Favourite thieving circuits

[dissent]

I'm interested in hearing about what thieving circuits others have developed for profit and utility. By thieving circuit, I mean a loop of several different cities which are visited in sequence over the course of several days before returning to base. My favourite is what I call the UC Run.

My main character is a female Scorchlander who specialises in speed and stealth, thieving game-long (she starts as early as night 2) to fund her and the crew's development. She is also the chief recruiter for the crew. Although she mostly avoids combat, she is an archer with MA as a melee skill. I train her to around 75 Str which means she can carry a LOT of loot. She has two Wooden and one Thieves backpack in inventory. Stackable items go into the Wooden packs, single items like weapons or blueprints into the Thieves backpack.

For the UC Run, she leaves my base at The Hub in the early morning, runs up to Blister Hill, then takes a right, heads through the Shield of Okran and across the Great Desert to Stoat. She will get there just before the shops close at 23h00. Over the course of the next four nights, she will hit Sho-Battai, Bark, Heft and Heng, thieving all night then running to the next loction at sunrise.

For recruiting purposes, the run is great because each UC city has a Slave Shop, along with a decent chance to spawn skeleton or specialist recruits like Gunners. The Shinobi towers in Sho-Battai, Heft and Heng mean that I can equip new recruits with a Thieves Backpack right away and they can help to carry the loot load. I also usually take a couple of pairs of Wooden Sandals with me. New recruits are generally quite slow (my character runs at 27mph) which increases the chances of being caught by attackers as we move from city to city. So my first move is to sell all their armour and weapon and give them a Thieves Backpack and Wooden Sandals.

I like the UC cities because I tend to have a lot of crossbowmen and all the UC cities except Heng have Ranger shops where I can steal bows to equip my recruits. I aim for Specialist or Masterwork Old World Mk I bows, nothing less. If I can get Mk II bows, so much the better but they're rare. They make the jump from their starter/trainer Standard Tooth Pick bows (bought from the Bar in The Hub) once their Precision Shooting is high enough to not kill their comrades. I also steal all the Regular Bolts I find. On a typical UC Run, that is around 40 stacks of Regular bolts, which is enough that I can avoid crafting bolts myself. The Ranger shops in Bark and particularly in Heft are in Stormhouses and are consequently heavily guarded so I sometimes don't bother with them. But the Stoat (Y-house) and Sho-Battai (Tower, yay) shops are a breeze.

After Ranger shops, my favourite targets are Travel, General or Mechanical shops. All of these stock Skeleton Repair Kits, my favourite target. Many also stock Robotic Components. I sell off the repair kits but keep the Robotic Components. I can get ~35 per UC run. These are given to my Robotics crafter at the base, who can simply add Steel Bars to make ~70 Skeleton Repair Kits from them. So that's around 140k-190k extra profit from a single UC run.

Next target is blueprints. I get these from Armour, Clothing and Weapons shops. They're weightless, take up only one tile, and sell for up to 7k, what's not to like? I also use some of them. UC cities aren't good for usable blueprints but I do get all the Samurai armour pieces here, along with Masked Helms, Iron Hats, Plated Longboots, Plate Jackets.

It's tempting to sell loot at the Thieves towers along the way, to avoid becoming over-burdened, and I initially did this. But selling for half-price really doesn't appeal to me so now I only use the Thieves to buy from. I've found that most loot stolen in one UC city can be sold in the next or, at most, two cities away. It takes a bit of legwork, going from vendor to vendor in each new city to find out who will accept stolen goods from the previous city. But it's worth it. I never need to use the Thieves.

Running from city to city is dull but at least it's quick. I generally leave each city at sunrise and will be in the next by lunch-time. I have plenty of time until the next thieving session starts at 23h00. So I'm not averse to building my crossbow skills along the way. If I come across Skimmers or a small group of bandits, I'll happily kite them for some XP. I also find that the UC guards are often fighting intruders (usually Skimmers) at each city. I stop and 'help', mainly by pincushioning the guards and building my Precision Shooting skill. The guards don't seem to mind being shot in the face and I'd rather hurt them than my own comrades.

Once I'm done with Heng, the last city on the circuit, I head down to the Slave Market and Eyesocket if I'm in a play-through where I'm recruiting slaves. If not, I head to the Waystation in the Grey Desert. From there, it's a short hop to Black Desert City and Scraphouse if I feel like blowing some of the profit on top-tier weapons or robot limbs. I carry a spare Dustcoat in my inventory for the Acid Rain. For thieving, I wear Ninja Rags for the 1.3x Sneak bonus.

From BDC/Scraphouse, I head due west through the northern part of Skinner's Roam before arriving home at The Hub. I dump off the Robotic Components at my Robotics crafter, pick up the Skele Repair Kits he's done since the last run, and head down to Squin and Shark to sell them. Then it's time to start again, with an import game tossed in to reshuffle the recruits on offer.

It's a fab run that gives me most of what I want and is hugely profitable. But I'm open to alternative thieving circuits which are used/suggested by others. What is your favourite?

[Tinkytinkytink]

I never really got into thieving. I tried it starting out in the UC (Heng) and did something by accident that broke my game and made everything way too easy.

Ever since i have that knowledge i only steal in case i really need food or medicals which is rare enough
I didnt rediscover the wheel, but also won`t mention exactly what i did because it might ruin other peoples experience

[Ellorien]

I never steal anything from shops. I have no problem with murder and slavery but theft is where I draw the line.

[TPTI]

robo workshop 30-60k in minutes

[Gena Cider]

i steal all the food from the holy nation and deposit on admag

[Notim Portant]

I will usually steal any opportunity I can get just because the temptation is too great. For the loot that I steal, I will usually sell it to any shops in a city far away that will take the fenced goods. It's interesting that you say it is usually 2 cities away that will take the loot, I've also noticed that.

[Notim Portant]

Stealing from the UC like Shobuttai and bark makes me satisfied just because of the fact I despise the UC

[dissent]

I steal from any of the factions that levy penalties on residents - HN, UC, Shek. Squin isn't technically in Shek territory but it is still Shek. Their guards make snarky comments about me, I steal their stuff. Harsh but fair, I say. I also got stopped at the Stoat gate by a corrupt Gate Sergeant who extorted money from me by planting drugs on me. Yeah buddy, that's going to cost the citizens you protect big time.

I don't like stealing from the Tech Hunters and won't steal from the BDC or Scraphouse people. I pay for all the elite weapons and robot limbs I need.