A step by step guide for starting your own business in the station maintenance tunnels* Starting your own business onboard a NT-Affiliated station is a safe and fun way to make a little extra money during a shift. Simply follow this guide to get started!

The first step to making your own Build-A-Vend (BaV) is to construct a vending frame. This can easily be done with 3 standard size metal sheets. If you are lucky, some might already be nearby. Once you have it built, simply wrench it into place. If you make a mistake. no worries, just wrench it again to move it once more.

Now that you have your frame in place it is time to add the most important part of the BaV, a Vending Module. If you found this guide in it's original resting place, one may be near by if you look close enough. Otherwise the module can be printed at any general fabricator for a small amount of conductive material.

Once the module is in place, it is time to finish the frame and activate the BaV. Add 5 cables to the inside and then place the front cover using 2 standard size glass sheets. Finally, activate the BaV with a screwdriver.

With the BaV activated, it is time to register yourself as the owner. First swipe your ID and enter your PIN as if you were to purchase something. Next unscrew the acces panel as you would with any other vending machine. Finally, select the registered owner field to designate the BaV as your own and link it to your bank account.

Now that your BaV fully activated and linked to your bank account, it is now time to start loading your products. Select the loading chute to set it to open. Afterwards, just start cramming whatever you want to sell into there. If you accidently put in something you need back there is no need to panic or try and buy it back, just select it from the list while you still have the chute open and it will pop right back out into your hand.

Now would be a good time to consider just what kind of business you want to have. Maybe you want to hawk whatever strange trinkets you find on and off station. Maybe you want to declare war on the normal vending machines on station and compete with them via your own custom foods, drinks, medicinal drugs, and actual drugs. Perhaps you could fill it with informative books such as this one, no shame in making a profit off of information that you got for free. And to those of you who paid to read this, just know you got scammed pal.

With your goods loaded in, be sure to set their prices. Simply select the number next to each entry and set the prices as you see fit, skys the limit. You can also display an item on the front of the BaV by selecting the astericks next to it, try picking an item that really shows what you have to offer.

Also, be sure to give your BaV a catchy name with the appropriately named Vendor Name option. Most people might not go out of their way to check out what you have with the defualt name of “Build-A-Vend”, but might be more inclined to if it is something like “Hydroponics Fresh Produce” or “drugs Drugs! DRUGS!!”.

Once you have your products loaded, your display set, and your machine named, it is time for the final step. Select the registered owner section once more to lock the machine. This will not only close the loading chute for you, but will also prevent anyone from tampering with the machine without your ID card. Be sure to also to clear your ID from the machine itself as well, wouldn't want anyone buying your products with your own money after all. Screw back shut the access panel as well and you are now the proud owner of one fully operational and fully stocked Build-A-Vend!

*NT reserves the right to redistribute 10% of all sales from these machines into the station shipping budget.