The Rat Market

Purchased myself a gant box without having to do pro-liberation actions, so that’s very nice. Also sold off four of my parabolan parables for a very tidy profit. This alone takes care of about 15% of the echoes I still need for Cider, so that’s really nice.

I’m holding my parables until the week before they rotate out, just in case there’s something good next week. I did trade one of them for a Demark, since there are no great sources of those and I only have one. 870 leftover shillings will probably be traded for some trifles when I’m back in London

My hope exactly. And I wonder what, if anything, will happen once we’re able to assemble the full Neathbow.
It’s interesting that the Gant box is only marginally more expensive than the Irrigo one, while when obtaining them elsewhere, the difference in &quotvalue&quot is much higher.

Wait, the Rat Market is actually more profitable than selling things direct from the Parabolan War? 15% is quite a lot for a Cider grind.

Rat Market buys everything at a pretty substantial markup.

[quote=Captain Blood Storm]

Wait, the Rat Market is actually more profitable than selling things direct from the Parabolan War? 15% is quite a lot for a Cider grind.[/quote]
To be clear that’s 15% of what’s left. It was &quotonly&quot 1600 Echoes out of 10000 I have remaining.

Are the Rat-shilling exchange rates fixed or do they fluctuate week by week within a specific range? Something like a stock exchange.

Grinding Captivating ballads is now a full-time activity to get items from the Rat Market. Sadly, eating up those actions create an opportunity cost of forgoing other things e.g. grinding Making Waves.

And I really need to unlock the Railway soon…

I believe they were just tweaking the numbers when they adjusted the prices this week, and the items at that level will remain at the same price once they figure out what the right price is.

I think the ballads are here next week, but not the week after

This is likely going to substantially change the EPA of Parabola War grinds for the better, assuming people are patient enough to wait to sell only at the Rat Market.

It straight-up makes parawar about 30% more profitable. The EPA of Parawar used to be through the roof but it got nuked in an update. I wonder if this brings it back to Worth Doing.

It straight-up makes parawar about 30% more profitable. The EPA of Parawar used to be through the roof but it got nuked in an update. I wonder if this brings it back to Worth Doing.[/quote]

It may be because I just lack the patience to comprehend mammoth ranching or figure out which of the new grinds has a better return, but personally I feel Parawar’s been Worth Doing even after the nerfs. It helps I have a regular free evenings exchange going with another guy that lets me mine second chances, which make some of the ~73ish checks easier with my maxed out Dangerous/Watchful outfits.

I still have two Parables left in stock to take advantage of the Rat Market if they’re still valid fare, but I’m also intending to sell stuff on the side just to get to my precious worm faster.

Aaaand this also changes the EPA of the buried Hell embassy. Since you get Oneiromantic Revelations from there, which can become Parabolan Parables.

Fascinating.

Some day, no doubt, there will be a spreadsheet, updated hourly, that will explain all of this to us. Until then, it’s more thn a bit overwhelming, especially since to someone on the loutside, it’s near-random.
edited by Snort on 10/6/2021

The loutside, LOL! Love it. That’s me, then.

I’m actually quite a bit puzzled by those people who calculate the whole thing out. To me, it’s a game, and I’m enjoying the roleplay and story and generally doing what seems best in a common sense way to make money within character. Sure, I make the odd mistake and use the odd spoiler, but it’s not a job, it’s fun. (And I have worked a lot with numbers, statistical programming etc so I could do it if I wanted. Just, why?)

[quote=Bluestocking] Just, why?[/quote] It’s a puzzle and puzzles are fun! This game’s inevitably a chimeric mix of story and collecting, and inevitably one finds oneself up to date on almost every story, and a few weeks away from the new Festival or content batch, and luckily the game has some idle collecting to keep one’s attention. And, inevitably, one gets to a project that will take days or weeks or even years, and some quick calculations to shave off literal days (or months!) can become worth it. Day to day I’ll waste plenty of actions reminding myself of certain stories or just playing Cards I like, but if I’m out of Cards and have 34 actions left to burn, I may as well collect 20-80% more stuff than I otherwise might. But this is all secondary to the first point: coming up with schemes is fun!

[quote=Bluestocking]The loutside, LOL! Love it. That’s me, then.

I’m actually quite a bit puzzled by those people who calculate the whole thing out. To me, it’s a game, and I’m enjoying the roleplay and story and generally doing what seems best in a common sense way to make money within character. Sure, I make the odd mistake and use the odd spoiler, but it’s not a job, it’s fun. (And I have worked a lot with numbers, statistical programming etc so I could do it if I wanted. Just, why?)[/quote]

It’s something to do after all the stories are done.

At this point I’ve played every single exceptional story, I’m up to date on all the content, collected basically everything - except for the super-expensive vanity items. …and if I’m collecting those, might as well do it efficiently, right?

I just managed to get the Waders and all the Boots I’ll need for a certain hunt in one fell swoop, I feel incredibly satisfied :D

For future reference: is there a way to turn a significant profit selling items here? Being Goat-less and about to take down a pretty big quarry, an opportunity to get extra cash is never amiss.
edited by Huey on 10/8/2021

[quote=Huey]I just managed to get the Waders and all the Boots I’ll need for a certain hunt in one fell swoop, I feel incredibly satisfied :D

For future reference: is there a way to turn a significant profit selling items here? Being Goat-less and about to take down a pretty big quarry, an opportunity to get extra cash is never amiss.
[/quote]
Congratulations on the boots!

Profiting is definitely possible. tl;dr you increase your net worth when you gain Rat-Shillings, and with care you can avoid losing net worth when you use those Rat-Shillings.

Rat-shillings are valued at 10 pence each (and convert to that amount of Rostygold when the rat market turns back into a pumpkin at midnight). All of the items that you can sell to the Rat-Market give you more rat-shillings than the equivalent Bazaar price. E.g. a Parabolan Parable can sell to the Bazaar for 312 echoes, or at the Rat Market for 400 echoes of shillings.

Some uses of Rat-Shillings lose you a bit of money, and some do not. In the &quotShop&quot tab, basically everything you can buy for 1 shilling each sells to the Bazaar for 10 pence. And letting it time out and convert to Rostygold will also earn you 10 pence per shilling. Larger items tend to lose you a bit, e.g. Correspondence Plaques can be bought for 8 shillings but only sell to the Bazaar for 50 pence (you’re better off buying Maniac’s Prayers and upconverting).

If you have spare items, liquidating them is generally a net-gain-money proposition. Gaining items from scratch, of course, depends on how efficiently you can do that. But the Parabolan Warfare is a good grind, so Parabolan Parables is pretty attractive.

Good to know, thank you!