The microeconomics of this point have actually interested me for awhile. Bottom line first, the tomb colonists are less profitable than dream-snakes UNLESS you bring them all back safely. In that case, they are still less profitable per unit but MORE profitable per hold space consumed - so you will get richer, faster, moving full loads of Tomb Colonists, than you will moving, say, a half dozen boxes of dream snakes at a time. There is a not-so-convoluted way to carry a full dozen loads of dream snakes, but it requires 78 units of hold space before accounting for pit stops - so it’s only possible in two of the game’s ships, or perhaps in a Frigate with a lot of juggling going on.
The numbers:
Tomb Colonists (Number upon return =/< 11)
Input:
21 stories of various types (value ~10/ea) = ~210 echoes. This valuation is based on selling the stories to an Antiquarian or to the tomb colonies; their value when spent on secret acquisition in the Autumn Isles, or on supply acquisition in Whither, varies wildly. This uses their most direct value in Echoes as a baseline, to establish some sanity.
12 loads of supplies sacrificed up front = ~240 echoes (The London price is used as a baseline; there are tricks to cut corners here too).
Revenue upon safe return of a colonist: 100 echoes.
So, your profit will be around ((100 x colonists returned) - cost of bribes expended - 210 - 240).
Hold space required: 12, with the additional possession of certain qualities and items favoring better results
For that, a load of 11 brings in 650 echoes of profit, after accounting for 450 echoes in front-end investment. Along the way, we might lose another 100 echoes for every additional tomb-colonist lost, or if we need to lay out bribes to keep them save in Polythreme, the Shepherd’s Isles, etc. And remember, a profit of 650 echoes against 12 units of cargo space is only a profit of around 54 echoes per unit of hold space, at which point you’re coming out a little better if you just gather huge quantities of scintillack to sell in London. However, a renewable source of, say, 600 echoes, is a big deal to a zee-captain that would benefit from having 1k or 2k to spend on a better engine.
Now, dream-snakes:
-Front-end costs:
-6x Clay men (Free! Just be mindful of the possibility of an Unfinished Man aboard.)
-6x Mirrorcatch boxes (1,500 echoes - 50% of your eventual revenues)
-6x Firefox Candles (180 Echoes if you purchase them in Adam’s Way or Khan’s Heart with a trading license; we’ll assume one of these, but 240 is the London price).
-30 supplies - (600 echoes (here, on principle, I use the London price as a baseline. The Masters carve greedily into your profits, although by fully exploring the zee you can work around them.)
-~3x zailors lost harvesting the dreams: (30 echoes - here the London prices favor you).
Total revenues: 6x500 = 3,000 Echoes, sold in Khan’s Shadow.
Total expenses: 2,310. This allows a profit of almost 700 echoes, but the entry level costs (1,500 in mirrorcatch boxes, phew) and hold space requirements are much higher.
Troop costs only get higher, not lower, excluding the occasional volunteers. Mirrorcatch boxes are most cheaply bought with Echoes until your character is extremely powerful. Clay Men can’t get any cheaper, and we already accounted for a good price on the candles. If you don’t mind a lot of boredom, you can farm free supplies in the Autumn Isles with the “Something Awaits You” quality. It’ll take perhaps 6 batches to cover your 30, not including an extra one or two to cover your own troops’ needs. This can fatten your 690 profit margin up to 1,290, which is actually quite competitive if we’re not looking at sunlight or red honey as the alternative.
This allows profit margin of >100 echoes/unit, meaning that dreams acquired with free supplies are more profitable than Tomb Colonists returned as less than a full set. However, that’s only a profit of 20-30 echoes per hold space required (30+6+6+6), and the colonists have no trouble beating that number.
Revisiting the tomb colonists:
Requirements:
-A bottle of wine (given to you when you pay our stories; 20 echoes at the London price, but we’ll not count it since one comes free when you pay the stories)
-21 stories (~210 echoes for which they could’ve sold if we didn’t bother with all of these shenanigans)
-12 supplies (240 echoes at the London price; we stand to save about 40% as much money as from the other path, against a smaller payout, but it’s worth what it’s worth)
-A high Hearts score. Really high. Think mid-100s
-Some cash on hand, a few hundred echoes will do it
-A secure compartment, EQUIPPED
-At least 3 influence with the Leopard faction in Khan’s Glory
It’s a substantial grocery list, but here we go:
-Khan’s Glory will take some tomb colonists unless you use political influence to secure safe passage. The Tomb-Colonists will reimburse you with a Strategic Information, which you can exchange for the lost political favor; the true cost is 2 points of Admiralty’s Favor, which can be cheaply replenished the lower it gets.
-Polythreme and the Chelonate are pretty intensely prejudiced against Tomb Colonists; although sometimes you’ll get mobbed and lose some, this never happens to me when I have the Secure Compartment equipped. Avoid Storm at any costs, in Polythreme; sending them hunting is actually safer.
-If the tourists go about in Gaider’s Mourn then send some zailors to protect them. There will be a fairly punishing Hearts check; fail it and you lose some colonists.
-Irem is the easiest and most pleasant; just send them shopping and don’t let them look East, and you’ll get a heartwarming storylet and a free unit of Parabola Linen (sells for 60).
-Not losing any Tomb Colonists in the Shepherd’s Isles requires a unit of supplies and a cask of mushroom wine. Good thing we got that wine in the Colonies when we signed up for this.
If you make it through 3 stops, you’ll be told to take the tourists back to Venderbight.
End result:
1500 echoes + Judgement Egg (sells for 500 to London’s Antiquarian, 600 elsewhere.) For now, we’ll call this 2100 in revenues.
2100
-240 in supplies
-210 in stories
-bribes (unpredictable, but usually reimbursed somehow if it’s expensive; some wine, a picnic, this is probably 100-200 tops.)
A perfect batch of Tomb Colonists is thus clearly worth around 1,750 in profits, but requires high Hearts, an Aft, a specialized piece of equipment, some political influence and perhaps a lot of patience if the order of stops they request is inconvenient or defies your other plans. Not losing a lot of your profits to fuel/supplies consumed while wandering aimlessly means finding a way to gather Port Reports en route to where they want to go next.
I think it goes without saying that 1,700+ transactional profits beats 1,200+ from dream-snakes, but ONLY if you get that Judgment Egg and the corresponding lift to 125/colonist for a full batch. Additionally, colonists require less hold space at one time once you’ve got your preparations taken care of, so you can realistically fight zee beats, haul scintillack or do whatever else you want to bring in income with your remaining hold space.
Additionally, you can increase your profit margin by 240 if you farm your supplies somewhere (Mangrove College, Aestival) instead of buying them, you can get very very close to 2k profits before accounting for lost bribes.
Tomb Colonists don’t stack past 12, so that 2k is about as good as things get.
If you have 18 hold space for dream snake components, 12 for tomb colonists, everything required to avoid losing tomb colonists, and room for A LOT of supplies, you can work Hunter’s Keep into your tourism route and take care of those simultaneously. Polythreme will simply become a regular stop whether the tourists want to go there or not, and the Khanate will be where you buy candles, buy mirrorcatch boxes, show off the tourists if applicable, and harvest some Vital Intelligence if Something Awaits You.
A half dozen boxes of dream snakes AND a full load of tomb colonists results in revenues of around 5100, with profits after expenses of perhaps 3,250 or thereabouts.
Working this arrangement with a merchant ship can be a great way to build the capital you need to make most serious upgrades. (2 successful runs = best lights. 1-2 successful runs = whatever engine you want. 1 successful run = whatever store-bought weapon you want.
Once your ship is properly equipped for zee beasts, things get more complex, as you account for the possibility of a three-figure harvest with few transactional costs, besides terror and possibly hull damage, alsomaybedeath.
For players who are really struggling financially but have their map filled in, Tomb Colonist runs are probably the way to go. The stories you need can be harvested in most cities, with the red honey gardens being perhaps the most effective. Irem allows you to trade stories for the types you need, although they do business at a 100% mark-up.
For players who haven’t filled in their map, I find that scintillack (sells for 70, no cost except Something Awaits You and terror, Mirrors check) and Clay Men (no cost, can’t stack beyond 6, sells for 20 Echoes) pay out the best if you come back alive.
When you’re less worried about starving or running out of fuel, and when you get tired of giving Venderbight all of your stories, dream snakes are much more sustainable with fewer risks. Buying the supplies legitimately reduces your profits, but allows you to get to business instead of sitting around waiting for Something Awaits You. If you have a small hold, taking maybe 3 boxes instead of 6 (selling the other Clay Men for 20 echoes in London) will allow you to earn a nice 600-700 Echo profit on a 750 echo investment in the boxes.
This will eventually allow you to start purchasing a ship upgrade. Nothing before the Merchant ship will have a bigger hold than 40, although once you buy it, you’ll be able not to choose between dreams and tourists.
Ultimately, combining income that relies on hold space (dream snakes, tourists) with income that does not (stories, secrets, treasure, foreign intelligence acquisition) is a central component of getting really really wealthy.