Survey: Professions and Townhouses

Fallen London
1

It appears to be impossible to do a poll with multiple questions here, much less to cross-tabulate the results, so I’ve smashed two questions together, since I’m interested in their interaction.

If you don’t want to change your current Profession (or lack thereof), to buy a Townhouse that you do not already own, or to Pursue a Scheme that you are not currently pursuing, then answer based on your current situation. If changing one or more of those three things is a current goal of yours, then answer based on that goal. Do not, however, answer based on any plans you may have that are contingent on FBG implementing major new content.

So, for example(s), if you are a Notary, you own a Townhouse, and you are not currently pursuing any scheme then:

[ul][li]Answer &quotAny other Profession, Handsome Townhouse, no Scheme&quot if you don’t have any current plans to change Professions or Pursue a Scheme, but . . .
[/li][li]Answer &quotCrooked-Cross, Handsome Townhouse, no Scheme&quot if you intend to eventually switch careers to Crooked-Cross but still do not intend to pursue a scheme, but . . .[/li][li]Do not Pick &quotGlassman, Handsome Townhouse, no Scheme&quot if you’re planning to switch to Glassman when it becomes possible to establish a Parabolan Base Camp, but not before then.
[/li][/ul]Feel free to add comments (or questions) in replies.

If you cannot or do not wish to use the poll functionality for any reason, feel free to give your answer in a reply, and please start that reply with &quotResponse: &quot, so I know to count it. (If you did use the poll, you can still feel free to state your answers in a reply if you wish; just please don’t start your statement of them with &quotResponse: &quot, so I don’t count you twice.) If you need to correct your response to the poll because you answered incorrectly, please start a reply with &quotCorrection: &quot (and indicate what incorrect answer you’re correcting, as well as what you’re correcting it to). If your answer was correct at the time, but you have since changed your mind, please start a reply with &quotUpdate: &quot (and indicate what outdated answer you’re updating, as well as what you’re updating it to).

In case anyone can’t read the poll above, the basic questions are:

Profession?

[ul][li]Correspondent[/li][li]Crooked-Cross[/li][li]Glassman
[/li][li]Licenciate[/li][li]Midnighter
[/li][li]Monster-Hunter[/li][li]Author[/li][li]Conjurer[/li][li]Other[/li][li]None
[/li][/ul]Handsome Townhouse?

[ul][li]No[/li][li]Yes, but no Scheme[/li][li]Yes, with an Orphanage[/li][li]Yes, with a Salon[/li][/ul]For the record, my own answers are Correspondent, Handsome Townhouse, Scheme: Orphanage.
edited by osberend on 8/7/2017

2

Not entirely sure I understand the question. I have a townhouse, a salon and am a Crooked Cross. I do not, however, have any goals.

3

In other words, you have already achieved your goals of being a Crooked Cross and hosting a Salon.

4

In other words, you have already achieved your goals of being a Crooked Cross and hosting a Salon.[/quote]
Precisely. I have edited the original post in an effort to make that more explicit (as well as to improve the readability and clarity of a few other things).

5

Pray tell, what is the purpose of this poll?

6

Nothing practical so far (which doesn’t guarantee that I won’t think of something later), just the satisfaction of curiosity, on a couple matters:

[ul][li]My estimation of the value of the mechanical/tactical value of the Tier 3 classes is that on average Correspondent = Crooked-Cross = Midnighter > Glassman (currently) > Monster-Hunter > Licenciate (taking equality as approximate, not necessarily perfectly exact), with both Glassman and Monster-Hunter having at least some situational value, but Licenciate being just plan inferior. Likewise, I’d say that Author and Conjurer are both (just plain) mechanically/tactically inferior to Correspondent/Crooked-Cross/Midnighter, and that everything else (except for maybe the Tier 3.5 Professions (Notary and Doctor)) is (just plain) inferior to everything I’ve listed (other than possibly Licenciate, but even there, nothing unlisted and superior comes to mind). I’m curious to see if others’ choices reflect a similar sense. (Given that people make roleplaying choices as well as tactical ones, I’d say that the distribution so far is quite compatible with a &quotyes.&quot Although I’m a little surprised by how dominant Correspondent seems to be over the other two, even though it’s my choice as well.)[/li][li]Similarly, my sense is that there’s little reason to ever not have a Townhouse and less still to have a Townhouse but no Scheme. (Again, results are quite compatible with general agreement.)[/li][li]Similarly, my estimation of the comparative value of the two Schemes puts Orphanage above Salon, but by little enough that I’d expect the frequency of the two to be close to equal. (Here, the general consensus seems to be in rather strong disagreement with me! Now I’m curious as to why.)[/li][li]My expectation would be that most people with a Profession that can be invited to assist with a scheme (Correspondent/Crooked-Cross/Midnighter (which I’ve taken to thinking of as the &quotTownhouse Three&quot) and also Author/Conjurer) would tend to pair that with pursuing the same scheme that they can assist with (Orphanage for Correspondent, Midnighter, and Conjurer; Salon for Crooked-Cross and Author). This is more of an intuition about roleplaying and/or consistent personal aesthetic than a tactical analysis. (The numbers seem to at least arguably support there being an effect in this direction, although if there is, it’s clearly a good deal weaker than the general inclination to pursue Salons over Orphanages regardless of Profession.)
[/li][/ul]

7

That depends if you care to invest in increasing your Making Waves, and thus Notability. Some people just don’t care about that, so there’s little reason for them to invest in any scheme. Results here are are so few that they are statistically irrelevant even among the forum participants, let alone the wider player base. (and by our very nature, forum participants are more prone to trying for more impressive game goals, such as Notability and advanced professions).

&quotConsensus&quot is too strong a word here. At most we can say that of the few who participated, most chose a specific profession above others.

I see no reason why the two should be connected. Why would it matter from which scheme others can invite you when choosing which scheme would work for your character?

8

My combination of abode, profession and scheme is not the result of any clever analysis or planning. It has occurred almost entirely at random, as I didn’t know the consequences of picking any of them when I did so. It was all done purely with regard to flavour and story, not any kind of game tactics. So I would hesitate to read much into it.

9

Why is that? I’d rather think it would be the opposite, at least in the long term.
The Ophanage provides:

[ul][li]+4 BDR (in the form of R)
[/li][li]a Laconic Prodigy[/li][/ul]Meanwhile, the Salon provides:

[ul][li]+1 Bizarre[/li][/ul]God’s Editors (which is extremely easy to get, and provides a profitable opportunity card) already provides +4 Respectable, rendering that advantage of the Orphanage moot. Once the Laconic Prodigy has been acquired (if one wishes to do so), the Orphanage provides no advantages over the Salon. Meanwhile, Bizarre is the rarest of the three BDR stats if I remember correctly; while it’s not useful for many things (faction pets and polythreme map fragments are the only things that come to mind), it’s still something which you wouldn’t be able to raise as high without the Salon (while the Orphanage is perfectly shadowed by God’s Editors).

Unless there’s some intrinsic advantage to the Orphanage’s Scheme in terms of Making Waves efficiency? (But then the Salon provides the option to invite the Captivating Princess, and I’m not aware of any equivalents for the Orphanage.)
edited by Dudebro Pyro on 8/8/2017

10

For what it’s worth, I have picked a Salon over the Orphanage for purely RP reasons. Though I did briefly consider the Laconic Prodigy option. But ultimately the story and character were more important.

Also, by the time I was considering the choice, I already had most of the requirements for the salon, while orphanage would require a sizeable cash infusion for things I didn’t find interesting in other ways.

My profession is also wholly RP reasoned. I’m a Correspondent because Correspondence research fits my character and that outweights the possibility that it is somewhat less profitable. Before that I was a journalist and then author, because - you guessed it - they seemed like fun. The fact that correspondents can be invited to orphanages was a tiny but acknowledged perk - that way I got to have something to do with different options.

Townhouse, obviously, was a requirement for the Salon, otherwise I wouldn’t bother with it, those Romantic Notions are hard to come by for newer players. I have read the forums and only got the 3-card lodgings that fit my rp reasons. But for many people Townhouse is just a straightforward option on the path to POSI.

Tl;dr: I’m a Correspondent with a Salon because it looked interesting. To me.And I hit the poll for the same reason. Sorry, if that skews the calculations. (I mean it - I like calculations, it bothers me when they are distorted.)