Survival Log How to Drone Trade

Contactless drone trade lets Survival Log players move goods with distant survivors without walking every block of a ruined city. The fantasy is modern logistics under apocalypse rules: you keep risk off your body, but you still pay with stockpile truth. This guide covers when to haggle, what to keep, what to trade, and why emptying a “full-looking” warehouse is how quiet runs die. Midnight Workshop and Lilith Games ship a single-player demo now, with full release aimed at August 12, 2026. Planning Points still decide whether trade day was clever or cosplay.

What drone trade is for

Use drones to fill a named gap, not to collect stories. If Loot Spotter or your Stockpile Planner shows missing water, fuel, boards, or medicine dimensions, trade toward those gaps. If the gap is vanity furniture, walk away. Pair geography notes with City Locations and time risk with Exploration Risk.

Drone trade is a sibling to walking loops in How to Explore. Walking teaches site danger and flashlight discipline on places like the Ruined Supermarket in Exploration Sites. Drones teach opportunity cost: every can you send out is a can you cannot cook tonight in Cooking.

Haggling: keep versus trade

Haggling is inventory ethics under pressure. Keep:

• Tier 0 water and calorie buffers from Food and Water.
• Diesel and generator consumables from Fuel and Power Gear unless the trade is literally replacement fuel at a better ratio.
• Boards, nails, and trap resets tied to How to Defend and Traps.
• Cold-weather kits when Weather and Cold pressure is active.

Trade:

• Duplicate tools you already installed.
• Low-value bulk that blocks Floor Layout paths.
• Surplus after mouth-count math includes possible rescues from How to Rescue Neighbor.

If a deal demands your last heater fuel during a cold snap, it is not a deal. If a deal closes an eighteen-dimension checklist hole described in Checklist Dimensions, it can be worth a less sentimental item.

When not to empty the stockpile

“Looks full” is not a metric. Full of mismatched snacks while water is thin is still poverty. Clerk-minded players should reread Warehouse Clerk. Never drone-trade yourself below the quiet-night line on the Priority Checklist. Never trade away fridge-powered safety if Power Grid is already fragile.

Smart Actions may suggest tidy chores while a tempting trade window is open. See Smart Actions — sometimes the correct override is “ignore suggestion, finish the trade thesis,” and sometimes it is “ignore trade, board the door.”

Role and Planning Points notes

College Student runs may lean on creative swaps; Worker runs may overvalue haulables; Warehouse Clerk runs should excel at refusing bad ratios. Compare in Roles Comparison. Spend Planning Points on one trade thesis per day when possible. Split focus creates the classic wipe: half a deal, half a fortify, fully exposed at dusk.

Demo drills

1. Mark three gaps in the Stockpile Planner.
2. Offer only surplus SKUs that do not touch those gap categories.
3. Cancel any trade that would drop a Tier 0 row.
4. Return, cook, and log results in Day Planner.

Track balance changes in Demo Update and systems polish notes in Dev Log Systems. Drone trade should shorten danger, not outsource your entire stockpile brain.