Scheme: Set up an Orphanage

[quote=LukeMcMillan]What I don’t get is why the Scheme options are tied to the drawing of a card…
couldn’t there be an entry in the Lodgings on what you can do depending on which residences you have? or perhaps an option on the key of the lodging?[/quote]

The Lodgings cards are the established way for us to interact with one of the specific Lodgings options. That allows us to select the Lodgings we want to claim as our primary residence for personal/character reasons, and not for min/max reasons. The key idea is interesting, but they have been too long an item that has had no other use than to change Lodgings, meaning no one ever looks at them anymore. Established players (who don’t read the forums/twitters) will never see anything that gets added to the keys, making it a poor choice for content.

Plus, if these Schemes produce Making Waves, and Making Waves is intended to be a time-limited resource, they probably don’t want us grinding it too efficiently.

Well, oddly enough I just turned the card. FINALLY…

Now I need a few things:
Scandal 3
Personal Recommendations 2
Cellar of wine 2
Incendiary Gossip 50 (have 15)
Connected: Revolutionaries 20 (currently 12)
Favours in High Places 4
Connected: Bohemians 60 (currently 27)

I have the scarlet stockings of dubious origin, that will get me some Scandal.
I wish there was a way to effectively grind Revolutionaries without raising suspicion. I will probably hold forth in the Forgotten quarter and get some more connections.

I don’t think I"ll have a lot of trouble getting the wine, the favors or the Gossip. The recommendations however…

Anyhow, luck is a fickle thing!

[quote=Joy Phillip]I wish there was a way to effectively grind Revolutionaries without raising suspicion. I will probably hold forth in the Forgotten quarter and get some more connections.[/quote]You could buy a Red-Feathered Pin for 40 Echoes. Six Whisper-Satin Scraps and six actions would get you what you need. And you can sell the Pin back for 35 Echoes.

Recommendations are a pain. It’s probably best to just get them in the Sidestreets, unless you already have a lot of Talk of the Town or are in the final rounds of the Tournament of Lilies.

[li]Only 200 cp - you were lucky I went down around 20 levels in Society and Bohemian. I can’t remember precisely how much but I don’t think it took quite as much in Revolutionaries or Hell. [/li][li][/quote]
I lost this much in Society and Bohemian as well, and maybe around five in Revolutionaries and Hell? I can’t remember either.[/li][li]

The schemes for the Salon are fantastic. One action and a favor for 6 scheme progress, and then 2 actions at once to cash it in for 16 making waves. Glorious. This did require me to draw the card twice, though, since I’ve opened my Salon.

How are people deciding between the two? My fondness for children makes me want to set up an orphanage and make them earn their keep … but the salon requires more, and in my head that means it’ll have more content. And content is king. Narrative is reason for living. Etc. (Halp.)

So far, the Orphanage’s activities seem more based around straight echo-spending, while the Salon’s seem more Connection based. The Salon Affiliation item is slightly better in terms of the stats it gives, but not so much that it really makes that much of a difference. It seems like they’re being set up as equals, like with the Parthanaeum/Young Stags, so just pick whichever one you think fits your character better.

Honestly, I had some of the same issues. My character backstory has me coming out of the Urchin Gangs, which means that I SHOULD be attracted to the orphanages. However, I’m getting the salon only because I want a salon, and the one off the profile doesn’t really work well.[li]

[snip][li][/quote][/li][li]
[/li][li]I decided, very simply, by money. I had all of the requirements to start a Salon, but would have needed to acquire staff (Grubby Urchins, Winsome Orphans, and another Alluring Accomplice) to start an Orphanage, and the Echo cost for an Orphanage is higher, too. I didn’t see enough advantage to building an Orphanage to be worth the extra cost. (I may be wrong, of course, but that’s how I decided.)

[/li]

In my opinion it’s a fairly simple choice. I can either get an Orphanage with almost the same stats as God’s Editors; or I can get the first Bizarre affiliation, and the one 5-attribute affiliation which contributes the most to main attributes.

I’ve drawn this card several times now but there are no such options on it, nothing at all about a Salon or an Orphanage. I have the key to the Townhouse and I am a Person of Some Importance. Are there some extra requirements that I’m missing?

Do you have any Notability? Making Waves?

You don’t need Notability to see it.
Sounds like a bug to me.

Does it take anything from the Masters of the Bazaar?[li]

Nope! Just the four I stated are affected: Connected: Tomb-Colonists, Church, Duchess, Masters and the two University qualities are entirely unaffected.
edited by Spacemarine9 on 8/15/2013

Excellent news! I shall continue to cling to my connected: Masters quality of 2! Thanks Spacemarine.

Does anyone know whether using your Scheme to increase Making Waves sets your Scheme to 0, or just reduces it by some set amount?

I’m thinking of banking it until high Notability becomes useful, but that would obviously be futile if it’s used up in one go, like Making Waves.

I can’t speak for every MW-generator, but having the Mercies speak at one’s Salon only reduces the Scheme by a set amount - which I was jolly pleased to see.

[li]
Yes, I have Notability at 1 and Making Waves at 16 (as I’m trying to get the second Notability point), so I don’t think that’s it. I guess I’ll send in a bug report and see.