Selling information in the Flit still nets a respectable amount of Connected: Constables and Devils. I think they only changed the Criminals payout.
I haven’t found anything that will give more than 10 cp’s in Criminal connections yet. Here is what I know about the current rewards for actions:
Selling information in the Flit gives 10cp’s criminal for 10cp’s casing
The ‘Jack’ option on the Smokey Flophouse card gives 10cp’s Criminal
‘Remind them who’s boss’ from the Criminal affiliation gives 10 cp’s Criminal
Repentant Forager action only nets 2cp’s Criminal
Also - converting ‘Rag Trade’ items with actions requiring Criminal connections, will loose small amounts (2-5cp’s) of Criminal on a Fortunate outcome… not sure about being unlucky yet.
–MadameHeather
After checking myself, it does seem that way. Looks to be in the ballpark of 30cp for 6 Casing, which is bout what it used to be, but don’t quote me on that.
I could have sworn I tried that earlier and got fewer cp for more Casing. I was probably hallucinating again.
Well, this is a bit of a slap in the face. I just lost ~500 change points off my Connected: Constables by helping out the criminals on the Crime and Punishment card, dropping me from 68 to 58. I’ve already sent in a bug report, but I would advice against doing any Connected X vs Y cards until we get some confirmation that it is or is not a bug.
UPDATE: Apparently I qualify as a ‘bulk sender’ and so Gmail is blocking me. If someone else could send in this bug report and get a response or direct an administrator to this message, it would be appreciated.
edited by Abraham Bounty on 12/29/2012
Abraham, hopefully you also noticed that the reward for Crime or Punishment has also substantially increased. Or at least, I know it has for the criminals, which also now disproportionately damage your constables connections, so it would only make sense that a similar effect now occurs siding the other way. Crime or Punishment is now more of a Connection spending card, rather than earning, as you gain a small amount of the connection you side with, then a substantial item reward, in exchange for a large loss of the opposing connection.
This is a recent change, but most certainly not a bug. It would be nice if they would change the title of the card, at least, though, as I’m sure more than a few players (myself included) have inadvertently played it, seeing the same title and picture, not realizing what we were doing, and thus lost several hundred CP of one connection or another.
I’m afraid it is as Ms Paine says, Mr Bounty. The “Crime and Punishment” card changed it’s rewards, a while back and has reverted to the old ways. In addition it is no longer discardable. It is not a bug, but rather just a change in the state of play.
Unfortunately I did not notice any increases in rewards (though my criminals got to the next level, so I might have gotten more than 30cp from it). I got somewhere between 10 and 20 Proscribed Materials, which jives with what I remember and I did not notice any additional awards, though I confess that I was going largely on autopilot and only snapped out it after I had already gone back to the main game and recalled in retrospect that I had lost ten levels.
Still, science and all. I’ll probably chronicle the exact changes to the card and then never play it again, making it a permanent fixture in my hand.
I got caught by this as well.
Considering that the other change made at this time was to both drastically reduce and cap the primary source of Connected: Criminals (selling information), I would expect that this is part of a deliberate plan.
Given the changes to quirks, it would not surprise me to see this be the harbinger of an across-the-board change to connections, which would be disappointing.
Note that you can also use this card to gain 1 x Boxful of Intrigue for the Iron Box storyline, so while it’s still a waste of an opportunity card, at least it doesn’t have to sit in your hand forever.
Considering how profitable the boxful of intrigue can be, I would hardly call it a waste.
Except you can do the spite actions and gain the same+ Empire’s Kingmaker and other bonuses like correspondence plaques and connected:Criminals.
There’s no point in getting Kingmaker once it’s past 40, the connection doesn’t go past 11, and the plaques are only for a small phase of it. Surely you can use it on any of the other phases.
Waste of a card, since you could get exactly the same without it? Otherwise, I agree.
If the card gives the exact same benefit as a storylet I’d play normally anyway, I don’t see it as a waste. A waste would be all those cards that are straight up less useful than existing storylet options
I’ve always thought of it as a wasted opportunity for Failbetter to add something worthwhile instead of redundant clutter (same goes for the Loose Change options on cards). But if it gets you out of “can’t discard” situations, at least that’s good.
I suppose there’s some rationale to it that we don’t know about, but I don’t get what makes these storylets any different or more significant than any of the others that don’t get a superfluous spot on a card.
edited by Blast_Fantastic on 12/30/2012
Just checked. Selling information in the Flit no longer works if your Connected: Criminals is higher than 50.
Since I got rid of Jack (with the statue to prove it!) this seems to leave me with only the following options:
-
Remind them who’s boss – an opportunity card.
-
Visiting the Repentant Forger – 2 cps per action (and a tiny bit of Connected: Bohemian and Cryptic Clues)
-
Choosing the criminals when the crime and punishment card shows up.
-
One other opportunity card that I’m blanking on.
Am I missing anything? I was getting very close to getting all of my Connected (except Masters, Shroud and Glass) up to at least 100 in all categories, and then I got tempted by the thought of getting those special diamonds…
It does seem odd that the opportunities for gaining Connected: Criminals seem to have decreased just as the opportunities for spending Connected: Criminals seem to have increased. Hmm. I wonder what this suggests about what the Criminals are starting to think about me and all of that time spent with aristocrats, poets and those bank bombing revolutionaries?
Sadly, I’ve gone back to beating up my henchmen because that’s the best source of Connected: Criminals now.
There’s a rather wide gap in logic in the way assaulting your criminal peers increases your connection, while successfully performing the tasks and favors they ask of you on opportunity cards dramatically decreases it.
FYI:
Visiting the Sardonic Music-Hall Singer gets you +3 cps Criminals, +3 cps Bohemians, and 10 Whispered Secrets (plus a boost in connection to the singer if yours is below 10).
You Are Being Watched (unlocked with suspicion 2 in the Flit) gives +2 Criminals, +2 Constables, +2 Hell, and 30 Cryptic Clues (plus a Shadowy increase if you haven’t hit the cap yet).
edited by Blast_Fantastic on 1/2/2013
[quote=MNess]Just checked. Selling information in the Flit no longer works if your Connected: Criminals is higher than 50.
[snip]
[/quote]
It’s still helpful for me, because what with the latest revamp of card that use up Connected: Criminals, my Connected quality had fallen to the mid-teens. However, I appreciate having this information, along with your excellent summary of other ways to obtain Connected: Criminals.
In case it hasn’t been said yet - selling information also gives 10 cp in shadowy, making it an ok grind for shadowy as well. Obviously not any use to you stat-capped guys, tho.
I sold information to my colleagues. It’s not a particularly fun grind, but it doesn’t take much effort when you’ve got a Gang of Hoodlums on your side.
Well, I have yet to get the Crime or Punishment card again since my last encounter with it, I did however recently get The Smuggler’s Grave and endeavored to Try to glimpse a notorious smuggler. Unless this was a rare success, the rewards and penalties for this act have been increased to massive sturdy and terrifying levels. (Spoilered or not since I can’t get our spoiler workaround to work)
[ul][li]Watchful increase[/li]
[li]Gain: 18 x Ragged Clothing[/li]
[li]Connected: the Constables increase (very small <12cp)[/li]
[li]Connected: Criminals decrease (large ~100cp)[/li]
[li]You’ve gained 1 x Appalling Secret.[/li]
[li]You’ve gained 1 x Tale of Terror!![/li]
[li]You’ve gained 200 x Rostygold.[/li][/ul]
edited by Abraham Bounty on 1/6/2013