An in-depth look at money options

Apparently the Hell’s Fence is fate locked, and I can’t remember that. So hmmmmmm…
Sorry if I did a bad thing.
edited by Joy Phillip on 4/15/2013


ETA: Oh, that’s right, you have to buy the spriffer storyline. Oops. Mea Culpa.
edited by Joy Phillip on 4/15/2013

It’s fate-locked content, so per FBG’s request, we don’t discuss the details or rewards of that storyline in this forum.

And, while a decent return and attainable at a lower level, it’s not as good as the top tier grinding options: Fidgeting Writer, Hunter’s Keep, Iron Box and University Investigations.

Because I frequently clicked the wrong option on the grinds I was doing (you stop reading the text after the umpteenth time, sleep deprived, small screens, etc.) I decided to help myself a little.

I created a few user styles to give the correct button to click a gold color instead of the default white. This way there is no doubt as to what the ‘correct’ option is. Funnily enough they have already been used by several users even before I created this post

To use these styles you need the Stylish addon in your Firefox or Chrome browser. Click the link for more information.

Update: little thread necro here to say that I’ve updated the styles to work again. Earlier this week FBG changed the html and they stopped working. I’ve only tested Conscience of Empire but the other two should be fine now too.

So far I’ve created three styles for the following grinds:

[ul][li]Hunter’s Keep[/li][li]A Survivor of the Affair of the Box - The Conscience of Empire[/li][li]A Survivor of the Affair of the Box - A Guardian of the Realm[/li][/ul]These are really easy to create; all you need to use is the dev tools in your browser to look up the correct values. It’s either a beginEvent ID (a unique number) on a button when you are in the listing of storylets or a form onsubmit ID when inside a storylet.

If there are any other grinds (I wouldn’t want to use this for content you only go through once) that would be useful to create styles for, let me know and I’ll see if I can add them. It would be even better if you could supply me the IDs mentioned above.

I hope these will be useful to some people.
edited by Corran on 8/29/2015

New place to look for cash: http://fallenlondon.wikia.com/wiki/A_cavalry_officer If that’s not enough, you can bulk convert map scraps for a profit as well =)
edited by Aximillio on 5/16/2013

Yeah, this is really nice, and I don’t have to go to zee for it. Excellent for when I’m between things.

[quote=Aximillio]New place to look for cash: http://fallenlondon.wikia.com/wiki/A_cavalry_officer If that’s not enough, you can bulk convert map scraps for a profit as well =)
edited by Aximillio on 5/16/2013[/quote]
They’re wise to it! It’s now an Airs of London Test as well, which decreases AoL on a success.[li]

It had (or has) a rare success of a tasselled sword-cane, for a brief while it was likely the best way to grind echoes.

[quote=armadaos]Excellent post. If i may add my further analysis on the Flit &quotThefts of a Particular Character&quot route.

Using the Well Planned Villiany Route

16 moves @ 3act, 0e, 10cp each -> 48actions, for 160cp, 0e

  • 5 Moves @ 1act, 12.5e, -32cp each -> 62.5e, for 5actions -160cp

(62.5 echos) / (48 act + 5act) = 1.179 Echo/Action

Using the Decoy Route(s)

32 Moves @ 1 act, 3cp, ~0.1e -> 32actions, 96cp, 3.2e

  • 3 Moves @ 1act, 12.5e, -32cp -> 37.5e, for 3actions -96cp

(37.5Echos+ ~3.2Echo) / (32Actions +3Actions)= 1.163Echo/Action (unlucky case)

NOTE that the decoy route gives goods that range from 0.1E to 0.14E. I provided the low end estimate (bad luck case), the high end case yields 1.199E/A, and the median case yields 1.181E/A.

So unless my math is wrong (and this is of course, assuming that the average of goods you gain is * actually* 0.12Echos an action), it ironically is of more value to use the old low level shadowy method to build up casing than your new fancy POSI method if you don’t have a gang of hoodlums.[/quote]

According to the Wiki, a success on Theft of Particular Character takes 32 CP of Casing and a successful Gang of Hoodlums action earns you 18 CP of Casing.

Assuming you have Straightforward (100%) on both, that makes each CP of Casing worth (12.5/32)=0.390625 E, which makes Gang of Hoodlums worth (3.6*.390625)=1.40625 E/A. This is discounting the action it takes to cash in, though; you can cash in once per (32/18)=1.77777777 Gang of Hoodlums runs, so that’s another (1/1.77777777)=.5625 actions.

18 CP * 0.390625 E/CP = 7.03125E

7.03125E/5.5625A = 1.264 E/A, assuming the Wiki has the numbers right. Which, since it’s less than you can get elsewhere in London, means you’re not going to break even on a Gang of Hoodlums as a money-making tool.

Gang of Hoodlums is less about making money and more about saving time when you need your echoes to be in a specific form, for instance when capturing new lodgings.

[quote=Aximillio]New place to look for cash: http://fallenlondon.wikia.com/wiki/A_cavalry_officer If that’s not enough, you can bulk convert map scraps for a profit as well =)
edited by Aximillio on 5/16/2013[/quote]

Ironically the Half-bottle it also provides is more useful than a full bottle at PoSI level.

Very nice all around.

unfortunately you need to have an airs of london around 30~50-ish to rob the cav officer now. you can get up to the required level by robbing the anonymous wretch twice, but the overall echo/action for that not taking into account rare successes is about 0.8e/a at 207 shadowy, which is… uh, far from the best! It doesn’t quite reset your Airs of London but it does take a massive hit out of it so it’s basically a 3-action cycle with a mediocre payout.

disclaimer: there is a nonzero chance i have made a colossal goof somewhere and its actually still reasonably profitable but i doubt it
edited by Spacemarine9 on 5/18/2013

It dropped my Airs of London by 100, from 2495 to 2395. (Why or how my ‘Airs of London’ is that high, or even if that is oddly high, I could not tell you.)

What’s the purpose of this quality, anyway? Since you don’t see a number, I’ve always viewed the Airs messaging as just flavor text, but if it’s going to work like ‘Something is Coming’, I guess I need to pay closer attention to it.

Airs of London gives a degree of variability to your gaming experience. Its largest impact is on the Lodgings storylet “Time in bed”. Different options become available to you depending on the state of your Airs. Another prominent example is the “A drink with the Cheery Man” card. Options unlock and lock all depending on your Airs.

There are many ways to gain Airs. My main character also had it in quadruple digits before I spent half of it on robbing that drunken officer. I won’t be trying that again without a Mood hat.

I like the idea of Airs, but I don’t like our inability to see a specific numbered range for the requirements. It’s a minor complaint, though. I also like the addition of new ways to spend “Someone is Coming”.

I’m aware of Fidgeting Writer, Hunter’s Keep, and Iron Box (I assume you mean A Boxful of Intrigue?), but this is the first I’ve heard of University Investigation. Could someone explain?

Also, when converting items, is it more profitable to convert the smaller amounts and gain the bonus items from successes and rare successes, or should I just save up and convert large numbers at once? EDIT: I’d also appreciate a revisit to the Mahogany Hall write-up, as I’m about to start it for the first time and would like to avoid making stupid mistakes. :P
[li]
edited by Flipz on 6/10/2013

You can use the Investigating raising options in the University, and then cash out in the Flit. All the Mahogany Hall information should still apply, as I don’t think anything changed. The amount you get per action would be lower until you can get everything straightforward, but after that it should still be accurate. I’m not entirely sure how things go for conversions, but I suspect you’d probably get more in the long run at higher levels by going for the large conversions and using those saved actions for something else.

i assume that’s not an option if you’ve been kicked out of the university and bought your way back in with research

[quote=Finvara]i assume that’s not an option if you’ve been kicked out of the university and bought your way back in with research[/quote]That’s right. The only reason you can grind Investigating at the University is that you’re looking into a case there. Once that’s resolved, you have no excuse for interrogating staff and students about… stashes of Rostygold.

On item conversion: the pence per action is very low for first tier items, and rather low for second tier ones. You’ll be better off converting them in bulk and using the actions you save on one of the traditional grinds.

New moneymaking option: A bag of low-quality diamonds. It costs 200 cryptic clues, but gives diamonds to a value of 630 pence. So pretty decent =)

[li]And where might this be found? Pre- or post-PoSI?

Empire Adornments in the Bazaar Sidestreets. So basically PoSI only
Buying regular diamonds has changed to buying an ostentatious diamond as well, which is pretty nice