I’m trying to discover the most efficient way to acquire a home, honestly, and my best guess right now is that it would probably be using Antique Mysteries.
50 antique mysteries is a lot of work, obviously. How best to reduce that is the question.
If my calculator speaks truly, grinding jade on Watchmaker’s Hill will take about 500 actions to do it.
Would it be faster to attempt heists? Or some other method of converting up, perhaps?
Fidgeting writer, thefts of particular character and becoming a watcher are also some sources.
If you want Putting the pieces together: The drownies, you could also do heists, though 50 rare successes from converting map scraps won’t happen too fast…
For Bazaar Permits I recommend the hardest heist, when you have a 4-card lodging already.
Yes, 4 card lodgings seem like they would be helpful for the more involved heists. For now, though, What do you think mathematically between the methods you suggest? Thefts of a particular character seem like they might get me individual Antique Mysteries faster, but I don’t know how it holds out in the long term, nor whether or not I should try to unlock the highest method of casing begorehand or not.
I assume you’re going with the PoSI 5-action option then? If so, I’d do both if I were you. The fidgeting writer can be done with less than 5 actions at a time, which is obviously an advantage. Casing, on the other side, is a lot more reliable, meaning you’ll have a reliable source as well.
If you don’t have a 100% chance when getting casing, that might make Fidgeting better though. If you have 100% on the other side, you’ll also gain a CP in shadowy per 5 actions. Which will get you a few levels in the end.
If I had a gang of Hoodlums presently, my best gear (Loathsome Imp included) gives me a 74% chance of success. The Decoy is an 88% chance and Formulating a plan is a 90% chance. I don’t actually know how many points of casing each option is worth, to know what my best option is, but I suspect I should probably go this route, if nothing else, for the practice. Shadowy does lag so very far behind my other stats.
EDIT: According to the Wiki, the top three actions that don’t involve hoodlums will each give 3CP per action, making The Decoy the most efficient of the three, if only just.
edited by Finvara on 4/17/2013
Edit II: So at about 11 actions per antique mystery in ideal circumstances, this method is slightly less efficent, in reality, than 500-ish actions from grinding jade. The The benefit of raising my Shadowy might make up for it, though… But can we do it FASTER than 500 actions?
edited by Finvara on 4/17/2013
I’m curious about the same thing myself… If you succeed most or all of the time at the Shadowy challenges of nabbing Antique Mysteries from Feducci, it’d be anywhere from a few dozen to several dozen actions faster than converting Jade Fragments. You don’t have to start with Jade, though. You can start the conversion process with Relics of the Third City from “Unfinished Business in Spite”. Stealing Antique Mysteries would probably still be faster.
Pros to Relic Theft: rare success of 1 Aeolian Scream
Cons to Relic Theft: 10 Rostygold lost on success (you’ll need several thousand to cover yourself); Connected: Criminals drop on failure and you need it at 10 to unlock the option
I’ve decided to collect Relics of the Third City, mass convert them to Mysteries of the Elder Continent, convert those normally to Presbyterate Passphrases, and then convert the Passphrases normally to Antique Mysteries. I’m skipping mass conversion of the last two steps because I want to try my luck at the rare success items.
RS for Mysteries of the Elder Continent → Presbyterate Passphrases is 2 Uncanny Incunabulum
RS for Presbyterate Passphrases → Antique Mysteries is 5 Blackmail Material
There’s also a RS of 5 London Street Signs for converting Relics of the Third City normally to Mysteries of the Elder Continent, but with thousands of Relics in hand, that’s over 100 actions lost to regular conversion!
Hitting up Feducci till he’s broke is probably best…unless your Shadowy is really lousy. If you keep failing the higher Casing options, you’ll raise Suspicion till you’re in prison. Once you enter prison, all your Casing disappears. (Right? Or has that changed?)
The problem is you’ll only get training for one of the actions you use.
With that in mind the Fidgeting Writer coupled with using the weekly living story for advancing shadowy is probably the best monetarily.
@Zee Dee, I’m not sure, but if so it’s only actually getting a high suspicion. Failing to rob the embassy does not.
I’m looking at the Tale of Terror option, but now I’m wondering about the incidental costs of raising the tale, IE brilliant souls, Plaques, and the like. How would that affect our math?
Truth. Casing is a shoddy way to train Shadowy if you continually opt for the high action options.
You need the requisite Watchful and enough Unlock items to cycle the Fidgeting Writer storyline. I don’t think the profits even out properly till you complete the story at least 100 times. You can fail miserably with less cycles. Wasn’t there someone rather unlucky who came out with ~70-80 pence per action after 200+ cycles? Of course, there were also reports of people who scored 1.3-4E per action after so many cycles. For this scenario, you only want to succeed to the point of obtaining Bazaar Permits, but it’s still quite a gamble. I rather like this storyline and its mechanisms, but I wouldn’t trust it for a speedy path to gaining a 4-card lodgings.
The last time I tried to rob the Brass Embassy (2-3 months back?), I got my Casing up to 16 and lost it all when I was sent to jail. I failed a plain Casing option and forgot I was wielding a Prison Shiv; chuckles galore, really.
[quote=Zeedee]
The last time I tried to rob the Brass Embassy (2-3 months back?), I got my Casing up to 16 and lost it all when I was sent to jail. I failed a plain Casing option and forgot I was wielding a Prison Shiv; chuckles galore, really.[/quote]
If you try hard enough you should remember I tried after that =P I used to lose it all before though, so I guess it could be a rare failure? That wouldn’t be too surprising =P
Actually, we’re not even going to the point of bazaar permits presently, just Antique Mysteries.
EDIT: This is starting off badly. Lost my first two Tales of Terror on the first step.
edited by Finvara on 4/17/2013
Then Aximillio is right. You should reach 50 Antique Mysteries faster with the Fidgeting Writer storyline. If you stop at Antique Mysteries, the luck challenges are all “pretty good odds”. That is, if your luck holds out reasonably well and you have enough of the required items. I’m not traveling this route because I want to save my Fidgeting items for a future gambling spree.
Edit: I also need to save certain items for Bazaar Side-street conversions. This PoSI gear is dizzyingly expensive!
edited by Zeedee on 4/17/2013
[quote=Aximillio][quote=Zeedee]
The last time I tried to rob the Brass Embassy (2-3 months back?), I got my Casing up to 16 and lost it all when I was sent to jail. I failed a plain Casing option and forgot I was wielding a Prison Shiv; chuckles galore, really.[/quote]
If you try hard enough you should remember I tried after that =P I used to lose it all before though, so I guess it could be a rare failure? That wouldn’t be too surprising =P[/quote]
Oh, I mean I didn’t even get to the Brass Embassy’s door. Or rooftop, whatever. I was planning to accumulate 18 Casing for a straightforward Brass Embassy robbery. I was at 16 or 17 Casing, fumbled at a Casing build-up storylet in the Flit, my Suspicion soared to 8, and I was promptly jailed. I immediately checked my Casing and it was aaaall gone.
Let us never speak of it again. T_T
[quote=Zeedee]
Oh, I mean I didn’t even get to the Brass Embassy’s door. Or rooftop, whatever. I was planning to accumulate 18 Casing for a straightforward Brass Embassy robbery. I was at 16 or 17 Casing, fumbled at a Casing build-up storylet in the Flit, my Suspicion soared to 8, and I was promptly jailed. I immediately checked my Casing and it was aaaall gone.
Let us never speak of it again. T_T[/quote]
Oh, I see… I personally managed to get Suspicion to 8 when plotting against the masters, quickly equipped my workman’s clothing and was sent to jail because I had my Shiv equipped, so I know exactly what you mean…
@Finvara, they usually do so in the beginning, and since a RNG defines whether you succeed or not, it’s pretty unpredictable.
edited by Aximillio on 4/17/2013
We shall speak of it not at all. On the other hand, we can speak on my continuing failures in tales of terror as much as we want. is there a particularly efficient way to get more of them when I run out?
I think the most efficient way of getting them would be Thefts of a Particular Character. Though if it isn’t 100% Aximillio’s suggestion below is definitely better. Just something to keep in mind for later when you’re more Shadowy and want to try out the Fidgeting Writer for echoes. ^^
edited by Sara Hysaro on 4/17/2013
Item conversions from cryptic clues - get cryptic clues from shadowing couriers etc. to train shadowy? If you still have the investigating line in the University open, that’s some of the best ppa in the game…
edited by Aximillio on 4/17/2013
actually, now that I look at it, I have an option in my lodgings that seems to get me tales of terror for 1 action. Is there an option that beats that?
that’s only 1 tale/action as far as i rememebr, which isn’t very efficient at all
You can get 50 Whispered Secrets and 1 Tale of Terror by listening to the nonexistent rules of an imaginary club located at the Gamekeeper’s Cottage.
Using the mass conversion options of Cryptic Clues and Appalling Secrets should net you dozens of Tales of Terror far faster. The courier-related Seeking and Investigating storylets in the Flit give you hundreds of Cryptic Clues if you need more.