So I recently became a person of some importance and promptly set my sights on building a ship to sail the sunless sea. The first few steps of this were strait forward, find a few rare items, spend those of which you already accumulated, acquire some hard backed labour, etc. Not exactly cheap particularly but doable enough all things considered; most of the supplies I needed up to this point I either already had a suprlus of or gained them on a weekly basis from my chosen profession. When it came time to choose a ship I decided to myself and for the sake of role-playing that a Zubmarine was be the way to go (I mean who hasn’t want’ed a Submarine at some point in there lives?) After a brief summary of my "Tale of the future" I was on my way to building a Zubmarine; or at least I was until I saw the shear magnitude of supplies I will need to finish it…
Twenty Strong backed labour is pricey but at least it is strait forward at a price of $270 if bought in the Bazaar sidestreets. Seven Bejeweled Lense ramps things up a bit but still doable if I spend a couple weeks grinding out the materials (Or at least that is what I assume, I have not really tried getting gems up to this point) But the real kicker seams to be the last supply requirement; twenty whirring contraptions.
Just crafting one of these "whirring contraption’s" at the Bazaar Side streets took a pretty hefty tole on my items and funds, so I have to wonder how under the earth I am going to craft twenty of them!? My current best way of making money is writing short stories and selling them, however based on the values at bazaar side street I will need well over $1800 in items to simply create the items needed to even commission the whirring contraptions that I need for my Zibmarine. I have done some research that indicates that there is an easier way to get them at a place called Wilmots end, however I do not know the requirements to make them there nor do I currently have the Shadowy level to access Wilmots End.
So in summary: Building a zubmarine isn’t the easiest thing in the Neath. Nor the cheapest.
I need 20x Whirring Contraption
I need to find a better source than the Bazzar Side Streets to make them
I also need to find a better source of the items required in their development
Any and all tips would be greatly appreciated. edited by Koenig on 2/14/2015 edited by Koenig on 2/14/2015
The best way to get whirring contraptions is probably Wilmot’s End. If you can’t access the area yet, you might want to do something else for a little while first. Also, make sure you have a source of Magnificent diamonds. They’re easier to get now than before, but still not the easiest of items. http://fallenlondon.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Magnificent_Diamond_Sources shows a list of their sources. Since this will take a while and you might want to get to Zee right now, you can also get the cheap ship in the mean time. There’s not that much benefit from having the Zub, all in all.
The strong-backed labour isn’t too hard to come by - go to Spite and advise the Widow until your connection is 30+. Then grind Connected: the Docks to 30 as well. Trickier, but doable. Then favour the docks at the Widow/Docks conflict card, rebuild Widow and repeat. Shouldn’t be too hard.
The tricky diamonds to get for the lenses are the Magnificent ones. My preferred technique for those is to build casing in the flit, and then sell that casing to Criminals, in return for a boost to shadowy and a gain in connected:criminals. You can cash that in via unusual penances for diamonds (pugilism).
Whirring Contraptions are either grind Wilmot’s end (you can make it very slightly easier by grinding dramatic tension elsewhere, and just do one cycle at Wilmots for each contraption) or else, if desperate, go to the docks and use the aspiring captain’s storylet to sponsor a voyage. It’s more expensive, but grindable without massive skills (losing just costs an action, no menace, no loss of stuff).
There are several sources. A wooden mask from expeditions is decent, although random (averages 0.5 diamonds per thieves cache), if you still need to do more expeditions for the Nadir. If you’re a murderer, you’ll get 2 every week, but you need notability to get that, so you might want to have decent BDR first. Then there’s a few rare successes, as well as the option described above. edited by Aximillio on 2/14/2015
I got the diamonds from a wooden mask, the moon pearls from writing a book in court, bought the strong backed labour on the side streets (which is a bit more expensive by far the fastest way to get it, since it’s just echoes and wilmot’s end was just tiresome) and split the whirring contraptions between Wilmots End and just buying them from the sidestreets because Wilmot’s end got old.
Also I bought a bunch of ostentatious diamonds from the jewelers in the sidestreets because, while its terrible inefficient, all the more effecient options were cards and I was at 20 contraptions and labour and 4 lenses at that point.
Actually the more I think about it, I think buying strong backed labour directly is better if you’re using a profitable grind (eg affair of the box) to make the money for it. edited by WormApotheote on 2/14/2015
What level does Wilmots end require? My base Shadowy is currently only 86, however I can boost that uo 101 if I use the various clothes and equipement currently in my possession.
You’ll need more than that, I’m afraid. A typical action in Wilmot’s end would have a 50:50 chance of being pulled off at level 100. Oh, and you’re looking at the wrong stat - generally you’ll want persuasive or watchful.
It requires either Persuasive or Shadowy 110 (boosted)
However if you can’t get reliable success rates on Wilmot’s End, you should probably the tramp steamer for now to unlock the zee stories and upgrade later. (For comparison, I’ve made pretty much every POSI thing and had a four card house and was at watchful 200 when I made a zubmarine) edited by WormApotheote on 2/14/2015
As someone who has done the Zubmarine grind I would recommend avoiding it after just becoming a POSI. It takes a long time to gather the resources even with relatively high stats and it’s easy to get bored. Now that you know what it takes I’d recommend buying the Tramp Steamer and exploring that zee a bit. As your stats increases and you gain access to things like a Wilmote’s End you can start gathering the pieces a bit at a time and then swap your ships once you get there. This is slower but it will be less grinds and frustrating,
That said, if you want to go ahead with this here are my recommendations. For strong back labor just earn the echoes and buy them as normal. This isn’t as cost effective as some of the other options but it is easier stat-wise. Whiring contraptions are a pain. Waiting for Wilmote’s End is probably the best bet although if you get impatient you can always just collect lamp lighter bees wax from unfinished business (I belive in lady bones road) and convert up. The diamonds for the bejewelled lenses are going to be the hardest. Expeditions are probably the easiest option here. Alternatively, you can raise your connected criminals to 30 and get them from An Implausible Penance.
Thank you all for your help. All things considered I am definitely going to go for the Zubmarine, even if it means grinding for the next few weeks. Once I put my mind to something I do not easily waver. (I may or may not have already spent a couple months grinding so I could get the lengthy lease to the bazaar)
A zub gives Bizarre +1 while a yacht gives Respectable +2.
The zub gives an additional card that lowers troubled waters, and some other options on other cards. About as good as no zub, depending on how you like the other cards.
The yacht gives a card that earns you 2.8 E or so, as well as having some OK unlocks.
Finally, the zub might unlock Sunless Sea content in the future. edited by Aximillio on 2/15/2015
