hello, its me, ur humble neighborhood homeless god
as someone who fed and clothed 3 other hobo children and still stayed above 20k crowns by late Season 1, having had someone ask me in stream chat if i had attained all my wealth and status via scum tactics or if i had abused a glitch or trick, i figured i was doing something right

so here i am bestowing my knowledge on how to be a dripped out, rich bastard of a hobo right quick

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> Nov 30 edit: reworded some things for clarity, no new info added, just waiting for the massively delayed update :'^)
> Dec 2 edit: added a General Tip about clothing
> Mar 15 note: will play new content when it's available to provide any helpful info for the update
> Jul 21 edit: revised some info, added Guzzler-related tips, added a General Tip

• Detailed Map
  
• Flashlight

Both of these can be bought from a Tobacconist. Quickest one from the Pit is up the stairs to the train station and is right around the bend of the staircase. Try to get a map ASAP; flashlight is useful but only really important if you plan to take on the Sewer Cleanup job (which I recommend doing just to rack up more crowns early in the game)

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List order based on The Pit as the starting point and works its way outward.

• Maisner
  Your first friend in the whole, entire world. He teaches the Dump Raider perk, allowing you to dive through trash piles (especially useful in the Pit area, since there are 3 trash piles at the hideout alone). He is also a vendor of useful items and crafting components; if you have money, always try to buy Shopping Cart, Barrel, and Epic Junk when you see them. All of the recipes Maisner can teach you are for essential favor/trust items (see Essential Inventory section of guide) and quests in general.
  

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• Fester
  He is a source of free food and Teaches all available cooking recipes outside of Grub (needed for Masha's quest, another person who you can request food from). As long as he has energy, you can keep Chatting with Fester and ask if there's any food you can have.
  

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• Leos*
  He's like luxury brand Maisner; once you gain access to Bartering with him, he provides many valuable items ranging from rare crafting components, bags, clothing, peddling items, and even occasionally Talismans of Recovery. He sells them at high discounts, especially after Requesting to negotiate better prices via Ferenz.
  

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• Guzzlers* (Zachy)
  While you don't necessarily have have to actually set out on the Guzzlers quest line that early on (or at all, if you are adverse to alcohol), the Guzzler Hideout is a treasure trove of unlockable caches (medium and hard), storage spaces, and diveable piles. However, gaining Zachy's trust allows you to Request to dig through more piles - twice, with increasingly good finds.
  
  Examples of Good Loot
  → Rum (see Essential Inventory section)
  → Lifebringer/Great Lifebringer
  → Remarkable Fabric
  → PlayGuy
  → Stat-increasing liquor (alcohol with golden backgrounds that give permanent attribute raises): Whiskey, Quality Vodka, Absinthe, White Rum
  → Good Smoke
  → Quality Smoke
  → Merkur Cigarettes
  → Meth
  → Talisman of Recovery
  
  Tips for Becoming a Guzzler
  Wait until after you have done both challenges (becoming a Respectable, then a Legendary Guzzler) before you pick up the Perks from Cardinal or Zachy so it's easier to get or stay drunk. Doing the Legendary Guzzler challenge coincides with the prime time to unlock the Lucky Luke character (staying over 90% Drunk for 2 days, Legendary Guzzler challenge requires you to stay Drunk for 2 days).
  This is also the best time to be consuming all the permanent stat boosting alcohol which grants +100% Drunkenness each.
  

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• Crazy
  He Teaches the vital Strategy perk, AKA your meal ticket in 80% of the game. He also Teaches some Charisma boosts and can help you mend relationships with faction leaders if you bung anything up.
  
  
• Monty
  Monty is situated right next to Crazy and is the Teacher for the Engineer perk, allowing you to repair/craft items - crafting and selling being the most lucrative trade. He can also repair broken items you bring to him (of course, at a fee).

* Please bear in mind that at the times of me starting/completing necessary quests I was already in Season 2 with very leveled skills and max dumpster diving promotion, so it's highly possible that the rare items I was able to start looting and purchasing may not be immediately available to you.

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Listed apart from the other NPCs as it outside of the Pit/southern Train Station area and does not take as urgent of precedence.

The Fort, AKA the squatter house/apartment in Zizkov, is an enclosed building with 2 active fire barrels and a handful of storage spaces to loot. Once you gain access, it's the ideal place to hide out during Calamities to conserve kindling material.

I would say it's not a concern to try and get into the Fort until mid-late Season 1 due to the first Calamity being on Day 30 and lasting only the 1 day (until you proceed to the Hall of Kings). Once you have enough trust to become a fully-fledged member, you can use the toilet, washing machine, shower, and bed; however, these are "luxuries" that I don't feel like you should need to work towards that quickly considering the amount of trust needed with Tony to officially become a member. The journey to gaining enough trust is more worthwhile than being a member itself.

• Tony
  The leader who Teaches Defense boosts and the Guts perk (yay free pooing and becoming a Jehovah's Witness being able to knock on apartment and office doors - see more in Crafting, Looting, Selling)
  
  
• Masha
  Your token homeless lady. She can Teach you to boost your Immunity. More importantly, after passing on all of Fester's knowledge to her, you can Request food from her as long as she has the energy, although what she gives is not always as substantial as what Fester provides.
  
  
• Johnny
  He likes a good book. He got a dog. He can Teach you some Speech experience. He a cool dude, but that's about it.

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• Don't have enough kindling? Run over to the ex-con crib and sit at the burning barrel where the 2 hobos are standing (or you can go upstairs and chill with Ferenz, i guess). Unless you have a soft heart that an impoverished hobo cannot afford, don't bother wasting materials on the fire barrel next to Drax and his pup.
  
  
• Returnable Bottles. ur too good for them? who do u think u are, u dirty bum Always take them and sell them off at a Snack Shop or supermarket. They aren't worth a ton alone, but it adds up very quickly - especially for avid trash raiders.
  
  
• Weather permitting, just remove all your clothes before dumpster diving. Otherwise, just set aside basic or lesser clothing as your "dumpster dive set," then just change back when you are going about your other business.
  
  
• Getting temporary jobs from the Labor Office next to the police station is your best bet at a stable income outside of begging.

Items you should keep a stock of in your inventory at all times!

• Healing items (Bandage, Salve, Hiking Medkit)
  Maybe you had an unlucky run-in with a thug, you got into a scuffle resisting arrest, or the weather is getting the better of you. It's always better to be prepared, and luckily, you can craft Bandages and Salves on the go.
  
  
• Useless Junk, Junk
  Unlimited kindling, at your service. I keep stacks of 50 and definitely more later into the season on my person. Burn newspapers and magazines first, though.
  
  
• Energy Replenishment (Coffee, Energy Drink, Cola)
  This is in the case of going over your weight limit. You don't regain stamina while encumbered and you may be too far from a hideout to load items off into storage right away. Also allows you to stay on your feet longer in general, but watch your Poisoning meter!
  
  
• Antibiotics
  Mostly an early game essential. Without adequate clothing, you are very prone to Illness rising and HP falling. Never hurts to keep 1 in your bag regardless of season.

**This list excludes the uncommon/NPC-specific requests.**

These are consumables that frequently come up as requested when Chatting with other hobos.

• Bandage
  
• Rum (can be looted from Guzzler hideout)
  
• Lifebringer/Great Lifebringer
  (recipes learned from Maisner)
  
• Recycled Smoke (common loot at ex-con settlement, Guzzler hideout)
  
• Weak Tea/Healing Tea - less common
  (recipes learned from Maisner)

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These are crafting components that come up as requested when Chatting with other hobos. This includes shack repairs requiring multiple materials. I recommend only lugging around crafting components 24/7 if you have sufficient bag space.

• Tarp - very common
  
• Polystyrene - very common
  
• Metal Plate
  
• Nails

• Public Transport Ticket
  I try to keep no more than 2 on me just to shuttle around Praslav, but the amount you carry is inconsequential if you are not selling items to passersby. (stop trying to buy my bus tickets, homeful idiots)
  
  
• Good Smoke
  Thugs may not ask for a smoke every time they run up on you, but it's the most common prompt (in my experience). Always keep a handful on you, especially early game when you're a peon with no weapon, no attack, no defense. Don't waste your Quality Smokes on them if you can avoid it.
  
  
• Kombucha
  Sober up quickly, namely after drinking challenges (or maybe you got poofaced living it up with a hobo buddy). Don't waste time stumbling around! Time is money and you need all the money you can get.
  
  
• Chewing Gum
  I only started making use of gum once I had 6 willpower and a dog, but it's actually an extremely useful consumable! Better than chocolate bars because it's a more frequent find and doesn't ramp up your doodoo gauge.

Burglary and pickpocketing included!

• You can never have too much of common crafting components like Old Textiles, Tape, Wood Planks, Nails, Metal Plate, Asphalt Plate, Binding Wires, etc. A lot of it will be consumed if you plan to properly build walls and roofing.
  
• Duct Tape is used very often!! TAKE TAPE. STEAL IT. HOARD TAPE.
  
• Electrical Parts are needed for more valuable repairs (PC, Printer, Toaster) so I recommend also prioritizing looting these.
  
  
• Take clothing when you find it. Even if it's an identical piece, the stats may be slightly better. You can salvage mid-tier clothing for Strange Fabric or sell it with everything else (Bags included) to Shrug in the Business District. You can determine for yourself the minimal value of clothing you want to loot.
  
• Likewise, you can save all the furniture you find to sell to Drax.
  
  
• There are two types of furniture: upgradeable and not.
  ↳ Furniture that can be upgraded is typically more rundown looking and comes with visual changes per upgrade and caps at +0.3 points towards your hideout score
  ↳↳ base score: +0.1
  ↳↳ 1 upgrade: +0.2
  ↳↳ 2 upgrades: +0.3
  
  ↳ Big furniture items that cannot be upgraded tend to look nicer and have a static +0.3 score.
  ↳ You can save your Strange and Remarkable Fabric instead upgrading furniture and place non-upgrade furniture instead.
  
  
• Peddling-only items start from 15cr (Comb, Mirror) and aren't really worth taking. Makeup and Pictures of Our Savior are worth 30cr and are slightly more worthwhile. The lowest value items I personally steal are Laser Pointers (50cr) and Headphones (60cr).
  
  
• Take and save Chicken Bones to trade Ghaul.
  ↳ Ghaul is located in the Sewer (the locked door in the Shelter Behind the Shopping Center in Zizkov). You attain the key during the questline where you investigate the homeless murders. (I believe you start it pretty early on through Father Bruian, Sister Agnes, and/or Baron, but it's been a bit since I did the quests so this needs further confirmation)
  
  
• Scrap Iron and Copper Wire can be sold to Mr. Kotler at his Scrapyard in The Pit area. Like Returnable Bottles, individually they have low value but it adds up quickly.
  
  
• You will find more broken components than you will ever need or probably be able to make use of. Take a handful and store them but there's no need to collect every single one you find. You should always take PC Parts, though.

• This is where the big money is. Gathered all your materials and Broken components? Once you have learned the Engineer perk, you can Craft repaired versions of everything, most of which are worth 100-200+ crowns, the most valuable being a Computer (300cr).
  
• Outside of making sales, repaired equipment can be placed as furniture or used to Craft Complex Furniture.
  
  
• Leveling your Crafting makes it easier to craft everything, including recipes you have to Cook, consumables like Lifebringers and Bandages, and weapons.
  
  
• Check and repair clothing often, losing durability and stats from an item quickly reduces its usefulness, especially if you depend on +carry weight as the first stat on a piece.

• Keep only 1 or 2 Public Transport Tickets on you and store your Condoms unless you're calling call girls for Leos. If you don't, Strangers usually choose from one or both these items to buy. They're only worth 15cr and there are other items EXCLUSIVELY FOR PEDDLING of equal value instead.
  
• Go big or go home. Prepare to do a peddling spree: craft and gather up items to sell and store all other items Strangers might buy (Public Tranport Ticket, Condom, Meal Voucher, etc.). Save the exasperation that they might try to low-ball and just ball out instead.
  
  
• Don't ever bother selling anything (meth included) to Easy Strangers. They only buy at the base price for an item at most IF you have Strategy and convince them it's worth more.
  
  Strangers' Buying Rates (by percentage of an item's value)
  
  Difficulty

  Base Offer

  Price after using Strategy

  Easy

  70%

  100%

  Average

  100%

  120%

  Tough

  120%

  150%
  
  * NPC hobos also buy at 70% of an item's value and you cannot entice them with your Street Vendor smooth talk. Don't sell to your homeless brothers.
  
  
• Got an expensive item that you want to make sure you sell for as much as possible? Take Guts and Street Vendor into buildings for a guaranteed sale. Go door to door until you get the option to Sell to them; building residents buy at the same rates as Tough Strangers, but with many more green bars when playing the minigame.
  
• Likewise, I make sure to sell valuable items (>100cr) ONLY to Tough Strangers.
  ↳ the exception to this is when your Speech is low and you only have 1 green bar to convince Tough Strangers to pay more. It's a safer bet and less of a time waste to use Street Vendor on Average Strangers.

• If you don't already know, don't become addicted to anything. The only exceptions to consuming substances are drinking challenge quests (Guzzlers, Sergei, Zachy) - which you should space out doing, by the way; also to consume stat boosters (gold liquor and Kraken), which should also be done sparingly to avoid accidental addiction. one of the worst slip ups of my homeless life
  
  
• Some NPCs that you can Barter with (Maisner, Leos, Sister Agnes, Shrug, Anatoly, Stink) have stock that change daily. Take advantage of that and check in often, at least with Maisner and Leos.
  ↳ the clothing Sister Agnes sells isn't worth buying mid-late game, but she might carry the clothing needed for Johnny's quests (which are returned to you after kinda gross but ok)
  ↳ aside from raising Trust with him, do not sell items to Anatoly, he undercuts the prices. Unless you are just coming into greater wealth and in dire need of better clothing, I generally advise against buying clothing from him and check Shrug instead. Anatoly is useful, however, for Biker clothing for Bear and buying Gnomes. He's also the best place to find Storage Trunks for Nugget.
  ↳↳ Gnomes are one of the things you should always buy. The Weaponized Gnome is the best offensive weapon in the game but has very low durability.
  ↳↳↳ I do not ever accept Gnome fetch quests from Nugget. They're too rare and are much better saved to use for yourself. Just fetch other items to raise his Favor.
  ↳ do buy Shopping Carts and Barrels when you see them so you can craft the Storage furniture
  
  
• Thug, cop, or pesky worker spotted you? You can enter a nearby building and elude them.
  ↳ if you're trying to unlock a bin or locker, sometimes it's faster to initiate the lockpicking and run into the nearby building to get the worker to despawn instead of waiting for them to finish their smoke break.
  
  
• After you've established more stable funds, as mentioned in Looting, Crafting, Selling, don't bother trying to peddle anything to Easy Strangers. Don't even try to Beg them for money, you get more value out of pickpocketing them. My favorite combo is: Steal an Easy Stranger's Headphones and then turn around and sell it to the next Average person.
  
  
• Once you have a higher carry capacity, keep track and carry different sets of clothing. Have your Charisma set to talk to Strangers, a set for Warmth, a set to keep Dry, an offensive/defensive set for throwing down with the law or thugs, etc. (unfortunately you'll just have to manually make note of what piece is optimal for what as there's no way to save presets for clothing) In late game, you should be able to optimize an ideal set for both Warmth and Dryness by just swapping between 1 or 2 pieces.
  
  
• The Calamity is both a pain in the ass and a bore, sure, unless you take this as prime time to raid locked bins and storage. Not a single nosy soul to yell at you for sifting through their locked, premium garbage. It's a thief's golden hour.
  ↳ also a good opportunity to do some hobo faction quests that you might have put on the backlog since they're the only open locations/NPCs you can talk to.
  
  
• You can sell Interesting Paper, Small Book and extra Serious Book, and Pile of Books to Libor Petula (the red storefront on Bridge St.)
  
  
• Man's best friend! A dog provides plenty of useful buffs and re-gen (Warm buff, +10 Morale, Confidence buff, +3 Willpower). The Willpower regain is very useful coupled with Chewing Gum, especially when you have a higher Willpower cap. I have 6 Willpower and use it ensure a Strategy sale to Tough Strangers.
  
  
• Using Picture of Our Savior to pray at an altar is kind of a waste, just read porno mags or go troll people to recover Morale. If you're in need of money, you can ask Father Burian for a bunch of Pictures to sell off.
  
  
• Hail Satan! Praying to the Satanic Altar is worth the rewards, but only if you have sufficient healing items. (does not require you to do the drug den quests involving Satanists to be able to use the altar)
  
  
• Bad habit of holding in your poo for too long? Me, too. If you have put off nature's call so long that you are hungry and MUST further fill up your bowels, just get naked before you feast so you don't stink up all your clothes. Eating and pooping at the same time? We're homeless, not barbaric, come on, now.
  
  
• You probably won't make use of all the hideouts. The Shelter in the Demolished Block and the Shelter on the Terrace are very close to each other, so you can reserve one for placing a bunch of Storage furniture (the actual item you Craft with barrels and shopping carts) to expand your actual storage limit without taking up physical space in your other bases.

i put a lot of time and effort into writing this and cross referencing in game! yes, i tested and calculated the sales rates for Strangers myself
will be updated in the future with screenshots and maybe more info

please rate and favorite if you learned something and feel free to offer corrections!