NationStates Jolt Archive

I bought GTA:San Andreas on Tuesday (the day it came out) and have been playing it ever since. So far, I'm 45.52% complete in the first play through of the game. Everyone else who posts here can go ahead and list their percent complete too, but I really created this thread for a discussion of hints, tips and strategies. I can help anyone up to the point that I am at.

Right now, I'm stuck. There are three-ish possible missions for me to do. Of the three real ones, one of them is to fly a plane from the desert west of Las Venturas to the southside of the mountain south of San Fierro...and stay low and out of radar. It's pretty hard, but I've only tried it a couple times. Of the other two, they are both missions for Woozie involving heated gun battles. I'm trying to figure out the best way to avoid as much of the firefighting as possible, because M4s just tear through me. I'm trying not to give too much of the storyline away, but if you're beyond this point and know what three missions I'm talking about, please give me some advice.
Anyway, this is where the "ish" part comes in. I've completed all the missions for the two properties in San Fierro, and now I've unlocked the races for the car dealership. I haven't tried any races yet, but that's something I can do.
The last thing I have left on my current list of things to do is find an Infernus. It's the only car I have left on my import/export list, so if anyone knows a good place to find an Infernus, I'd appreciate the input. (Psst, it took me forever to figure out how to get the Patriot, but now that I figured it out, I really like the trick. I can tell you it if you ask me.)

Anyway, is there anyone who isn't quite as far as I am that is stuck somewhere? I got to a few kinks on my way to where I am now, and got really pissed off at the game, but I eventually figured it out. I'll save you the getting pissed off stage if you want. =)

How the hell do you build up the stats that aren't muscle or stamina, and when do they come in handy?

What, you didn't want to bump United White Front's GTA:SA thread? :p

There are actually a lot more stats that aren't shown when you push L1.
Muscle obviously is built up at the gym by lifting weights. When you have more muscle, your melee attacks do way more damage (I started a new game and it took a long time to beat up people compared to 2-3 hits with full muscle).
Stamina can be built up on the treadmill or on the stationary bike at the gym, but I found that boring. Just take the bike that's across from CJ's house and ride it around a lot in the beginning and you'll naturally build up stamina. With higher stamina you can pedal fast and run fast for a longer period of time and also at a faster pace.
Fat is built up by eating out a lot and not exercising. It's not really too useful, but it plays a role in determining your sex appeal level.
Sex appeal can not be directly affected by the player. It is figured by factors such as muscle, fat, and fashion. I'm not sure exactly how it's figured, but sex appeal helps your success rate when you take girlfriends on dates.
Weapon skill, driving skill, bike skill, motorcycle skill, flying skill, boat skill, etcetera, are all built up through time and use. You can also improve all of those skills simply by completing the appropriate schools (1 school in San Fierro, 3 in Las Venturas, shooting range at most Ammu-Nations).
Respect is built up many ways. After you muscle is about 3/4th full, you gain some respect. Completing most missions earns you some respect. You also gain respect by kill Ballas and other members of other gangs (it adds up slowly). When you have enough respect, you can recruit OG Gangstas to follow you by targeting them (R1) and push up. This comes in handy when you get into turf wars and such. So far on my main game, it says I can recruit 6 gangsters, but I haven't seen any OGs in a long, long time.

Anything I missed?

What, you didn't want to bump United White Front's GTA:SA thread? :p
Didn't see it. I haven't had time for NationStates since GTA threads started popping up (because I was wisely spending my time gaining GTA:SA skills)

In the pause menu, there is a complete list of stats for your player as well as your title and score. I'm a "hoo-rider" and have 15,262 points. "Pilot Ranking: Ace"


I missed one stat, lung capacity. Improved by swimming underwater a lot, in the same way most skills are improved, practice. The more you practice, the longer you can stay underwater (a skill you need for a Woozie mission).

Also, by building up muscle and stamina, eventually your total health (the red bar) will improve and you can take more damage before becoming "wasted."

Didn't see it. I haven't had time for NationStates since GTA threads started popping up (because I was wisely spending my time gaining GTA:SA skills)
Oh. It was just kinda funny when he was asking if there was a way to make the main character white. :p

Oh. It was just kinda funny when he was asking if there was a way to make the main character white. :p
Yea. I've noticed that I do play the game differently as a black main character. In Vice City, I was really interested in screwing over everyone I could just so that I could earn as much money as possible and own a lot of properties, but in San Andreas, as the black main character, there is more of a brotherhood between the 4 main guys (for a while at least) and I like running around Los Santos and banging up some Ballas and help advancing the prosperity of the OGs. But that's probably more because of the storyline.

If you want to build up your sex appeal, it depends some on what car you have. If you have an expensive tricked up car your sex appeal is nearly full, but if you have a crap damaged car that looses bits as it drives you'll have crap sex appeal.
Also as you run or swim your muscle is reduced, so remember to watch how much you run and swim.

If you want to build up your sex appeal, it depends some on what car you have. If you have an expensive tricked up car your sex appeal is nearly full, but if you have a crap damaged car that looses bits as it drives you'll have crap sex appeal.
Also as you run or swim your muscle is reduced, so remember to watch how much you run and swim.
Thanks for pointing the thing about the sex appeal and cars out to me Libenschrift.

By the way, you only lose muscle if you haven't eaten in a long time. You can run all over and swim and bike all you want, but that only reduces the fat. If you don't eat however, you'll start to lose muscle. Also, you lose muscle gradually over time just by not working out. You probably need to visit the gym about once a week if you want to stay really high, although as long as the bar is about 75% full, it doesn't matter too much as long as it stays that high (make sure you learn new fighting techniques at the gym too). Actually, once you get off Los Santos, melee skills (aside from the stealth stuff with the knife) are pretty much unnecessary (unless you're just looking for some fun).

Oh yea, here's a good tip that will help anyone out early on. When you do the mission in which you and Ryder go talk to Big Bear and that other gangster, then go kill the Crack Dealer, then go to the crack house, pay attention to what the crack dealer looks like. Eventually, they'll start popping up around Los Santos with a hand gun. You can kill them and they will drop their hand gun and approximately $2,000. It's a good way for some quick cash.

Everyone is an expert at the game but unwilling to help me? Does no one have any questions or need help? Or can anyone provide me with help (with the problems listed in the first post)?

When you run and swim, you use up energy. Normally this burns fat, but if you don't have any fat then it burns muscle. To get more fat, just go eat a few pizzas. As long as you have a little fat on you, your muscle won't decrease.

Sex appeal is a mix of your haircut, your clothes, and the last car you stepped out of. The rule of thumb is: the more expensive, the better. The most expensive haircut, with expensive clothes and driving an expensive car will get you a lot of sex appeal. That factors in with the women you can date. There's a total of 6 women you can date, and they all like different body types. (one likes muscle men, another likes chubby guys, etc..)

On that flying mission where you have to stay under the radar, I found it easiest to follow the water. You can stay close to it because there isn't any elevation changes. You'll have to go over/under bridges and small patches of land, but you can follow the water all the way down to the drop point and back. Ignore the timer, you have more than enough time to complete it.

For fighting, I can only say to fill up your life and armor before hand, and make sure you're Hitman level with dual mini-smg, AK, M4, or SMG. I'm not sure where the Infernus pops up though, I've never seen one.

Also, it's easy to get many millions of dollars right off the bat if you have time to spare down at the race track. I think I have around $74 million right now.

When you run and swim, you use up energy. Normally this burns fat, but if you don't have any fat then it burns muscle. To get more fat, just go eat a few pizzas. As long as you have a little fat on you, your muscle won't decrease.

Sex appeal is a mix of your haircut, your clothes, and the last car you stepped out of. The rule of thumb is: the more expensive, the better. The most expensive haircut, with expensive clothes and driving an expensive car will get you a lot of sex appeal. That factors in with the women you can date. There's a total of 6 women you can date, and they all like different body types. (one likes muscle men, another likes chubby guys, etc..)

On that flying mission where you have to stay under the radar, I found it easiest to follow the water. You can stay close to it because there isn't any elevation changes. You'll have to go over/under bridges and small patches of land, but you can follow the water all the way down to the drop point and back. Ignore the timer, you have more than enough time to complete it.

For fighting, I can only say to fill up your life and armor before hand, and make sure you're Hitman level with dual mini-smg, AK, M4, or SMG. I'm not sure where the Infernus pops up though, I've never seen one.

Also, it's easy to get many millions of dollars right off the bat if you have time to spare down at the race track. I think I have around $74 million right now.
Nice. Sounds like you've been playing a little bit more than me. How far in are you? And what other properties are there available to me that will generate income? So far I've got Zero's RC Shop and the Car lot.

Due to a serious lack of employment, I've had ample time to explore the game :D I've beaten all the story missions, and now I'm going back to see all the little things I missed on the first run through. I just got the Pimp Suit. It's stylin'

The airstrip generates money once you complete all the missions, and I think you get money from the Four Dragons Casino when it's complete, but I'm not sure about that. There's also the gang turf money you get back in Ganton when you return to that area.

Seriously, finish the airstrip missions. You get the coolest rewards in the game there.

Yea, I'm working on 'em. How many are there? Do you remember? Hmm. I hear things about there being alternate ways through the game (like variations on the storyline), but it's good to hear that I can do the gang turf stuff later on after I get through this stuff. That was actually more interesting than all this junk. I got the pimp suit, but not until after I killed the girl with the garage in San Fierro...I wonder what completing her would've given me.
Also, I'm having trouble with the chick in Las Venturas with the keycard and code. She never seems to be home. Can you remember what hours she is typically home? My progress with her keeps going down, but I keep going by her house and she isn't there.

Hmm, I think I can do that airplane mission now. I got to the drop site, turned around, got to the north end of San Fierro, and accidentally landed on the water, crashing my plane (kind of unrealistically, the only thing that touched was the prop and the tail wheel), but yea. Easiest way is to take off, turn up and go north, dive down once over the cliff and follow the water around the edge of the map because then there isn't even any bridges or whatever to look out for, just boats with large sails. I was only on the radar for a short time when I made a huge looping turn around after the drop.

There are a lot of airstrip missions. Toreno has a few, then The Truth has some. Eventually Toreno gives you one last mission there and once you complete it the property starts generating money. The vehicle spawns that start showing up there are worth the missions though.

I think the girl in LV shows up around 2pm, and if you aren't wearing your gimp suit you can just take her out on a normal date. She says amusing things.

There are a lot of airstrip missions. Toreno has a few, then The Truth has some. Eventually Toreno gives you one last mission there and once you complete it the property starts generating money. The vehicle spawns that start showing up there are worth the missions though.

I think the girl in LV shows up around 2pm, and if you aren't wearing your gimp suit you can just take her out on a normal date. She says amusing things.
Thanks. If you need help with some of the side stuff (I've been doing it a little bit as I go), I can help. I've found like 35 of the grafiti sites. Actually, a few more, but I've sprayed about 35.

I was feelin' all good about my progress until I read that you fools where that far along. I'm still in Los Santos stuck on expanding gang territory. Since you guys are this far along you all probably know these things, but I'll put 'em out anyway.

On the east end of the docks where the beach starts, by the Los Santos Arena, against a wall is the Desert Eagle. In the train yard behind one of the buildings is a chainsaw. Somewhere in the LS river there is a SMG. After you get arrested if you turn around and go into the police station you can walk around it. In one room there is a shotgun, another a pistol and in the shower is something that I'm not going to tell you what it is because I want conformation on what I think it is. It's purple and you can hit people with it and for some reason it increases your sex appeal. You should grab that first because then when you grab the shotgun it won't equip right away which pisses off the cops and make it real hard to get out.

Also, by one of the gas stations there are some flowers that also increase the ol' sex appeal. And you can go Jerry Springer and hit people over the head with them.

"Kill schmill, c'mon. Don't look at it that way. Think of it as pest control. That's how I do it." ...gotta love this game.

Actually, the game is pretty good, moralistically. Well, relatively speaking. Any time Ryder offers CJ a hit on the weed, he refuses. CJ has the crack dealers, and CJ is hesitant about killing people. Like at the funeral, and now government agents.

I was feelin' all good about my progress until I read that you fools where that far along. I'm still in Los Santos stuck on expanding gang territory. Since you guys are this far along you all probably know these things, but I'll put 'em out anyway.

On the east end of the docks where the beach starts, by the Los Santos Arena, against a wall is the Desert Eagle. In the train yard behind one of the buildings is a chainsaw. Somewhere in the LS river there is a SMG. After you get arrested if you turn around and go into the police station you can walk around it. In one room there is a shotgun, another a pistol and in the shower is something that I'm not going to tell you what it is because I want conformation on what I think it is. It's purple and you can hit people with it and for some reason it increases your sex appeal. You should grab that first because then when you grab the shotgun it won't equip right away which pisses off the cops and make it real hard to get out.

Also, by one of the gas stations there are some flowers that also increase the ol' sex appeal. And you can go Jerry Springer and hit people over the head with them.

There is a Tec9 on Sweet's roof and a spray can on a roof sort of caddy-corner-ish behind CJ's house. Brass knuckles under the bridge closest to CJ's house. Etcetera.

Want a hint? You don't have to take over all the gang territories. You only have to complete the missions to advance on and open the new cities, but after Los Santos, I thought the game got relatively boring compared to how it started off. Although I just completed another mission, so I'm making more progress.

There is a Tec9 on Sweet's roof and a spray can on a roof sort of caddy-corner-ish behind CJ's house. Brass knuckles under the bridge closest to CJ's house. Etcetera.

Want a hint? You don't have to take over all the gang territories. You only have to complete the missions to advance on and open the new cities, but after Los Santos, I thought the game got relatively boring compared to how it started off. Although I just completed another mission, so I'm making more progress.
Yeah, but I like taking over gang territories. I get a crapload of weapons out of it for when I get around to doing the next mission. I haven't got around to buying property yet, and I've been a little distracted 'cause I also picked up TOCA Championship Racing, which is actually a little substandard but my heart is really with racing games.

If you follow the wall behind Sweet's house, there's a pistol that spawns in the corner. On the other side of the wall/fence in the drainage area there's a body armor up underneath the bridge to the left of the walkdown ramp, and a mini-smg to the righ of the walkdown ramp.

You can get into the airport by parking a car next to the checkpoint where the guy says "You need a pilot's license to enter!" and hopping up and over. Hop in a plane and fly around the island for 15 minutes or so to get enough flying skill to be awarded your pilot license. Just don't fly over the other two islands, because you get an instant 5-star wanted level.

... and yes, that purple thing is what you think it is. You get bonus relationship points if you give it to the girl you can date in Las Venturas during the Casino missions.

Stowaway (that looks like it's spelled wrong...) is freaking annoying. It took me quite a few tries, but not because it's hard. First time, I ran into those barrels and didn't get on. Second time I got on, but was killed because I didn't know what was going on and couldn't target the agent. Third time, I planted the explosive and jumped out because it said "plant the bomb and get out" (and so I did, only to see "Mission Failed"), so the fourth time, I planted explosive, walked to back, triggered it, tried switching quickly to parachute, but died in explosion. That happened three times, then on the 7th or 8th try, I accidentily walked out without parachute on, then realized that I can still select while falling down. Pfft, annoying. I haven't tried any other missions yet because I just gave the CD to my brother so he could play some.


The jet plane is simple to fly compared to the dodo and rustler and whatever other airplanes their may be.

Meh, calculus calls my name.

Stowaway was the most frustrating one for me. Those stupid barrels kept knocking me off the bike. I think it took me close to 15 tries to finally get on the plane.

Stowaway was the most frustrating one for me. Those stupid barrels kept knocking me off the bike. I think it took me close to 15 tries to finally get on the plane.
Calculus finally done. I spent like 20 minutes on two problems and about 40 minutes on a third problem, which I still never figured out, but I've given up on it. I made some progress and will probably give me about a point and half, which means if I did the other two perfectly, I'll score 8.5 out of ten on my take-home quiz, which is excellent compared to my typical scores in that class. I'm improving though. I finally got derivatives down, and it's a synch from that point forth.

Now I'm going to go get my game back from my brother, although I'm contemplating going to see Saw (for free). Don't want to go by myself, but don't want to put forth any effort, so maybe someone that I feel like going to the movies with will hop online...

There are a lot of airstrip missions. Toreno has a few, then The Truth has some. Eventually Toreno gives you one last mission there and once you complete it the property starts generating money. The vehicle spawns that start showing up there are worth the missions though.
Uh, I did all the Toreno missions, then I did 2 Truth missions. I only have one vehicle spawn (the vehicle I stole for a Truth mission), but it was worth it. Heh, I did both of The Truth's missions in only one try each. The airstrip generates $10k. Hmm, I'm done for the night, but I'm going to use my new vehicle to steal the helicopter from the military dump for set of heist missions for Woozie...should make things significantly easier.

I'm still having trouble getting that one chick to show up at her house, and I'm still seeing the progress meter with her decrease. It's pretty annoying.

I'm still looking for an Infernus if anyone knows where they show up at, and since my stats say I have 9 of 30, even though there is only one left on the current list, I'm thinking that either another import/export place opens up later, or I will get new lists when I complete the current one. I hope so. This first list was simple aside from the Patriot and the Infernus and each car was worth an average of 28,000ish, so that's an easy 280,000 when you count in all 10.

I think I may go to the race track and earn up $74 million like you have then go buy every single property. Hehe. I've got two tricked out Sultans in San Fierro. One blue, one green. Green one is all Alien stuff and the Blue one is all X-Flow. They're nice man.

I really want to get the heist done and over with to see how much money it's worth. I mean...it's got to be worth a ton of money, then divide that by the people I'm working with...I think realistically, it should be worth at least a couple million...

I bought San Andreas saturday night, and my roommate is at 24% after fourteen hours, I'm at twleve percent after 7.

I'm now 48ish %, but I think I'll be continueing to move right along when I start playing tomorrow.