There’s something I’ve wondered for a while: Is it worthwhile to sell items I don’t need at the moment to get better outfits? Near as I can tell, bonuses to my stats act the same as if I’d gotten my stat up there the old fashioned way, albeit a little faster. It would seem the only advantage of better equipment is that I can access more lucrative options a little earlier, but they do not help me progress through the game any faster.
So, should I invest in better clothes? Or should I hoard every ounce of glim I can get my hands on?
You’re quite right - bonuses from clothes are the same as raising the skill naturally. The only absolute advantage of clothes comes once stats have been raised to the natural cap. Actually, that’s not quite true - there are one or two storylets unlocked by owning particular items of clothing, and many of the pets unlock opportunity cards.
My strategy: sell what you know you can easily replace if you need to. In the long run, you can save Echoes by saving up and only buying the best for each kind of stat boost, but it will take a little longer.
However, a number of storylets require the possession of certain equipment, and you can never be sure what future storylets will require. It’s probably safer not to sell anything.
Are you enjoying your current storylets? Best to save until you hit a dull patch, then upgrade equipment to jump to the next set of stories. Everyone has different favourite stories of course, so can’t suggest when to upgrade, except to say - don’t do it initially; eventually you are going to run out of content, using good equipment early on just does you out of plot.
I make it a point never to sell anything that can’t be bought back, and to prefer selling those goods (a) that I know where to get in some abundance and (b) have a 2:1 rather than 3:1 buy-price to sell-price.
Of course it’s better to hold off until you can buy the really excellent stuff, but for one thing, there are several items that you need for stories; and for another, holding off is hard.
I used to keep everything I acquired, only selling when I was lacking echoes for some much needed item.
But that was back then. I’ve recently sold all my valuables and less valuable belongings, bought a permanent reservation at the Royal Bethlehem and am now living a careless life in luxury.
The effects of equipment on stats is the same as raising the Quality itself, but with a substantial difference: equipment can be unequipped ^^
So, you can actually use equipment in a tactical way: when you find an Action particularly lucrative, you can grind it, and just when your Quality is so high that the action vanishes, switch to the immediately worse piece of equipment and keep grinding at optimal difficulty level ^^ But I don’t think this is actually so necessary to justify keeping an exemplar of each and every piece of equipment… So, usually all you need is a full suit of equipment for your main Qualities (the ones involved in your Ambition), or even better for each and every Quality, as there are stories that require high values in all of the Qualities (for example, dealing with your Surface Ties or becoming a Person of Some Importance). You can than switch equipment to suit the challenge you’re facing.
Keeping old equipment for future use doesn’t seem much useful to me: it is true that some items are required sometimes (for example, a pair of Magician’s Gloves to open up the route to Mahogany Hall), but usually when you can afford highest-level equipment, if you ever need inferior equipment you shouldn’t have problems to earn enough to just re-buy it outright. The opposite is true for equipment not available in the Bazaar - most of what you can’t buy should be treasured in the event of future use.
On the question of dressing to impress, I note that several of the nicer items are, perhaps, a bit out of one’s budget. As you progress, do the echoes become easier to obtain? I frequently ponder if I should sell some of my relics and have, in the past, sold off a supply of ridiculous hats that I later discovered I needed.
[quote=Maurna Frost]On the question of dressing to impress, I note that several of the nicer items are, perhaps, a bit out of one’s budget. As you progress, do the echoes become easier to obtain? I frequently ponder if I should sell some of my relics and have, in the past, sold off a supply of ridiculous hats that I later discovered I needed.
~MF
A Lady pondering shopping[/quote]
The resale value of the rewards from a task is generally equal to the attribute level at which the chance of success is 50%. Or in other words, rewards do increase linearly with level. edited by Patrick Reding on 12/21/2011
What I do is keep a buffer of items – so, for example, I always try to have at least 5000 bars of Nevercold Brass Silver, and ~3000 Cryptic Clues, that sort of thing. When I notice that my coffers are overflowing with stuff, I’ll sell down to the budget line. That way, I always have something on hand, in case I need it, but I can still sell stuff if I have a lot of it. It’s generally best not to sell anything at the beginning, then slowly increase your buffer as you become more wealthy.
However, some items are more frequently used than others and should therefore have a larger buffer, and there are others that you should NEVER EVER sell, at least not until you’ve bought everything related to them. The “never sell” category is generally anything related to the purchase of new lodgings (Whispered Secrets, Souls, Prisoner’s Honey), or that is used in unlocking new areas. You will need every penny for those.
Glim and Primordial Shrieks are near-useless, though, don’t be afraid to sell a lot of those.
Primordial Shrieks are also eligible of an alternative tactic - every 50 of them, you can “use” them (in your Inventory). This unlocks a Watchful test (Straightforward for me at Watchful 30): on a failure, you gain a Wound point and lose 10 Primordial Shrieks, on a success you have a “Matter of luck: it could go either way” occurrence. The unlucky result converts 50 Shrieks into 10 Maniac’s Prayers - that is, no gain: they both sell fo a total of 1 echo; but the lucky results converrts 20 Shrieks in 1 Aeolian Scream, selling for a grand 2.50 Echoes and leaving you 30 Shrieks. So I’ve currently access to an action giving me 20 Shrieks a time, and I usually follow this routine: 5 Actions to gain 100 Shrieks, 2 Actions to try and convert them. I’m doing it 4 times a day for a total of 28 Actions, leaving me 22 Actions free for intractions, curing MEnaces and forwarding my plot, and I’m totaling quite a lot considering that my highest Quality is less than 50 when fully equipped ^^
Oh? That’s interesting; I didn’t know there was a rare success. Thank you for the information!
Also, apparently Maniac’s Prayers can be interacted with as well. So far I’ve managed to convert one into a Correspondence Plaque, a tidy profit (albeit not very action-efficient).
Actually, for a “it could go either way” chance, I feel like I’m getting too few Aeolian Screams, but maybe it’s just a bit of bad luck. Anyway, they’re far from rare. Note that the other possible action with Primordial Shrieks is actually more rewarding, giving the chance to turn a single Shriek into a single Maniac Prayer… But I find it’s by far too costly in terms of Actions: should I try to convert all of my Shrieks one at a time, I should forfeit most of any other Action. Not likely going to happen ^^
I agree on the Glim - particularly if you’re fond of the labyrinth you can amass quite literally thousands of it: keep a buffer of a few thou but it’s worth it when you can sell about 50k. Shrieks are good for getting out of the Colonies, too, which is helpful for the scandalous. I saw the interaction things today and am rather excited about trying that when I’ve more moves.
But as has been said before - if it won’t ruin you to rebuy it (oh god the contracts/books sob) sell the excess and keep enough so as not to be in dire straits should you need them for a story.
I’ve only kept items that give the most bang for the buck, so to speak (i.e., why keep the Intricate Kifers when the Umbrella gives you the same Shadowy boost, and a Dangerous boost besides)? Though I have kept some items for pure sentimental value (I still have my Apple of Discord, for example).