Money-Making

Early PoSI Content and Onwards

This Guide is about how to best make Echoes; if you're more interested in Hinterland Scrip check Hinterland Scrip-Making
For the old version of this guide, see this page

Introduction

The game is best thought of as a means to read a story. To that end, until you are approaching the high level (all stats at or near cap and so forth), the best source of Echoes is the content you're seeing. There is very little that may be considered truly "profitable" before the player becomes a A Person of Some Importance - (PoSI), although calling in favours may be an exception.

For Beginners

For those referred to this page from the Beginner's Guide, here are a couple of hints for your first few days (and possibly weeks). These only offer about 50p (half an Echo) in rewards, so fairly pitiful compared to money-making at higher levels, but when you're wondering how you can possibly afford a full set of the four +2 gloves at either 3.20 (the Pair of Cutpurse's Mittens and Pair of Magician's Gloves} or a full 5(!) (the Eager Glove and Pair of Knife-and-Candler's Gloves) each from Dark & Savage in the Bazaar, and the storylets are awarding you 10p here and 20p there in rewards, they can be helpful.

This is especially true as they take no thought, there are no attribute tests to fail, and take around a total of 40 quick clicks/taps (i.e. maybe a couple of minutes, real time) to turn a full 20 action candle into 10 worth of items. This is perfect for when you have a full candle, but will have no spare time to properly use it reading the story for a few hours, during which your candle will fully regenerate.

• Mrs Chapman's Boarding House, located in Spite, has options to partake of soup or liquor, each of which give out items worth 0.5 per action (e.g. 1 Vision of the Surface worth 50p, or 5 Romantic Notion worth 10p each. See The Season in Soup (Guide) for more details.
• If you're a couple of stories into the Honey-Addled Detective, Discuss a minor case (located in Moloch Street on the map, under Working with the Honey-Addled Detective) will earn 5 Inkling of Identity, worth 10p each. The action is repeatable.

For something slightly less mindless than clicking two buttons over and over, but also somewhat more rewarding:

• If you've got Dangerous at 25 (for 100% success, which is recommended so you don't risk wasting a bunch of actions, though your chances at Dangerous ~20 are reasonable) you can get 200 Rostygold from Contract: a Worryingly Large Rat at The Department of Menace Eradication, taking 4 actions with no Wounds risk. You need to gain the contract, Approach it very casually to remove all the hiding points, Shoot it the moment you see it to kill it, then Return to the Department to claim the reward. This also gives a bonus 10 Dangerous CP in addition to the CP from the 2 hunting actions, so the total rewards are 2 (0.5 per action) and 12 Dangerous CP (3CP per action). This matches the above Echo rewards, and lets you grind Dangerous at a decent rate. At slightly higher levels of Dangerous (32 for 100% success), you can choose the second option instead, consuming a total of 3 actions for items worth 4 (1.33 per action). This is good for getting together seed money for the The Ring of Meat.

Don't forget that you can "upconvert" some lower-value items into higher value items in your Possessions tab by clicking on items there with a green border. This takes an action, but you'll get a luck check on whether you get a bonus with your conversion. Sometimes the bonus will be minor, like 40 Whispered Hint, but rarely it'll be quite valuable, like a Favour in High Places -- almost enough for a pair of Pair of Savage Hob-Nailed Boots or Pair of Spidersilk Slippers by itself!

Past the Beginning

It should be noted that for serious money-making grinds, such as for goats and other treasures, it's recommended to first reach the End-game, because those grinds will be slightly better than the mid-game grinds.

Money-making grinds are classified by their Echoes per Action (EPA): the total number of echoes for a single cycle of that grind, divided by the number of actions to complete that cycle.

This guide is split in sections based on their requirements:

• Money-Making/Midgame shows money-making options from the midgame onwards. This means everything from PoSI to the railway, and should have 2.5+ EPA
• Money-Making/Lategame shows money-making options from the endgame onwards. These grinds should have at least 4.0 EPA.
• For the full list with more grinds etc., see Money-Making/Sources. This is also the page where new grinds are added.
• For FATE-based grinds, some low-complexity end-game grinds and historical Money-making, see Money-Making/Extras.
• For detailed calculations and a scratch page, see Money-Making/Calculations