To win a run of Probably Stolen, keep rent paid while you turn Apprentice’s opening trades into Furnace production and appraisal income, then buy the store deed or repay the Loan Shark’s mortgage in full. The first fourteen days teach you to trade and run the shop. Ownership comes later, after the deed purchase or final mortgage payment. Keep rent money in cash, inspect suspicious goods before buying them, and buy the Business Permit when the Trade Board begins offering it.
The route below follows Apprentice with the introduction enabled. Price Gouge gives you more room to learn, while Mark Up is the normal setting. Specialist starts and skipping the introduction change the early visits, so use the day numbers for the tutorial’s lessons rather than expecting every ordinary customer, budget or market event to match.
Apprentice setup and your first sales
Choose Apprentice to receive the Mentor’s introductory lessons. On your first run, starting perks are unavailable, so you do not need a perk combination to follow this route. On later runs, check what each perk requires before selecting it. Sentinel Collapse Disorder, Aug Menace and Makeshift Reactor add survival problems that can end a run independently of your bank balance.
Open the shutter with the wall’s green button, then use the green customer button on the counter to call someone forward. The Mentor leaves notes explaining trade and food. Move those documents into the dossier on the right so they remain accessible without occupying the counter.
For a sale, open the customer’s trade panel and read Interests and the remaining budget. Move suitable merchandise out of storage and onto the negotiation counter. An item sitting in the grid below the counter is still stock, not an offer. If the panel lists nothing for sale, put the item on the counter before changing your price or calling another customer.
Food is useful opening stock because the Mentor identifies it as the station’s most frequently traded commodity. Match the buyer’s interests, then check the total before confirming. A buyer cannot pay beyond their budget, so handing over another item after reaching that limit wastes merchandise you could sell to someone else. Keep the Security Wanted List when it arrives; later visitors can be matched against its portraits.
Day 2: buy wholesale, then decide whether to scavenge
A wholesale offer lets you buy a seller’s whole lot at a discount. Inspect what is included before accepting: the early materials buyer gives you a reason to keep useful scrap and components, while food can supply subsequent shoppers. Spending all your credits on a discounted pile still leaves you unable to pay for power or rent, and the discount does not guarantee that the next buyer wants everything in it.
The Mentor also introduces nights outside the shop and gives you a bag and bandages. Close the shop, choose to leave, select your backpack and travel to the Dumping Ground. Put the bandage in the bag before leaving. Search attempts are limited, and the interface displays the injury risks. Check both the remaining attempts and the goods on the ground before searching again.
Choose what to bring home after seeing the finds. A small bag fills quickly, so compare the item’s value and the space it occupies rather than collecting every piece of junk. Useful food, saleable materials and equipment can be worth more to the opening shop than a bag packed with low-value scraps. An injury can prevent further trips for several days, which makes another search a poor bargain when you already have a useful haul.
A night out can also mean opening late. If the morning report says you missed a customer, count the lost sale against what you found. Do not budget as though every tutorial-night trip is free income. The report also confirms which nightly services you paid, making it the place to catch a missed insurance payment before the next evening.
Days 3 and 4: inspect cigarettes before choosing a bounty
The Mentor’s counterfeit lesson gives you a Magnifying Glass and a reference for Hemingway cigarettes. Drag the glass onto a packet and compare the print, logo, color and seal with the reference. A visible discrepancy is enough to confront the seller; you do not need to find every possible fault on the same packet. Select the problem you can actually see before pressing Confront.
Read the revised price after the confrontation. Day 4 introduces the labeler, which can disguise counterfeit stock for resale. For Clean Hands, finish the run without selling items classified as stolen or contraband. Check those labels as well as authenticity when selecting stock for that achievement.
If you do take the labeler route, the tutorial distinguishes customers who are safer targets from those likely to cause trouble. It directs relabeled packets toward tourists, Upper Level customers and scavengers, and warns against Lower Level citizens and Security. You can reach a Buyout without relabeling cigarettes. Keeping the packet in storage until you have a suitable buyer also prevents selling it casually to the next visitor.
Arthur creates another early choice. Compare him with the Wanted List before using the Security alarm. Reporting him earns a bounty; hearing him out gives you the option of helping your Revolution standing instead. Odin later presents a similar conflict between immediate bounty money and a continuing business contact. Choose which relationship you want before reporting them, since the arrest removes that opportunity.
Joe Wild introduces insurance around Day 4. It is selected and paid for through the nightly services, so speaking to him once is not the same as paying for every subsequent night. Once you hold equipment or a valuable stockpile, check the insurance line when ending the day. A robbery can take the merchandise that was supposed to cover the next rent payment.
Days 5 to 7: connect your display, stock and Furnace
The Mentor’s display lesson explains how to influence who comes to the shop. Put merchandise in the Display Case to attract buyers interested in that kind of item; use Neon Signs to attract sellers. Prepare it for the next day with stock you can actually supply. Advertising food while selling your last food item leaves the attracted customer with little to buy.
Read the newspaper and the Mentor’s market warnings before committing to a large purchase. A materials surplus makes an immediate scrap sale less attractive, while a food shortage can make a stocked food display useful. Use the newspaper’s forecast when preparing that night’s display.
Dr. Jackson offers a Furnace during the first week. It gives Apprentice a practical production line because the early trade already supplies scrap metal. Buy it only after preserving the next rent payment and operating costs. Load a charged Energy Cell and at least two pieces of scrap metal, then leave the Furnace to process them overnight into ingots. Keep the Metallurgy Manual nearby for the available recipes.
If the next morning brings no output, check the cell’s remaining charge and the loaded ingredients before buying another machine. When Jackson offers Furnace modules, install the modules in the machine rather than leaving them in storage. A Battery Recharger is another useful purchase from his shop once you have cells to recharge. Keep a supply of scrap and charged cells so the Furnace can produce merchandise for your materials buyers.
Wild’s network opens contacts and upgrades through favor. Choose an upgrade that fits the goods you intend to sell. A Red Imp Brewery contact, for example, lets you order beer by phone, while a showcase expansion gives you more display space. Save the contact card and call the supplier to place an order; buying a referral is not the delivery itself.
Day 7 brings the first rent collection. An ordinary Apprentice start begins with a 200-credit bill, but some starts and perks increase rent. Check the Calendar and keep the required amount in credits. Estimated Total Wealth includes merchandise and equipment; it cannot pay the Landlord while those assets remain unsold. Leave enough for that night’s services after paying him, then read the new rent amount for Day 14.
If you cannot pay, Price Gouge and Mark Up begin with one Landlord’s grace that can defer a payment. The missed rent carries over and is added to the following bill, so you need to earn that balance as well as the next week’s higher rent. Thin Margins and Red Ink start without this grace. Refusing payment with no grace remaining ends the run; sell available stock before the Landlord arrives rather than depending on unsold wealth.
Days 8 and 9: bargain carefully and join the Appraiser Board
The Mentor’s bargaining lesson opens the speech-bubble control beside the trade window. A deal tilted toward the customer can improve standing with their faction; pushing a better price for yourself can harm it. Open the Feedback Box to see your standings and hover over the listed reputation effects. A small extra margin is less useful if it pushes a faction toward a penalty that damages your business.
The Appraiser Board offers work that earns money without consuming your merchandise. Entry costs 85 credits on Price Gouge and Mark Up. If you cannot spare the fee without touching rent money, ask the member to return later. Joining gives you the Junior Certificate and the Cybernetic Hand Appraisal Guide. Put the certificate in the Display Case to attract appraisal work.
If a customer lays down Cybernetic Hands but the trade panel stays empty, open a hand with the Magnifying Glass to begin the appraisal. You do not need to buy it. Move the lens over its details and use the guide before sending an estimate. Junior certification covers Cybernetic Hands; more item types require promotion.
Start from the hand’s 100-credit base value, then account for its material, condition, interface and add-ons. The English reference shows Aluminum Alloy adding nothing, Carbon Composite adding 50 and Gold Plated adding 200. Apply the material adjustment before the remaining modifiers. Scratches, exposed wiring, an interface mark or an attached blade can change the result, so a gold finish alone is not enough to enter an estimate.
| Factor | Credit adjustment |
|---|---|
| Material | Aluminum Alloy +0; Carbon Composite +50; Gold Plated +200 |
| Condition | No wear or damage +0; wear -35; damage -85 |
| Control interface | EMG +0; EMG+ +45; Neural Interface +120; unspecified -60 |
| Add-ons | Armored +50; Blade +80; both can apply |
A clean Carbon Composite hand with both armor and a blade gains another 100 credits for the Tactical set if it has EMG+ or Neural Interface. Gold Plated plus Neural Interface gains the 200-credit Deluxe bonus when the hand has no wear or damage, with or without add-ons. For example, a worn Carbon Composite hand with EMG+ and no add-ons is worth 100 + 50 – 35 + 45 = 160 credits.
Check the guide’s set-bonus page as well as the individual parts. A hand’s value cannot fall below 50 credits even when the deductions would take your sum lower. After setting the amount, press Send Estimate and open the Appraisal Slip to see the grade and fee. Use that slip to catch a missed feature before pricing the next hand. Do not copy the first estimate across the customer’s whole batch.
Days 9 to 11: inspections, contacts and food stamps
Security’s inspection lesson asks you to report sellers with Mid-level or higher contraband. Reporting a seller can improve Security standing while hurting the seller’s faction. Inspect the item’s classification before making that choice. For a straightforward legal Apprentice business, refusing suspicious stock avoids tying the rent fund to goods an inspector can confiscate.
When Odin Haraldsson appears, listen to his proposal before touching the alarm if you want him as a contact. Letting him leave can open a buyer for illicit goods; reporting him trades that continuing option for the bounty. Save his card if you accept the business relationship. The card and the phone let you arrange a visit, so you do not have to rely entirely on a random walk-in when you later have goods he wants.
Sawyer offers a Janitorial Service that helps keep the storefront attractive. Like insurance, it is a nightly expense. Add it to your cash plan before ordering more stock or taking another paid service. Wild’s buyer referrals also cost money to run; turn a service on because you can supply the customers it brings.
The food-stamp lesson gives you an identification guide and access to the Commissary after closing. Inspect stamps before buying them, using the guide to check the printed details. The reference lists denominations of 40, 80, 120, 160, 200 and 240 credits. Stamps worth 160 or more require a seal, while smaller denominations have none. A missing or incorrect logo identifies a fake. Check the chip too: a missing or damaged chip makes a stamp unusable even if the stamp itself is genuine. Then take usable genuine stamps to the Commissary and redeem them for purchasing power there. The stock available on a given visit can be limited, so a stamp purchase should be based on what the Commissary can supply, not an assumption that every food item will be waiting.
Days 12 to 14: Augs, stolen goods and the second rent bill
The Mentor’s Aug lesson introduces customers controlled by rogue implants and the gun used against them. Compare the visitor with the Aug Identification Guide: look for a visible Aug chip, unusual pupils or an uncanny expression. Robotic vocabulary, excessive formality, twitching and unnatural stillness are other warnings. Use these observations to identify the visitor before reaching for the gun. Ordinary wanted criminals are handled through Security; a confirmed Aug is handled with the weapon. Do not shoot a customer merely because they look unfamiliar or are on the Wanted List.
Stolen goods introduce heat, which affects how easily Security recognizes them. A low purchase price does not remove that heat. When choosing whether to buy, account for the risk of confiscation and the damage from a criminal case, especially if the stock is supposed to finance rent. If your plan is to win without illicit sales, check both the stolen status and contraband classification before adding an item to the counter.
Market referrals can bring requests through the top-right area of the shop. Read the requested goods and conditions before committing stock. Special customers also have specific requirements: the Foodie Tourist wants variety, so keep different foods and drinks instead of treating a stack of identical cans as an equivalent offer. Reserve those goods for the request rather than selling them all to an earlier food buyer.
Access cards are a separate investment. Finding a sealed Engineering Foundry Supply Crate does not mean it is ready to open. Jackson’s Blank Access Card, the matching Engineering chip and the Cryptographic Desequencer equipment form the required chain. Use the equipment and matching chip to write the Blank Access Card, then use the card to open the Engineering crate. If you cannot afford that chain yet, keep the crate aside and continue selling accessible stock instead of paying for equipment with rent money.
On Day 14, the Mentor ends the tutorial and the Landlord collects the second rent payment. You now have to maintain your own supply, update the display and use contacts without a new lesson solving each day’s shortage. Pay the amount shown in your run, read any market tip before stocking up, and prepare the following week’s production after the customers leave.
After the tutorial: protect the route to a Buyout
Keep the Furnace producing while appraisals provide cash that does not use up its output. Sell ingots and other materials to interested buyers, replace the scrap you consume, and check charged cells before ending the night. Expand only when you have both the supplies and the customers for another machine. Keep the next rent payment available before buying more equipment.
The Business Permit becomes another cash target. The Mentor warns about permit enforcement around Day 24, and the Trade Board later offers the permit. It costs 500 credits on Price Gouge, 1,500 on Mark Up, 2,000 on Thin Margins and 3,000 on Red Ink. Set aside that amount separately from rent and buy it when offered. Operating without the permit once enforcement begins can close the business, even if the shop has been making money.
Revisit the Feedback Box after arrests and aggressive trades. Security, Lower Levels, Upper Levels, Revolution and the Sector 13 Cartel each have a run-ending consequence at -100 reputation. Recover a worsening relationship through customer-friendly deals before it reaches that point. A profitable sale is not worth repeatedly alienating the faction whose penalty is about to end your run.
For Security cases, the danger also depends on the accumulated case value. A case total between 300 and 1,499 credits puts you at risk of arrest. At 1,500 credits or above, you risk execution. An unpaid fine can also lead to arrest. Stop risky trades before the case grows that large. Bounties, ordinary sales and appraisals give the Apprentice ways to earn without relying on stock that Security can seize.
How to buy the deed or finish a mortgage
For an outright purchase, check the property’s current value in the Calendar and accumulate that amount in cash. The base deed prices are 12,000 credits on Price Gouge and Mark Up, 24,000 on Thin Margins and 36,000 on Red Ink. Use the Calendar’s current quote when planning your purchase instead of assuming the opening price will remain available indefinitely.
Wait for the Landlord’s rent visit while holding enough cash for the deed. His dialogue then offers Buyout the store alongside the rent choices. Select Buyout and let the ending finish. The deed belongs to you after this purchase; having enough Estimated Total Wealth or completing the Day 14 tutorial does not trigger it automatically.
The Loan Shark offers the alternative route. His initial introduction says he will return on Sundays once you hold 5,000 credits. Listen to the actual down payment and weekly terms before accepting. You can postpone the offer for one week while deciding; declining the offer ends his mortgage offers for that run.
The early Mark Up example is a 2,000-credit down payment followed by twelve weekly payments of 930 credits. That totals 13,160 credits. It also replaces the opening 200-credit weekly rent with a much larger weekly obligation. Compare the payment with what your current shop can reliably earn after buying supplies and paying nightly bills, not with the value of equipment sitting in storage.
Accepting the mortgage changes the wall countdown and Calendar to mortgage payments. Pay each bill when the Loan Shark returns. If you miss one, he can seize stock and leave a Repo Slip listing what he took; if there is not enough eligible stock to cover it, you can lose the store through Repossession. After the down payment, keep the weekly installment available until the final payment clears and triggers the mortgage Buyout.
Either completed Buyout route earns ownership and Keys to the Kingdom. On the run summary, choose Continue to return to the owned shop. The rent countdown is gone. If you also want Prodigious, the deed must be yours before Day 50, which makes the long mortgage schedule a poor fit for that particular goal.