Port Cecil (Guide)
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Mid Zailing Content |
| Scintillack Dreaming Summary | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed-Length Activity | |||||||||||
| Setup | Progress | End | |||||||||
| 0 A | 13 A | 1 A | |||||||||
| Progress
Details |
Prepare with the  Lamp-Cats or  Miners During high tide, and then hinder the factions during low tide, depending on desired end.
| ||||||||||
| Raw EPA | 4.30 | Raw SPA | 5.71 | ||||||||
Unlocking Access[edit]
Route to Port Cecil[edit]
In order to reach 
Port Cecil, you will need to have a ship, as well as 
Embarking on a Voyage of Scientific Discovery 2. See the Guide on how to get that.
Having these will allow you to acquire Discovered: The Principles of Coral. There are currently two ways to obtain this:
- Get
8 x Partial Maps and assemble them from your inventory. (This loses the maps.) - Set zail and look for the route yourself. In particular, that means you have to zail to the Stormbones and zail in that area until you draw the card A Coral Commotion. The easiest way is setting zail to Corpsecage Island and not dock there.
Once you draw the card, use it to find your route.
You still have to zail there, though!
Things you may wish to acquire before you set zail
You will require the following:
5000 x Moon-Pearl
100 x Zee-Ztory
10 x Bottle of Broken Giant 1844
1 x Puzzling Map
It is also recommended to be able to reach 
A Player of Chess 10. If you cannot, don't worry - it just saves you some money.
Business deed[edit]
Once you arrive, talk to the proprietor of the 
Poisoned Pawn. After the conversation, and provided you have brought the required goods along, you will receive your 
Deed to a Port Cecil Business.
Normal exploration[edit]
You also have access to certain repeatable actions via Explore Port Cecil. For example, you can earn a few Zee-Ztories if you are just a few short.
Notably, Observe the comings and goings of the gilled lamp-cats is also an early source of 
Silvered Cat's Claws, which you eventually need for a 
Tiger-Furred Oneiropompic Stave.
Mining for Scintillack[edit]
There are three phases to this carousel: High Tide, Low Tide, and the Perigee of Silver. The carousel takes a fixed number of actions (14), tracked by 
Tides of Port Cecil:. During the main part of the carousel, you may favour the Cats or the Miners. The pay-out at the Perigee depends on which faction is ahead, but not by how much. There is a unique pay-out for if they are tied, and a different option if neither faction has much progress.
While the pay-out from the Perigee is substantial, up to two-thirds of the material rewards are received during High and Low Tides. Maximising value is fairly straightforward, but optimising specific item pay-outs may require finesse.
High Tide[edit]
- High Tide in The Poisoned Pawn
- Lasts for 6 actions. Every option gives +3 CP to either Receptivity of the Lamp-Cats or Miners' Preparations. The progress is the same for all options, on success or failure.[1] These qualities are not directly tied to the final pay-out, but rather change progress gained from actions during Low Tide.
- Higher-difficulty options grant greater material rewards on success. Items are worth
2.00 for the easier, 3.00 for the harder Primary Stat challenge, and 3.20 for the Advanced Skill challenge. Of note, the Red Science miners' option pays in Scintillack, which may be sold directly for 
Hinterland Scrip. - All options give 1 x Tides of Port Cecil on both success and failure.
| Option | Challenge | Success | Failure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead the lamp-cats in a chess lesson |  120
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+3 CP Receptivity of the Lamp-Cats  10 x Appalling Secret  25 x Cryptic Clue
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+3 CP Receptivity of the Lamp-Cats
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| Provide the lamp-cats with somewhere to rest | 180
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+3 CP Receptivity of the Lamp-Cats  6 x Tale of Terror!!
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+3 CP Receptivity of the Lamp-Cats
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| Instruct the lamp-cats in the coral calcification of the locals |  8
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+3 CP Receptivity of the Lamp-Cats  5 x Scrap of Incendiary Gossip  7 x Romantic Notion
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+3 CP Receptivity of the Lamp-Cats  +2 CP Scandal
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| Provision the miners with ropes and harnesses |  120
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+3 CP Miners' Preparations 200 x Moon-Pearl
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+3 CP Miners' Preparations
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| Direct the miners towards a promising dig site | 180
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+3 CP Miners' Preparations 6 x Zee-Ztory
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+3 CP Miners' Preparations
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| Use your knowledge of the Red Science to improve the miners' pump |  8
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+3 CP Miners' Preparations 7 x Map Scrap  1 x Knob of Scintillack
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+3 CP Miners' Preparations  +2 CP Wounds
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Low Tide[edit]
- Low Tide in the Scintillack Pools
- Lasts for 7 actions. Options increase or decrease Feline Argentation and Iron & Misery Scintillack Extraction, with increases scaling based on your qualities from High Tide. The balance of these qualities determines the nature, but not value, of your rewards at Perigee.
- As before, options give material rewards roughly in-line with their difficulty, ranging between 2.00 - 3.00 per action.
- Also as before, all options give 1 x Tides of Port Cecil on both success and failure.
Rewards[edit]
- The Perigee of Silver
- Lasts for 1 action. Gives one item worth 12.50 and 3 items worth 2.50, with the exact rewards depending on whether Feline Argentation or Iron & Misery Scintillack Extraction was higher whilst the higher of the two was at least 3, if they were equal and both at least 3, or both less than 3.
- All options reset Tides of Port Cecil to 0.
| Option | Requirement | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Travel back to port with the celebrating miners | Extraction > Argentation, Extraction at least 3
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1 x  Puzzle-Damask Scrap 3 x Knob of Scintillack
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| Bear witness to a lamp-cat ritual | Argentation > Extraction, Argentation at least 3
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1 x  Emetic Revelation 3 x  Extraordinary Implication
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| Claim something that no-one was looking for | Extraction = Argentation, both at least 3
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1 x  Lost Research Assistant 3 x  Segmented Ribcage
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| Meet with a bright and fading mind | Extraction < 3 and Argentation < 3
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1 x  Antique Mystery 3 x  Memory of a Much Lesser Self
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Profitability[edit]
If a player is capable of achieving 100% success on the most difficult actions, the return from this activity can be as high as 60.20 over 14 actions, for a total of 4.30 EPA. Taking the easiest options with a 100% success rate will give 46.00 over 14 actions, for a total of 3.29 EPA.
Some fraction of the reward can be sold for Scrip directly.
Strategy for a tie[edit]
If all you are looking for is a tie with both qualities at least 3:
- During High Tide, play 3 options each that raise Receptivity of the Lamp-Cats and Miners' Preparations. You should now be at level 3 (plus 3 CP) for both.
- During Low Tide, keep playing either
Convince the miners and lamp-cats of their commonality, or Liberate some raw scintillack (you can also switch between the two options). In this case both of these options raise the progress of both factions by an equal amount, ensuring a tie.
There are more complex options if you want different resources from Low Tide. For example:
- During High Tide, play 6 options for the lamp-cats and none for the miners, which should give you 5 Receptivity and 0 Preparations.
- During Low Tide:
- First impede the lamp-cats 6 times, giving 6 CP of Extraction (on success or failure).
- Then liberate some scintillack once, giving 6 CP of Argentation and 1 additional CP of Extraction (total 7) on success, leaving both qualities at level 3.
- First impede the lamp-cats 6 times, giving 6 CP of
Since six of your actions are impeding the lamp-cats, this is a good way to earn Withered Tentacles and Silvered Cat's Claws, both of which have few grindable sources, on your way to getting Segmented Ribcages and Lost Research Assistants. Many other combinations are possible, but this is the one that provides the maximum amount of otherwise difficult to obtain items.
Strategy for a bright and fading mind[edit]
You will 
Meet with a bright and fading mind and unlock a special quality if you manage to get both factions below level 3, which just means that both need to have less than 6 CP of progress at the end. One way to achieve this is:
- During High Tide, use your actions exclusively for cats. This will leave you at 0 Preparations and 5 Receptivity. That means that
- taking actions against the miners will give -3 CP Extraction and +6 CP Argentation.
- taking action against the cats will give -3 CP Argentation and +1 CP Extraction.
- taking actions against the miners will give -3 CP
- During Low Tide, we primarily work against the cats, taking the minimum of anti-miner actions to reduce the minimal progress they make. Making more difficult checks you may fail is dangerous here and may jeopardize the goal. Go:
- against the cats 3 times. As they have no Argentation yet, it will simply increase Extraction to 3 total CP. Failure here is acceptable and has no impact on the strategy.
- against the miners to wipe their Extraction from 3 CP back to 0. This will raise Argentation to 6 CP. This must succeed.
- against the cats 3 times to knock their 6 CP of progress down to 3 or lower. This will raise Extraction to 3 CP. This must succeed at least twice. If you fail the first or second check, take a 100%-success option or use Second Chances if there is none.
- against the cats 3 times. As they have no
- There is an alternate path for Low Tide which requires more checks with a perfect success rate overall. Go:
- against the cats 2 times. As they have no Argentation yet, it will simply increase Extraction to 2 total CP. Failure here is acceptable and has no impact on the strategy.
- against the miners 2 times to wipe their Extraction from 3 CP back to 0. This will raise Argentation to 12 CP. This must succeed at least once. If you fail the first check, take a 100%-success option or use Second Chances if there is none.
- against the cats 3 times to knock their 12 CP of progress down to 3. This will raise Extraction to 3 CP. These must all succeed.
- against the cats 2 times. As they have no
Of course, you can swap cats and miners and their respective progress qualities in the above guide.
Note that you won't get to change your mind and pick the option that requires having more of one quality than the other.
- ↑ Needs verification for low-difficulty branches.
