As part of the Heart’s Desire ambition, I need to have a ‘5’ quality in several dreams. Unfortunately only ‘What The Thunder Said’ appears to be turning up in my opportunity cards with my Nightmares hovering around 5 - 7. Are there any reliable ways to trigger the others? All of my abilities are at least 50.
There is also an option to give him a Key, which you will acquire once you’ll be able to travel on the zee.
Since dreams are quite difficult to come by, my advice would be to wait, become a person of some importance, take the ship and give him the key.
Ambitions are not yet fully written, and as far as i remember there is no significant reward to have, so stalling Heart0s desire for a while will not bother you a lot.
This said: if you want to go on the dream route, i think dream cards are your only option to get most of them. Death by water and Is someone there may be gained through the Fake Head of John the Baptist and Nephrite lenses, but only if you have them way over 5, so that’s useless to you.
Apart from the cave of the Nadir (and, obviously, dream cards), i am no aware of other methods for enhancing your Dream qualutues.
Second the above - unless you are absolutely desperate to continue with Heart’s Desire (which you shouldn’t be, because as pointed out it is currently unfinished and will remain so for some time), then wait until you have the Stone Tentacle Key.
It is quite normal for the Thunder dream to be more advanced than the rest. More Thunder cards come vs the other dreams, that is normal. You’ll eventually max out (level 18 or so), and become Stormy_eyed. Having Stormy-eyed trait opens more options on the other dream cards :)
You will only have the one Ambition, ever. So don’t be in a rush to complete it. Advance it a few notches whenever convenient, but it’s nothing worth expediting, IMO.
Let your dreams rise at their own speed, and once you qualify to advance your Ambition do it then.
Don’t let your nightmares go above 5 if you’re trying to raise dreams, it’ll add non-discardable dream cards to your deck that only have the effect of raising your nightmares, not your dreams.
Also the next step in the ambition is at zee so you may want to have a boat anyway.
If this isn’t interrupting… I’m wondering, is there any benefit to playing the dream cards if it is not for your Ambition? I played a few, but I never seemed to gain anything beyond nightmares so I stopped.
It seems like a rare part of the game that has little to offer that way… But, is there more to it?
I’d suggest reading through Stormy-Eyed to see why dreams are worthwhile. If for nothing else, the dream qualities make life in the Neath far more interesting. True, you end up with some nightmares, but let’s be honest–if you live in Fallen London and DON’T have nightmares, you’re either dangerously cheerful or worryingly careful.
Take the plunge. Lose your mind. Just make sure you have a Memory of Light handy when you do. It’ll help you maintain most of your dream qualities (except for Is Someone There?, for some reason…) and you’ll get to explore the Mirror-Marshes, which is one of the coolest menace areas in Fallen London.
[li]
edited by The Dark Gentleman on 8/25/2014
I know one of the high end “is someone there” cards gives memories of light, and you can trade in dreams for loot in a few places (some of which are really valuable), in addition to the stormy eyed thing.
I’m not aware of any dreams trade-ins apart from the Manager in Heart’s Desire, as already mentioned. More info?
[quote=A B Nile]More info?[/quote]By spending an Extraordinary Implication you can get a ‘pretty good’ (70-80%) chance of receiving a Favour in High Places when telling The Interpreter of Dreams about either your chess-dreams (understanding them) or your sea-dreams (asking for courage). Given how many actions it takes to raise those dreams the 10 CPs it costs, it’s not really worth it, particularly not when considering the risk of being unlucky. (With 80% and +2 CPs per dream card I get it to 1.25 Echoes/Action, and that does not include any Actions spent on reducing Nightmares.)
I wish he’d offer the same deal for dreams about What the Thunder Said, not only because those are easier to raise, but because I have raised those dreams so high that I am no longer getting the dreams that increase Stormy-Eyed. And I am not willing to visit a state of some confusion to reduce all my dream qualities, because I have spent too much time building them up. I only get two dream-cards now: A dream about the mist (which I discard), and the chess-dream about the sacrifice (which I play, even though it also increases What the Thunder Said.)
EDIT: Looks like Mutton Island offers Stormy-Eyed without Nightmares attached. How fortuitous, considering this new Fruits of the Zee festival!
edited by Gillsing on 8/31/2014
Ah yes, I forgot about him. As you say though, the qualities are hard enough to raise that it doesn’t really seem worth it - particularly as I have over 100 Favours in High Places already from my Midnighter payments!
[quote=A B Nile]… I have over 100 Favours in High Places already from my Midnighter payments![/quote]I forgot, even though I checked it briefly before posting, that you apparently get a Direful Reflection when talking about chess-dreams. Though unless it’s been changed, you also seem to risk losing 500 x Deep Amber and 40 x Phosphorescent Scarab if you’re unlucky. Seems like an oversight from changing the card/storylet from a previous version where all the options cost Phosphorescent Scarabs, and where What the Thunder Said was one of the options.