Using NPC Industry and Farms

[999 IQ Super Patriot]

Any consequences from having my guys work the machinery and farms in towns? Does it count as stealing if my guys automatically take the resources vs looting them manually if I have the appropriate storage in town?

[Peregrine]

In an older version, they would get angry at you.

Best advice? Save game, test. If attacked by guards and shop staff, then YES, there are. If not, it's free skill training.

Taking from the machine IS stealing though, and you might have some free sparring practice if they decide to make an issue of it.

[ipsos]

If you are allied they don't mind. If you are not they will warn you to stop, then eventually attack you. Anything you make in a crafting device owned by another faction will be owned by that faction, it will be stealing to take your products. If you are sneaking and won't be caught it works out fine.

[Vermillion Cardinal]

My current playthrough does take advantage of NPC farms. I went with the HN slaves start (naming my faction "Flotsam Refugees") and walked out right away to the Flotsam Ninjas encampment. I lived there for quite some time working their greenfruit and hemp farms, with some mining of their iron node on the side. Experimented with using their biofuel distillery to produce fuel but the 50% fencing discount on all sales made it not worth the effort. With some thievery around camp to supplement things I even bought one set of high-quality armored rag skirt and black plate jacket.

Eventually I saved enough to buy the L-House in World's End and renamed my faction to "W.E. Manufacturing", working the Ninjas' farms for produce and buying stuff like iron plates from the shop in town. Selling fuel paid for early research and funded my upgrades into working on clothing and leather armor. I did some farming of World's End hydroponic farms but a severe lack of water and frequent power outages made me switch back to the Ninjas' farms.

Now a faction of 4 women and 1 bull, I pretty much source cotton, wheat and cacti from HN farms, greenfruit, hemp and water from the Ninjas, wheat from Ghost Village, and operate a small iron mining operation at my outpost, Processing Station #1, just north of World's End in order to supply the manufacture of armor plates.

Interestingly, I've stolen fuel right out of the Ninjas' distillery while someone was working on it and nobody really minded. Same for when I used their smelter to melt down cannibal equipment. I hope that the ability to work NPC farms isn't patched out, since it adds some utility to these settlements beyond serving as pit stops for supplies. Besides, my people still have to put hours of work into it (unlike stealing).

[999 IQ Super Patriot]

Hounds purged Shark of pretty much everyone, leaving all the farms with no one working them. Not ideal, as I prefer having shopkeepers, but I'll take it. Nobody around to complain because I'm allied to the Hounds.