Pieces fall, and others rise to take their place. Dreams filter through into the real. Random chance becomes precedent, which in turn becomes law. The conflict was played out to the endgame before you even gave the signal; all you’re seeing now are the consequences.
As an enterprising business owner, extortioner and nautical power you can now pursue additional pursuits at zee, in the Great Game, and in the depths of your honey-den. New opportunities for your Agents are here!
Some of these opportunities will be immediately obvious:
Order a Nautical Agent to escort vessels through the tumultuous Sea of Voices!
Assign an Intelligencier to filch hidden secrets from the premises of your high-tier lodgings!
Send Silvered Agents to brave the conflict at the heart of Parabola!
Other new opportunities may take some time or luck to uncover.
What are Agents?
Agents are capable retainers who will gladly take care of business on your behalf. Engage agents of different types, with their own skills; equip them with your second best gear and send them on various Plots.
Once you’ve unlocked Agents, you can run a single Plot at a time, and unlock the ability to run a second through gameplay. Exceptional Friends can run a further Plot, provided they have enough Agents to assign.
Players who have attained ‘A Person of Some Importance’ at tier-two status can begin to gather Agents to their cause. Start to build your intelligence network in ‘Playing the Game in Wilmot’s End’, located (you guessed it) in Wilmot’s End, or pursue opportunities at zee in ‘A Zailor Down on his Luck’ in The Blind Helmsman. Players with their own Parabolan Base-Camp can also find allies in Parabola via ‘A Golden Opportunity’ in the Singing Mandrake.
Well, I’ll need to wait for those long plots that are currently running to be over before I can check out any of the new ones, but that’s something to look forward to!
I happen to have one off cooldown today, so I was able to view the intro to several new plots. Of course it’ll be a while before they’re all uncovered. The slow burn is honestly one of the things I look forward to, it’ll take weeks before all the corners are explore.
Top headline: not viewed, directly but implied by Game Instructions: Rat Agent Rat Agent Rat Agent RAT AGENT agent what is a rat Rat Agent whoooooo!!!!
Quick summary, from memory:
Nautical plot in Sea of Voices: Slightly more rewarding for Clay agents, locked by “Regrowing Clay.” That could be a cooldown mechanic, or this could be a one-time plot to get more clay agents.
Silverer plot, locked by Ravages of Parabolan Warfare. Takes fewer actions if you send a Feline Agent, but the game warns you that doing so means you don’t get the option to pick sides. The Tiger agent from Hallowmas is able to run this plot, despite not being Silvered.
There is a plot which is currently Locked because the Rat Market isn’t open. Game instructions say it pays better if you send a Rat Agent.
As the announcement said, there’s an Intelligencier plot to infiltrate your own Lodgings. Takes a fair amount of POC and Persuasive. I’m running this one on the suspicion that my lodgings have rats. Just in case.
I will observe, with pleasure, that we are seeing them make good on the promise to integrate more with existing game mechanics. So far there is one Plot tied to World Qualities and another tied indirectly to Time The Healer.
Well, I sent off the The Clay Breaker on An Escort Through the Sea of Voices, The Mild-Mannered Mondaine on The Secrets of Hearth and Home, and The Silent Partner on Wading Into the War. Each is 250 actions, we’ll see what happens.
And I’ll be collecting the failure results!
I love how this update looks, but I didn’t like the fact that my agents were quite busy and that I just finished a Parabolan campaign via board meeting. Can’t wait to see the RAT!
Personally, I’ve found the Breaker terribly helpful in seeing to the honey den operations as part of my “Operation: Obtain Three Oneiropompic Staves While Doing as Little of the Work Myself as Possible”
I’m over two-thirds done having only barely gone above zero before the introduction of agents.
Not that that negates your point — someone else could have also done the job
I dedicate the Luckless Captain to honeyden duty, for no other reason than that he is Luckless. The guy finally catches a lucky break being saved from bankruptcy, thinks things are finally turning around, then his new boss hands him a mop and tells him to scrub unprovenanced fluids off a drug house.
He’s probably shrugging since he’s been through worse.
Reddit is reporting that you may occasionally activate a new, rare Plot when engaging in Piracy. It looks like the Perforated Zubmariner gets a small bonus, too.
Looks like there’s also… ‘‘something’’ that gets unlocked when you collect from both Silvered and Intelligencier plots. The whole “3 Plot Cooldown” mechanic may get a little tiresome but so far I’m liking how there’s reasons to juggle different plots around. All of a sudden I’m really feeling like I’ve got various irons in a multiplicity of fires, which is really what that is all supposed to be about, right?
I did just get a “Your agent brings back reports of promising salvage – investigate in the plot ‘Found at Zee’.” message from completing the Polythreme plot.
Only the rat seems to elude us, but maybe there’s a luck mechanics with the Market plot too. But there is the description, “The difficulty of this plot will decrease if, in future, you are able to send a rat.” that tells us of the “future”. I wonder if we’ll be able to recruit him during the Feast!
I got 18 Hinterland Scrip and 18 Assorted Khaganian Currrency, so it might just drop currency items? I’m intrigued about whether there’s a rare success given the line about the agent being unable to find the items you asked them to purchase.
I completed The Secrets of Hearth and Home and got access to a Parabolan opportunity “Chess, from a Distance”. Part of the text says “This will begin an endeavour that will conclude in a spywork plot in London.”
It will take 300 actions so it will be a while before I find out what the next stage might be.
Hmm: “It will be some time before enough Clay Men are ready for transport. More Clay Men emerge from Polythreme’s stone. The number desiring London’s shores increases.” Looks like that plot’s on hold for now. " Under Stories: “Regrowing Clay 3. Clay Men come to London to work on heavy-bottomed cargo ships, emerging from the stone of Polythreme. This will diminish as you complete Plots.” Any plots, I guess?
Mild-Mannered girl found herself in Mr Hearts’ chambers, YIKES. This brought Regrowing Clay down one (1) point.
The Silent Partner went off on the Cat plot. I chose the Danger Noodle side. 1 x Ravages of Parabolan Warfare, gained 1 x Hands in the Honey-Pot, knocks off one Regrowing Clay point. And “A possibility presents itself. In concert with a similar possibility an Agent can discover while engaged in spywork, this may open up a lucrative opportunity.” What? " A Dream of Scheming 1 A possibility has begun to present itself…"
Hmm, this is all interesting, and certainly better than the remote grinds that were driving my ADHD brain crazy when they kept popping up in the middle of other plots. Still seems really slow and designed to run in the background tho.
ETA
Wading into the War: “You can’t do this when you have Ravages of Parabolan Warfare.” Boo.
No Rat Agents at the Ratket or wherever, so Miss MMM is going instead. 110 actions later…
I got 1 Fourth city echo and 550 rosty while failing it gives 4 CP of nightmares and 15 x Venge-Rat.
Fail echo
I did not appear innocent enough
I cannot tell you the precise nature of the insult I apparently perpetrated against the market’s enforcers, but they took umbrage to my continued presence among their merchants and wares. The fallout is, of course, regrettable. I am forced to wonder if this is the right place for our line of work.
I remain your faithful adjutant,
L
I was expecting some constables not this!
Looks like Airs of Agents is the random quality. From my notes, biggest I got was 8.
