making-me-nameless

[making-me-nameless]

Time, the Updater

Ahoy mateys! Stoke the boilers and

Piracy unlocked! This was mostly just a matter of putting in the time to get the Zee Legs. I got a bunch in the Ghost Ship event, and just finished it off picking up the Unexploded Mine. The only thing different from normal is the Strong-backed Labor; the most efficient sources are cut off, but it's still available in Wilmot's End fairly conveniently.

As implied by the Unexploded Mine, I'm closing in on all the 40 renown items I can get. It convenient to get Piracy now, as I need to spend some time on Mutton Island to get Stormy-Eyed for What Might Be A Thunderbolt, so I can at least get some payout for the associated Zailing.

[making-me-nameless]

Time the Updater

Agents!

Picked up the Luckless Captain as an Agent. That's probably as far as I can get with Agents for now. Without the Side-Streets, I can't unlock The Wily Bathyphile or the second Active Plot. I could unlock the Clay Breaker, but without the second Plot, I don't think there's any reason too.

Whitsun!

Whitsun had some interesting challenges. The Labyrinth of Tigers, The Department of Menace Eradication, and Mahogany Hall were unavailable, so that limited my options for Terror Birds and Aurochs (and you can see the duplicate Young Terror Bird from failing to initialize recognize that).

The Flit and the Shuttered Palace are accessible, but harder. I got a chance to refresh my options for navigation: getting the Palace via A Visit with the Wry Functionary, and the Flit via the War of Assassins. Despite those challenges, as you can see I did manage to get the Carnivorous Aurochs and all non-Illegal three Squirrels (as well as all three non-Illegal Spindlewolves).

Also, my first Transports!

Hearts' Game!

I've "finished" Hearts' Game, as much as that's possible. It's been my default activity for just spending actions when I have nothing else I'm working on (and probably will continue to be, for EPA if nothing else).

[making-me-nameless]

Time the Updater: Not Dead just Busy

While the NOS Deniable and then the Fluke were available, I was pretty much focused on them. Good EPA for this stage of the game, plus at least the explosive disposal part built up my Zee Legs.

Starting now, there's a new season of Hearts' Game, and it is the last season distinction I need, so I'm working on that.

Also, Agents! A new feature, and I should be able to use it as it's gated by POSI rank 2. I've still got to figure out how to get all the things I need to buy in, but it looks promising.

[making-me-nameless]

Time the Updater: Sixth Coil Edition

As the title suggests, I mostly worked on the Sixth Coil's reappearance in the Waswood. That required not only the event itself, but quite a lot of preparation, including a milestone in and of itself: creating a Parabolan Company and completing my first Parabolan War (with the Gentleman, because I've picked the Viscountess in the past).

Unfortunately, it did not unlock the Discovered: The Labyrinth of Tigers. That was pretty much my last hope, there, so I'm probably locked out indefinitely.

Still, I picked up quite a bit of new gear, including some BiS, so it wasn't wasted time.

Having finished that, I'm now working on dumping decommissioned explosives into the ocean. I've only blown up once so far, and that gave me a chance to pick up The Place Where they Bury the Bodies, so it's going great.

[making-me-nameless]

I appreciate the shout-out, but, seriously, this is a challenge run for a reason. You definitely should do all the Making Your Name stories on first character.

it's advent calendar season which means lots of free goodies which means it's a great time to start playing fallen london. so I dusted off an old thing I wrote about the game

behold: phosphor's slapdash writeup for people wondering wtf is fallen london even, in which I also shill quite shamelessly for the game

I tried to keep it fairly basic, more about answering "what is this" and less "how do you do this." maybe I will write a separate newbie guidething someday but this isn't it. hope you puzzled onlookers enjoy, regardless

[making-me-nameless]

Time the Updater: Forgetting Edition

What did I do this week? If I only could remember...

[making-me-nameless]

Time the Updater: Lack of Updates Editions

Apologies for the lack of forward progress while I ruminate on my options. Admitting defeat, even partial defeat, is harder than I expected.

Still, I have been playing the character, and in my partial defense, if the mandate is to experience as much content as possible without Making Your Name, I have been making progress on other content:

Closing in 40 Renown for some factions. Rubbery Men are low because I don't really have a good source of Warm Amber to give them, and Docks are low because I've spent a bunch of Docks favours getting Expedition supplies.

All but one of the Hearts Game distinctions. The missing distinction is one of the seasonal ones; I believe I can unlock it in May, though I'm not sure. I'm a long way from enough Exploits to get the Black Book in any case (I've been spending them).

[making-me-nameless]

OK, so if I'm breaking down and admitting that I need to play

How do I get the 10 Fate?

Obviously I could just buy it. But I've got a bunch of Fate on my main, and buying more costs less per Fate. But I can only transfer 50 at a time, which is way more than I need.

According to the wiki, there's an option to transfer 20 at a time at Christmas. Which is still more than I need. But I could send 50 Fate and then 20 Fate back twice and it would work out?

[making-me-nameless]

I'm also leaning towards Fate. Unfortunately, my investigations into possibilities other than just paying my way past the Sufficient Importance Roadblock are not promising, but I have a few more things to look into.

The Run is Dead, Long Live the Run

Alright, I'm officially giving up on finding a way to get Railway Steel that strictly complies with my self-imposed rules. I need to relax at least one of the rules.

I could finish enough Making Your Name to pass the Sufficient Importance gate. Of the options, I think the Dangerous one is the best. Unlike the Persuasive one, it doesn't require me to complete finish one of the storylines. And it lets me avoid Watchful MYN entirely (surprisingly, there's no pure Shadowy option; the apparent Shadowy option requires both Shadowy and Watchful MYN). As an added bonus, I believe that would let me finish Bag A Legend.

The alternative is spending Fate. Of course, there's a fate option on Sufficient Importance, that would just let me bypass it completely. Some people on the subreddit suggested that there might be also some other fate-locked options that will let me access it organically as a part of a story, and in a more limited fashion. I admit that idea has its attractions. But I don't know if it will be possible, and it's difficult to research because Fate-locked content has limited coverage on the wiki, so no promises there.

Ultimately, the choice to make is: Do I stay pure on refusing to Make My Name even if I have to pay to win to do it, or is Fate too much of a cheat so it's better to complete as good a run as possible without it even if it's not perfect.

I don't promise to follow the community vote on this, I have my own preferences, but I'm at least interested in seeing what people think.

[making-me-nameless]

The Run is Dead, Long Live the Run

Alright, I'm officially giving up on finding a way to get Railway Steel that strictly complies with my self-imposed rules. I need to relax at least one of the rules.

I could finish enough Making Your Name to pass the Sufficient Importance gate. Of the options, I think the Dangerous one is the best. Unlike the Persuasive one, it doesn't require me to complete finish one of the storylines. And it lets me avoid Watchful MYN entirely (surprisingly, there's no pure Shadowy option; the apparent Shadowy option requires both Shadowy and Watchful MYN). As an added bonus, I believe that would let me finish Bag A Legend.

The alternative is spending Fate. Of course, there's a fate option on Sufficient Importance, that would just let me bypass it completely. Some people on the subreddit suggested that there might be also some other fate-locked options that will let me access it organically as a part of a story, and in a more limited fashion. I admit that idea has its attractions. But I don't know if it will be possible, and it's difficult to research because Fate-locked content has limited coverage on the wiki, so no promises there.

Ultimately, the choice to make is: Do I stay pure on refusing to Make My Name even if I have to pay to win to do it, or is Fate too much of a cheat so it's better to complete as good a run as possible without it even if it's not perfect.

I don't promise to follow the community vote on this, I have my own preferences, but I'm at least interested in seeing what people think.

[making-me-nameless]

Time the Updater

Still stuck on Railway Steel. I've had some ideas, but nothing that panned out.

In the meantime, I've been finishing off some Lab projects, and playing Hearts' Game for money and distinctions.

[making-me-nameless]

Time the Updated

Still stuck on a way to make Railway Steel. Eventually, if I can't figure out a solution, I'll give up and advance one of the non-Watchful MYN stories far enough to pass the Sufficient Importance gate, but I'm not ready to do that just yet.

In the meantime, I'm still working on other goals. I've been smuggling crates from the Khanate in order to build up Zee-dreams to get an Oneiric Pearl in time for Tears, Sphinxstone, and Limestone in the Waswood (I had another pearl earlier, but I spent that one at the Starved War).

[making-me-nameless]

So you're blocked on several things but the Side-streets would resolve the current block on the Library -> Equipment -> Railway Steel, right?

Is the blockage there https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Sufficient_Importance ?

Yes, I need Equipment for Railway Steel, I need the Library for Equipment, I need the Side-Streets for the Library, and that's how you unlock the Side-Streets.

There might be other ways to accomplish one of the steps in the chain, but resolving that storylet would indeed fix the problem, so if you have an idea for how that could be accomplished, I'd be happy to hear it.

[making-me-nameless]

Thank you for the votes. Unfortunately, my ambition is back on hold until I figure out what I'm going to do about the Railway Steel issue. I don't think a specific ambition will be required to fix it, but just in case I'm not committing to one until I figure it out.

A Quandary of Ambition

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I won't be able to finish an Ambition, unless something changes. I need pick either Bag a Legend or Nemesis in order to unlock Moloch Street, and they both eventually have checkpoints that I can't reach. Nemesis requires Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion (either directly or in order to unlock Silverer as a Profession). Bag a Legend requires access to the Labyrinth of Tigers.

Of the two, it seems significantly more likely that some future feature will allow me to access the Labyrinth of Tigers. Just last summer, the Sixth Coil event did so; it's even possible that the Waswood version of the Sixth Coil will do it. That makes me think I should pick Bag A Legend.

There's a problem with Bag A Legend, though. It also requires access to the Medusa's Head and (unlike the above requirements) that requirement comes before it unlocks Moloch Street. To reach the Medusa's Head, I do have to play a storylet that is labeled "Making Your Name"

It does not actually start the Making Your Name storyline (in order to do that you need to play the other option to Visit the Department of Menace Eradication). In fact, it doesn't unlock any non-hidden quality at all. But it's still labeled "Making Your Name", and so could be argued as not allowed.

I've been going back and forth on this, so I put it to you: what would you rather see?

[making-me-nameless]

Uh oh

[making-me-nameless]

Time the Updater

As implied by my last post, I've spent most of the last week working in the Lab (as well as playing as many Masquing cards as I could draw).

The next step for the Railway is using my Ambition to unlock Moloch Street, so that's coming soon. Currently it's looking like Bag A Legend by a landslide, but the poll is still open, so get your votes in now!

In the meantime, I've been bumming around Parabola, working on my advanced stats:

And just now I've jumped into the London Horticultural Show in the Waswood. I'm sure it will be a relaxing time. Vertiginous Horticulture is locked to MYN, so looking forward to a chance to participate in the next closest thing.

[making-me-nameless]

I may have been having a bit too much fun with the Feast of the Rose Lab project. Not that it's bad that I've reached the point where I unlock Railway Steel, exactly, but I did have other projects I wanted to do and I haven't done them.