I just got Archaeologist 3 after a few Thieves’s Caches expeditions. I am very far from The Tomb of Seven (currently Watchful 97 and not in a hurry to grow), but I see that there is also the Shrine of the Deep Blue Heaven. I haven’t gone for it because with <60% in the mid-difficulty approach it’s too expensive in second chances, but with the safer approach I may be overrun by a rival before completion. And from the wiki I haven’t been able to decipher the possible profit that expedition…
So my question is: is it worth going for it at the slowest progress speed (100% success), even if I probably have to spend something against my rivals? Should I just wait until My Watchful is about 135 (80% success in mid-speed)? Or do I forget about it and do the Tomb (for the Correspondence Stones) when it’s safe enough to do so?
I’m pretty sure the slowest speed is less likely to increase Rival’s Progress, so I’d say it’s worth using until your Watchful is high enough for the other options. If you run into a tight spot you can use your Sudden Insights to get out of it.
It costs 20 supplies for at most 2 echoes in whispered secrets each, and gives most of the time a reward of at least 60 echoes, with the possibility of twice as much. If you use archeological notes, it becomes even more profitable.
It’s better safe than sorry so I suggest the 100% success rate action unless you got a lot of expensive items such as Intriguing Gossip to stop your rivals. I believe I finished both the Tomb of Seven and the Shrine of the Deep Blue Heaven with 80-90 Watchful (buffed). I also finished the Tomb first to get the Stones to access the University. The University offers lots of activities that train Watchful (although I’m currently in the Flit doing ahem… acts of particular character). I’ve also heard that there’s a non-Menace punishing Whispered Secrets storylet somewhere in the University so you might want to take a look at that.
Honestly after finishing the Tomb, the Shrine seems to be a letdown. I believe the Shrine is too slow compared to the Thieves cache and it gave me a treasure that I can find within the shorter expedition anyways.
If you like the thrill of having competitors then the Shrine might be good for you. If you want fast cash and Watchful then do thieve’s cache or you can join me at the Flit to go shopping on people’s homes.
The Shrine has a possibility to give you a Eyeless skull, which may be a good or bad thing depending on your progress with opening up Nadir. You’ll need 6 of them in total in the end, but you can get skulls from elsewhere. I’ve done it plenty of times, and always used the 100% suceess rate option. The rival has never got more than 5 progress when I reached the end.
BTW, the fate locked Uttermost Wind is not worth doing at all. The standard reward is at most an 12.5 E item. The reward table is at the higher end, but the lowest you can get is (probably) the set of diamonds/rubies.
Does the Thieve’s cache have a chance of giving me higher tier rewards like the Airag?
The Deep Blue is not worth it if all you are seeking is profit. But half of the expedition results will give you rare items that you would be hard-pressed to find reliably elsewhere. Airag, Magnificent Diamonds, Parabola-Linen, Collection of Curiosities. Of those Airag is the most sought at the moment. Nadir and a very rare card are the only other sources of it.
Searing Enigmas and Night-Whispers are slightly less rare than those, but are still more valuable than their worth in echoes.
So it all depends on whether you need those items or not. At your stat levels I would probably do something else. edited by Fhoenix on 1/22/2014
[quote=Lumyire]Does the Thieve’s cache have a chance of giving me higher tier rewards like the Airag?[/quote]I can’t find where exactly it stops, but I think only one possible value gives an airag, so there’s a 1/120 chance that you’ll get a bottle.
[quote=Rinsik]Thanks everyone for the useful answers!
Do you mean that you did 30 actions and managed the rivals at that speed?[/quote]
The Tomb took me more than 30 actions. Not all my progress gave rival progress but they built up to uncomfortable levels as I progressed towards the Tomb. I have to confront one of the rivals (I think it was Orthos) to keep their progress low.
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Thanks OPG! I think deep blue heaven is still a lot more reliable.
How quickly you finish expeditions is pretty dependent on how many ’A sign?’ you get. I’d say always use the option that is white. Each unit of supplies will take you about 4~5 actions to obtain.
On the other hand, I found the Nadir expedition most conveniently completed by confronting the rival. Hindering her is expensive and require rare items, but confrontation is only a watchful check - you can use sudden insights and ‘perhaps not’ out if you fail.
I disagree with many of the above thoughts on the value of the shrine (I collected data on a couple dozen loops, and the mean echo payout was in the 62-65 range, although there is the odd 6 echo one that’s a real let down). It’s possibly my favorite grind in the game.
The best way to get expedition supplies, unless you’re just soaked with Whispered Secrets, is to loop Corpsecage Island and get as many Prelapsarian Archaeological Notes as you can. All that said, this all gets much easier and more lucrative as your effective Watchful gets above 130 or so. That said, between Corpsecage Island and the expedition loops, you’re going to boost a lot of Watchful just doing that.
I think islands aren’t accessible before posi status isn’t it? I’m grinding secrets at the university, and before that, the flit with thr topsy king. I do agree that the shrine payout is very nice though, especially the unique items thats worth more than their value in echos
Well, first of all, it’s simply not reliable. Unless you are doing many many loops, there is no guarantee that it will average at that value. Second, can you share with us how many actions it took for you to do the full run? And third, converting supplies does not give you CP and failing expedition actions will cost you supplies, so IMHO the Expedition itself is not a good way to train stats. Can’t comment on Corpsecage. But by leaving London you will lose on the opportunity to draw cards, so there is drawback to going to the island too.
I like the Expedition myself and I am doing runs of it right now. I am not saying it’s a bad piece of content.
Well, first of all, it’s simply not reliable. Unless you are doing many many loops, there is no guarantee that it will average at that value. Second, can you share with us how many actions it took for you to do the full run? And third, converting supplies does not give you CP and failing expedition actions will cost you supplies, so IMHO the Expedition itself is not a good way to train stats. Can’t comment on Corpsecage. But by leaving London you will lose on the opportunity to draw cards, so there is drawback to going to the island too.
I like the Expedition myself and I am doing runs of it right now. I am not saying it’s a bad piece of content.[/quote]
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The numbers are complicated, because there’s multiple loops involved, but I put a post with the general gist under this topic:
I typically tack on a few loops at Hunter’s Keep too, both for the menace reduction and the echo grinding.
And yes, if you’re going to grind it, you’ll need to do a dozen or so loops to make sure it averages out. There are better echo grinds, but I don’t know of an actually reliable way to get high level items like Night Whispers.
As to leaving London, it’s true that you miss out on cards, but I probably have an odd affection for Unterzee travel…[/li][li] edited by Trodgmey on 1/26/2014
Nightwhispers are easily acquired from the Fidgeting Writer storylet started in Tales of Terror! in your inventory. In theory, these should only result in about 1 Nightwhisper per 32 Tales of Terror, but thanks to the lacre-chiselling Urchins, I’ve recently found they seem to pop about 1 per 15(ish) Tales.
As to leaving London - there are so many cards that deliver from 1.5-6 Echoes each that I would consider even three RL hours at Zee a punishment.
That’s up to the all-mighty RNG to determine.
I’ve recently tried getting Night-Whispers using this method and got exactly a single one from my initial 39 ToT.
That’s up to the all-mighty RNG to determine.
I’ve recently tried getting Night-Whispers using this method and got exactly a single one from my initial 39 ToT.[/quote]
Fair enough. That also falls pretty close to the theoretical amount of 32 Tales of Terror per Nightwhisper. Still easier than doing expeditions and hoping you will get the Nightwhisper outcome.