¶ Beginner's Guide to Cartel Empire
When first joining the game, you might feel overwhelmed and don't know what to do. This guide covers the basics of Cartel Empire so you can jump right in.
Ready to play? Create a free account or open Cartel Empire. Join the Official Discord if you want help from other players.
See also: Features overview · Forum Guides
¶ First hour checklist
A simple order that works well for most new players. Where a step has a popular community write-up, the most upvoted Forum Guide is linked underneath.
- Join a Cartel (use the in-game suggestions on /Cartel, or browse Forum recruitment). Creating your own Cartel is usually a bad first move.
- Start Intimidation jobs. Early failures are normal — job skill rises with practice.
- Quack: Choosing an Optimal Job Path (highly upvoted)
- Arson vs Intimidation
- Start a cheap University course (many starters cost about £1,000 and take several days). Raising Intelligence early helps Gym gains and job success.
- Jari: Intelligence guide (most upvoted guide on the board)
- Path of Knowledge (Education Guide)
- Tour Town and learn the shops.
- Buy a Primary and Secondary weapon from Armed Surplus, then equip them in Inventory. Add Thrown/Armour when you can.
- Check Missions (nav + on-page mission prompts) and claim easy rewards.
- Spend Energy at the Gym and/or Studying for Intelligence.
- Drago: Stats, ratios and training (top Gym / battle-stat guide)
- Jari: Intelligence guide (for study / INT)
- Attack carefully for Reputation. New players under 7 days old cannot be attacked; attacks cost Energy.
- Inactive targets for new players
- REP Farm Guide 2024 (highly upvoted)
- At 1,200 Reputation, unlock Street Crimes and assign Narcos for daily Cash.
- Read Forum Guides and keep using this wiki for deeper pages.
- Yinn's Newbie Diary (highly upvoted)
- Cinyx's second newbie guide
- Guide List (index of community guides)
¶ More highly upvoted guides (when you're ready)
Not required in hour one, but among the most liked topic guides on the Forum:
- Expeditions: Jari's expedition guide · Quack's In Depth Guide to Expeditions
- Broader beginner paths: Devil's Guide for Beginners · Drago's Effective Newbie Guide
¶ The Basics
When you first open the game, a navigation bar gives access to the main areas of Cartel Empire. Key values you will see often:
Name: The account name you chose when registering.
Status: Whether you are Active, in Hospital, or in Jail.
Level: Increases as you gain Reputation; higher level means more Life.
Rep (Reputation): Unlocks more Narcos, productions (including Street Crimes), and higher Level. Gained from jobs, attacking, mugging, and hospitalizing other players.
Cash: Money on hand.
Points: Optional premium currency. Spend them on the Supporter page for once-a-day refills/resets (Energy, Life, Pet Shop options, and more) and some personalisation. Not required to play.
Energy: Used to attack, train at the Gym, study at University, and revive players from Hospital.
Life: If this reaches 0 (attacks, jobs, tainted drugs, etc.), you go to Hospital.
Example Home screen for a new player. Note battle stats vs K/D on the right.
¶ The Pages
The main navigation includes Home, Town, Inventory, Gym, Jobs, Production, University, Expeditions, Property, Bank, Cartel, Missions, and Forum. Summaries of each follow.
¶ Home
Home is your profile summary: ID (lower numbers are older accounts), Cartel, Reputation, Level, Energy, Age (days), Friends/Enemies, Perks, and more.
Important distinction:
- Battle stats (Strength, Defence, Agility, Accuracy) are your combat power. You train these mainly at the Gym.
- Attack / defend win–loss counts and K/D are career PvP outcome counters — not the same thing as battle stats.
Perks can come from status effects, Cartel perks, University courses, property upgrades, and similar sources. Your Signature can be edited under Settings ? Profile.
¶ Inventory
Inventory holds your items, equipment, and dogs.
Equipment: Four slots — Primary, Secondary, Thrown, and Armour. (The Thrown slot is for grenades and similar items.) Empty thrown gear is removed automatically when you run out. You can save loadouts to swap setups quickly.
Example Equipment panel — Primary, Secondary, Thrown, and Armour.
Dogs: Pets that fight with you. They do not take damage; whether their attacks land depends on Accuracy, and damage scales with Attack. Rarities run Common ? Uncommon ? Rare ? Epic ? Legendary. Buy a Dog House first, then check Victor's Pet Shop in Town — stock rotates daily. You can Train and Feed a dog once per day to build Loyalty (up to a modest combat boost).
Item list: Medkits, weapons, armour, expedition rewards, and other items you can use, equip, trade, or discard.
¶ Gym
Train battle stats by spending Energy. Training is one of the most important long-term activities in the game.
Gym — pick a stat, choose how much Energy to spend, then Train.
STR (Strength): Hit harder / overcome opponent defence.
DEF (Defence): Mitigate or stop damage when defending.
AGI (Agility): Dodge incoming damage.
ACC (Accuracy): Chance to hit with weapons.
STR and ACC are offensive; DEF and AGI are defensive.
Intelligence (INT): Improves gym gains and helps with job success. Studying at University is the main way to raise INT. Aiming toward a high INT early is widely recommended by experienced players (there is no single official “must hit X” target in the game rules).
Training gains: Gains scale with your current trained stat, your Intelligence, and % boosts from Cartel / University / property perks (with a little random variance). Higher stats generally mean larger absolute gains, but it is not “pure exponential.” Cartel gym-gain perks can stack up to about 10% per battle-stat tree for that Cartel.
¶ Jobs
Jobs take time, risk Jail/Hospital, and reward Cash, Reputation, and job skill. Intelligence and job skill improve success rates.
Standard: Intimidation, Arson, Grand Theft Auto, Transport Drugs.
Robbery: Farm Robbery (Fertilizer), Agave Storehouse Robbery (Agave Hearts), Coca Paste Robbery, Construction Robbery (nails, bricks, concrete bags, steel).
Advanced: Blackmail and Hacking — high rewards, much harder.
Most new players should start with Intimidation.
¶ Town
La Paz Town is the hub for shops and services. Useful early stops:
- Armed Surplus — starter weapons
- Alberto's Pharmacy — medical items
- La Paz Market — player market
- Victor's Pet Shop — dogs
- Bank — savings and investments
- Hospital / Prison when you need them
Later you will also use places like Julio's Club (Sicarios), Estate Agent (property), Underground Weapons, Casino, Bounties, and more.
¶ Production
As Reputation rises you unlock productions and gain more Narcos to assign. At 1,200 Reputation you unlock Street Crimes — assign Narcos for automatic daily Cash. Higher-rep productions (Doctors Office, Weed Field, Alcohol Still, Cocaine Factory, etc.) unlock later and usually need supply items from robberies or the market.
¶ University
Spend Energy to study for Intelligence, and pay Cash for courses that take real time (often measured in days). Courses grant INT and lasting perks (combat, medical, gym gains, revive unlocks, and more). Cheap starter courses are a strong early investment even while you are still learning the rest of the game.
¶ Expeditions
Recruit Sicarios (notably via Julio's Club in Town), then send them on timed expedition jobs for Cash and items. Teams have stats like Morale, Combat, Caution, and Speed. This is more of an early–mid progression feature than a minute-one requirement.
¶ Property
Through the Estate Agent you can buy a plot, build a property (Cash + construction materials + build time), and upgrade it. Upgrades can include things like a home Gym for small gym-gain bonuses. Meaningful for mid-game, not required on day one.
¶ Bank
Put Cash into savings (instant access; there is a deposit fee) or longer investments that lock funds for a set period in exchange for interest. Useful once you have spare Cash you do not want sitting on hand for muggings.
¶ Cartel
Cartels are player groups (like guilds/factions): wars, territories, shared vault/armory, Cartel missions, and perks. Joining an active Cartel early is one of the best ways to get advice and bonuses. Create your own only if you know what you are doing.
¶ Missions
Personal / board missions give guided goals and rewards (you can have several active). Global missions are server-wide contribution goals. Cartel missions are accepted by officers and completed by members. Check the Missions nav item and the prompts that appear on many pages.
¶ Forum
The in-game Forum has Announcements, Updates, Q&A, Guides, Trading, Cartel Recruitment, Suggestions, Bugs, and more. Use it with this wiki when you get stuck.
¶ Quick tips
- Energy is the main throttle on progress — train, study, and attack with a plan.
- Do not dump all Cash into long bank investments on day one if you still need weapons, courses, or medical items.
- Supporter / Points refills are convenience, not a paywall.
- Ask in Discord or your Cartel before making expensive mid-game choices (property, advanced jobs, expedition teams).
¶ Contributors
The players that made the original guide possible are:
- Jari
- Drago
- Cinyx
- Diablo
Updated for current game systems (navigation, Street Crimes unlock, equipment slots, gym/INT, Supporter Points, and new-player path).