I have found the most beneficial way to remove menaces other than Wounds is to ask the assistance of another player. As long as the action is reciprocated, I’ve found most Fallen Londoners are more than happy to exchange some menace or two.
Fun with the Fisher Kings in the Flit (available from 40 to 70) is a good source for Tinctures of Vigour (wounds), Laudanum (nightmares), and Instant Ablution Absolution (suspicion) if you can still play with the boyos. Also a good source of clothes, ridiculous hats, surface currency, and other odds and ends.
~MF
A Lady making new friends
Sorry to bump an old thread, but I noticed something. Confessing your sins in New Newgate seems to be a good way to lower Nightmares. It increases suspicion, but if you leave by escaping on a dirigible this is of no concern. So, that means both Wounds and Suspicion offer a way to lower nightmares, in a way.
Has anyone noticed candles being less effective as a bribe to the gaolors in New Newgate since the latest update? I seem to remember that they would provide quite a large decrease in suspicion; but the decrease seemed to only be 3 to 4 points on my last, ah, visit.
Something I noticed today: Failing at ignoring the cheery gentleman no longer appears to raise nightmares, and succeeding seems to lower by 2 change points). Other thing I noticed is “it could go either way” is apparently code for “fail 90% of the time”
Even with wounds, this appears to be an effective method. I tested this out earlier, went from 3 change points past 7, to needing 2 change points of wounds to get back to 7: So, 5 change points removed from the social action, 2.5 per turn if you’re equally exchanging them with a friend. Playing chess with the boatman is still more effective, if it truly removes 3 change points, but unless you’re close to moving on to the next tier, you have a good chance of failing and gaining wounds instead.
Of course… problem with reducing wounds with social actions is your friend has to offer, rather than you. Meaning you need to ask them ahead of time. Granted, another option is to toss a few options their way that they can use when they need… which actually might be pretty convenient now that I think about it.
I’ll try to get some data on the other activities as well, especially for removing nightmares. It’s possible it may remove plenty of the nightmare quality to compensate for using up a second chance.
edited by Urthdigger on 2/2/2012
Using a sudden insight to share nightmares with someone only reduces your nightmares by 5 CP. That’s disappointing.
I know this is an old thread… but just thought I’d chime in. There is an item “F.F. Gebrandt’s Tincture of Vigour: half full” that you can get by robbing a drunk cavalry officer in the Spite (you get a nevercold brass and 4 map fragments with it). This is only available during certain airs… but the tincture drops wounds.
You do gain a little suspicion (and a 3 cryptic clues) if you fail, however if you have decent shadow its not too bad. I stocked up on them while I was on the level.
Are there any reliable ways to reduce Scandal in-game, without necessarily having to ask other players? I don’t like waiting for acceptance. I’ve attended church, but if you fail that, Scandal increases, so it’s not really helpful. The Ablution Absolution is too expensive to be worth it for Scandal. I only use it if I have enough Suspicion first. For Wounds and Nightmares, I just use medication. It’s faster than the social actions.
[quote=Taleria]Are there any reliable ways to reduce Scandal in-game, without necessarily having to ask other players? I don’t like waiting for acceptance.[/quote]How about waiting for cards? The faction conflict card Brimstone or frankincense? reduces Scandal by 3 CPs when you side with the Church. Together with An afternoon of good deeds? I’ve found it to be quite enough to keep me from ever getting deported to the Tomb-Colonies. Once you’re more accomplished you could also use An elaborate strategy with a boxed cat, but that’s not as reliable, as that card has the ‘Unusual’ frequency. I’d also recommend to cease your scandalous activities while waiting for the rumours to die down, as there should be many other activities to which you could devote your time.
You can always attend Church (I think this is available only if your Scandal is 3 or more.) If you fail your luck roll, you might get a few cp more of Scandal, but if you want to reduce Scandal without involving other players it will eventually work.
[li]
I think attending church only reduces Scandal by a couple CP, so if you fail a check, it seems you just regain it. Doesn’t feel like an efficient use of actions.
Currently flipping cards and grinding different skills. Thanks to the help of a few friends, I’ve gotten Scandal down from 6 to 4. Maybe I’ll just have to be more careful about undertaking Persuasive challenges. Hard, though, when trying to grind the skill.
Thanks for the prompt answers. I can always count on lively discussion here.[li]
Edit: Is there any purpose to the House of Mirrors at the Carnival? There’s a warning that the mirrors are dangerous, so why are they there? Is there ever a need to use them, or a reason one would want to?
edited by Taleria on 7/14/2014
Yeah, it sounds like you have hit the sort of high-end-of-the-beginning zone wher eyou start gaining Menaces but have few extra ways of managing it available. It can be a little rough, but after slogging through that section, I consider it more of a crash course in seeing that having a Menace hit 8 isn’t the end of the world, and can even be interesting in its own way.
The House of Mirrors is a strange place, it can be used to trade some Quirk (such as Melancholy or Ruthless) and a little of a given stat for a bigger boost in a different one, but its primary use is to permit people to voluntarily enter some of the Menace Zones without waiting for the usual conditions. That may seem crazy, and you wouldn’t be completely wrong, but sometimes a story will require you to enter a Menace Zone in order to continue.
My Dear Taleria, although Church sermons can be quite tiresome, attending services to reduce scandal is most advantageous. More scandal is lost on a success than is gained on a failure, so over the long run scandal goes down (and even a failure nets Persuasive). I have avoided a great deal of social ostracization pursuing this course of action.
To your question of mirrors, aside from curiosity I have found no reason to use them. I can think of one reason why someone may want to use them, but it is a small spoiler, so I will not bandy it about in public. Private inquires will be promptly answered.[li]
edited by Lady Sapho Byron on 7/14/2014[/li][li]
edited by Lady Sapho Byron on 7/14/2014
I do not actively avoid the Tomb Colonies unless I have a card on hand I don’t want to discard - Having the opportunity to hunt for a Tomb Lion is worth it in my opinion