This is the place to discuss playing the game. Find tips, debate the best places to find certain items and share advice.
Elemental Secret and what to do with it
Gerlak
Posts: 21
1/20/2018
|
I recently acquired a nifty little thing- Elemental Secret, but I don't know what to do with it. Should I just sell it, or keep it for some special occasion?
--
http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Gerlak
|
|
|
0
link
|
IgnatuStone
Posts: 208
1/20/2018
|
Keep it, it currently has no use outside of SMEN, but it's very rare and there might be a use for it in the future. In general it's a good policy to never sell anything unless it's giving you unwanted cards or you need the money for something specific.
edited by IgnatuStone on 1/20/2018
--
http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Ignatus~Stone
|
|
|
+3
link
|
Dudebro Pyro
Posts: 757
1/21/2018
|
Another way to look at it: most things can be ground out with enough effort (some, like Dreadful Surmises or Elemental Secrets are rare enough that it's a different story - but let's assume we're talking about normally accessible items); however, only a handful of grinds are generally considered "profitable". As such, every other grind is unprofitable in the sense that you could have gotten more money doing one of the profitable grinds instead. (The reason there are multiple profitable grinds is that they vary in things like luck required, prerequisites, necessity to leave London, etc.)
What this means for selling items is that anything which isn't a direct product of a profitable grind is a poor deal to sell. For instance, Rostygold can be gotten very easily at 1.2EPA (average) at Unfinished Business. This means that if you sell your rostygold and later find that you need to grind some back up, you'll effectively be spending actions on a 1.2EPA grind, and it would have been better to instead use a standard grind at 1.64+ EPA (these days, there's a few good 1.7-1.8EPA grinds even) until you got the required amount of money while still having the rostygold. On the other hand, selling products of those grinds is never a problem because if you suddenly find yourself in need of grinding more, you won't be spending actions suboptimally while grinding. These "profitable" items are rather limited (mourning candles and puzzling maps immediately come to mind) but there's no real need to keep a stock of them.
All this, however, assumes very long-term thinking. At the end-game, the only significant drain of rostygold is the Young Stags' card (where 500 will buy you three favours), so if you don't intend to join the stags you may never need extensive rostygold stocks again. Or perhaps whatever you're buying is worth liquidating assets for, even if you may need to get them back suboptimally later (often the case when finishing major money grinds, like goats or cider: at that point, getting your goal now is more important than having a solid stock of assorted stuff you may or may not need in the future).
--
Dudebro Pyro, eccentric scholar
Spare Starveling Kitties always welcome. I collect them.
For that matter, send me your unwanted cat boxes too.
|
|
|
+2
link
|