Money-Making

Spoiler warning! This page contains details about Fallen London Actions.

This Guide is about how to best make Echoes; if you're more interested in Hinterand Scrip check Hinterland Scrip-Making

Overview

The game is best thought of as a means to read a story. To that end, until you are approaching the high level (all stats at or near cap and so forth), the best sources of Echoes are the content you're seeing. There is very little that may be considered truly "profitable" before the player becomes a A Person of Some Importance (PoSI), given both content locks and stat requirements. Even then, many money-making grinds require significant investment in capital or end-game leveled stats in order to be completed reliably and efficiently,

The Grinds

The short version, for those looking for a TL/DR: If you have a fully upgraded Lab and have also completed your Ambition, use one of the high-end lab grinds (3 - 3.78 EPA). The Wilmot's End/Doubt Street Newspaper grind is profitable and has fairly easy skill checks for a high level character (3.73 EPA). Helicon House gives access to a number of useful grinds, especially if you have free access (3.21-4.14 EPA). Otherwise you'd probably want to either break down skeletons at the Bone Market (3.125 EPA if your Dangerous is at least 250), or to send the Struggling Artist out for honey (2.5 EPA if you've simply unlocked the lab).

You can also go the route of Hinterland Scrip-making and convert hinterland scrips to Tinned Hams (125 scrips for 63.5 echoes when sold at the bazaar, for 0.508 echoes/scrip).

Other good grinds include excavating the Tomb of the Silken Thread in the Forgotten Quarter (2.27 EPA), or trading Orphans to the Court of the Wakeful Eye in exchange for Tribute (up to 2.22 EPA).

Fate-locked

• Fate-locked selling your soul (28.15 EPA, increasing amounts of Fate required)
• Fate-locked expeditions (7 Fate for 5.3 EPA [under correct conditions])
• Tanah-Chook, unlocked by the "All Things Must End" Exceptional story (1.8 EPA)
• Fate-locked selling your soul (1.8 EPA, easily locked out of)
• Fate-locked Soul Trade (via Unfinished Business 1.75 EPA, with access to the Spa in Ealing Gardens up to 3.21 EPA)

Regular Grinds

The following can be done only with skill-checks.

• Larcenies with Parabolan Casing. Requires Shadowy Gains 6 and A Marauder of the Clay Highwayman, and for maximum efficiency you need to have modified Glasswork 12 and Shadowy 300. In your Parabolan Base-Camp, Find the weakness in an opponent's defences, then Apply your own knowledge, Sneak forward and Case the place for 28 CP Casing. Repeating this nine times gets you 252 CP Casing for 36 actions, and in the Clay Highwayman’s camp you can cash it out doing seven second tier larcenies. Their average payout is worth ~28 echoes, but it can be bumped to ~28.5 by doing only specific larcenies (Burgle a Public House, Ambush a courier, and, if you have completed Burrow Church, Rob the Museum of Souls) and then using value boosting cash-outs. Crates of Incorruptible Biscuits, Vital Intelligence and Moves in the Great Game can be traded for Hinterland Scrip and thus for Tinned Hams and back to echoes for an effective +1.6%, and you can Sell all your Jasmine Leaves via the contacts of the Gracious Widow in one action for an effective +30%. Full cycle at maximum efficiency is items worth ~200 echoes for 43 actions - ~4.65 EPA minus the actions and honey spent on travel/selling Jasmine Leaves (since those and Casing can be stockpiled indefinitely, the more time you spend on it the closer this comes to 4.65 EPA).
  • Spirifiers can exchange 1000 Souls for 3000 Nevercold Brass Slivers and 2 Appalling Secrets, boosting efficiency further.

• The Newspaper grind. For maximum efficiency you need to have modified Shadowy 217, modified 200 in either Watchful or Persuasive, and at least one of the six things required to reach 104 of any type of copy (see the 'Publishing a newspaper guide' for details). Finish the 'The missing Woman' carousel in Wilmot's End to get 2 Whirring Contraptions. Take the whirring contraptions to Doubt Street and publish any edition requiring 104 copies (note that this requires not taking 'Employ a little theatrical accountancy' option). A full cycle is items worth 138 echoes for 37 actions, a total of 3.73 EPA.
  • If you have big and/or active enough social circle (i. e. your acquaintances are numerous enough that you won't run out before earning the required amount of echoes and/or they hire assassins equally fast or faster than you slight them), Renown: The Great Game 40 and Teaching Reputation of your Laboratory 20, you can publish A gossipy and tantalising edition instead of 104 copy ones. Taking all Salacious options including A column revealing certain facts about an acquaintance results in 140 pages - publishing with that amount gives 148 Journals of Infamy. In addition to that, The interception of scandal gives two Sulky Bats. While slight consumes five Scraps of Incendiary Gossip, that cost can be abstracted to 0.865 actions, since you can Publish a seditious edition twice (also using slight) and earn 214 Gossip for 37 actions. A full cycle is items worth 148.8 echoes for 38.73 actions, a total of 3.84 EPA.

• Ealing Gardens Spa Grind: If you've made it out to Ealing and set up a spa, you can continuously attend for a treatment and average out at 2.875 EPA (or 3.28 EPA for Spirifers), presuming both successes appear equally. The downside is that there's a large amount of effort required to get out to Ealing and build the spa. Until then, this grind is gated. Once unlocked, it is a very reliable grind, since it doesn't require any skill-checks (the journey to Ealing Gardens and back aside)

• Train rides: Each travel back and forth between Ealing Gardens and Jericho Locks gives 1 x Rumours of the Upper River, which is 2.5 EPA.

• The Tomb of the Silken Thread:
  • For maximum efficacy, this option requires 267 Watchful to 100% a Buccaneering Approach. As Bazaar gear is only sufficient to get 254 without a Mood or overcapping, this necessarily requires at least some Renown, Fate, or Profession items.
  • Grinding Strong-Backed Labour at Wilmot's End and then using that to buy expedition supplies gives 2.569 EPA if you also sell the Use of Villains thrown in as a bonus at Wilmot's End.
  • Buying Strong-Backed Labour to fund expeditions to The Tomb of the Silken Thread gives 2.27 EPA.
  • Using Docks Favours exclusively to fund expeditions gives 3.148 EPA since the change.

• The Court of the Wakeful Eye lets you buy Winsome Dispossessed Orphans from the Bazaar, exchange them for Tribute, and turn that Tribute into more echoes than you spent (2.22 EPA minus the actions of zailing). The more orphans you invest in to begin with, the closer this comes to 2.22 EPA.
  • This option requires completion of the Associating with Radical Academics storyline, PoSI status, and a Ship. While trading Tribute with the ministers of Court and at Zee, players do not have access to their usual Opportunity Deck.

• Investigations in the university and cashing in the Flit (~1.78 EPA)
  • This option requires the player to have not advanced or finished the University storyline. Players may prefer to Talk to the Porters for a grind that is much less Echo-efficient but much more Watchful-efficient.
  • If one has Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion in the range 10 to 15, Watchful of 177, and Shadowy of 167, this can be combined with Making Use of Cats for 1.908 EPA. The detailed steps can be found at Category:Cryptic Clue Sources

• The Boxful of Intrigue carousel, provided that players side with the Revolutionaries and intercept Correspondence Plaques along the way, as well as using the cash-in to obtain Mourning Candles. (1.64 EPA)
  • This option requires the player to have advanced the Affair of the Box story to at least Level 12, which itself requires access to Mahogany Hall. The carousel is composed of Shadowy 120 challenges.

Lab-based Grinds

For those with very high Watchful, a host of new grinds have opened up by acquiring your own Lab at the University. There are a lot of steps to get to the point that these grinds are helpful, and some are dependent on your character having completed a specific Ambition.

Some of these grinds have been extremely profitable until February 2021 when they were significantly nerfed, reducing EPA to be more in line with what can be generally achieved by other means.

Of note: the Lab is still new content and the specifics are still being hashed out. More grinds are being discovered in this content regularly, and Failbetter is continuing to add even more content. Keep your eye on this space!

• Simply send out the Struggling Artist for honey. Using Send him out for a little more honey will net you 2.5 EPA in Drops of Prisoner's Honey. This is a persuasive challenge requiring 290 persuasive for a 100% chance of success. On failure it gives no honey and 1 cp of scandal. It also makes it possible to get the required honey for buying A Room at the Royal Bethlehem Hotel in only 320 actions.

• Forging Infernal Sharpshooter's Rifles by disguising Ancient Hunting Rifles. (2.87 EPA or higher, requires having completed either Ambition:Nemesis! or Ambition:Bag A Legend!). If you have both the Esurient Smith/April and Lettice, the Mercy in your Lab, you can use them together (the action with April) to create a lot of research towards your project and create a forged Sharpshooter's Rifle, which sells for 210 echoes. Assuming you've leveled up your lab equipment to level 7, they will produce 26 research on a successful Watchful check and 22 on a failure. A fairly reasonable and attainable benchmark for this is Watchful 275, which will get you a 75% chance of success, although higher is very possible. With this, you will get an average of 25 research, making the project take 75 actions for an average 2.8 EPA.
  • You can, however, pay 10 Fate to upgrade your lab's equipment to level 9. This Fate payment only happens once, but this bumps up the research to 30 on a success and 26 on a failure. This makes the project take an average of 64.9 actions, resulting in ~3.23 EPA.

• Creating Cartographer's Hoards with the help of Hephaesta (requires having completed Ambition: Light Fingers!. Having her work with a level 5 Visionary Student gives 26 x Laboratory Research on Success and 24 x Laboratory Research on failure which averages out at roughly 2.84 EPA.
  • Of course using an Fate upgraded lab is better here getting you roughly 3.28 EPA.
  • Having the Stoic Classicist teach students also slightly improves this grind.

• Investigating Impossible Theorems via Red Science. The Theorem is extremely hard to research requiring 12 000 Research and 550 Parabolan Research.
  • Requires Artisan of the Red Science of at least 10 to have 100% success on Use what you know of the unknowable Action. 11 (the maximum level possible as of Feb 2021) will make the grind more profitable.
    • Reaching AotRS of 10 requires increasing cap to 7 by gaining Artisan Studies 2 from Dream Up A New Experiment, which becomes available after progressing on the Railway content. The remaining +3 bonus can be obtained only by equipping items, some of which are tied to specific Ambitions, Professions or Seasonal Events. See Artisan of the Red Science Items for a list of all possible items and where to get them.
    • AotRS of 10 will allow to complete the non-Parabolan piece of Research in 429 actions (28 Research per Action), AotRS of 11 will result in 388 actions at 31 RPA.
  • Parabolan Research can be gained from different sources. The below calculations assume you have Glass Studies of 2.
    • A Visionary Student will generate 14 Parabolan Research per action, completing the Parabolan piece in 40 actions. Note that using the Visionary Student will significantly increase Nightmares (+40 CP per Theorem), impacting and EPA.
    • Cora Bagley (from completing Ambition: Heart's Desire! will complete Parabolan Research in the same 40 actions, but without generating Nightmares.
    • Esurient Smith (from completing Ambition: Nemesis) will complete Parabolan Research in 27 actions.
    • Hephaesta (from completing Ambition: Light Fingers!) will complete Parabolan Research in 28 actions.
  • Depending on the options you have available and considering 2 actions to start and finish, the Project will take from 471 (429+2+40) to as little as 417 (388+27+2) actions to complete, resulting in 3.32 EPA to 3.75 EPA

    Note: Actually getting the Impossible Theorem is a very difficult Watchful challenge (level 500). Even with max Watchful stat and gear it will likely take about 3 attempts to succeed (and failure gives Wounds). So this grind will effectively consume a few extra actions on average (either for directly repeating the challenge or for getting Second Chances to use). The impact on EPA should be negligible.

• Investigating Queenly Attar via Kataleptic Toxicology: This works in the same way as the Impossible Theorem-grind explained above, only substituting branches based on Red Science with branches based on Kataleptic Toxicology. Assuming that the player has a modified Kataleptic Toxicology-level of 9, the Laboratory Research can be built in 16 actions. With Toxicology-level of 10, you'll only need 15 actions. With Fate (and the right profession and Ambition), a max of 12 Toxicology is possible, which requires only 13 actions. Raising the Parabolan research can be done in a single action if you use the Esurient Smith or Hephaesta, or two actions otherwise. As usual, note the Honey cost of entering Parabola.

  So with 10 Toxicology and no Smith/Hephaesta: (62.5 (reward) - 2 (honey cost)) / (15 (research) + 2 (Parabolan research) + 2 (start and finish)) = 3.18 EPA

  With 10 Toxicology and with the Smith/Hephaesta: (62.5 - 2) / (14 + 1 + 2) = 3.56 EPA

  The max possible (Toxicology 12): (62.5 - 2) / (13 + 1 + 2) = 3.78 EPA

Bone Market-based Grinds

• Mammoth Ranching. Even more complicated and arguably more demanding than Fossilised Apes, but also more profitable - it has an estimated EPA of higher than 5.5.
• Assembling Fossilised Apes. Relatively complicated grind with high and varied requirements. For maximum efficiency, you need to have high stats (Dangerous 285 and Shadowy 292) and skills (A Player of Chess 7 and Monstrous Anatomy 15), right equipment combinations (outfits with Dreaded 15+ and Monstrous Anatomy 10+/Dreaded 7+ and Respectable 7+/Bizarre 7+ and Respectable 7+), somewhat developed Railway (Ealing Gardens Commercial Development 2, Revisions to the Business Model of a Butchery, Cabinet Noir, Special Dispensation, Train Defences 2, no Seeing Banditry in the Upper River), and an Aurochs. Steps:
  • Intervene on the side of order, Present yourself as something out of their nightmares, Flash your Special Dispensation twice, Accept a share of the small crate stolen from the Bone Market. 4 actions for a Human Ribcage, 25 Bone Fragments and 1 CP Suspicion. Each time you get to 33 CP Suspicion, Take the sleeper all the way to Balmoral, cover your tracks 11 times, Eliminate a good deal of suspicion and return to London. Since you spend 14 actions and gain 5 echoes from selling two Rumours of the Upper River, 1 CP Suspicion can be abstracted as additional 0.42 actions/0.15 echoes. Total - 4.42 actions for a Human Ribcage, 25 Bone Fragments and 0.15 echoes.
  • Buy 4 Fossilised Forelimbs in Anning and Daughters and Duplicate the skull of an Aurochs. Total - 1 action and 200 Hinterland Scrip for 4 Fossilised Forelimbs and a Horned Skull (Bone Fragments and Nodules of Warm Amber are abstracted below).
    • Each skull costs 975 Bone Fragments (1000 - 25 from brawling). To cover that, every 19 skeletons, brawl for a Human Ribcage, buy 4 Fossilised Forelimbs, Buy a Sabre-toothed Skull off him, Affix a Sabre-toothed Skull, Apply four Fossilised Forelimbs, Declare your Skeleton a completed Ape, Sell a complete skeleton to the Bone Hoarder. You gain 18530 Bone Fragments (18505 from skeleton value and 25 from brawling) - 5 more than needed. 13.42 actions and 325 Scrip loss, 5.2 echoes (selling excess Bone Fragments, Rumours and Unearthly Fossils) gain. Total per skeleton - 0.7 actions and 17.1 Scrip loss, 0.27 echo gain.
    • Each skull costs 5 Nodules of Warm Amber. To cover that, every 375 skeletons repeat the process above but Sell your skeleton to a Zailor instead. You gain 1875 Nodules of Warm Amber - exactly as much as needed. 13.42 actions and 325 Scrip loss, 5.4 echoes (selling Bone Fragments, Rumours and Unearthly Fossils) gain. Total per skeleton - 0.03 action and 0.86 Scrip loss, 0.01 echo gain.
  • Build on the Human Ribcage, Affix a Horned Skull, Apply four Fossilised Forelimbs, Declare your Skeleton a completed Ape, Sell to an Author of Gothic Tales. Total - 8 actions, 4 Fossilised Forelimbs and a Horned Skull for 365 Hinterland Scrip (275 from base value and 90 from selling 18 Carved Balls of Stygian Ivory).
  • (4.42 +1 +0.7 +0.03 +8) 14.15 actions for (-200 -17.1 -0.86 +365) 147.04 Scrip (~74.7 echoes) and (0.15 + 0.27 + 0.01) 0.43 Echoes. 14.15 actions for ~75.13 echoes. 5.31 EPA minus the actions spent on travel to/from Ealing Gardens (the more resources you start with/the longer you repeat this loop stockpiling more and more on individual steps each time, the closer this comes to 5.31 EPA).
  • If your Monstrous Anatomy is lower than 15, this grind still can be very profitable. Failure chance on applying a Fossilised Forelimb can be abstracted as adding 1.x Antiquity instead of 2 per Forelimb - removing 4 Scrip from skeleton reward/2.03 from total echoes on average per each missing point. 5.16 EPA at 14, 5.02 EPA at 13, 4.87 EPA at 12, 4.73 EPA at 11, 4.59 EPA at 10.

• Assembling victim skeletons. Very simple grind, requiring only Licentiate profession and to have (or have an ability to get down to) zero Bizarre or Dreaded. No items or skill-checks are required at all. Supply a skeleton of your own then cap this with a victim’s skull, declare it a humanoid and sell it to the Theologian or the Grandmother - their bonus payout means that even for a such low-value skeleton you get 15 echoes worth of items. At four actions, that makes this grind 3.75 EPA. As Crates of Incorruptible Biscuits can be traded for Hinterland Scrip and thus for Tinned Hams and back to echoes for an effective +1.6%, it can be upgraded to 3.81 EPA with two discounted actions.

• Breaking down skeletons: Start building a new skeleton with a Human Ribcage, then immediately break down the skeleton). This is a Dangerous challenge which is 100% straightforward with Dangerous 250. It yields 625 x Whispered Hints on success, which means 3.125 EPA. Even if your Dangerous is somewhat lower, failure gets you 625 x Bone Fragments on failure so on average it's still profitable.

Helicon House-based Grinds

Since the winter balance patch, Helicon House in Ealing Gardens is significantly less efficient, and the grinds fairly straightforward. Best results still require buying the fate locked Pendant of Helicon Amber.

• Grind 1: No free entrance. Enter with surface blooms, ‘Keep a close eye on everyone present’ 4 times in the entrance, then exit by nabbing a supply of Incorruptible Biscuits. Eventually turn in your casing by doing thefts of particular character in The Flit. Trade the Biscuits and marrow in for hinterland scrip at the upper river exchange and buy tinned ham to sell in London. This gives 3.21 EPA but requires a steady supply of surface blooms.

• Grind 2: Free entrance. Enter for free, ‘Keep a close eye on everyone present’ 4 times in the entrance, then exit by nabbing a supply of Incorruptible Biscuits in the entrance. Eventually turn in your casing by entering Helicon and lay claim to left-behind items in the Honey Den as quickly as possible. If you have a Helicon House Companion that grants Fitting In, this can be done immediately on entrance, but otherwise an additional action must be spent keeping an eye on everyone. Trade the Biscuits and marrow in for hinterland scrip at the upper river exchange and buy tinned ham to sell in London. This cycle is 3.63 EPA or 3.93 EPA depending on whether you have a +Fitting In companion.

• FATE-locked: Grind 3: Fate locked pendant and +fitting companion. Enter with pendant, ‘Keep a close eye on everyone present’ three times in the entrance, then exit by nabbing a supply of Incorruptible Biscuits in the entrance. Then enter again with a +fitting companion, and immediately lay claim to left-behind items in the Honey Den. Trade the Biscuits and marrow in for hinterland scrip at the upper river exchange and buy tinned ham to sell in London. This is 4.05 EPA.

Companions

Different companions can be used to improve the above grinds. Unless you need +fitting, simply use the best one you have available and use their option when you can. From best to worst:

Fascination > Own spouse > Casing > Inspired > Fitting > Going alone > Investigating

Luck-based Grinds

The following have a range in pay-outs and should only be considered in large batches for an overall EPA.

• Polythreme with a 5 card lodgings (2.1 EPA on a perfect run, averages 1.71 - 1.76 EPA depending on luck odds and excluding the cost of getting to/from Polythreme and acquiring an extra card for the grind)
• Tale of the Fidgeting Writer (~1.92 EPA without grinding items, ~1.57 with grinding. It is recommended that players convert large batches of Tales of Terror (e.g., thousands) at a time given the heavy RNG influence in this storyline.
  • This storyline requires at least Watchful 120, though it is composed entirely of Luck challenges.
• Heists in the Flit (1.94 to 1.998 EPA, depending on risks taken. Read the entire comment section for details.) [The new heists kicked this into competitive territory, but they're still very chance-based--a simulator suggests an EPA of approximately 1.78, once accounting for Luck challenges and Menace gains. Heists also require a substantial preliminary investment in order to maximize the player's chances, such as Intricate Kifers, Dreaded 10, and a 5-Card Lodging.
• Port Carnelian (1.9+ EPA)
  • 2.1+ EPA with optimal (within sane limits) strategy. Port Carnelian may be used to raise Tribute for the Orphan-grind as well.

Reference

These aren't grinds, classically, but are here to show you how many echoes you're earning in various repeatable activities:

• Calling in Favours at the Shuttered Palace, Forgotten Quarter, and Wolfstack Docks gives 4.2 Echoes of items per favour, for an EPA of 2.1.
  • If players call in their Society Favours at Court, this is increased. After saving up 6x Society Favours, they may be exchanged in a total of 3 actions (Traveling to the Court and calling in Favours twice) to obtain a profit of 25 E, or 2.8 EPA. Calling in those 6 Favours normally would give 25.2 E for 6 actions, at the regular 2.2 EPA.
  • Calling in favours in the Flit to turn in Revolutionaries favours gives 12.6e for a total of four actions (3.15 EPA), 25 scraps + Bundle of Oddities (max value 230) (12.17e in scraps + 1.64e in oddities = 13.81e/4a = 3.46 EPA) for Urchin favours or 12e worth of items for four actions (3 EPA) for Criminal favours. Note that the common sources of Revolutionaries favours give a point of Suspicion, give a point of Suspicion and Scandal on failure or cost 50p in Compromising Documents.
• A furious and incoherent drunken rat gives 1.5 x [modified Shadowy] pence per action in exchange for 6 CP of Someone is Coming, with a 1% rare success of 230e. With maximum Shadowy (including a Mood, a Profession, and Overcapping), the rat can give up to 4.7e per theft; including the rare success, this option gives a maximum of approximately 7 echoes per attempt on average, or 1.15 echoes per SiC CP. SiC may also be exchanged for A Gift from the Capering Relicker; if exchanged at exactly SiC 4, it is possible to get 1.2 echoes per SiC CP. Typically, it is most profitable to steal from the rat until SiC is at exactly 4, and then accept the gift from the Relicker. SiC may be gained through Conflict Cards, which are typically profitable on their own, so the overall EPA is not necessarily meaningful to parse.
• Spending time in Polythreme to grind Touching Love Stories, Bazaar Permits, or Stolen Kisses (as well as Surface-Silk Scraps or Romantic Notions) gives on average 1.6 EPA for players with a five-card lodging. (This does not include the actions needed to reach Polythreme in the first place.)
• Edit a book of meditations on the Anchoress (1.47 EPA and a Scandal decrease)
• A Shrine of the Deep Blue Heaven (1.34 EPA |3 progress| or 1.27 EPA |2 progress|, supplies via Connected: Docks and the Tankard)
• Pygmalion:Lyme (1.22 EPA in Glim, (30.8*111+700)e/33.8a)
• Beastly Breeding: Somnolent Hyaena(1.3~1.22 EPA, depending on breeding method)
• Thefts of a Particular Character (1.26 EPA [with a Gang of Hoodlums])
• Velocipede Squad (1.23 EPA)
• Foreign Office (1.2 EPA)
• Pygmalion:Devil (1.19 in Nevercold Brass, (34.1*111+1000)e/40.3a)

Unfinished Business

Most Unfinished Business storylets average 1 Echo per action in a specific type of item. Note that this means they are roughly equivalent to a 2 EPA grind that is used to buy the items directly from the Bazaar. Rare successes and ranged successes alter the overall EPA of Unfinished Business in the following instances:

• Unfinished Business: A sure bet (1.2525 EPA)
• Unfinished Business: Shake down your agent (1.25 EPA)
• Unfinished Business: Eavesdropping, The prince of..., Doing the decent thing., Wade into the Ring Fights (1.21 EPA)
• Unfinished Business: any other option that gives out rare successes (1.15 EPA)
• Unfinished Business: the other options (1.1 EPA)
• Unfinished Business: The study of antiquities, A lovely thought, An admirer among the clergy, A literary sort of fist-fight, Contracts and legs (1 EPA)
• Unfinished Business: The anatomy of a secret, Mischief and brass (.95 EPA)

Unknown EPA

• Robbing various locales
• Duelling the Black Ribbon
• Acquiring Exhibits for the Labyrinth of Tigers
• Fate Velocipede Squad (1.2 EPA with new carousel ending, 2.5e with new card)
• Fate Foreign Office (1.17 EPA with new carousel ending)
• Fate Apis Meet (1.4 EPA incl. the bribe to stay another day, 2.9 EPA on the last day, reduced by the voyage)

Cards

This section only lists cards with greater than 1.5 EPA.

• Arbor, of the Roses by grinding massive amounts of Attar and then cashing it all out via Gift your Attar in tribute to the Roseate Queen can get up to 6.02 EPA if done in massive enough batches. More information can be found here.
• The Neath's Mysteries (A strange sort of prank gives 4e to each player; the card is only drawn at your Lodgings)
• A Visit (with the relevant base stat at 200, gives 4e from Repentant Forger or Wry Functionary, 3e from Sardonic Music-Hall Singer, 5e from Regretful Soldier)
• All fear the Overgoat! (Overgoat no longer required) gives 3.65 EPA at maximum base Watchful (scales with base Watchful)
• The High Castle: What Occurs in a Rooftop Shack (3e). Acquaintance: a Repentant Forger 9 is required to 100% the action; failing the check increases your Acquaintance.
• One's public (3e, but with a very difficult Persuasive challenge: 334 to 100%. Provides its own Confident Smiles.)
• The Paronomastic Newshound (2.5e)
• The mechanics of progress (average gain of [modified Watchful] pence in Cryptic Clues)
• Promenade with the Celebrated Artist's Model (2.5e + some Making Waves)
• Wolfstack in the fog -> A huddled form (2.5e plus a Bundle of Oddities [144] from Find him a job, only in Wolfstack docks with Airs 0-75)
• Once upon a time in a carriage (2.1e)
• The Lofty Tower: the Potential of Premises at the Bazaar (2e + 4 scraps [3.7e incl. scraps])
• More Larks with the Young Stags (1.9+e, depending on how Favours are traded in)
• A day out in your Clay Sedan Chair (1.8e with For a little sport, or a Society Favour with Treating Them Well)
• Obtaining Collections of Curiosities from the War of Assassins, then exchanging them via the Tomb-Colonies faction card (1.81 EPA)
  • This option requires PoSI status to unlock the War of Assassins. It is also worth noting that it requires drawing the Tomb-Colonies card twice, once to obtain a Favour and once to cash it in. It is thus possible that the player will find themselves with more Collections than Favours, causing a bottleneck in the grind. Additionally, as Tomb-Colonist Favours are worth 4.4 Echoes on their own, the opportunity cost of cashing in Collections leads the net EPA to be approximately 1.77 EPA. There are several ways to increase the rate at which players obtain Tomb-Colonies Favours, including by owning a Bandaged Raven and by drawing cards at The University.
• A Polite Invitation: Without drawing any opportunity cards during the party, taking Favour in High Places when possible, and cashing in Favours: Society, the direct yield is 13.05 echoes on an average of 7.44 actions, for 1.75 EPA (better may be possible). Moreover, it provides up to 7 additional card draws (for Exceptional Friends who start the party with 3 cards in hand), which increases the expected EPA of future actions.
• What will you do with your Grubby Kitten? (1.7e)

Rare Frequency Cards:

• A disgraceful spectacle (12.5e, sell the item to allow the card to appear again)
• A commotion above! (2.9/2.5/2.2e, only in your lodgings)
• The Bonfire of the Decencies (7.5e, but requires high bizarre, 6+ bizarre give greater then 5e)

Grinding (3200) Scraps to trade in with one of the Relickers for a Tier 8 (1562.5e) item is only efficient if an average rate of 3+ Scraps per action is maintained, giving roughly 1.5 EPA. Scraps are generally worth approximately .5e each.

The Nadir

The Nadir, which is unlocked with the conclusion of the Secular Missionary storyline, is also a notable source of profit. However, players are forcibly ejected from the cave when reaching 10 x Irrigo. It is not possible to return until the next visit from Time, the Healer (unless they wish to pay 50 Fate). Accumulating large amounts of Irrigo results in significant reduction of the four main attributes.

• The End of Battles: 62.5e, costs 3 Second Chances. The Give a Gift! card may give 4 Second Chances per action to players with at least Hedonist 8. (2 x Irrigo)
• Old Bones: ~12.5e, requires Fate-locked A Daughter in the Shadows. (1 x Irrigo)
• An Unlikely Garden: 62.5e, ~16% success rate with Persuasive 200 and max non-Mood gear bonuses (i.e. ~10e on average). (2 x Irrigo)
• Woods in winter: One Favour for Society, Great Game, and Revolutionary each, plus 1 CP of Dramatic Tension (requires a visit to Millicent's Parlour during the Feast of the Rose in February). (2 x Irrigo)
• The Catafalquerie
  • A casket marked with a black ribbon: 312.65e, costs 7 Taste of Lacre. (2 x Irrigo)
  • An empty casket Average 11.25e (2 x Irrigo)
  • Rebels who will not rise: 5e, Requires The Great Game - A Fine Piece in the Game. (1 x Irrigo)
  • A casket marked with a familiar name: On average, gives 1.25e + 1.25e x Nightmares level; also doubles the player's current Nightmares level. (2 x Irrigo). Note that players are not sent to the Mirror-Marches or A State of Some Confusion until leaving the Nadir, so this option is repeatable with Nightmares values substantially higher than 8.
• Losing 12e (2 x Irrigo) (alternatively, 2.48e for 1 x Irrigo)
• Lost at Sea: 2.5e, requires An Experienced Zailor 25 for 100% (2 x Irrigo), or Ambition: Light Fingers! 47 (1 x Irrigo)
• An Altarful of Strangers: 2.5e, requires Persuasive 333 for 100% (1 x Irrigo)
• "Waking Dream" cards allow to trade 10 CP of Having Recurring Dreams: Is Someone There?, A Game of Chess or Death by Water for 12.5e. Drawing those cards requires Nightmares 2, 4, and 6 respectively. A Weakness in the Air can increase all Dreams qualities by 1 CP (1 x Irrigo for each option mentioned).

The most profitable action in the game is A special delivery? although it is very expensive (in terms of actual money). There are more efficient ways to gain Echoes via Fate, see the section on Fate-locked grinds at the top of the page.

Historical

Some grinds have been nerfed so much are simply become unavailable that they are not mentioned on this page anymore. These grinds are preserved here for historical interest but are no longer relevant for Money-Making.