Fallen London 2 - "A Starveling Thread! A Starveling Thread!"

[Endless Query]

Huh-doy. I remember numbers good, clearly -_-. I do have all of the 4 card housings, I was considering the 5 card ones, since I almost have a special vial of blood, and like 3,200 scrap, both of which can turn into a 5 card housing. Can I ask why you hang on to Tomb Colonies cards? I usually just use them as I draw them for 5 Puzzling maps (though that's largely because I'm very motivated by income at the moment).

It's just that the 5 card lodgings (outside Taste of Lacre options) use some very expensive items, some of which have, on occasion, been used for other things (I'm still irritated I missed a chance to get A Sealed Copy of the Crimson Book. Perhaps De Gustibus will make another pass some day...), so I'm a bit reluctant to spend them on housing I may not, in fact, use.

[Eldan]

I do have the book. Cost me my blood, though. Still, almost there, just need a few more cards to get it back, have all the raw materials.

[rweird]

I hang onto tomb colonies because I lack a Collections of Curiosities, and need to spend another 33 actions on the War of Assassins to get it. I've tried stockpiling them, but then I move on to other things. I use them for the 62.5 echoes too.

For 5 card lodgings, I got the Baazar and Bethlehem Hotel ones at Christmas last year (I had a soul so I couldn't get the Brass Embassy one, and I don't want to give up my rumored location of a one time prince of hell until I get another).

I'd say wait until Christmas, then get a 5 card lodging.

For which is better, I guess it depends on play style… Also, I like to feel like I'm right in the thick of things, rather than living in a far-removed location.

[Endless Query]

Ah, but is your presence not more interesting and influential with the curious masses when you make it more rare? Though I must admit, I'm always... Impressed that my public still manages to find me. Appreciative of it too, that is a very nice card.

As for Collections of Curiosities, I went out of my way to build up a stock of 5 a while back and just add back on to them whenever it hits 2 or 3, so I have some flex time. Also because if I use up the Tomb Colonies card, I can draw it again. Profits! All is profits! At least for another 5,000 Echoes or so. Then I'll probably be mostly done with my more excessive money grubbing, as Hesperidean Cider is... Not worth the effort. I hardly ever accumulate much in the way of wounds anyways, and the downsides are relatively significant. Nevermind how rawly mind numbing trying to save it all up would be. I dunno, maybe after that I'll work on getting a Fluke-Core or something. Or finishing up other parts of my pet collection.

[rweird]

Yeah, using cards as soon as possible is the better course of action. Still, as I already have an Übergoat, I don't really have to much of a goal now. I'm collecting money, because that is never bad, although sometimes I do less-than-efficient ways for the sake of time, depending on my mood.

[Zaydos]

So I am finally actually getting along with my voyage of scientific discovery and I became curious about something...

Spoiler: Possible Bag a legend spoilers

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So I looked at the bats on Corpsecage Island and well I could make out part of a message reading '..all the Pharaoh's daughters bar one are gone...' and it made me think about the convent. The nuns are supposed to be descended from 2nd city nobility/royalty, which was almost wiped out by the Vake. Could the founders be descended from that one daughter, or is it just referring to the Duchess?

[rweird]

Spoiler: Bag a Legend Spoilers

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I don't know. I assume that it would be the Duchess they are referring to as the remaining Pharaoh's daughter, although it very well could be sponsored by other nobles, the Duchess herself, or another. We may learn more of this as updates to Bag a Legend continue.

[Endless Query]

Spoiler: Bag A Legend

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I'd give very good odds on it being the Duchess, between her affinity for cats, and, well, if you've ever seen her true form... Well that sort of heritage wouldn't be particularly surprising. Though it does make one wonder just what sorts of powers Egypt had... Or has in setting. After all, the Masters don't even like to talk about it.

[Demon 997]

Two questions: is there a better way (besides the social action) to reduce suspicion then using rats in the flit? Because I'm seriously missing the halloween terror reset.
And is the gold framed painting fate locked story worth it? I'm interested, but would like some idea of what I'm buying. Interesting? Good lore? Good rewards?

EDIT: Also wondering if it's worth selling a few hundred echoes with of my loot to boost my shadowy to 100. Is the top level shadowy gear I can buy in the bazaar the best stuff around, or at least good enough to last me for quite a while?

[Eldan]

I don't think so. I did it. Can't even really remember the Lore, only that it was really short.

[Grif]

Two questions: is there a better way (besides the social action) to reduce suspicion then using rats in the flit? Because I'm seriously missing the halloween terror reset.
And is the gold framed painting fate locked story worth it? I'm interested, but would like some idea of what I'm buying. Interesting? Good lore? Good rewards?

I find buying the Ablution potion in the Bazaar to be the most efficient way. Otherwise, there isn't really a way to reduce it reliably.

[Narkis]

Spoiler: Bag A Legend

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I'd give very good odds on it being the Duchess, between her affinity for cats, and, well, if you've ever seen her true form... Well that sort of heritage wouldn't be particularly surprising. Though it does make one wonder just what sorts of powers Egypt had... Or has in setting. After all, the Masters don't even like to talk about it.

Spoiler: Second City

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Spoiler: Click only if you want to find out why the Masters don't talk about it.

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The Duchess and her sisters did something to "shackle" the bazaar, preventing it from switching cities for more than a thousand years. The Masters could do nothing but watch. It's understandable that they don't want to be reminded of that period.

Spoiler: Mr. Eaten

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It is heavily implied that Mr. Eaten was fond of Egypt, and helped the sisters with their scheme. That was a major factor in him becoming Eaten. He didn't always have that name.

Two questions: is there a better way (besides the social action) to reduce suspicion then using rats in the flit? Because I'm seriously missing the halloween terror reset.
And is the gold framed painting fate locked story worth it? I'm interested, but would like some idea of what I'm buying. Interesting? Good lore? Good rewards?

EDIT: Also wondering if it's worth selling a few hundred echoes with of my loot to boost my shadowy to 100. Is the top level shadowy gear I can buy in the bazaar the best stuff around, or at least good enough to last me for quite a while?

I found the secrets in gold story to be worth it, despite its shortness. Can't remember what the rewards were though.

The top level gear in the bazaar is either the best in slot period, or the best you can obtain easily.

[rweird]

Spoiler: Second City

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Where did it mention them shackling the bazaar?

Spoiler: Flute Street

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I wonder if the half-stolen city is a result of an attempt to steal another city during that time, or if Flukes (of any variety) played a role in the shackling.

Spoiler: Destiny: A Pricked Finger

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Perhaps the denizens of Parabola did something to trap the Bazaar, like they trap various individuals in Parabola, with the Destiny of "A Pricked Finger." I can't really say there is much evidence besides Mr. Wines potentially being trapped in Parabola, so possibly other things could be too.

[Narkis]

Spoiler: Second City

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I think it was on some Mr. Eaten content, but don't quote me on that. It's been a while since I read it.

Spoiler: Flute Street

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It's possible, but I don't remember all that much about Flute Street. I should probably go back there one of these days. The Lorn Flukes are sympathetic to Mr. Eaten though, so they could have helped him back then.

Spoiler: Parabola

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I don't remember Parabola having anything to do with the Second City. They were heavily involved with the Fourth.

[rweird]

Spoiler: Second City and Parabola

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I don't think it is directly mentioned, although as Parabola is a "place," I wouldn't be surprised if it were there at that time. Also, cats are related both to Parabola, the Duchess, and Egypt.

[Endless Query]

And on a few occasions, if it there's something directly better, whatever is in the bazaar is an ingredient in creating it (though I fear I may have quite forgotten what the other factor is).

Spoiler: Second City

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Of course, part of that may be because cats are ever so fond of secrets, and secrets congregate around all of those subjects. Granted the Duchess's connection to cats seems startlingly more direct and apparent. And Egypt's sacred place for cats isn't really all that secretive itself.

I do wonder if the Duchess spends half her time wrapping up Sorrow Spiders in an attempt to discourage participation in Pass The Cat. It'd explain the odds, anyways.

Oh, also, for Suspicion Reduction, once you're a Person of Some Importance, if you can acquire membership to the Parthenaeum, its Opportunity card has the potential to help reduce suspicion. Also, feeding crackers to Dazed Ravens on their opportunity card (which will show up if you have one) has a chance to drop some suspicion as well. And if it doesn't it only wastes your action with no additional cost, and when it does succeed you do have a financial gain I believe. Those are the main ways I temper my Suspicion if I've been giving a few too many public lectures, anyways.

[Demon 997]

I'm trying to grind the case of the fidgeting writer for cash. I assume it's repeatable? I've read that its one of the best ways to get echoes, is this true?

So wonderful failing at the second to last step.

[Grif]

So, now I'm at a dilemma. Which one should I do next?

The Polythreme?
The Iron Republic? (for Nemesis ambition)
The Cave of the Nadir?
Grinding notability?

[Zaydos]

So, now I'm at a dilemma. Which one should I do next?

The Polythreme?
The Iron Republic? (for Nemesis ambition)
The Cave of the Nadir?
Grinding notability?

Well the polythreme you'll eventually have to go to for something else the Jack of Smiles case. The Iron Republic gets you an item that makes grinding notability easier (and can be sold for echoes). The Cave of the Nadir... I can't quite do yet so I can't say what it gives... though really I ought to just give up on getting the 100 Connected: Revolutionaries and just grab the skull and spend the echoes and go to the cave. As for the last... what's your notability?

[Grif]

Well the polythreme you'll eventually have to go to for something else the Jack of Smiles case. The Iron Republic gets you an item that makes grinding notability easier (and can be sold for echoes). The Cave of the Nadir... I can't quite do yet so I can't say what it gives... though really I ought to just give up on getting the 100 Connected: Revolutionaries and just grab the skull and spend the echoes and go to the cave. As for the last... what's your notability?

Only 4. A mere 3-starred entry.

[Zaydos]

Only 4. A mere 3-starred entry.

Well it could be worth getting to 5 just to get the highest tier professions. That was when I stopped aiming for notability... and then I got 2 more anyway by accident ok I did pause and make 10 Favors in High Places and some other item conversions for MWs but no heavy grinding and always accepting Polite Invitations.

[Endless Query]

Opening the Cave of Nadir should probably be the highest priority, as you can continue to benefit from the cave weekly, and some of the benefits are pretty significant (though utilizing it does do a varying amount of stat damage, so there is a trade off). Still, that and getting your Notability 5 job will have the best long term payouts as they are direct weekly assets rather than more one time-ish (albeit interesting and valuable in their own way) events

As for the Case of the Fidgeting Writer, yep, you can keep starting it from Tales of Terror... As for the payout see:

Spoiler: Lots of Questionable Quality Math

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It functionally costs .5 echoes to start, with an approximately 30% chance of just wasting your Tale of Terror there, the second step has the same cost (.5 Echoes) and same odds, 30% failure, 70% success. The third step has the same odds again, but costs 1 Echo. Step 4 costs 1 Echo but only has a 60% chance to succeed, step 5 costs 2.5 echoes, with a 50% (approximately) success chance, step 6 costs 2.5 and has a 50% success chance, and the final step also costs 2.5 Echoes with a 50% chance...

On a success you gain an item worth 312.5 Echoes.

Now, assuming you do succeed this is a payout of (312.5 -11.5)/7: 43 Echoes per action, which is, in fact, the largest and most rapid profit one can hope to make. Of course, the odds are against that.

You have about a 65% chance to fail one of the first 3 steps, putting you at a net loss of, on average, 1 echo and 2 actions.
If you make it past that you have a 85% chance to fail in the next three steps, on average losing 3 echoes and 5 actions
And, obviously, you have a 50% chance to fail on the last step, costing you to lose 11.5 Echoes and 7 actions.

This means you have about a 2.5% chance to succeed , with a majority of failures costing somewhere between 3 and 4 echoes and 4-5 actions. So, if you run the story 100 times it will cost you, optimistically, 456 actions, 374 echoes, with a payout of 937.5 echoes.

This puts it's (very loosely approximate) value per action at (937.5-374)/456: 1.3 Echoes per action. Which actually isn't great. Still I'll admit my math is a bit loose, I'd be willing to say my profit numbers could be off by +/- .7 or so (As some of my averaging is a bit lazy, and I did assume 3 payouts in 100 run throughs rather than actually 2.5) so it's possibly someone has crunched the numbers more precisely and found it's actually worth like 1.8 or 2 or something which would make it "the best" as it were.

Still, not really something I, personally, would try to grind for Echoes

As for other major financial gains:

Spoiler: The Math of Making Echoes

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I tend to prefer the Box of Intrigue (A Conscience of the Empire), with a standard payout of 1.4 Echoes per go, (23 Echoes for 14 actions), and keeping Collections of Curiosities on hand to trade for 5 Puzzling Maps on the Tomb Colonies card at 1.8 Echoes a go (62.5 Echoes for 34 actions). Granted the 2nd is limited by Person of Some Importance, and the first requires a rather extended storyline to be at least partially done, and access to Mahogany Hall to start.

I have also seen Hunter's Keep recommended as a place for farming echoes... Per circuit it produces 13 actions of 1.16 Echoes, 14 Actions of 1.2 Echoes 1 action of 10 echoes + 1 action of 0 echoes, and 1 action of 2.5 Echoes, resulting in an average income of...

(15.08 + 16.8 + 10 + 2.5)/30 = 1.48 Echoes per action. Which IS pretty good. Require a bit of set up though (both in sailing out there, and the payout for the first pass through is nowhere near as good). Mainly, though, I think its flaw is that you lose access to Opportunity cards, and a number of "later" game opportunity cards can have 1.5+ Echo payouts (And don't forget the aforementioned Tomb Colonies card), meaning that anything that keeps you in the city has a slight edge simply because of valuable one-offs. Still, having done the math, I certainly can't fault Hunter's Keep for reliability.

[Eldan]

I had forgotten that I need 7 notability for the very expensive bottle of something wine-like. Blergh. Back to the grind. At least I'm Interesting enoug that I only need a handful of MW for the first few steps.

I think I'll go write a few short stories.

[Endless Query]

Honestly, I personally like to leave my Notability at 10 when not up to anything specific, as it gives a 100% chance of success on Surprise Package check, which is pleasing to me. Also, yeah, leaves a nice stock for certain high end trades.

[Eldan]

Regularly grinding Making Waves is annoying, so after I traded it all in last time, I just sort of left it at zero or 1 for a long bit.

[Endless Query]

Reasonable, though maintaining a decent amount of Making Waves doesn't actually require that much effort. Hitting up the Bohemians and Dock Workers cards gets you a little on the cheap, and generally between that and running one Polite Invitation a week (Or more if they come up before your Nadir trip, since you'd lose them then anyways) is usually more than adequate I find, and if you get the Polite Invitation later in the week, you can save it for the start of the next one.

Also you can snag a little bonus if you pull a Visit from the Slowcake's fellow, as making him speak first is a free couple of Making Waves CP too. If a week is looking particularly troublesome, I've occasionally traded in Stolen Kisses for Favors in High Places which generates Making Waves, or just cashed in a little on the Salon or Talk of the Town

[Zaydos]

Oh yes, what do you do with a starveling cat? I got one via zee piracy months ago and don't know of anything to do with it, except potentially Mr. Eaten stuff which seems to be sealed away now anyway.

[Endless Query]

Keep it in your closet and... Carefully fed until Mr. Eaten content rears its head once more? If nothing else it's one of those cute obscure collectables that Fallen London is so fond of having no use for... Yet.

[Zaydos]

Keep it in your closet and... Carefully fed until Mr. Eaten content rears its head once more? If nothing else it's one of those cute obscure collectables that Fallen London is so fond of having no use for... Yet.

That's what I thought, but wanted to double check. I got it by sheer chance while zailing so it's not like it cost me anything in particular to obtain it, but this does give me more reason not to participate in pass the cat.

[Divayth Fyr]

Keep it in your closet and... Carefully fed until Mr. Eaten content rears its head once more? If nothing else it's one of those cute obscure collectables that Fallen London is so fond of having no use for... Yet.

It has a use, being a guaranteed source of wounds and nightmares. Not a big thing, but it is there.

Got the last Kindness of Ravens card I needed to complete the set - now, if the Presumptous opportunity would choose to show up...