That’s what I’m hoping for, and it makes sense, too. "Five minutes to midnight" was a cold war phrase for how close the world was to the brink of nuclear annihilation, so it stands to reason that "five minutes to midday" would be equally apocalyptic, and if anything could do that it would be the Dawn Machine.
(I suppose it’s not called "the midday machine" but shhhh. "Five minutes to dawn" might be a little too on the nose anyway.)
The addition of a new quality to the Hell faction card seems to indicate that it will be something to do with the brass embassy (athough I certainly would not be upset if your prediction came to be true).
At the risk that this has been asked ad nauseam: any news on the return of SMEN?
I’m under the impression that both Alexis and a large quantity of fans would love to see it return, so I’m not certain what the problem is, exactly. And in case it’s something alog the lines of "how to have content that’s extremely punishing with little to no rewards and avoid getting tons of complaints and new players leaving the game in disgust after stumbling on it", could a brainstorming thread be useful for ideas?
Feel free to tell me to shut up if the consensus is "leave Alexis alone, he’ll do it when he’ll do it." What I’m basically asking is whether there’s something we could do to help him out.
post-seven-is-the-number-edit: Well, damn. Whoever ends up doing the new Seeking, I can’t wait to see it. The idea it might be coming soon is making me emit sound reminiscent of a squeaky-toy, but I’m fine with waiting as FB plots the downfall of every idiot like me who reads "turn away" as "go further." Delicious times.
edited by John Moose on 5/25/2016
[quote=John Moose]At the risk that this has been asked ad nauseam: any news on the return of SMEN?
I’m under the impression that both Alexis and a large quantity of fans would love to see it return, so I’m not certain what the problem is, exactly. And in case it’s something alog the lines of "how to have content that’s extremely punishing with little to no rewards and avoid getting tons of complaints and new players leaving the game in disgust after stumbling on it", could a brainstorming thread be useful for ideas?
Feel free to tell me to shut up if the consensus is "leave Alexis alone, he’ll do it when he’ll do it." What I’m basically asking is whether there’s something we could do to help him out.[/quote]
SMEN always warns you that nothing good will come from seeking the name and it keeps reminding you, so I don’t think anyone one should have the right to say that it’s too punishing when you can stop seeking the name when you want and you are warned that horrible things happen when you seek it.
Anyways, I myself haven’t heard any mentions of SMEN coming back, and im guessing it probably won’t come back soon since Failbetter seems to be flooded with things to do.
New Expedition, as well. Seeking the Estate of the Imponderable Fellow.
Hey guys,
I was thinking about purchasing Flint. I was wondering what skill levels would be optimal for playing through it - I prefer a challenging experience. My watchful is 180 and my other stats all 110, with items.
My memory is slightly foggy, but I seem to remember my stats being all around 110 when I tried it. I seem to recall most checks being Straightforward, but a handful of them were harder.
Which I realize is a vague answer. But if your real question is ‘should I grind up my stats more before buying Flint?’ then I can tell you that the answer is no.
I’m pre POSI; my character is getting into dueling with the black ribboners, and in the process, failing quite a bit of stat checks. (I feel like the RNG is mad at me…)
This leads me to my question: Whats the best way to deal with wounds? In terms of efficiency, and the cost of it compared to the benefit.
I don’t like "Find a physician." I’m a bit of a hoarder for currency, and 50 rostygold doesn’t seem like a lot if you don’t even lose a level of wounds.
Right now, I switch between Time in Bed, and knocking back FF Gebrandt’s Tincture of Vigour. Is there anything I’m missing or overlooking or should be doing differently?
[quote=atuin]I’m pre POSI; my character is getting into dueling with the black ribboners, and in the process, failing quite a bit of stat checks. (I feel like the RNG is mad at me…)
This leads me to my question: Whats the best way to deal with wounds? In terms of efficiency, and the cost of it compared to the benefit.
I don’t like "Find a physician." I’m a bit of a hoarder for currency, and 50 rostygold doesn’t seem like a lot if you don’t even lose a level of wounds.
Right now, I switch between Time in Bed, and knocking back FF Gebrandt’s Tincture of Vigour. Is there anything I’m missing or overlooking or should be doing differently?[/quote]
Personally, my preferred method to do Dangerous things is to fight/hunt until Airs of London is >90, so I can have a Dreamless Sleep - it lowers wounds considerably and helps with nightmares. Then I can do Watchful things and, when the nightmares are getting out of hand, back to Dangerous stuff, to raise wounds again.
(Don’t tell anyone, but you can raise your Running Battle… more easily doing the Venture to save Clay Men from Jack in Watchmaker’s Hill. Then, when your Dangerous is higher, than you get back to the docks to do more challenging actions. I don’t know if that mathod is more profitable, but it is faster and less punishing if your Dangerous is not high enough.)
I want to stress that I have no idea if those actions are profitable, but they are practical for the purpose of advancing the storyline.
I’m a big fan of make a close friend that plays at about the same level of commitment that you do and exchange social actions. It’s not an immediate answer, but it’s nice long term.
This isn’t a useful solution for you, most likely, but i’m a fan of horsehead amulets. die, and get restored to wounds 7 for 0 actions and 1 2-echo item that you get- abiet rarely- from expeditions.
OFC, it’s only viable past your location in the story, so…
Back with the same question: Is the Wiki information regarding the Scheme: an Orphanage reliable?
I did the math and, with the average values there and an average of 1.7 EPA (money grind one needs ~500E to start) the Midnighter option offers ~3.5189 MW/AP; so I’m interested in the costs for pursuing the scheme, using it and the MW values.
As I don’t have enough E to pump the scheme every time I find it necessary to add the EPA when grinding MW.
With the same values, Discussing philosophy, offers ~0.685 MW/AP (and the honey I need for the Yacht) and ToT carousel offers an average of 0.9469 MW/AP.
The formula I used sounds like this:
MW / AP = MW / (AP*(1+extraAp))
The extraAp representing the amount I need to spend to "recover" the E I would get if I grind for money; ~0.705 for ToT and ~0.458 for honey in the Court.
666
I feared as much. It’s going to be a long grind.
A shorter one if willing to Fate-reset 666 times the Ambition - Heart’s Desire :)
edited by Gonen on 5/23/2016
Which of the four skills has the most opportunities to increase/build at high levels? My persuasive is over 150 and I’m finding it difficult to proceed. I’m wondering whether it would be easier to raise another skill to 200.
Persuasive is actually the easiest one to raise IMO. Just invite lots of people for dinner/coffee and use the Confident Smiles gained thereby to increase your Persuasive at your Lodgings (under Matters of Society and Scandal).
Of course, the same works for Watchful (via playing chess) and Dangerous (via Sparring-Bouts). For Shadowy, it’s more difficult to find people willing to participate in Loitering since it raises Suspicion and decreases both Making Waves and Society connections…
Watchful has, I think, the best repeatable high-level non-social action: using Correspondence Plaques to increase SotC under Shadowy Dealings at the University. Needs lots of resources though, and gives you lots of Wounds and Nightmares.
Generally, the best really high-level challenges can be found Overzees, especially in Polythreme and the islands connected with the scientific expeditions. Take a look at the wiki, or just take a trip around the Unterzee and see what works best for your current stat levels… ;)
edited by phryne on 5/24/2016
[quote=Skinnyman]Back with the same question: Is the Wiki information regarding the Scheme: an Orphanage reliable?
I did the math and, with the average values there and an average of 1.7 EPA (money grind one needs ~500E to start) the Midnighter option offers ~3.5189 MW/AP; so I’m interested in the costs for pursuing the scheme, using it and the MW values.
As I don’t have enough E to pump the scheme every time I find it necessary to add the EPA when grinding MW.
With the same values, Discussing philosophy, offers ~0.685 MW/AP (and the honey I need for the Yacht) and ToT carousel offers an average of 0.9469 MW/AP.
The formula I used sounds like this:
MW / AP = MW / (AP*(1+extraAp))
The extraAp representing the amount I need to spend to "recover" the E I would get if I grind for money; ~0.705 for ToT and ~0.458 for honey in the Court.[/quote]
The short answer is: no. The data for orphanages is terrible. I kept data for more then a month of serious grinding and the Orphanage results were all over the place. I don’t have all the data anymore but here’s what I do have.
After using the Offer some Orphans option about 51 times I got increases as low as 4 (once) and as high as 9 (I think). I tracked it obsessively and it’s definitely variable. Average was 6.28.
Invite a Correspondent seems to give 200MWs even and to cost 15 scheme. This puts it in line with the Crooked Cross Salon option. I didn’t test Midnighter, but I bet it’s the same.
Your estimated MW/act is higher then I’d calculated, but it won’t matter for long anyway. I’m sorry I can’t be more help, but the ability to track Scheme across levels is essentially nil. You can just keep it on paper and put question marks next to all the times it adds up oddly.
[quote=MrBurnside]The short answer is: no. The data for orphanages is terrible. I kept data for more then a month of serious grinding and the Orphanage results were all over the place. I don’t have all the data anymore but here’s what I do have.
After using the Offer some Orphans option about 51 times I got increases as low as 4 (once) and as high as 9 (I think). I tracked it obsessively and it’s definitely variable. Average was 6.28.
Invite a Correspondent seems to give 200MWs even and to cost 15 scheme. This puts it in line with the Crooked Cross Salon option. I didn’t test Midnighter, but I bet it’s the same.
Your estimated MW/act is higher then I’d calculated, but it won’t matter for long anyway. I’m sorry I can’t be more help, but the ability to track Scheme across levels is essentially nil. You can just keep it on paper and put question marks next to all the times it adds up oddly.[/quote]
Well, wow, you proved more than helpful, mate! I’m aware of the urchin change, but didn’t take it into account as it’s not that grindable. I used the Echo actions do the the math. In any case, this is a valuable input which I can use in the future when my Nota will become to high; working on Yacht and Nota 7 (target is 9 at least for the lovely card). :D
EDIT: Is it me or this card gives you MW CP based on the base scandal level, not modified one?
edited by Skinnyman on 5/24/2016
What is the best way to reliably get Crates of Expedition Supplies? I’ve been alternating between the Forgotten Quarter and Corpsecage Island to get Pages of Prelapsarian Archaeological Notes, but I’m only really doing it because I get to stock up on other items as I do it. Since there is no reliable way to get Favours by design, and I don’t want to spend them freely until I max out my Renown, Docks is out.[li]
By the way, Failbetter Games, I think there should be an option to exchange 50 Pages of Prelapsarian Archaeological Notes for 5 Crates of Expedition Supplies. That would make voyages (which are an engaging and narratively satisfying way to prepare for an expedition) much more viable, and it’s basically the same thing you’ve done for up-converting items.