Ahoy my fellow zailors!
Klubhouse here and I have recently bought Sunless Sea and have been playing it quite intently for the past few days. I've died quite a few times, but not without progress being made and discoveries plucked from the Zee's icy grip. I've found myself having a tough time trying to figure out just how to make a reliable income of money and have found my recent games turning to a slow death when I am unable to complete my Admirality reports (usually because I couldn't find the island in a reasonable time because of the random map generation... leading to a death spiral of me bleeding cash as I have to replace the fuel + supplies wasted on my failed exploration mission.)[li]
Although, this doesn’t mean I haven’t learned anything. (Quite the contrary, I’ve learned quite a bit.) I think I’ve generally gotten the first step of Sunless Sea down (Not dying to the death spiral).
I would like to share a bit of my experience with the intent of providing new players with a few neat tips and tricks that could, at the very least, provide a road map of success to creating nice stable runs so they can enjoy Sunless Seas content to the fullest. These tips will include general observations I've had of the game, what starting bonuses would be most useful, what you'll generally want to do first of all, things of that nature.
Note: I will not be revealing crucial Plot Elements or anything special about the game. I understand that this game is about discovery and I encourage you, the reader, to really try to find things out on your own before turning to others for help. In a vast open Zee, a captain has to stand on his own two feet, after all…
— BUFFER —
Ye have been warned Zailor!
--------------
[i]~~~~ Tips # 1 : It’s time for Tea (and Cannonballs)! ~~~~[/i]
New players on your first run, I suggest you take Bonuses on your IRON stat. The game has five stats (Hearts, Veils, Pages, Mirrors, and Iron.) When your first starting out, it can be confusing as to what stat does what. More importantly it can be hard to decipher just when having a high skill in a particular stat can be useful.
as you explore and delve deeper into Sunless Sea, this will eventually fade and you’ll be able to figure out when you should have X skill on a run when you sadly have Y Skill. But if you’re wondering what stat is the best for starting out I highly suggest putting your bonus into your IRON stat.
Reason being is that iron is all about how hard you punch and helps your combat. Combat by itself is an incredibly intuitive concept and its easy to see how having a high iron stat affects your run at ALL stages. Plus, being able to effectively one-shot or two shot many of the in-game starter enemies will prove to be a huge boon to your run. You'll be spending a lot of cash on supplies and Fuel but with a nice Iron boost you'll be able to beat starter enemies who most of the time give you supplies or fuel. You could even come back to Fallen London with more supplies than you started with if you keep a sharp eye out for bat swarms.
You will die a ton. It's a sad fact of the perilous Zee. When you find yourself sinking beneath the waves always be sure you have invested in something that can be used for the next run! Sunless Sea allows you to essentially "carry over" certain things from your last run, and this can prove invaluable to building future runs up to unlock more and more content.
There are three (?) things you can carry over: A weapon, An Officer, or your sea chart.
If you find yourself in a death spiral (can't afford fuel to explore ---> need fuel to make money ---> repeat make plans to "invest" your last echoes into an item that you could carry over. Or, if you liked the locations of this run, you can always save these locations for the next run by giving your heir the sea chart! (which could give that next run easy trade routes to give you an early boost to your cash with admiral runs)
I've found weapons to be a great "permanent" investment for reasons stated in tip # 1. It helps your early game and having a high enough combat stat to deal with starting enemies easily with ALWAYS see a return on investment. Another thing to think about: to upgrade your lodgings it will take a hefty 1000 echoes the first time. But, as soon as you upgrade your lodgings, you are able to write a will that will retain your new lodging for the next run. Every run after that, you will be able to keep your fancy lodgings as long as you write a Will for 200 Echoes. It's a hefty sum at first, but if you manage to pony up all that cash it will just set yourself up for future runs because that's an extra 800 echoes your saving every single run after you upgrade your lodgings. (just remember to write that will)
(upgrading your lodgings also gives you the opportunity to retire where the game is considered a draw... easier on the mind knowing that you can make it back to London and retire rather than running head long into a Pirates Cannon if you want to start over.)
You will also see the option of maintaining 50% of your wealth, and in some cases this could work to your benefit. but I feel that it's better to carry over an weapon. Weapon's are expensive and useful and "50%" of your wealth can be unreliable. if you carry over a weapon, you are saving yourself hundreds of echoes flat that went into buying that weapon.
as you get more experience you can experiment with other things... but for players just starting out, I feel like carrying over a weapon is a good way to hedge your bets against all the bad things under the Zee.
[b]~~~~ Tip # 3 Bring the Cannons to bear! ~~~~[/b]
Learn enemy patterns.
Sunless Sea's combat is straightforward, but you'll find yourself taking more damage than you'd like if you just sit there and take turns lobbing cannonballs at each other. Take some time to learn how your enemy attacks and how you can use that to your advantage. For example: Starter Pirate ships need to have you in their frontal area of vision in order to attack you, so wait until a pirate turns around before running right unto their tail and unleashing the full might of the S.S. FickleBack.
Don't be afraid of certain enemies because they have high health bars, some creatures can be "danced around" by backing up and keeping them in line of sight to load up your cannons. Learn how you can take advantage of this and be proud of yourself when you take down an enemy without taking a single hit point of damage. Also note that you can purchase bigger and better engines to make your ship faster, this could prove invaluable when hunting even bigger game...
[b]~~~~ Tip # 4 For Her Highness and Coin ~~~~[/b]
[b]
[/b]
Money is always a constant worry. Unfortunately I've noticed that this game has a sort of "Vicious Cycle" that you need to be constantly aware of when you're playing.
You need to explore to make money ---> You need Money to purchase fuel/supplies ---> You need fuel/supplies to Explore ---> (Back to First)
This is the ever-present cycle that you'll always be thinking about, and if for a moment you aren't able to fulfill any of those three things listed above. You'll start to flounder and enter into a Death spiral that will eventually end your run. This can be frustrating and finding good solid ways in this game to make consistent money can be one of the more challenging concepts for one reason.
The map changes every single run.
This has a huge impact on the way money works because certain trade routes that were discovered one run are not guaranteed for the next. Just starting out, you'll probably only know one or two ways to make money in the game. This could prove vexing because with the ever changing map, you may get a string of runs that do not give you favorable conditions for those ways of making money... leading to a lot of failed runs and head aches.
The best way to combat this is to really put on your explorer's cap and don't be afraid to end the run gurgling salt water sometimes. Find out what locations are "Consistent" (Do not change run to run.) and find out what locations give you opportunities for cash routes. (For example, you may have a run that favors you to farm a lot of strategic intelligence for the Admiral, while the next run puts the salt lions in a reasonable spot that allows you to cart Sphinx Stone for good profits.)
You COULD leave behind the sea chart to essentially "Lock in" those trade routes. But I wouldn't suggest that, You lose the opportunity to keep a weapon which is always useful and "Locking in" your trade routes encourages you to to just stick with what you know. In an adventure game that is all about exploring and finding new and better ways to do things (while dying a few times on the way) just sticking to whats familiar is what will kill your interest in the game because it turns it into a giant grind, and the game is already slow enough moment by moment. You don't want to put yourself in that grinding mentality
This game is called "rogue-like" for a reason. Sometimes you'll get maps that just seem to give you every opportunity to you on a silver platter, while other map generations feel like a barren wasteland. It's all part of the game and the deciding factor is how your able to work with what your given.
~~~~~~~~~ End ~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, these are just a few little secrets of Sunless Sea that I was able to glean from my first couple of runs. I'm enjoying the game immensely so far and I'm glad to see so much of it done and see a plan for a slated release for February. I wish the development team the best of luck and hope that if you are a player that is just picking up Sunless Sea for the first time that you don't get frustrated with the game. It's definitely worth your attention, and I hope that what I've posted here today has inspired you to go out one more time and try to conquer the dangerous, perilous Zee.