Economic adjustments

Fallen London
1

Everything in the Sidestreets is so expensive. How will I ever afford a Zubmarine?

[color=#C2B280]We actually lowered the prices of five or six items: Use of Villains, for example, now costs about 30% less than before. But we have increased the price of some other items to 60+ Echoes.

We pretty much had to do this to integrate Sidestreets items properly with the rest of the economy, which has undergone several major changes since they were introduced. We’ve been adjusting them piecemeal as time permits, but that gave rise to all sorts of oddities. Collated Research could be manufactured efficiently in the inventory, but if you didn’t know about that you might buy it at a 600% mark up in the Sidestreets, or spend 34 actions to get it from Wilmot’s End. Nights on the Town were easier to get than Comprehensive Bribes, but five times more useful for Organising a Wedding. And so on.

We’ve basically tried to impose some rationality on all of this, so that it could conceivably make use to use any of the main methods to gain a Sidestreet item, and their effectiveness bears some relationship to their cost. So Strong-Backed Labour now gives five Expedition Supplies instead of two, expensive Sidestreet items provide larger boosts to Organising a Wedding than cheap ones, and so on.

[/color]But, my Zubmarine…

[color=#C2B280]We’ve reduced the component requirements for several PoSI items to compensate for the higher prices. Zubs, for example, require ten fewer Whirring Contraptions. They are still generally a little more expensive than before. We think that’s okay because some other items, like Gangs of Hoodlums, have become cheaper, and because we’ll probably add more ways to get components now we can do so without having to spend half an hour investigating their quirks, lest we crash the economy.

Do let me know if anything seems outrageous, though, here or at support@failbettergames.com, and I’ll take a look.

[/color]You made Wilmot’s End take ten more actions.

[color=#C2B280]Sorry, that was a bad thing I did. Because Whirring Contraptions, Legal Documents and the like now have a notional value of over 60 Echoes, we can’t give them out for 34 actions. We may add ways of leveraging their value later, and that could easily get out of hand, creating market distortions to the detriment of honest costermongers (and even their kittens).

We have a much better idea, but it will take some writing time to implement. And we don’t have a lot of that just now. Next month, with luck.

[/color]Why did you stop giving Certifiable Scraps for inviting others from the Surface? Now I have no incentive to spam friends, acquaintances or my MP with thousands of emails!

[color=#C2B280]Yes. Yes, indeed.
[/color]

2

A part two sounds good =)
edited by Aximillio on 6/25/2014

3

I understand the reasoning, and thank you for posting this explanation, Flyte.

I am unhappy with the general price increases because they feel like they penalise late-comers; anyone starting the game now will have to play far more to achieve the same things as someone who started a year ago.

That being said, can anyone tell me if the reward for running a newspaper edition has changed recently? With whirring contraptions having a notional value of over 60 echoes, and the best reward (which required fairly high stats and maybe, what, twenty actions on top of those needed to get the contraption) with a reward value of 60 echoes, they would seem to be a poor investment of time (although handy for helping friends out with some menaces).

4

I miss my rainbow of offerings in the bazaar sidestreets. I was saving it for an emergency or something, and now it seems to be gone for good.
Serves me right for being so undecisive…

5

My alt who hasn’t cashed in their Rainbow of Offerings still has it … maybe I should decide which option would be best, I still haven’t unlocked all the options as I was saving it until they finished at Court but that will be a long time as there are too many other things to do first and I was in no hurry to open up the Foreign Office.

Edit to add - so some official statement as to whether it is going to disappear or not will be appreciated.
edited by reveurciel on 6/25/2014

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[color=#C2B280]Johnny, did you just become an Extraordinary Mind, Invisible Eminence, or other especially important personage? That does render you ineligible for the Rainbow of Offerings. We have no plans to remove it, and in fact greatly improved some of the offerings in order to establish some semblance of balance.

I understand why it might seem that we’re penalising latecomers. But this is doubly false. First, as I tried to explain, while some component prices have increased a lot, the overall cost of PoSI gear is not very different, and liable to go down again over time as we add new sources for these items. The most useful items are not expensive, and some of them – including Velocipedes – are much cheaper than before.

The second reason is set out in this parable.

I haven’t revised Newspaper rewards; thanks for bringing them to my attention. I’ll take a look next week.[/color]
edited by Flyte on 6/25/2014

7

Thanks Flyte - I’m a long way from getting to those heights on that alt and I’ll try to remember to use the Rainbow of Offerings before I do.

8

Ah, yes. I’m indeed a Legendary Charisma for some time now. That explains it, I guess.

http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Johnny~Felix

9

What was that about increasing the Wilmot’s End cycles by ten Actions? Has that actually been done, or did you change your mind? And will that affect War of Assassins too, since that also increases Dramatic Tension? And also gives a reward worth 62.5 Echoes, albeit limited by how often one can draw the Tomb-Colonies card, and it’s 35 Actions instead of 34.

[quote=Johnny Felix]I miss my rainbow of offerings in the bazaar sidestreets. I was saving it for an emergency or something, and now it seems to be gone for good.
Serves me right for being so undecisive…[/quote]That sounds horrible. I pounced on Going over the spoils specifically because it was the only one that offered a Whirring Contraption. And a Personal Recommendation too, and a Legal Document… I needed almost everything, so there was nothing to save for emergencies. Apparently the storylet increases the PoSI quality, which then acts as a lock, so maybe yours was increased some other way, perhaps by choosing a specialisation?

[quote=RandomWalker](although handy for helping friends out with some menaces).[/quote]As a frequent beneficiary of such menace reduction, I’m going to have to say that -1 CP in two menaces isn’t all that great considering that it takes an Action to answer the questions. That Action could be used to reduce most menaces by 3 CP through various means, either at certain points in the Counting the Days cycle, which comes with a reward at the end of the cycle, or by using potions or faction conflict cards. So while it’s nice to get something, I wouldn’t say that those interviews are helping me more than they help the newspaper-person. Not that I knew that newspapers paid off in any way in the first place. I thought they were mostly a hobby for rich people with nothing better to do! ;)

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Claiming a reward resets Doing Business in Wilmot’s End now, used to be only getting Dramatic Tension did that.

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[quote=Flyte]Why did you stop giving Certifiable Scraps for inviting others from the Surface? Now I have no incentive to spam friends, acquaintances or my MP with thousands of emails!

[color=#C2B280]Yes. Yes, indeed.
[/color][/quote]
I blame myself for this.

At one point I sent an invite to the Earl of Ulster to his Crisis Project address.
Sorry, everyone. Sorry, Alex.

12

Really, I’m not that upset over many of the changes. They seem reasonable, and I was starting to understand the how certain paths were more lopsided than others.

However, I find the Magnificent Diamond component to be a bit overboard for Bejewelled Lenses. There aren’t many sources at all (I know of two available, both extremely luck dependent, and a few from one-time stories), compared to all of the other components for Side Street items being available through storylets and conversions, barring Collections of Curiosity. Unless more sources appear in the near future, they’re by far the most difficult thing to get a hold of. The grinding for large quantities of items doesn’t bother me, but having absolutely no control over whether I can reach my goal does.

If you are planning to add more, though, I don’t see anything wrong.

13

[quote=Spacemarine9]Claiming a reward resets Doing Business in Wilmot’s End now, used to be only getting Dramatic Tension did that.[/quote]I see. Thanks for the info!

And I have now done some calculations, and with five Expedition Supplies for one Strong-Backed Labour it appears as if it’s a toss-up between using it to emancipate Clay Men and using it to get Expedition Supplies for expeditions to a Shrine of the Deep Blue Heaven (assuming flawless buccaneering). So good job on that balancing! :)

Just too bad I didn’t know about it until I’d already lost all my Ruthlessness (9, and some extra CPs) just so I could make more money. Who would’ve thought that chasing profits like that wouldn’t be Ruthless? ;)

EDIT:

[quote=Lucky Cinnamon]However, I find the Magnificent Diamond component to be a bit overboard for Bejewelled Lenses. There aren’t many sources at all (I know of two available, both extremely luck dependent, and a few from one-time stories)[/quote]A pact with the Master Jewel Thief could get you many Magnificent Diamonds. But I suppose that might not be for everyone.
edited by Gillsing on 6/26/2014

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Claiming a reward resets Doing Business in Wilmot’s End now, used to be only getting Dramatic Tension did that.[/quote]

Ow.
Not that I care about the actions - that’s fine - but wilmot’s end is so … clicky …

I have read the texts. I have been through the branches. They do nothing interesting. There might as well be one storylet that says “here, you have DONE this enough already, just spend 10 actions to get back to the upper part of the carousing” …

15

[quote=xKiv]There might as well be one storylet that says &quothere, you have DONE this enough already, just spend 10 actions to get back to the upper part of the carousing&quot …[/quote]I guess that would be a nice alternative for someone who’s not me. I prefer to be able to spend my actions before I get close to maxing them out, and since I also want to have at least 8 Actions ready for a couple of cards I might draw, I don’t really want to have to routinely go up to 19/20 Actions so I can click a single 11-Action storylet (which is what it takes to get Dramatic Tension +1 CP).

16

Wanted to mention newspaper, but it was already covered by RandomWalker. Looking forward to changes there.

10 action button would be nice, but we all know it’s now going to happen. FL is fueled by your blood and tears, so such a radical change would kill the Bazaar.

17

[quote=Lucky Cinnamon]Really, I’m not that upset over many of the changes. They seem reasonable, and I was starting to understand the how certain paths were more lopsided than others.

However, I find the Magnificent Diamond component to be a bit overboard for Bejewelled Lenses. There aren’t many sources at all (I know of two available, both extremely luck dependent, and a few from one-time stories), compared to all of the other components for Side Street items being available through storylets and conversions, barring Collections of Curiosity. Unless more sources appear in the near future, they’re by far the most difficult thing to get a hold of. The grinding for large quantities of items doesn’t bother me, but having absolutely no control over whether I can reach my goal does.

If you are planning to add more, though, I don’t see anything wrong.[/quote]

No! Dangit. I thought that was new.

Bejeweled lenses were my main way of keeping Making Waves above 15 every week. Just so that my Notability didn’t shrink.

It was Perfect. It was perfectly balanced for price of the item, and amount of Making Waves it gave me. But now it’s gone…

Crap. And with no reliable way of getting that stupid diamond, my hunt for making waves will become a lot harsher. Dangit dangit dangit.

18

[quote=Swinter]Bejeweled lenses were my main way of keeping Making Waves above 15 every week. …
And with no reliable way of getting that stupid diamond, my hunt for making waves will become a lot harsher.[/quote]I didn’t know people still had to hunt for Making Waves. If I use all my Free Evenings for Private Suppers I have no trouble getting from 7-8 to 15-16, though that includes asking the Sardonic Music-Hall Singer for a lot of help and also some parading my Preening Macaw around town, plus the occasional social action. If I needed to make more waves I would take advantage of An invitation to dinner and A polite Invitation, Because paying to make waves is something I save for the high numbers needed to increase Notability, not just to maintain it.

Do you perhaps use your Free Evenings for the benefit of protégés instead of Private Suppers? I could see how that would make all the difference.

19

And if you don’t use the social actions there are certain conversions that raise MW, that along with cards keeps my MW topped up above my notability every week.