Attending a Party (Guide)
|
Early PoSI Content |
| Attending a Party Summary | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Locked Semi-Fixed-Length Activity | |||||||||||
| Setup | Progress | End | |||||||||
| 1 A | 1-6 A | 1 A | |||||||||
| Progress
Details |
Raise  Talk of the Town while you have  Time Remaining....
| ||||||||||
| Raw EPA | 1.53 | ||||||||||
Parties in Veilgarden are accessed via the Opportunity Card A Polite Invitation, which appears when you are 
A Person of Some Importance (see Guide). A party is a social opportunity, with potential rewards that include 
Making Waves and Favours.
What to do at a party[edit]
You are at a party—an opportunity to socialise, dance, and dine with other prominent Londoners. It primarily involves 
Persuasive challenges between 115 and 130, but some actions use other main attributes in the same range, and a few are based on other qualities entirely.
Actions you can take at the party are determined by unique opportunity cards and storylets. They include chances to increase Talk of the Town or gain other rewards, notably Favours.
You can have only 3 opportunity cards face-up in the deck during a party, regardless of your lodgings. Cards are non-discardible, but the deck is unlimited (meaning you can always draw a new card to fill your hand, without waiting).
The progress of the party is tracked by the quality Time Remaining. Different options are available on the cards and storylets at different stages of the party.
When Time Remaining reaches zero, the party ends, and your Talk of the Town carries over or (if it's reached a certain level) can be traded for rewards. You will also receive some Making Waves.
You can always leave the party early via Make your Apologies, at a cost of 1 CP Talk of the Town. The remainder will still carry over to your next party.
Progress[edit]
Time Remaining...[edit]
Time Remaining determines the stage of the party, and which options can be played on storylets and opportunity cards. The following table indicates whether a particular storylet or card is playable at a given stage.
Time Remaining...
Passing time[edit]
Playing an option costs x 1, with some exceptions. The following actions cost x 2 on success or failure:
- At 6, Arrive fashionably late (but a rare success only costs 1)
- At 4, The Jovial Contrarian is looking for someone to argue with
These actions cost x 2 only on failure (and send you to Taking your Leave if was ≤ 2):
- At 5, Exchange pleasantries with two creaking ladies
- At 3, Attempt a fiery dance of the Elder Continent
- At 2, The Whiskered Admiral has turned an alarming shade of purple
- At 2, Discuss recent fluctuations in the market
- At 1–5, Gamble with the footmen from The Impertinent Footman
Finally, these actions reset Time Remaining and send you immediately back to Your Lodgings, without Taking your Leave:
- Make your Apologies (to leave the party early)
- At 2, failure at The Jovial Contrarian is about to give a Whiskered Admiral a fit
Taking your Leave[edit]
At Time Remaining 0, the storylet Taking your Leave is activated, where you can claim a final reward depending on your level of Talk of the Town. As the quality is pyramidal, it takes 78 CP to reach level 12.
- 1: You've not gone unnoticed gets you 20 CP of Making Waves and
1 x Favours: Society - 12: Someone would like a word gains 30 CP Making Waves and
4 x Favour in High Places - 12: Your host would like a moment before you leave gains 40 CP Making Waves and
1 x Personal Recommendation
Talk of the Town rolls over if you choose You've not gone unnoticed, allowing you to build it up at subsequent parties for the higher-tier rewards. Both of the level 12 options cost 75 CP of Talk of the Town (enough to take you down from exactly level 12 to level 2).
Strategically speaking, you can continue choosing to roll over your Talk of the Town even after you have enough to get the higher rewards. This would theoretically allow you to bank large amounts and play the higher options at consecutive parties, which could be helpful when grinding Making Waves. (For example, reaching 17 would allow you to spend 75 CP at one party on a level 12 option, and still have 12 going into the next party.) However, to do this within the same week (to keep ahead of Time, the Healer's MW reduction) depends on drawing A Polite Invitation, so it's more of a bonus than a reliable element of a MW grind strategy.
Rewards[edit]
The various options at a party also have valuable rewards—primarily Talk of the Town, but also notably various factions' favours, with the occasional chance of making extra Making Waves, especially as you leave the party. This section lists the availability of those rewards and the best possible amount of Talk of the Town in one party:
Talk of the Town[edit]
All values of Time Remaining have a non-card option which, on success, gives +2 CP and cost 1 Time Remaining. The strat is to avoid the handful of options which give less and aim for the few options which give more. This mostly means making sure to spill wine on a rival at 5 and trying your best to draw The Turkish Girl... by 3. Succeeding at all of this earns the maximum possible 19 CP over the course of the party.
A handful of options consume 2 Time Remaining on failure; the relevant ones to this strat are ( 3) both options of The Last Dance (if you haven't drawn The Turkish Girl at this point and didn't skip it with the Jovial Contrarian), and ( 2) Discuss recent fluctuations in the market or trying to save the Whiskered Admiral.
- Reply and attend, +2 CP
- 6, Chat up the Brass Ambassador for a free Favour, or else Arrive punctually, because you don't want to miss the chance to...
- 5, Spill wine on a social rival, +6 CP, by far the single best option not just on this card, but in the whole party, if you have a target. If you don't have any friends, settle for spreading rumors about the Brass Ambassador for +3 CP. Then go make a friend after the party.
- 4, If you still haven't drawn the Turkish Girl by now, play Heavily Entitled if you have it, taking whichever polite option you have a higher success rate at. If you have neither card, arguing with the Jovial Contrarian will save you an action.
- 3, The Turkish Girl has taken her shoes off to dance, +3 CP if you draw the card (vs +2 CP on any standard option)
- 2, Saving the Whiskered Admiral earns you a bonus Favour without loss of Talk of the Town; otherwise the risky conversation topic is ironically the safest option here, since failure won't waste any additional time.
- 1, the cards here only grant Favours, just pick a group to mingle with.
Making Waves[edit]
The strat is to fish for Heavily Entitled; no other options grant MW except arriving and leaving. If you don't draw it, play whatever other card gives you the most Talk of the Town for you to cash in when you leave, except The Impertinent Footman, which will reduce your MW.
Be aware that if you're not reasonably confident you'll reach your next point of 
Notability before Time, the Healer next visits, it may be better to farm Talk of the Town for now and cash it in next week.
- 6, Arriving at the Party: Fashionably late if you have a large stockpile of Talk of the Town and want to cash it in as quickly as possible. Otherwise, arrive punctually, so you don't miss...
- 5, Spill wine on a social rival, none directly, but the 6 CP Talk of the Town will be worth 2.4-3.2 CP Making Waves when you cash it in at the end of the party
- 1–5, all options on The Impertinent Footman lose 1-5 CP depending on result
- 1–5, "Harry." in the card Heavily Entitled, +2 CP on success.
- 0: Taking your Leave:
- Your host would like a moment before you leave, +40 CP, is the best way to convert Talk of the Town into Making Waves, both directly and via the secondary rewards, if you have both the premises and the
other resources needed to hold A Private Auction. - Someone would like a word, +30 CP at the same Talk of the Town cost is broadly weaker than the other option, but converting Favours in High Places into MW requires fewer additional resources than converting a Personal Recommendation, either at a Rooftop Shack or at a Salon.
- You've not gone unnoticed for +20 CP only if you're short on Talk of the Town, or if this is sufficient to reach the threshold for your next Notability (more likely to be relevant at lower Notability levels, but always possible).
- Your host would like a moment before you leave, +40 CP, is the best way to convert Talk of the Town into Making Waves, both directly and via
Favours[edit]
- 6, The Brass Ambassador bumps into you on the street outside, 2
Favours: Hell at the cost of a 
Bottle of Broken Giant 1844. - 5, The Tentacled Entrepreneur is heading hopefully in your direction, 1–2
Favours: Rubbery Men. - 3, Stick to something stately, gains 1
Favours: The Docks on a rare success (~25% of successes). - 2:
- The Tentacled Entrepreneur is confused by the cutlery, 1 Favours: Rubbery Men.
- The Jovial Contrarian is about to give a Whiskered Admiral a fit, gains 1 Favours: Society.
- The Whiskered Admiral has turned an alarming shade of purple, gains 1 Favours: Society.
- The Tentacled Entrepreneur is confused by the cutlery, 1
- 1:
- The Tentacled Entrepreneur has a business proposition, gains 1 Favours: Society.
- The Brass Ambassador asked you to bring a certain document along, 1 Favours: Hell; spends 1 x Infernal Contract but requires 10 Contracts.
- The Tentacled Entrepreneur has a business proposition, gains 1
- 0, You've not gone unnoticed, gains 1 Favours: Society.
