Kirr
Posts: 44
11/25/2014
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I've been having a rocky relationship with the Zee since Steel. I've been recovering on dry land for a while as, I understand, all sorts of changes take place out there in the islands. For a while I've been wondering whether there's actually such a gap between the grizzled Zee-farer with legacies and the wet-behind-the-ears landlubber with a starting ship such as myself, or if I'm actually just terrible at navigating as a personal trait.
So, I propose an experiment. For Science! Start a new game, new character, no legacies, run it for a few hours and see what you find yourself doing. Post impressions, obstacles, grinds you find yourself tempted towards, satisfying moments and frustrating ones. Anyone up for it?
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SouthSea Rutherby
Posts: 224
11/26/2014
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... so here's what I have so far... for now I've shelved SouthSea Rutherby in favor of what I believe will be a long line of fresh starter-captains. I've been playing for a while now so I know this isn't *true* representation of a new player experience, but I'm hardly the best gamer and have taken steps to test what I can (and no, this isn't merciful mode!) So, without further ado:
The completely unaided adventures of the new "Bothington family"
My first captain was Harland Chesterfield Bothington, who inherited the tramp steamer "Salt's Complacency" from a distant relative in Fallen London. I chose to make this character a poet in order to test how character with no combat-viable stats would fare on his first venture to the open zee, so with little capital to spare, we loaded up what fuel and provisions we could afford, got the latest news, and a commission from the Admiralty for spying on Gaider's Mourn, which is one of the harder places to find in my experienec, though a profitable place in times past. Finally, we agreed to transport a single colonial immigrant from Wolfstack to Venderbight. On the way, we encountered pirates right off the bat, sailing north around the cape. This first encounter wasn't actually that hard -- the framerate has improved with the latest update, and the firing solution concept is fairly straight forward, so even without any bonuses to speak of we were able to sink the steam-pinnace and take a firkin of prisoner honey. The downside was the amount of damage we took -- nearly half the steamer's hull was damaged in the exchange. I decided to forego Hunter's Keep until I more badly needed the supplies and sailed onto Venderbight without further issues. The tomb colonist's less-than-reasonable demand for wine wasn't something I'd be able tomeet for the foreseeable future, so I decided to explore the area, where, to my surprise I discovered a Soothe & Cooper Longbox. I sold my news (terror was still low), visited the First Curator, and headed back to London, where I went through customs without trouble.
Since I had no edge at this point (and figured my first character would be the one to most easily make mistakes) I accepted the aid of the Blind Bruiser and decided to set out east and (against my better judgement) look for Gaider's Mourn. The news of Venderbight was paid for by the Admiralty, but I could not afford ship repairs...
(MY FIRST MAJOR OBSERVATIONS: terror and combat are fairly well balanced; terror could be a bit higher but is fine as is. Early trade options are pretty limited but a few story options to encourage wreckless wonder and exploration would get players to sail out there into the dark. My only major criticism is that the two repair options are just too close to each other in price -- if the cheaper option were 50 or even 60 echoes I'd be more inclined to risk it, but the extra 25 echoes just didn't seem that much of a stretch in price. Anyway, back to the game
My initial outward venture eastward turned up little of consequence at first. By this point, I'd figured out that turning the light on and off was thebest way to pick-and-choose my encounters. I had a fairly uneventful discovery at Mutton Island (resulting in a tale of terror) and while looking for Gaider's Mourn I eventually found Station III, where I got lucky again in trying to force the Longbox into a the lab (for more payment).
(MY SECONDARY OBSERVATIONS: The small, glowing angler crabs that can be eaten to reduce hunger are interesting because they can feasibly extend the life of supplies, but I very rarely am able to utilitze them at any tactical point in time because the move appear so randomly. If there were anyway to move the slider-bar that effects when my crew eats, I could definitely make proper use of it. I think this would be a very worth-while mechanic in the game. I also have learned the value of utilizing the lights, and see the advantage of having Admiralty yards repair my ship in exchange for favour. Finally, I appreciate just how many secrets you can gain with a decent pages skill. Pages is still too hard to increase, give nit's a stat that distracts from more utilitarian stats, but I appreciate the fragments gained from discovery and it is the single most encouraging way to reward captains for ambitious exploration).
From Station III, I once again, and for the third time, had good fortune. Between getting the Longbox, getting it into the lab and actually finding Gaider's Mourn, I was feeling pretty lucky. This feeling of luck persisted when I discovered the Shepard Isles, gained a memory of distant shores via a beach concert, and somehow managed to sneak up on a giant Western Angler Crab and slay it without taking any damage. By turning off my lights and flanking enemies (and spending several secrets on veils, thanks to the geniual magician I'd hired in port), I began to master positioning myself in battles, so long as enemies didn't appear in inconvenient places.I also learned when to fight and when to flee, based on positioning and provisions. I got so good, in fact, that I managed to sink an actual pirate frigate outside Gaider's Mourn without it managing to land a single shot on me.
Gaider's Mourn wasn't bad -- I had prisoner's honey and wine as prizes from my conquests and made enough money to pay for fuel and supplies to get home. This, however, left me with less coin than I'd needed to go to the Arrant Limpet. The admiralty spy requested additional pay, but only a little, And, once again, I got yet another lucky break when spying on the Mourn (again, this was not Merciful Mode and there was no save-scumming). Unfortunately, this made me a little too confident in my abilities: when I left Gaider's Mourn I easily sank another Frigate (again with no real combat stats) and I felt bold enough to try a second mark: I was on my way home and my target was only a crack pirate steampinnance, but it managed to do enough harm to get me to 11(!) hull and
I had to sneak back to Fallen London with my lights off for the bulk of the journey. Thankfully, I avoided the other pirates and small Jillfish and sailed around them on my way back home.
By the time I returned to Fallen London I had a small fortune in admiralty commissions, thanks to Station III and my info on Gaider's Mourn (I sold the strategic information because I didn't think I'd be able to get another one). Ship repairs were not cheap, however, and I didn't have enough favour to get help from Admiralty yards. Even so, I still had enough coin for another officer (I chose irrepressible cannoneer in the hopes that I could utilize the Iron stat). I also had enough coin left for some supplies.
This is where I made my one, capital mistake.
I had just accepted a new commission from the Admiralty to investigate Mt Palmerston. While in London I'd been approached by the Blind Bruiser and accepted his request (I felt like refusing him would be trouble). I noted that it would be convenient to do both the commission and the delivery at once, but then I remembered that fuel is cheap in Mt Palmerstone and not supplies. So, I took a gamble and bought more supplies in London than fuel. This was a mistake because the price difference (though a wonderful alternative to the eastern locations like the Khanate or Harbour Provisioner locations) isn't much different from London. I could recall celebrating the cheaper price in Palmerston because the nearby locations were so much more
expensive (8 echoes instead of 20? Yes indeed!) But London charges 10 for everything -- what I SHOULD have done was buy a lot of fuel and supplies in case I couldn't find Mt Palmerston. But, sadly, I took the directions from the admiralty (a helpful hint said it was northeast of there). I'd already had luck finding both Port Cecil and Shepard isles using the Zee Bat (which is still a wonderful feature, by the way), so I thought I'd find Mt Palmerston easily.
I just didn't. I did find the Chapel of Lights (and used the free food to conserve supplies). I even managed to take on a bound-shark and another pirate for much-needed fuel. But I still ran down to my last barrel without ever finding Mt Palmerston. Nevertheless, this was not the end *yet* By hunting Zee bats and burning the extra supplies, I managed to find the snares -- I traded supplies with the guinea pigs in exchange for a generous supply of Parabola linen, and crawled back to Fallen London to buy more fuel.
It was almost enough. The fuel I got made me confident that I could get back out to sea, find Mt Palmerston, and still have enough echoes left over to buy more fuel for the return trip. I reduced terror at Hunter's Keep instead of London to save money -- I did everything I could! But alas, the next two locations I found were not Mt Palmerston, but the Salt Lions and the Khanate, and my ship ran out of fuel and supplies just outside of Khan's Glory.
Even so, I managed to spend at least a dozen secrets in raising stats. I am a bit torn between saving my pages stat or my veils, but may go with veils since I invested in it and have already taken advantage of the pages stat by getting extra secrets. If I'd wanted to keep pages (Like my original character Southsea Rutherby) I'd have started with the philosopher, since that's the only way to get an officer who raises the pages stat).
My next character isn't going to be Harland Chesterfield Bothington Junior -- too posh a name for a rooftop-urchin -- instead he's imparting his wisdom to the cabinboy, a shady young miscreant named Cobb. But Harland will be returning after Cobb's (most-likely) demise, and the family will regain its legacy with Harland Chesterfield Bothington III.
...So that's my first character. I find both humorous and insightful that we both chose to start with poets (and glad nobody went with Iron to start with). I'm planning on continuing with Cobb, but I want to see what other zailors come up with.
IN SUMMARY:
The game is playable, and some aspects are better now than ever before. Terror probably needs to be a bit tougher, and in-game battle events might be a good idea at higher stat levels, but so far I think a bit more advice in the tutorial is all it really needs. Of course, I'd logged a lot of time in the game before attempting this fresh
start -- I utilized a lot of knowledge that new players wouldn't have, so I think some fresh new "delicious friends" might be necessary. I'd also like to reiterate that a sliding hunger bar might be nice.
..... Anyone else trying a "fresh start" to see how the game plays?
edited by SouthSea Rutherby for formatting -- I'm just too busy to put in the time I wish I could -- on 11/26/2014
edited by SouthSea Rutherby on 11/26/2014
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Now the proud captain of Mr. Eaten's Revenge
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Rocket Heeled Jack
Posts: 311
12/3/2014
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So, started anew after running around in Emerald with a dread and all the goods in the world, and the first thing I found was that in the game I had been playing, I’d got complacent, biggest ship out there, all the money in the world, mansion, massive sets of weapons, and no real threat to what I was getting up to out there.
Which is really not the point of the game I think, and when I started again, I certainly found that to be the case. The main difference between this and the previous time I’d started is that I’ve now logged a good amount of time on the game, so I have some idea where things are, some idea of what’s good and bad out there, and less fear of the possibility of running out of fuel or supplies, so I was far less cautious in getting out there and trying to find things.
First trip out, took a tomb colonist up to Venderbight and found that they wanted a companion bringing from Gaiders, so back down via Hunters Keep and then south a little further to the Canal, just to see if it was still there.
It was...
Back to collect the money for the port reports and then spent everything on more supplies and fuel, then back out again, this time a little further south to the Iron Republic (still where it was last time), and then on a whim, east in a straight line to see if the Fathomkings hold was still out there...
It wasn’t...
But the Mangrove colleges were, and that’s even better, so properly supplied up, I continued around in broadening circles, finding the Salt Lions and then Godfall, then Polythreme, and finally Port Cecil, where a truly staggering set of lucky results got me to finding more pieces for the chess players.
And here’s where prior knowledge of the game came in really useful...
Jillyfleurs if left alone give you zee stories, and if you haven’t used up all your secrets, Salts attention gets you searing enigma’s, so where previously it had taken me the best part of a few weeks to build a few thousand and consider buying a new ship, I’ve been playing this for less than a day and I’m already heavily armed and have nearly enough to pick up the merchant cruiser. The difference being that the steamer now has only one weapon slot (compared to three previously), and as a result, shooting your way through things takes a lot more time. So the first purchase was a better engine (can’t kill it if you can’t outrun it), then heavy weapons that didn’t need torpedoes, and given that the steamer only has one weapon slot, I no longer have any issue with trading it in for the merchant cruiser, and that’s likely to be what I’m going to do.
The other thing is that when I started the other game, crushing enemies didn’t have the same bonuses, so things like Lifebergs were worth practically nothing, as opposed to the artifacts, trophies, and tons of resources that can be had off them now, so solving the merchant venturers requests for artifacts becomes much easier and there’s a lot of money involved in that.
In all, the biggest difference between the last time I set out and this one was that this time I know what I’m doing, and it’s making the game a lot more interesting because while I’m not as worried about new creatures and new horizons as I was the first time, the first time out wasn’t as much fun as this because I didn’t know enough about ships and distances and hunger to venture out further than a small distance every time. For me, the biggest part of this game is being willing to take the big venture, which is something you only do when you’ve got some knowledge about what you’re doing, which a captain going out on the sea the first time would have, but not necessarily the player behind that captain.
Still, got a single big gun, nice townhouse, and a child waiting for me in port, the world is a vast open horizon, and I’m enjoying it far more than I did last time...
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Rocket~Heeled~Jack
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Kirr
Posts: 44
11/25/2014
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Rutherby, cheshster - thanks, I'll be interested to see how that goes. (Though cheshster, I won't be able to tune in in realtime because I'm in an incompatable timezone.) This turned out a bit long but I'll go ahead and post anyway.
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So here I am, an unscrupulous poet by the name of Steerpike with a Sly Navigator (+1 Mirrors). My stats are all at 26 except Pages (50) and Iron (30).
The first thing I do is save and switch to Merciful mode. I will be reloading if I die or come to a fuel dead-end, but not otherwise. The save screen remains small and annoyingly pokey.
I putter about London, read the newspapers (one free supply!), and go to the Admiralty. My first commission: the Iron & Misery Company Funging Station. Sounds good. I pick the new tomb-colonist option and spend my money. The shop tab is still a mess, with blurbs cut off and the last tab falling off the bottom of the screen.
Current status: 15 fuel and 8 supplies. Setting out SW. Feeling: excited, coming back to it after a break. Whatever else you might say of the Zee, it's picturesque.
Chased by a crab I got too close to. I know I can't take the damn thing for any profit after I factor in the spent fuel, so I run. Annoyed. Dock on Mutton Island and explore the shore. I spent all my echoes on fuel, so I can't try a riddle. Annoyed.
Next discovery: the Snares. Do I want to be here? I can't remember. I stop at Pigmote Isle to see if anything's changed and side with the rats, but the challenges are way beyond me and I can't spare the two supplies. This is obviously not a new-player area. I leave, feeling I've wasted time and fuel.
Diamond random event! I now have Stone's attention and my terror is back to 2, making me feel much better about turning off the lights to avoid sharks and large crabs. Feeling good.
Next discovery is Gaider's Mourn, west of London. I explore the Mourn and get a Tale of Terror plus a terror penalty that will take me 30 echoes to clear. Foolhardily, I also attempt to get a Port Report despite having only a 31% chance, and lose a crew member. Ah well. The report is worth the death - though not the terror penalty. I've lost on that one, too. Usually I'd save and reload until I succeeded the challenge, but I've said I wasn't doing that on this runthrough because it's a bloody annoying way to play the game.
Onwards! I'm heading North, circling home waters in search of I&M. I come across a bunch of rocks I don't recognise. When the Zee-bat starts picking up Mt Palmerston (yerk), I turn West.
Station III! Thank God. I also pick up Port Reports at Shepherd's Wash and the Sisterhood, and trade them my news for a 2-point terror reduction. With the Station III bounty, I'm no longer afraid that I won't have enough money for fuel next trip. Crisis averted.
I've now circled all around London's adjacent tiles without finding I&M. I didn't think "not far outside home waters" went that far, and I'm near Venderbight with only 3 fuel left. I drop off my tomb-colonist, who doesn't pay me and now wants Mushroom Wine. Huh. I pick up an Unread Log from an unlikely success in exploring, and a Port Report.
Bats in my path! It goes quite well - the firing circle has widened significantly since I last played, and that makes me at least 60% less likely to punch the screen in frustration. I take the terror hit and the fuel hit - about 0.2 - but I pick up a supply, so I feel it was worth it. Outcome: satisfactory.
Overconfident, though, since next I tackle a Pinnace. I take 14 points of hull damage for one fuel. Worth it? I don't know. It leaves me feeling less than accomplished as I trail into London with 2 fuel, 2 supplies and 25 terror.
I take the Blind Bruiser's offer because I feel I don't have a choice, with my tiny amount of supplies and my lack of success in finding I&M. I don't feel good about it, especially when my suspicion ticks up. I employ the Presbyterate Adventuress and page through the available weapons, even though I don't have enough money. They're frustrating and unobvious. Which ones require extra bits to work? Which ones will use themselves up and which ones are permanent? I don't have a clear equipment goal to aim for, and the bloody I&M is somewhere outside a 13-fuel radius. I'm slightly fired up to do the mushroom wine quest, when I realise I only have about half the money necessary.
So, feelings after my first trip: meh. Combat is not as bad as I remembered, but I still loathe the small crabs. The best moments were the free supply from the newspaper (weird, I know, but it felt good) and getting 150 echoes for Station III. The annoying ones were wasting time, effort, fuel and hull on islands without Port Reports and the Pinnace combat. I can't see how I'm going to make a profit on the next trip, since I&M is so far out, and though I can swallow a loss to the tune of 40 echoes, it feels like it will be the definition of spending a futile hour of my time. Save and quit for today.
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Concrete suggestions:
1. Put the foward and aft guns back on the starting ship. Cheaply. Having those three guns on my starting ship was the only time I had fun in post-Steel combat. It makes no difference if they only do plink-y damage: doing 5 points of damage from two guns just feels much, much better than 10 points from one gun, especially if combat is leaving you feeling out of control. And it would give a clear, motivational goal for the murky start of the game - there's nothing as unambiguously satisfying as filling an empty weapons slot.
2. More one-off bounties for discovering islands. More places that are at least a little rewarding to dock at, even when you're not rich and skilled. It is incredibly frustrating to go to places like Pigmote Isle and come away feeling the game has punished you for daring to explore and not to save-load-save-load until you know exactly where you're heading "first time". It doesn't matter if the profit is tiny, I just need to feel like it wasn't a pointless loss. The Admiralty should be interested in rat colonisation (although make it clear it's only a one-off). They should be interested at least once in the Salt Lions. The Admiralty should also pay for first-time confirmations that light ships are still there and operating (and the ships should have a terror reduction you don't have to swap for news). Make me happy to see people in the dark Zee! If you want players to explore, it might help to reward them a little more for doing that. One-offs - forty echoes here, seventy there - can't seriously mess up the balance of the game, and it would make the first couple of trips so much more satisfying.
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