Weekly Questions, Beginning 28/08/2017

Fallen London
21

Smart money’s on Mesopotamia and Mesoamerica, respectively.

22

Is it possible to give your ship a name?

23

Only with Fate, using the “Record the Name of your Ship or Spouse” storylet in the Bazaar Sidestreets.

24

Is there a better way (in terms of EPA) for grinding Correspondence Plaques than via Primordial Shrieks from Unfinished Business in Ladybones Road?

25

I’m moderately sure stealing journals of infamy in Flit (Thefts of particular character) and then sideconverting them is the optimal method. Besides doing the Affaif of the Box which gives 6 plaques per cycle, being a great grind EPA-wise but making you wait quite a while before you reach your plaque-goals.
edited by John Moose on 9/1/2017

26

Yes, it’s much better than any normal upconverting and as good as A Presumptuous Little Opportunity, provided you have a gang of hoodlums for casing gain and don’t fail. The breakeven is at about 165 Shadowy: lower than that, and it’s better to grind Clues or Jade and upconvert (provided the asterisked suspiciously good UB results on the wiki are correct).

27

Breed hyaenas (fungus+prayer) and mass upconvert the maniac prayers. This assumes you can 100% the &quotfind the way yourself&quot, and either have cheap way to get to 5 nightmares or are converting in large bulk. It’s only 6% better than JoI thefts + sideconversion.
edited by xKiv on 9/1/2017

28

Doing Affair of the Box may be more efficient, depending on what your standard grind is. For many their standard grind IS Affair of the Box, so plaques are essentially free with patience.

For a Spirifer, each plaque obtained by AotB “costs” ~25 pence. In other words, the 14 actions spent for a single cycle nets you 1.54 less echoes than would have been obtained by the spirifer grind and 6 plaques. This may work out to be less pricey than more direct methods of obtaining plaques, though certainly will take longer.

29

This is making me wonder: what about Aeolian Screams? I’ve been taking the lazy route of upconverting plaques, but I’m wondering whether there’s a better way - especially with the new favour cost.

Are any of the accessible rare successes particularly worth it?

30

“A tradition developed after the fall” (Ladybones UB) pays out in Greyfields 1882 with a rare success for an Aeolian Scream. From my limited personal experience it seems to be a 5-10% chance, and it’s worth building up a stock of Greyfields 1882 for the Bohemians faction card.

31

What happens when you serve up dinner with a John the Baptist head?

32

Oh, right, of course. I forgot about that option there. Thanks.

33

The University, what should I definitely do before I get kicked out? It’s a fun place but I’d outgrown it grinding FWoA and want to progress the story.

34

[quote=Aniline]The University, what should I definitely do before I get kicked out? It’s a fun place but I’d outgrown it grinding FWoA and want to progress the story.[/quote]Investigations in the University is useful for the first two stages of the Wars of Illusion: &quotThe Heights of Chicanery&quot and &quotBats and Cats&quot, both in the Flit. The progress options in THoC and BaC give up to +3 cp per action, while university investigations can provide +4 cp and £1.06 per action. Once the Wars of Illusion leave the Flit, you can finish up the university investigations without losing anything; I don’t believe I’ve used the Investigating… quality since completing that storyline, except in Polythreme.

35

I’d stay in the University forever. There aren’t any particularly cool things past it, unless you really like visiting some obscure islands at zee.

The current best grind in the game requires staying at the University, too. It’s as follows:

36

Turning C.Clues to diamonds is only 1.4 EpA. What is the point?

Update.
With rare success:
1% - 1.52 EpA
2% - 1.64 EpA
3% - 1.77 EpA

What is the % of Rare Success?
edited by Waterpls on 9/2/2017

37

[quote=Waterpls]Turning C.Clues to diamonds is only 1.4 EpA. What is the point?

Update.
With rare success:
1% - 1.52 EpA
2% - 1.64 EpA
3% - 1.77 EpA

What is the % of Rare Success?
edited by Waterpls on 9/2/2017[/quote]

I think it’s around 5%, which makes it a decent EPA.

38

It indeed seems to be 5%.

(at least, in my 1471 recorded attempts I’ve got the rare success 5.44%).

39

If they accept (and they don’t have to), they are treated to the most gruesome text in all Fallen London (and that includes Jack-of-Smiles and Seeking) as they slowly eat and enjoy all parts of the head.

It really should come with a warning.

40

Wow, with 5% it is 2.02 EpA. Outstanding.