Spinning of the wheels

I bought this piece of content in expectations of some good time and some potential profit in secrets and such. Well i can safely say i was quite disappointed. On the first glance it looks alright-you get a few new options on yer normal storylets 1 of which is actively detrimental to you and the other 2 barely interestng. Then you get to raising this quality. let me tell you-raising it is no walk in the park. You can only raise it 1 cp per cycle and you need to get it to 4… or 5 my memory is a bit fuzzy. Either way it is not very fast. You have a few different options which get you some insight into how the squad operates but get this-you need to do them many times at 14 actions per and guess what? they give payoffs which are notably worse than regular storylets. Jesus christ on a stick was that annoying. But that is tolerable-i can take that much. You know iThen you get a choice. I went with an options which promised a lot of hard work and that typically implies some kind of special reward. That option requires you to raise your quality to 9 at 2 cp per 14 actions… yeah you can see how that might be just wee problematic. Oh and did i mention it warns you about hard work? you get no rewards for all those cycles whatsoever. So you get it to 9 and guess what? yeeeeah you get completely ridiculous sets of items 2 pointless qualities and a somewhat interesting piece of text. You know-screw items but giving me 3! pieces of text worth a damn at 20 fate is just… augh. Oh and now i unexpectedly lost access to those storylets too just for an added kick in the balls.
I am very frustrated-that 20 fate investment was basically “spend a few hundred actions for a kick in the balls”. I am now very relucant to buy any other fate locked pieces of content if they turn out like this.

p.s the best piece in the whole velo squad? a merchant of souls unlock in the normal cycle. It’s delicious really.
P.P.S yes i am pissed off can you tell? no the special qualities do not make up for the sheer loss of actions.
constantly. P.P.P.S anyone experiencing a problem with posting-my cursor keeps resetting to the beggining of the line constantly.
edited by Dmitri Zhiriakov on 5/12/2012

Toward the end of development of The Night Circus, Failbetter released a few fate storylines that were rather… uneventful for the price. I paid for 3/4 of them. Between story and overall experience of the Spinning storyline, I believe it was the least of all three. The best being rubbery city for lore, and labyrinth for mechanics/rewards.

I could not agree more. The churning was tedious, the payoff was puny, and the fact that having the loop is profitable and completing the arc closes the loop permanently made me regret making this choice.

Well, to be fair, only ONE option closes the loop. I chose one of the two options that leave it open, but I was a little sad that the fate locked content ended there. Sure, I get a quality that advertises my choice, but I was hoping to actually get to work on doing what I said I would.

[color=rgb(51, 0, 153)]Whilst constructive criticism is great as is discussion, please do remember that we have been asked not to post particular details of fate locked content.[/color]

While i do get what you say i find it utterly impossible to explain why it is so…grating without bringing specific details into light.and i didn’t mantion any PLOT points did i?

You know, this isn’t the only bit of fate-locked content that feels unfinished in a way. Off the top of my head, Spinning the wheels and Diocesean Intrigue both end with a choice as to where you intend to go in life, with a corresponding quality to reflect your choice, but then there’s no options to actually go through with your pledge. The Rubbery Murders and the Long Lost Daughter storyline are in similar cases, although in both examples the story is “over” but you still have that quality there that’s not doing anything.

Of all such fate-locked storylines I’ve seen, the only one to have you make such a choice and have it worth anything is the Soul Trade: You’re actually given the opportunity to continue as a shepherd or spirifer throughout your normal gameplay (I’m assuming this is common knowledge, as there’s even an option in the fate store to switch sides). It’d be nice if the other storylines had such a thing as well.

On a side note, I do wish there was a way to give suggestions for fate-locked content without having it be open for the whole world to see. I’ve tried to be as vague as I can while still having enough info for the suggestion, but this can make it difficult to say what I want. Especially if I want to give examples.

I dug the heck out of the Velocipede Squad. Couldn’t be happier. It gave me a singular accomplishment, story and equipment; In addition it gave me a choice. A very important choice in regards to who my character is. I dig that.
Sure, it’s not the most profitable Fate expenditure in terms of Echoes per action, but that’s not what I like about Fallen London and not really what I look for in Fate content.

[quote=Nigel Overstreet] It gave me a singular accomplishment, story and equipment; In addition it gave me a choice. A very important choice in regards to who my character is. I dig that.
[/quote]
I WISH it gave me story. that’s my main gripe-the ammount of story you get is miniscule! Yeah sure it gives you a very cool piece of equiepment and SOME insight into how the squad operates(and that’s somethign you could easily infer before that’s just confirmation) but after the first part? nuts. Also there are many qualities which could describe your character quite as well if you are internally consistent. I mostly dislike “fluff” qualities- if these are used as an unlock or a check somewhere then good. if not … It’s not even a good accomplishment quality(llike the comtessa one) because mine doesn’t even state what did to get it!
[SPOILERS][color=rgb(255, 255, 255)]And honestly-when they said Reform i thought about replacing corrupt constables but retaining the squad as a merry band of ass-kicking velocipede-riding brutes quick to catch and detain any obvious criminals. Not the thing they did in the actual story.[/color][/SPOILERS]
edited by Dmitri Zhiriakov on 5/14/2012

I will piggy back on this topic. I have been working on the Velocipede Squad while waiting for more Jack of Smiles opportunities, and I cannot see how to raise the Spinning of the Wheels quality from 8 up to 9. I also don’t see anywhere to use Fate in this area.

I do admit that my RL has been busy the past several weeks, and I do not remember my very early choices on the Velocipede Squad. Thanks!

It might be that you have chosen to give up at some point… otherwise look for it-it is an end-of cycle option not listed on the wiki.

So… I found out recently I was mistaken. When I felt that it was unfinished? It was because I hadn’t actually finished it. I thought it was finished because my “Spinning the Wheels” exclusive options were gone, but when I hit the end of the cycle to work on Jack it turned out there was more to the story. I’ll be doing that later :)

On that note-if you are seeking jack? don’t loving finish that stryline. Trust me you really don’t want to have it finished while you are on the hunt.
edited by Dmitri Zhiriakov on 5/27/2012

Finishing the Jack storyline is why I’ll be doing that later, instead of now :P

So, it’s best to finish the Jack story before fretting over Putting the Squad right? I had chosen the not Fate-locked option with Jack, and just now, I am off to sea!

A bit off-topic(can OP be off-topic?) perhaps but i feel the need to tals about foregn office fate content. You remember how i was so angry about velocipede cycles not giving you jack?(haha pun) well in this case they decided that doing fate content should not be a detriment to your pocket. Not only that but they also fit quite a few revelations in there AND gave a notable and meaningful rewards in the end. It’s the same sctructure as the velo squad but without the tedious grind AND screwing you over. I wonder if velo could be slightly reworked to be more like that.

[li]Bumping… I bought this storylet a while back and seem to be stuck at lvl 5. I might have chosen the &quotother&quot option (if you know what I mean), I’m not sure anymore. Does this mean the story ended there? Or do I need to wait for some specific opportunity card? Thanks for any responses!

Apologies for the resurrection. I’m at The Spinning of The Wheels 5 - did I trap myself in a loop, and is there a way to reset it? Would appreciate a PM.

Spinning of the Wheels 5 is one of the endings. There’s currently no way to reset the story.

Could anyone refresh my memory?
I’m at “The Spinning of the Wheels 5 - One of the Lads”, so I assume am at one of the endings… well, which one? What have I done? I can’t remember a thing!