I know this has been discussed before, but the last post I found on the subject was from quite a while ago, so I’ll ask it again.
I’ve been working on growing the ****ed plant for as long as I’ve been in London, which is nigh on a year now. I’ve just gotten to the point where I start feeding it things beyond secrets. Like bats that never did anything but be a bit sulky. And goldfish. Goldfish! I tell you, my cheerful goldfish has been near the only consistently cheerful thing in the Neath, I’m not feeding it to a plant!
After consulting the wiki, I see that I can get through without actually having to feed it anything but secrets and spiders, which I don’t mind getting eaten. But in the end, are there that many rewards from it? If I feed it spiders, that’s going to take quite an investment. I want it to pay off somehow.
Is the tournament of lilies going on any more? According to the wiki, it starts with a card that appears with standard frequency with Attending to the Needs >10, and I’ve been above that for quite a while now. If the tournament isn’t a thing any more, are there benefits to growing the plant besides Counterfeit Heads?
The tournament is a permanent thing, once you get the card to start the tournament a story will be be available in your lodgings and you can challenge other people who have plants and are at the same stage of the tournament.
The tournament itself is fairly difficult and frustrating - it’s a luck challenge against another player to see whether you advance or go backwards, and it costs you plant points on a failure.
The rewards from it are tiny and if you’re in it for the reward, it’s absolutely not worth it. You get a unique item (cryptobotanical rosette, has no effect or abilities besides existing and being unique) and a PoSI item (either book of hidden bodies or personal recommendation, your choice, both of which are a lot easier to obtain otherwise.)
If you’re concerned about rewards and echoes per action value, the tournament is really not a good place. I don’t think there’s too much revelatory lore in the tournament either, though it’s been a few years since I played it on my first character so I don’t quite remember. On the other hand, if you’re a completionist and like getting tough achievements just for their own sake, slowly getting your plant to a high level and then eventually winning a tournament with it is pretty satisfying, even if the achievement is entirely cosmetic.
Hmm. I wonder why I haven’t seen the card, then? According to the wiki, it appears at 10, and I’ve got 12 and have been over 10 for quite a while.
edited by Pumpkinhead on 11/20/2016
You can sell any rosettes you win for .5 Echoes at the Bazaar. Admittedly that’s not a big amount, but at least they are not totally worthless.
Reasons to raise your plant’s level:
- If you like to collect unique items - complete the Tournament of Lilies at least once to collect the Cryptobotanical Rosette (not worth it for the echo value!)[/li][li]To experience the Tournament for the variety of gameplay and/or role playing (raising your plant’s level improves your odds a bit, but it’s still a luck challenge).[/li][li]To get easy access to some hard to get items once your plant’s level is 16-18 (mainly Counterfeit Heads and Secluded Addresses, though these don’t have many uses).[/li][li]To get rid of all the Plant cards clogging your deck - all plant cards stop appearing once your plant’s level hits 19.
Ah, so I’ll make up my investment in the plant in about… never…
Certainly this thing isn’t worth it from a monetary standpoint, but I suppose I’ll keep going so I at least get something interesting in payoff.
On the topic of the tournament of lilies, I noticed the wiki labels the card to start the story as "One time card". I’ve never heard of such a thing, but is it actually something that only shows up once? That might be why I haven’t seen it; I have a tendency to discard the "orchid grower consults" cards because I despise luck, so I may have discarded it without noticing that it wasn’t the normal orchid grower card.
I’ve never heard of a "one time card" before, though, so I don’t know exactly what the wiki means.
Once you use the card, it is no longer drawable. If you’ve used it there should be an option under your lodgings.
And once you’ve used the card and gotten the option at your Lodgings, it remains as a permanently available storylet and you can use it when you like, so long as you don’t sell your plant. (You do have the option to sell your plant, but if you do that eventually you’ll start drawing the cards to acquire and grow a new plant). If you want the fewest nuisance cards, you may be best off keeping the plant, growing it to level 19, and NEVER competing.
Aha. That’s nice to know, but still doesn’t explain why I’m not seeing the card.
edited by Pumpkinhead on 11/20/2016
Well if you just accidentally discarded it then it will show up again… eventually. Is there a Tournament option in your lodgings? If not, set up a little altar dedicated to The Whimsies Of Fate in a corner of your bedroom and start praying to the All-mighty RNG there.
(Or don’t - I’d guess praying to Chance won’t actually make a difference with chances. Inherent nature of the matter and such.)
I could never pray to the RNGesus. It is too cruel of a deity to be worshiped. Perhaps this is why I fail five 91% chances in a row sometimes.
Anyway, I guess I wait it out… Maybe the wiki is just off on the value that the card starts appearing at.
The card actually mentions the orchid grower in its title (off the top of my head, it’s something along the lines of The Orchid Grower has a Secret". So if orchid grower cards are on your delete list (as indeed they are on mine), it may have been in there among them. Frankly, the plant is a great pain. Roll on 19.
Yeah, the card I auto discard is "The noted orchid grower consults" or something like that, and the one that starts the tournament is "The Noted Orchid Grower has a secret", so it’s probably pretty likely that I’ve just chucked it when it has appeared.
Tournament of Lilies is quite an outdated game part. By the time you end raising it high enough, you’ll have your own stats almost or topped and have the options to get whichever loot you can win. For a personal rec, it’s quicker to get it from that Evening Party invite stuff which isn’t fast itself.
Yeaahh, my goal now is just to get it to 19 so I don’t have to see cards anymore.
Well speak of the devil (the quiet one, maybe? But I digress), I finally drew the Orchid Grower has a Secret! For anyone interested, it’s actually gold bordered, so you’re unlikely to discard it accidentally.