Station VIII

[quote=beekeeper307]I totally forgot Cornelius existed and never followed up the rumors…Now Furnace is gone and it looks like I’ll be stuck with Mr.Fires’ lackey. I’m sure we’ll get her back sooner or later but it’s a shame since I think Furnace would rather have her murderer as the union leader than one of Mr.Fires’.

edited by beekeeper307 on 10/17/2020[/quote]

Likewise - because the option to steal Tracklayer correspondence was hidden rather than locked with not having Rumors high enough, it never occurred to me to check in with Furnace to discover the new option on talking to her, so locked out of that chain entirely for now, I guess. Hopefully able to get back into it at some later point if/when Furnace is rescued.

So, I’ve been hunting down the ‘Scheme of a phoenix’ business you can get in Balmoral via the dumbwaiter. I was surprised that you could raise ‘Looking for Cornelius’ to eight via the letters, and I decided to go a hunting after 'Scheme of a phoenix as well, just in case. Not only was I right, it looks like maybe fires did the kidnapping instead. I just got to level five on the quality, and it talks about how he has schemes in place to turn the railway to his benefit, and how he wishes death to ‘rubbery men and union leaders’. So that is VERY interesting.

edited by Jules Asimov on 10/17/2020

He may be in cahoots with Cornelius…

[spoiler]True. Investigating that now, and my my Mr Fires has a way with colourful language. As much as it pains me to go with the person who was angling to be able to slide into such a power vacuum, Cornelius may be a good temporary option.

I need to get to Station VIII as soon as possible, if that’s Mr Fires’ domain then Furnace may be there. The facts line up, Mr Fires only made a move when the bridge was built and it was through non-highwaymen clay men, which iirc Fires is known to use.[/spoiler]
edited by Teddypimm on 10/18/2020

Wait, I’m totally confused not least because I completely missed that you could begin progress towards Station VIII until now. I’ve just gotten to the part where Furnace is kidnapped, what do I do or where do I go next to make any kind of progress? What’s this about the Scheme of the Phoenix, what does building a fake bird have to do with getting Furnace back?

We can’t get furnace back yet. While raising the quality scheme of the phoenix you can see fires complaining about the union and hinting towards plans.

Furnace was on my railway board. Does the choice to appoint Cornelius or a random Tracklayer in her place also place them on the board? Or (since I only had four other board members and now lack a sufficient number) can I / must I appoint someone else?

[quote=Jules Asimov] So, I’ve been hunting down the ‘Scheme of a phoenix’ business you can get in Balmoral via the dumbwaiter. I was surprised that you could raise ‘Looking for Cornelius’ to eight via the letters, and I decided to go a hunting after 'Scheme of a phoenix as well, just in case. Not only was I right, it looks like maybe fires did the kidnapping instead. I just got to level five on the quality, and it talks about how he has schemes in place to turn the railway to his benefit, and how he wishes death to ‘rubbery men and union leaders’. So that is VERY interesting.
edited by Jules Asimov on 10/17/2020[/quote]

Do we know (or have a guess) what the cap or optimal value of these is?

It seems to cap at 6.

Just to be sure I’m trying to reach 7 now.

I seem to be doing something wrong with Cornelius. I’m at 3, but am not seeing any letters at Evenlode.
edited by Snort on 10/19/2020
edited by Snort on 10/19/2020

Confirmed that Scheme of a Phoenix caps at 6. Or at least, decrypting messages from the surface can’t raise it further. Perhaps other methods can, which are yet to be revealed.

Snort : You need to get the Cornelius tracker to 4 before you can get the letters. To get from 3 to 4 you have a conversation with Furnace.

Ah. Which I’m not going to have in the near future, it appears.

Yeah, I can also confirm that Scheme of a Pheonix via letters caps at six.

Has anyone checked to see if Scheme of a Phoenix unlocks anything for the Commissioner in Parabola?

Nothing new, checked whole Parabola.

I am simply here to say it is apparently now possible to build on Station VIII, and I am apparently one board meeting short. So um, good luck to whoever gets there first

The extra board meeting appears to have become available again, if that helps.

If this is &quotFollowing up Rumours of Cornelius,&quot I seem to have succeeded in getting to 8 by intercepting the letters in Balmoral. Still confused, but feel like I’m making progress. :)