How to make money early: first businesses compared

On Mark Up (Normal), water is the most-recommended first business: Water Trading (300) + Rustwater On Tap (350) + a Water Purifier (250) turn free Rustwater into High-Quality Water worth 60 credits a litre. Wine is the cheapest addition: the Retired Winemaker costs 200, exactly the Wild’s Favor Joe Wild gives you on day 7, and a Master Vintage bottle is worth 175. The Appraiser Board, from day 8, pays fees without any stock. Chemistry earns more per sale but costs 1,000 plus modules and adds contraband risk.

In Steam’s “Most profitable way to make money?” thread, five posters name water and four name chemistry; in “Water trader doesn’t make sense to me”, eight of twelve posters call water profitable. Prices below are base prices. On Mark Up Dr. Jackson adds 15% to his; Thin Margins adds 50% to Wild’s Network and Red Ink 100%.

Businesses compared

Business	Start cost	What it makes	What limits it	Legal risk
Counter trading	None	Resale at your markup: 15% on Mark Up, 20% on Price Gouge, none on Hard	Customer budgets and what sellers bring	Stolen goods and contraband only
Appraisal	85 on day 8 (170 Hard, 255 Red Ink)	Junior fee for a Perfect estimate: 20 + 15% of the estimate, so 65 on a 300-credit item	Appraisal customers per day	None
Water	900: Water Trading, Rustwater On Tap, Water Purifier	High-Quality 60 per litre, Pure Water 80. One purifier with no modules cleans about 1.5 L of Rustwater to High-Quality a night	One container per purifier per night; 4 energy each	Mislabelled water past 2,500 ml becomes a crime
Wine	200: Retired Winemaker	BloomBerry Wine at Master Vintage: 175 per bottle, +3 for each night it ages	Bottles: 3 in the kit, 4 a week from the winemaker; 2 nights a batch with Yeast	None for BloomBerry Wine; GloomBerry Wine is contraband
Hydroponics	350: Retired Farmer	Per machine at full health: 13 Large Kotton Fiber (60 each) in 6 nights, 7 Large Nutrifruit (18 each) in 2, or 6 BloomBerries every 2 nights for wine	8 energy a night; Kotton is Very Sensitive to dirty water	Dream Caps are contraband
Rats	750: Ranching	Raw Meat (Standard) worth 159 from a 400 g rat; adults from day 5	Cage space and feed	None
Chemistry	1,000: Retired Chemist, plus 250 per Chemical Equipment Module	Dream Dust 18 base, 42 at Lab Pure (+135%); Phanta Pill 12 base	Restricted supplies and Dream Cap supply	Narcotics: Trafficking on your Security Record

The 1.5 litres a night comes from the purifier’s removal rate: a 3,000 ml pitcher of 95% Rustwater reaches 99% in two nights, and a 6,000 ml jug in four. More purifiers raise output in a straight line, because each cleans its own container. The water guide has the night counts for every container.

Which start to pick

• Water Merchant (400 credits) owns Water Trading on day 1. Three of seven posters in the Steam start thread recommend it. Add Working Pipes (2 perk points, unlimited Rustwater) if you can afford the points: it replaces the 350-credit tap, and one poster advises against Water Merchant without it.
• Apprentice (550 credits, 200 rent) keeps every option open and is the intended first run.
• Chemist (300 credits, Security −15) starts with all four chemistry machines, worth the 1,000-credit Retired Chemist.

The full table of starts and perks is in starting scenarios.

Order by week on Mark Up

1. Days 1–6. Trade at the counter with the 15% markup and keep 200 credits for the day-7 rent. Scavenge the Dumping Grounds after closing for free materials; each trip costs one customer the next morning.
2. Day 7. Pay rent. Joe Wild gives 200 Wild’s Favor, spent before credits: the Retired Winemaker (200) costs nothing, or the favor covers 200 of Water Trading’s 300.
3. Day 8. Join the Appraiser Board for 85. Four Perfect Junior appraisals on 300-credit items return 260.
4. Week 2. Complete the water line: Water Trading, Rustwater On Tap (350) and a Water Purifier from Dr. Jackson (250). Sell High-Quality to Upper Levels stockpilers, whose budgets are 500–600.
5. Week 3. Buy the Retired Farmer (350) and grow BloomBerries in purified water for wine; two small berries, Yeast and 750 ml of Basewater make Master Vintage.
6. Weeks 4–5. Add a second Water Purifier. Showcase Expansion I (200) brings one more display buyer a day; the Buyer Referral Service (200, then 10 a night) sends more customers.
7. Days 38–45. Budget 1,500 for the Business Permit.
8. Day 49. Pay the 12,000 buyout on the last rent day before day 50. The savings targets are in buying the store.

Where early money goes wrong

Problem	Cause	Fix
Water Trading bought, but no water arrives	The upgrade gives the kit (strips, tablets, pitcher, filter, HydraTech), not a supply	Buy Rustwater On Tap or Gutterflow On Tap (250), or take Working Pipes
Rent missed after a machine purchase	Rent is due every seventh day; Thin Margins and Red Ink have no grace period	Hold the next rent before every purchase. Rent Grace (100) rolls one payment over
Purified water sells for less than expected	It stopped at 99.01%, the stock purifier’s cap	Pure Water needs +100% Quality modules; see Pure Water setups
Wine scores below Master Vintage	Moldy or underripe berries, no Yeast, or Pure Water, which lacks the minerals fermentation needs	Check berries with the Magnifying Glass and use Basewater or High-Quality
Stock seized at an inspection	Dream Caps, Phanta or a Capped Neural Core left in open storage	Keep contraband in a Smuggler’s Bay; see inspections

Two posters made large one-off profits by stockpiling medicine before a shortage and selling it at the higher price, one reporting thousands of credits over four days. Shortages are events, so treat this as a bonus on top of a steady business.