Making money (Grimdark)
The only way to "lose" in Masters of Raana is going bankrupt and getting evicted from your house. That makes the money-making part pretty important to keep you alive and thriving in Ikaanos. Thankfully, you can earn cash in a hundred different ways.
This page focuses on five different "routes" that can be freely combined, tweaked or completely ignored. Keep in mind that Masters of Raana is a true open-world RPG that doesn't block you from any type of playstyle.
1: The scavenger/hunter
Materials, merchandise and food are valuable commodities in Ikaanos. There's always someone ready to pay good cash for rations, steel, gold and all the other stuff you can find on Raana's surface.
While there are a lot of valuable materials that can be found during quests, you're also able to manually search through a district by clicking the "Investigate Area" button (bottom left corner) while viewing a district map. There, click on "Scavenge Area" to make a Survival roll. If the roll succeeds, you'll find something cool that can be either used or sold at Redhaven Market.
Wild areas
Scavenging a wild area is much more profitable but you may also run into trouble and get ambushed. Always travel with at least a couple of extra friends when scavenging dangerous territory.
NPC scavengers
An organized scavenger has people working underneath him. You can hire various NPCs, preferably slaves or low-salary servants/mercenaries and assign them as Scavenger through the NPC Menu>Jobs and Titles>Page 2(Assignments)).
Not everyone is fit for scavvie duty, however. The best ones have the Scavenger Trait and the NPC needs a good discipline, Intelligence and a Survival skill that's at least in the 40s.
Hunting locations
Hunting locations can be found in various wild areas. You'll notice a large, red icon displaying either a deer (mostly skin and meat) or a badger (mostly furs). Clicking on that icon opens up the Hunting Framework.
Bringing followers that have Survival 40+, and/or the Wild born trait, out on hunting trips provide a sizeable chance bonus to all your hunting rolls. Picking up Loren in Marston Avenue (Moe's tavern) gives you a great boost as she also carries the unique Jaeger trait in addition to her Survival skills.
You can read more about hunting here.
Process materials
Once you've gathered a trove of Merchandise, scrap metal, cloth, raw meat and other stuff, it's time to process them.
Processing is done through the Crafting Menu (Facilities>Crafting>Manage resources). There are some prerequisites for more advanced tasks, such as scrapping c-boards and scrap metal.
You can read more about managing resources here.
2: The warrior/bounty hunter
War is profitable, but also very risky. Attacking raider strong holds, a heard of adult wrool cats or launching a strike against a squadron of rogue space marines can bring you thousands of dollars - but you and your followers also risk getting knocked out and injured, causing permanent damage to one or several attributes.
There's however no doubt that the warrior's path is a good way to earn fast cash. And lots of it.
Loot
- Each defeated enemy group drops a random amount of cash, Merchandise and Food rations based on their level. Low levels (below 20) can provide as little as a couple of dozen dollars while high level enemies (85+) may generate over $1,000.
- When City Control or City Prosperity falls below 5, loot drops are also negatively affected.
- 1-2 enemies have a 50% chance to drop one of the weapons carried by either of those two enemies, while 3-5 enemies have a 50% +50% percent chance to drop two weapons.
Gear management
There are two vital elements you must keep an eye on if you don't want to botch a fight.
- Always carry enough ammunition for all equipped weapons – both for the MC and his followers. Most followers don't have the ammo trait (which makes them handle their own ammo) and those followers will always use up ammunition directly from your inventory.
- It is not wise going into a fight without armor, unless you're playing a dodging melee fighter. The MC's armor also has a condition state that decreases the armor's Soak value. Condition is affected when an enemy successfully hits the MC with a ranged or melee weapon. Keep an eye on your armor's condition. If the two values in the Soak box is not the same, your armor has started to degrade. Most armors can be repaired at Westside Armor Store.
Bounties
A good way to monetize your combat skills is to take bounties at Town Hall (Hamilton Square). There's a lot of cash and possible loot to be made from going after a convicted felon. Each bounty also offers a story. Sometimes, you can earn even more money from signing a deal with the bounty itself.
You're able to activate one bounty per day. The reward ranges from a measly $500 up to $6,000 per bounty. Loot excluded.
3: The slave trainer
You can also take up your older brother's profession as a slave trainer. Slaves are a tremendously lucrative business in Ikaanos - but also very time-consuming, especially for an inexperienced MC. The basics are pretty simple, however; acquire slaves, train them in skills that are generally favored at the slave market or for a slave agent and make them accept their fate as slaves by either lowering WILLPOWER, increasing Corruption, summon submissive-themed traits or raise their Affection. How you'll go on doing that is another matter, however, as well as the difficulty of doing it based on a particular slave's personality.
Acquiring slaves
If you've decided on the slave trainer business, your first goal should be to collect one or a couple of slaves. Slaves can be acquired:
- By defeating enemies in combat (incapacitation).
- Through quests and adventures (hint: Juno in Stokke Hills).
- At Kymanto Hall in Hamilton Square (a limited amount but at a great discount thanks to your brother's background).
- At the slave market at Crystal Hills. Offers many high-level (and expensive) slaves.
- At the slave market at Watery Eyes. Offers mostly urchins, raiders and peasant girls.
Training slaves
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"You should never train a slave for longer than four weeks. Never take them out on dinners, never give them personal gifts and never, ever, sit down and get personal with them. Mold them into servitude and sell them as quickly as possible. Why do I say this? Yeah, sure, I sound like an asshole. But if you do all that, gettin' cozy with the merchandise, I can guarantee you that you'll get infected by "The Slaver's Curse". It's the poison that ruins our business. If you decide to keep a slave out of affection, you're not a true slave master. You're too nice to call yourself that. "
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You can read more about training slaves here.
Grim's first-aid list
Here's a couple of hints if you're completely lost and/or need to make quick cash:
- Pick easy fights in south Ikaanos. Group levels below 25 should be relatively safe to attack if you're prepared. BRING AT LEAST ONE FOLLOWER!
- Complete the tutorial quest. Loot and rewards from following Ansel around should set you up for at least a week.
- Finish "The Shrouded House" quest. This is a fairly easy beginner's quest that provides up to $2,000 dollars in loot and mission rewards.
- Loot your way through "The Swamps" (Marston swamps). There's a hidden artifact in one of the abandoned buildings that The Catholic Church in Westside is willing to pay good cash for.
- Take shifts at Westside Assembly Plant.
- Investigate all the POIs in southern Ikaanos. They offer valuable loot and materials with relatively few dangers.
Continue: Part VI Starting a family.
Back to Guide by Grimdark.