Players that are the Ambassador to Arbor can now choose ‘Ambassador’ as their term of address.
Completing the Scheme of the Phoenix storyline in a way that favours the Masters now counts as a possible inroad with Mr Fires.
This is only available if you have an Ambition other than Light Fingers.
‘Action against the Masters’ now grants an Epaulette Mate instead of a Threefold Repetition.
The Bone Market
Changed the formula governing how many points of Counter-Church Theology are granted by each Holy Relic of the Thigh of Saint Fiacre.
Lowered the Torso Style value of skeletons built using Segmented Ribcages as a base.
These are meant to address two outliers in the Bone Market:
One is Segmented Ribcages being much cheaper, easier to acquire, and providing many more limb slots than any other ribcage with a high Torso Style value – which specifically interacts with Counter-Church Theology in an excessive way.
The other is Counter-Church Theology being generated generally faster and much more easily than other skeleton traits, making it unambiguously the best source of non-Exhaustive additional value from the Bone Market.
Various small tweaks to metatext and placement in Onboarding Game content.
Feast of the Exceptional Rose storylets (when available) should no longer appear for players who have not yet finished the tutorial.
It’s no longer possible to unlock sub-locations like the Medusa’s Head before you’ve used the map for the first time.
A Cultural Exchange now requires A Named Signed with a Flourish and A Name Scrawled in Blood of at least 4.
Fixed a loophole that permitted payers to become trapped in the Starved Embassy without suitable gifts.
Evolution: When gathering materials for the Diving Bell, changed some of the resources given out by the Subtle Machinist (and later required in construction) to be more accessible items. This is so that, if some of these items are sold between obtaining them and using them in the story, it is more reasonable for lower-levelled players to re-acquire them.
Hearts’ Game: When drawing two Counterplay cards in one hand, the second will no longer fire if the first had already lowered Counterplay past its applicable threshold.
Hearts’ Game: To make the Nod a little easier to collect in the future, it is now possible to force the King of Motley to join your team at the start of a run, at a cost. Look for the option in ‘Take Stock of your Accomplices.’
This is only possible if you have the Distinctions of Knights, Pages, Kings, and Embalming; if you are still missing the Distinction of Motley; and if you’ve played at least one full seven-round run with the King of Motley on your team.
Because that last condition wasn’t always tracked, you may still need to find the King of Motley naturally in the deck once more before you can access this option.
Duelling with the Black Ribbon, Thefts for Master Thief & Procuring Savage Beasts for Mr Inch
Increased the amount of overall progress (in Master Thief, Procurer of Savage Beasts, Fearsome Duellist) given by most turn-ins.
Lowered the requirements and difficulties (in Casing, Running Battle, The Hunt Is On) of most turn-ins.
Adjusted payouts slightly downward to reflect lower action requirements.
Increased the amount of attribute experience given by each turn-in.
Lowered the penalties (in Casing etc.) for failing a turn-in.
Romances at Court
Reduced Fascinating requirements for each stage from 10 to 6.
Reduced difficulties of some Fascinating difficulty checks correspondingly.
Lowered penalties to Fascinating for failing a check.
Added small item rewards to each stage where they were lacking.
Increased the amount of Persuasive experience given by each stage.
Expeditions in the Forgotten Quarter
Added new low-efficiency options to trade resources for Supplies.
These are not meant to be competitive in the longer term, but to offer lower-levelled players more options to spend items that they are likely to own.
A benefactor now provides some free Expedition Supplies for the first run of each of the ‘golden path’ expeditions (a Thieves’ Cache, the Shrine of the Deep Blue Heaven, and the Tomb of the Seven).
Increased the amount of Watchful given out by completing the Tomb of the Seven.
Investigations at the University
Reduced the Investigating requirements of each stage of the investigation (from 10/8/6 to 5 across the board).
Reduced the Investigating difficulty checks to correspond with new requirements.
Added small item rewards to each stage where they were lacking.
Increased the amount of Watchful given out by each stage.
The Flit/Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion
Removed the storyline’s reliance on rare successes while carrying out courier jobs in the Flit. While fun conceptually, it was an uneven and frustrating way of pacing progress. Now any successful trade-in of Seeking or Investigating in ‘The Heights of Chicanery’ will increment Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion.
The rare successes on other actions remain and may occasionally offer a boost to progress, but starting this storyline should now be a lot more reliable.
Mahogany Hall
Reduced the amount of ‘Tales of Mahogany Hall’ required to set the ‘Day of the Week’. Previously requirements ranged from 10-22; now they range from 8-14.
Reduced the reduction of ‘Tales of Mahogany Hall’ when completing a day’s performance.
Increased the rewards of most performances to account for the action cost of setting the Day of the Week.
Increased the amount of Shadowy experience given out by the final Glass/Shroud performance.
Carving Out A Reputation at Court and Poet-Laureate
Reduced the Inspired requirements of shorter and longer works to 17 and 24 respectively.
For symmetry and ease of understanding, these changes have been made to the Court in both stages: pre- and post-banishment.
Retuned rewards appropriately.
Port Carnelian
Reduced the number of Successful Terms as Governor required to host the Princess’ state dinner and gain re-entry to Court from 5 to 2.
Increased the Persuasive experience given out by hosting the Captivating Princess’ state dinner. (Any encounter with the Princess is a sizeable learning experience.)
Making Progress in the Labyrinth of Tigers
Reduced ‘The Hunt Is On’ requirements to progress throughout the story component of the Labyrinth from 8 to 7.
Increased amount of Dangerous experience given out by each stage.
don’t like this one: for me, the high investigating requirments reflected this being an exceptionaly hard case and it only really get annoying because i failed to guess the criminal until the very end.
i hope it’s just the financiel rewards-i was counting on that one sympheny option for grinding SotC.
The opportunity card ‘A Visit from a Cloaked Stranger’, which advertised the Theological Husbandry storyline, can now be removed from the deck.
If removed, the Theological Husbandry storyline can be purchased from the Fate Page (as well as from the Clay Coalman in ‘Find New Stories: Chat with the Local Gossip’).
‘The Calendrical Confusion of 1899’ card now requires A Name Signed with a Flourish of at least 6.
Hearts’ Game: ‘Discovered: A King in Rags’ can now be gained when resuming a paused run with the King of Motley, rather than only after completing six uninterrupted rounds with him.
I’m genuinely under the impression that CiS is a half-finished project headed by someone who just lost all interest in it at some point.
…Which would explain why the Scheme of the Phoenix was hastily bolted onto the tail end of it.
(Given that it is a total non-sequitur to the entire rest of the expansion… and also happens to be the only part of the expansion that gives the player anything to do other than get “humbled” at a point when they’ve already become Doctor Who via time traveling destiny-based shenanigans.)
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