Flyte
Administrator
Posts: 671
6/25/2014
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Everything in the Sidestreets is so expensive. How will I ever afford a Zubmarine?
We actually lowered the prices of five or six items: Use of Villains, for example, now costs about 30% less than before. But we have increased the price of some other items to 60+ Echoes.
We pretty much had to do this to integrate Sidestreets items properly with the rest of the economy, which has undergone several major changes since they were introduced. We've been adjusting them piecemeal as time permits, but that gave rise to all sorts of oddities. Collated Research could be manufactured efficiently in the inventory, but if you didn't know about that you might buy it at a 600% mark up in the Sidestreets, or spend 34 actions to get it from Wilmot's End. Nights on the Town were easier to get than Comprehensive Bribes, but five times more useful for Organising a Wedding. And so on.
We've basically tried to impose some rationality on all of this, so that it could conceivably make use to use any of the main methods to gain a Sidestreet item, and their effectiveness bears some relationship to their cost. So Strong-Backed Labour now gives five Expedition Supplies instead of two, expensive Sidestreet items provide larger boosts to Organising a Wedding than cheap ones, and so on.
But, my Zubmarine...
We've reduced the component requirements for several PoSI items to compensate for the higher prices. Zubs, for example, require ten fewer Whirring Contraptions. They are still generally a little more expensive than before. We think that's okay because some other items, like Gangs of Hoodlums, have become cheaper, and because we'll probably add more ways to get components now we can do so without having to spend half an hour investigating their quirks, lest we crash the economy.
Do let me know if anything seems outrageous, though, here or at support@failbettergames.com, and I'll take a look.
You made Wilmot's End take ten more actions.
Sorry, that was a bad thing I did. Because Whirring Contraptions, Legal Documents and the like now have a notional value of over 60 Echoes, we can't give them out for 34 actions. We may add ways of leveraging their value later, and that could easily get out of hand, creating market distortions to the detriment of honest costermongers (and even their kittens).
We have a much better idea, but it will take some writing time to implement. And we don't have a lot of that just now. Next month, with luck.
Why did you stop giving Certifiable Scraps for inviting others from the Surface? Now I have no incentive to spam friends, acquaintances or my MP with thousands of emails!
Yes. Yes, indeed.
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Flyte
Administrator
Posts: 671
6/25/2014
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Johnny, did you just become an Extraordinary Mind, Invisible Eminence, or other especially important personage? That does render you ineligible for the Rainbow of Offerings. We have no plans to remove it, and in fact greatly improved some of the offerings in order to establish some semblance of balance.
I understand why it might seem that we're penalising latecomers. But this is doubly false. First, as I tried to explain, while some component prices have increased a lot, the overall cost of PoSI gear is not very different, and liable to go down again over time as we add new sources for these items. The most useful items are not expensive, and some of them -- including Velocipedes -- are much cheaper than before.
The second reason is set out in this parable.
I haven't revised Newspaper rewards; thanks for bringing them to my attention. I'll take a look next week.
edited by Flyte on 6/25/2014
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RandomWalker
Posts: 948
6/25/2014
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I understand the reasoning, and thank you for posting this explanation, Flyte.
I am unhappy with the general price increases because they feel like they penalise late-comers; anyone starting the game now will have to play far more to achieve the same things as someone who started a year ago.
That being said, can anyone tell me if the reward for running a newspaper edition has changed recently? With whirring contraptions having a notional value of over 60 echoes, and the best reward (which required fairly high stats and maybe, what, twenty actions on top of those needed to get the contraption) with a reward value of 60 echoes, they would seem to be a poor investment of time (although handy for helping friends out with some menaces).
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Nigel Overstreet
Posts: 1220
6/26/2014
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Flyte wrote:
Why did you stop giving Certifiable Scraps for inviting others from the Surface? Now I have no incentive to spam friends, acquaintances or my MP with thousands of emails!
Yes. Yes, indeed.
I blame myself for this.
At one point I sent an invite to the Earl of Ulster to his Crisis Project address.
Sorry, everyone. Sorry, Alex.
--
The Romantic Egotist: Most Hedonistic Man in All of Fallen London
Are you or someone you know Overgoated? Please, let me know!
Cider Club
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Lucky Cinnamon
Posts: 17
6/26/2014
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Really, I'm not that upset over many of the changes. They seem reasonable, and I was starting to understand the how certain paths were more lopsided than others.
However, I find the Magnificent Diamond component to be a bit overboard for Bejewelled Lenses. There aren't many sources at all (I know of two available, both extremely luck dependent, and a few from one-time stories), compared to all of the other components for Side Street items being available through storylets and conversions, barring Collections of Curiosity. Unless more sources appear in the near future, they're by far the most difficult thing to get a hold of. The grinding for large quantities of items doesn't bother me, but having absolutely no control over whether I can reach my goal does.
If you are planning to add more, though, I don't see anything wrong.
--
LC's Mobile Clinic: Weakening Wounds, Suturing Stabs, and Alleviating Aches since 1892!
Non-profit wound healing available at most hours. Repeat customers welcomed and encouraged. Now also accepting problems of the mind for no charge!
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Gillsing
Posts: 1203
6/26/2014
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Spacemarine9 wrote:
Claiming a reward resets Doing Business in Wilmot's End now, used to be only getting Dramatic Tension did that. I see. Thanks for the info!
And I have now done some calculations, and with five Expedition Supplies for one Strong-Backed Labour it appears as if it's a toss-up between using it to emancipate Clay Men and using it to get Expedition Supplies for expeditions to a Shrine of the Deep Blue Heaven (assuming flawless buccaneering). So good job on that balancing! 
Just too bad I didn't know about it until I'd already lost all my Ruthlessness (9, and some extra CPs) just so I could make more money. Who would've thought that chasing profits like that wouldn't be Ruthless? 
EDIT:
Lucky Cinnamon wrote:
However, I find the Magnificent Diamond component to be a bit overboard for Bejewelled Lenses. There aren't many sources at all (I know of two available, both extremely luck dependent, and a few from one-time stories) A pact with the Master Jewel Thief could get you many Magnificent Diamonds. But I suppose that might not be for everyone.
edited by Gillsing on 6/26/2014
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xKiv
Posts: 846
6/26/2014
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Spacemarine9 wrote:
Gillsing wrote:
What was that about increasing the Wilmot's End cycles by ten Actions? Has that actually been done, or did you change your mind?
Claiming a reward resets Doing Business in Wilmot's End now, used to be only getting Dramatic Tension did that.
Ow.
Not that I care about the actions - that's fine - but wilmot's end is so ... clicky ....
I have read the texts. I have been through the branches. They do nothing interesting. There might as well be one storylet that says "here, you have DONE this enough already, just spend 10 actions to get back to the upper part of the carousing" ...
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https://www.fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/xKiv - a witchful, percussive, dangermous and shadowry scholar of coexplodence, hopsidirean, and walker of fallen kitties.
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Johnny Felix
Posts: 180
6/25/2014
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I miss my rainbow of offerings in the bazaar sidestreets. I was saving it for an emergency or something, and now it seems to be gone for good.
Serves me right for being so undecisive...
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https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/Johnny%20Felix
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Spacemarine9
Posts: 2234
6/25/2014
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Gillsing wrote:
What was that about increasing the Wilmot's End cycles by ten Actions? Has that actually been done, or did you change your mind?
Claiming a reward resets Doing Business in Wilmot's End now, used to be only getting Dramatic Tension did that.
--
my rats will blot out the sun
Ratgames
FL lore/mechanics questions and answers
#FallenLondon IRC (irc.synirc.net) Channel! Click to join via Mibbit.
#SunlessSea IRC channel! Like the above, but zee-ier.
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