Community Newsletter - March 2026

[Staff Team]

Welcome to another March! This March marks our five year anniversary, and as stated in our staff announcement post, we are very happy to not only still be operating but still be a place that people call home. We've got a lot of content to write about this time around, and lot of community questions, so let's get straight into it.

From NewDay Management:​

Our first big push of the year for content and server direction has finished with the finalization of the drug/cash rework and introduction of automatic weapons, drivers license points, and updated MDT for the medical factions. We're looking at continuing a consistent balance between criminal and civilian development cycles to create a steady trickle of new things and QoL polish.

We are also working with our devs on ideas to push for more of our forum and discord based things to go fully in-character, so look for these coming soon! We understand some things are convenient for people to work out of game, but we're also here for any changes to encourage people to be fully present in character together while working on things.

Recent Administrative Changes:​

We've had an uptick in 'no-contact order' requests for IC reasons or simply because players are not interested or happy with another player's roleplay. Please be advised that NCOs are strictly a safety mechanism intended to prevent OOC issues. An NCO is not a "social shield" to be used because of personal dislikes or disagreements. Before requesting administrative intervention, please ensure the situation involves breach of conduct concerns and be prepared to provide evidence. If Management determines the situation is severe enough to fall into harassment, further action may be taken. If you are unsatisfied with roleplay situations, or feel someone has broken a rule, you may open a ticket, ask for mediation, or file a player report. Please remember that we are adults, and if you are getting unwanted DMs or messages, tell them to stop and block them.

There have been many comp requests coming in from members who lose their car's inventory when they pull out or park their car. You may see a delay when pulling out your car that it seems stock and not 'yours'. This means the server is still loading your car and its inventory. Sometimes it does take a few seconds, and if you put something in the glovebox too fast, or park the car before it fully loads in, then you will lose what is stored. Please wait until your car fully loads in before parking or messing with the inventory.

From the Development Team:​

Future plans include releasing an application systems for businesses and government entities entirely in character, in game through DoCL and ERP systems. A larger tattoo update is being worked on and the progress on faction tattoos is working great. There are new civilian mechanics like golf being worked on, as well as refreshes of older ones - a fishing overhaul is actively being worked on with plans next for hunting, lumber, garbage, etc.

As for vehicles, handling reworks are underway for motorcycles, and there are some new cars being optimized and prepared for release. A 4-person crime mechanic is in final testing and economy phase and will also introduce some cool side things for criminals.

Since January, we've hired a few new devs who have been knocking it out of the park in their trial phase, and with the help of the experienced devs have been cranking out everything from new mechanics to sweeping bug fixes and QoL updates. We've added Yeeter+ as a feature, another set of luxury custom apartments as well as many new interiors for homeowners. Several vehicles were added and rotated throughout February. Our latest mechanic is our brand new FareHub Taxi Job, which also ties into player run businesses to connect people better with other players.

NDRP Government Faction Updates:​

From SAFR Command, San Andreas Fire and Rescue

Happy Start of Spring!

Fire Rescue Command is excited to share that our Applications will be opening again very soon, keep an eye out on Staff Messages along with IC social media for updates on when they reopen. SAFR will be hiring more Firefighters and EMS folks.

We'd also like to remind folks if you are interested in having a fire-started to open a ticket and request Admin+. Arson stories do not require a soft WL at the current time.

Lastly, we'd like to remind the community that we are here to help aid and support their roleplay - but, that roleplay does go both directions. We encourage players to dabble in more advanced injuries, and if you have any questions feel free to ask in the /ooc chat, or reach out to the medic via DMs.

From Helena Cassidy-Wren, Department of Health

Since the last newsletter we have had our legislation passed to rename San Andreas Medical Services (SAMS) to Department of Health (DOH). Since we offer a lot more roleplay than just ER roleplay, we believe this new name encompasses what we do a little better. We are working on re-doing our hiring & training processes and hope that it makes it more engaging for players but also will hopefully help people with little or no previous medrp experience.

We are still looking for people to join DHSS as social workers! Please apply here. We will also in the coming weeks, hopefully work towards a newer, more detailed guide for medrp for players as patients. We understand some people are unsure how to go about roleplaying certain injuries/conditions and we want to help with that. Remember you can always ask hospital staff for help in /ooc if you have questions about injury rp. You can also open support tickets if you have specific questions or concerns with the type of roleplay you are looking to pursue!

From Chris Jackson, San Andreas Flight Authority

Over at the San Andreas Flight Authority we've been going through old public documents, SOPs, and the regulations. Our goal with this has to been not only update them, but also to remove conflicting and confusing wording to make the test taking process easier for everyone. This is mostly complete besides the regulation updates. Ground schools have been going through some retooling and should start popping up again as well.

We also wanted to throw a reminder out there for anyone looking to throw an event and want to use one of the airfields, give us a call and check out the SAFA permits section on the website. We love seeing the events you guys put together and like to help out where we can with them. Last little thing, as always we are looking for more people to get into SAFA and aviation RP. So if you're interested our apps are always open for check pilots, ATC, and ground crew!

From Viv Chopper, San Andreas Parks Department

As we move further into the year, I just wanted to share a few updates from the San Andreas Parks Department.

We’re now coming to the end of our last Apprentice Ranger hiring round, and you’ve probably already started spotting some of our new Rangers out in the field! We’re really excited to have them join SAPD and are looking forward to seeing them settle into their new roles over the coming weeks.

With that round nearly wrapped up, we’ll soon be turning our attention to Parks Employee recruitment. From Monday 23rd March, Parks applications will open and will work in a similar way to how we’ve just handled Ranger hiring. Applications will stay open until we’ve got enough in to begin reviewing, and then they’ll be paused while we work through that round. Once successful Parks Employee applicants have been brought onboard, they’ll have 30 days to complete their required training. After that, we’ll return to reviewing Ranger applications again.

We’re also happy to share that Seasonal Hunting has now officially been announced and will come into effect from 1st April. All information, including maps and hunting zones, can be found on our website. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to reach out to us in character. The Seasonal Hunting page can be found here!

As always, thank you for your continued interest and support of the San Andreas Parks Department. We’re looking forward to welcoming in new faces and continuing to build on everything SAPD has planned for the year ahead.


From LEO High Command, San Andreas State Police

LEO applications are still open and we are currently wrapping up a class of cadets so if you’ve been thinking about applying, make sure you submit an application!

 

[Staff Team]

Community Questions

- Written by Tenforce with the help of her lovely Managers
If you’d like to add your question for the next newsletter, you can access it here. While your forum account will be noted for tracking and follow up opportunities, your questions will be presented anonymously as below.​

Can we expect a new heist in the coming months? We have the MLOs for diamond casino and a paleto bank heist has been suggested and accepted as well, not trying to be pushy but more asking where we are in the road map on those

Short answer, not in the coming months. We have added a new robbery and will shortly be releasing another, so that has been our focus for now. One of the heists you mention has been picked up by a developer, however there is no ETA. This may be a good place to give some insight on our suggestions - Accepted does not mean the project is being actively worked on; it is just presented to devs to pick up if they are interested.

Are the changes to the crim economy (rolls, money etc) completed, or are there still new things coming? F.ex the payout from some of the products, like weed, got reduced too much after the latest changes, I feel.

Yes, our main criminal economy rebalance is complete for now. We are hopefully introducing new items for crims to mess with. Weed and drugs in general are an entry level crime, and will pay out like entry level crime does. Unfortunately, people got too used to weed prices that were absolutely out of wack with the other drugs. It was not meant to pay as much as it was compared to other drugs and other crime.

Hello! When it comes to roleplay, I've always believed that the best way to foster a healthier roleplay server is by RPing out and engaging with the mundane, the small, the quiet. I've observed that some of the best roleplayers are those willing to not only engage with the environment around them like that, but also roleplay with strict limits on their character, allowing them to fail and have flaws, and others allowing them to as well. New Day is my home, but lately I've felt the quality of police and criminals is startlingly low. It seems that, at large, the police are unwilling to engage in more than mechanic RP, and also treat their own characters like mechanics as opposed to fully fleshed out humans. I have been told part of this is due to internal policy that actively punishes people for playing characters. I would love to engage with and role play with officers like [redacted], not Terminator 3000 who can run forever without ever getting tired and always takes 40 bullets to the vest. These same officers largely make up the problematic criminals as well. But because criminals are harder to police, my question is this: What can be done or is being done to ensure that the police are actual characters and not just mechanics?

I'll start this answer out with a shoutout - their name was redacted but was also explicitly mentioned by Command as a very well appreciated officer for roleplaying their character out. Speaking to this, there is no internal policy that actively punishes people for playing characters with flaws and quirks. For every Terminator 3000, there is a cop who likes to patrol only the county, or will restrict themselves to pistols when injured, etc. There is certainly a balance to be had - players who do play 'bad at their job' will face the natural consequences IC to screwing up if it gets to that level. There have been players who play aloof, flawed cops with varying degrees of success and it is very much an ability of knowing when to be silly while also not allowing for blatant violations or being negligent. The best cops we have found are cops that do dumb or silly things knowing they'll get a consequence for it, but doing it anyway for the roleplay.

There are also absolutely cops who do chase the W as much as criminals do, and it's a vicious cycle. We have removed police WL from players more recently than before for behavior concerns, and denied rerolls specifically because we want police who foster the type of positive LEO experience the server deserves. Other than that, I would advise if you have repeated issues with certain cops to ask for a mediation with them. You can probably get their POV as well - they may 'never get tired' because no criminal has ever stopped for them even after two tasers... unfortunately that sort of behavior sometimes can spiral. As the same with creative criminal characters, these get drowned out by the negatives and so that is what you hear.

Will we do any major events this year like we did with the Zombies on test server last year? Was a cool couple day event thing that let everyone have a lot of fun and their own stories.

As much as we can, yes, I personally think server wide events are a major part of what keeps the server going. "OOC / Non-Canon" events are also one of the most difficult to pull off, since it puts an enormous strain on our dev team and the people designing the event. We would prefer to keep events to 'server storylines' which we recently did with our Eco-Terrorist plot. Surprise - the cops won the day at the end!

We are planning some fun April Fools things, and are always open to suggestions for either canon or non-canon events. We will probably design a way for people to suggest such things in the future.

Following the recent release of the Bishops Cab Co. App (That is amazing by the way) can you give any information on suggestions the community have made such as photo albums, Speaker phone and Games?

Suggestions are reviewed on an individual basis, so aside from games I don't have much information on the other suggestions. What I do know about games is that we are running into two issues: converting games to apps (assuming talking phone apps) and running into copywrite issues. Everything else is up to our Senior Developers and Management to look at and review.

Hi, I’ve been a member of the city for 3 1/2 years, and over that time this server has truly become a family to me. It’s given me the chance to meet new people, unwind after a long day, and express my creativity and passion for entertainment. I just want to thank all of the devs, staff, and community for working together to build such an amazing city that we can all call home. I do have a comment about a recent change that has appeared over the last few months, which has started to affect my enjoyment of the server.

First, locals. The locals were in a great spot before a server change log adjusted the amount of traffic on the roads. My PC is very well built, and I’ve never experienced as many crashes, frozen frames, or low FPS as I have since the locals became so dense across the map. I would really appreciate, along with many others, a return to a lower density of locals on the roads. I truly feel this could help performance and bring more people back around.

Overall, I’m very happy and grateful to be a part of this server. I hope the suggestion to reduce local traffic can be considered sooner rather than later, and I’m excited to see the future of the city continue to grow with more creative ideas."

Locals have been reduced twice silently a few weeks ago as we tweaked it down to a balance between increased local cars as well as the variety of vehicles. It sits only slightly higher than it was for a long time and at this time we are happy with the amount of locals on the road. On the flip side, we have people who want more opportunities to do things like chop shop and ransacking so this helps with that.

You do load only the vehicles that are in your current map chunk, so while there are an increased number of cars in your chunk, we want to clarify that you aren't loading vehicles until you get in range so mapwide changes don't put that kind of strain on people. We are looking into some crash reasons, but the performance issues should be minimal from the vehicles themselves. Most people's issues with the cars is the increased traffic and driving, so I would advise to save your crash dumps and open ticket to let our dev team look into common crash logs to help us determine what the actual problem is.

Are there plans to make the Govt Factions less paperwork heavy? - I yearn to do gov shit again I just cant do the paperwork with my heavy ADD and writing difficulties and I know people who don't even wanna apply because the paperwork part is so heavy that its going take most the fun out.

This is a difficult question - over the years we've built the monster of government departments and the paperwork that comes with them, as is natural for most serious, realism-leaning servers. We've been working hard to reduce the amount of paperwork and 'second job' feeling that some departments have, but it is a huge task and one that is difficult to walk back once you've gone down that path.

There are some departments that have less paperwork than others, however, and if you aren't inclined for doing long reports, most departments start scaling up the paperwork as you promote so you can sit comfortable at a lower rank if you're worried about more reports.

I know we try to aim for realism, but it seems like some stuff realism gets in the way of the fun. Me as a petty atm/store robbery crim has felt that a lot of times when the SOP gets in the way of having fun. I'm not talking about unrealistic shit like the NVL jumps or something crazy, just minor stuff like car flipping 2 minutes in and cops could easily bump it to let the chase going and not instantly tackle and cuff to get the easy W.

A lot of that does go with our vision of the server, as things like flipping cars by ramming them and letting criminals repair during chases are forbidden from a Management level, not an LEO SOP level. As we announced a while back, police need to act like police and criminals need to act like criminals. Again, we want to have fun, but this server has always leaned towards the side of play your role and we want to keep it that way. If you flip your car two minutes in and need to bail on foot, yes, police should be allowing that chase to continue on foot and not instantly tase in order to give everyone a good experience, but you should absolutely not expect police to 'help' a criminal get away.