So I’m rocking 2500 Engine Power, since I’m looking to beef up my Mirrors substantially before setting foot in the Forgotten Quarter and have never had 5000 non-refundable Echoes to spare at once. Usually, 5k-10k means it’s time for a critical upgrade either to the ship or one of its components, or the crafting of an advanced item - ideally one related to my most decisive checks at that time.
I tend to accumulate several Enigmas as a result of simply completing stories, and not use them since they’re much harder to come by in early-game than justifies their modest financial worth. Judgments’ Eggs sell a lot more easily once certain stories are complete, since their only other use of which I know is a VERY rare check for expanding a spy network.
Now, the Serpentine isn’t that powerful an engine to begin with, but 10% of my fuel consumption is still a substantial savings. That said, it wouldn’t consume that much less fuel than the Fulgent Impeller, which is murderously faster - which would save me quite a bit on terror and supplies, to say nothing of its combat implications.
Since I currently pilot a Frigate and spy networks comprise some of my largest, if not most stable, income, neither the financial, personnel nor intelligence requirements for an Element of Dawn seem that substantial to me - I can afford them. What I do mind is advancing the cause of the Dawn Machine. Leaving aside that I will never need seven elements of Dawn; can colonize Aestival without doing business in Grand Geode, though at truly massive expense, is it possible to create the Fulgent Impeller WITHOUT advancing Supremacy: Dawn Machine? I’m likely to take the hit if not, but my character wouldn’t be pleased about it.
Supposing that’s all the shady business that you will be having with the illuminated brethren, then you need not worry about advancing their cause too much. Be sure to purchase the Element of Dawn directly rather than exchanging it for a certain piece of ship’s equipment. When you see the option, it will be fairly obvious that one will advance the Dawn Machine’s agenda more than the other. There is one other place where you might advance the Dawn Machine’s agenda, but that’s only if you haven’t advanced it a lot already. So no need to worry about that.
If you take these things into consideration you shouldn’t have to worry about driving the Admiral away forever and you should go for the Impeller, since it’s waaay better than the Serpentine and waaay better than the best engine you could buy in a shop. You’ll be better than fine.
That’s how I’ve been leaning towards doing it. If I go the Aestival route, which is looking likely, then I will eventually owe the snake quite a debt - my playstyle involved Veils in the upper 100s not long after I upgraded to a Frigate. Lorn-Flukes can’t even see me well enough to fight back.
That said, my character is only as friendly as she is with the Khanate because she wants a Boke of Sharps. She disapproves of whatever they’re doing at the Grand Geode, but wants that engine. She’s not aware of the existence of any weapons that could destroy the Dawn Machine, but she’s totally looked. edited by Gerald Edgerton on 8/13/2015
I was under the impression that The Dawn Machine was constructed by people from Fallen London, who wanted to introduce the laws of light unto the Neath. Regardless, I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors. Just be mindful that the price of a Parabox (the other item you can use to colonize Aestival) is high.
My captain stocks up at Aestival regularly and sees reason all the time not to trust the sun, or anybody trying to build a false one. And if giving up a great part of herself to make a part of the world habitable for people is what it takes not to surrender to that sun, she’s up for it.
Yeah, it’s a project of another group entirely; it’s not a Khanate baby.
In my understanding, it went thus:
[spoiler]London’s Admirality wanted a return to law in the Neath - their law, a law that’d put the London-based navy back on the top of the heap, like they used to be. So they begun work on a top secret project down near that Geode: the Build-a-Sun workshop. Using their own understandings of the Correspondence and how Judgments functioned topside, they hatched the strange plan to build a strange, mechanized sun of their own to bathe the Neath in their own personal brand of We Win. They eventually got the monstrosity to a point where it was capable of affecting things - and that’s when it went sort of pear-shaped on them.
Turns out, a baby Judgment is still a Judgment and you can’t really control those things. It’s already decided to start inflicting it’s own law on the local area and seems to be setting itself up as the deity of a cult that’s angling to finish building it and (very likely) destroy the entire Neath when it comes online as it shoots off powerful Law Beams into an area of concentrated chaos. It’ll undo everything that ‘shouldn’t be’ that it touches, which is a -lot- of stuff down here. Naturally, most people don’t really want that, so the little starbaby has already started dealing with the opposition.
The Admirality members at the geode - the ones involved in the project - have now been rather effectively brainwashed by the new, partly functional deity, into protecting and completing it with all the money and other resources they can wrangle. They drained the London Admirality offices of personnel, ships and money almost entirely before anyone noticed. London cut the Geode off (but not before London had almost no ships or people left to sail, which is why they have freelancers doing all their sailing), and they’re… making do with what they can down there.
The Machine is too weak to really have any effect on people who are beyond a certain radius, but spending a bunch of time inside it’s sphere of influence will reprogram you into one of its own. [/spoiler]
I mean, I can and do. My character doesn’t intend to live forever, probably not even as long as some of her crew if they’re smart. But she wants her children’s children to be able to live here. She opposes the coming of the dawn. So just because some of her countrymen chose to betray those of the Neath doesn’t mean she has betrayed London - it could just as easily mean that they have.
Just as she might be willing to give them a Vital Intelligence, some personnel and other compensation for a single Shard in furtherance of her Engine, she’s willing to advance the political interests of the Khanate Empire enough to ensure future political power for her descendants.
But at the end of the day, she will not allow the Sixth City to fall upon the residents of London - not if she must drive upon the Dawn Machine with its own power, or fire upon Mr Fires with its own weapon.
Very helpful - I’m actually leaning towards the Parabolan snake route, since for RP purposes it’s very appealing - just as long as my ship’s equipment is adequate to continue doing battle with zee beasts, I could recoup many of the lost secrets by farming stories en mass, at least to get Pages back up to snuff. I wouldn’t do it with straight 200s, but straight 100s won’t take a lot longer.
I actually raised London’s Supremacy to 7 and was quite impressed with the reward, although I had been planning to seek a Khanate charter for the Boke of Sharps. I still haven’t figured out how to raise the Khanate’s influence besides selling them that certain weapon or helping them gain sway over Port Carnelian, which I did. I’m hoping that having SOME political advancement for them will allow me to align with them even though London is Glorious.