Before we go on about how to not get your ♥♥♥♥ stolen working the specific jobs, we must talk about the general guidelines on how to not get stolen from in general, these are pretty general but are very important and will later be refereed too on the other sections.

The general stuff is more broad while the sections for the jobs will be more specific on what to do to not get stolen for the job your working in and stuff like that.

In order for me to wrap my head around writing all of this, Its gonna be formatted in like a "rule 1 rule 2" kind of thing. You'll see.

And before you say "Heey didn't thieves get neutered pretty hard too the point of them not being an issue anymore??"

Yes I know, they were. But people seem to still have SOME issues with them. (somehow) And I'm making it my goal to inform the unwashed proles on how to not get their stuff stolen by thieves.
(If they even exist anymore that is)





Speed is a very important part in not getting stolen from. Such as the laundromat, and sometimes the distillery, you need to be fast in order to not give any chance for a thief to take it.

This goes for basically everything and every job, this is the important guideline of them all.

remember, if you drop something, everyone but you will have a 3 second cooldown in order for them to put it into their inventory, take that to your advantage.
Here's a pretty important thing you can do.

When you look at a person or an item, it shows a selection of buttons you can scroll up and down to press. Instead of having to scroll, you can actually use your number keys to automatically switch to the button you want to interact with.
(I don't know what the ♥♥♥♥ its actually called so heres an image of what I'm talking about)





So for example, lets say your bleeding out, you go into your inventory, you drop your bandage, as soon as you drop it, you spam 3 and the interact key and you instantly bandage yourself.
Heres another example, theres an IED and you need to quickly disarm it, you go up to it and you press 4 and your interact key and disarm it.

So basically, you can completely skip having to scroll up and down to interact with the buttons, this is pretty crucial for being fast and is pretty invaluable information in general, a LOT of people don't know about this.





Chaotic and crowded places are usually where thievery happens and congregates in. Do your best to avoid such spots and places, it will go a long way to not get stolen from.

But if you have to work under these environments, you must be fast, precise, and vigilant for thieves, as you won't exactly know who is a thief until they start stealing from you or others around you.

Job sites usually have a second location or area that you can work in to avoid chaos and crowded spots.





Usually thieves prey on people not knowing their gonna steal. So if you see a thief stealing from either you or someone else, make sure to keep note of their ID, write it down somewhere so you can remember and refer to it later.







So when you do see the thief, you can identify them and be on guard. If you can, spread the word around that this person is a thief and to be careful around em. Ideally, this would make people wiser to the thieves antics, making it way more harder for the thief to steal and probably the proles you've informed would form a gang mob and either drive the thieve out or try to kill the them, or both.

Less time of the thief stealing!
Although if their gonna get a gang mob going to kill the thief, try to advise them to get the thief to push or attack one of them so the thieve is combat flagged and no one loses annates killing them.








When a thief is stealing, its common that their doing it to piss people off, some do it just to steal. Trying to kill them is the wrong way of handling it, you lose -5 annates for that if they weren't combat flagged!

That's what they usually want anyways, they want you to lose annates, they don't care that they die. But what they do not like is being denied from stealing.

When one is trying to steal from you, don't even give them a reaction, focus on your task and be fast. If their really giving you an issue, switch to a different location/area for the job, or switch the job up for a bit.

If you do intend to fight back, the thief has to push you or someone else at least once, attacked someone else or you, or any other way you know that they are combat flagged. But if you attack back, you must commit to it, because it means your also combat flagged and the thief will take full advantage of that.

Its generally advised to not push a thief, because usually their trying to get you to push them so they can attack back with a pipe or something. Unless your trying to trick them into attacking you so you can kill them without annate loss. (There's an idea for you guys!)

Remember, Your not winning by killing them. Your winning by making it impossible for them to steal from you! And if they do anything to get combat flagged, feel free to kill them!

First of all, its actually pretty hard to get stolen from in metal works nowadays, they really did reform the place that statistically had the most stealing's occur, and was THE place for it.
(Before the metal works overhaul and the update after metal works overhaul that fixed it)

But somehow, people still have been stolen from here, so I'm gonna run it down the same way I did above on how to NOT get stolen in metal works. There's not really gonna be much in here.








This beaut is the main thing that's gonna prevent thieves from stealing your ores!





Its simple. Fill the thing up with coal, wait for it to get hot and sparkle, and hold your ore over it to heat it. When its hot, thieves can't keep it, and because your holding it, thieves can't grab it either.
Now just smack it and make sure no one gets in the way.
Sometimes thieves will try to get in your way so you hit them and get combat flagged so they can attack back. Just be aware of the people around you while swinging and it shouldn't be an issue.

Remember this, just because it looks hot and glowing doesn't mean you can use it, it ONLY works when its sparkling, or nothing is gonna happen and some guy is just gonna take it.

I'm pretty sure this is how most thievery happens in the Metal works.








Yup! Could you guess what this does?







Well this ones even more simpler, when your ore gets smacked into an ingot, its still gonna be flaming hot, put the ingot into the water to cool it off and then take it.
I suggest you do the key button thing to keep it as soon as you put it in there, pretty sure there's already a cooldown for others to put it into their inventory, but just do if you want just in case.

This is another feature that prevents thieves from stealing your ♥♥♥♥.







Right over here. Yeah, there!






This is a very neat spot that you can definitely use! When the foundry is chaotic and overcrowded, you can always head to this foundry area instead. It is very peaceful in this here, barely anyone touches it, aside from the typical one or two people in there minding their own business.

If you need to craft something with your parts getting stolen, you can do that here!

The only downside I would think from this spot is there's not much people filling the foundry up with coal to keep it alive, aside from the one or two person doing their stuff there.

The Laundromat is a bit of a different case from the metal works, as I'm pretty sure thievery is still possible, and bit viable for any would be thieves.














When your in the laundromat with a thief. I'd suggest you choose a different Laundromat, same thing goes for when its crowded and chaotic, just to avoid any conflict or stealing.

The Laundromat at the Wartime District usually is peaceful. But a lot of people already have the idea, so do expect some presence, but not a lot.






If both Laundromats are overcrowded or have thieves, I suggest you be very fast with doing the laundry, you still have the 3 second keep cooldown for others when dropping it, so keep that in mind.
Recently I did happen to see a thief stealing the laundry inside the drying machine as it was doing its thing, like exploiting some collusion bug, so just becareful of that as well.

Or hell, just switch to a different job. I still firmly believe the Laundromat is a complete scam of your time, but you waste your time however you want to waste it with.

Funnily enough with Distillery, it is pretty uncommon for a thief to harass you in it, in all of my time playing, I've only had 2 instances where a thief was pestering me. Thieves just don't seem to go for it.

But do keep caution though, because it can happen, its just not likely.

















When filling your Jerrycan up from the slop tower, be aware of your surroundings and make sure no one try's to snatch your jerrycan and run for it.

Here's a tip to make sure no one snatches it, every time you fill the jerrycan, you drop it into the slop tower receiver and then quickly grab it back, then fill the plant you want by doing the same thing.

This basically makes it impossible for people to steal, because your constantly resetting the keep cooldown for others, just make sure your holding it so no one can grab it and run away.
Also when you do fully grow a plant, make sure to harvest and quickly keep it so no one can take it as well.























Making sure no one steals from your distillery machine requires you to actively be watching the machine as it does its distilling, takes a bit though for each one once its at the right temperature.

If a thief is there pestering it, its pretty simple, just grab the beer faster then they can, pretty sure it also has keep cooldown for others, but I can't exactly confirm it so do be fast though regardless.

Thats all I really gotta say, this ones pretty simple.

Thanks to an update Its basically impossible to steal peoples rations. So like, why is it here exactly?

I bet Somehow someone is gonna get their ration stolen, so this is here just in case.










Basically, when you get your ration, you should prefer more empty civil centers, usually like the wartime and workers district Civil center. Then you 100% won't get stolen from because no one is even there.

If you are in one of the civil centers with lots of people in it. When you get your ration, as soon as the robot picks your ration out, grab it as fast as possible. Then definitely no one can steal it!

Simple as!

Now that you read to the end, you are now properly equipped with the knowledge of how to not get your ♥♥♥♥ stolen!

If you think I missed some stuff out or should cover another method prevent getting your stuff stolen from, go banter about it in the comments or something. That's all I gotta say.