The Department of Menace Eradication

actually, both Hunter’s Keep and Tales of Terror are faster than The Box.

tales of terror is luck based (i don’t have any luck) and hunter’s keep is overzee (going forward and back every time new content is released is time consuming, and i can’t play k&c from zee) so

So logically you lean for the closet thing to a sure thing. I can understand, assuredly. But taken on a large enough scale, Tales of Terror become Math rather than Luck.

i’m sorry but i don’t believe in &quotmath&quot
also holy god is the fidgeting writer ever click-intensive b/c of the lack of a &quottry again&quot option, and i have very little of the required materials for about half the steps so i’d have to dork about w/ getting all those things i’m missing and ughh

anyway the point still stands the last efficient grind was added a year ago (apart from that brief moderately profitable period where the cav officer gave a whole 2.14e/a with the best shadowy stuff) and the stat caps and equipment boosts were a lot lower then, but there’s no real way to make use of your new super buffness because the easiest grinds are still the same ol’ ones
edited by Spacemarine9 on 5/23/2013

So I just finished the running battle with that rat. I agree it’s a nice story, I’m glad it’s available at high levels, and I don’t mind the low rewards. Interesting content is worth more than Rostygold. I just think that, maybe, it and the Black Ribbon shouldn’t both use Running Battle.

I’m doing most of my grinding at the University at the moment, cashing in at the Flit. It brings in around 180p per action if you do it right, which is quite a bit better than the Affair of the Box. But I’m going to swear off echo grinding forever once I have another 1000 or so. I think an Overgoat’s more pain than it’s worth, and I figure the 3000ish I need for the other top-tier equipment will see to itself in the end.

Running Battle is used for a lot of different fighty things here and there, making them all use different qualities jut to prevent a few instances of crossover seems a bit inefficient

besides, the very grinding method you’re describing is probably the most notable instance of a storyline crossover due to generic qualities like that, and it doesn’t make muh sense either :v
edited by Spacemarine9 on 5/23/2013

Yeah, I find it pretty funny how much the Porters know about Rostygold stashes in the Flit. But there’s a pretty important difference.

Grinding Investigating at the University isn’t vastly easier than doing it in the Flit, just more efficient. But almost any player starting the Black Ribbon storylets for the first time will almost always find it much easier, and equally efficient, to grind their Running Battle in Watchmaker’s Hill. Also, you need rare successes from grinding in the Flit to get in on the Wars of Illusion.

As it happens, I also think the University/Flit grind is a strike against the current system. But I don’t much enjoy echo grinding, so I’m getting it out of the way as efficiently as possible. (The Fidgeting Writer is very risky, given the modest sums I require. And it involves giving Devils souls.)

the current system does have its flaws, but from a writing standpoint it’s way more efficient just to have generic qualities than that rather than individual qualities for each individual venture. Stuff like out-of-venture stat boosters (e.g. the cards that increase running battle, big rat assistance etc) would require a ton of rejiggering to not be completely useless.
sure, there’s some narrative dissonance in being able to stab feducci because you fed a rat poisoned meat, but i don’t even think that would occur to most people as being more efficient or whatever. there’s also the occasional exploit such as the university/flit crossover, but at the very least that’s a temporary timeframe and not ridiculously profitable, just slightly moreso
edited by Spacemarine9 on 5/23/2013

They could just add a “current battle” quality which is either None, Dueling, Rat-catching, etc. Then if you try and build up running battle for a different battle it’d reset your progress. It’d be easy to implement, and it shouldn’t be any inconvenience for players.

Then you would simply be engaged in a battle with the Black Ribbon and a rat. To stop that you would have to keep someone from participating in ventures of the same type at the same time, which seems overly restrictive.

I kinda wish there was an option for folks who like being nice to rats. Some kind of “protest against the rat catchers” option :P