The Open Road

"Greetings New User. The wonders of modern technology have gifted us a small oasis in this desert of our surveillance state, this brief respite from the x-ray gaze of civil servants, spooks and spouses. So, let's use it to make as much moula as we can."

- Long John Teabag

The Open Road is a Dark Net marketplace featured in Grand Theft Auto Online as part of the Bikers update available only in Public Free Mode sessions.

Description
The Open Road is depicted as an underground network server, the MC clubhouse's President is able to purchase and operate illicit businesses.

The network server is operated by Lester Crest using the pseudonym of "Long John Teabag", who greets the player and explains the available businesses and the conditions to operate them.

In order to get access, the player must first purchase any of the available clubhouses and once done, there is a laptop available which has The Open Road logo on it.

Businesses
"Should you like, I can help you produce, market, and sell... Quality counterfeit documents... Unimpeachable fake cash... Dank-ass marijuana... Moreish methamphetamine... Or your realtor's favorite, cocaine. With my vast knowledge and your time, effort and bank, we'll be unstoppable. Please be advised, only one business of each type can be owned, resupplies and sales are your responsibility, administrative fees will be charged for every transaction, and your business may draw unwanted attention from law enforcement or other malefactors. But that's half the fun. Message me for further details. Your friend,"

- Long John Teabag

The player is introduced to the network by "Long John Teabag" when first logging in on the clubhouse laptop.

Five different types of business are available to purchase, with four location options to pick from for each type.
 * Document Forgery Office
 * Counterfeit Cash Factory
 * Weed Farm
 * Methamphetamine Lab
 * Cocaine Lockup

The location of each business determine the location and difficulty of the sales, with the cheaper businesses located outside the Los Santos city limits in both Los Santos County and Blaine County.

Cross-"border" deliveries from the city to the countryside or vice versa will attract a 50% premium on the price achieved at the time of sale.

Set-up
Each business will require an initial set-up mission specific to the type of business purchased.


 * Document Forgery Office
 * Picking up a duffel bag of supplies
 * Counterfeit Cash Factory
 * Picking up a Stockade with supplies
 * Weed Farm
 * Picking up a Pony featuring the Smoke on the Water livery with supplies
 * Methamphetamine Lab
 * Picking up a Pounder loaded with supplies
 * Cocaine Lockup
 * Picking up a Tampa loaded with supplies

Once set-up is complete, the player can progress to managing the business using a laptop located within each business building.

Upgrades
The laptop in the local business site also gives the player access to upgrade options to improve business profitability.

Supplies
Each business needs supplies to run, if it runs out production stops.

A supply level meter is visible on The Open Road admin tools page on the laptop. 5 units make up a full supply bar.

Players can buy supplies for $15,000 per unit. A total of $75,000 will be needed to buy supplies to fill a supply bar from empty. The player can also steal their supplies at no cost. The number of supply units that can be stolen per mission depends on the number of members in the motorcycle club.

Steal Supplies Mission Types
There are a variety of supply stealing missions, ranging from a bar fight to hijacking another organization's supply drop. However, because all the missions were created with teams of people in mind, each person can only carry one unit worth of supplies on each mission. Supplies that are stored in vehicles will reward the player with two units per vehicle.
 * Bar Fight - The player must go to Tequi-la-la and fight a few Lost MC gang members. After the The Lost MC are killed the player must steal the supplies which are near the bar area and then return the supplies to the business.
 * Intimidate target - The player must go to a construction site and intimidate a target to reveal the supplies' location. The supplies are stored in a Burrito. If the target is killed the mission will fail.
 * Armored Trucks - Several locations of Stockades will be given, the player needs to check which truck carries the supplies. The Stockades are either driving or parked and manned by two Gruppe Sechs guards. Upon finding the supplies, the player has to drive back the Stockade to their business.
 * Steal a van/Collect a worker - The supplies are in a Speedo or a Burrito guarded by hostile NPCs. After stealing the van, enemies will come after the player. Damage to the van by pursuers or the player crashing the van will deteriorate the supply's health and reduce the amount of supplies delivered. Location are various.
 * Competitor riders - Supplies are carried by members of a rival gang (either the Vagos, Khangpae, Ballas or Lost MC) on motorcycles. A couple of locations will be given, the player has to throw them off their motorcycle to reveal which one of them carries supplies. Using melee from a motorcycle instead of guns will prevent a wanted level being applied.
 * Search through crates - The player has to identify the correct crates with supplies in them from a number of crates located at Humane Labs and Research or Fort Zancudo. The crates are guarded by hostile NPCs, but the player may use stealth to avoid a fight.
 * Basic - The player simply has to collect a Bagger or a Burrito and drive it back to their business. The vehicles can either be parked somewhere, with no guards, or be driven around by a rival gang member.
 * Steal from Vagos - After killing a couple of Vagos gang members the player is instructed to drop a flare and the supplies will be dropped from a plane.
 * Confiscated by Cops - The player is instructed to go to the area near a police station. Once arrived, the player should obtain a wanted level of at least one star on purpose and stay in the area. After a few minutes, a Police Bike carrying the supplies will appear on the radar. The bike has to be stolen and delivered back to the business.
 * Meeting a contact for identities to forge with (Document Forgery only) - The player must meet an identity dealer. Once the player meets the dealer the dealer and his asociates will gets attacked by a sniper. After the deal is attacked the players is instructed to get the supplies and get out of there.
 * Robbing a Fleeca Bank franchise (for money-making references) (Counterfeit Cash only) - The player must go to a Fleeca bank, and steal a briefcase full of supplies.This mission is only for the Counterfeit Cash business.
 * Disrupt a Humane Labs operation (Cocaine Lockup only) - A couple of crashed Humane Labs Boxville vans are found near the railway. They are protected by hostile NPCs. The player has to drive the Boxville to the business.
 * Colombian Flake (Meth Lab only) - The player must go to a outdoor/indoor location and steal a box full of supplies.
 * Raid nasty people (Weed Farm only) - The player must go to a outdoor/indoor location and steal a bucket full of supplies.

Enemies
Similarly to SecuroServ Special Cargo and Special Vehicles, the players will encounter many NPC gangs during the supply stealing missions, where the players must steal the raw materials from them.

The gangs that can be encountered are:
 * The Lost MC
 * Aztecas
 * Vagos
 * Marabunta Grande
 * Madrazo Cartel
 * The Professionals
 * Carson Avenue Families
 * Los Santos Triads
 * Kkangpae
 * Rednecks

Production
Once the supplies are in the business, it can start producing. The player can check progress of the stock level on hand in each owned business at its location, or on the laptop in the clubhouse. Production rates vary between business types, but can be improved through installing upgrades. Each business is able to hold stock levels of varying amounts.

Protection
Just like with CEO warehouses, MC businesses are susceptible to being raided by enemies. From time to time the player will have to defend the production facilities. Raids can only trigger if the player is registered as MC President, outside of an interior, and if the business contains product.

Players will only have one spare life against the mission's enemies, and depending on the mission type, failure might mean supplies and stock being cleared, and the business having to be setup again.

Protection Mission Types
There are several types of raids that will need to be defended:
 * Cop Raid - IAA agents in Unmarked Cruisers protected by a police helicopter are about to raid the business. Once they are fought off, players will need to recover a police truck packed with either product, or employees, and deliver it back to the business site. May happen to all 5 types of businesses. If the player is killed during the defense, they will be busted.
 * Traitor - There's a rat in the organization, and he's about to testify, and he's being held in a motel with police protection. Players must eliminate him, pick up the testimony and deliver it back to the business. May happen to Cocaine Lockup only.
 * Deal Ambush - A rival organization stole product and are in the middle of a deal to unload it. Get there before there's nothing left and deliver recovered product back to the business. May happen to Document Forgery Office, Weed Farm, Counterfeit Cash Factory and Methamphetamine Lab.
 * Gang Raid - A rival motorcycle gang is on the process of stealing your product. On arrival, defend the business by killing the attackers and eliminating the following waves of enemies. May happen to the Weed Farm.
 * Stolen Product - A rival motorcycle gang stole your product and are getting away in a Bodhi escorted by 2 Sanchez bikes. The player must kill the driver, collect the dropped crate and return it to the business. May happen to the Document Forgery.

Sell Missions
Players can start a sale mission from the local laptop whenever there is stock on hand to sell. Goods can be sold within the local region, or remotely for bigger profit.

Each sale mission has a maximum time limit of 30 minutes, and any product delivered to its destination in that time is considered sold, but any product that gets destroyed, or doesn't reach its destination in time, is lost. If the player abandons a mission before completion, they will be penalized by a small removal of product from the warehouse.

Sale Mission Types

 * Bikes - Deliver each Bagger (up to 4) to a truck parked at a specified destination.
 * Bike Delivery - Use provided Bagger to deliver a bunch of packages to their recipients.
 * Bike Setup - Ride the provided Bagger to provided destination, upon arrival evade the police setup and wanted level and deliver the bike to a secondary drop location (available to Cocaine Lockup only).
 * Boats - Go to specified location, there will be Dinghys (up to 3), each carrying 5 packages, use them to deliver packages to designated checkpoints, with a bonus for quick delivery.
 * Courier Delivery - Use provided Post-OP Boxvilles (up to 3), each carrying 5 packages, to deliver packages to their recipients throughout the map.
 * Duffel Bags - This mission only has a chance to be given if there are two or more players in the MC, an exception being the Document Forgery. Deliver bags of product to a specified destination or destinations. Document Forgery gives more delivery points per bag, and these points are shared across the entire MC. Counterfeit Cash has the player or players deliver bags to more than one point, and the next point won't be revealed until all bags have reached it. Any vehicle can be used with them. The product carried is lost if the player dies.
 * Helicopters - Go to specified location, there will be Buzzards (up to 3), each carrying 5 packages, use them to perform airdrops throughout the map.
 * Sea Planes - Go to specified location, there will be Dodos (up to 3), each carrying 5 packages, use them to to perform airdrops throughout the map.
 * Trash Trucks - Use provided Trashmasters (up to 3), each carrying 5 packages, to deliver trash bags with product to specified destinations throughout the map.
 * Truck - Deliver the provided Pounder truck to specified destination. The Weed Farm has a special variant of this mission, where you have to drive the truck evading enemies and cops, while a guy on the passenger's seat is smoking weed. The effects are similar to taking a hit from a bong in one of your apartments, only several times stronger. Low quantities of product (One vehicle) will replace the Pounder with a Rat-Loader, while medium quantities will replace the Pounder with a Burrito.

Vehicle Quantity
Though the type of vehicles to be used can be randomized, the quantity of vehicles can be somewhat controlled based on the number of stock that will be sold at that time. As a rule of thumb, stock less than or equal to 1.25 bars will always use one vehicle for delivery. A big exception to this is a Cocaine Lockup-type businesses, where stock at 1.5 bars is still guaranteed a single vehicle. Other details are shown below. Please note that data below are based on testing and may be subject

Profits
Each business produces product at a different rate:


 * Document Forgery Office (Holds 60 Boxes)
 * 1 box of $1,000 every 5 minutes with no upgrades.
 * 1 box of $1,200 every 4 minutes with equipment upgrade.
 * 1 box of $1,400 every 3 minutes with both equip and staff upgrade.
 * Weed Farm (Max of 80 Bundles)
 * 1 bundle of $1,500 every 6 minutes with no upgrades.
 * 1 bundle of $1,800 every 5 minutes with equipment upgrade.
 * 1 bundle of $2,100 every 4 minutes with equip and staff upgrade.
 * Counterfeit Cash Factory (Holds 40 Stacks of Money)
 * 1 stack of $3,500 every 12 minutes with no upgrades.
 * 1 stack of $4,200 every 10 minutes with equipment upgrade.
 * 1 stack of $4,900 every 8 minutes with equip and staff upgrade.
 * Methamphetamine Lab (Holds max of 20 Bins)
 * 1 bin of $8,500 every 30 minutes with no upgrades.
 * 1 bin of $10,000 every 24 minutes with equipment upgrade.
 * 1 bin of $11,900 every 18 minutes with equip and staff upgrade.
 * Cocaine Lockup (Holds max of 10 Stacks)
 * 1 stack of $20,000 every 50 minutes with no upgrades.
 * 1 stack of $24,000 every 40 minutes with equipment upgrade.
 * 1 stack of $28,000 every 30 minutes with equip and staff upgrade.

Profitability with Equipment and Staff Upgrades
To calculate the number of hours for a breakeven:

$$\mathbf{ROI} = \frac{\mathrm{Total~Business~Cost}}{\mathrm{Hourly~Profit}}$$

As a sample, the optimal return of investment of a Cocaine Lockup in Alamo Sea (when buying supplies) is as follows:

$$\mathbf{Optimal~ROI} = \frac{$2,300,000}{$46,500\mathrm{/hr}} = 50~\mathrm{hours}$$

Trivia

 * The name of the network is a parody of the website, an online black market.
 * In addition to this, its operator, Long John Teabag, who uses a pirate related alias and the as his phone contact image, is a parody of the former Silk Road owner, aka Dread Pirate Roberts.
 * The name is also a reference to the anonymity network (The Onion Router), since the acronym of The Open Road is also "TOR".
 * If an MC President tries to start a sell mission while a prospect is playing as an animal due to eating a Peyote Plant, a special message will pop up, informing the player that the sell cannot commence until no prospects are playing as animals.