Rutherby, cheshster - thanks, I’ll be interested to see how that goes. (Though cheshster, I won’t be able to tune in in realtime because I’m in an incompatable timezone.) This turned out a bit long but I’ll go ahead and post anyway.
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So here I am, an unscrupulous poet by the name of Steerpike with a Sly Navigator (+1 Mirrors). My stats are all at 26 except Pages (50) and Iron (30).
The first thing I do is save and switch to Merciful mode. I will be reloading if I die or come to a fuel dead-end, but not otherwise. The save screen remains small and annoyingly pokey.
I putter about London, read the newspapers (one free supply!), and go to the Admiralty. My first commission: the Iron & Misery Company Funging Station. Sounds good. I pick the new tomb-colonist option and spend my money. The shop tab is still a mess, with blurbs cut off and the last tab falling off the bottom of the screen.
Current status: 15 fuel and 8 supplies. Setting out SW. Feeling: excited, coming back to it after a break. Whatever else you might say of the Zee, it’s picturesque.
Chased by a crab I got too close to. I know I can’t take the damn thing for any profit after I factor in the spent fuel, so I run. Annoyed. Dock on Mutton Island and explore the shore. I spent all my echoes on fuel, so I can’t try a riddle. Annoyed.
Next discovery: the Snares. Do I want to be here? I can’t remember. I stop at Pigmote Isle to see if anything’s changed and side with the rats, but the challenges are way beyond me and I can’t spare the two supplies. This is obviously not a new-player area. I leave, feeling I’ve wasted time and fuel.
Diamond random event! I now have Stone’s attention and my terror is back to 2, making me feel much better about turning off the lights to avoid sharks and large crabs. Feeling good.
Next discovery is Gaider’s Mourn, west of London. I explore the Mourn and get a Tale of Terror plus a terror penalty that will take me 30 echoes to clear. Foolhardily, I also attempt to get a Port Report despite having only a 31% chance, and lose a crew member. Ah well. The report is worth the death - though not the terror penalty. I’ve lost on that one, too. Usually I’d save and reload until I succeeded the challenge, but I’ve said I wasn’t doing that on this runthrough because it’s a bloody annoying way to play the game.
Onwards! I’m heading North, circling home waters in search of I&M. I come across a bunch of rocks I don’t recognise. When the Zee-bat starts picking up Mt Palmerston (yerk), I turn West.
Station III! Thank God. I also pick up Port Reports at Shepherd’s Wash and the Sisterhood, and trade them my news for a 2-point terror reduction. With the Station III bounty, I’m no longer afraid that I won’t have enough money for fuel next trip. Crisis averted.
I’ve now circled all around London’s adjacent tiles without finding I&M. I didn’t think "not far outside home waters" went that far, and I’m near Venderbight with only 3 fuel left. I drop off my tomb-colonist, who doesn’t pay me and now wants Mushroom Wine. Huh. I pick up an Unread Log from an unlikely success in exploring, and a Port Report.
Bats in my path! It goes quite well - the firing circle has widened significantly since I last played, and that makes me at least 60% less likely to punch the screen in frustration. I take the terror hit and the fuel hit - about 0.2 - but I pick up a supply, so I feel it was worth it. Outcome: satisfactory.
Overconfident, though, since next I tackle a Pinnace. I take 14 points of hull damage for one fuel. Worth it? I don’t know. It leaves me feeling less than accomplished as I trail into London with 2 fuel, 2 supplies and 25 terror.
I take the Blind Bruiser’s offer because I feel I don’t have a choice, with my tiny amount of supplies and my lack of success in finding I&M. I don’t feel good about it, especially when my suspicion ticks up. I employ the Presbyterate Adventuress and page through the available weapons, even though I don’t have enough money. They’re frustrating and unobvious. Which ones require extra bits to work? Which ones will use themselves up and which ones are permanent? I don’t have a clear equipment goal to aim for, and the bloody I&M is somewhere outside a 13-fuel radius. I’m slightly fired up to do the mushroom wine quest, when I realise I only have about half the money necessary.
So, feelings after my first trip: meh. Combat is not as bad as I remembered, but I still loathe the small crabs. The best moments were the free supply from the newspaper (weird, I know, but it felt good) and getting 150 echoes for Station III. The annoying ones were wasting time, effort, fuel and hull on islands without Port Reports and the Pinnace combat. I can’t see how I’m going to make a profit on the next trip, since I&M is so far out, and though I can swallow a loss to the tune of 40 echoes, it feels like it will be the definition of spending a futile hour of my time. Save and quit for today.
Concrete suggestions:
1. Put the foward and aft guns back on the starting ship. Cheaply. Having those three guns on my starting ship was the only time I had fun in post-Steel combat. It makes no difference if they only do plink-y damage: doing 5 points of damage from two guns just feels much, much better than 10 points from one gun, especially if combat is leaving you feeling out of control. And it would give a clear, motivational goal for the murky start of the game - there’s nothing as unambiguously satisfying as filling an empty weapons slot.
2. More one-off bounties for discovering islands. More places that are at least a little rewarding to dock at, even when you’re not rich and skilled. It is incredibly frustrating to go to places like Pigmote Isle and come away feeling the game has punished you for daring to explore and not to save-load-save-load until you know exactly where you’re heading "first time". It doesn’t matter if the profit is tiny, I just need to feel like it wasn’t a pointless loss. The Admiralty should be interested in rat colonisation (although make it clear it’s only a one-off). They should be interested at least once in the Salt Lions. The Admiralty should also pay for first-time confirmations that light ships are still there and operating (and the ships should have a terror reduction you don’t have to swap for news). Make me happy to see people in the dark Zee! If you want players to explore, it might help to reward them a little more for doing that. One-offs - forty echoes here, seventy there - can’t seriously mess up the balance of the game, and it would make the first couple of trips so much more satisfying.