Tier 1 heists: $100 in, $150 out
A tier 1 night is what a leader at level 1 opens. A leader always gets the highest band their level meets, so this is the scale from level 1 until level 5 — and at that scale the leader picks one of 3 jobs. The band decides how big the night is; the job decides its shape: what a cat puts down, how long the clowder is away, how many roles have to be filled and how much comes back when it goes wrong.
The 3 jobs at this band
| Job | Stake a cat | Back on a win | Back on a bust | Base odds | Best reachable | Run | Clowder | Energy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The cold store | $50 | $125 | $38 | 58% | 85% | 6 minutes | 2–3 | 10 |
| The midnight vault | $100 | $250 | $50 | 50% | 85% | 15 minutes | 2–3 | 20 |
| The armoured van | $200 | $560 | $55 | 40% | 75% | 30 minutes | All 3 | 30 |
Every cat pays 10 nerve whichever job it is; the energy is the job's own.
What each one is worth
A cat risks the stake less what a bust hands back, against the profit. At each job's own base odds, before a clowder has trained anything:
| Job | At risk a cat | Profit a cat | Breaks even at | Base odds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The cold store | $12 | $75 | 14% | 58% — already ahead |
| The midnight vault | $50 | $150 | 25% | 50% — already ahead |
| The armoured van | $145 | $360 | 29% | 40% — already ahead |
A full clowder of 3 shares a pool worth one profit per cat: $225 on the cold store, $450 on the midnight vault, $1,080 on the armoured van. Half of it is split evenly and half by role skill, measured at launch rather than at payout.
Reaching the ceiling
Each job opens at its own base and the clowder raises it from there: up to 10 points from each cat's role stat and 10 for filling all 3 seats. The ceiling is the job's own, not one number for all 3: the cold store stops at 85%, the midnight vault stops at 85%, the armoured van stops at 75%. That is what stops the biggest job simply being the best one for a clowder that has trained every role — it pays the most and it is the likeliest to go wrong, at every level of skill.
A pair, however well trained, cannot fill the 3-seat bonus: on the midnight vault they top out at 70% against a full clowder's 85%. The armoured van cannot be run by a pair at all — it needs every role filled before it will launch.
Who can join one
Only the leader's level is read, and only when the lobby opens. A cat of any level can take a seat in a tier 1 job and is paid out of the same pool as everyone else, which is why the fastest way onto a richer band is to be invited onto one rather than to level into it. A leader who reaches level 5 opens tier 2 jobs instead — the ladder moves on, so the lower band stops being offered to them rather than staying as a cheaper option.