From Failbetter AMA: There is a card that is so rare that "it won’t even register unless you have a big deck, and almost never even then".
I’ve read the Storynexus documentation and don’t really understand how that’s possible or that would work? Does anyone know? There is a frequency there - Rarest - that so far has been assumed not to have been used. So I guess The Bawdy Cardsharp has that rarity. But I don’t understand why it wouldn’t register in smaller decks?.. Does anyone know?
Huh! Yeah, I really don’t know how that works… I’m half-wondering whether it means he was moved to an area with different card-drawing rules, but that’s just me being fanciful. Naturally, I’m wondering if any of his shipmates joined him…
Maybe you need to be able to draw all of the human companion cards? (So its unlocked with all human companions) (After all, if they all settled for a nice card game, a cardshark or two could show up)
I don’t think it’s a case of unlock requirements. The unlock requirements are known from when someone did once draw the card. You just need Free of Surface Ties. Alexis’s comment definitely implies it’s to do with the rarity of the card, not the unlock requirement
Well, they might have changed. I actually misread suinicide’s comment as suggesting that card unlocks could relate to the cards already in your hand, which I don’t think is possible… but it would be kind of neat! Say you need the Newshound and the Parliamentarian in your hand to draw the Perfectionist… the Newshound, the Parliamentarian and the Perfectionist to draw the Turophile… and so on!
That is true. But again, I don’t think Alexis’s comment sits with that interpretation… "It’s in there! It’s just really rare; it won’t even register unless you have a big deck, and almost never even then. We might adjust it."
It almost sounds like there is a rounding of some sort going on and if your deck isn’t big enough the fraction that’s being rounded will always effectively be zero. But that’s not really consistent with the way I had understood the deck to work (which is very succinctly described here)
edited by genesis on 4/19/2016
I thought there were only a couple cards in that tomb colony series. Now I’ve added the perfectionist, the turophile, and the cardsharp. Are there any other people from that ship?
There’s also the Libertarian Esotericist for a total of six.
[quote=genesis]That is true. But again, I don’t think Alexis’s comment sits with that interpretation… "It’s in there! It’s just really rare; it won’t even register unless you have a big deck, and almost never even then. We might adjust it."
It almost sounds like there is a rounding of some sort going on and if your deck isn’t big enough the fraction that’s being rounded will always effectively be zero. But that’s not really consistent with the way I had understood the deck to work (which is very succinctly described here)
edited by genesis on 4/19/2016[/quote]
I’m thinking, it means that the card has a lot of unlocks, like all the factions at 50, all the companions, things that add cards to your deck hence "unless you have a big deck". So question is, who’s willing to let their deck take the hit?
Hmm, who’s known for doing silly sacrifices in the name of things that aren’t conclusively known to exist? ;)
Rarererest cards confirmed
Bawdy Cardsharp for Smash?
I wonder if it includes Fate Locked card additions…
Which poses the question: Who is number seven? (which I’m assuming exists because of The Number)
Which poses the question: Who is number seven? (which I’m assuming exists because of The Number)[/quote]
I was playing at the time these cards were released, and there only ever were six. For a few weeks after their release they were all pretty common; I think I drew even the Cardsharp at least twice. After that, it seemed like all but the Newshound and Parliamentarian were removed from the game… but this comment by Alexis seems to indicate that they’ve been given Rarererest Frequency, or a particularly nasty unlock requirement, instead. Maybe you need to be a Paramount Presence? ;)
There may have been seven who landed at Xibalba, but only six ever made it back to London… (I can’t back that up; I don’t know what happened to them over there.)
Even Rarerest cards would be drawn eventually and reported by someone; they’re only 100 times rarer than Standard frequency cards. I have a sneaking suspicion that someone hasn’t checked whether the Cardsharp (and most of the other Xibalba tourists) still has its “Limited to Area” dropdown set to “12: Way Down In The Hole.” Which is rather hard to get to, much less draw cards in. I could be wrong, of course.
yeah but consider this: FLRNG is a huge douche.
Well, there was that drunken captain, of course… wonder what he would have to say about the whole thing? ;)
For the younger lore-hounds, I thought I’d drag together the six known Xibalba snippets here:
The Northbound Parliamentarian
The Paronomastic Newshound
The Bawdy Cardsharp
The Reclusive Turophile
The Cat-Beset Perfectionist
The Libertarian Esotericist
edited by Rupho Schartenhauer on 12/19/2016
[color=#009900]WHOOPS. I misremembered the situation with the Cardsharp in mid-AMA. Sorry, folks, he is actually just retired at the mo.[/color]