Jail busting
What TornLife's research has established about Jail busting, and the questions players asked about it.
What TornLife has verified
- Bust success chance depends on faction perks, Law education, Law Firm job, total completed busts, level, and time (multiple busts in quick succession lower success rates). Higher level and lower target level help. (documented; Jail › Busting, )
- A 2021 wiki capture says a successful bust rewards crime experience, which helps with other crimes. Getting caught sends you to jail. The 2026 Jail page lists no crime experience effect for busts. (documented; Jail › Busting, )
- The wiki (2026) says each bust attempt costs 5 nerve, reducible by up to 3 with faction Criminality upgrades. Outcomes are success, failure (buster loses five nerve, not jailed) or jailed (buster also sent to jail). A failed bust results in jail time of one to three hours. (documented; Jail › Busting, )
- Players asked repeatedly (2018, 2020, 2021) whether failed busts lose CE. A 2018 asker assumed it does not, contrasting it with failed crimes. The pack has no answers from these threads. (player reports; Busting Crime Experience?, )
- No separate busting skill is named; success depends on completed busts count, plus Law education, Law Firm job and faction Criminality perks. (documented; Jail › Busting, )
- Torn staff (bogie) stated directly that the Stealth Virus crime does not result in jail. (confirmed by Torn; Stealth Virus and Intelligence, )
- The Torn Wiki (2022 capture) confirms the Stealth Virus crime cannot send a player to Jail or Hospital, unlike the Simple Virus crime, which can land a player in jail. (documented; Simple Virus › Usage / Historical Notes, )
- Crimes 2.0, which the Stealth Virus crime itself may not yet use, retains a jail mechanic with jail-reason text shown to players; bugs around this jail-reason wording and jail-screen timing were logged and acknowledged by staff/developers in 2023. (confirmed by Torn; [Crimes 2.0] Jail reason typo, )
- A developer clarified in 2014 that a player cannot attack someone who is currently in jail; a player who believed they had used a combat run-away to escape jail had actually been busted out by another player just before their attack started, unrelated to the combat escape mechanic. (confirmed by Torn; Escape Jail bug, )