MOONSHINERS: A NEW FRONTIER PURSUIT

[JustHatched 12,103]

In an America not yet fully governed by law, opportunity abounds for the lawless - wild open space ready and waiting for the ruthless and ambitious to carve a new future for themselves. How better to make your fortune than to become a black-market Moonshiner, the all-new Frontier Pursuit coming to Red Dead Online on December 13th. Establish your own bootlegging business in this new Specialist Role – an ideal fit for players progressing along the Trader path or anyone seeking a property to call their own. Unlock unique role-specific skills as you perfect your distillation methods, avoid the law, and put rival peddlers out of business. If you’re lucky, you might survive long enough to open your own speakeasy.

Any active Trader who has completed a sell mission or reached Rank 5 in the Trader progression will receive an introduction via Cripps to meet the infamous Maggie Fike - an experienced bootlegger with the scars to prove it - down at Emerald Ranch. Maggie’s got the connections and the knowledge to help you get your business up and running.

Purchase a Moonshining Shack and you will be on your way. To passers-by, the Shack is an unassuming dwelling, the main floor acting as a front with all the details of an ordinary homestead. The basement, however, is where you'll ultimately get down to business.

Owning and operating the Moonshine business is just part of your role. You’ll also work with Maggie through a series of story missions to be played solo or cooperatively as you help her get revenge on those who tried to take her down. As you grow the business (and eliminate a rival operation), you’ll learn new recipes and techniques that help make your moonshine the best by a country mile. You'll also have the opportunity to set up your own underground Bar serving your own shine, with customizable décor and the option to add a country band complete with dance floor to entertain your friends and clientele.

Look for much more to come to Red Dead Online alongside Moonshiners on December 13th - including Outlaw Pass No. 2, new Moonshiner role unlocks, the new Navy Revolver, additional clothing options and an increase in the amount of outfit slots in your Wardrobe.

[Sinister 2,578]

Excited to see our first property purchase.

 

[zztop911 1,609]

Peddle white lightning as a black-market bootlegger in Moonshiners, the latest Frontier Pursuit available now in Red Dead Online. Team up with an infamous distiller to start your own Moonshining business and run it out of the new Shack property.

Moonshining takes your Trader skills to the next level and gives you your first business established outside of camp. Not only will you need to source ingredients and produce the goods, savvy Moonshiners will learn the demands of the market and time their shipments to align with the tastes of buyers. With that in mind, Moonshining requires you to have cut your teeth as a Trader, having attained either at least Rank 5 or completed one Trader Sell Mission. Once that’s been achieved, Cripps will get you connected with Maggie Fike at Emerald Ranch, an old hand in the bootlegging business that will help you get your fledgling operation rolling.

To run a proper shine trade – not some backwoods Lemoyne Raiders operation – you’ll need a property. Throw in with Maggie to purchase one of five Moonshining Shacks from which you’ll conduct your business. Once you’ve sourced your cook and equipment, Maggie will maintain the homestead’s front upstairs while the art of distillation takes place downstairs. The basement has room for optional expansions including a Bar, space for a band and a dancefloor, with additional upgrades for your moonshining equipment.

Your mercantile journey will also offer a new series of Story Missions to take on solo or with your Posse, as Maggie Fike helps you build your business and gets a little revenge of her own along the way. Each mission earns you benefits to propel your business forward,  as you eliminate rivals, learn new recipes and establish a steady clientele. Expand your burgeoning enterprise by developing different blends and distributing across the five states. You can also serve patrons directly while entertaining friends by expanding with your very own bar. 

Like all Specialist Roles, the Moonshiner features its own unique progression path that unlocks bespoke apparel and accessories, equipment upgrades to improve the business, new weapons like the Flammable Moonshine Jug, and a unique ornamental design for the Sawed-Off Shotgun, new Horse Breeds and more.

The Outlaw Pass returns with an expanded 100 ranks of fresh rewards featuring all-new clothing and accessories, Role XP boosts during the Club Membership period and Gold gifts up to 40 Gold Bars. You’ll also receive a variety of Offers and Rewards, a new feature in Red Dead Online detailed further below. 

In addition, the free Wheeler, Rawson and Co. Club Membership entitles you to select perks as you accumulate XP up until March 10th, 2020. All Red Dead Online players are automatically enrolled in the Wheeler, Rawson and Co. Club just by playing.

For more details on The Outlaw Pass No. 2 and the Wheeler, Rawson and Co. Club, visit the official site.

[zztop911 1,609]

I think this is a really great update! and the Outlaw Pass is a great value that's even better than the first one, despite costing more.

I really like the Story type missions you get from Maggie Fike. They tell a  great story with lots of background and lots of drama with several  enemies of Maggie Fike .

I think her missions will get more difficult because at the start of them, it states a difficulty level. They are pretty challenging solo and fun with others.

Moonshine production costs can be offset or reduced by doing Moonshine work from Maggie Fike. Production is quick and sales are pretty easy.

Currently, the bar, band and dance floor earns you no money, but it is quite funny with the things you can do.

[Sinister 2,578]

With this update R* has rendered the fancy collection map totally useless. They added an extra day to the cycle and may have moved things around. The designer of the map is hard at work trying to get it all sorted out.

[Smurf 947]

The Outlaw Pass No 2 can be leveled easily if you play the 3rd Maggie Fike Mission using free aim for your targetting & getting headshots. For role xp you gain 375xp on standard & 565xp on hard on the hard setting. Some public Events do help as well.

I noticed that after completing a Maggie Fike Mission it occasionally just restarts the mission on it's  own. The old camp issue shows up but it's very rare.

When selling the bottled moonshine, you better start the sale before the timer runs out, if it appears when you are checking the progress of the Moonshine, or you will have to start the process all over again, If it runs out. I got stuck on a black loading screen when trying to start a full 20 bottled moonshine sale.

Be sure to Claim all your 5 gold bars, cash, treasure map, XP, perks....from the Benefits Menu Option.

I bought a Moonshine Shack in the Grizzlies which is a No No IMO.

After upgrading my shack equipment, I feared I was going to lose them when I decided to pay the $250 and move my shack to Bayou. Everything was transferred successfully.

Bottled goods can be lost while driving over small rocks on those narrow pathways or by law men. On the other hand players can't blow up your moonshine sale.

 

Edited December 17, 2019 by Smurf

[Skorpion 2,499]

Pretty sure the map will get sorted quickly. It's just a matter of time, but I'd expect R* to keep making changes to the collections to counter the map and possibly make all cycles 100% random eventually so it's useless.

I do like the moonshiner career, but I don't see how it's a new career when it's pretty much an expansion on the trader career. R* said the careers would be expanded and trader would eventually include seperate locations from the camp to do business, which is pretty much what moonshiner is. I do like the story missions though, even though I've only done a few. I especially enjoyed doing the bar brawl with @Banketelli and @Xyon14 during Funky Fridays.

2 hours ago, Smurf said:

I bought a Moonshine Shack in the Grizzlies which is a No No IMO.

I bought mine in the same place. What makes you say it's a bad place? I was between there and the one in New Austin.

 

Edited December 17, 2019 by Skorpion

[Smurf 947]

@Skorpion I am not the best moonshine delivery wagon, driver to always maneuver the Woodlands on those narrow hillside pathways. I initially picked it to double as a hunting spot.

In the Bayou there is much less room for mistake to deliver moonshine. Its normally going to be a non technical delivery to Saint Denis with its flat swampy surface, & its easy to shoot with a carcano from a distance & get the extra +5xp for each.

[zztop911 1,609]

Want a solo lobby?

The best solo lobby occurs naturally with the "Bar brawling" job from the shack. I set my camp close to the shack and when the job is finished, respawn and you turn off social matchmaking in online options of the game , just go to your camp and wait for a few min. Over 5 hours with no one joining. I did moonshine and trader sales and hunted my ass off.!

Smurf was in it for a little while yesterday. I invited Ultra and still no one joined with him also turning off social matchmaking.

[zztop911 1,609]

12 hours ago, Smurf said:

@Skorpion I am not the best moonshine delivery wagon, driver to always maneuver the Woodlands on those narrow hillside pathways. I initially picked it to double as a hunting spot.

In the Bayou there is much less room for mistake to deliver moonshine. Its normally going to be a non technical delivery to Saint Denis with its flat swampy surface, & its easy to shoot with a carcano from a distance & get the extra +5xp for each.

Mine is north of Emerald Station. I like the missions and sales missions, but I think it's pretty popular.

I was thinking of moving it to the bayou area for the same reasons as you and other important reasons. Two of the high end moonshine ingredients are in that area in abundance.

[Smurf 947]

@zztop911 I saw your message pop up but I didnt read it. I got stuck on a black screen while starting a moonshine sale and joined you to get out of it, but lost the sale regardless. 

I think it's broken at times or I must be missing something because a ready sale can end up empty if you leave it too long.

[zztop911 1,609]

10 minutes ago, Smurf said:

@zztop911 I saw your message pop up but I didnt read it. I got stuck on a black screen while starting a moonshine sale and joined you to get out of it, but lost the sale regardless. 

I think it's broken at times or I must be missing something because a ready sale can end up empty if you leave it too long.

I always have my horse with me when I do a solo or with others sale. I've never had the wagon to disappear. I also bring the wagon fairly close to the road blocks. Close enough to see in the mini-map. Be sure to have the mini-map set to large.

The last moonshine mission did get an endless loading screen after completing the first part in the swamp. We had to close the game, but was available when we came back.

I haven't had any other loading problems.

Edited December 18, 2019 by zztop911

[Smurf 947]

@zztop911 did a mission where I burned crops never got that at the Grizzlies. The Bayou got small bears, dears, birds, hideout, fishing, alligator, stores including the fishing item store, bounties & random events close by, it's working out alot better than I initially thought.

[zztop911 1,609]

14 hours ago, Smurf said:

@zztop911 did a mission where I burned crops never got that at the Grizzlies. The Bayou got small bears, dears, birds, hideout, fishing, alligator, stores including the fishing item store, bounties & random events close by, it's working out alot better than I initially thought.

I've never received a burning crop mission. I bet it's regional based jobs.

[Athena 112]

I love the Moonshiner's update! I put my shack in New Austin. I find it easy to do jobs from there and haven't had any issues with it being too populated. Speaking of population, ZZ, what is the bar brawling job? Is it a story mission? Or one of the bootlegging missions?

[zztop911 1,609]

8 hours ago, Athena said:

I love the Moonshiner's update! I put my shack in New Austin. I find it easy to do jobs from there and haven't had any issues with it being too populated. Speaking of population, ZZ, what is the bar brawling job? Is it a story mission? Or one of the bootlegging missions?

It's a moonshine job. It is a possibility that the job is regional. Do you have a field burning job that comes up?

[Athena 112]

I think my friend had a brawling job in Armadillo's saloon. I've not gotten either job while doing the bootlegging missions, yet. But when it does come up, I'll check to see if we're in a solo session after the mission. 

[zztop911 1,609]

On 12/20/2019 at 3:56 PM, Athena said:

I think my friend had a brawling job in Armadillo's saloon. I've not gotten either job while doing the bootlegging missions, yet. But when it does come up, I'll check to see if we're in a solo session after the mission. 

I moved my shack to the swamp and got the job.

[zztop911 1,609]

 

I found something interesting in the last patch notes.

 

" Seven new Bootlegger Missions have been added for Moonshiners, which can be either launched from Maggie in the Moonshine Shack or encountered dynamically in the open world "

There are 5 missions you get from Maggie, so there are two missions you can get randomly.

[zztop911 1,609]

Has anyone successfully poisoned all the stills in one of Maggie's jobs?

[Smurf 947]

54 minutes ago, zztop911 said:

Has anyone successfully poisoned all the stills in one of Maggie's jobs?

Nope! Stealth is trash in this game. Wished it was the same as in gta and vice versa rdr cinematic mode usefulness in gta.

Edited December 23, 2019 by Smurf

[JustHatched 12,103]

4 hours ago, zztop911 said:

Has anyone successfully poisoned all the stills in one of Maggie's jobs?

Yes

[zztop911 1,609]

1 hour ago, Hatch said:

Yes

HOW?

The RDR map is now accurate again.

[piotras 110]

On 12/23/2019 at 5:29 PM, zztop911 said:

I moved my shack to the swamp and got the job.

I'm thinking of doing the same thing - going from nearby Emerald Station to swamps. Was it worth it?

[zztop911 1,609]

3 hours ago, AlCohonez said:

I'm thinking of doing the same thing - going from nearby Emerald Station to swamps. Was it worth it?

There are different moonshine Jobs with the change and naturally the deliveries are different. I doubt if the move will make the job pop up more often. Ultra put his shack in New Austin and he got the job.

Monetarily, I can't justify the move. If you want to experience all the variables and nuances of the game, go for it!