I caved and got me some Fate. I now have 102, but I’ve forgotten which unlocks are well-regarded. I think The Gift is? Otherwise, I’m drawing a blank.
I’m already fairly deep into the setting’s story, having gone NORTH on an alt. I think I’ll unlock Flute Street, because it’d be unbearable to have all renowns at 40 but be forever unable to get the Rubbery Men reward (it should really be something else, this paywall is inconsistent). Besides, I like Rubbery Men.
If any Fate unlocks yield mechanical advantages, such as a better EPA grind, I’m interested. Otherwise, I’m interested in the more obscure facets of the story – those perhaps not directly related to the Masters and their agenda, which I’ve pretty much figured out (I think that throws Secrets Framed in Gold out the window? I’m not interested in Passion). Unlocks to new places (such as Flute Street) are also interesting, but only if I’ll ever have a reason to go there.
Oh, I’m also interested in inviting the Captivating Princess to my salon. Is that at all worth it for the snippet, or does it just give me an enormous amount of MW?
The Soul Trade is mechanically very profitable, since it makes you either a shepherd or spirifer.
Lost In Reflections, The Gift, and Empress’ Shadow are very good stories, with the latter permanently adding a new area for slowly farming favors that also lets you refresh your deck. I’d play the first two before the third, since Shadow builds on the lore of the first two.
Christmas is right around the bend, and you could save some fate to buy a home comfort if you want.
five favorite fate-fastened fictions:
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Mysteries of the Foreign Office is bloody amazing. At several points I needed to sit for a minute and think about what I’d just read. Won’t say a word more about it, because it’s best to go in blind.
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The Fate-locked Labyrinth of Tigers content is well worth it for both story and game content. You get to keep some of the monsters! Now if only Southwark would let me keep that fire-spitting lobster…
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Flute Street is a bit of a hassle gameplay-wise (takes a while to unlock, and the carousels there drag a bit) but it’s definitely worthwhile for the insight into the Rubbery Men and their rubbery ways.
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Empress’s Shadow has great gameplay and a great story. Surface politics and Sinning Jenny get a lot of spotlight here. I’ll second the recommendation to play The Gift before starting this one.
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Inconvenienced by your aunt has superb mechanical rewards. Send her to work for Mr Wines and the aunt card becomes a 30% chance to refresh 10 actions. Yes, it’s that good. Story is simple but not bad.
edited by Anchovies on 11/3/2017
If you want a better EPA grind, get the Soul Trade and side with the bad guys. Other mechanical advantages include The Empress’ Shadow for Jenny’s School which is a decently-reliable source of several Favors; your Aunt for one of the cards; and a few extra points of BDR can be picked up from the Velocipede Squad, and from Theological Husbandry (since you’re also getting Flute Street).
The Exceptional Story “All Things Must End” unlocks a new zailing destination. Some calculations suggest that it also has a better EPA grind than available in London, although you do have to zail to get there.
A few stories unlock a new opportunity card, or options on existing opportunity cards (usually faction cards). These are pretty cool, but the mechanical advantage is much smaller compared to the other options listed above.
Almost all Exceptional Stories unlock lore of one type or another. If you can give an indication of which topics your interested in, we can point you in the right direction. E.g. Parabola, any or all of the previous cities, any or all of the various Factions.
Major background exposition:
Flute Street (Rubbery 101, somewhat lore-creeped out by Sunless Sea and increased Rubbery interaction throughout the game)
Theological Husbandry (Plot Hook)
Soul Trade (it comes up all the time, everywhere)
The Gift (lore dump about the Empress’ children, add a source of favours)
Permanent mechanical advantages:
Empress’ Shadow (Jenny’s School, constant seasonal minor updates, Surface Expositions),
Blemmigan Affairs (powerful options on faction cards)
Paid side trips:
Trade in Faces (additional options on faction cards, doing something nasty to the Councilor Privy Veteran if that is your thing)
Long-Lost Daughter (Nadir advantages, some sort of thematic echo about losing daughters, Paid Cerise Fodder for the heartless)
An Inconvenient Aunt (adds a jackpot option at Port Carnelian and a card in London, among other things)
Potential minefields:
Mystery of Foreign Office (lore hints but no story, power-creeped home comfort, nonexistent comatose spouses)
Rubbery Murders (it really is just a mundane murder case, but far too many people expect some sort of holy Rubbery revelations)
Exceptional Stories with permanent unlocks (depending on choices):
HOJOTOHO (potentially cheaper urchin favours)
Cut with Moonlight (source of Mirrorcatch box)
The Marsh-House (a potential Remote Lodgings)
Frequently Deceased (adds an option to Jenny’s School and Empress’ Shadow)
All Things Must End (additional location)
Exceptional Stories with temporary effects:
Five Minutes to Midday (temporary destruction of Brass Embassy, affecting the Hell faction card)
Exceptional Stories with major disadvantage:
Seven-Day Reign (kill off your fate-locked aunt or daughter or a redshirt for alleged profits that reportedly doesn’t exist, something something vague about Kingeater’s Castle)
edited by Estelle Knoht on 11/3/2017
Not really.
Calculations suggest it has 1.75 EPA, which is exactly the same as Spirifage. Even if you just use AotB, I’m pretty sure staying in London is more profitable if you have a reasonably trimmed deck. (Plus if you’re outside London you can’t get your professional payments.)
[quote=Optimatum]Not really.
Calculations suggest it has 1.75 EPA, which is exactly the same as Spirifage. Even if you just use AotB, I’m pretty sure staying in London is more profitable if you have a reasonably trimmed deck. (Plus if you’re outside London you can’t get your professional payments.)[/quote]
I thought the initial estimate was more like 1.8, but I didn’t follow the in-depth discussion for exactly the reasons you described–too much overhead to travel to/from, and lack of cards.
Still, it’s a cool area and it’s nice that it’s permanently available.
Also Flint has a permanent zailing unlock as well, but I doubt it’s profitable and it’s definitely out-of-budget for the discussion at hand.
I see a lot of mentions of Favours – they’re generally 2.2 EPA, since you have to get them and then cash in, yes? I already have 40 renown with most factions. I also tend to avoid favours sources that raise menaces right now, especially Rubberies (like the plague).
I’ve been a bit interested in the mechanical advantage of the aunt story, just how good is the new card? Currently the card for it is bloating my deck, so it’d be nice to get rid of.
Currently interested in aunt and soul trade, probably getting those unless aunt just isn’t worth it. Also interested in Empress’ Shadow and The Gift. Definitely getting Flute Street.
How good are the Blemmingan Affair’s options?
>>>I’ve been a bit interested in the mechanical advantage of the aunt story, just how good is the new card? Currently the card for it is bloating my deck, so it’d be nice to get rid of.
One option is good, it restores your actions or raise wounds (matter of luck). But story is short, predictable and boring.
Generally Favours are around 2.2 EPA at minimum if you cash them in through the Calling in Favours storylets. (It varies a bit though depending on associated costs and menace gains.) Usually there’s even better card-based methods of cashing them in though. I’m (slowly) working on a guide to the best options.
The Aunt story has very minimal story but the card is pretty good. A luck challenge with a 70% chance of 1 CP Wounds and a 30% chance of refreshing 10 actions. The Blemmigan Affair’s options are pretty good but now that we have favours they’re not as comparatively amazing as they used to be. Possible outcomes are: unique hat and highly profitable Bohemians card option scaling with Persuasive, Docks card option giving one of each second chance item and a favour, highly profitable Constables card option scaling with Watchful (rewards include Certifiable Scraps).
There’s definitely better stories to start with, though. Empress’ Shadow, The Gift, Flute Street, and Empyrean Redolence are all great choices. If you care about Notability grinding, the Velocipede Squad extension might be worth it just for the Ratwork Velocipede.
The Empress’ Shadow and The Aunt (provided you side her with Mr Wines at the end) have made my game better, adding card refreshes, action refreshes and so on. The Gift potentially adds a source of Dock favors, if you like expeditions. The season of wrecks has interesting story and so does All Things must End, even if they do not unlock anything important.