Both add cards worth ~4.2-4.5 EPA cards which are better than piracy in most of the safe waters. And both apply the same mechanics: cards in same zone. I got the colossus story last year, but the fact that FBG decided to ask for more fate for an existing mechanics while fishing us with a new plot, that’s what I do not like.
In ~9 years of EF I don’t think I was disappointment with premium content; I accept that some stories can be better while others can be of a low quality. Not even with the TLC vignettes because they were all present from start and it was clear: Fate for mechanics in the same area.
I compared it to stories, not equipment. I never bought Fate equipment because it’s better. On the contrary: few years ago I bought some old FotZ items just to show my support to FBG.
Fair enough. Though I still don’t think these are “too same” for FBG to charge Fate for them just because they share the same mechanical base and space. It’s not like the aesthetics are the same or that having both of them would make either one less effective in the long run (in the short run, with the buildup and cashout mechanism, perhaps yes, marginally). You don’t lose the Fate paid for the Colossus content because another 3.5 cards can be added to the same deck. We may discuss if the “price tag” is appropriate to the content amount, the Colossus may fall a bit shorter, but I believe my point regarding the variability remains valid. And anyway, a premium addition to Plots and Agents kind of seemed inevitable, so it seems a little bit unfair to me to decry this as “baiting” or “fishing” by the FBG. Would it be less fishy if there was just a Fate-unlockable new Plot, without the Zee cards involved?
Anyway, it wasn’t and isn’t my intention to sound confrontational or to bicker. Just genuinely interested what upset you so much.
Could someone who’s bought it give me a little more info on how the Pale Tabernacle agent plot works? It sounds like you can only start it from a card at Zee; does it run on the same slots as other agent plots do, so you have to keep one slot open before you go to Zee if you want to run it? That seems like it would be a pain for timing. Or does it run without a slot and you just need a free agent? Or am I misunderstanding altogether and once you’ve unlocked it once through the Zee-card you run it from land at any time like any other plot, using your usual plot-slots?
And what do y’all think of it? I’ve only ever bought one of these new-style ~10FATE-ish mini stories, one of the Tracklayer’s City ones, and I didn’t find it that worth it either story-wise or profitability, so I’m hesitant to try another one when I could put that FATE towards my Exceptional Story-buying piggybank.
It’s the last case, the card gives you a quality which unlocks the plot and you send an agent from normally from the tab, regardless of how long afterwards. I have yet to see what the rewards will be, though.
And as I said above, I like the cards so far and the expenditure seems reasonable low to me, but I’m a crazy completionist, so…
Apart from what has already been said about it in this thread, I don’t think there is much known about it yet. We have this one plot, but I don’t think anyone has finished it yet or at least recorded it for the wiki. Looks like someone started a guide here:
The Agent plot unlocks a new zailing destination. The text implies this is single-use and will need to be discovered each time. I will be able to provide more info in perhaps two hours.
Update: I wouldn’t say all my questions are answered, but I think it’s satisfying. The rather long loop that it all takes fits with the story, after all.
Mechanically, Traces of the Tabernacle are worth 1 penny each as expected, with payout primarily as Mortifications, extra converted to brandy & palimpsest scraps.
The new cards are an upgraded version plus they offer a new plot! So in all cases, most players will end up getting only the Tabernacle or at least prioritize it. I don’t remember any time when Fate investments were nullified in 1 year when comparing only the mechanics benefits.
No idea, really! I am VERY tempted to get this small story too, but I don’t want to encourage a practice where these small fate stories are rendered useless by other fate vignettes in 1 year.
Can someone tell me what themes/factions is Pale Tabernacle related to narratively? The Fathomking? Drownies? Flukes? Pirates? Something else? Or is it more of a generic Zee-tale?
Ah, now I see where you’re coming from. The concern you raise is valid. I agree that this is mechanically similar enough and amount of content-wise more robust, so from it might be viewed akin to “microtransaction value creep” given how soon it’s been released after the Colossus.
On the other hand, I still believe that the worldbuilding addition and implications of each are sufficiently different, and for me keeping both on at the same time so far works fine.
Anyway, I’m inclined to believe that with the Colossus addition last year, FBG in a sense “tested the waters” to find out if players would be interested in this sort of vignette-based story tied to a bit more limited, mid-tier activity like Zailing and might not have wanted to devote too much resources to an uncertain outcome. When it was successful enough, they decided to release another, more fleshed out one this year.
Either way, we’ll see how it goes. I agree that any kind of microtransaction-style approach is always at risk of sliding into an unhealthy business model; so far, I feel that FBG is handling the balance pretty well, so I remain hopeful
And as for the Tabernacle itself, it’s deliciously esoteric, to the point it’s a bit tricky to say what exactly it’s narratively related to. Definitely Zailors, their superstitions and also the whole idea of “mythological travelogues” of antiquity/Middle Ages, the legends of Cockaigne and some of the stories from the Odyssey. In the FL universe, it seems to have ties to the Devils and possibly to something even higher up on the Chain.
Not to reignite the discussion, but I do see where Skinnyman is coming from. While I’m doing pale tabernacle stuff, it’s just better to have the RC cards shut off. I don’t mind about one being optimal, but having both active would just junk up the zailing deck, which I’d rather not do. I don’t even know what a fix here would be, beyond choosing one of the plots and adding them to cards already in the zailing deck that are lackluster.
If my priority is getting from A to B at zee, I always shut the RC cards off and always have. It seems the obvious thing to do, and I have no doubt I’ll do the same with the tabernacle stuff once I’ve run it a couple of times.
I select for or against the librarian on a similar principle. I see no issue here.
It is my opinion that you should grab duplicate copies of the same FotZ gear if possible, because of the new Agents feature. You can give the FotZ gear to your agents and still have one for yourself to equip when the situation arises.
Am I missing something? It looks like you could sell, say, a Scrimshander Carving Knife for 400 favor and then buy it again for 200 favor and an action, netting 200 favor for 20 echoes per action.
I don’t remember doing this last year, so either there’s a catch, or my memory just isn’t that good.
Good point; that explains why we couldn’t do it last year. I suppose that FB will have a different mechanism to prevent the cycling I mentioned, since this restriction is going to be removed this year.
