Embarking on a Voyage of Scientific Discovery (Guide)

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This is a guide for Embarking on a Voyage of Scientific Discovery and discovering islands in the Unterzee!

Why would you embark on a scientific journey?

Unlocking scientific voyages[edit]

Embarking on a Voyage of Scientific Discovery 1

The Dilmun Club sponsors scientific voyages, but not for just anyone. Unfortunately, His Amused Lordship's valet dislikes you and keeps "losing" your personal recommendations. You'll have to engage in a bit of blackmail to get past him. This can be done from either Set out on a Scientific Expedition (accessed from the FIND NEW STORIES: Chat with the Local Gossip storylet in Your Lodgings), or from the gold storylet A Sneering Gentleman that appears with Featuring in the Tales of the University 30.

In either case, you'll need the following qualities:

You'll also need to spend the following items:

Once you've taken care of this, go to the Bazaar Side-streets to meet with the Dilmun Club Upstairs at the Bridge Without (a gold storylet).

Preliminary Research[edit]

Embarking on a Voyage of Scientific Discovery 2

Before you can actually set sail, you need to do some Preparatory Research at Your Lodgings. There are three types of research you can generate, here and on the voyages themselves:

You're only required to generate 50 pages of one type of research in order to progress. However, you may want to take advantage of the options here to get a good head start on research, especially if you have a particular goal in mind. There's a limit to how much research you can obtain on a single visit to one of the islands, and you won't be able to do Another round of preliminary research until you've returned and used up most of the research you've generated.

Check the options on Preparatory Research to see a single list of all options and their costs and rewards. For a quick reference of the sources for each type of research, expand the relevant table below. Note that the sequency you do this in matters, as doing enough of some types of research will cause options to disappear:

Preparatory sources of Archaeological Notes (AN)
Option Research Gain Cost Notes
Pay someone else to research for you 80 x Memory of Distant Shores
  • Locked with any of:
  • 100 x AN
  • 100 x CN
  • 100 x TN
Have instruments ground 1 x Whirring Contraption
  • Locked with any of:
  • 100 x AN
  • 100 x CN
  • 100 x TN
Examine your collection of curiosities 150 x AN 1 x Collection of Curiosities
  • Locked with:
  • 300 x AN
Consult your current work 1 x Volume of Collated Research
  • Locked with any of:
  • 100 x AN
  • 100 x CN
  • 100 x TN
Find promising students
  • Locked with any of:
  • 100 x AN
  • 100 x CN
  • 100 x TN
Consult the Masters of the Bazaar 100 x AN Connected: Masters 2 CP
Preparatory sources of Cryptopalaeontological Notes (CN)
Option Research Gain Cost Notes
Pay someone else to research for you 80 x Memory of Distant Shores
  • Locked with any of:
  • 100 x AN
  • 100 x CN
  • 100 x TN
Have instruments ground 1 x Whirring Contraption
  • Locked with any of:
  • 100 x AN
  • 100 x CN
  • 100 x TN
Trade in academic favours 100 x CN
Consult your current work 1 x Volume of Collated Research
  • Locked with any of:
  • 100 x AN
  • 100 x CN
  • 100 x TN
Test your Unearthly Fossil 80 x CN 1 x Unearthly Fossil
  • Locked with:
  • 300 x CN
Find promising students
  • Locked with any of:
  • 100 x AN
  • 100 x CN
  • 100 x TN
Preparatory sources of Theosophistical Notes (TN)
Option Research Gain Cost Notes
Look at the current trend in Theosophistry 50 x TN 3 x Favours: Society
  • Locked with:
  • 100 x TN
Pay someone else to research for you 80 x Memory of Distant Shores
  • Locked with any of:
  • 100 x AN
  • 100 x CN
  • 100 x TN
Summarise your experiences in the Wars of Illusion 35 x TN 1 x Extraordinary Implication
Have instruments ground 1 x Whirring Contraption
  • Locked with any of:
  • 100 x AN
  • 100 x CN
  • 100 x TN
Consult your current work 1 x Volume of Collated Research
  • Locked with any of:
  • 100 x AN
  • 100 x CN
  • 100 x TN
Find promising students
  • Locked with any of:
  • 100 x AN
  • 100 x CN
  • 100 x TN

How to get the most possible preparatory research of a single type:

Once you've gotten all the preparatory research you want, choose any of the Enough (type of) research options to set your Embarking to 3, which allows you to finally begin your voyage.

The voyage, at last[edit]

Embarking on a Voyage of Scientific Discovery 3-4

Note: Outfits are locked while on any of these islands. You will want your Watchful gear. You also cannot leave the island early; once you dock, you'll only get back to your ship after you finish the entire carousel of actions outlined in the tables below, but you are free to return to the same island or a different island to gather more notes.

Choosing your destination[edit]

Which island(s) you decide to sail to will depend on what you hope to gain. Each of the 3 main islands — Bullbone Island, Corpsecage Island, and Grunting Fen — provides different proportions of the 3 research types, as well as non-scientific rewards you can choose instead.

In addition, the card The Fleet of Truth can now be drawn while zailing. It provides some Zailing... in addition to 5 pages of each type of research.

Orthos is coming![edit]

Regardless of which islands you choose, the length of your visit (and what options are available at any given time) is determined by the temporary Menace quality, Orthos is Coming! This quality is generally increased by 2 CP on a successful action, and by 1 CP on a failure.

The number of actions for each stage in the tables below assumes 100% successes, and therefore a total of 21 actions on each island. The EPA calculations don't account for travel, as this varies depending on the zailing region(s) and your ship. See Zailing (Guide) for more information on journey lengths for different zee trips.

Bullbone Island[edit]

  • Research available per visit: Up to 78 x AN, 249 x CN, and 40 x TN
  • Material rewards: Up to E 39.46 (1.88 EPA not including travel)
Actions available on Bullbone Island
OiC! Option Gain
<4

(5 actions)

The bones of Bullbone
Wild bees 120 x Lump of Lamplighter Beeswax
A skull of Bullbone, borrowed
4–5

(6 actions)

Oho - a little writing
Weasels about 12 x Phosphorescent Scarab
6

(3 actions)

Creaking in the breeze
Someone lives near the mandrake-copse 124 x Whispered Hint
7

(4 actions)

Acquisition and screaming 126 x Shard of Glim
Looking up 126 x Moon-Pearl
8

(1 action)

9

(1 action)

150 x CN
1 x Shard of Glim the Size of a Small Child
10

(1 action)

Time to go None
Tarry a little 20 x CN ( 70%) or lose 5 of each page
Cut it fine 40 x CN ( 30%) or lose 5 of each page

Corpsecage Island[edit]

  • Research available per visit: Up to 249 x AN, 40 x CN, and 78 x TN
  • Material rewards: Up to E 42.08 (2.00 EPA not including travel)
Actions available on Corpsecage Island
OiC! Option Gain
<4

(5 actions)

Digging up bones and rough justice
The Corpsecage bat
4–5

(6 actions)

Examine the ruins for clues
What's written here?
6

(3 actions)

See what you can dig up
Caging ancient echoes 62 x Primordial Shriek
7

(4 actions)

Rummage around the fire
A message long cold
8

(1 action)

125 x Proscribed Material
9

(1 action)

150 x AN
10

(1 action)

Time to go None
Tarry a little 20 x AN ( 70%) or lose 5 of each page
Cut it fine 40 x AN ( 30%) or lose 5 of each page

Grunting Fen[edit]

  • Research available per visit: Up to 40 x AN, 124 x CN, and 249 x TN
  • Material rewards: Up to E 46.50 (2.21 EPA not including travel)
Actions available on Grunting Fen
OiC! Option Gain
<4

(5 actions)

Listen to the island
Do a survey
4–5

(6 actions)

What manner of things live here?
Try some beach-combing instead
6

(3 actions)

What can you learn of matters spiritual and supernatural?
Follow the trail of history
7

(4 actions)

Catch some
How about we make this more... interesting?
8

(1 action)

9

(1 action)

10

(1 action)

Time to go None
Tarry a little 20 x TN ( 70%) or lose 5 of each page
Cut it fine 40 x TN ( 30%) or lose 5 of each page

Organising your research[edit]

Embarking on a Voyage of Scientific Discovery 4

Once you've completed at least one scientific expedition, a new storylet opens at your lodgings, allowing your to Organise your Research.

Option Cost Reward Value (value per note)
Collate your cryptopalaeontological work 120 x CN 7.5 (6.25 p)
Collate your prelapsarian archaeological work 120 x AN 7.5 (6.25 p)
Collate your research into Theosophistry 120 x TN 7.5 (6.25 p)
Gather all your work into a library
  • 250 x TN
  • 250 x CN
  • 250 x AN
Voluminous Library N/A
Speak to professional persons with academic pretensions 500 x AN 4 x Uncanny Incunabulum 50 (10 p)
Sell your Theosophistical conclusions 500 x TN 50 (10 p)
Speak to naturalists, hunters and the breeders of monsters 500 x CN 4 x Storm-Threnody 50 (10 p)
Re-establish your academic reputation
  • 500 x TN
  • 500 x CN
  • 500 x AN
N/A
Breed a beast Bifurcated Owl N/A
Another round of preliminary research Allows you to do preliminary research again N/A