Rock Bottom

After closing, choose "Go Outside Without A Backpack" and head to the Dumping Ground.

• You can go to only one place per night. The day after an outing, you get up to one fewer normal customer unless you have Short Sleeper.
• The outing penalty applies to the normal customer quota; the buyers your Display Case calls in still come.

You normally have up to 5 searches. A successful search produces finds; choose what you will carry home.

• Each search raises the wound-roll chances, and once wounded you cannot search again that night. Carrying a Flashlight halves each of the minor- and major-wound roll chances.
• In the normal loot draw for a successful search, the result is often Junk. On Wednesdays the Fresh Dump makes it less common and turns up more materials, but you get hurt more easily.
• A successful search also rarely turns up an eligible bag, either Satchel (Small) or Kid's Backpack. Finding a bag saves money for rent and membership.

Until you have a bag or another container, prioritize the most valuable finds when packing for home.

• Take items such as Kotton Fabric, Electronic Parts (Common) or Ruined Module, and leave the Junk behind.

On the End the Day screen, uncheck Power Service while you own no machines, and turn on Janitorial Service from the second night.

• You cannot end the day unless you can pay for every service you use, so with 0 credits on night 1 you must uncheck Power Service.
• Without Power Service the store lights dim and only machines that run on an Energy Cell work, but you lose no customers.
• Two nights in a row without cleaning lower your starting Store Attractiveness from 250 to 200, costing up to one normal customer slot. Without perks, reputation benefits or other changes to customer numbers, the outing penalty then leaves no normal customers; Short Sleeper prevents that outing penalty.
• From the fourth night, a thief may take one of your items on any night without the Insurance Service, and the chance rises with each uninsured night in a row. Once you own tools such as a Flashlight, use the Insurance Service too; it stays cheap while your stock is small.

Before opening the next morning, display the materials, modules or spare tools you brought back to attract their buyers.

• Without upgrades or Buyer Referral Service, only the category with the highest total value in the Display Case calls a buyer, one a day. Choose materials, modules or spare tools for the buyer you want; while the store is not vandalized, Showcase Expansion I and Showcase Expansion II each add one category.
• Before day 14, a low material total calls one of the Scrap Buyer, the Maintenance Worker or the Lower Level Repairman, unless Store Attractiveness is 400 or more. A higher total, or Store Attractiveness of 400 or more, calls the Lower Level Inventor, who has a bigger budget. From day 14, an even higher total calls the Station Engineer instead.
• If the top category is Modules or Tool, the Lower Level Inventor comes even when the total is low.

On rent day, day 7 (Sunday), the Merchant arrives before The Landlord. Make up any shortfall in the rent by selling your leftover items to the Merchant.

• Merchant buys non-contraband goods, but accepts no Retail Markup and applies a Clearance Discount. He can also appear as a normal customer outside rent day.
• On Mark Up you start with Rent Grace, so one missed payment does not end the run; the unpaid rent carries over to the next rent day.

Keep the joining fee on hand until day 5: 85 on Mark Up, which the 150 from Savings covers.

• With less cash than the fee, the option to join does not appear. Choose "Ask them to come back later" and the board returns 7 days later; "Don't join" ends the invitation.
• The fee is twice as much on Thin Margins and three times as much on Red Ink.

When the Appraiser Board Member comes on day 5, join. You receive the Appraisal Board Junior Certificate, the Cybernetic Hand Appraisal Guide and a Magnifying Glass.

• Rock Bottom starts without a Magnifying Glass, and joining gives you one. You use it to inspect each Cybernetic Hand closely.

Before opening, display the Appraisal Board Junior Certificate. With a normal customer slot available, it can attract the Scavenger for an appraisal; the base chance at Junior Appraiser rank is 33%.

• The chance goes up for every day one does not come.
• The appraisal customer takes one of the day's normal customer slots, so none comes on a day with no normal customers.

At Junior Appraiser rank, the customer brings 2–4× Cybernetic Hand. Inspect each with the Magnifying Glass, then use the Cybernetic Hand Appraisal Guide to work out its value.

• The precision of an accepted estimate determines your bonus. Read the Cybernetic Hand Appraisal Guide and check the item's properties before giving a price; repeated refusals make the customer leave.
• With Illiterate you cannot read the guide.

Each accepted appraisal pays immediately. As a Junior Appraiser, you receive a base fee of 20 plus up to 15% of the estimate, depending on precision.

Once appraisal progress is full, Appraiser Board Member offers a promotion the following day. Set aside rent, then pay the promotion fee to become an Appraiser.

• Promotion raises the base fee to 40 and gives you a new appraisal guide. Read it before taking on the new items.
• After promotion, an Awful estimate earns no fee and reduces your promotion progress. Check the guide carefully.

Get your first bag. If the Dumping Ground has not turned one up, buy a Satchel (Small) at Dr. Jackson's night shop.

• On regular opening nights, Dr. Jackson's night shop always stocks a Satchel (Small) while you own none. It is closed on Mondays unless you have Monday's Special Stock; Monday opening then uses a different stock.
• The night you visit the shop, you cannot go to the Dumping Ground.

Pack a Flashlight and tools in the bag, and pick that bag when you go out.

• Carrying a Flashlight halves each of the minor- and major-wound roll chances. On regular opening nights, Dr. Jackson's night shop often stocks one while you own none.
• Carrying a Screwdriver, a Wire Cutter or a Plasma Cutter gives each successful search a 10% chance of an extra unit of Metal Screws, an extra unit of Wire or an extra unit of Scrap Metal, respectively.
• A Scav Scanner gives each successful search a 15% chance of one more normal loot draw. Each unit of Electronic Parts (Common) you use on it adds 5 percentage points, up to 100%.
• The Scav Scanner occupies 4×3 cells, leaving less space for finds. In a small bag, prioritize the Flashlight and leave room to carry stock home.

On day 12, buy the Kid's Backpack (Large) that Georgio sells at 40% off.

From day 14, display materials with a high total value to call the Station Engineer.

• The Station Engineer has a budget of 750 or more and can buy materials in bulk. If your display falls short and you need cash for rent, sell to the Lower Level Inventor or another material buyer, saving the surplus for a later display.
• Store Renovation I adds 150 base Store Attractiveness. Keep the store clean: at a current value of 400 or more, the Lower Level Inventor comes even when the materials total is low.

On day 15, accept Georgio's Assistance for 50: for 3 nights you can search the Dumping Ground 5 more times and you do not get hurt.

• You cannot accept with less than 50 cash. Take your biggest bag on those 3 nights.

Throughout this route, sell a Ruined Module and spare materials to Dr. Jackson. Use his night shop or his Friday visits from day 12, provided your Lower Levels reputation is above -80.

• Dr. Jackson's budget is small, so sell the Ruined Module first and keep your materials for the Display Case buyers.