging of actual recoil mechanics.
Striker-7		All shotgun ammo, comes loaded with birdshot.	A 7-shot drum fed shotgun, that can only be reloaded 1 shell at a time due to its awkward drum mechanism.
American-180		Cannot be reloaded, comes with 177 rounds of .22 ammunition.	Obscene fire rate, abysmal accuracy and damage, this thing is a bullet hose in every way.

It's gang WAR for a reason

When you're ready to bust up some bustas, you need to be ready to take on those unrobust rival gangs. Cause sooner or later, war will inevitably break out between gangs, and it's your job to come out on top.

Violence

You may want to read up on Murder and check out Guide to Being Robust to better know what to do on fighting other people.

Violence is your best option for dealing with those who stand in your way, as flowers rarely work against someone with a mean looking bat.

Shit Security

Early on, security is going to be your biggest threat to your gang, as at round start they have access to stun weapons and other gear, while you only have toolboxes. Though, security probably won't hurt you or your gang unless they have a good reason to. You should try to avoid attacking security until you have weapons or manpower to take them on. Security are usually seen trying to keep the peace in the hallways, attacking a civilian or rival gang member would probably get you thrown in the brig in accordance with space law. Remember that you are an antagonist however, so security could arrest and kill you unprovoked if a member of your own gang has been involved with the murder of a security officer, so it is best to stay out of hot water early on.

If you wish to take down security, your one strategy you could use is outnumbering them. By rushing them with either gang weaponry or improvised weaponry, they may become overwhelmed and succumb due to the amount of hits they are taking, though this strategy only works if the weaponry used does considerable stamina damage, such as the toolbox. Another strategy you can use is if you have already taken an officer, you can easily use their own weapons against their fellow officers, and loot their gear until you have taken down every officer.

If you successfully manage to take down security, you get access to almost all their gear, as well as armory gear if you can break inside. This gives you a significant edge over other gangs, and by knocking down a third party, you can focus more on the protection of your own gang as well as the war against the rival gangs.

Civil Civilians

Normally, you shouldn't be going after the crew, lest you may provoke security's wraith if you have not taken them out early. You should only kill civilians if necessary, such if they are getting in the way of your gang flow. Most crew members would turn a blind eye if you're bustin' up a rival gang member, so you shouldn't worry about them too much. Going on a full genocide on the crew is generally frowned upon by the community and is one of the reasons why gang does not have the best reputation in the community, so don't be a part of that problem!

However, the crew does still have beneficial items or access that could help your gang.

• Medical Doctors usually have a belt full of healing goodies, which could be used to heal you or your fellow gang members during or after a battle.
• Scientists and the bartender both have access to a Chemical Dispenser which is useful for making drugs and meaner stuff
  • The Botanist also has access to weed
• The Quartermaster has access to the QM console which can order useful items.

Civilians are usually easy kills, provided they do not have any stolen, improvised, or just straight up weaponry. It's a good idea to try to kill them when there is the minimal amount of people around the person you are trying to kill, lest you risk a random staff assistant interfering with your gangsta style. As stated before, they are best to be left alone unless they need some gangsta beat into them for messin' up a fellow gangster's style.

Rival Gangsters

Rival gang members are going to be what you are inevitably going to be fighting, whether it would be over territory disputes, revenge murder, or locker defense. It is good to be prepared for the fight, as you will not be given nor obtain anything too overpowered. Instead, you will be seeing gangster gear. Gangster gear is gear that is moderately powerful, nothing syndicate gear powerful, but better than the average improvised weapon. It's important to know how to deal with bringing a melee to a gun fight or even a basic fist fight, rival gangsters will not hesitate to kill you.

You can loot valuable gang loot if you do manage to kill a gangster, as well as have one less person rivaling your gang, make sure they don't get cloned however. You can also access a rival's gang's communications by using their headset, which is automatically tuned to their respective gang channel. Hilariously, you can probably trick them by calling for help on the other side of the station, while you bash a lone gang member's head in.

Killing a rival gangster can get tricky, they can call for help over the radio, forcing an unfair fight. They also have access to the weapons you do, thus making you have less of an advantage over other gangsters. Though, if you are making the most points out of any gang, you probably will have the better weapons. You should try to kill the rival gangster as quickly as possible, utilizing stun weapons or weapons that have high stamina damage to quickly knock out the rival gangster. When knocked out, you can switch to a gang weapon that has mean amounts of BRUTE or BURN to quickly get the gangster into critical, usually debilitating them in the process. Once the gangster is finished off, you can loot and dispose of the corpse.

Usin' the gangsta' style with the gangsta' weapons

The Rat Stick

• The basic bread and butter of every gang. Early on, you'll often find that almost every rival gang member carries this weapon. Occasionally, you might even see civilians wielding this, whether because they stole it off a gang member or a gang has bought so many there're rat sticks just lying around. You can save points by stealing another rat stick instead of buying a new one, provided you can fend off whoever you stole the weapon from.
• The toolbox actually does superior stamina damage compared to this weapon, so if you want to knock someone out, it is better to use a toolbox instead, which also saves points.
• If you hit someone with a rat stick, they bleed. If they bleed out a bunch, they move slower and may randomly keel over, making it easier to hit them, causing them to bleed even more, they move even slower and have a higher chance to pass out...so on and so forth.

The Throwing Knife

• This throwing knife does not instantly knock down on hit if the target is at full stamina, make sure you know your target has used a bit of their stamina before throwing to knife to get that sweet knockdown!

The Shuriken

• Very useful if you need someone knocked down to steal the weapon they are currently holding.
• Since the shuriken embeds itself into the victim, they are good for debilitating those who are attempting to run away.
• Yes, the pouch that holds the shurikens can fit in your pocket.
• One shuriken is slightly higher BRUTE than one shrapnel shot from a slam gun, so it may be better to use a slam gun instead if you have the time to make one.
  • Though, the slam gun has a slower firerate and worse range, so it ultimately comes down to preference and choice.

The Armor Vest

• Provides moderate protection from bullets and melee weapons.
• This should be an early go-to if you want to survive all the lead flying everywhere.
• Notably, it's small enough to not count as covering up your gang outfit, allowing you some resistance alongside your gang representation bonus.

The Webley

• An incredible backup weapon, this can fit in your pocket.
• However, it doesn't come with a lot of ammunition, so it's best to think ahead on how you're going to use it.
• Fanning the hammer is an excellent panic button, but it carries a hefty damage and accuracy penalty.

The Lo-Point

• While it's not terribly interesting, it comes with 10 rounds of full-power 9mm.
• It's a throwaway gun! Once you're completely out of bullets you may as well throw it at someone's head.

The Hafgan Burst laser

• Great for spraying down a hallway - it has 8 bursts (24 shots) per magazine. They can also be dual-wielded.
• Just keep in mind - It can't accept other energy weapon cells.

The MOR-30

• While significantly less cooler, burst mode has better accuracy than full auto.
• Thirty rounds per magazine can disappear faster than you'd expect - Watch for friendly fire, too!

The Grease Gun

• A rare find, compared to the similar MOR-30
• Keeping the stock unfolded will help keep this gun pointed in the right direction.
• It's awful grimy. Either accept the jank, or if you must, regularly lube it for improved results! Lube and oil aren't the only things that can grease this gun.

The Striker-7

• The birdshot loaded in this stacks up a lot of bleed, even around enemy armor!
• Take care with your shot placement. The striker is notably slow & awkward to reload.
• It also accepts regular shotgun loads, which is a rare blessing.

The Faux C-Saber

• This is the most powerful weapon you can get out of a gang locker, featuring great burn damage that could send someone into critical condition.
• Like with any melee, mind your stamina. People will try to shove this weapon out of your hands. Be ready to quickly pick your weapon back up in case there is a successful shove.
  • You can always carry a backup weapon in case things go south.
• You can use C to quickly activate and deactivate the saber.

The Discount Katana

• On the off chance you face against someone who is also using this weapon, you'll parry their attacks, costing a bit of stamina. It's best to bring a weapon of equal power if you do not wish to risk having your weapon parried off your hands.
• This weapon is one of the few weapons that has a chance to delimb on hit. Make sure you're aiming for a limb.

The Stolen Cop Car

• This car comes equipped with a taser, which is actually more powerful than the handheld version, with more range and bullet speed. Use this to your advantage!
  • You can use the car to chase and fire upon those running away.
  • You can also ram into people with the car, dealing a minor amount of BRUTE.
• The car only has 110 health, slightly over a basic minisub health and slightly less than a pod with light miniputt armor.
• Remember you can repair the engine with a welder, and the car is not a total loss if the engine does blow up, rather it requiring a new engine.
• Of course, it is vital you sound the sirens whenever possible for style points.

Gallery

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