Weekly Questions, Beginning 23/01/2017

There are two Nadir threads mentioned here (though the first visit is just weird that I’d almost recommend you try at least once to go in without help)
http://community.failbettergames.com/topic23818-useful-guides-and-explanations.aspx

How do you get rid of irrigo?

You’ll have an option to remove it when Time the Healer comes every week, either from a pinned storylet or a note in your messages.

What happens once I have exited the cave of nadir? I heard that you can sell the location… How does that happen?

It will be added on certain faction cards (Hell, Urchin, Great Game, Revolutionaries.) Selling to a faction will give you a reward (not all factions give equally valuable items,) and sets your Closest to: to the relevant faction.

I have a question about word building. What is “Polythreme” indeed? What is that “threme”?

There was an old AK post somewhere where he explicitly stated that it was a fantasy word supposed to look like ancient Greek. It doesn’t really mean anything.

Ah… Puzzled for a long time. Thank you very much.

To be very clear, since there is occasionally confusion on this point: Selling the location does not lock you from going back to the Nadir. It only locks you from selling the location again to someone else.

Does anyone know when our pails of Lacre will melt?

(I’ve been dithering about what to do with Lacre as someone who already has all the remote lodgings, lodging upgrades, etc. and suddenly realized that I should have been spending TOL in Nadir for Tears of the Bazaar. Now I’m not sure if I should use resources to rid myself of irrigo, or if I’ll have another week and can wait for Time the Healer.)

They’ll melt with next week’s TtH. It won’t clear ToL, though, so you may as well convert them to ToL now to be spent later.

I’m trying to make some money in Port Carnelian (oh, and govern, I suppose). I’m pretty consistently able to gather slightly over 150 Striped delights or silver horseheads, which nets me 2 12.5e items and 7 2.5e ones. Occasionally I get over 180 and get 1 more of each.
Is this the best I can hope for? Or is it possible to get more and reach the 210 SD/SH mark and get an extra 12.5e item? I’m curious because I’m pretty stingy with spending Imperial Legitimacy, and it’s possible I would be doing better if I were spending more of it.
For the record, I am part of the Dilmun Club, but I don’t have an aunt, and I’ve read that she would help things somewhat.

[quote=Pumpkinhead]I’m trying to make some money in Port Carnelian (oh, and govern, I suppose). I’m pretty consistently able to gather slightly over 150 Striped delights or silver horseheads, which nets me 2 12.5e items and 7 2.5e ones. Occasionally I get over 180 and get 1 more of each.
Is this the best I can hope for? Or is it possible to get more and reach the 210 SD/SH mark and get an extra 12.5e item? I’m curious because I’m pretty stingy with spending Imperial Legitimacy, and it’s possible I would be doing better if I were spending more of it.
For the record, I am part of the Dilmun Club, but I don’t have an aunt, and I’ve read that she would help things somewhat.[/quote]

I have to answer this, don’t I?
The best range to aim for in my experience is 180 or a bit higher, as it is easier to reach consistently and get higher EPA overall. If you can’t reach it in current cycle it might be better to lower your reward so it’s easier to get higher number next time.
I’m also reluctant to spend Legitimacy too much and never go below 60, but it’s a great source to get delights/horseheads (if you spend it on &quotA man above bookshop&quot or &quotA summons from Smoldering Herald&quot), so you better start using it. There are plenty of opportunities to replenish legitimacy after all.
Aunt surely helps, but in my few last visits there she almost didn’t show and I still managed about the same EPA. A big part of profitability depends on &quotA dangerous source&quot storylet and your ability to get success out of it with decent frequency.

Here are some exact ranges with rewards. It’s always better to try to get exactly the number needed for desired reward level so you don’t waist your resources and have more for a start of a new term.
105-138 - 40 echo reward
139-164 - 42.5 echo reward
165-179 - 45 echo reward
180-196 - 57.5 echo reward
from 196 to at least 219 you get 60 echo reward, and only at around 270 you get another 12.5 echo item.

196 or higher are harder to achieve and not very efficient in long run. And as you see 105-179 range does not differ significantly in terms of echo reward, so it is not very useful to try to get anything over 105 on unlucky cycle.
Here’s also a great guide by RandomWalker with some more numbers and calculations.

Thank you very much!

Okay, now I’m feeling nervous. Sorry, more silly questions coming.
Is it true that you get banished from both the Court and the University if you progress through their stories, and there’s no workaround for that? Can you somehow get back if that happens? If not, what should I better finish before coming to that sad end?

[quote=Melitaele]Okay, now I’m feeling nervous. Sorry, more silly questions coming.
Is it true that you get banished from both the Court and the University if you progress through their stories, and there’s no workaround for that? Can you somehow get back if that happens? If not, what should I better finish before coming to that sad end?[/quote]

You can get back to part of the university, but the court is not yet returnable. You can grind hedonist 15 at the uni if you want it, while most of the works in the court are unique.

The literary works, you mean? Thank you. I’ll remember to finish them all before I’m kicked out.
It’s good to hear that you can at least return to the University, though. Maybe I should have chosen a Watchful Destiny instead of a Persuasive one; I’ve got Mahogany Hall, though.

The literary works, you mean? Thank you. I’ll remember to finish them all before I’m kicked out.
It’s good to hear that you can at least return to the University, though. Maybe I should have chosen a Watchful Destiny instead of a Persuasive one; I’ve got Mahogany Hall, though.[/quote]

Note that you will lose most of the stories in the university even if you get back in, the only reason to return is to make searing enigmas, to make the impossibe theorem and to increase your connections with the university factions(there are a few other things but they aren’t as important).
edited by The Master on 1/27/2017

Actually, you can still make Searing Enigmas and impossible theorems when you’re kicked out. They do require university connections, though, which are harder to get when you’re kicked out.
Studying correspondence plaques does require being in good academic standing, though.

I have a question regarding quirks: How can I raise my Magnanimous above 7?