I don’t think the Lamps are expressed well enough to be honest, and the fact that they seem to be a constant effect in stats rather than being simply relegated to sailing and combat is strange.
In theory, I thought lamps only affected Veils and Mirrors relative to calculations on detection and target acquisition while zailing and while the lamp is on. So that if the lamp is off, your Veils should shoot up to their normal levels, but you’re not getting the mirrors bonus described by the lamp.
Past that, their stat effects would not be felt in the game (i.e.their stat effects wouldn’t be used for skill checks and the like, because that really wouldn’t make much sense in the case of say, an on land skill check, because how is your in-port boat’s lamp affecting how much you’re able to thoroughly examine your soul in a secret chamber of the inner self?)
But then I saw that lamps, as well as ship stat bonuses affect all checks everywhere.
In that context, I suppose that, yeah, most of the lamps are semi useless weird trades of +mirrors for -veils, with only the later ones being strong contenders for utility.
I dunno, I think the heart of the issue has less to do with the lamps stats - which, in the assumption I originally made, made the lamp function quite fine - and more how universally equipment affects player stats when it probably shouldn’t. It’s honestly very vague and nonsensical in a great many instances right now. At least in how it’s presented.
I mean, if the player is exploring an interior jungle in a storylet, ON LAND, how is their ship’s increased or decreased stats affecting their roll on the skill check? Lots of storylets have the player’s captain do stuff by themselves. How is my crew actually helping me in those?
Seriously, there need to be markations on all challenges that show whether the challenge is using the player’s BASE stat, whether that’s using the Player’s SHIP stat (factors in their Ship, and any lamps or Auxiliary items therein that affect your stat) as well, or their CREW as well (the increases that come from your officers). At sea you’re using all three of these in conjunction at all times. In storylets, both the the ship and crew may not be available to boost the player’s stats depending on the context of the choice in that particular situation.
I mean, in Fallen London, sure. If your suit that your wearing increases the perception of how others look at you, it SHOULD raise your persuasion wherever you go. In Sunless Sea, that logic is still being applied, but to inland explorations and your boat that isn’t affecting that choice at all. It just doesn’t make sense.
One advantage of increasing the signposting on these factors might be the inclusion of some more choices on storylets, so that perhaps the player CAN make a safer more potentially safer choice by getting their crew or using their boat for a different outcome, and the player knows why that choice has a better shot (and some new choices can be written in with different results with this idea in mind for some more fun). The other advantage could be that this would mean the player needs to know what their base value in any given stat is, so they’ll include that somewhere in the game (seriously, does it not annoy anyone else that we can’t see like a character sheet that shows our base values in Hearts and whatnot? I can never remember until I trade in a secret with an officer)