How to make early game feel "legitimate"?

Sunless Sea
1

I’ve been playing for about a week and the first few times I kept dying very quickly, mainly due to running out of fuel. I went on these forums and saw advice about early game grind using zea bats and steam pirates near Fallen London but again, while that did provide some extra cash boost eventually I would run out of fuel. Then I read nenjin’s very helpful walkthrough about doing a circuit that nets good profit and now I feel like I can actually try and play the game. I am still not very good at it but at least I see that there is more to it then the vicinity of Fallen London.

But all of that is because I went out and looked what other people did. Like a crowd-funded walk through.

I am wondering what is the &quotlegitimate&quot way of playing this game even if it does involve some early game grinding? What are the minimal actions that allow you to not run out of fuel almost immediately and actually try to incrementally explore your surroundings (I am not counting the high value but rare, and hence unreliable, events that allow you to come out on top in early game. I have heard about Judgment Eggs but I have yet to encounter one, for example). The problem with the longer routes is that they require you to know where everything is and where you can buy fuel/supplies for how much and how much fuel is required to get to different places. Yes, you can go check out the forums or simply sail out into the unknown in different directions and die repeatedly for the sole purpose of &quotreincarnation reconnaissance&quot but I feel that’s not a &quotlegitimate&quot way of playing the game if you see what I mean. There must be a way of actually exploring the game on your own without having to rely on crowd-sourced information. I am happy with the principle that dying a few times may be an in-built feature to give a sense of dread and precariousness but it should be a few times not a way of gaming the engine to use it essentially to uncover the whole map and rely on the player’s good memory.

2

What people don’t realize is that it’s quite possible to do a route all around the unterzee with just 10~15 fuel. Simply put, constantly check your map, hunt for food, and always pick terror reduction.

3

Given the way the game encourages you to play hardcore (with the Invictus token and permitting you to pass on a legacy), I don’t feel that reincarnation reconnaissance (nice term btw) is illegitimate - although once the tiles start shuffling in the next big release, it’s going to make it a hell of a lot harder for new players / new characters…

I ditched my Invictus token once I had 2 stats at 50 because I wanted to explore storylines rather than the map (and I simply couldn’t stay alive long enough to do so), and once the tiles start shuffling I don’t fancy my luck with the RNG to be able to start a new character and stay alive long enough to explore a fresh map either. So save games are presumably an equally ‘legitimate’ way to go, however much the Invictus and legacy set-up suggest otherwise…

4

Man, I don’t play on Unforgiving Mode at all - I figure I’ll get to know the game properly as it develops, and then save hardcore runs for once I know the game really well and want a new challenge!

5

Yea, I also turned off Unforgiving just to get a feel for the game. Used to do the same thing with Diablo games. Get a feel for the game on Softcore, switch to Hardcore for the real experience.

As for legitimacy of strategy. If you hadn’t looked up those walkthroughs I think you would have discovered on your own the tricks to grinding echoes and conserving fuel / terror. Once you figure out going through the light floaties and turning off your ships lamp will conserve fuel and terror the game starts to make sense. I think the “legitimate” path the player is supposed to take is one of trial and error.

6

[quote=Funkslayer]Y
As for legitimacy of strategy. If you hadn’t looked up those walkthroughs I think you would have discovered on your own the tricks to grinding echoes and conserving fuel / terror.

For me that hasn’t been true. My point was that I went to the walkthroughs only after many frustrating failures and being none the wiser after them. Even now that I have looked up the forums I still don’t understand how the start of the game is meant to play out. The only way I have managed to make this game work for me is to follow nenjin’s circuit (fill up on fuel; then go Venderbight->Wither->Chapel of Lights->Mt Palmerston->Port Cecil->Corsair’s Fortress->Station III->Abbey Rock ->Mutton Isle->Fallen London and slightly expanding to Khan’s heart once I have more cash). So no, I don’t understand the tricks for grinding echoes and that’s part of my question.

[quote]
Once you figure out going through the light floaties and turning off your ships lamp will conserve fuel and terror the game starts to make sense. I think the &quotlegitimate&quot path the player is supposed to take is one of trial and error.[/quote]

Terror makes sense to me. Fuel doesn’t. When you start the game (on the assumption you are entirely unfamiliar with it) the obvious things to do are to explore the coastline. If you follow south to Cumean Canal you won’t have fuel to get back and even if you do you won’t find anything (again, assuming you know little about what lies ahead and are not relying on luck encounters) that will reimburse the cost of the fuel. If you go north you can sell some tomb colonists, a Recent News and maybe you’ll have killed a couple of pirates. But the amount of money you get at Venderbight does not cover the costs of the trip there and back. So I guess the main way to eek out a few echos is to get all the pirates (probably incurring a fair bit of terror in the process unless you just sit by the coast line and wait for them) and head back. That doesn’t seem to me the most obvious way to me to survive the early game which is ostensibly about exploration, but ok, I can just about get that.

I suppose another way is to form the bats for supplies. I haven’t tried that but I am not sure how that would work. Supplies sell for 2 and fuel in Venderbight (where the bats are) is 20. So you basically need to kill 10 bats before one unit of fuel expires in order to make it worth it.

Is that it or are there other ways to make fuel at least sustainable while a new player is getting his or her bearings without assuming external information or extreme number of replays? (Whether by re-loading or reincarnating)

7

[quote=genesis]
I suppose another way is to form the bats for supplies. I haven’t tried that but I am not sure how that would work. Supplies sell for 2 and fuel in Venderbight (where the bats are) is 20. So you basically need to kill 10 bats before one unit of fuel expires in order to make it worth it.

Is that it or are there other ways to make fuel at least sustainable while a new player is getting his or her bearings without assuming external information or extreme number of replays? (Whether by re-loading or reincarnating)[/quote]

Rather than selling the supplies, you can convert 2 of them to 1 fuel when you run out of fuel (I forget if there’s a skill check or not). Also, stock up on fuel in London rather than buying in other ports if you can (other than Mt Palmerston, which is cheaper than London). The other way to get enough money for fuel is doing commissions for the Admiralty - if you’re lucky, the first one will be somewhere close, otherwise you can wait until the Blind Bruiser shows up (or until you get enough money from Venderbight or pirates or Mutton Island).

One thing that could be added that might help new players is giving some indication of how much fuel and supplies are needed to get somewhere and back. Because while it’s a good idea to spend most of the initial 70 echoes on fuel, there’s nothing to indicate that’s a good idea.

8

In fact, even if the Admiralty commission is far away, you can still make a loop past there with ~15 Fuel. Back when i’d only just started, I was able to locate and return from pigmote island with 15 fuel and vague directions given to me similar to the admiralty commissions. The trip after I was able to find port cecil as well. I died pretty quickly from terror, but now that you reset to 50 at London it’s less likely to be a problem, at least at first.

My advice would be to explore, see if you can find where you’re being sent, and if not keep trying, because you certainly found something interesting.

9

There is no skill check, 2 supplies will always equal one fuel… however if you are feeling lucky (or desperate) there is a 50/50 chance of finding a fuel in 1 unit of supply.

NEVER sell the supplies for 2 echoes, you can sell them for 11 echoes at abbey rock (although you’ll likely gain at least one terror if not 2 getting there). You’ll need to select the option &quottrade supplies with the sisters&quot and sell them one at a time, instead of going to the shop screen. The Abbey’s port report is worth 20 echoes, however. Selling 10 supplies (say from bat farming) would be 110 echoes on top of the 20 from the port report. You could use the bats for terror reduction… but carousing in london is -5 terror for 30 echoes (1 terror is 6 echoes, in other words). So I can either sell the supply for 11 echoes, or take a -1 terror (that I could get for 6 echoes in town). To compliment this, I make hte trip to venderblight (farming pirates and bats) to sell some mushroom wine/tomb colonists/recent news (if I didn’t use it with the sisters for terror reduction). I also like to try and get the genial magician’s snake in vender, an additional free crew member, or that coffin for Station III. When I have enough supplies (15 or so) I’ll swing by the abbey to sell.

Also, I always kick off my games running errands for the admiral. Hopefully you’ll get something close by like Iron and Misery, but sometimes he’ll tell you to hit up the Corsairs’ forest early on : / That’s a much more difficult trip plagued by enemies that will shred a new steamer… At least you have a chance at killing the big red crabs without heavy losses early on.

I always play on Unforgiveable as well… I feel its how the game was ment to be played. I slowly learn the routes/what to expect at each port (and the relative fuel needs)… then when I have spare change I begin exploring… usually when the admiral wants a report from somewhere I hadn’t been yet. Or maybe I just get bored and load up on 20 fuel/10 supplies and pick a direction.

When aimlessly exploring… You won’t know the best routes, but you can keep tabs on how much fuel you spent to get there. To play it safe, return to London when you reach half (set out with 20, return at 10) I don’t worry TOO much about supplies, most all the beasties you kill can go right into your pot, afterall. This might not be efficient, but its fun! Its the true spirit of the game, braving the horrors of the Unterzee slinking from buoy to buoy, shore to shore, always looking for the next adventure!
As far as purchasing fuel… NEVER buy fuel anywhere but London and Mt Palmerston. I won’t say where that Mt is, but it sells fuel for 9 echoes. Not huge, but definitely worth buying if you have echoes and hull space- you always need fuel!

Oh yes! If you are comfortable with combat, the lifebergs north of venderblight are great to farm for early game cash. They can only hit you at 40m, so you can ignore illumination and just use &quotflee&quot to make distance. Alternating actions with flee will keep you out of harms way. However every now and then you’ll need to flee twice. Don’t panic when they start to use crush (instant kill) so long as your flee will finish before it (and put you at 50m) the attack will be canceled. Don’t be afraid to pause and figure out if your next flee will come before their crush or not (say they are at 50m and 2 second left on seek, thus you are 7 seconds from a crush. You have 3 seconds left on a salvo, thus 8 seconds from a flee… you need to cancel attack and just flee now). Once you understand this, you can safely kill several of them without taking a single point of damage/crew loss. Each one drops 1 zee story (antiquarian will give you 10 echoes for it) and a cache of goods. This cache can be something like 1 supply or 100 echo artifact. I usually kill no more than 6 before heading back (with the port report from Whither, ofc), but I suppose you could farm 10+ if you wanted.
edited by Niddhog on 7/15/2014

10

You can also sell supplies for 11 at Mt. Palmerston.

11

Mt. Palmerston isn’t early game material without finding it in a past game/looking it up, though. There is no way to get to it without gaining a little terror afterall.

12

I see what you mean more clearly now Nidd. You’re simply looking for alittle more direction in the early stages of the game.

I understand this would be helpful in getting to the “meat” of the game, but I just dont think this is that kind of game.

Since this is a story nexus game meant to have alot of playthrus I think you’re overvaluing your characters lives and undervaluing the trial and error process.

13

I’m sorry… if I drop 2000 echoes into upgrading my ship I don’t want to loose it for shiggles. When I explore, I’m not going to just go “eh, down to 4 fuel and am leagues from London LETS KEEP GOING :D” I will try fighting that new enemy (so long as my hull is near full), however. Found out the hard way which enemies you never fight without a full hold of torpedoes and a ship better than the dinghy you start with…

14

It’s a matter of trial and error.

15

pick the admiral dump into irons get him to 100, kill his old ass, pass on your 100 irons to another character and then boom free 100 and the headstart on a second one.