Turns and daily rhythm
One turn regenerates every 45 seconds until your 200-turn vault is full. Actions consume different amounts. Daily income resets at midnight Eastern Time, while hourly businesses and activities continue on their own schedules.
Field manual
How to play
Project Vice rewards planning, timing, and knowing when a “profitable opportunity” is actually bait wearing a cheap hat.
Choose an allegiance
Syndicate players earn stronger criminal returns. Vice players gain defensive and enforcement advantages. Independents gain legitimate income and can become informants, witnesses, fixers, or opportunists.
Move through the region
Vesper City is the capital. Ashport and Hollowmere are specialist cities. Marrowgate opens with Season One at level 4. Travel consumes fuel and real time; rushing spends turns to arrive sooner.
Build legal income
A legitimate business produces clean cash directly. Expand it for more revenue, improve security, collect its register, and decide how much exposed value you are willing to leave on-site.
Operate a front
A front produces less passive cover revenue but can convert dirty cash into spendable clean cash. Laundering costs turns and a percentage of the money, and adds exposure that investigators and rivals can exploit.
Crime and dirty cash
Successful crimes and illicit raids create dirty cash. It cannot be banked or spent in the normal economy until a front launders it. Higher-risk hours improve payouts but increase police encounters, evidence, and arrests.
Heat, cases, and custody
Heat describes immediate attention. Case strength represents lasting evidence and testimony. Warrants and arrests can lead to jail time, reduced income, and vulnerable territory. Work details, legal study, and review hearings make custody active rather than dead time.
Fight the territory war
Spend turns in your current neighborhood to spread faction influence. Syndicate pressures routes, Vice secures corridors, and Independents organize commerce. Close margins remain contested.
Use sub-passive income
Owned hourly sources, businesses, and territory create residual income that matures between visits for up to 12 hours. Custody cuts the residual rate in half.
Understand seasons
Seasonal influence, territory points, and seasonal XP reset at rollover. Permanent accounts, levels, cash, items, businesses, relationships, and moderation history remain.
Unlock progression
Twenty permanent levels reveal new cities, business systems, high-stakes crimes, coordinated territory actions, elite events, and season titles.
Shared counterplay
Criminals raid stored business revenue. Police provide protection. Civilians warn owners. Security, exposure, vehicles, stats, location, and timing modify the outcome—our many-variable version of rock-paper-scissors.
Recommended first session
Claim income → scout the city → open a business → secure your cash.
Then use Director View during alpha testing to see how the same location appears to criminals, enforcement, and civilians.