Suddenly I’m noticing on a number of cards that the Second Chance gains from them seems to be capped at 20. At least for "A contact in the Great Game has a tale for you" choosing "Everyone deserves a second chance" does now seem to be capped at 20, whereas a couple of days ago it was still uncapped. At least I could swear it wasn’t. That was my favorite card to hoard them too…
I’m pretty sure it was implemented in more cards/storylets although no other examples come to mind at this moment. Or is this me having a selective memory again?
Anyhow, for the moment assuming that I am correct in my assertion, from a hoarding/spamming perspective this cap sucks in a big way, because it forces me to spend my second chances or lose out on net gain per card. From an overall gaming perspective it perhaps the exact same hoarding/spamming method was becoming a bit exploit-ish as (especially long-time players) could be hoarding them in the hundreds and so brute-force themselves to any challenge easily. My mind is divided on whether it is a good thing.
I liked uncapped second chances too, and wish they could’ve provided more lucrative opportunities to use them instead of these crude caps. But at least they’re capped at 21 and not at 12, like the social actions are. Because that would’ve been quite painful. Might still be painful when trying one’s luck with An unlikely garden. I got that card three times on one trip, and statistically 21 Confident Smiles would not be enough at 15% chance of success. But I was very lucky and succeeded in just ten attempts. Haven’t had to spend more than 20 smiles since my early days, when I tried at only 9-12% chance of success.
I suppose I’ll play that card again once my Hard-Earned Lessons and Hastily Written Warning-Notes go below 21. Not really worth it to spend an Action to get a single second chance that’s used to turn a 31% risk of failure into a ~10% risk. Because even with 5 Echoes to be gained, 21% of 5 Echoes is about 1 Echo, and that’s poor ppa for me.
No, it wasn’t "you gain 0" what would be expected if it rolled 0 romantic notions in the range of 0 to 1.
It said "here’s one" and then "nevermind you already HAVE one" indicating it came up as 1, from 0-1, but then gave me nothing at all because I had one.
It did that on every single item on all 5 of my free evenings, including the second chances, now that I look at things with a little more careful of an eye.
Sorry I wasn’t making much sense, but it’s not just second chances that are having issues, but I’ve been wrong before.
Often.
And could still be wrong now. edited by ICountFrom0 on 10/27/2014
The key lies in the wording; “Romantic Notions remains unchanged, at 200” means that you just got nothing from a random effect, while “Romantic Notions hasn’t changed, because it’s greater than 200” means there’s a cap at play. Basically if it doesn’t say greater than/less than, it’s nothing to do with a cap.
For what it’s worth - the second chances available from the early-game stories (like Secrets of Hell) have NOT been capped, at least not on that particular card as of today. This makes them much more valuable than they were previously.
We shall see if it remains that way or if I’m accidentally making a bug report just now.
[quote=Toran]This makes them much more valuable than they were previously.[/quote]One Action to get a single second chance and nothing more just doesn’t seem worth it to me.
Is the university sudden insight one still uncapped? That one might be still acceptable (1 sudden insight + 58 pence + 4 investigation , which could be cashed into about 75 pence)
[quote=zbr308]Is the university sudden insight one still uncapped?[/quote]It’s been capped at 20/21. Found that out when I accidentally clicked on that option.
[quote=zbr308]Is the university sudden insight one still uncapped? That one might be still acceptable (1 sudden insight + 58 pence + 4 investigation , which could be cashed into about 75 pence)
I suppose it depends on how much you want to break the 20 Second Chance cap. I don’t see much reason to do it, but it’s a "loophole."
I’m curious if second chances sent as gifts via the Square of Lofty Words card are also capped–does anyone know? I like to give these to people who are newish at the game and can use them more than I can, but I don’t want them to be wasted if the recipient has more than 20.
Yes indeed, Miss Perative. I sent some to an alt as an experiment and she didn’t learn a blessed thing. :| I can’t say I am thrilled about this change because it’s going to make even more cards and storylets completely useless to those who are stat-capped like me.
Edit: I am wrong. Let us all mark this notable day on the calendar and carry on, yes? ;) edited by Lady Taimi Ward-Felix on 10/29/2014
I don’t know about that, Taimi; I went from 24 to 26 Confident Smiles from a Gift, so if that has a cap, it’s higher than 20, at least for Persuasive Second Chances. Or the cap might be different depending on your POSI specialty; I’m a Legendary Charisma.
Well huh! I just did it again, and sure enough, this time it worked.
Your gift of admiration from My-Name Is-Taimi (Taimi in Fallen London) is here… You’ve gained 2 x Sudden Insight (new total 45). You’ve gained 2 x Hard-Earned Lesson (new total 22). You’ve gained 2 x Confident Smile (new total 212). You’ve gained 2 x Hastily Scrawled Warning Note (new total 32)
Considering how many confident smiles my alt has, it’s safe to assume there is no cap when it comes to gifts.
Now I wish I had kept the message from the last time when I swore it didn’t work so I would know if the devs changed it and quickly changed it back or if I’m going crazy, but I don’t, having only the email and my (sometimes questionable) memories.