Romancing the Longshanks Gunner

Sunless Sea
1

For one of my future playthoughs, I intend to have one of my captains romance the Longshanks Gunner. This is partly because I just like the idea of two childhood friends getting together while at zee from a story perspective, and partly because her appearance just reminds me a bit of Kaylee from the TV series Firefly.

[color=#b5b5b5]Just like all other officers that you can [/color][color=rgb(181, 181, 181)]romance, she requires that one of your stats be 20 points high then that of another. In her case, your Iron needs to be 20 higher then your Veils.[/color]
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[color=rgb(181, 181, 181)]However, here’s my problem: [/color]
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[color=rgb(181, 181, 181)]The only way for you to get the Longshanks Gunner on your crew is by having the street urchin background, with you start the game with an extra 25 points of [/color][color=rgb(181, 181, 181)]Veils. [/color][color=rgb(181, 181, 181)]Meaning that the only possible way for you to romance her will be by spending the first 40 secrets that you earn on increasing your Iron and nothing else. [/color]
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[color=rgb(181, 181, 181)]And since she is an officer that you get from the very beginning with quite poor stats of her own, it would have been far more logical for you to just let her go ashore[/color][color=rgb(181, 181, 181)] at Khan’s Shadow on perhaps your 2-3 voyage, earning you a massive award (by early game standards). This will be long before you even have the chance to get 40 secrets.[/color]
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[color=rgb(181, 181, 181)]This is either a brilliant example of storytelling though gameplay mechanics (you having to ‘workout’ and sacrifice a lot of other potential gain in order to be together with someone you have a crush on), or it is something that needs to be fixed by the developers. [/color]
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2

Or by stacking some Iron legacies before trying to start a captain with eyes for the Gunner, but yes.

3

Yeah you’re best bet is to start with the Boke of Sharps and not the veils one.

That or inherit a lot of iron, but.
edited by WormApotheote on 2/21/2015

4

If you don’t mind starting a new character for this run, you could probably do it in a couple of hours, without the secret grind.

Start a new character. Pick Veteran. Grab the Boke of Sharps which is pretty easy (if a little boring) to get (just run from london to vienna 8 times, coffee sales will cover your costs). That’s 75 Iron. If you can squeeze out a scion, so much the better, because then you can pass half your filthy profits from the coffee run down as well. Die. Pass 50% of your points. That’s 37. Plus the Boke is 62. Grab Salt’s Attention and then speak to Cynthia at Hunter’s Keep five times - there should be at least another 5 and possibly more. That’s 67. Meaning you only need 13 secrets.

If temporary points count, you could buy the WE ARE CLAY for 300 from Polythreme for another 5, Irrepressible Cannoneer (8), Brisk Campaigner (3) and the mog (2). So, if you do them, that’s another 18, putting you comfortably over the limit without too much hassle.

If they don’t count, then yeah. Smaller secret grind.
edited by SporksAreGoodForYou on 2/21/2015

5

Modifiers count, yes. Which also weirdly means you can improve your chances of romancing her by attaching blinding glim lamps to your ship. Because that makes sense. (…well, maybe it’s more ‘you’re the type of person who would not care about being a mobile lighthouse and just rely on shooting zee beasts before they eat you’. But still.)

But really just evening out your starting iron to match your veils makes it pretty simple to get, since 20 secrets is easy enough to get just from exploring.

And like, Iron isn’t a useless stat or anything it’s pretty useful.

6

[quote=SporksAreGoodForYou]If you don’t mind starting a new character for this run, you could probably do it in a couple of hours, without the secret grind.

Start a new character. Pick Veteran. Grab the Boke of Sharps which is pretty easy (if a little boring) to get (just run from london to vienna 8 times, coffee sales will cover your costs). That’s 75 Iron. If you can squeeze out a scion, so much the better, because then you can pass half your filthy profits from the coffee run down as well. Die. Pass 50% of your points. That’s 37. Plus the Boke is 62. Grab Salt’s Attention and then speak to Cynthia at Hunter’s Keep five times - there should be at least another 5 and possibly more. That’s 67. Meaning you only need 13 secrets.

If temporary points count, you could buy the WE ARE CLAY for 300 from Polythreme for another 5, Irrepressible Cannoneer (8), Brisk Campaigner (3) and the mog (2). So, if you do them, that’s another 18, putting you comfortably over the limit without too much hassle.

If they don’t count, then yeah. Smaller secret grind.
edited by SporksAreGoodForYou on 2/21/2015[/quote]

Er, if I read correctly, your recommendation overlooks the small detail of actually recruiting the Longshanks Gunner. Unless you’re talking about amassing Iron for inheritance purposes (in which case the number you’re fishing for is 140 un-augmented Iron, which you’re nowhere near), this will not help the OP bed the Longshanks Gunne.

Personally, I choose to see certain characters as easier to seduce than others. Given my strong preference for foreign intelligence and hauling heavy cargo as sources of income, Maybe’s Daughter has always been quick to find her way to my bed (or, you know, the cannon) just as much as I’ve always been eager to seek out the fastest and most conniving of Officers.

The concept of the Longshanks Gunner is that she survived to adulthood (a rare feat) as a homeless, thieving orphan. She was let go by her gang and took to the zee, tired and disillusioned with petty thievery. She desires to be courageous and face her problems head-on. She will end up on the crew of a fellow urchin - you yourself are rather a Longshanks type, if she’s on your crew. So mechanically speaking, a few things can happen:
-Your Longshanks Captain starts the game with Veils >/= Iron +25 and gains a LOT of secrets, implying a narrative in which your thief goes to zee and over time becomes harder than Glim, or
-Your Longshanks Captain has powerful zee captain ancestry, with Iron coursing through their veins. This would suggest that the Longshanks Gunner signed on with you because you were a freaking hero in the streets.

Either way, we’re talking about a terrifying and fearsome urchin with, at minimum, the ability to fight smaller zee crabs with confidence. Somebody that doesn’t need to run from Constables because it is unsafe to chase them. That would be her type.
edited by Gerald Edgerton on 2/18/2016

7

If you buy a dreadnaught you get +25 iron and -25 veils, and could bed her immediately all other things being the same. She’s impressed by the power.

Pasts don’t boost stats over 50, so if you have both the boke of sharpes and the manual of miracles and the urchin past you will have 50\50 base iron and veils.

There is no need for the manual of miracles, but basically any game where you start with the Boke you only need 15 iron to bed her. The irrepressible cannoner is 8 by itself, We Are Clay previously mentioned is another 5, and you can easily find 2 free somewhere.

If you want to TLDR just get the Boke of sharps and the irrepressible cannoneer and you’re pretty much there.