Hey all. Just reposting Jointo's old design for the Upkeep system.

Dear players, here is a proposition for the Property Upkeep Penalty System

1. Late Fees (Fair & Activity-Based)

    + 30% Late Fees (The daily upkeep cost increases by Penalty % (e.g., 30% penalty → 30% more upkeep per day).)

        - Late Fees only increase when the player is active. (Less than 3 days ago online), If a player is offline for an extended period (e.g., vacation), the penalty won’t increase during their absence.

        - When they return, the unpaid upkeep resumes accumulating based on their last activity.

    Cap late fees at 50% of the original upkeep cost (to avoid making debt impossible to recover from).

This system prevents punishing players for taking breaks but still rewards regular play and maintenance.

2. Bailiff & Bounty System (Progressive Financial Consequences)

    + 50% Penalty – Employees Are Unhappy

    Street Narcos financial production is halved.

    Flavor text notifications:

        “Your crew is losing respect for you. Street-level earnings are down by 50%.”

        “Your accountant warns you: ‘We’re leaking money faster than we’re making it.’”

    +75% Penalty – Bailiffs Place Bounties

    Every additional 5% penalty after 75% triggers a bounty on your head worth 5% of the total owed upkeep.

    Bounties are taken from your cash on hand first, then from property vault and finally from Bank money.

          (If you run out of money no bounty is placed, congrats you are broke ! :))

    Example: At 86%, you’ll have 3 active bounties chasing you down.

    +100% Penalty – Total Chaos (Random Events, 4 per day)

    You’re officially in deep trouble. Four random events hit you daily, IE:

        “The gardener didn’t get his payment, so he brought some friends to teach you a lesson.” → Hospitalized for X hours or life reduced.

        “The chef, fed up with missed payments, adds ‘extra spices’ to your food. Hospital visit incoming.”

        *“An unpaid employee snitched. The FBI raided your mansion.” → Jailed for X hours

        “Your driver sold information to a rival gang. Your next operation fails automatically.”

Note the system is cumulatif. Ie: at 100% you will have:

    - 50% Late fees

    - 6 bounties each worth 5% of total owed upkeep

    - Get 4 random events with jailtime, or hospital time, or no time but life reduced

What we are striving for is:

    - Fair for Inactive Players – No extra punishment for being offline for some time.

    - Encourages paying upkeep on time – Regular upkeeps payment prevent penalties from stacking uncontrollably.

    - Fun & Immersive – Realistic penalties wrapped in entertaining, flavorful events.

    - Player-Driven Consequences – Bounties involve the player community, adding risk and reward.

Personally, an upkeep system needs ti be added to the game, and this has been on the back burner for over a year now

+1 to all of this.

Jointo's original thread is here - https://cartelempire.online/Forum/1/1276

I know it's not a democracy but no because the market sucks right now and I really cannot afford this **** right now lmao 

I know it's not a democracy but no because the market sucks right now and I really cannot afford this **** right now lmao 

HUGEACKMAN - 04/02/2026, 06:23:16

I can always loan you my Town House 

R+ i agree 

I thought this was already in progress? What happened?