Shell's hangar review (I think it's bad)

The hangar is a property where you can store planes, choppers and it also provides some cargo missions which can earn you some money. But how does this property hold up in 2019? Spoiler alert: not so good I think...

Editorial (intro)

Hi gang!

So this week (it almost ended) R* gave us some serious discount on various properties, amongst which the hangar. I've been considering to get one for a while now but I wasn't really sure because flying isn't really my thing in GTA (keep this in mind, because this obviously means that I'm biased!). But I also read stories that you could do cargo missions which would earn you some good cash so I figured, how bad can it be?



Well... It's not really bad, definitely not so much that I would recommend against buying the hangar. However it also isn't as good as I'd hoped for, this property has a lot of nasty issues.

But just so you guys know: although I am a little disappointed about a few things this isn't your classic "look at how bad this whole thing is!" kind of review. There are issues, sure, but there's also plenty of stuff to enjoy here. Especially if you're into aircraft! And as for me: even though there are issues I don't regret buying the hanger.

As for earning some money though... well, let's get into the review first :)

What is the hanger?

The hangar is a property in GTA Online which you can buy through the foreclosure website, as seen above. The same place where you can also buy bunkers, mc clubhouses, facilities, etc. The hangar can be used to store planes (duh!) as well as specific cargo which you can collect during cargo missions. But first things first, the hangar itself...

There are two main locations where you can buy a hangar. The first is (obviously) the Los Santos International Airport and the second location is none other than Fort Zancudo, maybe better known as the military base. So you probably guessed it: if you get a hangar on fort Zancudo then you'll also get clearance to enter the base, so you won't immediately get a 4 star wanted level anymore.

Buying a hangar

The hangar comes with a wide variety of stuff to customize but most of this is mere decoration. And as you can see above some of it doesn't come cheap either! In my opinion the only thing which is interesting to buy is the workshop, because that will allow you to customize your aircraft. Comparable to the workshop in the bunker (for which you'd need the Mobile Operation Center) as well as the Terrorbyte workshop underneath the nightclub.

Just be careful with the stuff you're purchasing here because most of these options are honestly quite useless. For example: I could buy myself a personal living space for 235k, but it's actually a waste of money. Not only are beds in GTAO pretty useless by themselves, the hangar already has a bed which you can use if you want to:



So why would you waste 235k on a living quarter? Don't get me wrong: I can definitely understand if you want to customize your hangar to make it look better and make it more your own. No arguments there. Just keep in mind that most of this stuff is purely for the looks and doesn't add anything useful (except for the workshop of course).

So what can we do with the hangar?

Storing & customizing vehicles

You can store several sized vehicles in your hangar. From huge planes such as the Titan to smaller ones like the Buzzard and Frogger. If you store a vehicle here then you're turning it into a personal aircraft which you can call up for free using the context menu. A nice touch is that this applies to any planes or choppers which you already own. So if you have a Buzzard Pegasus vehicle then you can call it up and store it in your hangar, after which you don't have to pay 200$ to retrieve it again.

Another advantage is that you can customize your vehicle (provided that you purchased the workshop) and honestly? I'm happy to report that the prizes they charge you aren't as outrageous as I had expected, it's actually pretty doable.

Of course that's not saying it's perfect either. To be honest I was a little disappointed that the only thing I could do with my Buzzard was changing its color. Why can't I add some cool looking camouflage patterns like you can with weapons in the weapons workshop, as well as with other weaponized vehicles?

Two personal vehicles?

This was quite a bummer for me... If you store vehicles in the hangar then they become personal aircrafts which you can request for free. So far the good part. But if you then call up your Buzzard you'll find it located in an area which is most likely quite far away from where you are. So what do you do? Well, I called for my Oppressor (= personal vehicle) so that I could easily get to my Buzzard.

Bzzzt...! Unfortunately by doing so I immediately despawned my Buzzard again and was now left with just my regular personal vehicle. What. the. hell.? So basically you can easily have a personal vehicle, a military vehicle (Terrorbyte or Mobile Command Center) and your Pegasus vehicle out on the map at the same time, even if that Pegasus vehicle is an aircraft. Heck: you can also add a CEO vehicle if you wanted to, like a Buzzard. But you can't have your personal aircraft and your personal vehicle (car) out at the same time.

So how am I supposed to get to my aircraft without my car? <facepalm>

You can only have your aircraft without your car... R* logic I guess?

Doing cargo missions

The second thing we can do is cargo missions. The hangar is also a storage facility in which we can store dozens of different crates which you can earn during missions. If you already own a crate warehouse then you will recognize most types of cargo. The idea is to steal crates and then build up a collection which you can then sell at a later time.

So if you walk up to the computer in your office then you can check your stocks, source cargo and also do sale missions. It's a fun idea for sure but the execution is quite poor if you ask me.

Horribly tedious missions

My main problem with these missions is that they can take you a really long time and the payout isn't all that great either. Some missions are just plain out bad.

For example... in my first mission I was sent out in a plane which had been fitted with missiles. The idea was to find and destroy so called signal jammers so that Ron would be able to hack into the Merryweather network and obtain the location of the crate I was trying to steal.

Why this mission was so bad? Sjeesj, where do I even begin.... First you're sent out with a plane to shoot down stationary targets using missles but the missiles don't lock on. So you have to try and aim while you're also flying a plane, and the plane controls aren't exactly good for that sort of thing.

The other problem is that your targets are spread out all over the map so this is going to take you some time. Time which is running out because if you don't finish the mission fast enough you will fail. And about those targets... one is even located under a bridge, which brings its own set of problems because if you're not careful you'll probably crash the plane into the bridge, game over.

Eventually I called out my Buzzard and used that to destroy the rest of the targets, at least that way you can actually aim your weapon if you're using the machine gun.

So I managed to destroy all the jammers and amazingly enough Ron found the location of the crate I was going to steal. It was in a Brickade (armored van) and the timer was still running. Because I couldn't get the thing to stop and because I became quite frustrated with this mission I started blasting it with missles, expecting to fail the mission (the sooner the better! ;)).

But no, now that I had destroyed the brickade van my crate suddenly appeared above it, hanging on a parachute. The heck? Alas, I picked up the crate and raced back to my hangar. Only to realize that the timer was still running. Apparently if you don't bring a crate to your hangar fast enough it magically disappears. What kind of gameplay mechanic nonsense is that?

Can it get worse? Why, thanks for asking: yes it can!

Lousy payouts

I didn't give up that easily so I decided to source another crate. This time the mission actually began pretty good because I was sent out in a plane (the Molotok if I'm not mistaken) and I had to make contact with a cargo fleet in the sky. The idea was to blast the cargo planes until the crate would eventually pop out.

And what do you know? Even though I'm not that much into flying I actually had a great time during the start of this mission. Seriously.... this was pretty good! Obviously the planes were protected by several fighter jets so you had to engage in a dogfight, for which you even earned extra RP. This is what a DLC about planes should be all about I think.

Unfortunately the fun didn't last very long....



See, after taking down three cargo planes only one cargo crate dropped. Seriously? 3 cargo planes plus several fighter squadrons for one lousy crate? To make matters worse the crate was falling down on parachute at a horribly slow speed. So the only option you have is to try and catch it by plane.

Well, good luck with that! Just look at the screenshot above. The target is so small that it is plain out invisible most of the time, so you have to fully concentrate on the icon in the lower left corner as well as the stuff around you. Not only that, once again the mission was on a timer so if you're not quick enough you don't get your cargo.

But it gets even worse. Because what do you think you can earn by bringing back a crate?



Well, see here: 10k in total, for a mission which took me well over 15 minutes to complete. And let's be very clear here: I didn't earn 10k just now, no, I earned the opportunity to try and sell my cargo which value had now increased with 10k. So if I fail that sale mission then all of this would be for nothing.

Which, in my opinion, means that these gunrunner missions are total garbage, absolutely not worth your time and best ignored. Story wise I can only imagine that Ron is such a total moron that he can't manage to come up with ways to steal crates in an efficient way.

But the main reason why I am so negative about this is because a regular contact mission (you know, the missions which we had available since GTAO itself came out?) will actually pay you more than this nonsense!

I know, I know: if you collect more crates then you might be able to sell collections which get you a better price. I'm well aware.

The problem though is that it will still take you an awful amount of time to complete those tedious missions. Time which you can spend much more efficiently....

In conclusion...

Pro's

The hangar is a fun property to have, especially if you enjoy the aircraft in GTAO. You can store a large variety of aircraft and put your most favoured prizes up for display in the hangar while the rest can be stored in the (virtual) storage compartment below.

And even though I'm very critical with the whole "airplanes now become personal vehicles" thing (because you can no longer have both vehicles out on the map at the same time) it's also fair to say that I might be nitpicking there. After all: what good does a car do you if you plan on using a plane for a while? It might be more inconvenient to reach your plane, but on the other hand you're also saving 200$ worth of delivery costs. So if you want more luxury then maybe stop being a cheapskate? ;) Besides, even taxis are a thing in GTAO ;)

And although the payment for missions may be low, it's also fair to say that for players who love the aircrafts this is a whole new opportunity to get some fun in the air. And as I hinted at earlier: if you manage to collect more crates of the same type you can get bonuses for getting collections.

Which brings me to:

• A nice way to customize * and showcase your aircraft (* if you bought the workshop).
  
• You get to learn more about Ron and (indirectly) a little bit about his relationship with Trevor, nice for players who care about the storyline in the GTA universe.
  
• Free plane! After purchasing the hangar you get a free Cuban (the same plane Trevor uses for his gun runs in Story mode).
  
• New missions which fully utilize planes and fighter jets!
  
• A new motivation to get friends involved (more friends = stealing more crates per mission = more money!).
  
• You can actually destroy vehicles to quickly pick up crates (it doesn't destroy cargo).
  
• If you get a hangar in Fort Zancudo you can safely access the base. Even better: you can now easily steal lazer fighter jets without any trouble.

Even stealing a tank from the base doesn't have to get you into (too) much trouble...

Con's

This is definitely not the best property to get for (solo) grinders who hope to get some good money out of it or maybe more variety in making money. Because most missions are extremely tedious to do and you'll only earn 10k per crate at best which makes crate and vehicle warehouses much more profitable.

Also because with the last missions the overall value of your cargo will continue to increase. One crate (which you can buy for 2k) may only make 10k (so: 8k profit), if you get another crate then the overall value goes up as well, it doesn't merely increase with another 8 or 10k. More crates = more profit.

Ergo:

• Tedious and mediocre missions which have a poor payout, especially in comparison to crate warehouses.
  
• Although you can now call up your personal aircraft for free, you'll also lose access to your regular personal vehicle. Not very useful if you still have to travel a bit to get to your aircraft.
  
• Even having a Terrorbyte doesn't fix this mess because when sourcing hangar crates you more than often still need to go to your hangar itself before you can start the mission (for example to pick up a mission vehicle).
  
• Although it might be cool to have a hangar it doesn't change the fact that there's still very little to do with planes in freeroam (apart from sourcing those crates).

And there you have it.....

I'm well aware that I'm also stating some obvious facts here, but I figured that it might still be useful to learn about the state of hangars in 2019. After all: maybe R* would have become smart all of a sudden and actually updated some of their older DLC (such as increasing the value of crates). Hopeful thinking I guess.. ;)

So yeah, if you're into aircrafts then this can be a really cool property to get because you can showcase all your vehicles. Not just that, you can even customize them. But if you're only interested in missions to earn money then this property is best ignored.

Thanks for reading!

[Gazo Ber]

Whilst discounted last week, I decided to buy a bigger hanger because I thought it would store more planes without putting them in storage only to find they are same size inside! So best not to splash out for what appears to be the larger ones.

[mr bruh]

woah, this is E P I C

[Lupo*]

+rep

[ShelLuser]

@Clover: the one and only :)

[Clover]

Is this ShelLuser from EMC? (if it is, holy moly what a small world)

[Heck]

everyone knows freight exporting is the worst in the game

[Trobby]

TL:DR; buy when it's on sale and you're not lacking any essentials (appartement, office, warehouse, armored kuruma, buzzard, etc...)

[ShelLuser]

@troll: customization.

[Trobby]

Which includes the annihilator and sometimes buzzard... so uhh, why exactly is this property necessary?

[Trobby]

You can easily get helicopters at the helipads in Vespucci Canals/San Andreas Avenue.