Paleto Score Setup is a heist setup in Grand Theft Auto V given to protagonists Michael De Santa and Trevor Philips.
Description
Michael and Trevor meet at Trevor's old meth lab in Sandy Shores. They are joined there by FIB agents, Steve Haines and Dave Norton. Haines has yet another job for Michael and Trevor, but this one is unusual in that it will require Michael and Trevor to obtain a helicopter costing $3 million. Michael and Trevor do not have the money to finance the caper, so they decide to contact Lester Crest about planning another heist. Lester agrees to meet them in Paleto Bay.
When Lester arrives, the three drive to the Blaine County Savings Bank. They first inspect the front of bank. They then drive around to the side. Lester wants to check the response time of the local police, so has Michael get out of the car and shoot a bell for the bank's alarm system. The three then drive to the nearby filling station to watch the cops arrive, which occurs by Lester's count "67 seconds" later. Over the police scanner, they hear the cops deduce that it's a false alarm but then, unexpectedly, the police respond to this by setting up checkpoints around the vicinity. Panicking, Trevor leaves the vehicle and steals a motorcycle and begins racing back to Sandy Shore by way of mostly back roads to avoid the checkpoints. When Trevor grabs the bike, the player can choose whether to control Michael or Trevor: Trevor is more likely to win the race, while choosing Michael allows the player to hear specific dialogue between Michael and Lester. Regardless, once the three reach the meth lab, Lester sets up the board for the heist. The player is able to choose a gunman. After the heist is described, the mission ends.
Crew
The following characters are available to complete Michael, Trevor and Franklin's crew.
Gunman
- Gustavo Mota - If chosen, he will not be killed in the escape and will provide a distraction while Michael, Trevor and Franklin fight the military in the chicken factory. (Previous experience doesn't make any difference)
- Norm Richards - If chosen, he will be pinned against a wall by a police car and will be crippled in the accident, plus meaning you having to leave him and will not be able to provide a distraction, he most likely dies from the accident seeing as it adds casualty expenses.
- Packie McReary* - If chosen, he will not be killed in the escape and will provide a distraction while Michael, Trevor and Franklin fight the military in the chicken factory. (Previous experience doesn't make any difference)
- Daryl Johns - If chosen, he will be pinned against a wall by a police car and will be crippled in the accident, plus meaning you having to leave him and will not be able to provide a distraction, he most likely dies from the accident seeing as it adds casualty expenses.
- Chef - Only if you receive his call after the mission, I Fought The Law. If chosen, he will not be killed in the escape and will provide a distraction while Michael, Trevor and Franklin fight the military in the chicken factory.
*Only if you completed his character's stranger task.
For maximum cash, the best choice is Norm Richards. Although he gets left behind during the mission and consequently costs more due to casualty expenses, Norm’s bag can picked up, allowing the protagonists to continue without losing millions of dollars, and his final cut (10.5%) is still cheaper than that of Chef or Packie (12%). Although logically Daryl Johns is an even cheaper option (9%), Daryl’s presence will be more noticeable in later heists, thus it would be wise keep Daryl for later rather than sacrifice him here. The lack of a gunman shouldn’t provide too much trouble near the end of the heist.
It's also very important to notice, that during the escape the protagonists will lose a bit of money every time that the bag of cash in their back is shoot by the police. So be very careful while you are escaping, not to put your bag in the firing line of the police. Try to keep the protagonist that you are controlling with their back turned to a wall or any place with no officers, so you don't take the risk of losing to much money.
Independently of the gunman selected, the following setup mission will be unlocked:
Mission Objectives
- Go to Michael's car.
- Go to Paleto Bay.
- Go to Blaine County Savings Bank.
- Focus on the bank.
- Go to the empty lot near the bank.
- Shoot the alarm.
- Go to the gas tsation.
- Race Michael or Trevor back to Liquor Ace.
- Choose a gunman.
Gold Medal Objectives
- Leisurely Drive - Drive to the bank within 03:30.
- Winner - Win the race back to the meth lab.
Aftermath
Lifeinvader Posts
- Lester Crest - "Can't believe you brought me out to this backwater shithole. Everybody looks like they're related."
Trivia
- If the player decides to race back as Michael, Lester and him will have a conversation that will be different depending on whether the player has bought stocks or not.
- If you enter Los Santos with Michael and Lester the mission will fail, Trevor however can roam LS freely without henchmen trying to kill him.
- When you're racing as Michael, Trevor will stick his middlefinger up to you if you're close behind him.
- It's impossible to take down Trevor from his bike, if you are racing as Michael. However, if you are Trevor then you can be knocked off.
- After the mission ends, Trevor will receive a phone call from Franklin, saying that the O'Neil brothers are looking for Trevor and that he has been following them. After this, if the player switches to Franklin at anytime, he will automatically start the mission Predator.
- Depending on player choices, the opening cutscene - and indeed the entire premise of this mission strand - features a major continuity error. The whole reason for planning this heist is based on Michael stating that he and Trevor are broke and, thus, unable to afford to buy the helicopter. However, if the player has invested in the stock market based upon the outcome of Lester's assassination missions for Franklin, Michael in particular could have tens of millions of dollars at his disposal. In fact, it's very possible that he may even own a helicopter by this point.
- However, buying the helicopter means that the helicopter is marked. Stealing it means that the police have little to go on.
- Playing as Michael on the way back gives an extra dialog between him and Lester, though it is harder to win the race (handling off-road is harder with the Premier than Trevor's bike), which is required to attain gold on this mission.
- It is possible knock Trevor before he gets on his bike, giving Michael time to get ahead. There is no penalty for doing this as long as he is not killed.
- Lester claims that the LSPD receives better training than the LSSD. However, in normal gameplay, both share the same gunfight and driving tactics.