Tips for getting lots of money?

[Raikorius]

Hello all, noob to Qud here. I'm on my second "developed" character (One who hasn't died before level 3), currently at level 12. My last character was level 16 but he died pretty much instantaneously to steam, which at the time I was unaware could do so much damage.

I was wondering how one might acquire loads of drams. So far I've only encountered canteens and waterskins for dram storage - are there better storage options that I will find naturally? Maybe ones that won't impede my weight?

Additionally, are there any tips that veterans could give that would supplement my playthrough? I'm currently a mutant and my strongest weapon is a sniper rifle I picked up from an enemy in some ruins. My character is originally built for melee though and uses a carbide two handed axe and some daggers and I put bucklers on each of his arms.

[Raikorius]

Originally posted by glass zebra:

Originally posted by Raikorius:

Ah yep gotcha! I've been using a shotgun to kill the little buggers that rust things on hit. And I just reached the Grit Gate (The inside!) I'm assuming one of the apes is a high level tinker?

They are bears (as foretold by Argyve) and they should be able to repair most stuff you've got, including an Electrobow.

Ah gotcha my bad (I think I just felt myself go to -500 reputation with them >_>), and okay!

[HermitTheCrog]

What I've been doing to overcome the money vs weight issue is to find merchants/traders who sell Precious stones/metals like Sapphire, Amethyst, Copper.. etc - these items have a very high static value and most of the time only weight 1lb. Copper gets a little weighty with quantity, but if you can trade that up for a higher valued gem then you're good to go.

[Sephiroth]

learn proselytize sella low lvl character a bunch of high quality items then charm him with proselytize then trade them back

[Sly-Scale]

Originally posted by Raikorius:

12 EGO.

There's your problem right there. With low Ego, it's very difficult to financially get off the ground in the early game -- possibly the early-mid game. It's not impossible to fight, it's not gonna doom your run or anything... but unless you totally break the economy, engaging in commerce is not something you'll get to do.

Stick to adventuring, get some levels, stack some Ego boosts from equipment, and don't drink Brain Brine. Every 4 levels will give you +1 to all attributes, so it might not be until level 28 or 32 that you get some respectable numbers. Just know that compared to a more egotistic player, you're still gonna struggle to buy what you want, because now you'll want the gear that starts showing up at that level.

P.S. And as of version 1.0, the devs made it so shopkeepers will now wipe their inventory whenever they restock. While that's nice for long-term access and gameplay stability with the merchants, they included gems getting wiped. So now you can't just use gems as a sort of long-term IOU. No, you need to bank water, so you can buyback those gems as soon as you spend them. When every transaction's a timed sidequest to rescue your gems, it gets tedious. If you're struggling to make money, this is doubly problematic.

[Doombringer]

I just use cloning draught for money.
Get some cloning draught, get a storage tank (kill turret that has a water-cooled modded gun or dismember the arm of a psychal fleshgun turret).
Metamorphic polygel to dupe tank with cloning draught, pour it into a single container, repeat until you have a full one.
Now every polygel is +$160k, you can put willowy/slender mod on storage tank so it weights slightly more than 32 per full tank.
You can also clone merchants to increase access to metamorphic polygel.

[Pixel Peeper]

Originally posted by Doombringer:

get a storage tank (kill turret that has a water-cooled modded gun or dismember the arm of a psychal fleshgun turret).
Metamorphic polygel to dupe tank with cloning draught, pour it into a single container, repeat until you have a full one.

Is there a particular reason why you'd want a bigger item rather than just a waterskin or canteen?

Once you have a waterskin with a few dozen cloning draught, I would honestly not bother wasting any more Polygel on it. If you're that far into the game, money isn't an issue for you. Better use the Polygel on relics or schrodinger pages or whatever.

[Doombringer]

128 volume makes polygel twice as good as 64, because you get 128 cloning draught from 1 polygel instead of 64...
Waterskin can not be modded, so ends up weighing more.

You can clone screens full of merchants so polygel isn't so limited ;)
Polygel makes cloning draught which makes more merchants which gets you more polygel which you can buy using cloning draught...

[Pixel Peeper]

Originally posted by Doombringer:

128 volume makes polygel twice as good as 64, because you get 128 cloning draught from 1 polygel instead of 64...
Waterskin can not be modded, so ends up weighing more.

You can clone screens full of merchants so polygel isn't so limited ;)

Wait... on top of reducing the weight of the item itself, the slender or willowy mods reduce the weight of the liquid the item contains? That's wild, and totally illogical... but I guess we're talking about a game where cracked steel helmets mend themselves after a short time.

Yeah, I get that a container with 128 capacity has more potential, but I wouldn't duplicate cloning draught that much. If I've just turned 20 draught into 40, then I've got enough cloning draught, and I'll use my Polygel on better stuff.

[glass zebra]

Originally posted by Sly-Scale:

With low Ego, it's very difficult to financially get off the ground in the early game -- possibly the early-mid game. It's not impossible to fight, it's not gonna doom your run or anything... but unless you totally break the economy, engaging in commerce is not something you'll get to do.

Well at some point everyone basically gets "infinite" money from the later parts of the game, so it really is mostly early to mid game. With high ego chars you will probably sell 1/4 of some stuff you find later on, while log ego chars might sell all of it, but you can always go out for more. Trading difficulties are really more of an early game thing and Ego has mostly another role later on. The game gives you more and more opportunities to even out some issues you have early on.

Originally posted by Sly-Scale:

P.S. And as of version 1.0, the devs made it so shopkeepers will now wipe their inventory whenever they restock.

Traders not wiping their inventory was a just a bug introduced a some months ago. For years all (well most) of them did that already. They just finally fixed it for 1.0

Originally posted by Pixel Peeper:

Wait... on top of reducing the weight of the item itself, the slender or willowy mods reduce the weight of the liquid the item contains?

No, willowy or slender only reduces the base weight of the items. Suspenders however just eliminate all weight (which kind of makes sense). That is a 7 bit cost though.

[Pizzarugi]

Originally posted by HermitTheCrog:

What I've been doing to overcome the money vs weight issue is to find merchants/traders who sell Precious stones/metals like Sapphire, Amethyst, Copper.. etc - these items have a very high static value and most of the time only weight 1lb. Copper gets a little weighty with quantity, but if you can trade that up for a higher valued gem then you're good to go.

You actually want T8 dromad traders (or Santa at Chavvah if you're willing to go to the Moon Stair). They sell Taco Suprema which have no weight at all. They're not trade goods so you will lose money buying and selling back later, but if you have 34+ ego (or 30 with Snake Oiler), the loss of value is very small.

[glass zebra]

Originally posted by Pizzarugi:

Originally posted by HermitTheCrog:

What I've been doing to overcome the money vs weight issue is to find merchants/traders who sell Precious stones/metals like Sapphire, Amethyst, Copper.. etc - these items have a very high static value and most of the time only weight 1lb. Copper gets a little weighty with quantity, but if you can trade that up for a higher valued gem then you're good to go.

You actually want T8 dromad traders (or Santa at Chavvah if you're willing to go to the Moon Stair). They sell Taco Suprema which have no weight at all. They're not trade goods so you will lose money buying and selling back later, but if you have 34+ ego (or 30 with Snake Oiler), the loss of value is very small.

Almost all of the prepared food in the game does not have a weight though and are both easier to get and split from than tacos, while also possibly having a use on top of that. Tacos are definitely one of the best "singular value" item for trade, but there are multiple ways to get low weight or no weight "trade goods". For the start gems and metals are definitely pretty good (both because of availability and static value).

[Pizzarugi]

Originally posted by glass zebra:

Originally posted by Pizzarugi:

You actually want T8 dromad traders (or Santa at Chavvah if you're willing to go to the Moon Stair). They sell Taco Suprema which have no weight at all. They're not trade goods so you will lose money buying and selling back later, but if you have 34+ ego (or 30 with Snake Oiler), the loss of value is very small.

Almost all of the prepared food in the game does not have a weight though and are both easier to get and split from than tacos, while also possibly having a use on top of that. Tacos are definitely one of the best "singular value" item for trade, but there are multiple ways to get low weight or no weight "trade goods". For the start gems and metals are definitely pretty good (both because of availability and static value).

What prepared foods can you get in such bulk that they are comparable to tacos for storing large amounts of wealth, though? Or are you suggesting you clone and completely buy out the inventory of kippers and chefs?

I suppose the big upside of doing this is that they also sometimes sell rare liquids, plus the occasional drop of nectar.

[glass zebra]

Originally posted by Pizzarugi:

Originally posted by glass zebra:

Almost all of the prepared food in the game does not have a weight though and are both easier to get and split from than tacos, while also possibly having a use on top of that. Tacos are definitely one of the best "singular value" item for trade, but there are multiple ways to get low weight or no weight "trade goods". For the start gems and metals are definitely pretty good (both because of availability and static value).

What prepared foods can you get in such bulk that they are comparable to tacos for storing large amounts of wealth, though? Or are you suggesting you clone and completely buy out the inventory of kippers and chefs?

I suppose the big upside of doing this is that they also sometimes sell rare liquids, plus the occasional drop of nectar.

I am not suggesting to clone any merchants, but adding that food traders exist for earlier and smaller trades than tier 8 merchants, which are only available at the end of the game. As said tacos are definitely good as a single big trade item, but other food is good for finer trade and for those without lots of tier 8 traders.

[Raikorius]

holy crap lol this stuff is kinda going over my head now but I'm assuming this is like, end game levels of trade? and maybe for someone with an EGO higher than 13...I think that's what mine is at right now, and my current character is level 26.

[tonytheshoes]

Long blades + Swipe + Dueling Stance vs Laser Turrets = Wild Riches