Water Merchant

Test the water you start with using the Water Testing Strip: the Jug of Water holds Rustwater, one Bottle of Water (Large) holds Ghostwater, and the other containers are empty.

• The Water Testing Strip is used up with each test. The AquaScan is never used up and also shows what is in the water; Dr. Jackson's regular stock always has one while you do not own it.

Use the HydraTech Micro Water Purifier on water below Basewater to bring it up to Basewater.

• It uses 1 durability per 100 ml, rounded up, and only works when the remaining durability covers the whole container. Yours starts with reduced durability, so once it runs low, pour the water into smaller containers before using it.
• It does nothing to water that is already Basewater or better.

If the remaining durability cannot treat the whole container, divide the water into smaller containers or pour it through the Water Pitcher fitted with the Water Filter to remove particles, then add a Water Purification Tablet, let it act on chemicals and microbes, and test again.

• The filter throws away what it removes, so you get less water back; microbes pass through it, and it can only remove particles large enough for the filter while it has durability left.
• The Water Purification Tablet takes up room as it dissolves. Leave space first, since a full container loses the liquid it displaces.

After testing your own container, press 'Match Label' if its label does not match the real purity.

• Never sell water under a higher label than its contents: such sales can add up to crimes, and a non-augmented buyer who exposes one lowers that buyer's faction reputation (by 4 in the normal inspection, or 1 in the negotiation dialogue, on Mark Up).

On day 5 The Mentor gives you a Water Neon Sign (if you skipped the intro, you start with it). Put it in the Display Case before opening: from day 6 with the intro, or day 1 if you skipped it, a water seller is rolled at 75% when a normal customer slot is available.

• The seller changes by weekday: Lower Level Citizen on Mondays and Fridays, Scav with 3–5 bottles on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and Scav with accurate labels on Wednesdays and Sundays. On Thursdays, the Scav may include Ghostwater labelled as Basewater or Pure Water; test before buying.
• Test before you pay. If the water is below its label, 'Confront' lowers the price to its real purity. If it is purer than its label, buy it as labelled, or 'Confront' to reveal the real purity and raise the seller's faction reputation (by 3 on Mark Up).

Display water before opening. The Display Case selects the highest-value categories and brings one buyer for each selected category (from day 2 with the intro, at Store Attractiveness 100 or more). Unless the Water Stockpiler rule below applies, a high enough water total, a leading label of High-Quality Water or better, or attractiveness of at least 400 brings the Spacer; otherwise the Thirsty Spacer or the Scav comes. The water totals use the tooltip values before retail markup; the category ranking uses a separate calculation.

• The Spacer buys Basewater and High-Quality Water labels, the Thirsty Spacer buys those and Ghostwater, and the Scav buys Basewater up to Pure Water.
• From day 14, a Display Case whose water has a very high total value calls the Water Stockpiler instead. This buyer takes High-Quality Water and Pure Water labels, and the Bottle of Spring Water; while you only have Basewater, keep the water on display below that total.
• The Bottle Printer prints empty units of Bottle of Water (Small) using power; after you use Electronic Parts (Common) on it 3 times in total it also prints the Bottle of Water (Standard), and after 9 times the Bottle of Water (Large).

Restock the Water Testing Strip and the Water Purification Tablet from the Retired Water Merchant on Wednesdays (a full Water Testing Kit and a Bottle of Water Purification Tablets) and from the Supplier (Supply Runner) on Sundays from day 7.

Buy Gutterflow On Tap so you can draw Gutterflow from the tap for free; Rustwater On Tap later switches it to cleaner Rustwater.

• If you start with Working Pipes, you can draw Rustwater from day 1 and need neither upgrade.
• The tap's purity changes every day, so test what you draw.

Buy a Water Purifier and a Water Tank from the Retired Water Merchant, who comes every Wednesday from day 3 and always has both.

• After meeting Dr. Jackson on day 6 (from the start if you skip the intro), his night shop stocks a Water Purifier: always while you own none, and sometimes once you own one. A Water Tank is often in stock, and each investment makes it more likely.

Fill the Water Tank at the tap, put it in the Water Purifier's container slot and put a charged Energy Cell in its battery slot. It purifies overnight and uses power only on nights when it removes something.

• Your only starting Energy Cell sits in the Bottle Printer; move it over. The Supplier (Supply Runner) sells one every Sunday, and Dr. Jackson's regular stock has two or three each visit, including one empty cell.
• Place a PowerBloc next to the Water Purifier. On nights you use the Power Service it recharges the battery inside; several stack. Power Line Hijack removes the service fee and Commercial Grade Power Supply Unit speeds recharging.
• The Current Converter can go in the purifier's battery slot and powers it for a nightly service fee, which Power Line Hijack does not make free.

Test each morning with the AquaScan and leave the water in until it reaches 99%. Without modules the Water Purifier stops at 99%, or High-Quality Water.

• The amount removed each night falls as the water gets cleaner. A larger batch can take longer to reach the same purity cap.
• The Water Purifier turns what it removes into water, so you lose none; filtering and the Water Purification Tablet lose what they remove.

Pour the finished water into the Jug of Water, the Bottle of Water (Large) and other bottles, press 'Match Label' if needed and put it in the Display Case before opening: a High-Quality Water label brings the Spacer, unless the Water Stockpiler rule below applies.

• From day 14, a Display Case whose water has a very high total value calls the Water Stockpiler instead. This buyer has a large budget and takes only High-Quality Water and Pure Water labels (and the Bottle of Spring Water).
• At the end of the conversation the Water Stockpiler also offers an empty Jug of Water and an empty Bottle of Water (Large) for sale; buy them to have more containers.

Buy a second Water Purifier as soon as you can afford it: each purifier holds one container, so the number of purifiers sets how much water you finish.

• The Retired Water Merchant sells one every Wednesday; in Dr. Jackson's regular stock it only sometimes appears once you own one.

Buy Jackson Investment I and then Jackson Investment II: after both, Dr. Jackson's regular stock has at least one Refinement Module and two units of Quality Module every visit.

• Before the investments a Refinement Module appears only occasionally. The shop is closed on Mondays unless you buy Monday's Special Stock (after Jackson Investment II), which opens it on Mondays with a special stock at higher prices, including five units of Refinement Module and two units of Advanced Turbo Booster.
• Once your Lower Levels reputation reaches 40, customers selling rare goods may come on Mondays and Fridays; the Rare Merchant, who often comes on those days, always sells both modules.

Fit units of Refinement Module into the purifier until the installed quality total is at least 100, then check that the displayed purity cap is 99.9%.

• The base stats of the Refinement Module are 25 quality, lower performance (less removed each night) and lower efficiency (more power used). The Quality Module's base quality is 8 with no drawback, so four with unchanged base stats stop at 99.35% (High-Quality Water).
• Check the purity cap after fitting modules. At 99.9% the water is already Pure Water; a higher cap gives no higher purity level.
• The Module Bay Expansion Kit makes more room for modules. Use the space for the Performance Module to improve purification speed, and check the installed performance total.

If you need a larger batch and can wait for it to finish, expand the Water Tank with Scrap Metal or the Metal Ingot. Match the batch size to the water you can sell.

• More water needs more nights to reach the limit. Scrap Metal is sold by visiting sellers and can be found at the Dumping Ground.

Put a charged Energy Cell in the Advanced Turbo Booster and supply it for 3 nights until ready. Use it on a purifier with water and enough power to perform one night's purification immediately. It is reusable and needs another 3 powered nights before the next use.

• It is sold at Dr. Jackson's shop on Mondays after Monday's Special Stock, and sometimes by the Rare Merchant.

When the water reaches Pure Water, press 'Match Label' if needed and put it in the Display Case before opening: from day 14, a display whose label makes up mostly Pure Water by value calls the Water Stockpiler.

• Before day 14, displaying Pure Water brings the Spacer, but the Spacer does not buy that purity level. Keep it until day 14 for the higher-tier buyer.
• With Buyer Referral Service in use and water the kind of goods you hold most of in your main stock, it selects the Water Stockpiler by the same Display Case rules. If the Display Case already calls this buyer, the two are merged and a second one does not come.
• The Water Stockpiler is an Upper Levels customer: each sale raises that reputation, and from 20 you get a 15% bonus on sales to Upper Levels customers.

Buy Vending Fountain. Fill its Basewater, High-Quality Water and Pure Water slots with water matching each purity level, and supply a charged Energy Cell. It sells stocked water at night without a visiting buyer; the pure-water slot needs the upgrade below.

• The slot sets the label. Water of lower purity can reduce reputation the next day: Upper Levels for Pure Water, Lower Levels for Basewater, and both for High-Quality Water. Rounding may leave either faction with no loss. Rustwater and Gutterflow are not sold.
• Use one unit of Electronic Parts (Common) on the fountain core to enable Pure Water sales. Further attractiveness upgrades can increase nightly sales, while every two upgrades add to the nightly power use.