APB: Reloaded: How to Play + Tips

Good to know you're interested in playing APB: Reloaded! Let's kick off with the basics of the game and how to start playing.


Starting the game

When you first start the game, you're asked to login with your Gamersfirst ID. You can also login with your steam account, if you have one. Register if needed, and go ahead and create either a Criminal or an Enforcer.

Neither faction is really 'better' than the other, but I can tell you their main differences;

- Enforcers can kill and run over civilians and damage property without the risk of being arrested or killed.
- Criminals can farm money much more easily by ramraiding stores or mugging people.
- Enforcers will need to play missions most of the time to earn cash, so you need to be up for that.
- Criminals are allowed for much more 'free play' to earn big cash.

However, being a criminal is much more risky as with every crime you commit you risk the chance of being witnessed by an Enforcer. A criminal always needs to be on the lookout, whereas Enforcers can patrol the streets quietly.


Creating a character

After choosing a side, you will be given total freedom in creating your character! You can choose it to be either male or female, and you can practically change everything that shapes a human being, from jaw width to pupil color, from height to muscularity. I recommend hitting the randomize button a few times so you can get the basic shape you want, or hit the 'advanced' tab in the lower left corner to totally customize every bit of your character, which I recommend. Take your time, though you can always change it later, it will cost you some ingame cash, and right now you can adjust every bit for free.

NOTE: by ingame cash I mean the cash you earn from doing ingame stuff.

TIP: When changing the height of your character, or its weight, notice the 'hand' that appears on the screen. Press and move your cursor to increase or decrease its value.


Playing the game

When starting out, you can choose to play the tutorial. You will be thrown into a game with total n00bs just like you. At the start of the tutorial, or the start of any APB:R game, you will be asked to join a group. You can say yes to this and start playing missions. However, if you just want to be left alone, untick the boxes at the lower right such as 'looking for group' (LFG) and the other one below it which I forgot the name of it, just untick them all. Now just close the popup screens, and wait for the counter to start in the top left of the screen. Once you see a 30 second countdown, press 'K' (by default) to unready yourself for missions. Now you can freely roam the city without being shot by anyone.

Be careful though, as a mission will start if you get witnessed by an enforcer. So just be careful and look around first being you commit a crime being a criminal.

NOTE: You can always tick the boxes again to ready yourself for a group. You will then be thrown into a group and you can play together against the other side.


Notoriety and Prestige

When you do 'good' stuff being an enforcer, your 'Prestige' will increase. When you do bad stuff like killing civilians it will lower your prestige. For the criminals it works the way around; they have to do bad stuff to increase their Notoriety, and the longer they postpone doing bad stuff, their Notoriety will decrease.

So what you can you *do* with this Prestige and Notoriety? Both affect your bonus. At the top left of the screen you will see a bar with stars, which depicts your level of notoriety/prestige, and next to it is your bonus, for criminals it starts at 0.4 and for enforcers at 0.9. This may seem unfair for the criminals as enforcers start out with a higher prestige, but then again, it's so much more easier for criminals to increase their notoriety than for enforcers to increase their prestige.

Make sure to stay below notoriety/prestige level 5, as once at that level, everyone on the map can kill you for a bonus. It's slightly different with enforcers killing enforcers though, as it would make no sense to kill a fellow enforcer! You will be punished for doing so. When you've earned some cash, be it ramraiding or arresting criminals you will need to bring it to either the evidence locker (enforcers) or money launder location (criminals), and will receive the money displayed in the top left corner times your prestige/notoriety amount. For example, at notoriety level 1 you will receive 0.4 x $200 = $80. That's why you might want to increase your notoriety or prestige, so you'll earn extra cash.


Recommended reading (how to play 'extended')

I highly recommend you to read the page below depending on which side you've chosen:

APB: Reloaded Criminal Gameplay Tips
APB: Reloaded Enforcer Gameplay Tips

They're full of tips on what to watch out for and what you can do being on either side.