This method is not for everyone, but pretty much anyone can do it.

If you're starting from a fresh save, you're going to have a difficult time, but I would recommend grabbing the Fire Axe you can find in the Crossroads by the railroads if you want to go melee. You can find it hanging on one of those red tool displays. Not sure how else to describe it. If you already have money, I'd stock up on bandages and MREs at the Observatory BEFORE ever coming to the slums.

When you reach the Slums (I recommend taking the Crossroads -> Depot -> Slums route, but that's just me), you'll want to find the Lone Wolf Saloon as soon as possible.



I believe you start off facing West. You're gonna want to get off the bridge. I usually turn left (South) off this ramp and immediately head down to street level. Do so however you see fit as there are multiple ways to do so. The Saloon will be on the North side of the Slums, so keep your cardinal directions in mind so you don't get lost. The Slums are small, but they can be confusing to navigate at first. It's surprisingly complicated terrain, which can be used to your advantage later.



Head on down the road while avoiding the various armed enemies, mutated enemies, and anomalies that will try to destroy you. There are paths within and behind the buildings, so take things slow and hide if you must. You just need to get to the vault door with the large "Saloon" sign above it.



Once inside, you'll need to know four things. First, you'll want to rent a room from this guy. You can buy the Saloon Bedroom Key and Whiskey, and trade him golden items for a higher than normal price. Good to keep in mind, but the golden items aren't relevant to our purposes. What you'll want is that key for $500 a pop. I'd actually recommend buying a second key to store in the bedroom's storage locker, but that's just me. It's not necessary, but you'll be buying many more keys in the near future, anyways.



Second is the Trading Post, where you'll be offloading any unwanted guns, ammo, or other items you'll be looting. Be wary of this NPC's prices, they are at a premium and much more expensive than elsewhere. $60 for bandages is insane, but I've forked over the cash more than once. Price of doing business, really. This is actually why I recommended stocking up earlier. It's just an easy way to save some money and prevent this NPC from cutting too deep into your profits, but not strictly necessary.



Third is the bedroom, room 143, which is just a bed and a storage space like you have at the Observatory. If you're using Extraction rules, then obviously sleeping in the bed is a priority. You can use this room so long as you have the Saloon Bedroom Key in your inventory.



Fourth are the five armed NPCs you saw in the previous two images. They offer trades, which will be invaluable to you.

Getting gear to sell is very simple. You either play as a rat, or you pretend you're playing CoD. You'll probably be doing both at the same time. Play smart, be opportunistic, and try not to pick fights you know you can't win. There are multiple factions that will in-fight, and sometimes you can pick off whoever wins, since they'll be weakened. You can fight whoever you like, and if you have high rep with certain factions then you will have a much easier time. If you want everyone to be your enemy, though, you can just go wild. Be careful, though, since getting rep is difficult, and if it's too far negative then you can make it almost impossible to do quests.

Everyone but the Cultists are represented in the Slums. There is also an all-black wearing faction that doesn't SEEM to be friendly with the military. I think they're some other kind of Loner/Scav faction and they are always aggressive towards you, since they have no reputation associated with them. They're also often well-armed. Run or kill on sight.

Three or four groups of NPCs spawn in various buildings around the Slums, and you'll become familiar with their spawn locations and typical movements in time. It's too complicated and not worth going into detail, not to mention I don't know the specifics.

There are also fey/mutant human enemies that spawn. The various fey and mutated humans and acid spitters. Deal with them as you must, but they aren't profitable at all. At best you might get a Fire Axe or Sledge Hammer if you're desperate for a melee weapon. You'll probably be able to get a Bayonet knife in a trade soon enough.

There are a variety of anomalies that can appear, some are more deadly than others, though that also depends on what you find difficult to deal with. Most anomalies spawn on the center street, though they'll also be found inside the larger buildings at times. Be wary until you become familiar with the various anomalies that spawn, what they look like, and how they behave. If you're smart, you can use them to your advantage and sometimes kill enemies with them. It just makes looting them riskier...

WARNING: This section has been updated for the recent changes to NPC trading. Rather than having NPC request specific items in return for other specific items, you now have a barter system. Please be aware that this changes the dynamics, but the core method is still the same.

NOTE: It's also come to my attention that the Trait "Weird Luck" might effect trade offers since it "flattens" probability curves. I'm not certain of this, but if you have different results when trading than I do, the "Weird Luck" Trait might be the cause!

Once you've successfully looted some gear and supplies from the hostile Slum denizens, scoot on back to the Saloon and check the trade NPCs BEFORE heading to the Trading Post. NPCs trade on a (for now) cashless barter system. Sometimes you'll find trades that are more beneficial to you than selling the guns you looted. For this reason, I would suggest that you hold onto ammo or even some guns or other valuable items. Keep a variety, too, since NPCs sometimes have preferences for specific calibers of ammo or classes of gun, among other items. Variety and value are both important for advantageous bartering.



This is how the bartering interface looks. You offer your items in return for theirs. Notes that there are tiny (and somewhat difficult to see) arrows next to the prices of certain items, indicating the NPC's personal preference. Again, don't sell all of your guns. Keep a healthy stock in the bedroom storage so that you have resources to draw upon when you need it.



Here's a better view of the NPC's side of the menu. Notice that the red flare and shotgun have down arrows, another gun has an up arrow, and the pistol has no arrow at all? Those are indicators of relative value and can give you the edge you need when bartering, since they also exist for your own items. Trade your gun (that they want more) for their gun (that they want less). This isn't really a good way to make money, but it can be a good way to get gear that you want.

Also, you can VERY RARELY get offers for VERY GOOD gear, such as this Heavy Plate Armor for only $4400. I will gladly trade a handful of expensive guns for this Heavy Plate Armor. It's not even up for debate. Between this Heavy Plate Armor and a Ballistic Helmet I found elsewhere, I have 70% Kinetic (bullet) Resistance. With Medium Plate Armor I had 55% bullet resistance. That's not actually a 15% increase in resistance, but a (relative) 33% decrease in damage taken. I was taking 45% damage before, but now it's 30%. 33% less. That's absolutely insane and makes my life way easier. It will make your life easier, too, if you're lucky (and prepared) enough to find it in a trade.

Medium Plate and other mid-tier chest armors and helmets are much more common. This isn't a problem, since it still means that you can get good gear from a semi-reliable source. Here's some examples of gear, artifacts, and valuables that I've come across.









Yes, that IS a Regression Matrix. The Luftballoon shouldn't be ignored either. It stacks, too. If you have a stack of a couple Luftballoons, you'll be able to carry much more gear than before. Incredibly useful.

You can trade for several different artifacts with these NPCs. Glow-Sprouts and two other consumable artifacts are also possible, but are overall rare. Nothing consistent, but still nice to have a source you can use to build up your resources over time.

Finally, I would like to note that you used to be able to reset the trades available by reloading your save, exiting and reentering the Saloon, or by sleeping for 1 hour. That is now gone, and you have to wait 24 hours for the trades to refresh at midnight. This is the same for Shop NPCs, for what it's worth.

$3,000,000 / 365 days = ~$8,219.18

Let's say you need to earn 8250 per day or a bit under $350 per hour. Every hour. There is no way that I know of to accomplish this during normal play. If you want to do it, then this guide is a solid method. Nowhere else has the same density of enemies with valuable gear in close proximity to a store where you can sell said gear, not to mention the storage and bed to save, and the NPCs to barter with.

If you want to make $3,000,000 for your debt (You can pay with cash-in-hand with the Black Market Broker in Black Lake), then you can do so in one year of in-game time using this method. There seem to be other ways to pay off large chunks of your debt, so it doesn't seem to be intended for you to pay it all off with cash. Even so, this is one option for you in case you don't want to go that route.

You will be able to make a thousand per Slum run rather easily, and often much more, which will let you make the $8200+ per day with plenty of breathing room. Depending on how thorough you are, how quickly you work, and when you decide to cut your losses, you can earn much more.

I probably make $10k per in-game day, and that's with me only selling the guns that I want to sell and hoarding all of the meds, grenades, bullets and other items I get. I'm also a collector and try to keep one of each gun I find. I don't even use guns; I'm strictly melee. I'd likely make upwards of $12k per day if I wasn't a pack rat. I'm not even terribly efficient with my time, either. This is not an upper limit by ANY means, and someone who knows what they're doing can likely get much more. It'll probably take me till day 300 to reach my target, but I know someone else will do better than me.

Good luck!