Rent: every seven days, always higher
The wall display and the calendar both show the schedule — Day 7, Day 14, and so on. The first payment is 200 CR, then it climbs by difficulty.
| Difficulty | Increase | Landlord's Grace | Refusing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price Gouge | +2% | Yes | Skip once; unpaid rent rolls into next week |
| Mark Up | +5% | Yes | Same |
| Thin Margins | +10% | No | Ends the run immediately |
| Red Ink | +10% | No | Ends the run immediately |
Grace covers exactly one missed payment: the arrears roll onto the next bill, but the normal increase still applies. Once grace is gone, refusing triggers You Defaulted On Your Rent — evicted, abandoned even by the Mentor, back to scavenging.
Wild's network sells Rent Grace (Favor) for 100 favor. It's a one-time favour that lets you pay a missed week together with the next. On Thin Margins and Red Ink, it's your only safety net.
Six income lines, ranked
| Income line | Setup | Payback | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flipping household goods | Minimal | Same day | Days 1–7, cover rent |
| Water trading | Medium (purifier, filters, bottles) | Fast | First line after Day 7 |
| Metal ingots (Furnace) | Medium (Furnace + ore) | Medium | With a steady scrap supply |
| Appraisal jobs | Low (guide + tools) | Fast, no stock risk | Quiet trading days |
| Battery cycling | Medium (Recharger) | Medium | Outages and power shortages |
| Wine and farming | High (equipment + time) | Slow | Mid-game, big single sales |
The ordering rule: money today first, more money tomorrow second. Anything that pays after three nights belongs after you can already cover rent comfortably.
Water trading: the most reliable first line
Water is the easiest business to understand: buy cloudy water cheap, test it, purify it, sell by grade. Six grades, and one correct processing order.
| Grade | Purity | Typical treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Pure Water | ≥ 99.9% | Sell as-is; premium during a supply crisis |
| High-Quality Water | 99% – < 99.9% | Realistic target after filtering Basewater |
| Basewater | 98% – < 99% | Water Pitcher + filter can lift it a grade |
| Ghostwater | 96% – < 98% | Tablets or UV pre-treatment, then filter |
| Rustwater | 90% – < 96% | HydraTech pre-treatment + purifier overnight |
| Gutterflow | < 90% | Multi-stage; highest cost per litre |
Processing order
- Test, don't trust the label
Use a Water Testing Kit or AquaScan. AquaScan scans repeatedly without consuming strips, so it pays for itself.
- Basewater: filter directly
Put a filter in the Water Pitcher, pour, filter, then retest. Done right it reaches High-Quality.
- Ghostwater: treat first
Purification Tablets remove most microbial and some chemical contamination; UV is the alternative. Retest afterwards.
- Rust and Gutterflow: bring equipment
HydraTech for pre-treatment, then a powered Water Purifier overnight.
- Filters degrade
If repeated filtering stops improving purity, swap the filter or change method instead of forcing it.
Dr. Jackson's Moisture Farm produces about 1,000 ml of Ghostwater per day, but needs power and a container. Wild's Gutterflow on Tap and Rustwater on Tap unlock cheap dirty-water supply. Neither is profit without purification.
A Water Supply Crisis pushes prices up for several days. When the news hints at it, stock clean water, stock bottles, and put water in the display case.
Metal ingots: turn scrap into currency
| Input | Output | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Scrap Metal ×2 | Low-purity ingot | Cheapest start; scavenging covers it |
| Scrap Metal + Ore | Mid/high-purity ingot | Best value per material |
| Ore ×2 | High-purity ingot | Highest value, but count ore cost |
| Blast Module bonus | 3 materials → 2 ingots | Doubles throughput, different purity maths |
Smelting finishes overnight; collect the next morning. The hidden cost is power — running several machines shows up in nightly fees. A Recharger keeps rechargeable cells in rotation, and buying flat cells to recharge and resell becomes profitable during outages.
Wine and fish: slow, but bigger per sale
BloomBerry Wine needs a Wine Bottle, 750 ml of water and BloomBerries; yeast is optional. Ingredient quality sets the final value — mouldy or underripe berries drag the whole bottle down.
AgeWell raises finished wine value over time, which suits players who can absorb early cash pressure for a later payoff. Aquafarmer tilapia needs a full growth cycle and is a classic mid-game line.
The risk in slow lines isn't margin, it's rhythm. The seven-day bill won't wait for your ferment.
The buyout: how to reach 12,000 CR
Buying the deed from the Landlord is the win condition and the only way to make rent disappear forever. Price depends on difficulty:
| Difficulty | Deed price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Price Gouge | 12,000 CR | Calendar shows property value from Day 1 |
| Mark Up | 12,000 CR | Baseline |
| Thin Margins | 24,000 CR | Rent increases and price both double |
| Red Ink | 36,000 CR | The most expensive finish |
Don't think "save until you can". Work backwards: required weekly profit = deed price ÷ weeks you're willing to spend.
Three accelerators
- Convert profit into capacity, not inventory. Equipment that produces water, ingots or wine compounds.
- Use appraisal work to fill gaps. No storage, no cash tied up, income even on quiet days.
- Crises are windows. Players who stocked early collect the premium; players who chase the price after the fact eat the loss.
Buying the deed triggers the Buyout ending and ends the run. Finish what you want to finish first — there's no "keep trading" option.