Vending Machine: stocking, upgrades and overnight sales

The Vending Machine stands to the right of the shop window and sells goods after hours. The separate Vending Fountain on the left sells water from supply containers.

Vending Machine

Get the machine

Route	Cost and result
Wild’s Network → Store → Vending Machine	Base cost: 1,200. Favor pays first, then cash covers the remainder. The machine is installed immediately.
Vending Machine starting perk	Costs 2 starting points; includes an installed machine and an Energy Cell with 50 energy.
Landlord’s offer	On days 43, 57, 71 or 85, while the shop is not fully paid for and at least one machine is missing. Accepting installs one machine and adds 150 to base weekly rent.

For Wild, call 8376 on the shop phone and browse services. Wild’s Network explains accessing the menu. The 1,200 base cost is 1,800 on Hard and 2,400 on Challenge before relationship and reputation modifiers; use the displayed quote. This route and the starting perk do not add the Landlord’s rent increase.

The Landlord’s increase stays in base rent and grows with later rent increases. Taking both machines from him adds 300 in total before those increases. Each offer installs one machine; decline to wait for another listed offer date. Shop finances covers rent and ownership.

Stock and power it

1. Click the machine outside the shop to open its window.
2. Put a charged Energy Cell in its power slot. Leave enough energy for the whole night; paying shop electricity alone does not fill this slot. See power and recharging.
3. Move goods you own into Inventory. The initial grid is 8×2, or 16 cells; item size determines how many fit.
4. Leave the stock overnight. Next morning, inspect what sold and replenish what you want to keep selling.

Contraband, storage containers, machines, blacklisted goods such as radioactive waste, and ordinary refillable liquid containers are rejected. Wine containers are an exception to the liquid-container rule but must still pass the other checks. Put bulk water in the Fountain instead.

Choose stock that can sell

Start with several different cheap foods, drinks, rations or treats. These have a higher sale factor than tools, materials, modules and luxury goods. A high price lowers the sale chance. The machine’s own attractiveness starts at 15 and increases that chance; it is separate from the shop’s customer attraction.

The first copy of an item enters the night’s candidate pool. The second copy of the same item type has a 50% chance to enter, the third 25%, the fourth 12.5%, and so on. Stocking many copies therefore does not give each copy an equal sale attempt.

After random sales, the machine tries to reach the following total by adding unsold candidates valued at 50 or less, excluding luxury items and prioritizing consumables:

Machine attractiveness	Target total
Below 25	1 item
25–49	2 items
50 or more	3 items

The 50-credit threshold uses the item’s vending valuation including Retail Markup, before the vending bonus. There must be enough eligible candidates to fill the target. With only expensive goods or rejected duplicate candidates, a night can still end with zero sales. The target is a minimum-fill rule, not a cap on random sales.

Upgrade the core

Use the material on the installed Vending Machine Core in the machine’s window. You do not need to buy or remove a separate core.

Material	Each upgrade	Limit
Metal Ingot	Adds one inventory row	10 upgrades: 8×2 → 8×12, or 96 cells
Electronic Parts (Common)	Adds 5 attractiveness	17 upgrades: 15 → 100

Each upgrade normally uses one material. Nightly power is 2 + capacity upgrades: 2 initially, 12 at maximum capacity. Attractiveness upgrades do not add power use on this machine. Check the core tooltip after upgrading, then supply enough energy for the new requirement.

Collect income and refill

Open the machine next morning and press Transfer All in its control area. Sales cash stays in that machine until transferred; each machine has its own balance. Unsold goods remain in Inventory.

Sales use Retail Markup plus 10 extra percentage points in the same price stage, without event price changes. These bonuses add together. False labels can still cause reputation loss and fraud; dangerous mislabelled goods can count as endangerment. Inspect stock before using it for unattended sales.

When nothing sells

• Goods will not go in: check ownership, allowed type and available grid space.
• Stock remains after a night: check the power slot and the full energy requirement, then try varied cheaper stock instead of repeated expensive items.
• The machine used power but sold nothing: nonempty stock can consume the night’s energy even when no candidate sells.
• Wallet cash did not change: open the control area and transfer the machine’s balance.
• The 1/2/3 target was not reached: check the 50-credit valuation limit, luxury exclusion and surviving candidate count above.