It takes way too long to get any of the cards I want. This is useful because I’ve still got an Eyeless Skull, but not so useful in that I haven’t seen the revolutionary firebrand in months so I can’t do a blessed thing with those skulls. I’ve got tiny amounts of dream qualities because I haven’t seen one in yonks.[li]
I hear that what you’re supposed to do is try and trash qualities and items to get their cards out of your deck. Does this mean I should start selling off my pets and trashing my companions, clubs and connections? Is it usual for people to have no connection to, say, Hell, just to keep the connection-trading cards out of one’s hand? (Intimate of Devils seems like a fine thing to trash, way too many cards in that storyline.) Should I go so far as to use the Eyeless Skull cards to trash my highway qualities?
I would not use your skulls to lower your main four qualities - that isn’t worth it. But pruning connections you don’t use and pets that have attached cards (lizard, bat, dazed raven advisor) that you don’t use is a good idea. My deck is fairly trimmed, and I used it to get from SMEN 3 to 7 in a little over a week. I get dreams fairly often, especially What The Thunder Said.[li] edited by Laluzi on 11/15/2013
Eyeless Skulls are hard to get. If they are clogging your deck just go on the Pickpockets Promenade (The Alleys of Spite).
Other deck management ideas - as has been said use up connections to less than 5 so you don’t get the faction cards, sell any pets whose cards you don’t play (if you get rid of your connected faction pet the storylet will reappear in Watchmaker’s Hill and you will be able to choose another one when you want and, if you want you then get the relevant faction increasing cards in the four starting areas), only draw cards in areas that don’t have location specific cards (as far as I know The Forgotten Quarter or The Labyrinth of Tigers). If there is a very common card that you don’t play and keep getting don’t discard it but let it take one slot in your hand until you need to clear your deck from Skulls. Manage your menaces so you don’t get the menace dependent cards - definitely don’t let your nightmares get to high as there are then several non-discardable cards added to the possible draw.
[quote=merusdraconis](Intimate of Devils seems like a fine thing to trash, way too many cards in that storyline.)[/quote]If you let that storyline run to its conclusion the devils will leave you alone, even if you later get your soul back. Or so I have found. Otherwise you’d have to get your Connected: Hell down below 3, or the ‘devil who’s taken a shine to you’ will keep appearing (I assume).
I doubt that lowering your main qualities will help you avoid ‘trash’ cards, since there’ll always be standard tiered cards for any given level. Though I suppose that keeping them juuust out of reach for any given tier would be a good idea. Seems to me as if the fewest tiered cards can be found at 119+, because I haven’t seen any new cards even with Watchful 150 or so. (Though I try to stay below 118 to get the lovely cards that increase various progress qualities by a larger-than-standard amount.)
But months of not seeing the Revolutionary Firebrand sounds like an awfully long time. Do you draw only a handful of cards every day? Did you get to Intimate with a Revolutionary Firebrand 10, and his storylet can now be found at your lodgings? (Just checking!)
No, I’m at 8. Part of it is that I put down the character because the only storylines I could find required me to draw cards I couldn’t get - I would have picked it back up the week before Halloween, so not quite a month, but I haven’t seen one in that time. (He is definitely not waiting at my lodgings.) Last storyline I finished was the Iron Republic. Haven’t been to the Nadir, only just discovered Schemes, and one of these days I’ll be able to finish Playing with Broken Toys. I figured that was just how the game worked, but seeing how quickly people motor through opportunity-driven content made me think that maybe trying to keep my factions open and avoid grinding later wasn’t doing me any favours.
I trashed half my connections, trying to keep the factions I’m fond of. I couldn’t bear to part with the Rubbery Men and I’m keeping my Revolutionaries high, so I still get the Amber in the Well card, but I think the conflict cards might have been the biggest reason why I was seeing so little of the other cards.
[li] edited by merusdraconis on 11/16/2013
They are, but if you aren’t interested in actively trying to raise a connection, they’re some of the most common cards there are. I personally throw most of them away or bank them (I still get the Kaleidoscopic Church and the Great Game/Church one)
I’d love to see more conflict cards, personally. Right now, my four main stats are still at the level where I can draw the 69-106 tier cards, but I have enough gear that I could wear a different outfit and get a better payout at the same odds somewhere else. So they’re basically all worthless after the first few plays, but they keep on turning up.
[quote=merusdraconis]I figured that was just how the game worked, but seeing how quickly people motor through opportunity-driven content made me think that maybe trying to keep my factions open and avoid grinding later wasn’t doing me any favours.[/quote]Well, we’re all different, and I’m someone with no job, no social life, and very flexible sleep requirements. So I can draw at least 100 cards every day, and usually more. That has allowed me to keep playing almost every faction card I draw, and still keep up with the opportunity-based storylines. Early on I realised that what really matters is getting to the game at least once every hour and empty the deck. So that’s what I try to do. (And now the game has taken over my life.)
Does anyone have advice for getting dream cards? I stopped playing Echo Bazaar a year and a half ago, now that I’ve picked it back up I can’t get the darned things anymore (I used to get them constantly)
I don’t get them very often on my main regardless of my Nightmares quality (which apart from the menacing dream cards at 6 doesn’t seem to influence frequency). Maybe your dream qualities are high?
Ah, so definitely not at the caps. Getting rid of some connections would be good for ridding a number of common cards. However, your ambition is going to require you to have a ship very very soon, so I would wait until you can get the Stone Tentacle-Key from Hunter’s Keep. Unless you just want to do the dream option to see the text I think that would be the best course of action.