For a beginner-focused setup, choose Probably Stolen starting perks that add cash, support scavenging, or protect the store, but you cannot select perks on your very first run. Once selection is available, you have 3 perk points, with negative perks refunding points that can fund positive choices. Savings, Proficient Scavenger, and Short Sleeper offer a starting combination if you want extra Credits, more searches, and after-hours outings without losing a customer the following day.
Understand the point budget and perk slots
A starting build must finish with no more than 3 points spent, and the normal selection limit is 4 perks. These are separate restrictions: getting points back from a negative perk does not itself increase the number of perks you can select. Colorful Character costs 1 point and raises the slot limit to 7, so consider it when your intended combination needs more room.
Selecting a perk locks conflicting choices, so check compatibility before planning around a refund. For example, Proficient Scavenger cannot accompany Maimed, while Welfare Program cannot accompany Banned from the Commissary. Perk adjustments to Credits, rent, and reputation also stack with your starting scenario; judge the resulting setup rather than treating a perk's listed adjustment as your entire starting balance or rent.
Choose a starting combination for your priorities
Savings, Proficient Scavenger, and Short Sleeper each cost 1 point, making them a combination within the starting allowance. Savings supplies 150 additional Credits, Proficient Scavenger raises Dumping Ground searches per visit from 5 to 7, and Short Sleeper removes the next-day customer cost of going out after hours. Choose this combination for those specific benefits rather than expecting it to prevent robberies, which is Vigilant's separate effect.
If nighttime theft is your priority, Vigilant costs 2 points and prevents nighttime robberies, leaving room in the allowance for Savings. Alternatively, Vending Machine costs 2 points and places a vending machine outside your store from the start to sell goods during the night. Paired with Savings, that choice combines additional starting cash with nighttime selling, whereas the Vigilant pairing combines cash with protection from nighttime robbery.
Careful Scavenger is a free alternative if avoiding Dumping Ground wounds matters more to you than the number of searches. It prevents those wounds but lowers searches per visit from 5 to 3, and it cannot be selected with Maimed. Compare that explicit trade-off with Proficient Scavenger's increased search count before choosing which scavenging benefit you want in your starting setup.
Compare immediate Credits with Welfare Program
Savings gives its additional starting Credits directly, while Welfare Program offers a different form of support for 1 point. Welfare Program opens the Commissary immediately and includes a Magnifying Glass, the Food Stamp Identification Handbook, and Mentor's Note: Food Stamps. It also grants a wealth-dependent Food Stamp on day 1 and every Monday, so its continuing benefit depends on your wealth rather than staying at a fixed value.
Welfare Program calculates wealth as your Credits plus a third of the value of your goods, so cash alone does not determine the award. The Food Stamp is worth 160 Credits at wealth up to 1,200, then 120 up to 1,800, 80 up to 2,400, and 40 up to 3,000. Above 3,000 wealth there is no award, and Banned from the Commissary is incompatible with this plan because it removes Commissary access and prevents Food Stamps from appearing.
Separate reputation bonuses from earning bonuses
Diplomatic costs 2 points and increases reputation earned from trades and bargaining by 33%. Treat that as a reputation benefit when comparing builds, rather than applying the percentage to sale prices. Sycophant costs 1 point and specifically adds 15 starting Upper Levels reputation, increases reputation gains with that group by 25%, and gives its customers 10% more budget.
Model Citizen is another specialized choice: for 1 point, it adds 30 starting Security reputation. It also increases the Credits and reputation rewards from reports and Aug kills by 50%, tying the reward bonus to those activities. It conflicts with Convict, so choose it for that Security-focused benefit rather than assuming it improves the return on every ordinary shop transaction.
Use equipment and service perks for specific costs
Handy costs 1 point and starts you with a shabby toolbox, screwdriver, wire cutter, crowbar, and plasma cutter. If your priority is store power instead, Makeshift Reactor costs 1 point and supplies a Makeshift Micro Nuclear Reactor from the start. The reactor removes the power fee and blackouts but needs repairs, so the perk's benefit comes with an ongoing maintenance requirement.
Wild's Favorite costs 1 point, reduces Joe Wild's network upgrade costs by 10%, and cuts insurance costs by 50%. It conflicts with On Wild's Bad Side, while Tinkerer separately costs 1 point and gives an upgrade a 20% chance of not consuming its material. Compare these by the expense they affect: Wild's Favorite discounts the named services, whereas Tinkerer's material saving is a chance attached to an upgrade.
Sawyer's Crew costs 1 point and grants both Underground Exchange and Janitorial Service from the start. Its Janitorial Service is free, with a separate, reduced charge following vandalism rather than an unconditional promise of free cleanup in that situation. Choose it for those access and service benefits, and compare it with Handy's starting equipment or the reactor's power benefits according to what you want the perk to provide.
Read negative perks as costs attached to extra points
Minimalist refunds 2 points but shrinks the main inventory from 24x10 to 20x10, while Ascetic refunds 4 and reduces it to 16x10. They conflict with each other, so you cannot combine both inventory reductions as a source of points. Maimed refunds 2 points but prevents Dumping Ground scavenging altogether, making it unsuitable for a plan built around Proficient Scavenger.
Awful Negotiator refunds 3 points, but it disables bargaining and applies a 5% penalty to everything bought and sold. Bad Lease refunds 1 point while adding 40 Credits to starting rent, and Side Street refunds 1 while removing a random customer each day. Prime Real Estate takes the opposite customer trade-off: it costs no points and adds a random customer daily, but raises starting rent by 75 Credits and conflicts with Side Street.
Gambling Addiction refunds 1 point and supplies a scratcher, but it also brings the Lottery Representative and weekly draw forward to day 1 instead of day 15. Offered Lottery Tickets costing 25 Credits and scratchers costing 20 Credits are automatically bought for you, up to 5 at a time. That automatic spending is part of the choice, so weigh it alongside the refunded point when planning a cash-focused start.
Check which choices the Mind Reprogrammer can change
The Mind Reprogrammer can remove an active perk on its editable list or add a listed perk that is not negative. That list includes Diplomatic, Proficient Scavenger, Short Sleeper, Vigilant, Careful Scavenger, Minimalist, Ascetic, and Awful Negotiator, among other named options. Its restriction to a defined list means you should check the exact perk before choosing a starting drawback with the intention of removing it later.
Changing a perk consumes charges equal to its point value and imposes a cooldown of 5 days per point. Each Electronic Parts (Hypertech) supplies 1 charge, making both charges and the cooldown relevant to a later adjustment. For your starting selection, prioritize benefits you want immediately and drawbacks you can accept while they remain active, rather than relying on the device to erase any inconvenient choice.