Empire Building

Empire Building is a major part of the gameplay in GTA Vice City Stories. It's introduced throughout the early story, and finally unlocked after completing the mission "To Victor, The Spoils" for Louise.

After completing that mission, Vic will acquire three small-time businesses; a Loan Shark, a Protection Racket and a Prostitution business and will be able to take over 11 more business sites on the Mainland bringing his total to 14.

The remaining 16 sites are located on the East Island and are not officially accessible until after the mission "From Zero To Hero", however all but one of them can be taken over sooner using the BMX Exploit to reach the East Island early, allowing Vic to own 29 Empire Sites in total before the mission "Jive Drive" is even attempted.

The final empire site located in Vice Point won't spawn a vehicle outside until after the mission "Hostile Takeover", preventing Vic from capturing all sites until then.

In total, there are 30 businesses to acquire and you can check how many you have in the stats menu. You can also browse the map in the pause menu to see details of each of the businesses, their current owners and the size of their organization.

This screenshot shows which empire sites you can acquire immediately after "To Victor, The Spoils", utilising the BMX Exploit to reach the East Island early.

Empire Business Types

There are 6 different types of business you can set up. When Empire Building is first unlocked, you'll only have access to 3 of them, with the remaining 3 types unlocked when the Eastern island of Vice City Beach is opened up after the mission "From Zero To Hero".

• Protection Racket
• Loan Shark
• Prostitution
• Drugs
• Smuggling
• Robbery

Business Sizes

All businesses can be set up in 3 different sizes, with the start up price increasing based on the size. Larger businesses will bring in more money in the long run though so it's best to go big or go home if you can afford it!

• Small-Time
• Medium Venture
• High-Roller

For 100% completion, you will need to purchase at least one High-Roller business of each type.

You'll also unlock a unique item of clothing for each High-Roller business type you acquire. You can change into these clothes at any of your safehouses.

• High-Roller Protection Racket: Hired Muscle Outfit
• High-Roller Loan Shark: Repo-Man Outfit
• High-Roller Prostitution: Leisure Outfit
• High-Roller Drugs: Tracksuit Outfit
• High-Roller Smuggling: Smuggler Outfit
• High-Roller Robbery: Hood Outfit

Acquiring Business Sites

At the start of your Empire Building journey, rival gangs will own most of the other business sites. In order to take them over, you'll need to clear out the gang first, then purchase them.

Approach a business site owned by a rival and you'll always spot a parked vehicle next to it. The game will display a message informing you to "destroy the vehicle" to start the attack.

Using explosives, or just bullets, cause enough damage to the vehicle so it catches fire and explodes.

Once the vehicle has blown up, a number of enemies will spawn around the building, marked with red arrows above their heads, and you'll need to kill them all.

The number of enemies and the strength of their firepower is dependent on the size and type of their business. Legal businesses generally have weaker enemies with pistols and bats, whereas larger and illegal businesses can have enemies with assault rifles.

Once all of the marked enemies are killed, you'll be told to enter the business by walking into the blue arrow at the door.

Inside, there'll be 1-3 enemies to take out - marked with red arrows, depending on the size of the business, and a bunch of items to destroy, marked with green arrows. You can use a melee weapon to save ammo or simply shoot them to save time.

Once all enemies are removed and items are destroyed, Vic will be taken outside and you'll see an "Attack Passed" message on the screen. The reward you'll receive is based on the size of the business taken over.

• Small-Time Business Takeover Reward: $1000
• Medium Venture Takeover Reward: $1500
• High-Roller Business Takeover Reward: $2000

Clearing out a rival gang from a business doesn't automatically make it yours. A "For Sale" sign will appear in the yard out front. Standing in front of it, you'll be told to press the relevant button to purchase the business. On PS2 it's the R3 button, whereas on PSP you'll purchase it by pressing D-Pad Up.

A build menu will be displayed allowing you to first select the business type, and then select a business size.

Smaller, legal businesses are cheaper, but provide less income, whereas larger, illegal businesses cost more to set up, but will bring in more money on a daily basis.

Once you select a business type and size, and pay for it, the area will be turned into a construction site for a short time while everything is set up.

Glitches

When attempting to take over the empire site next to the Police station on the East Island, albeit after using the BMX Exploit to get there early, all of the enemy gang members turned into clones of Vic!

Businesses For Sale

Not all businesses are owned by a rival. Some are automatically available for purchase with no current owner. These can be snapped up quickly by rival gangs, so if you see one marked on the map with a green building icon, try to take it over as quickly as you can.

Business Features

After acquiring and building a business, you'll be able to go inside using the blue arrow at the door. Inside you'll be able to save your game using a spinning floppy disk, start business missions by approaching one of the gang members with a blue arrow above their heads, or develop the site using the notice board with blueprints, allowing you to change the business type and size - but you'll need to pay again to do so.

Empire Missions

Approaching a gang member inside one of your properties allows you to start an empire mission. The type of mission is dependent on the type of business. Read below for full walkthroughs of the jobs for each business.

Completing empire missions will allow you to increase the reputation of your business type. As you increase the reputation, the financial rewards will also increase. Completing a single mission for a business type (e.g. Loan Shark) will double the financial rewards. Completing enough levels - usually 15 - will max out its reputation and you'll earn 3x the profit each day. The more businesses you have of that type, the more money they'll collectively bring in.

As you can tell, it's beneficial to complete the empire missions as soon as possible to ensure you're generating the most money you can.

Don't worry - you only need to complete the 15 levels once for each business type (e.g. Loan Shark, Prostitution, Protection Racket, etc). You don't need to do them each time you take over a new site.

Getting Paid

You'll receive a pager message at 16:00 each day telling you how much your businesses have earned. The money will be credited straight to your account so you won't need to go around and pick it up like previous GTA games in the series. If you're on a mission when the clock strikes 4pm, you'll receive the money and pager message after the mission.

Money Exploit

It's possible to abuse the save game functionality to generate unlimited money. Each time you save the game, time will increase by 6 hours. If you save 4 times in a row then head outside of the business, you'll receive your daily cash. Go straight back inside and save 4 times again - fast forwarding time by 24 hours - then go outside to receive your cash again. Doing this over and over will give you plenty of cash to purchase or upgrade more businesses, although your earnings will be higher if you already own lots of max reputation, high-roller businesses.

Mind Your Business

Over time, you'll be told that your businesses are being attacked by other gangs. This will happen more and more frequently as your empire expands. One of your businesses will be marked on the map with a semi-circle on each side of the building indicating it's under attack.

You'll need to make your way to it and clear out the waves of attacking enemies before they damage it too badly.

Successfully repelling the attack will save your business and prevent a loss of earnings.

If you don't reach the business in time, it'll be damaged and your earnings will be reduced until it's repaired.

To repair it, head inside and visit the notice board where you'll be able to repair it for $500.

Preventing Attacks

It's possible to abuse 2 "exploits" to prevent your businesses from being attacked and damaged.

The first is to drive an emergency vehicle, such as a VCPD Wintergreen police bike. If you start the Vigilante mission when you receive a message about a business being attacked, then cancel the Vigilante mission, the attack will no longer happen.

The second method is to simply save and reload your game at any business or safehouse. Upon reloading, the attack will no longer happen.

Business Breakdown

The following 3 businesses are considered "legal" and are available as soon as Empire Building is unlocked following "To Victor, The Spoils".

These 3 businesses are considered "illegal" and are available once you've gained access to the East Island following the completion of "From Zero To Hero".

More information coming soon...