Fallen London and Sunless Sea

[Jackalias]

Does anyone have any interesting stories from these games?

[Eldan]

I played Fallen London pretty excessively for a few years, until about a year ago, I got to around the level cap and every story that was still open to me would require weeks of boring grinding, so I quit.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

We used to have a thread out there for each of these games, but they appear to have fizzled a couple years back.

I'll have to throw down some of the stories I have from getting back into Sunless Sea. Including that time I met the Constant Companion for the first time....

[kraftcheese]

I love Sunless Sea, but I've found it harder to get into Fallen London tbh. Might be the "x amount of actions per day" thing.

One of my most memorable moments in Sunless was a terrifying journey below the Shattered Citadel at Godfall...I just made it out on my last Foxfire Candle. I'd say either that, my exploration of Frostfound, or the quest chain with the Snow Child.

Btw, is anyone else excited for Sunless Sky (https://www.failbettergames.com/category/sunless-skies/) by the same folks? (here's the kickstarter page (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/failbetter/sunless-skies-the-sequel-to-sunless-sea) too!)

[rooster707]

I've been playing Fallen London for the last month or so. Mostly liking it, but I've hit a point where progression requires either tons of resources or banging my head against difficult skill checks over and over. So for now I'm just sitting around waiting for my Scandal to go down.

(Incidentally, does anyone know a reliable way for a low/mid-level character to reduce Scandal?)

[Dhavaer]

I've been playing Fallen London for the last month or so. Mostly liking it, but I've hit a point where progression requires either tons of resources or banging my head against difficult skill checks over and over. So for now I'm just sitting around waiting for my Scandal to go down.

(Incidentally, does anyone know a reliable way for a low/mid-level character to reduce Scandal?)

Matters of Persuasion and Scandal in your lodging will let you go to church, which has good odds of lowering scandal and increasing Connected: The Church. Don't do it if you're very close to 8 scandal though; you get half as much scandal on a failure as you lose on a success.

On the other hand, scandal has the least damaging failure state, so it shouldn't be that big a deal if you fail.

[Divayth Fyr]

I've been playing Fallen London for the last month or so. Mostly liking it, but I've hit a point where progression requires either tons of resources or banging my head against difficult skill checks over and over.
Tons of resources? buahahahahahaha. Wait till you reach the endgame...

Speaking of which, you can now become a Paramount Presence
It just needs you to overcap all of your stats by 15 points, so you need 4x 15 Notability for that, and either 12 Notability or 15 Fate for each change to your PoSI specialization

[CarpeGuitarrem]

One of my most memorable moments in Sunless was a terrifying journey below the Shattered Citadel at Godfall...I just made it out on my last Foxfire Candle. I'd say either that, my exploration of Frostfound, or the quest chain with the Snow Child.

Oh man, the Snow Child!

I had less time than I realized, so I was burning fuel like mad to get back to the Iron Republic, where as far as I knew there was a cure.

And then the devil wanted payment for it. I hadn't planned on that.

AUGH.

:smallfrown:

[Destro_Yersul]

I haven't played Sunless Sea in a long, long time, but I still go on Fallen London to spend my actions. I'm almost capped on all my stats.

[Eldan]

Oh man, the Snow Child!

I had less time than I realized, so I was burning fuel like mad to get back to the Iron Republic, where as far as I knew there was a cure.

And then the devil wanted payment for it. I hadn't planned on that.

AUGH.

:smallfrown:

That's exactly what happened to me.

[Narkis]

I played Fallen London until pretty much the only thing left to grind for was an Overgoat, or Seeking. I hear they added new stories later, but I'd already gotten burnt out.

I loved the atmosphere and stories of Sunless Sea, but the gameplay wasn't that good. It was too unforgiving if you didn't exploit it, too swingy and too grindy. I eventually got bored of having to spend so much time after each restart doing the exact same things before I could get to the same point I was and see new content.

The whole mythology is absolutely fascinating though. Hat's off to the guys for having come up with it.

[Dhavaer]

I played Fallen London until pretty much the only thing left to grind for was an Overgoat, or Seeking.

Or Hesperidian Cider. That's what I'm going for now. 25% there!

[Eldan]

See, I don't have the patience for that. The permadeath aspect of Seeking doesn't scare me. Doing the same action thousands of times does.

[Starwulf]

See, I don't have the patience for that. The permadeath aspect of Seeking doesn't scare me. Doing the same action thousands of times does.

By "Seeking" do you mean "The Seeking of the name"? Just wondering, as that's the only seeking I can think of, but I've also been out for over a year again, and had only been back for about 3 months with a year or more break before that?

Even still, judging by how slowly they release stuff, I'm going to say I haven't missed out on too much going by what peeps on here have posted just in this thread, most of what's been talked about for the endgame is still what was endgame when I left, and I was just starting to get into that, but the insane tedium was driving me up a while. I mean, I can remember when I had to grind for the materials to get my boat(and that was considered the premier end-game grind way back when), but the stuff I was grinding for when I left this most recent time was enough to make that seem like a literal stroll in the park. I remember checking out threads about how long it would take, took one look at the ballpark in terms of actions and time spent and said "nope".

Which is kinda sad, given that I generally LIKE grinding in video games(Disgaea 1-4 anyone?), but this was literally beyond the pale.

[Eldan]

Seeking the Name, yeah. It required hundreds of items to get one change point in the required characteristic, so I noped out when it became clear that I'd have to advance it for several expensive level ups of that to get to the next story point. For a while, I was tempted to try and write a script that would log in and click through the grindy bits for a bit every day, but that was too much work.

I was a monthly subscriber for a while, which gave you access to 40 stored actions and more importantly, a unique story every month, which were usually excellent and with minimal grinding. Those are really good, but I think they go away after the month is over, forever. Some excellent lore there, too, like the expedition to the elder continent, several juicy secrets about snuffers, the royal family...

[Recaiden]

I've been playing Fallen London for the last month or so. Mostly liking it, but I've hit a point where progression requires either tons of resources or banging my head against difficult skill checks over and over. So for now I'm just sitting around waiting for my Scandal to go down.

(Incidentally, does anyone know a reliable way for a low/mid-level character to reduce Scandal?)

Cooperating with other players is always a viable way to reduce menaces.

[Demon 997]

Any good ways to improve Scholar of the Correspondence? I'm at level 9, currently using the shuttered palace, but it's a good 30ish actions for a single point, and I'd like to join the foreign ministry.

Also, what should I be doing for Watchful and Dangerous now that I'm done with the Labyrinth of Tigers? Zee voyages to get back into the university?

[Destro_Yersul]

If you don't mind a one-time fate cost, there's the Corresponding Ocelot's opportunity card. If you haven't finished the University story, there's an option in there somewhere. If you have there's still an option, but it's really expensive. There's the symphonies, obviously, and there's also a couple options with pails of snow during the christmas event. It's honestly one of the most difficult qualities to raise past a certain point.

[Recaiden]

Stick with the Palace music until you get it to level 10. After that the only way is Christmas events and the University (which are both worse than writing challenging music).

After the Labyrinth, yeah, the scientific islands at Zee.

[Friv]

Ah, Fallen London and Sunless Sea.

I also finished pretty much all the free content, plus a few paid pieces, and then gave up and left. I would pay good money for a fiction anthology that's just the various monthly stories I didn't have access to due to not wanting to spend so much cash on them (or for a Fallen London RPG!)

And I was also a devout Sunless Sea player, but only after I turned off Permadeath and started saving the game each time I was in London (and only London). Before that, the chances of randomly running into Mount Nomad during the interminable first three hours of the game were just too frustrating and high. Once I could actually advance and experience the game, though... man, I loved that game. Never got all of the content (the Carnelian Exile's storyline just had too much stuff in it for me, and I never quite finished Aestival) but generally it was a purchase worth making. I backed Sunless Skies, and I'm looking forward to it, too.

[Eldan]

The solution to sunless sea for me was to just cheat in a few ten thousand gold at the start of every run and start with a big, well-armed ship. The idea of sailing the Unterzee in a tiny rustbucket is tempting, of course, but not if you get killed by a swarm of crabs and have to do the same three beginner quests for the fiftieth time.

[Eurus]

The solution to sunless sea for me was to just cheat in a few ten thousand gold at the start of every run and start with a big, well-armed ship. The idea of sailing the Unterzee in a tiny rustbucket is tempting, of course, but not if you get killed by a swarm of crabs and have to do the same three beginner quests for the fiftieth time.

Sunless Sea had so much potential, but unfortunately it was being pulled in two directions at once. Two directions not only different, but completely hostile to each other. As a slow, atmospheric writing-driven adventure game, it would have been neat if it wasn't for all the times you die and have to redo the same early stories again and again. As a tense, horror-survival-logistics game it could have been neat if it was focused and fleshed out more on that side, and made a little less actively frustrating to play (cut the travel times by, like, 80% and we're getting somewhere). So... yeah, the solution is cheating.

IIRC, there was an article one of the designers wrote about sunless sea that basically put that into words better than I ever could, explaining why mixing rougelike permadeath gameplay and heavy focus on writing together turned out to be a bad idea in practice. Not sure where it went, though...

[Friv]

Sunless Sea had so much potential, but unfortunately it was being pulled in two directions at once. Two directions not only different, but completely hostile to each other. As a slow, atmospheric writing-driven adventure game, it would have been neat if it wasn't for all the times you die and have to redo the same early stories again and again. As a tense, horror-survival-logistics game it could have been neat if it was focused and fleshed out more on that side, and made a little less actively frustrating to play (cut the travel times by, like, 80% and we're getting somewhere). So... yeah, the solution is cheating.

IIRC, there was an article one of the designers wrote about sunless sea that basically put that into words better than I ever could, explaining why mixing rougelike permadeath gameplay and heavy focus on writing together turned out to be a bad idea in practice. Not sure where it went, though...

The thing is, if it wasn't such a huge game it could have worked. There are a lot of stories in Sunless Sea that you can play several times from several angles, so I can see how they thought making it a rogue like would be a good idea. But the game was just so vast it didn't work at all.

[Iruka]

IIRC, there was an article one of the designers wrote about sunless sea that basically put that into words better than I ever could, explaining why mixing rougelike permadeath gameplay and heavy focus on writing together turned out to be a bad idea in practice. Not sure where it went, though...

You meah this (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/237657/Postmortem_Failbetter_Games_Sunless_Sea.php) one?

[Eurus]

You meah this (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/237657/Postmortem_Failbetter_Games_Sunless_Sea.php) one?

Yes, that one.

[Demon 997]

Am I correct in thinking that the Shrine to Saint Joshua is the best profession item, as it gives a far bigger boost than anything else you could put in that slot?

[Iruka]

Am I correct in thinking that the Shrine to Saint Joshua is the best profession item, as it gives a far bigger boost than anything else you could put in that slot?

While it only gives +1 over alternative Shadowy or Watchful items, it is the only non-Fate source of Dreaded in that slot.

[Iruka]

I finally got my Stormy-Eyed over 19. Should I make any preparations before going into the storylet?

In other news: Sunless Skies is available for early access. Has anyone already given it a try?

[Recaiden]

I finally got my Stormy-Eyed over 19. Should I make any preparations before going into the storylet?

In other news: Sunless Skies is available for early access. Has anyone already given it a try?

Get Urchin renown to 40, and then 7 more urchin favors.

As for Sunless Skies, a tiny bit. The movement feels off somehow.

[Destro_Yersul]

Getting favours takes so long. Is there any way to make it go faster?

[Recaiden]

There are only bad ways to get Favours, and it depends on the specific group. Mostly it's a matter of learning which Opportunity cards grant which favours. Each of the PoSI items from the sidestreets, for example, add a card to your deck with a favours option. Be sure to have the right Connected Pet for the faction you want.

EXCEPT! If you are Closest To: Bohemians or The Great Game, you can Count The Days without needing to use any normal opportunity cards, which lets you farm Bohemian/Great Game/Docks/Urchins Favors, 1/each for 42 actions and 2 Abundant-rarity cards. 5x Actions in Wolfstack, 5x in Forgotten Quarter, 5x University, 5x Shuttered Palace, draw the card, repeat.

Some nice people have made lists:
Society (https://www.reddit.com/r/fallenlondon/comments/6st6t0/sources_for_society_favours/)
Revolutionaries (https://www.reddit.com/r/fallenlondon/comments/6slspk/sources_for_revolutionary_favours/)
Bohemians (https://www.reddit.com/r/fallenlondon/comments/6sd6ul/sources_for_bohemian_favours/)
Church (https://www.reddit.com/r/fallenlondon/comments/6s8kbi/sources_for_church_favours/) favours can be farmed by repeating the Hound of Heaven process. Requires a ship and having finished the main Dangerous storyline.
The Great Game (https://www.reddit.com/r/fallenlondon/comments/6g3m3t/sources_for_great_game_favours/)
Hell (https://www.reddit.com/r/fallenlondon/comments/6eq2or/sources_for_hell_favours/) Favours can be farmed by spying for them in Polythreme. Requires a ship and either a 5-card lodging or a lot of patience.
Constables (https://www.reddit.com/r/fallenlondon/comments/6eq1ce/sources_for_constables_favours/)
Criminals (https://www.reddit.com/r/fallenlondon/comments/5u748c/is_there_any_way_to_easily_get_favours_criminals/) can be farmed by bringing Skyglass knives into New Newgate (requires going to prison yourself, of course)
Urchins (https://www.reddit.com/r/fallenlondon/comments/5ovrcb/sources_for_urchins_favours/)
Docks (https://www.reddit.com/r/fallenlondon/comments/5r8oy5/how_to_earn_favours_with_the_lads_at_the_docks/) Favours can be farmed up on Mutton Island, or in Watchmaker's Hill with the Chandleress if the airs of London are right (5% chance, damages your Dangerous stat)
Rubberies I can't find a compilation for.
Tomb-colonists have no list I can find either, but you can farm their favours while Exiled to the tomb-colonies.

There are carousels and storylets behind FATE purchases for some of them.

[Iruka]

Thanks for the help! Now I wish I hadn't sold my soul and changed my Closest To.:smallbiggrin: