Use a route-based upgrade test
The right first purchase depends on what ends your run: detection, distance, carrying capacity, sale speed or debt pressure. Before calling one item “best”, keep the route and objective the same.
- Record your current cash, debt, tool name, visible level and the reason the run failed.
- Change one upgrade only.
- Repeat the same robbery or the closest comparable route.
- Record whether the upgrade changed detection, escape time, haul size or sale value.
- Keep the result tied to the current Alpha build and do not merge different patches into one table.
A practical decision rule
- If the sniper or police ends the run first, test survival or escape value.
- If the deadline ends the run first, test movement or delivery efficiency.
- If the sale pays too little, test haul value only after the route is repeatable.
- If debt is the bottleneck, record the full run result instead of comparing purchase price alone.
EarlyWiki will add exact tool names, prices and an evidence-labelled order when the live UI and repeated runs support it. Until then, a clean test plan is more useful than a fabricated tier list.