Hi, not only am I new to Fallen London, but I haven’t really played this kind of game at all. I briefly played Mafia Wars on FB before I got tired of needing to be "friends" with so many people just to advance in the game. It is beginning to look like I will need to interact with other actual players of Fallen London - not just the characters in the game - to progress. Is that true? Or can I keep poodling along and making progress slowly without inviting other players to activities?
If I do have to interact, is it the kind of thing where I will eventually need to work with a large number of other players, or can I have just a handful I interact with?
The only things you really need to interact with people for are : hallowmas (currently being redone, so who knows if that’ll apply when it comes back), knife and candle (on hiatus), and a tournament of lilies.
You can get through them without a large group, but a large group would likely make it easier or the result better. edited by suinicide on 6/1/2016
I’ve played for almost two years without interacting with others. You can advance through about all the content, except for the couple of events Suinicide mentioned. Interaction is a fun addition, not a requirement.
Interactions with other players can be profitable and fun, but generally speaking, it’s not the core of the game. The core is mostly the single-player parts. If you’re drawing cards in your lodgings, there is a profitable card of social actions that gives a substantial sum of items’ worth of money to both sender and recipient- (the worst option is the still good 111 whispered secrets, the best is 200 cryptic clues.)- so if you don’t want social actions, get in the habit of drawing cards somewhere else
Most of the time, i receive less than one action request a day- there are amazing social actions out there in holiday seasons, but generally you can get away without using any, or with very few friends.
(the exceptions where it’s too profitable to pass up unless you’re really dedicated are "exchanging christmas cards" during december. while this action is only profitable to the recipient, it is highly profitable for them, and an arrangement to give one to your peer when they give one to you is well worth doing. each card gives 3 uncapped second chances and 10 cp in the associated stat, and takes 8 points of the relevant stat’s menace away. Any one of these is far superior to standard actions- (well, perhaps not the 10 cp)- all three in one bundle is amazing. [i’m told they used to be even better, but got nerfed. still amazing.]
The one that’s still relevant is if you have the luck to find one, a patron, which gives substantial stat boosts: 70 cp- read, 1 level from 70 onwards, and one level+(70-X) cp before that- in their specialized stat per action, though they can only send, and you can only accept, 5 such actions per week between all player. [you also gain a single second chance, but those are just icing on the cake, so to speak.])
Even those can be avoided, and most social actions are so modestly lucrative that you can do just fine without them- they may be the best, but second best is nearly as good, and isn’t at another’s expense. You can explore almost all of the content with no social actions at all. edited by Grenem on 6/1/2016
I played this game for well over a year and completed most of the core story content before I interacted with anyone. There are a few advantageous things you can do with the help of other players and some of the seasonal events have a big focus on them, but the core of the game requires no interaction what so ever.
A lot of these energy based social games are skinner boxes that use social interaction as an extra hook to make it more difficult to leave. Fallen London is a game about narrative and story. It’s energy system keeps you from consuming all the content right away and helps create a sense of achievement in acts that are actually pretty mundane. Here, social actions are pretty light weight and exist primarily in service to that narrative goal while also providing a few advantages.
A slight correction: unlike other qualities that increase in CP which cap at 50 CP per level at level 50, the main stats cap at 70 CP per level at level 70. Therefore at 70+ lessons will give exactly one level of stat gain.
A slight correction: unlike other qualities that increase in CP which cap at 50 CP per level at level 50, the main stats cap at 70 CP per level at level 70. Therefore at 70+ lessons will give exactly one level of stat gain.[/quote]
Thank you for the correction. edited.
Nothing in the game really requires social interactions, and virtually no content is gated by refusing to use it. However, I highly encourage you to just add random people on the forums to use whenever you need some aid. I’m sure everyone on this page would be fine with any requests, and there are many pages specifically for finding other players to work with. There doesn’t have to be anything more involved than adding a username and selecting them later, either.