Steal and Fish: What to Upgrade First — What the Base Update and Speed Cost and Change

So what should you upgrade first in Steal and Fish? The clearest evidence from actual play points one way: finish the base update when it comes due, then put your cash into speed until you can outrun the player whose eggs you want. In one recorded session, a base update at about base level 2.3 cost roughly $1 million, and the one speed purchase shown cost about $5 million and added +75 speed — and it was speed, not the base, that had to be raised before the player could snatch a stronger player's egg and escape.

What the observed upgrades cost and change

Both figures are approximate and come from a single session, so treat them as an order of magnitude rather than a price list — the base-update price can differ at other base levels, and the costs of the later speed buys were simply never shown.

The game itself names two upgrade tracks, the aquarium and the treadmill, which you keep upgrading as you progress. The session's purchases were never labeled as belonging to either one, so read the numbers above for what they are: what one player actually paid for a base update and speed, not a per-tier chart.

Speed is the gate on stealing from stronger players

The clearest cause and effect in the session: before attempting the theft, the player checked his target's speed — about 30K — set a matching speed goal for himself, and kept buying speed until his counter read about 30.47K. Only then did he take the egg, and he outran the pursuit afterward, saying "he cannot catch me now."

The practical rule from that sequence is scout first, buy second: check the speed of the player whose eggs you want, then spend on speed until you're at or above that number. Roughly 30K was enough against one ~30K target; other victims will set a different bar, and no universal threshold has been established.

Where the upgrade money comes from

Upgrades are paid in cash, and the demonstrated income source is the fish inside your base: one fish in the session was generating $44 per second, and the player was holding around $3.44 million mid-session — the money funding his speed buys. That makes the loop self-feeding: house fish, collect per-second income, convert it into speed, then steal from stronger players.

The demonstrated spending order

The session's spending followed the state of the game rather than a fixed tier list:

1. Clear the base update when it comes due — about $1 million at the observed level, treated as a required spend.
2. Scout a target's speed, then buy speed toward it — the demo set roughly 30K after checking the victim.
3. Pause upgrading and steal once you're at or above the target; the player stopped buying and went for the egg.
4. Spend the hatch timer on more speed. A stolen egg took about 1–2 minutes to hatch, and that waiting time went straight into further speed purchases.
5. When the base fills up, sell fish — the demonstrated response was selling fish, not buying another upgrade.

The full recorded session plays out below — the base update, the speed buys, and the theft they paid for.

This order served one goal in one session: stealing a stronger player's egg. Treat it as a pattern to adapt when your goal is the same — not as a verified rule about aquarium or treadmill milestones.

Before you go

Before you start grinding, it's worth a quick look at the current Steal and Fish codes.