ignotus
Posts: 20
6/21/2012
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I looked around, and couldn't find a good reference for the mid-to-high-level storylets that don't increase menaces on failure, providing ideal quality improvement grinding.
Here are a few I've run across:
Attend Courtly Functions (Persuasive, at The Empress's Court under "Attend to Matters of Romance")
Look for More Evidence of the Correspondence in the Ruins (Watchful, Forgotten Quarter - increases nightmares on success, not failure)
Be Enticed By the Temples (Watchful, the Mirror Marches under "The Temple Complex")
Does anyone know more?
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armadaos
Posts: 95
6/21/2012
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ignotus wrote:
I looked around, and couldn't find a good reference for the mid-to-high-level storylets that don't increase menaces on failure, providing ideal quality improvement grinding.
Here are a few I've run across:
Attend Courtly Functions (Persuasive, at The Empress's Court under "Attend to Matters of Romance")
Look for More Evidence of the Correspondence in the Ruins (Watchful, Forgotten Quarter - increases nightmares on success, not failure)
Be Enticed By the Temples (Watchful, the Mirror Marches under "The Temple Complex")
Does anyone know more?
There are few spread out... it helps if you're leveling to buy a Ridiculous Hat/Bottled Oblivion/Talkative Rat. Since they can give you -20 you can continue to make storys you've leveled past still give high experience.
One of my favorites is in the Shuttered Palace.
-Entry to the Duchess' Salon, it not only doesn't give you menaces if you fail, but in fact gives you some goods (all of the low low cost of some Bohemian rep, which if you succeed you get in spades!)
There's also some content, that may test one stat, but gives menaces of a different stat. For example in Ladybones you can chase down a spirifer (i forget the storylet) across the rooftops to recover some goods (or stop them from spirifing, i forget which), if you fail, it gives you Wounds, which I find much less menacing than Nightmares... I rather enjoy my sleep.
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Spacemarine9
Posts: 2234
6/21/2012
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The first option under "getting to know the flit" provides no menaces on a fail
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my rats will blot out the sun
Ratgames
FL lore/mechanics questions and answers
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dsch
Posts: 13
6/21/2012
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The first option in Entertain the Topsy King in the Flit only reduces Connected: Criminals if you fail, and gives it on success.
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Eben
Posts: 8
6/26/2012
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It's been a while, but there were a couple more I used:
For dangerous, while Dueling with the Black Ribbon, you can "Boast about your wounds in a dockside tavern", which doesn't unlock until chancy, so it's only 2cp per action. I had a hard time grinding through dangerous.
For watchful, the first loop at the university offers amazing opportunities with "Enjoying the pace of academic life", though I always attended the banquets and cricket matches which offer amazing payouts. Needless to say, I stayed on as a guest lecturer for rather longer than was seemly.
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ignotus
Posts: 20
7/14/2012
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"Working with the Cats" (all three options) in the Flit appears to reduce only your "making use of cats" quality, not increase suspicion. But you can't grind it too hard because when your making use of cats quality drops to 0, the storylet locks. Still, it's better than nothing.
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Urthdigger
Posts: 939
7/15/2012
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Hmm... I have to wonder, is it really worth it to seek out these specific storylets that don't increase menaces on failure? I've always found it easier simply to reduce failures in the first place (via second chances), and deal with menaces as they come.
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Looking for second chances to maximize your loot output from those troublesome storylets? Check out our handy gang of volunteers in this thread, or even volunteer yourself!
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Twoflower
Posts: 264
7/15/2012
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Well, reducing a Menace costs an action, so it's usually better to save an action when you can.
I usually have my Menaces at 7 (stat grinding, yay), and only reduce them when they hit 8. I am not a careful man.
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Tesuji
Posts: 161
7/15/2012
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I would imagine their primary benefit is that it allows you to play the storylets as high-risk challenges, grinding stats quicker without having to worry about skyrocketing menaces.
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Tesuji.
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Urthdigger
Posts: 939
7/15/2012
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Maybe. I see it as costing you turns in the long run, since jumping through hoops to avoid menaces means you're getting sub-optimal CP, sub-optimal loot, or both.
--
Looking for second chances to maximize your loot output from those troublesome storylets? Check out our handy gang of volunteers in this thread, or even volunteer yourself!
@Urthdigger on twitter
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Eben
Posts: 8
7/15/2012
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Urthdigger wrote:
Maybe. I see it as costing you turns in the long run, since jumping through hoops to avoid menaces means you're getting sub-optimal CP, sub-optimal loot, or both.
I did an analysis of this while stat grinding to figure out when to stop. By grinding properly, you can get 3 CP per action with only rare payouts. By playing it safe, you can get a linearly increasing payout and 1 CP per action. If you value an action at 120 pence, then it's worthwhile to grind until you have a modified stat of ~90 (the point where a straightforward challenge nets you 80 pence).
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Tesuji
Posts: 161
7/15/2012
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Urthdigger wrote:
Maybe. I see it as costing you turns in the long run, since jumping through hoops to avoid menaces means you're getting sub-optimal CP, sub-optimal loot, or both.
Sure. I'd consider this more for special cases--primarily situations where one stat has lagged behind--than something you'd want to do all of the time.
For example, I have a character currently spending a lot of time with the Stoats at University. I let his Persuasive fall well behind the rest, so getting the most effective CP per action so I can catch up is my priority; the loot is somewhat irrelevant.
Using a non-menace-increasing storylet lets me gain an effective 3.3 CPs per action. The anemic 0.25E/action and connections are just bonuses (as are the high-loot storylets at the end of the Term Passing cycle).
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Tesuji.
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Urthdigger
Posts: 939
7/15/2012
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Eben wrote:
Urthdigger wrote:
Maybe. I see it as costing you turns in the long run, since jumping through hoops to avoid menaces means you're getting sub-optimal CP, sub-optimal loot, or both.
I did an analysis of this while stat grinding to figure out when to stop. By grinding properly, you can get 3 CP per action with only rare payouts. By playing it safe, you can get a linearly increasing payout and 1 CP per action. If you value an action at 120 pence, then it's worthwhile to grind until you have a modified stat of ~90 (the point where a straightforward challenge nets you 80 pence).
Except that it's possible to get 3 CP per action while playing it safe. Just go with Chancy challenges when it's at 50%. If you want to be a little more safe, you can go with Modest 70% challenges for 2 CP an action. With second chances, you'll still pass the majority of these storylets and get loot.
--
Looking for second chances to maximize your loot output from those troublesome storylets? Check out our handy gang of volunteers in this thread, or even volunteer yourself!
@Urthdigger on twitter
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Spacemarine9
Posts: 2234
7/15/2012
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or you could get 5CP an action on a success and 3CP on a fail by grinding almost impossible challenges.
Sure it's not Optimal for Lootings but if all you're looking for is quick stat ups it's the best way
--
my rats will blot out the sun
Ratgames
FL lore/mechanics questions and answers
#FallenLondon IRC (irc.synirc.net) Channel! Click to join via Mibbit.
#SunlessSea IRC channel! Like the above, but zee-ier.
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Tesuji
Posts: 161
7/16/2012
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Spacemarine9 wrote:
or you could get 5CP an action on a success and 3CP on a fail by grinding almost impossible challenges.
Sure it's not Optimal for Lootings but if all you're looking for is quick stat ups it's the best way
Second best. High-Risk will generally be better for grinding stats than Almost Impossible.
Both give 3 CP on a failure. High-Risk gives 4 CP on a success; Almost Impossible gives 5.
If we assume that Almost Impossible has a 10% chance of success, and the higher-probability High-Risk has a 30% chance, then you're going to be succeeding three times as often with the latter, yielding an average of 3.3 CPs/action vs. 3.2 with the former. Three times as many successes also means the loot will be better, though still paltry.
The problem with risky challenges is, of course, menace, hence this discussion.
If we assume you reduce menace at a rate of 4 CPs/action, normal storylets top out at an effective 2.81 CPs/action when you take menace reduction into account. (Second chances don't matter here: succeeding on a second chance doesn't give you the bonus CPs and assuming 3 SCs/action, you end up burning through too many of them to be worthwhile for CP/action purposes.)
True, we're not talking all that substantial a difference (an extra ~27 actions spent to reduce menaces from ~152 actions of grinding 10 levels of stats), but it's there.
For those who don't have easy means of reducing menace, however, it can be more important. If you reduce menace at a 2 CPs/action rate, for example, normal storylets top out at an effective average of 2.44 CPs/action, as you're spending an extra ~53 actions to reduce menaces from your ~152 actions worth of stat-grinding.
And, of course, this is all in the context of grinding exclusively for stat CPs, without caring about the loot, which is somewhat of a niche case.
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Tesuji.
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