How to start into a successful vagrus' career

Character generation
I assume that it will be revised thoroughly. At the moment, if you don't know what to choose, I recommend an Imperial Adventurer Explorer - 3 additional points of resourcefulness costs a lot of insight otherwise.

According to the perks, there is one that I always choose from Leadership: Encourage. It allows you to call for perseverance in the evenings - very helpful in my opinion.

As I can't shake off being a role player, I then add what I feel right for a vagrus: from Professions Navigation, Persuasion and Evaluate, from Attributes Charismatic and Perceptive. To a mercenary Intimidation, Con, Skulker and Strong-Minded does also fit.

The first morning
You always start between the Twin Towers and Kernak Waystation, and heading for the Waystation is the only reasonable thing to do. The Twin Towers don't provide anything useful at this time.

So, you talk to "the old man" and then move to the Waystation. You will have one beast of burden, one mount, and a couple of workers (including slaves, unmodified numbers are 4 and 5), fighters (unmodified 7) and scouts (unmodified 2). You are also equipped with some supplies and at least 15 units of luxury wine. Other goods that may be picked during character generation are Dried Fruits, Timber, Coffee Beans or Ivory.

Kernak Waystation
In the Waystation, you will be pointed to potential tasks, and you should make use of one of them. You're left to some (bad) luck at this point as you can't compare the jobs - you have to take one and then got to know the requirements. The jobs range from escorting 3 to 8 persons and transporting cargo in 1 to 3 slots.

Now what to do if you don't have the necessary free slots? Sell something and / or see that you get an additional slot. If you start with 107 load units you can extend your capacity from 5 to 6 slots by buying another mount (8 units), one or to slaves slave (2 units each) and hiring 1 or 3 workers (1 unit each). If no mount is available, you may consider to rest in the Waystation, maybe (but not for sure) there is one offered the next morning. Having started as trader, you have already 6 slots thanks to you workers and the "Extra Storage" equipment. However, slots may also be filled by goods from the generation already. You have to sell some of them then. Otherwise you better don't do so as all of them give better prices at the next stop.

You can also take some additional passengers with you. The necessary crew for nourishing the passengers can be hired, but don't overdo it here. Maybe if you leave you will see an warning in the head bar, telling you that "Guarding your camp effectively puts a strain on your guards". You may ignore this for the moment as for some days you enjoy a "beginners protection" (as far as my experience tells me up to now). Otherwise, go back into the Waystation and hire fighters until the sign is gone. The warning is about your camp defense order. You have three options for this nightly defense: no guards, post (some) guards or post (many) guards. The latter is the one called "effectively" by the warning sign while the middle one is referred to by the fighter's tool-tip number. To calculate the necessary number of guards to make the warning disappear, multiply the tool-tip number with 1.5. Often, 1 fighter less is also sufficient. The best defense order has nice benefits so if possible, I advise this, but it's not mandatory.

And - it's no mistake that one third of your slots are filled with supplies. In fact, one fourth to one third is a reasonable contingent for the number of supply-slots. At some times, even filling up half of your slots or more with supplies may be a wise decision (e.g., when setting out from TZS to the Twin Towers with a well-defended comitatus: you can't refill much of your food during the journey of 6 days each, and 300 daily supplies for 12 day need 15 slots).

You can rest for this day or use the last movement points to set out in direction of Tor'Zag's Shelter. Resting results in faster movement the next day(s) if you don't have the bad luck of a vigor reduction event, so it's not a big difference in the end. You can either take the road or try a wilderness route. The first is faster and usually without problems. The other one allows you to gain first (and - by guess - unfortunately quite disappointing) experiences with foraging and hunting. Without good perk values and some additional bonuses, the results are meagre. So, my recommendation is to take the road. It will lead you to Tor'Zag's Shelter within four or five days, depending on (bad) luck.

On one of the evenings, I suggest to set the crew payment from "pay later" to "pay now", and to mark this as "keep setting". This allows you to have a better overview of your current financial state.

Tor'Zag's Shelter
At the first arrival, you'll be paid off outside the gates of TorZag's Shelter - that's uncommon later-on. You got 50 points of reputation for the faction your passengers belong to, 150 supplies and 2 Bros and 6 Lyrg.

In TorZag's Shelter you can sell your trading goods - not so much for some extra coins as for emptying cargo slots. The slots will be one of your central concerns during the next time: you will either have too few to put in all the interesting cargo or too much to gain a profitable outcome for the slot-related costs...

Take some time to check the current offers. Profit can be made by the tasks that you have been already proposed in the Waystation: escorting people and taking cargo jobs, plus own trading. (I did not try a villains life in Vagrus up to now, so I can't say whether plundering other beings' goods would be another viable approach.)

Be cautious with quests in the first in-game months. I think that initially I tried them too early, without having the necessary savings. Even if Vagrus is not meant as a trading or stagecoach simulation, in the beginning you should focus on it to build up a strong base for later actions.

That is, you have to decide where to go next. It should be a destination

- to which you can bring goods for someone who pays good,

- that maybe is the destination for some passengers

- and your tasks give you reputation, too.

In the early game, own trading is only helpful as fill-in for empty slots. The errand jobs are usually better, not at least if they offer reputation, too. Actually, there are not so many profitable goods - it boils down to pottery from TorZag's Shelter and marble from Arken.

If there are runs for Archerus Quarry and Vigilus Tower, you can combine them with going to Lumen. A trip to Fort Viridium should be well-considered as it takes around three additional days and you can't refill your supplies there. But if you're there, a visit in the Drusian Quarry extends the list of trading goods by obsidian, and the Quarry often has a better stock of supplies than the Fort.

Even if it's a bit annoying, circle some time only in this area, building up a financial cushion and learn how to best handle the random events.

Movement points
You have two types of movement points: regular ones and "march".

The regular ones start with a value of 10. It can be enhanced by a very good moral (8 or 9 give an additional point), a very high Vigor (again, it's 8 or 9 that add a point), the equipment pieces "Reinforced Cartwheels" and the "Dwarfen Compass", and assigning the deputy "Scout Master". Also, from time to time you come across a shrine of Irafons on your way where you can pray for a blessing, this adds two points for some days. Low values of Vigor and morale reduce the available movement points.

Marching is really stressful for your comitatus, so it will reduce morale, obedience and Vigor - if the crew is not immediately rewarded with entering a settlement at the end. If you can offer them a night in a mansio, they forgive something... Otherwise, it will need quite a time until the Vigor has restored, and the movement of a couple of days will be reduced - so it doesn't pay off in terms of travelling time.

Other settlement activities
While earning your first money, you can also build up a stock of rumors and trade news. It needs a little amount of coins but should pay off over time, and it doesn't need much time. Just visit the market in TZS and the inns in other towns.

Traders shops are generally worth to be explored.

Medical supplies can be obtained in infirmaries in unlimited (?) quantities, but some traders offer a single package to a better price.

Exploring the towns can be dangerous. Arken is quite harmless, in TorZag's Shelter (and later-on in Deven) you may die, especially as long as you don't have some companions.

Useful equipment
Which equipment is useful depends on your style. But if you don't already got it, "Extra Storage" pays off fast and fills a slot only in concurrence to the slave cages. Awnings fit in the "Miscellaneous" or the "Harness" slot, two slots with many useful options to choose from, but Awnings aren't that expensive - I rate them helpful enough for the coins to buy them even if they are not used over a long time.

At town exploration, you may come across other nice things, maybe the most important being one of the most expensive, too: a Dwarfen Compass. It gives you +1 movement per day and does share it's slot up to now only with the looking glass. In such a case a good financial cushion is crucial as it's a rare random event to got it offered...

The "Reinforced Cartwheels" (for another daily movement point) are available from some (?) factions in dependency of the reputation.

Expanding the comitatus
It's tempting to expand the comitatus soon. The second beast of burden is in reach maybe after one month of successful traveling. But it's not enough to have the coins for the beast. To take care of it, you need more workers. And the workers ask not only for food and money (either as slave price or salary) but also for more guards. And those in turn has to be payed and fed. That's alright as long as you can fill the slots you gain with other peoples' goods. (But first fill one fourth with supplies, don't forget.) A second beast of burden is good to have, a third still okay. But with four or even five, you probably start to have empty slots frequently, and that reduces your profit painfully. Some profit may be gained by circling instead of shuttling between TZS and another settlement, but you should keep an eye on whether it's still worth the fifth (and maybe even the fourth) beast.

A sixth beast is hardly necessary. As you need to hire workers or buy slaves anyway, by whom you will gain some extra slots, and the Extra Storage equipment is usually easy to get and always worth its price. So buy it not later than the third beast. If I buy a beast as long-term acquisition, I estimate 5 slaves plus 1 fighter in addition. If it's only a short-term expansion, I hire workers instead, and I keep the number of slaves at 27 or so - in case of getting some additional ones on the way. The 31th slave makes the others quite mutinous, so one better keeps the number lower that that. If enslaving a band of evildoers, getting rid of the most of them is recommendable if the threshold is crossed. If you can't sell them, setting them free may be cheaper than handling the side effects.

With Extra Storage, 5 beasts and 25 slaves, there are 26 slots. The Supercargo deputy brings this up to 30. Otherwise it may be better to use mounts as carriers while slots are needed, and make them Outriders the remaining time. 6 beasts are only of use if you don't have a supercargo and rely more on workers. (Notice that only 5 beasts profit from Extra Storage.)

At the moment, there's no way to gain more than 30 slots.

After being shattered in an ambush you will probably also consider how to enhance your defensive and offensive potential. More fighters? If you can effort the upkeep, of course. Mounts... I'm not so sure. If business runs well, yes, but they are expensive due to their nutrition demands. Armaments and Protected Harnesses are helpful but in concurrence to other pieces of equipment, and you have to get them offered. (Is it possible that they are only available from the second month?)

Thus, one important thing is to acquire enough "Resourcefulness" for several combat actions. That costs a lot of Insight but is effective. Another one seems to be the Perceptive perk as it reduces the chance of being ambushed - if I understand it correctly (I'm far from being sure about that).

Expanding the traveling range
If always the same settlements start to bore you or the replenishment of errand runs becomes delayed, it's time to look for other destinations. To me the Crimson Gate seems to be a good one because it adds other profitable trading goods, especially if taken together with the Mines of Plenty. Metals, jade, timber and dyes can fill empty slots of your comitatus.

The northwest beyond lumen covers two settlements that are much asked for by travelers: Crystal and Mirage. If you can collect enough passengers you may make a detour. In the early game they aren't suited as regular destinations in my opinion as they are too far and too less tasks to deliver. (However, maybe I only miss something important there?)

The Twin Towers are of relevance if you try to become well-known in House Darius but you can't replenish you supplies there. Only once they'll give you additional supplies, that's all. The region east of the road allows some foraging but not enough for survival (especially with low perk values). So up to now I classify expeditions to the Twin Towers as a loss-making venture (as regards coins).

In the north Deven awaits you. It seems to me that you should have at least a second beast of burden before going there as you need to stock supplies for half a month, and the long distance calls for good merchandising. Brightkelp sells well there but is offered only in small quantities, so wait until you find a sufficient amount of errand runs and some passengers.

Scrap Metal and oil from Deven can be sold in the Mines of Plenty. The direct way is tangent to Salum. Eastwards Auguros Work Camp is located, asked for e.g. by slavedrivers. Both settlements sell salts at least in low quantities but a good stock of supplies should be prepared when heading for them, as they have a general shortage by themself.