Voodoo Master
Posts: 127
6/9/2012
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I want to journey to Polythreme to continue the story of my Ambition. What are the main qualities I need there?
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Cedric Appleby
Posts: 121
6/9/2012
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Polythreme is a strange place. All main qualities are useful, but much of your success will depend careful planning and the whims of fortune. You might find it useful to be very Persuasive and/or Shadowy, however.
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That is, in fact, a beak. Tea is difficult.
@21stCenturyBird on Twitter. -- In-game profile.
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Guest
6/9/2012
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A high persuasive is very useful to farm up materials while you're there, but you could actually do content in Polythreme with no stats at all, simply luck. It's all due to how it works there.
Playing in Polythreme requires that you raise your Fascinating or Investigating to 12+ (Some options have bonuses if you hit 13), and there's also a money option for hitting 7 in both (Bonus pay for 8+). However, there is only ONE storylet that raises this directly.
Your "bread and butter" as it were is the "Paying your way" storylet choices, which give a guaranteed 10 CP to one, and with a successful luck check also give 10 CP to the other). This costs 25 surface silk if your unnatural exuberance is 8+ (so, first 5 times), 50 romantic notions if unnatural exuberance is 5+ (so, next 3 times), and costs 5 mysteries of the elder continent or collated research (depending on stat you're aiming for) if it's 2+ (so, final 3 times). Obviously, this gets expensive fast. Ideally, you'll want to only go with the cheapest option, by doing this no more than 5 times and at the start of your run.
Luckily, you can earn surface silk there. There's a storylet that has one option for each stat, dangerous and persuasive earn surface silk, while watchful and shadowy earn romantic notions. They're not equal either, persuasive and shadowy have harder checks, but earn 12 items instead of... 8 I think?
Now, once you've paid your way, hopefully you have some of both fascinating and investigating. You can trade one for the other: Pulling a mask off a clothes colony to trade investigating for fascinating (Basically "investigating" what's behind the mask to find someone to talk to) or talk to the clay broker to trade fascinating for investigating (Appealing to someone to get information on Polythreme). On an easy success, this trades 10 CP of one for 10 CP of the other. I haven't found out how much CP it gives on a failure, but I believe it's 5, while still taking 10 CP. Regardless, after doing this step you should have a fair amount of one quality.
Now for the juicy part: Cards! At first glance a lot of these appear the same, but some careful spading has showed a few trends. In fact, the cards seem to appear in pairs. There's two cards for each of the two qualities, one of which is more of a gamble then the other (4 cards so far), as well as 2 cards that deal with both qualities, with one giving both or nothing, and the other giving you one or the other. They are as follows:
"The Priest at the Temple" and "The Ruin". These have a 50% chance of giving you +15 CP of fascinating or Investigating, respectively, or only 1-2 on a failure. They also have an option to trade ALL of your quality (If it's 8+) for 60 romantic notions. Something nice about these cards, however, is that if you want both qualities, these are one of the few ways to raise one quality without damaging the other.
"At the Market" and "The Temple": More reliable, these offer pretty good odds of succeeding to get 10 CP of a quality, and even give 5 CP on a failure. They also have an option to spend some of your quality if you've got 4+ to get 20 surface silk. This offers a way for those with low stats to farm surface silk, just do a run of polythreme where you use cards to get investigating or fascinating (just 10 CP gets you to 4), then spend it on silk. With decent luck, you could be getting basically 10 silk an action. Though, something to keep in mind is that these cards will cost you some of the other quality when used.
"The Wax Wind Comes" and "The Masked Man": The former is a 50% chance, giving fascinating on a success and investigating on a failure (Not sure on CP given, believe it to be 10). The latter has pretty good odds, and gives 5 CP to both on a success... but gives nothing on a failure!
Finally, there's a pair of cards with unlocks. If you're in the middle of making a travel guide, you unlock "The Zailors at Polythreme's Harbour", which allows you to make a persuasive check to gain fascinating. This means anyone with high stats can get a guaranteed success. If you're in the middle of spying on Polythreme, you unlock "Fractious Furniture", which has a shadowy check to get investigating. Both of these cards will cost you some of the other quality, if you have any. Do note that if you finish your travelogue or report, you lose access to these cards until you start again. This can be a good thing, however...
Now, one important aspect is holding cards. Make good use of your opportunity deck by holding on to cards you don't want. For instance, if working on fascinating, hold on to the investigating cards, and probably "The Wax Wind" too. This serves two functions: It lowers the pool of cards it can draw from, as you can't have two of the same card, and it limits how many cards you pull up at once. The latter can be useful because, assuming you have stellar luck, drawing one card at a time can give you 6 of the card that you want with a full deck. If you're drawing 4 at a time, the most you can get is 2.
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Now, with all the descriptive stuff out of the way, here's my general way I go through: First, I get 75 surface silk. Then I pay that for whatever I'm working on 3 times, then convert any of the other quality I got into the one I want. Then, I hold onto the cards for the quality I don't want, and try to get the cards with a "pretty good odds" to raise my quality by 10. If I'll be there for a while, I'll also use my first run to start on a travelogue or spy run, so I can use the unlocked cards too. Using the unlocked card and the "pretty good odds" card, I usually have no trouble hitting 12 in my quality, and often hit 13.
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+8
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Urthdigger
Posts: 939
6/9/2012
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Bah, it logged me out. That was my post.
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Looking for second chances to maximize your loot output from those troublesome storylets? Check out our handy gang of volunteers in this thread, or even volunteer yourself!
@Urthdigger on twitter
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+3
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AnnMCN
Posts: 22
6/10/2012
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That was very helpful! I've been to Polythreme, and have a clothes colony and unfinished hat, but missed other possibilities.
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Urthdigger
Posts: 939
6/10/2012
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Polythreme is worth a revisit. If you do things right, it can be one of the most lucrative places to be.
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Looking for second chances to maximize your loot output from those troublesome storylets? Check out our handy gang of volunteers in this thread, or even volunteer yourself!
@Urthdigger on twitter
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Voodoo Master
Posts: 127
6/13/2012
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Wow... that's extremely useful, Urthdigger! Thank you very very much!
But what's considered a high enough stat? 100? 120? 130? I don't want to go there just to find out all the challenges are almost impossible...
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Urthdigger
Posts: 939
6/13/2012
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Around 130. It's entirely possible to do content there without that though. You only need stats for the special unlocked cards. With a little luck (especially if you used the safe bet cards), you could hit 12 in whichever quality and proceed.
--
Looking for second chances to maximize your loot output from those troublesome storylets? Check out our handy gang of volunteers in this thread, or even volunteer yourself!
@Urthdigger on twitter
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Voodoo Master
Posts: 127
6/13/2012
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Thanks! 
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Caitydid
Posts: 65
6/15/2012
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How does one get to/unlock Polythreme? I haven't played in a while, and I think I may have missed it or just haven't found the storylet, but I'm being summoned there for Ambition purposes. Any help is appreciated!
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You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, "Why not?" - G.B. Shaw
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Kaanyia
Posts: 35
6/15/2012
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Caitydid wrote:
How does one get to/unlock Polythreme? I haven't played in a while, and I think I may have missed it or just haven't found the storylet, but I'm being summoned there for Ambition purposes. Any help is appreciated!
You will need a Screaming Map. You can begin the process of acquiring one at the Docks.
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@Kaanyia on Twitter.
Display Fallen London storylet requirements in text without mousing over icons: https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/11306-echo-bazaar-display-storylet-prerequisites
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Aspeon
Posts: 311
6/15/2012
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Kaanyia wrote:
Caitydid wrote:
How does one get to/unlock Polythreme? I haven't played in a while, and I think I may have missed it or just haven't found the storylet, but I'm being summoned there for Ambition purposes. Any help is appreciated!
You will need a Screaming Map. You can begin the process of acquiring one at the Docks.
You don't need a Screaming Map to take the Tramp Steamer from Wolfstack Docks, but using your own ship is cheaper, faster, and more rewarding (in terms of points in Experienced Zailor). There's a story there that you don't get otherwise, so it's worth doing once (or twice, if you want to pursue romantic-ish options of both genders).
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A raccooning will not be postponed indefinitely.
http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Aspeon
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Caitydid
Posts: 65
6/17/2012
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I tried taking my own ship but wasn't able to put together a screaming map. I put together a lot of partial maps, but couldn't find the option to put them together (if that's the way it works at all). I just boarded the tramp steamer, so I'll get there afterall! Thanks for the advice, folks.
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You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, "Why not?" - G.B. Shaw
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Endy
Posts: 278
6/17/2012
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Caitydid wrote:
I tried taking my own ship but wasn't able to put together a screaming map. I put together a lot of partial maps, but couldn't find the option to put them together (if that's the way it works at all). I just boarded the tramp steamer, so I'll get there afterall! Thanks for the advice, folks.
short version is the map storyline starts with a card unlock and then you gain 2 halves at the docks.
http://echobazaar.wikidot.com/screaming-map
enjoy your trip though
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sonantem aeternum ad terram
Through the darker shadows.
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+1
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Eleusius
Posts: 1
3/12/2020
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A very informative post. Thanks a bunch.
However, I want to add one crucial bit of information - maybe it's changed since this posting (it's quite a while ago... cough cough)
Quote:
"The Priest at the Temple" and "The Ruin". These have a 50% chance of giving you +15 CP of fascinating or Investigating, respectively, or only 1-2 on a failure. They also have an option to trade ALL of your quality (If it's 8+) for 60 romantic notions. Something nice about these cards, however, is that if you want both qualities, these are one of the few ways to raise one quality without damaging the other.
This is not entirely true. Both cards do damage your other property on failure (at least today that's the way they work).
Here's an example of how they work:
Success One heart
Failure Well, if you insist
I hope the WiKi will forgive me quoting their stuff.
Anyways - I found this important enough to notice to add another post to this very informative thread.
Regards,
Eleusius.
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