Investment Losses

cname: InvestmentLosses
Teamplay: Toggleable

“In this economy, even secret agents need Cash Money Dollars to get by.”

In Investment Losses you do not pick up weapons or armor. You buy them. A store puts up one item at a time. You earn money by fighting and by collecting ammo crates, and you decide what to spend it on. Anything you buy stays with you for the rest of the round, so a player who invests well gets stronger and stronger as the round goes on.

Scoring is the same as normal Deathmatch (one point per kill). The store can also change your score directly (see Special Offers).

The Basics

• Spawns: Weapon and armor spawns are disabled, and ammo is infinite. On a fresh spawn you have only Slappers, plus everything you have bought this round.
• Death: When you die you drop nothing. When you respawn you get back every weapon and powerup you have bought.
• Spawn protection: Spawn invulnerability is only 1 second, because players spawn fully equipped.
• Ammo crates: Picking up an ammo crate gives you money and +1 bar of health. Every player always gets this health bonus. The crate is then removed.
• Money is kept for the whole round and resets at the start of each new round. Your balance cannot go below $0.

Earning Money

The table shows the Standard Store’s rates. Some store types change them.

Late joiners: A player who joins or is reset partway through a round is not left behind. They start with the store’s starting cash plus a catch-up payment. The payment is roughly what a player would have earned from store cycles plus a share of kills and crates for every cycle already played, up to cycle 27. After cycle 27 they also get an extra $10,000.

How the Store Works

Buying

• The current offer is shown near the bottom of the screen with its price, and a progress bar counts down to the next offer.
• Press the Voodoo key (G by default) or type !voodoo in chat to buy it.
• You can buy one copy of each offer. You can only buy an item again if it is stackable and it comes up again later.
• A greyed-out offer means you cannot afford it, you have already bought it, or you already own it and it does not stack.
• The price you see is your own price, with your discount powerups already applied.

Store Cycles

A new item is offered every 7 seconds. Each change is one cycle. The store only picks from items that at least one player on the server can afford, and it avoids repeating items or offering too many of one kind (for example, lots of pistols in a row).

Prices Drop Over Time

• Price reduction: The first 5 cycles are full price. After that, prices drop by 1.4% each cycle, down to a floor of 50% off at about cycle 41 (around 4 minutes 40 seconds into the round). Items marked No discount below are never reduced.
• Sales: From cycle 5 onward, any offer can go on sale for 50% off. The chance starts at 1.4% and rises by 1.4% each cycle, up to a maximum of 50%. Sale offers are shown in a brighter color with “Sale!” in front. Items marked No sale are never on sale.
• Prices are rounded to the nearest $100.

What Comes Up When

The store follows a rough schedule through the round. The times assume the standard 7-second cycle.

The store also offers 8 Bars of Health + Armor every 4th cycle, or every 3rd cycle from cycle 24 onward.

Special Offers

Store Types

At the start of every round, one store type is chosen at random. Stores with a higher weight are more likely to be chosen. A banner announcing the store and what it does appears when you first spawn. Type !store at any time to see it again.

Store (Standard)

The default store, with the rules described above: $2,500 starting cash, $400 per cycle, $500 per kill and $200 per crate. It does not show a description banner.

Signup Bonus Store

“Start with an extra 1000 Cash Money Dollars”

Everyone starts with $3,500 instead of $2,500. Everything else is standard.

Cheap Store

“Items are 25% cheaper.”

All prices are multiplied by 0.75, on top of the normal price reduction over time. Items marked No discount keep their normal price.

Luxury Store

“Items are 50% more expensive”

All prices are multiplied by 1.5, on top of the normal price reduction over time. Items marked No discount keep their normal price.

Clearance Sale Store

“Items on sale only cost 25% of their normal value”

Sales happen at the normal rate but are much deeper. The store’s extra 75% off is applied on top of the normal 50% sale discount, so a sale item costs 12.5% of its price.

Dividend Store

“Get 4% of held money as interest every store cycle”

After each cycle’s normal $400 payout, every player receives 4% of their current balance, rounded to the nearest $100. Saving money pays off here.

Capital Dominance Store

“Get 12% of held money as interest every store cycle, 40% less money from kills”

A stronger version of the Dividend Store. You receive 12% interest each cycle, but kills pay only $300. A player who builds up a large balance will pull away quickly.

Stimulus Store

“Passive income increased by 50%, kill income decreased by 20%”

Each cycle pays $600, and each kill pays $400. Crates are unchanged.

Passive Income Store

“The only income type is passive”

Each cycle pays $1,000, and kills and crates pay nothing. Crates still give their health bonus. The money-boosting powerups are never offered.

Starter Pack Store

“All players start with the same 3 random items”

At the start of the round, 3 items are picked at random from a starter pool, and every player gets them for free when the round starts or when they join. The banner lists the 3 items. The same item can be picked more than once. Any weapon in the pack is removed from the store for that round.

The starter pool contains:

• Weapons: All low- and mid-tier weapons (Grenades through Cougar Magnum)
• Powerups: 100% More Money from Kills, 100% More Money from Crates, +2 Bars of Health/Armor from Ammo Crates, +4 Bars of Health/Armor on Kill, 25% Bullet Resistance, 35% Bullet Resistance While Crouched, 20% Speed Boost, 30% Speed Boost, 100% Extra Damage On Last Bullet in Clip, 50% Extra Bullet Damage, 100% Extra Damage From Behind, 75% Extra Bullet Damage While Crouched, 300% Extra Melee Damage, +0.5 Bars of Damage Per Hit (only available from the starter pack), Survive Lethal Hits When Above 1 Bar of Health, and 90% Explosion Resistance

Random Store

“Item prices can be anywhere between 50% and 150% of the usual cost”

At the start of the round, each item’s base price is multiplied by a random amount between 0.5 and 1.5. That price stays the same for the whole round, so a bargain Phantom stays a bargain.

Ultra Random Store

“Item prices can be anywhere between 0% and 200% of the usual cost”

This works like the Random Store, but with a range of 0 to 2. Top-tier weapons can end up almost free, and pistols can cost a fortune.

Lump Sum Store

“Start with 12000 Cash Money Dollars, income is halved”

Everyone starts with $12,000. Each cycle pays $200, each kill $250 and each crate $100. The money-boosting powerups are half price.

Up Front Store

“Start with 25000 Cash Money Dollars, normal income disabled”

Everyone starts with $32,000, and cycles, kills and crates pay nothing, so you must budget your money for the whole round. The money-boosting powerups are never offered. The Sell Half Your Score offer at cycle 27 is the only way to get more money.

Mystery Store

“Item names are hidden”

Offers show only a general category, and the real item is revealed once you buy it:

Special offers such as health, Sell Half Score and 3 Points show their normal names. The price is still shown, which is often a good hint.

Item List

Flags: Stacks means you can buy the item again when it comes up again later. No sale items never go on sale. No discount items are never reduced by the store’s price drop over time or by the Cheap and Luxury stores. They are still affected by a player’s own discount powerups.

Weapons

Weapons are given with plenty of ammo and never stack. The tier affects when a weapon usually appears (see What Comes Up When).

Powerups

Powerups are permanent for the round and are shown in the top-right corner of your screen. Different powerups with the same effect add together. For example, 20% Speed Boost and 30% Speed Boost combine for 50%, and a stacking powerup bought twice doubles.

Economy and Discounts

All of a player’s discounts add together. For example, 25% Off All Weapons plus 50% Off Next Item Purchase takes 75% off the next weapon.

Health and Defense

Mobility

Damage

Jackpot

Chat Commands

Tips

• The first few cycles offer cheap weapons, so buy one straight away. Don’t hold your starting cash too long.
• Economy powerups bought early (money from kills or crates, discounts) pay for themselves over a long round.
• Keep collecting ammo crates. They are your steady source of money and health.
• At cycle 27, the leader has to choose between keeping their score and taking $10,000. Players who are behind can use the money to catch up.
• Save up for the last 15 seconds. The 3 Points offer can decide a close round.

V8 by E-S, updates by Kujo.