Best Way To Make Money Sunless Sea

Go to the Admiralty's Office and offer to bring them scouting reports, then just make sure to dock at every port you find whilst exploring and take a look around. The further the port is from London, the more money it's worth and as long as you do this while taking other missions, eventually you'll start to make some profit.

Slenn

Cosplaying Nuclear Physicist

CeeBod said:

I've just recently got into Sunless Sea too, and what I've found so far is that carrying Clay Men from Polythreme to London is a pretty good earner (Sphinxstone from the Salt Lions probably pays even better but needs 20 cargo spaces, so I think that's more of a later-game thing), smuggling sunlight in a mirror-box pays very well if you're willing to take the risks, and the fact that every port report submitted to the admiralty earns 1 fuel and some money each time means that it's always worth calling in at any ports you're passing just to pick up a new port report.

Each time I head out from London with a plan to do something in 1 or 2 ports, and on the way there/way back I stop off at every damn place on the map, and that always results in profits!

I dunno, sphinxstone seems easy enough if it's along a regular path. It worked out for me going to Venderbight. But the last shipment of sphinxstone takes you far SE towards Adam's Hand. That one will take more fuel to find. Clay men from Polythreme was much farther out for me, almost towards the far upper NE part of the map. And I reached them after I was able to reach the Salt Lions. Remember that the maps are procedurally generated, so a path for selling stuff on the market will depend on what you get.

The port reports are the easiest way to make cash. The best way to do it is to go in a cardinal direction (like North) and then head back to London, gathering any reports from locations. Beware of the Iron Republic in the far south! Getting a port report there will make you lose a point in Pages and you'll get 10 terror upon giving the report to the Admiralty office. They're also the easiest way to get fuel upon returning. Try going out further each time so you can find the places for the special intelligence reports (since they take a bit more time to find than the local ports.)

Slenn

Cosplaying Nuclear Physicist

Oh yeah! One other thing that helped me at least:
Unlock the access to the university as soon as you can. You can sell some of your stories there as well as many odd things you might find during your travels (like searing enigmas or outlandish artifacts). Although the items the university wants will be items you may want to use elsewhere to get other significant boons. Since 7 outlandish artifacts can be used to create an almanac, which increases your pages by 7. A lot of items in the game have more than one use for them.

bluepotatosack

Sphinxstone is definitely the way to go early game, I think. As soon as you have enough money for the 200 echo deposit start making the run to the Salt Lions. Don't be afraid of having less than 20 free spaces in your hold when you set out, as you'll be using fuel and supplies on your journey anyway. I usually try to load up on fuel and supplies and pick up the sphinxstone on the return trip.

Always a good idea to get the missions from the admiralty, too (you get 150 a pop). You just have to have a reputation of 3 or better, which you can easily get on your first voyage. Just make absolutely sure to get a port report from every place you stop (assuming you can). Generally the farther away the island is, the more the reports are worth.

Plus, instead of buying fuel, use some of your standing with the admiralty to get fuel instead. 1 reputation point for 2-3 fuel.