It’s always Monday somewhere in the world, so it’s time for a new short questions thread!
Good evening, friends! I have a question again. I was doing a University investigation storyline and enjoying story a lot. Then I discovered a way to cash out Investigation in a certain place in Flit and could not resist to exploit it a lot. But a story in University calls me and I’m going to progress further. Will this cryptic clue carousel vanish when investigation come to a final conclusion? I will finish it anyway but I want to know!
I hear the cryptic clue carousel will indeed vanish, so I have spent years cashing in on my investigations. There must surely be a link between the Wars of Illusion and what happened at the university. Or so I tell myself. (I like options and possibilities. Reducing options and possibilities does not feel like progress, so I haven’t wanted to ‘progress’.)
Yes, it’s gone. But you will want it to finish anyway, because you need it in order to gain access to certain other content - involving tiger ministers.
Do remember to head to the Bazaar streets to convert those CC into shinny things for an average of 2 EPA.
But, as Rostygold mentioned, there’s a better grind after the University so it mostly depends on what type of a player you are. If you manage to log in regularly and flip many cards, it may be worth to stay in London. If you log in once every few hours and manage to only flip a few cards, just head out to the tigers.
Wow, a tempest of advice! Thank you gentlemen. I’ll do a step of University story progress per week to combine pleasures of grind and sense of things happening.
edited by curtistruffle on 1/9/2018
Anyone know the current cost of a noman? Like, today’s cost?
The Taste of Lacre cost has been raised to 5.
Yes, it’s gone. But you will want it to finish anyway, because you need it in order to gain access to certain other content - involving tiger ministers.[/quote]
Not so! Access to the Court of the Wakeful Eye doesn’t depend at all on finishing with the University. It’s a more profitable grind if you put a lot of time and money into preparations first, but not if you start out poor and can only feed a few orphans to tigers. Er, sell a few orphans into bondage. No! Um, find homes and work for a few orphans.
5 ToL, a Skyglass Knife, a Nodule of Deep Amber, and 3 each of Sudden Insights and Hard-Earned Lessons.
Does anyone recall when the quirk requirements kick in for the Noman. Is it on the last step (When it’s 15 ToL) or earlier? In that vein, what’s a reliable way of getting Forceful to 3 from 0?
It’s on the last step, if I recall from the past two years. I have raised Noman from the phases with Taste of Lacre costs of 9 and 12, without those crazy additional costs.
Gunning for a tattoo, hmmm?
edited by Rostygold on 1/9/2018
A good question.
Here are some things I found (note that this will often hurt Subtle):
- Some options on the "City Vices: an Entanglement with an Old Friend" card.[li]Employing Direct Methods on the "Bringing the revolution" card.[/li][li]Go for the throat when "Hunting Dangerous Prey", when the Airs are right (26-75)[/li][li]At the Singing Mandrake, change your "Identified with a School" to be "your own"[/li][li]Several cards while exiled at the tomb colonies can increase Forceful.[/li][li]Breaking off your "Closest To" with either the Tomb-Colonists or the Great Game.[/li][li]Choosing "Hard Lesson" during the "Doing Business in Wilmot’s End" carousel[/li]
IF somehow you haven’t finished the Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion story you can cash in your Seeking and mo0ve to Mahogany Hall to draw cards (6 of these).
Thanks all for the info. I only have 4 ToL left, so I can’t get a second noman this year.
Not like I’d have enough quirks to feed it anyway, heh.
If i’m only planning to use my Noman to gain an Elemental Secret what’s the best way to go about it? Just feeding it quirks? Should I worry about using lacre?
[quote=Skinnyman]
Do remember to head to the Bazaar streets to convert those CC into shinny things for an average of 2 EPA.[/quote]
Hold up a second, is Empire Adornments really that much of a profit-turner? I was under the impression that it was an even trade for when you needed jewels for something, like, say, Society renown.
It takes only a week or two to get it up to 15 Noman Knows. So you probably needn’t feed it any lacre or tears.
And as a side note, the best quirks to feed it are Melancholy, Steadfast, and Subtle. They give 3 cp of Noman Knows, while the other quirks only give 2, so it’s 50% faster.
[quote=Reused NPC][quote=Skinnyman]
Do remember to head to the Bazaar streets to convert those CC into shinny things for an average of 2 EPA.[/quote]
Hold up a second, is Empire Adornments really that much of a profit-turner? I was under the impression that it was an even trade for when you needed jewels for something, like, say, Society renown.[/quote]
Normally it is, but there’s a rare success when converting Cryptic Clues to Flawed Diamonds that gives 44 FDs and 1 Magnificent Diamond for 200 CCs. The rare success is common enough for it to be a decently profitable grind, not quite sure how the specifics of the math work out though.
If you don’t get the rare success, you make a 1.4 echo profit. Not impressive. Getting a magnificent diamond is 13.78 echoes in profit. The exact overall profitability of buying bags of diamonds depends on the chances of that rare success.
If the chance is 5%, it’s an average of 2.022 echoes earned. It’s definitely around there; in my own (smallish) sample it’s closer to 4.5% (1.957 echoes profit), and in the big spreadsheet it’s a little higher than 5%.
Unless you have access to the university/Flit grind for Cryptic Clues it’s not a classic grind because there’s no other efficient enough and repeatable way to generate the Cryptic Clues. There are many cards that can produce them, but not reliably accessible storylets.
I collected data on 200 attempts and actually got a 7% rare success rate. That’s not wholly implausible with an actual 5% rare success though.
So yeah unless they’ve changed it without anyone noticing, it’s safe to assume the rare success is 5%.