Casing (Guide)
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Early MYN Content and Onwards |
| Casing... Summary | |||||||||||
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| Limited-Length Activity | |||||||||||
| Setup | Progress | End | |||||||||
| 0 A | 2+ A | 1 A | |||||||||
| Progress
Details |
Raise  Casing... to desired payout.
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| Raw EPA | 3.28 | Raw SPA | 6.3 | ||||||||
| Special | Grand Larcenies covered by Cover Identities (Guide) and are not included. Same with Heists. | ||||||||||
Casing... is used for four endeavours:
- Villainy: Area-Diving (Unlocked with A Name Whispered in Darkness 2 in Spite)
- Villainy: Stealing Paintings for the Topsy King (Unlocked with access to The Flit)
- Several criminal shenanigans in The Flit (Unlocked with A Name Whispered in Darkness 4)
- Assorted Larcenies in The Clay Highwayman's Camp (Unlocked with A Marauder of the Clay Highwayman)
Note: CPs and levels of Casing are interchangeable between all sources and crimes, i.e. you do not necessarily have to steal paintings to do the Topsy King one
Gaining Casing...[edit]
Area-diving: Casing the Target[edit]
This can be an alternative to Preparing for a Big Score and Agree to Steal Paintings for the Topsy King if you don't have sufficient 
Shadowy and the means to properly deal with 
Suspicion. 
Area-Diving in Spite is unlocked on the map when you reach A Name Whispered in Darkness 3.
| Option | Challenge | Success |
|---|---|---|
| A straightforward approach... Get close and watch | Shadowy 24
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+1 CP Casing...
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| This might be faster... Chat to the kitchen staff on their way in and out |  Persuasive 35
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+2 CP Casing...
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| Gather intelligence on your target |  50 x Whispered Hint
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+3 CP Casing...
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Steal Paintings[edit]
If you Agree to Steal Paintings for the Topsy King you can steal a painting for Casing... at the same action efficiency as most of the Preparing for a Big Score options, but more effectively train Shadowy as it only takes 1 action for each attempt.
| Option | Requirements | Challenge | Success | Failure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steal a painting from a struggling artist |  10 x Bottle of Greyfields 1879
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72
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| Steal a painting from a noted gallery | 75
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+3 CP Casing...
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+1 CP Suspicion
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Preparing for a Big Score[edit]
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The following section is outdated and no longer reflects the current state of Fallen London. It should be used with caution.
Please help improve it
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Preparing for a Big Score in The Flit unlocks at Shadowy 73.
As a hint for beginners, looking at the table below, the 3-action, 70+ difficulty tasks with Suspicion penalties are obviously not suited to training Shadowy, as one does when first becoming a Master Thief. That's what the single action, 50 difficulty, no penalty Eavesdrop option is for. You only get 2 Casing CP per action, but at a 90% success rate (and, thus 1.9 Shadowy CP per action), you get over twice the Shadowy CP offered by the 3-action tasks, at no risk of Menaces. It does take more overall actions to achieve your Casing CP goal, but the lack of penalties and bonus to Shadowy training make it worthwhile as, for the moment, earning Echoes is likely not your primary task.
When training, remember that you can manipulate your Shadowy value by changing the clothing you wear. Remove items with Shadowy bonuses as training increases your Shadowy score to maintain a constant odds value in tasks, as going above a 90% success rate drops your earned Shadowy CP from 2 down to 1, halving your training efficiency. For a difficulty 50 task, a combined base value plus item bonus score of Shadowy 75 will get you a 90% success rate. See the Leveling Guide for more.
To avoid excessive Suspicion buildup, one suggestion would be to only switch over to the higher difficulty tasks once your odds of success rise to 80-90% (~100-120 Shadowy).
Here are the options and possible outcomes (disregarding skill challenge based CPs to Shadowy).
| Option | Actions | Challenge | Success | CP Gain per Action | Failure |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eavesdrop on those in the know | 1 | Shadowy 50
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+2 Casing...
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2 | - |
| Look for the targets | 3 | Shadowy 74
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2 (Rare: 2.67) | +3 Suspicion
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| Examine the target | 3 | Shadowy 76
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+6 Casing...
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2 | +1 Suspicion
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| Criminal assistance | 3 | Shadowy 78
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+6 Casing... +30 Whispered Hint
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2 | -2 Casing... +2 Suspicion
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| Scapegoats and alibis | 3 | Shadowy 80
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+9 Casing...
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3 | +3 Suspicion
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| Formulate a plan | 3 | Shadowy 82
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+9 Casing...
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3 | +1 Suspicion
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| The decoy | 3 | Shadowy 84
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+9 Casing... A Bundle (1-30)
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3 | -3 Casing... +1 Suspicion
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Well-planned villainy |
5 | - | +16 Casing...
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3.2 | - |
| Set your gang of hoodlums to business (needs  PoSI &  Gang)
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5 | Shadowy 100
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+18 Casing...
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3.6 | +3 Casing...
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Big Rat[edit]
If you made a deal with the Big Rat, you can Purchase some assistance with Casing... in your Lodgings. from the storylet available at your lodgings. At 9 CP per Action, this is the most action-efficient method, but it costs 
2.40 in 
Talkative Rattus Fabers.
Parabola[edit]
In addition to the above, there is a late game option to acquire casing in Parabola by Finding the weakness in an opponent's defences, however this requires Shadowy Gains 6. Furthermore, this involves a Shadowy challenge with high difficulty; spending an Action point to reduce the difficulty may be needed to make this method more reliable, but this reduces the CP per Action from slightly over 9 to 7.
Specifically, with 
Glasswork 12 required to 100% Apply your own knowledge, Sneak forward becomes a Broad Shadowy 180 challenge ( Shadowy 300 for 100%), resulting in 4 actions for 28 CP of Casing... (7 CP/action). If you have an 
Acicular Squirrel, you can replace the Glasswork challenge by a 
Kataleptic Toxicology challenge of the same difficulty.
See Parabolan Destinations (Guide) for more info.
Helicon House[edit]
Late-game players can also gain small amounts of Casing... at Helicon House, to a maximum of 2.6 CP per action. See the Helicon House guide for more details.
| Action | Location | CP
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 Time Remaining
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Notes |
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| Just the right person | Alone, or with a companion? | +2 | Entry | Also gives  Fascinating... and  Investigating...
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| Your Platonic Partner in Crime | Alone, or with a companion? | +2 | Entry | |
| Your Platonic Eminence Grise | Alone, or with a companion? | +2 | Entry | FATE |
| Keep a close eye on everyone present | The Entrance Hall | +1-5 | 2+ | Gives more Casing... earlier; also gives Investigating...
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| Deploy your Morally and Physically Flexible Rubbery Cat | The Entrance Hall | +6 | 4+ | Costs  3 x Hand-picked Peppercaps
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Using Casing...[edit]
Area-diving[edit]
Area-diving is a short carousel involving two separate Casing... 3 checks and 1-2 additional actions to cash in. It resets Casing....
| Option | Challenge | Success | Failure |
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| Hand it over to the authorities for burning |
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| Into the river with it | |||
| Keep it |
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| A spot of blackmail ➤ Blackmail her | 1
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Steal Paintings[edit]
| Option | Challenge | Success | Failure |
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| Give the Topsy King the paintings | 3
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| Offer to make a wall of stolen paintings | 7
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Sell Information[edit]
You can Sell information to these three factions (unlocked with Casing... 3):
Constables: costs 6 CP of Casing / gains 260 
Moon-Pearls
Hell: -6 / +10 CP Persuasive
Criminals: -10 / +10 CP Shadowy (requires Casing... 4)
Thefts of Particular Character[edit]
You can do Thefts of Particular Character once you reach Casing 10 to gain different items (requires Shadowy 73). All options will gain 12.50 Echoes worth of items after a Shadowy 120 challenge costing you 32 CP of Casing if successful. Failing will give the same amount of items but deduct 51 CP Casing. The options are:
x 25 Steal Tales of Terror from a noted author
x 25 Steal Journals of Infamy from an Iniquitous Solicitor
x 5 Steal Muscaria Brandy from the Infernal Sommelier
x 25 Steal Brilliant Souls en route to Hookman House
x 1 Steal an Antique Mystery from Feducci
x 1 Steal a Bazaar Permit from the offices of Baseborn & Fowlingpiece
Embark on a Heist[edit]
You can choose to Embark on a Heist. Check the On a Heist (Guide) page for a guide and advice.
Various thefts in the Flit[edit]
You can do larger crimes at various difficulties, all of them resetting your Casing if successful:
Suggested level and expected actions per theft assume that you can gain Casing... at 3 CP/action and reduce suspicion at 4 cp/action usually, or 2 cp/action while in prison. Bear in mind there may be other consequences as well. The numbers are not completely accurate due to rounding, in reality they will usually be higher.
- ↑ Assumes Casing... gained at +3 CP/action, and all attempts at level 5 (30% chance of failure). Expected actions is 6 + (0.3^1 * 3) + (0.3^2 * 3) + (0.3^3 * 2) + ... —note that the number of additional actions for each failure depends on whether the sum of all previous failure penalties is divisible by 3.
- ↑ Hard to measure due to prison mechanics
- ↑ This will increase Nightmares from 0 to 8 and drive you mad unless you wear Nightmare-reducing gear
Helicon House[edit]
Late-game players can spend small amounts of Casing... at Helicon House by using the action Lay claim to any left-behind items.
Highway Robbery[edit]
If you've made it at least partially through the Clay Highwayman's story, you'll have access to Assorted Larcenies at his camp in Balmoral. These crimes can be accessed through the card deck there (it's infinite draw), do not have associated challenges, and have overall high EPA.
The EPAs for some of the options are hard to calculate. For example, 
Consignment of Scintillack Snuff cannot be sold directly and must be converted either to 
Hinterland Scrip via Engage in a bit of smuggling or 
Preserved Surface Blooms via Offer a well-packed keg of scintillack snuff. The calculated EPAs below generally assume that the items are directly sold, or sold as directly as possible. In cases where this is not possible, EPAs are approximate.
Arguably, larcenies with 8 casing in Balmoral are the most rewarding from an EPA perspective as they pay in scrip, but neither option is particularly outstanding, unless you need some specific resources.
Grand Larcenies[edit]
By combining Casing... 10 with a Cover Identity, more advanced larcenies can be done to acquire T7 items.
The following table from the Cover Identity guide shows the different items that can be stolen. It's hard to measure an EPA value for these options, but if one assumes 20 actions per cover identity, 10 actions for casing and 200E in cover identity supplies it provides around 3.75 EPA. Those assumptions are fairly optimistic, however. These rewards are good if you need them, but not something one would usually do for echoes.
| Action | Card | Cover Identity Qualities | Reward |
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 Eccentric Philosopher
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 Larceny at Ealing Gardens
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10  5  5  80
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 1 x Nodule of Fecund Amber
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 Seasoned Smuggler
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 Larceny at Jericho Locks
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10 5 5 80
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 1 x Fabulous Diamond
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 Inconvenient Royal
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 Larceny at the Magistracy
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 Bazaar 10 5 5 80
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 1 x Scrap of Ivory Organza
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 Palaeontological Yank
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 Larceny at Balmoral
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10 5 5 80
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 1 x Prismatic Frame
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| Precious manuscript
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 Larceny at Burrow-Infra-Mump
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10 5 5 80
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 1 x Legenda Cosmogone
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