Is it worth renting vending machines?

[Simple Tora]

I'm playing a permadeath world vs my friend to see who can survive the longest and it's just us. I read about rental machines but im a bit confused on them. It says NPCS can buy from them but no npcs exist currently other than traders.

Can someone explain how this works or if the vending machines are even worth the fee I was thinking of doing it to make extra money on the side but if it only works if my friend buys from it seems kinda pointless

[Crater Creator]

Yes they're supposed to work, but the 'NPCs' buying your stuff are only simulated within the context of the vending machine. You'll never see them; the most you'll see is your items disappearing. I don't use these, so I can't speak to whether they're worthwhile.

[JimmyIowa]

The NPCs who buy from a rental machine are virtual, in the sense that the purchases from your machine happen in the background while you are away.

I find the machines to be a fun way to dispose of high value items. Because you can sell items from the machine for a much higher price than the trader will buy them (don't discount them, they sell just fine anyway). So what I put in the machine are things like purple steel armor with 4 mods in it. It sells for full price which is several thousand dukes. Once you get going, you can check back in on your rental once every few days and collect over 10,000 dukes, from selling 2 or 3 top tier items. So by the end of a 30 day rental period, I have made back 50k dukes or more.

Putting low cost basic items in it like cans of food, or junk low tier weapons, will be not worth it. It only really pays off when stocked with premium purple items.

"Worth it" however is always relative to the playstyle and player. I find dukes to be brokenly over plentiful even without a rental. I just do the rental for the fun of filling up chest after chest with solid stacks of dukes, and a way to dispose of some uneeded loot. I never actually need as much money as I make in this game. Not even close. So if merely filling chests with dukes is not fun for someone, then a rental might not be "worth it" either. OTOH, if your playstyle calls for buying massive amounts of ammo, for example, then a rental might be a good way to feed that habit.

[Sprocket66]

Originally posted by JimmyIowa:

I find dukes to be brokenly over plentiful even without a rental. I just do the rental for the fun of filling up chest after chest with solid stacks of dukes, and a way to dispose of some uneeded loot. I never actually need as much money as I make in this game. Not even close. So if merely filling chests with dukes is not fun for someone, then a rental might not be "worth it" either. OTOH, if your playstyle calls for buying massive amounts of ammo, for example, then a rental might be a good way to feed that habit.

I just melt down the excess dukes for brass. Saves on having to deal with collecting brass while raiding. If you melt down the dukes from one trader mission per week you'll have enough bullet casings for horde night.

[Midas]

I never tried these before, but do the ones you purchase work the same way? It doesn't seem like anything I put into them actually sells.

[JimmyIowa]

Originally posted by Midas:

I never tried these before, but do the ones you purchase work the same way? It doesn't seem like anything I put into them actually sells.

No, only rentals at the trader get purchases from virtual NPCs. The ones you buy at the trader and place anywhere are for MP. Other actual players can purchase from it. But background virtual NPC's will not buy anything from it. (At least up to A19. I don't think this changed in A20).

[Crashtian]

This thread blew my mind.

1600 hours.

"What a useless multiplayer thing" since they showed up. lmao.

[Midas]

Originally posted by JimmyIowa:

Originally posted by Midas:

I never tried these before, but do the ones you purchase work the same way? It doesn't seem like anything I put into them actually sells.

No, only rentals at the trader get purchases from virtual NPCs. The ones you buy at the trader and place anywhere are for MP. Other actual players can purchase from it. But background virtual NPC's will not buy anything from it. (At least up to A19. I don't think this changed in A20).

Wow. That kinda sucks. Not sure the rentals are worth the fee or how long it takes for them to pay for themselves. Might try it out at a later time. Guess I have a useless trade station to get rid of now.

[The_Pastmaster]

Originally posted by JimmyIowa:

The NPCs who buy from a rental machine are virtual, in the sense that the purchases from your machine happen in the background while you are away.

I find the machines to be a fun way to dispose of high value items. Because you can sell items from the machine for a much higher price than the trader will buy them (don't discount them, they sell just fine anyway). So what I put in the machine are things like purple steel armor with 4 mods in it. It sells for full price which is several thousand dukes. Once you get going, you can check back in on your rental once every few days and collect over 10,000 dukes, from selling 2 or 3 top tier items. So by the end of a 30 day rental period, I have made back 50k dukes or more.

Putting low cost basic items in it like cans of food, or junk low tier weapons, will be not worth it. It only really pays off when stocked with premium purple items.

"Worth it" however is always relative to the playstyle and player. I find dukes to be brokenly over plentiful even without a rental. I just do the rental for the fun of filling up chest after chest with solid stacks of dukes, and a way to dispose of some uneeded loot. I never actually need as much money as I make in this game. Not even close. So if merely filling chests with dukes is not fun for someone, then a rental might not be "worth it" either. OTOH, if your playstyle calls for buying massive amounts of ammo, for example, then a rental might be a good way to feed that habit.

I assumed this was the case and tried it a few months ago and put in a purple weapon for below asking price to test. 10 days and nothing happened. I was disappointed.

[Rio]

Vends not having a chest to drop your items into when your rent time is over is probably one of the biggest reasons people don't rent vends. Like seriously, just deleting your items is awful, I'd rather whoever rents the machine next can get the items rather than everything just getting deleted.

And if you buy your own vend from the secret stash its completely useless. If your playing alone or with your bud, your not making them pay for stuff to help you two-three survive.

With everything else you need to keep track of, its annoying. You got quests, air drops, hoard nights, gear searching, etc. Life happens, you might get stuck overnight in a poi, get a broken leg, die far from home with your only car near your body, etc.

And by mid/late game anyways your swimming in money so why bother?

[Shockwave]

Originally posted by Crashtian:

This thread blew my mind.

1600 hours.

"What a useless multiplayer thing" since they showed up. lmao.

Yeah me too. I figured it was only MP... Still useless though, you get more dukes from selling to a trader than you can possibly ever use.

[RasaNova]

Originally posted by Crashtian:

This thread blew my mind.

1600 hours.

"What a useless multiplayer thing" since they showed up. lmao.

Same here... 1500+ hours and I never knew those vending machines had a use outside of MP!

So, how does it work, exactly? We rent for 30 days, and at the end we lise anything still in it. Can we pull stuff out before that happens? What are the odds of an item selling, are we gambling on making more than if we just sold to the trader?

[Crater Creator]

Originally posted by RasaNova:

Originally posted by Crashtian:

This thread blew my mind.

1600 hours.

"What a useless multiplayer thing" since they showed up. lmao.

Same here... 1500+ hours and I never knew those vending machines had a use outside of MP!

So, how does it work, exactly? We rent for 30 days, and at the end we lise anything still in it. Can we pull stuff out before that happens? What are the odds of an item selling, are we gambling on making more than if we just sold to the trader?

It looks like you can take items out at any time without penalty. I believe the price you set affects the chance of making the sale. I never knew remaining objects were destroyed when the rental is over, though.

[Shockwave]

Originally posted by Crater Creator:

It looks like you can take items out at any time without penalty. I believe the price you set affects the chance of making the sale. I never knew remaining objects were destroyed when the rental is over, though.

real question is do you get the XP? I mean selling to the trader represents one of the largest single chunks of XP in the game by the time you are 100 days in.