Funding an Expedition

[quote=Gillsing][quote=Catherine Raymond]
Yes, that’s right. You keep Expedition Supplies you don’t use in a given expedition, but I think you can’t have more than 100 Expedition Supplies at any one time.[/quote]Ah yes, Spacemarine9 and Aximillio already answered that question. So thanks to everyone! For everything… :)

EDIT: It’s now been a week since I found my first Eyeless Skull, and a few hours ago I found my fifth and traded them for a Ray-Drenched Cinder. Hard to say how many actions I spent &quotSeeking Curios and Secrets in the Forgotten Quarter&quot, but most of my 120+ actions per day were spent on various Opportunity cards and robbing drunks or entertaining the Topsy King while waiting for said Opportunity cards to bring down Nightmares so I could return to the Forgotten Quarter. So I’m going to say that it took no more than 200 actions to get all those skulls. (Not so rare in comparison to the Salt Weasel I got today, after drawing 120+ cards per day for two or three weeks. At least 1700 cards, I’d say.) But I still don’t have enough expedition supplies to feel safe doing even the simplest expedition, so I guess I’ll just follow Riley37’s advice and sell any other skulls I might find before I’m ready for the Cave of Nadir.
edited by Gillsing on 10/14/2013[/quote]

I would hold off on the expeditions and head for the University loops for Watchfull stuff, which pay pretty well and have a lot of fun angles. A lot of the challenges in the expeditions are still not straightforward for Watchful levels of 140-150.[li]
edited by Trodgmey on 10/17/2013

Grr, failbetter timeout ate my post. I’ll re-write it later.[li]

Suffice to say, I think Corpsecage Island -> Prelapsarian Archaeological Notes -> Your Own Expertise -> Deep Blue Heaven is a great way to grind for skulls and echoes. It’s potentially pretty lucrative and more fun than a lot of options.

I find myself unwilling to spend 30 x Memory of Distant Shores on buying my way into the University, as I’m planning to become a Scholar of the Correspondence anyway. But perhaps I should quit discarding the “Ways of the University” card and see what the place has to offer? My Watchful is already 84 (up to 99 with items), so maybe it’d be easier to find Whispered Secrets there than elsewhere?

I haven’t gotten around to any expeditions yet, as I didn’t even have the 1000 x Whispered Secret needed to learn Archaeology 101. If I had known that Whispered Secrets would be so necessary I wouldn’t have converted them all to Cryptic Clues to help pay for the townhouse and the charter to the decommissioned steamer.

Now I have plenty of Cryptic Clues and Appalling Secrets that simply cost too much in Nightmares to spend on expedition supplies. And trying to grind for Whispered Secrets in The Forgotten Quarter while having inadequate Watchful and Persuasive has not been working out, apart from the sixth Eyeless Skull that I found. (And sold.) Now I’m trying to see if entertaining the Topsy King with bats is a better way to make money. Hard to say with all the extra stuff I find in the Forgotten Quarter aside from the skulls.

At a certain point in the University stories, one can question some porters, which costs Cryptic Clues, gives an Insight, practices Watchful, yields Whispered Secrets, and increases Investigating. I am grinding this, and cashing in the Whispered Secrets for supplies. I expect to use the Insights during the expedition.

There is also an encounter in Wolfstack Docks which raises Connected: Docks; that plus rosty is an alternative way to raise Supplies.
edited by Riley37 on 10/18/2013

[quote=Michael Bacon]Grr, failbetter timeout ate my post. I’ll re-write it later.[li]

Suffice to say, I think Corpsecage Island -> Prelapsarian Archaeological Notes -> Your Own Expertise -> Deep Blue Heaven is a great way to grind for skulls and echoes. It’s potentially pretty lucrative and more fun than a lot of options.[/quote]
If you’re still at preliminary research you can convert collated research for 120 in each kind of research (over 3 actions) (Wiki link)
So if you first do preliminary research, then gather notes on corpsecage, then do preliminary research on your next visit to your lodgings etc., it can be a quite good option. Possibly not as good as whispered secrets, but still very good.[/li]
edited by Aximillio on 10/18/2013

I have now completed my first expedition, and the first eight result screens said that “Rivals’ Progress hasn’t changed, because it’s lower than 1”. The last two turns didn’t even mention Rivals’ Progress. I don’t know if this will apply to all the other expeditions, but so far it seems like being cautious is quite safe.

I did wonder one thing though: Is it possible to “Perhaps not” out of an expedition to go flip some Opportunity cards and then return to the expedition without losing any progress? Or is it like the chandler’s cottage, where accessing “Myself” puts me back in Watchmaker’s Hill, after having spent two Actions walking to the cottage? I figured I’d experiment with a single point of expedition supplies, but if someone already knows the answer I’d be happy to read it.

I did find out that when all options are locked due to my lacking Actions, I could just wait until I’d received a new Action, and then refresh/reload the screen, and appropriate options would be unlocked. I didn’t dare to try to “Perhaps not” out of any screen.

You can return to any expedition in progress easily and quickly just from a pinned storylet in the Forgotten Quarter; you won’t lose any progress or suffer any penalties.

Rivals are a factor in the later, more difficult expeditions.

[quote=Aximillio][li]If you’re still at preliminary research you can convert collated research for 120 in each kind of research (over 3 actions) (Wiki link)
So if you first do preliminary research, then gather notes on corpsecage, then do preliminary research on your next visit to your lodgings etc., it can be a quite good option. Possibly not as good as whispered secrets, but still very good.[/li]
edited by Aximillio on 10/18/2013[/quote]

[li]
My estimations are that at my level of Watchful (about 160 with +31 boosters using the right combo), I expend about 65 actions total per Shrine expedition between zee voyages, Corpsecage Island loops, research note conversion, and expedition work (using the &quotbold approach&quot option, which is straightforward for me at this point), and usually get a very high-level treasure item at the end of the Shrine of the Deep Blue Heaven worth somewhere between 80 and 125 echoes. This is on top of the cryptic clues, zee stories, and map scraps and such that one picks up on along the way. So far, that’s the best grind option I’ve found, and it’s far more fun that most grinds.

[quote=Spacemarine9]You can return to any expedition in progress easily and quickly just from a pinned storylet in the Forgotten Quarter; you won’t lose any progress or suffer any penalties.

Rivals are a factor in the later, more difficult expeditions.[/quote]Thanks! My second expedition was blessed by a sign, so that saved me some time and supplies. And extra thanks for &quotI’m a candle&quot and everything it provides. :)

I now have everything ready for my first expedition in search of the Nadir, except for an Eyeless Skull. There is an option to ask another player for one. Is there a fair way to compensate another player? They can cash it in for Echoes; is there a way for one player to provide another player with equivalent benefit? If so, how does one negotiate such a deal?

As far as I know there is nothing of equivalent value to an Eyeless Skull that can be sent in game. Who knows what will happen in the future, the game is changing all the time and there might be something available in the future.

I just paid 1 x Compromising Document to visit the University with Watchful 104 (89 + 15), and that turned out to be a complete waste of time. Plus a scandal and a couple of nightmares as I bumbled both of the Watchful 97 storylets. Now I guess I’m going to spend a lot of time with the Topsy King and try to understand what he’s saying. That’s one of those storylets that checks for one quality and then allows me to use another, which can be high enough so that I succeed 90% of the time instead of only 65%. Still not quite as efficient as entertaining the man with bats, but I had some streaks of bad luck that, and decided to look for alternatives.

This seems like the most appropriate place, I suppose… I’ve uncovered two Eyeless Skulls in my recent expedition, and, since I am already quite familiar with the Cave of Nadir, they are pretty useless to me. Rather annoying, actually, cluttering my hand with those nasty undiscardable cards… So, does anyone require a skull or two? Fell free to ask, and no need for any payback, by the way :)
edited by Mikarissa on 11/18/2013
edited by Mikarissa on 11/23/2013

[quote=Mikarissa]This seems like the most appropriate place, I suppose… I’ve uncovered two Eyeless Skulls in my recent expedition, and, since I am already quite familiar with the Cave of Nadir, they are pretty useless to me. Rather annoying, actually, cluttering my hand with those nasy undiscardable cards… So, does anyone require a skull or two? Fell free to ask, and no need for any payback, by the way :)
edited by Mikarissa on 11/18/2013[/quote]

[li]
My alt, Balduru, would be very appreciative of a skull, if you don’t mind :)

He is still 3 skulls short of a cider…

[quote=Mark Gallacher]My alt, Balduru, would be very appreciative of a skull, if you don’t mind :)
He is still 3 skulls short of a cider…[/quote]

At first I thought you were a few hundred Echoes away from Hesperidean Cider, not 3 away from the cinder. I was about to get vicariously excited.

I thought someone mentioned that you can only send skulls to someone who doesn’t have any yet, or rather that person can only request one if they don’t have any. Perhaps they could send multiple requests before any are accepted.

[quote=Theus]
At first I thought you were a few hundred Echoes away from Hesperidean Cider, not 3 away from the cinder. I was about to get vicariously excited.

I thought someone mentioned that you can only send skulls to someone who doesn’t have any yet, or rather that person can only request one if they don’t have any. Perhaps they could send multiple requests before any are accepted.[/quote]

[li]
Yeah, I keep thinking of it as cider, for some reason. I was not aware it only worked when the recipient had none, thanks anyways.

That’s a pity, I wasn’t aware of this limitation either :( Well, anyway, I’m waiting for requests - there must be someone who needs those skulls. …At least, I hope so.

There is another thread which is specific to Nadir, and people in search of skull donors might post there.

[li]
Hey, fellow relative beginner here, I just noticed a great way to grind Whispered Secrets. I spent a few days robbing drunks for a Tasseled Sword-cane, and ended up with about 6500 Primordial Shrieks. 50 of those can be converted to 10 Maniac’s Prayers and 40 Whispered Secrets. All of these Forgotten Quarters seem to be filled with PoSI who don’t remember how they found Secrets when they were small, but this is a pretty good way I think.

[quote=cheshster]
[li]All of these Forgotten Quarters seem to be filled with PoSI who don’t remember how they found Secrets when they were small, but this is a pretty good way I think.[/quote]

[/li][li]I’m also new to expeditions, but I’ve found the best way to get whispered secrets is Entering Society in Veilgarden (49 Secrets, unlocked with Persuasive 45) with the benefit that it also ups your Connection to Society. The 100% guaranteed way is via following the Chandleress in the Dept of Menace Eradication (Watchmaker Hill) and then choosing &quotAsk…about the ratcatchers’ traditions&quot (30 Secrets) The downside is that it takes 2 actions to follow the chandleress, so once you do, you kind of have to hang around for a while to make it worthwhile. (With the extra December actions, it’s a little easier.) I’ve only just got an iron token for Knife/Candle, so I haven’t been able to listen to the rules that apparently gives an easy 50 secrets.
[/li][li][/li][li]Edit: If you can make it to the Flit, &quotMeeting the Topsy King&quot (unlocked at Shadowy 59) via the Watchful challenge gives 66 Secrets. Super useful before I made it to the University.[/li][li]
edited by singer on 1/1/2014[/li][li]
edited by singer on 1/1/2014