Quick question on upgrading my house

Hello. So I recently obtained both a room at the Brass Embassy and The Royal Bethleham, and I wish to upgrade both. Why? Well why not? Hanging around devils and madmen seems like fun. Thing is it seems like a lot of effort. So I have a few questions:

I know that on Christmas buying thse houses will become easier. But which one should I go for? I’m assuming I won’t have time or resoruces to do both.
For the one I do not do the easy route, or if I can’t do either for some reason, any advice on getting what I need to do it?
Any advice on houses in general?

If you’re at all interested in the Quiet Deviless and/or the Green-Eyed Devil I would go for the Brass Embassy. Owning a Sanctum will unlock two 40 Fate options that will give you these companions. Both the Sanctum and the Suite cost 3 Notability, though the Sanctum is slightly more expensive at 8 Taste of Lacre instead of 7.

The Sacksmas option to upgrade to a Sanctum requires you to be soulless however, so if that’s a dealbreaker for you, you should upgrade that in the non-discounted fashion and put your holidays efforts toward upgrading the Room at the Beth to a Suite (which is something no moderately sane person should attempt at any other time of the year. The amount of time, effort, lost profits, and luck involved in procuring an Impossible Theorem is no joke and then to just give it away? Gah! Just the thought makes me shudder.)

Yeah, while the Sanctum is the only one at the time with any extras I would definitely recommend the Suite if those extras aren’t something you’re interested in.

The Sanctum is the only 5-card lodgings I’m missing.

Sadly, I can’t buy it for the reduce Sacksmas price, since no devil will take my soul due to certain… terrible things I’ve done to stain it. And I’m quite reluctant to pay the full price as I tend to hoard these super rare and expensive items (i.e. Location of a One-Time Prince of Hell).

Too bad, as I would have definitely paid some Fate to get the accompanying devilish companions, since I’m a companion/pet completionist. (I know I can still get at least the devil during the Feast of the Rose for a lot more Fate, but the deviless still requires the Intimate with Devils quality, so…).

I hold no interest in the Sannctumm bonuses right now, so I think I will go for the Suite since it seems to be much harder. However, in that case, can you give any advice on upgrading the Sanctum later on? I know it requires a One Time Location of a Prince of Hell, but the only way I know to get one is to sell The Cave Of The Nadir Location to spies. And while I am interested in The Game, I fear they will sell the location to the sort of people who really should NOT know it.

You can also get the Location of the Prince of Hell by selling 3200 scraps to the right relicker.
And, at least according to the wiki, apparently there’s also a way to get one via the Heart’s Desire ambition.

I’m never gonn get 3200 scraps though, and I used the heart’s Desire option which was a one off in case you did not have one.

Never say never! :-)

I used to think that too, but apparently if you’re trying to collect scraps, it only takes a few months to get 3200. (basically, you need a trimmed deck, all the lodgings and to only draw cards in the Flit).

How does one even trim their deck anyway?

For every useless card, check out its requirements and try to get rid of it, thus ensuring you won’t encounter this card again (and therefore increase the probability of encountering more useful cards).

For example:
Keeping certain connections below 5 will avoid the relevant connection conflict cards.
Getting rid of all Reprehensible Lizards will remove their associated card.
Getting rid of all Incendiary Gossip scraps will remove another card.
etc.

(BTW - for certifiable scraps you should keep a Sulky Bat, as it’s associated card can give scraps).

Getting 3200 Scraps really isn’t all that hard and doesn’t take too long (though getting there between now and Christmas would be a stretch!). I should know, I’ve done it four times now, and am back up to over 1200 again…

So what’s your technique? I’ve only managed getting over 3200 twice and it’s taking forever this time.

The quickest way is to flip cards in the Flit and hope to cash in your Urchins; still it does take time.

I have got all four top tier items though at least partly that is because I started collecting them before they stopped giving scraps for the invite a friend tweets.

What on earth do you mean? It wasn’t so bad, and I only got exploded like twice! ^_^
(Yeah, it’s a grind - but when you’re aiming for a suite at the Beth, sanity is waaayy overrated. :-p )

  • It’ll come around sooner than you think. I started on grinding scraps (to upgrade my Guest Room to a Sanctum) a couple months back and am presently at 3141/3200, with the right scraps card sitting in my hand when I gain the remaining 59.
  • Just make sure you keep your Connected: Urchins above 15 (I recommend 22+ in case you draw the Call in favours in the Flit opportunity card twice in a row), and only draw cards in the Flit to allow that card to appear (unless you’re doing Nadir stuff, of course.)
  • If you already own lodgings which provide only 1 Certifiable Scrap (like the Rooms above a Bookshop) then it’s still worth accepting those actions to get the scrap rather than discarding them, as the number of cards you can draw is still a limited resource. But if you do not yet have the 1-Scrap lodgings, avoid buying them as they’ll dilute your deck.
  • A watched pot doesn’t boil. Accept them as they come, but don’t start bean-counting or obsess over &quothow many scraps did I get today?&quot because that will drive you mad and make the game no fun at all. Set it as a long-term goal, and don’t fixate on it. :-)
  • I recommend marking the Scrap-gaining options as Plans, so you can identify which actions you’ll want to do at a glance. Whenever I draw a Lodgings card, I can see at a glance that I’ll want to do whichever one(s) I have marked and so don’t need to try and remember which action does what. Even after you’ve completed a plan, the red-now-grey flag stays large so it’s easily distinguishable from the ones you haven’t marked.

[quote=lady ciel ]The quickest way is to flip cards in the Flit and hope to cash in your Urchins; still it does take time.

I have got all four top tier items though at least partly that is because I started collecting them before they stopped giving scraps for the invite a friend tweets.[/quote]

Ah. I didn’t realize the Urchins now give Scraps for favors; it’s been a long time since I’ve done most of the Favors cards. Thanks.

If you want a five-card lodging it is by far cheaper to obtain it at Sacksmas. While the Sanctum does require you to be soulless, the other two only require enough Taste of Lacre and much less Notability than the normal price.

For what it’s worth, it’s relatively trivial to get enough Taste of Lacre to acquire at least two 5-card Lodgings at Sacksmas. I would focus on getting both this year. Just save up Night Whispers and Storm Threnodies before December.