STAGE · Finding your feet
Choosing a money route
Draft — Draft: checked against the game source, not yet read through end to endAvailable from the startPick between quests, bounties, gathering, crafting, writs and the market by time, caps and opportunity cost.
This page is further along your path. Read ahead if you’re curious; you can return when you reach this stage.
This page is about choosing between income routes. Making money has the full rates; the point here is what each route costs you in time, caps and risk.
What each route is for
| Route | What it pays | Limit or cost | The catch | Best when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quests | Gold (the introduction steps pay 100–400), a gear choice, faction standing | One step at a time; travel to the giver | A step can wait an hour of character time for the next | You also want the questline's unlock |
| Bounties | 50 / 75 / 90 / 100 gold for a full pack in tiers 1–4, 190–200 in tier 5, plus a kit piece | Four postings per board per game day; a taken bounty lapses after one game day | The pack stands 4–10 map pixels away; the hunt is the trip | You want a predictable short outing |
| Combat events | Marks: gate 50, raid 30, serpent 40, Redoubt 20, star 30; gold and loot | 150 Marks per account per UTC day across all of them | The window is short and world-scheduled | The event is already near |
| Court writs | Marks equal to units × the material's Mark value × 1.2, plus profession XP and Renown | 3 writs per UTC day | Needs the material already in Stores | You already hold the material |
| Gathering | Materials at whatever a buyer pays, plus a 10% chance of 2–5 Marks per harvest (30 a day) | Node slots reset daily; travel to climates | No fixed material price exists | You are passing the nodes anyway |
| Crafting | Crafted goods at market prices; profession ranks; writ materials | Rank n costs 10 × n² XP; only two crafts above rank 50 | Long payback, and the market may not buy | You need the craft anyway |
| Market | A player's price minus a 1% listing fee, 5% tax and any Tithe | 72-hour listing; 30 live | A buyer must want it at your price | The good is wanted and you can wait |
| Vendoring | At most half the counter's best-haggler ask | None | Immediate but capped | You have spare loot and no plan for it |
| Bank exchange | 8 gold per Mark | 300 Marks per UTC day, one way | Converts Marks you already earned | You have surplus Marks |
Three rules of opportunity cost
Count the round trip. A hunt four map pixels away and one twenty pixels away can pay the same; the nearer one costs less of the session. The route planner prices roads cheapest and open ground dearest, so the shortest line is not always the fastest trip (Overworld travel).
Caps are account-wide, not per activity. Once the day's 150 combat Marks are paid, another gate adds no Marks; the same is true of the Renown hour and the writ count. Switch routes rather than repeat a capped one.
Carried takings are at risk. An ordinary death takes one tenth of the gold you carry, and Open Zone death can expose carried items and cart contents. Bank before the risky leg, not after.
A concrete early loop
This is an example of the arithmetic, not a guaranteed rate:
Start in a town. Take a board bounty whose target is close, and note the one-game-day life of a taken posting.
Do the hunt. A tier-1 full pack of eight pays 50 gold; a four-beast pack pays 60% of the full purse (30). The pack also drops a kit piece at your level.
Return and sell. Keep usable gear, sell the spares at the counter and salvage Magic-or-better only if you need shards. A counter offer is immediate but capped at half its best-haggler price.
Bank the gold. Keep a small traveling purse.
Repeat once. Two bounties plus an introduction step (100–200 gold) is roughly 200–400 gold before loot, which is a useful start on training, repairs and a Portal Stone's five shards.
Convert Marks if you have them. The bank pays 8 gold a Mark, up to 300 Marks a day; the exchange never goes the other way.
Choosing by session length
Under half an hour: stay in the same region. A bounty plus a counter sale is the simplest loop; skip anything with a long approach.
About an hour: one bounty and one introduction quest step, or a nearby event window and a sell.
Two hours: one full game day. Take the capped rewards (combat Marks, a writ if you hold the material, the bank exchange), then one progress goal. Events can fill the gap between windows.
What not to do
Grinding kills past the caps. Renown stops paying at 15000 XP per account-hour and combat Marks stop at 150 a day; kills still give loot and skill, but not those currencies.
Taking a bounty you cannot finish. A taken posting lapses after one game day, about two real hours, and the kills do not carry to a fresh posting on another day.
Repairing before selling. A smith's paid repair adds no sale credit and your own repairs credit a third; sell as found.
Listing without reading the net. Fee, tax and Tithe can leave less than the counter offered; the fee is kept if you cancel.
Treating the bank exchange as profit. It converts Marks you already earned; it does not create gold.
Common mistakes
Choosing the highest-paying route instead of the one you can reach. Travel can consume the whole session.
Taking a capped reward last. If the cap turns mid-session, the reward you planned is gone for the day.
Carrying the session's takings back. Bank at the first counter, not at the last one.
Next
Sources & checked facts
src/systems/bounty/bountyBoard.js:BOUNTIES_PER_DAY,BOUNTY_ACTIVE_MAX,BOUNTY_LIFETIME_MINUTES,BOUNTY_FULL_PURSE,purseShare,bountyGold,bountyItemRulesrc/net/marksLaw.js:MARKS_FAUCETS,MARKS_COMBAT,MARKS_BANK;src/net/professionLaw.js:writPay,COURT_WRITS_PER_DAY,xpForRank,CRAFTS_ABOVE_JOURNEYMANsrc/net/marketLaw.js:MARKET_LISTING_S,MARKET_LISTINGS_MAX,MARKET_TAX_PCT,listingFee,saleTax;src/net/townSeatLaw.js:TITHE_CAPsrc/systems/shopStock.js:ONLINE_SALE_SHARE(the half-price ceiling),calculateTradePricesrc/systems/questlines/qlRewards.js:PAY_PROFILES,OUTCOME_GOLD_MIN,OUTCOME_GOLD_MAX; introduction quest scripts for the 100–400 gold rangessrc/net/renown.js:RENOWN_XP_HOUR_MAX;src/systems/deathPenalty.js:DEATH_GOLD_DIVISORsrc/systems/travel/travelRoute.js:ROUTE_COST;src/systems/travel/travel.js: route timeDesign records:
docs/34-money-and-loot.md;docs/27-caps-and-timers.mdResearch:
handbook/research/X1.md(caps),handbook/research/W1.md(events)
Facts used on this page
- Combat Marks per day: 150 Marks
src/net/marksLaw.js·MARKS_COMBAT.perDay - Court writs per day: 3 writs
src/net/professionLaw.js·COURT_WRITS_PER_DAY - Marks bank exchange per day: 300 Marks
src/net/marksLaw.js·MARKS_BANK.perDay - Market listing lifetime: 72 hours
src/net/marketLaw.js·MARKET_LISTING_S - Maximum market listings: 30 listings
src/net/marketLaw.js·MARKET_LISTINGS_MAX - Bank exchange gold per Mark: 8 gold
src/net/marksLaw.js·MARKS_BANK.goldPerMark - Renown XP per real hour: 15000 XP
src/net/renown.js·RENOWN_XP_HOUR_MAX