Firstly, I want to say here that I have already sent a feedback message to Failbetter. I am writing this here to request that anyone who believe that this is an issue that should be addressed to do the same.
That said, I am referring to the opportunities to gain favours whose outcomes are determined by luck, such as the "A disgraceful spectacle", "The next victim" and "Secure an invitation to a scandalous party" options on certain opportunity cards.
These options have players gaining Favours, or not at all, depending on their luck. In the case of some of these, the players are saddled with guaranteed Menace gains too.
Considering that there are other opportunities where the player gains Menaces or spends resources in return to gain guaranteed Favours, these luck-dependent options are unreliable in comparison.
Where the other kinds of options reward the player for having the skill to manage Menaces and resources, these ones reward good luck more than they do good skill.
These options are basically intended to give you half a favour. As with most luck-dependent but repeatable options their true value is in the average run.
You may well dislike it, of course. Plenty of people find it unpalatable. But it’s such a well understood property that it’s all but certain to be a conscious decision by FBG rather than something they overlooked the side effects of.
[ul][li]text does not fit well if you gain no favours
[/li][li]result texts do not clearly indicate you just have a bad roll of dices[/li][li]getting nothing tend to feel worse than getting little[/li][/ul]Not much strong feeling about it, though.
[quote=Estelle Knoht]For most part, it is a small problem because
[ul][li]text does not fit well if you gain no favours
[/li][li]result texts do not clearly indicate you just have a bad roll of dices[/li][li]getting nothing tend to feel worse than getting little[/li][/ul]Not much strong feeling about it, though.[/quote]
This is a good point about the text. I would favor making these luck challenges with suitable failure text, with either a 2/0 favour split or a 1/1 favour split depending on the desired flavor.
They could double everyone’s favors, double the favor rewards from everything, double the costs on everything, and have these give 1 favor. edited by Kaijyuu on 8/10/2017
I see no problem. There are reliable cards for every favor, and then there are riskier opportunities. The game would be a lot more boring without variability. (Super-predictable options are the heart of grinding, which most people do not consider the height of their London experience.) If the risk is too high for you, discard the card and use the action point on something else.
[quote=Kaijyuu]They could double everyone’s favors, double the favor rewards from everything, double the costs on everything, and have these give 1 favor. edited by Kaijyuu on 8/10/2017[/quote]
I would prefer that these are revamped into the buy-a-favour or get-a-favour-and-some-menaces variants instead.
[quote=Estelle Knoht]For most part, it is a small problem because
[ul][li]text does not fit well if you gain no favours
[/li][li]result texts do not clearly indicate you just have a bad roll of dices[/li][li]getting nothing tend to feel worse than getting little[/li][/ul]Not much strong feeling about it, though.[/quote]
I, for one, feel more strongly.
Fallen London already has options where the outcomes may have alternative or rare variants, some of which are amusingly outrageous (like "Pass the Cat: the Unwrapping!"). These are far better implementations of luck as a factor of gameplay than these all-or-nothing favour gains.