Fallen London: Help Me, I’m Useless

[redjinx]

A friend has heavily recommended Fallen London to me. I’ve been playing for about two months and I have to say I’m enjoying it.
..But.
Fallen London, due to the story-based nature of the game, is not a community that lends itself to explanations and recaps. The wiki concerns itself with extremely bare-bones mechanics, and is not very helpful if you’re trying to make sense of how a new thing you have encountered actually works.
And thus, this thread, created for confused souls to ask questions and for veteran players to answer them, should they feel so inclined. To start it off, I have three questions:

1. How does one progress in the Labyrinth of Tigers? I cannot proceed to the fourth coil, and I see no way to increase the quality required.

2. I have sold my soul like the idiot I am. Should I even bother getting it back? How do I even do so?

3. To increase my Shadowy Name path, I need to pull off a heist. How many of what resources do I need to do this?

[Narkis]

Man, this brings back some memories. I used to be of Some Importance way back then. Never did find the Name though.

I remember getting my soul back by fishing in the Flit. Nothing really changed while I was soulless, except some colleagues in the college shunned me while I was a professor there. But it was mine and I needed it back for... reasons.

I'm afraid I can't remember the answer to the other two questions. I do remember having trouble with the Labyrinth as well though.

[spectralphoenix]

A friend has heavily recommended Fallen London to me. I’ve been playing for about two months and I have to say I’m enjoying it.
..But.
Fallen London, due to the story-based nature of the game, is not a community that lends itself to explanations and recaps. The wiki concerns itself with extremely bare-bones mechanics, and is not very helpful if you’re trying to make sense of how a new thing you have encountered actually works.
And thus, this thread, created for confused souls to ask questions and for veteran players to answer them, should they feel so inclined. To start it off, I have three questions:

1. How does one progress in the Labyrinth of Tigers? I cannot proceed to the fourth coil, and I see no way to increase the quality required.

2. I have sold my soul like the idiot I am. Should I even bother getting it back? How do I even do so?

3. To increase my Shadowy Name path, I need to pull off a heist. How many of what resources do I need to do this?

Welcome, delicious friend!

1. If you're currently in the third coil, you need to raise The Hunt is On! until you reach 8, which will unlock a way to progress. You can raise The Hunt is On with the tasks in the third coil, or even heading back to the docks and doing the hunting tasks there if you like.

2. There's no real penalty to losing your soul, besides a few university-related tasks being harder. If you want it back, you can (rarely) find it in some of the higher-value bundles of oddities. The One's Public card (Speak and ask them to disperse) is the best chance of getting them (it requires a 200 and that bundle is worth 0-200, so everything cheaper can't have it and everything better has a lower chance of getting it.) It'll take a while, but just play that card every time it comes up and you'll get it back eventually. I don't think you can get it by fishing anymore - I think they nerfed the reward at some point.

3. Heists are pretty random, but it would be pretty hard to lose with 3 inside information and maybe a key. Might not hurt to get an escape route just in case though. Note that higher levels of Casing don't do anything by themselves - as long as you have enough to get in the door, there's no point in saving any more.

[Iruka]

I don't think you can get it by fishing anymore - I think they nerfed the reward at some point.


Yes, they nerfed it because it was too effective. People kept on selling their souls and fishing them back.

@redjinx
If you need any assistance with social actions or the like, feel free to add me (https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/GluestickGenius).

Maybe this (http://fallenlondon.wikia.com/wiki/Making_Progress_in_the_Labyrinth_of_Tigers) wiki page helps you with the LoT.

[redjinx]

More questions!
1. I'm now in the fourth coil of the Labyrinth of Tigers, about to breed the Somnolent Hyena. However, I see nothing that says Making Your name- what do I need to do for that?
2. What should I be doing in Mahogany Hall? I'm slowly gaining Tales of Mahogany Hall in between other things, and it's currently at 15.
3. I'm a Person of Some Importance now. Is that helpful for... anything, really? So far it's just clogging up my Opportunity deck with gold-bordered cards that lead to stories I don't have enough resources to pursue.
4. I got two Screaming Map halves (a left one and a right one) and put them together, but I see no new storylets at my lodgings. What do I do with the Screaming Map?
5. My Ambition is Light Fingers. Is there actually a reward at the end of it? I've spent perhaps 50 actions, spread out across months, trying to reach the end. Nothing seems to be forthcoming.

[Narkis]

More questions!
1. I'm now in the fourth coil of the Labyrinth of Tigers, about to breed the Somnolent Hyena. However, I see nothing that says Making Your name- what do I need to do for that?
2. What should I be doing in Mahogany Hall? I'm slowly gaining Tales of Mahogany Hall in between other things, and it's currently at 15.
3. I'm a Person of Some Importance now. Is that helpful for... anything, really? So far it's just clogging up my Opportunity deck with gold-bordered cards that lead to stories I don't have enough resources to pursue.
4. I got two Screaming Map halves (a left one and a right one) and put them together, but I see no new storylets at my lodgings. What do I do with the Screaming Map?
5. My Ambition is Light Fingers. Is there actually a reward at the end of it? I've spent perhaps 50 actions, spread out across months, trying to reach the end. Nothing seems to be forthcoming.

My knowledge is years out of date, and my recollection a bit fuzzy. But from what I remember:

2) It's a big loop, like teaching at the university. You prepare your shows, slowly learn more about the conflict behind the scenes and take sides.
3) It's the end-game grind. There's some stuff locked behind it, but you can safely ignore it for now if you have better things to do.
4) If you have the full Screaming Map you can take your ship to the homeland of the clay men. You do have a ship, don't you?
5) When last I played, all ambitions were incomplete. I don't know if they've implemented the end yet, but I kinda doubt it. But even so, they're stupidly huge. They're something you work towards as you play the game, slowly uncovering their tasty story morsels. I doubt a thousand actions are enough, let alone 50. They have some very memorable moments though.

[Eldan]

Being a person of some Importance unlocks higher level quests. Some of them are quite fun, but all of them are gigantic grinds. Which is why I quit. Some would literally have taken me months of repeatedly clicking the same things.

[Divayth Fyr]

All Ambitions are (at least) one content update away from being finished. All require more and more expensive things as they progress*, so I'd skip them until you have amassed a fair store of the various items.

*though there is one bit at the (current) end of Nemesis that is kinda hilarious with its requirement.

[Iruka]

More questions!
1. I'm now in the fourth coil of the Labyrinth of Tigers, about to breed the Somnolent Hyena. However, I see nothing that says Making Your name- what do I need to do for that?
2. What should I be doing in Mahogany Hall? I'm slowly gaining Tales of Mahogany Hall in between other things, and it's currently at 15.
3. I'm a Person of Some Importance now. Is that helpful for... anything, really? So far it's just clogging up my Opportunity deck with gold-bordered cards that lead to stories I don't have enough resources to pursue.
4. I got two Screaming Map halves (a left one and a right one) and put them together, but I see no new storylets at my lodgings. What do I do with the Screaming Map?
5. My Ambition is Light Fingers. Is there actually a reward at the end of it? I've spent perhaps 50 actions, spread out across months, trying to reach the end. Nothing seems to be forthcoming.

1. I did that before they introduced the whole 'Making your name' stuff, so my information may not be correct. If you already have the hyena, you need to increase your Thwarting.../Taming.../The Hunt... qualities until you get an option to breed a new beast.
2. You can 'cash in' your Tales under 'The weekly variety bill!'. To proceed in the War of Illusions or meet the Kashmiri Princess (I think that was a step in the Ambition?), you need to raise it to 20/22.
3. PoSI unlocks advanced storylets, some more efficient grinding options and the Notability mechanic, IIRC.
4. With the complete Screaming Map, a new option should be open out at sea.
5. The Ambitions offer no substantial rewards, are pretty long and not fully finished anyway. Play them only for the story.

[Lacco]

Being a person of some Importance unlocks higher level quests. Some of them are quite fun, but all of them are gigantic grinds. Which is why I quit. Some would literally have taken me months of repeatedly clicking the same things.

And then there is Seeking.

[Eldan]

I actually went Seeking for a while. It was interesting.