[quote=marcmagus]What big punishments? Get imprisoned a few times (not just one) and you lose access to the most efficient Suspicion reducer, but it’s not as though there aren’t other options or you can’t just spend some time in New Newgate like you would in the Beth or the Tomb Colonies and come back. The Slow Boat is exactly the same as the others, except that the non-cards option becomes more difficult the more you do it.
As I understand it, all players’ ability to return to the Surface is probably gone from time spent in the Neath, regardless of whether they’ve had a ride on the boat or not.
Am I missing something?
(Although I do agree that it would make sense for enough money spent in bribes to help with that pesky "permanent" record.)[/quote]
The normal punishments, as I see it, are the losses of progress and (initially very large) opportunity cost of time lost regaining your sanity, vitality, dignity or freedom.
The "big punishment" (re: Wounds) is your alleged state of captivity. For RP purposes, I actually agree with you. My character has had no boat rides, at least AFTER starting the game in Newgate, but is suspicious of exactly what you say. That said, it’s established that people think differently, and many NPCs do flee to the Surface, either from you or with your help.
The "big punishment" (re: Suspicion) is indeed the loss of the use of Ablution Solution, but depending on your needs that’s potentially a BFD. 110+ Shadowy? You’re past the protection of the Topsy King, or any other grindable storylet. Unable to return to your lodgings in the middle of what you’re doing? Social actions are out. That leaves opportunity cards, which are actually my favorite form of menace reduction since I don’t need to ask acquaintances to spend turns on my behalf. That said, if you’re looking to increase Shadowy, you’ll probably want to engage in hundreds of Shadowy checks and budget to fail at least 10% of them. It’s still manageable if you’re an even moderately influential person, but it turns suspicion management into a frequent issue. Frankly, I enjoyed budgeting for the post-PoSI changes in menace reduction, but I was at least on fair footing with other PoSIs. If Mr Veils can give me a new face but some judicial bureaucrat can still spot me, that’s weird. I steal contraband and then sell it back to the mark, and if my marks include Feducci, Hell, the Bazaar, and Baseborn and Fowlingpiece, and if I’ve perma-killed Black Ribbon duelists, it seems I should be able to bribe the judge, threaten them, have them dealt with by friends in high places, or fade into the Game and become somebody else with a clean record. Sure, general awesomeness should make it hard to force me to the Tomb Colonies, but that liability at least doesn’t get irreversibly worse for individual players.
Most permanent "punishments "(permanent banishment from Court) are counter-balanced by other traits, such as access to new content. If my character becomes such a familiar face in criminal court, you’d think he could at least invest in having his operations maintain their status while he’s in - or even advance them from inside jail, perhaps with Criminal connections and opportunity cards as a required currency. Prison makes one hell of an alibi; if I achieve 250+ augmented Shadowy, who’s to say I can’t organize a heist from my cell?
My point is just that for being some of the only irreversible hazards that affect players individually, the insta-kill menaces are easy to wander into with the mindset that an 85% chance of success, with low menaces, is cause for comfort.