So I’ve been playing the games for I believe a few months now, and had gotten myself up to about 150 scraps using the "recertify" options I’ve gotten on a few cards.
The past week I’ve managed to lose all but 2 certifiable scraps, so I can no longer recertify. I actually can’t remember how or when I ever got enough scraps to start gambling in the first place.
Now, I’m sad that I’ve gambled it all away, but more importantly, how and where am I even supposed to be getting these scraps legitimately?
To be honest scraps aren’t all that important in the game. You’ll get them here and there. Some houses like the handsome townhouse give a few scraps on their opportunity cards, but still in small amounts. If you really want scraps you’re gonna have to start saving. No more gambling if you don’t want to lose the, that’s not reliable at all.
As has been discussed many times, you need to save up a lot of scraps (~1000) before you indulge the relickers, as a losing streak will clean you out. Supposedly, it is slightly better than 1 scrap per action in quantity, but you need a good-sized buffer to deal with the RNG. The stuff you get from scraps is okay, but it takes a long time to save up 3000 of them.
Calling in Favors in the Flit (an opportunity card) will get you 20 scraps from the Urchins, but the Revolutionaries give you 720 Proscribed Materials, which can be very useful when you are starting as a PoSI. And 14.40 echoes for one action is a pretty good return (but you do have to keep your connections with the Revolutionaries up, so that action cost should be factored in).
Also Trading Favors with Revolutionaries advances the Liberation of Night. Which is another thing to factor in. Because that’s considered bad by many of us.
I keep getting drawn to threads like these and find myself clutching a purse or something to my chest and shrieking "Don’t gamble Scraps! Will nobody think of the children!"
I had all the lodgings and a half-heartedly optimised deck, and managed to draw enough Scraps for all four top tier Relicker items in a little under a year. That was with what I’d call reasonably diligent card flipping, but certainly not every available card or every day. I took every Lodgings Scrap option, used the Bat card whenever it came up and flipped cards in the Flit to take advantage of the Urchin exchange when I could. I didn’t do a single bit of Relivker recertification gambling
Other players’ mileage will vary, particularly depending on what Lodgings you have access to, as well as the capricious nature of the RNG. But the point is it is not hard at all to get enough Scraps for the good stuff with a bit of patience (and luck). The Scrapgamble grind has broken many a hardy soul.