I’ve seen this sort of thing mentioned before and it always makes my head spin. I’ve been playing for about 3 years and still only have some 300-odd pieces of scrap![/quote]
Do you gamble Scrap? If so, the Fallen London Scrapgambling Temperance League would like a word with you. That way lies only madness and destitution.[/quote]
Not a bit of it! I don’t trust those Relickers any further than I could throw them, were I hypothetically inclined to touch one.[/quote]
Do you have assorted higher-level lodgings? (by 3 years I’d presume you had the three 4-card lodgings, the Handsome Townhouse, and Decommissioned Steamer) If so, the appropriate option on their respective Opportunity Cards should have you rolling in Scrap in no time.
If you wanted to rush primarily for Scrap over whatever your other Opportunity Cards provide, a Sulky Bat has a chance of getting Scrap too.
I also like the Lair in the Marshes card as there’s an option for 30 CP of C: Society and a Scrap. One scrap is worth three less CP than the Palace option in my mind.
I’ve seen this sort of thing mentioned before and it always makes my head spin. I’ve been playing for about 3 years and still only have some 300-odd pieces of scrap![/quote]
Do you gamble Scrap? If so, the Fallen London Scrapgambling Temperance League would like a word with you. That way lies only madness and destitution.[/quote]
Not a bit of it! I don’t trust those Relickers any further than I could throw them, were I hypothetically inclined to touch one.[/quote]
Do you have assorted higher-level lodgings? (by 3 years I’d presume you had the three 4-card lodgings, the Handsome Townhouse, and Decommissioned Steamer) If so, the appropriate option on their respective Opportunity Cards should have you rolling in Scrap in no time.
If you wanted to rush primarily for Scrap over whatever your other Opportunity Cards provide, a Sulky Bat has a chance of getting Scrap too.[/quote]
I don’t have all the lodgings- currently missing a room in the Royal Beth and the Brass Embassy (partly for character-related reasons, partly just because I’ve never bothered to actually go about acquiring them), but I have the rest. I suspect part of my issue is that I don’t tend to play with long-term goals in mind very often, so I don’t do much to optimize my rate of return. I’ll look into getting those other two lodgings.
Those two four-card lodgings have 3-scrap options and are Frequent like the Bazaar lodgings so appear twice as often as the default. So yeah they help a lot.
As people have said, the rare grinds are the endgame hook. It’s not the most interesting way to do it, but it is the easiest and probably the one that appeals to the largest number of players. I’d love it if Failbetter created more mechanically opaque, tactically interesting endgame content. Then the spades can test mechanics, the diamonds can compete more on skill than the amount of time they put in, and the hearts can facilitate sharing the spading results or providing useful social actions.*
Come to think of it, the way NiteBrite talks about Mr Eaten endgame, it fits that description pretty well, and catered to clubs more than any sane official content would. Would be neat to see a return to that community engagement, without the main Eaten issues of course. As it stands, the two meta-interactions for players are comparing achievements (which with a few exceptions are just a function of the time you put in) and Knife and Candle (which I would guess only appeals to a small section of the playerbase, even when it’s available).
*Look up "Bartle MUD suits" if you don’t know what I’m talking about.
[quote=TheThirdPolice]
*Look up Bartle MUD suits if you don’t know what I’m talking about.[/quote]
That’s fascinating, actually. Thanks for pointing that article out!
Seconded - that was a really fun read.
[quote=TheThirdPolice]As people have said, the rare grinds are the endgame hook. It’s not the most interesting way to do it, but it is the easiest and probably the one that appeals to the largest number of players. I’d love it if Failbetter created more mechanically opaque, tactically interesting endgame content. Then the spades can test mechanics, the diamonds can compete more on skill than the amount of time they put in, and the hearts can facilitate sharing the spading results or providing useful social actions.*
Come to think of it, the way NiteBrite talks about Mr Eaten endgame, it fits that description pretty well, and catered to clubs more than any sane official content would. Would be neat to see a return to that community engagement, without the main Eaten issues of course. As it stands, the two meta-interactions for players are comparing achievements (which with a few exceptions are just a function of the time you put in) and Knife and Candle (which I would guess only appeals to a small section of the playerbase, even when it’s available).
*Look up "Bartle MUD suits" if you don’t know what I’m talking about.[/quote]
Totally agree! These are my favorite parts of Fallen London, like the Cave of the Nadir and the Passion Destiny.
I really hope the player investment and Fate purchases they draw justifies their development cost, because they’re absolutely what keeps me coming back.
Wikis and forums really do hurt this sort of thing though, since I’m sure it takes a great deal of time (and talent) to write content like this that’s lore friendly, complex, and valuable to the development of the game overall. It’s a shame that only the leading edge of players get the experience of "solving" them, and everyone else only plays the profitable portion of that discovery space. Even that is still fun though, especially when it plays around with FL’s more unique mechanics, like the opportunity deck, and quality unlocks.
edited by Ian Hart on 4/25/2016