I realized there are a few things I’m still wondering about and couldn’t really find a satisfactory answer on the wiki, and the search function for the forums only shows the top five results; my google-fu (or, well, search-engine-in-general-fu) is weak, so I’ve no idea if these questions have actually been answered. So instead of making different threads as questions like that pop up, I figured I’d try to stick them all together in one place; and maybe some other newbie might find it useful eventually.
On deepening one’s acquaintance with Rubbery Men The Numismatrix has asked me to declare my particular allegiance to a certain faction. However, my heart truly belongs to the Rubbery Men-- after all, they so resemble cuttlefish (the most adorable of the cephalopods) and those sad squishy noises they make are really rather endearing. However, apparently they don’t know (or perhaps care) quite enough about money to catch the Numismatrix’s attention, so becoming Closest To them isn’t an option on that particular card. When I looked at the wiki, it didn’t actually describe any method for obtaining Closest To: Rubbery Men, although there were a couple cards that apparently use Closest To: Rubbery Men. Is the acquisition of a deeper understanding of my fishy friends Fate-locked, or is it not yet fully implemented, or are they simply too inscrutable to know? I know there are consequences for altering one’s allegiances (I’ve managed to acquire a point of Turncoat because I wanted to get both the Last Constable’s and the Cheery Man’s views on their feud), so I’m a bit leery of declaring one and then changing my mind later.
On what to hoard
I have hoarding tendencies. One of the cup holders in my car is full of bottle caps in case I ever muster enough focus to do some crafting projects with them-- or simply to remember to take them inside. (Ever wondered why caches of bottlecaps are scattered around in the weirdest places in the Fallout games? People like me.) Combined with my obsessive completionism, this makes me worried that if I don’t save up enough things, I’ll miss options on some cards that require things like 2,000 candle stubs. So my paranoia regarding what to sell and what to hoard is getting in the way of my acquiring a few pieces of equipment that would probably save me some time. For example, Rattus Faber corpses don’t seem to have any uses listed on the wiki… but is that due to them being good for selling, or merely an incomplete wiki page? Do I hold onto them "just in case?" And how many of a material with multiple applications is too many to have? (Aside from tier-3 materials of which one can apparently never have too many, of course, because side conversions.) Is there really anything that I can consider "safe" to sell, or should I just continue to hoard so that I don’t have to grind things later in the game?
tl;dr I am very neurotic and am trying to balance my compulsive hoarding/completionism issues with actually being able to enjoy the unfolding of mysteries as the game progresses. And I am trying not to let my neuroses drive me to spam the Bazaar board with questions but I think they’re winning.
In general you should hoard items you cannot acquire easily in London. What can you acquire easily? Anything in “unfinished business” (typically tier 1) is easy to acquire for POSIs. Goods items are also good for selling once you have enough.
How much is enough? Depends on your goals. In the early game, check the requirements to buy i) routes, ii) new lodgings, and iii) expedition supplies and skulls for the Nadir.
You cannot at this time become closest to Rubbery Men. I’m sure this will change in the future, though probably not soon. There are currently two ways of switching sides. One is very limited (you can only switch to Hell, Urchin, Revolutionaries, or the Great Game), and you can only do it once, but it doesn’t have any penalties. The other is always available, costs resources, and requires you to officially sever your ties with the previous faction. This makes you lose that connection entirely, which can be pretty painful if you’ve put a lot of work into raising it. Thankfully you won’t obtain the Turncoat menace.
You’ll want to keep things that you don’t know how to get more of, or require a lot of work to obtain. It doesn’t hurt to keep a nice stockpile of resources on hand either, starting small and increasing your hoard as you progress further in the game. At this stage in the game you’ll want to hold onto all the materials required to unlock new locations, and I would also recommend that you hold onto Whispered Secrets to use for Expeditions later on in the game. If you’re wanting specific resources to sell I would recommend Moon-pearls, Lamplighter Beeswax, and Nevercold Brass Slivers. Glim and Surface Currency are also good after you’ve unlocked Wolfstack Docks, and Rostygold isn’t terrible either (though if you’re wanting a Gang of Hoodlums much later on in the game you’ll want to eventually have 10k of it).
Edit: It’ll be a while before you’re a POSI, so until then some resources are going to be a little harder to get at certain points in the game. You’ll just have to work off what you know you can get at that moment, and once you do become a POSI you won’t have to worry about tracking down a new source of an item because you’ve outgrown the other one. edited by Sara Hysaro on 5/26/2014
I completely understand your compulsion to hoard. Fallen London does not help in regard to this as inevitably after selling your stash you find a card that needs them!
On the other hand there is very little need to hoard things that can be easily regained. So items like Jade, cryptic clues, Greyfields 1882 can all be sold. This of course only becomes true once you are a POSI.
Never sell whispered secrets. Ever. They’re very common in the early game, but extremely rare and useful later.
Other than that, what other people have said. Keeping a stockpile/buffer, especially for frequently-used items like rotsygold, jade fragments, and moon-pearls, is a good idea. I generally keep a 50-100 echo stockpile of basic goods and sell/convert anything that goes over that, but if you’re not at the endgame you might want to set your buffer a bit lower. Items needed for locations and lodgings should take priority, as others have said.
[quote=HJackson]So items like … Greyfields 1882 can all be sold.[/quote]Greyfields 1882 should not be sold, but should be kept until one has 1000 to trade in for 240 x Morelways 1872 through "A presumptuous little opportunity". Similarly, the Morelways 1872 should also not be sold, but kept until one has 400 to trade in for 96 x Strangling Willow Absinthe through the very same card. These two trades give good profits (4 Echoes/Action) regardless of one’s taste in wines.
[quote=Little The]Never sell whispered secrets. Ever. They’re very common in the early game, but extremely rare and useful later.[/quote]Why rare? Whispered Secrets are easy to get by bartering Jade, Rostygold or Deep Amber with the Tiger Keeper.
The other option on that card is way better, but that’s pretty much it! The card stops showing up once you reach 11, so to reach 14 I betrayed nearly everyone’s confessions to the Masters.
Thank you, all, for the advice. I think I shall continue to sit on my hoard like a cantankerous dragon until I get closer to PoSI status, then, and sell things very cautiously. And it’s a pity about not being able to get Closest To the Rubbery Men. They’re just so sad and tentacley and I want to hug them! (And then wipe off the slime-- when they’re not looking, of course, so as not to hurt their feelings.)
[quote=cheshster]You could also just get rid of all of your Proscribed Material. It doesn’t show up if you have less than 100.[/quote]Of course. But in anticipation of SMEN eventually returning, you never know if you’ll need 7777 Proscribed Materials on hand :-)
Actually there is now a third option on that card - it takes the 100 proscribed material and it is a matter of luck but can be useful if you have any scandal and suspicion … though not too much just in case you are unlucky.