Water is the gentlest line to start because the demo's Water Merchant scenario ships with testing and purification from day one, but it carries its own ruin type: liability. The Probably Stolen water merchant guide counter order runs identify, test, filter or purify, label what you measured, and store the jugs away from the outside counter overnight.
On this page
Probably Stolen water merchant guide: the counter order
Identify the container.
An empty jug is not itself a product.
Test the jug with your kit.
Use a strip on the bottle.
Filter or purify it if the reading is wrong.
Rather than running a bad jug through a purifier repeatedly hoping it reads high.
Label only what you actually measured.
Using the blue and red labelers.
Store finished jugs.
Keep them away from the outside counter overnight.
Lying about quality brings mob justice, and even cheap untested jugs still hurt the people who drink them. That is the entire ruin type: the failure mode is a lawsuit, not an inspection.
Grades and what each one risks
| Grade in play | What it means for you |
|---|---|
Base water | The safe default to sell untested readings as |
High-quality water | Needs the reading to back the label |
Mystery sludge | A reading you do not want to put a grade on at all |
Read the labels in your own build rather than trusting a fixed price or purity table, because playtest numbers move.
Equipment on the line
The testing kit, the purifier, the blue and red labelers, the Bottle Printer and Dr. Jackson's Toolbox are the tools this line runs on. A tap such as Gutterflow on Tap or Rustwater on Tap, bought through the Wild Network, produces cheap water but still needs testing if you intend to sell it as anything better.
The Water Trading Guide is a later unlock from Dr. Jackson added in Patch 48.3.10, and the Wild Network water unlocks — Retired Water Merchant, Gutterflow on Tap and Rustwater on Tap — are later purchases rather than the starting scenario. The crafting machines page covers what the toolbox holds and when it becomes purchasable.
Demand moves the price
Drought rumours spike demand for tested jugs, while untested jugs sold into the same rumour are a lawsuit. Tested jugs sell without needing a wanted poster, so park the surplus toward the lease buyout rather than gambling it on a single lot.
Bottles come from the bottle printer and better grades come from the purifiers and the Moisture Farm, so the production chains page is the next thing to read when a jug is waiting on an upgrade rather than on a label.