User:Asarta/Jokes/Money-Making
Spoiler warning! This page contains details about Fallen London Actions. |
This Guide is about how to best make Echoes; if you're more interested in Hinterland Scrip check Hinterland Scrip-Making Meet BIG EPA in your local AREA TODAY!
Overview[edit]
The game is best thought of as a means to read a story. To that end, until you are approaching the high level (all stats at or near cap and so forth), the best sources of Echoes are the content you're seeing. There is very little that may be considered truly "profitable" before the player becomes a A Person of Some Importance - (PoSI), given both content locks and stat requirements. Even then, many money-making grinds require significant investment in capital or end-game leveled stats in order to be completed reliably and efficiently. For those in the early to mid game, a notable exception is drawing the opportunity card to visit Arbor, which over time can provide a substantial sum of echoes. See Arbor (Guide). Generally, 2.5 EPA is considered an absolute baseline for a high-level player - if you don't have reliable access to any such grind, it might be for the best to focus your efforts on progression in stats and/or stories.
Hinterland Scrip/Tinned Ham Arbitrage[edit]
To maximize EPA, all items that can be sold for Hinterland Scrip (except for Preserved Surface Blooms) are assumed to be bulk converted to and used to buy Tinned Ham which is then bulk sold for . This results in a conversion factor of 0.508 / instead of 0.5, slightly raising EPA for many grinds. Preserved Surface Blooms already have a favourable conversion ractor of 0.83 / .
For simplicity's sake, this can be referred to as Tinned Ham Arbitrage or, more generally, Hinterland Script Arbitrage.
Simple Endgame Grinds[edit]
If you don't like complex grinds, don't qualify for them, or want to grind specific resources in a simple way but at high speed, take a look at this - a list of all endlessly repeatable actions and simple 2-4 action loops with 2.5 EPA or more (up to 3.81).
If those don't fit, you might consider GCO activities[i], which are almost as simple but require you to not leave a specific area for a long time to get close to maximum EPA (2.5-3.8, with Rat Market [i] up to 4.39 but the complexity rises). Otherwise, you can take a look at a EPA ranking of complex grinds and see which tier suits your level:
- 2.5+ - The Tomb of the Silken Thread[i], mid-level brawling[i], low-level deciphering[i], basic oneiropomping[i], Waswood Shore[i].
- 3+ - The Tomb of the Silken Thread[i] or The Court of the Wakeful Eye combined with Underclay[i], Ealing Spa[i], Eversmoulder trips[i], mid-level deciphering[i], high-level brawling[i], Marvellous oneiropomping[i], Helicon House[i] visits.
- 3.5+ - Holding your breath in the Hurlers (low/mid-level)[i], Evenlode diving[i], high-level deciphering[i], publishing newspapers[i], Marigold emblems[i], Parabolan War[i], selling very advanced identities[i].
- 4+ - The Maze-Garden[i] low-level Moulin Expeditions[i], forcing Stalemates[i], Khaganian Intrigue[i], larcenies fueled by Parabolan[i] or Helicon[i] Casing, Holding your breath in the Hurlers (high-level)[i], high-level deciphering[i]/Newspaper[i]/The Court of the Wakeful Eye combined with Underclay[i]/Parabolan War[i] Rat Market.
- 4.5+ - high-level base Fossilised apes (no Bone Market Fluctuations or Rat Market)[i], high-level Moulin Expeditions[i], The Court of the Wakeful Eye Orphan Rat Market[i].
- 5+ - high-level Fossilised apes with Bone Market Fluctuations[i] and/or Rat Market[i] (with both gets to 6+ EPA at maximum efficiency), Khanate Rat Market[i].
You can also go the route of Hinterland Scrip-making and convert Hinterland Scrip to echoes through Tinned Ham Arbitrage.
FATE-locked[edit]
- Fate-locked selling your soul (28.15 EPA, increasing amounts of Fate required)
- Fate-locked expeditions (7 Fate for 5.3 EPA [under correct conditions])
- Fate-locked Soul Trade (via Unfinished Business 1.75 EPA, with access to the Spa in Ealing Gardens up to 3.228 EPA)
London Grinds[edit]
Can be done without leaving London.
Publishing Newspapers[edit]
Requirements
- Shadowy 217
- One of
- Watchful 200
- Persuasive 200
- One of six things required to reach 104 of any type of copy (see Publishing a Newspaper for details)
Recommended
- Renown: The Great Game 40
- Teaching Reputation of Your Laboratory 20
- (Active) enough acquaintances that they hire assassins equally fast or faster than you slight them
Basic cycle
- Finish the 'The missing Woman' carousel in Wilmot's End to get 2 x Whirring Contraptions.
- Use them in Doubt Street to publish any edition requiring 104 pages of copy (note that this requires not taking 'Employ a little theatrical accountancy' option).
A full cycle is items worth 138 for 37 actions, a total of 3.73 EPA.
With recommended
- Take only and all Salacious options including A column revealing certain facts about an acquaintance.
- Publish A gossipy and tantalising edition.
This will result in 148 x Journal of Infamy and 2 x Sulky Bats (by The interception of scandal). While slighting consumes 2 x Scraps of Incendiary Gossip, that is equivalent to 0.35 actions since you can Publish a seditious edition twice (also using slight) and earn 214 x Scrap of Incendiary Gossip in 37 actions. A full cycle is items worth 148.8 for 37.35 actions, a total of 3.98 EPA.
Mr Chimes' Grand Clearing-Out Unveiled activities[edit]
Mr Chimes' Grand Clearing-Out added five new activities similar to Brawling with Dockers. There are many differences from Brawling, but the most relevant to Money-Making are the lack of difficulty scaling and lack of caps on secondary rewards. This means that you can spend as long as you want raising progress quality simply by repeating the single most efficient option, allowing us to amortize actions spent on entering/claiming the rewards/exiting. Since one point of every progress quality is worth 0.1 , EPA is essentially progress per action/10. Below are listed maximum EPAs for each activity.
- The Sunken Embassy - 3.8 EPA with Seek out spy-holes (requires Watchful 297 to 100%).
- Underclay - 3.3 EPA with Commingle fact and falsehood (requires Mithridacy 15 to 100%) or Convince the Calcified Man that you are of Polythreme (requires A Clay Arm to access and Mithridacy 10 to 100%).
- Spider Symposium - 3.2 EPA with Posit that language makes reality (requires Persuasive 300 to 100%).
- L.B. Industries - 3.2 EPA with Assist with assembly (requires Shadowy 297 to 100%).
- Old Newgate - 2.85 EPA with cycling between best randomizer options, Betray both sides/Hunt a swarm of drones/Commune with the bees (requires Dangerous 209, Monstrous Anatomy 7 and Mithridacy 10 to 100% all three).
For a detailed breakdown of options and rewards in these activities see respective guides - The Sunken Embassy (Guide), Underclay (Guide), The Spider Symposium (Guide), L. B. Industries (Guide), Hunting Bees in Old Newgate (Guide).
The Tomb of the Silken Thread[edit]
For maximum efficacy, this option requires 267 Watchful to 100% a Buccaneering Approach.
- Buying Strong-Backed Labour to fund expeditions to The Tomb of the Silken Thread gives 2.9096 EPA (if you reinvest the profits into more SBL).
- Obtaining Strong-Backed Labour from The Underclay approaches 3.409 EPA.
- Using Docks Favours exclusively to fund expeditions (and acquiring Rostygold at 3EPA by Brawling) gives 4.272 EPA.
Brawling with Dockers[edit]
If you have unlocked Intervene in a Dockers' Brawl, you can use it to grind echoes with varying efficiency depending on whether you're fighting in group or solo, specific crates you pick and your Dangerous, Skills, BDR and items. For a detailed breakdown of options and rewards see Brawling with Dockers (Guide) - this grind focuses purely on earning eсhoes. Most relevant crates for that are:
- Accept a share of the extremely dusty crates/Claim the extremely dusty crates - 100/150 Brawling for 27.5/40 (27.94/40.64 with access to Upper River).
- Accept a share of the coffer of Admiralty maps/Claim the coffer of Admiralty maps - 90/140 Brawling for 25/37.5 and 0.25 per each point of Brawling above the requirement (up to 100/150).
- Accept a share of the crates cleared out of Saint Cyriac's Illuminated College/Claim the crates cleared out of Saint Cyriac's Illuminated College - 50/70 Brawling for 15/20 and 0.25 per each point of Brawling above the requirement (up to 100/150).
While there's a large number of possible combinations of options, this guide focuses on establishing overall EPA ranges, and so only analyzes least-demanding and most-demanding strategies. Regarding the most demanding - with rare successes estimated at 25%, average Brawling per action gain is 14.25 (in group)/15.5 (solo) for BDR/Skill options, 14.25/16.25 for Airs options, and 11.625/14.125 for Fight without taking your eye off the goods! combined with Airs options (available 50% of the time on average). However, since Airs options are only possible to 100% after reducing their difficulty with accumulated Brawling, you can't use them from the start.
- Least-demanding - have Dangerous 209/292 and simply repeat Fight without taking your eye off the goods! until getting to target Brawling amount, for 9/12 Brawling per action.
- Most-demanding - have Dangerous 274/304 and at least one out of:
- A Hunter's Instinct for Nightmares and an outfit with Dreaded 15 and Monstrous Anatomy 13.
- Honed Ushanka and an outfit with Bizarre 15 and Kataleptic Toxicology 13.
- Vigilant Chitin-Fur Boots and an outfit with Respectable 15 and Artisan of the Red Science 13.
- Special Dispensation (must be fighting for yourself or for order). Note that unlike the other options, this one does not have rare successes.
- In group - use BDR/Skill option 4 times, then, if needed, use Fight without taking your eye off the goods! combined with Airs options until getting to target Brawling amount.
- Solo - use BDR/Skill option 2 times, then Fight without taking your eye off the goods! 4 times, then, if needed, combine it with Airs options until getting to target Brawling amount.
EPA ranges for the various combinations:
- Accept a share of the extremely dusty crates - 13 (least-demanding)/9 (most-demanding) actions for 27.5 . 2.115/3.055 EPA (2.149/3.104 with access to Upper River).
- Claim the extremely dusty crates - 14/12 actions for 40 . 2.857/3.333 EPA (2.902/3.386 with access to Upper River).
- Accept a share of the coffer of Admiralty maps - 11/8 actions for 25/25.5 . 2.272/3.187 EPA.
- Claim the coffer of Admiralty maps - 13/12 actions for 38.5/40 . 2.961/3.333 EPA.
- Accept a share of the crates cleared out of Saint Cyriac's Illuminated College - 7/5 actions for 16/16.75 . 2.285/3.35 EPA.
- Claim the crates cleared out of Saint Cyriac's Illuminated College - 7/7 actions for 20.5/22.25 . 2.928/3.178 EPA.
University Laboratory Grinds[edit]
Require access to the University Laboratory.
This article is incomplete. You can help the Fallen London Wiki by expanding it.
Reason: With recent changes to the Lab, lab research is rather less predictable. For instance, having a Secret College is helpful, and being a Correspondent with a high Scholar of the Correspondence level can be quite helpful. Because cards are undiscardable, the laboratory is harder to control. Simulation analyses are requested for the below projects. |
Researching Impossible Theorems[edit]
Studying Queenly Attar[edit]
Forging Infernal Sharpshooter's Rifles[edit]
Creating Cartographer's Hoards[edit]
Bone Market Grinds[edit]
Require access to the Bone Market.
Assembling Fossilised Apes[edit]
A grind with high and varied requirements. Though the basic cycle is simple, generator skeletons must be sold to fuel it, greatly adding complexity.
Required
- Watchful 297, Shadowy 267
- Monstrous Anatomy 15, Mithridacy 10
- Outfits with
- Dreaded 7 and Respectable 7
- Bizarre 7 and Respectable 7
- Bizarre 15
- One of
- A Hunter's Instinct for Nightmares and an outfit with Dreaded 15 and Monstrous Anatomy 13
- Honed Ushanka (WHITSUN) and an outfit with Bizarre 15 and Kataleptic Toxicology 13
- Vigilant Chitin-Fur Boots (WHITSUN) and an outfit with Respectable 15 and Artisan of the Red Science 13
- Ealing Gardens Commercial Development 2
- Revisions to the Business Model of a Butchery
- Balmoral's Castellan
- Aurochs (WHITSUN), Focused Albatross
- The Seal of St Joshua
- Endowment of a University Fellowship
- Comprehensive Study of Avian Anatomies, Oneiric and Otherwise
Recommended
- Persuasive 334
- Sufficient Train Defences
- Low Seeing Banditry in the Upper River
- A Member of the Gondoliers 6
- Stockpiles to start of
The main cycle
- Obtain Human Ribcages
- Intervene in a Dockers' Brawl on any side except yourself
- Repeat 3–4 times one of
- Accept a share of the small crate stolen from the Bone Market
- Whenever you have 4+ CP Suspicion and The Airs of London 0-25, Confound the Constables and take A riskier option: hide in a rookery
- Obtain Horned Skulls by Duplicate the skull of an Aurochs
- You will regularly need to use generator skeletons to have enough Bone Fragments and Nodules of Warm Amber.
- Buy 4 Fossilised Forelimbs from Anning and Daughters
Generator skeleton cycles
Click 'Expand' to see all the gritty details...
In addition to Hinterland Scrip and , generator skeletons themselves require Nevercold Brass Slivers, Volumes of Collated Research and Thirsty Bombazine Scraps. Brass can be obtained with Seek out spy-holes[i], but you can use generator skeletons for the other two.
- Obtain Skeleton with Seven Necks
- Build generator skeletons during bird week
- Buy 2 Bright Brass Skulls
- Buy a Sabre-toothed Skull off him x5
- Build on the Skeleton with Seven Necks
- Affix a Bright Brass Skull to your (Skeleton Type) x2
- Affix a Sabre-toothed Skull to your (Skeleton Type) x5
- Add the Wing of a Young Terror Bird to your (Skeleton Type) x2
- Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Bird
- Sell a complete skeleton to the Bone Hoarder
- Buy a Sabre-toothed Skull off him x7
- Build on the Skeleton with Seven Necks
- Affix a Sabre-toothed Skull to your (Skeleton Type) x7
- Add the Wing of a Young Terror Bird to your (Skeleton Type) x2
- Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Bird
- Sell your skeleton to a Zailor
- Buy a Bright Brass Skull
- Duplicate the wings of a Focused Albatross
- Buy a Sabre-toothed Skull off him x6
- Build on the Skeleton with Seven Necks
- Affix a Bright Brass Skull to your (Skeleton Type)
- Affix a Sabre-toothed Skull to your (Skeleton Type) x6
- Put an Albatross Wing on your (Skeleton Type) x2
- Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Bird
- Sell to the Tentacled Entrepreneur
- Upconvert Memories of Distant Shores into Research through Dealing with the deviless. Gain Connected: Benthic through buying Flasks of Abominable Salts and directing grants. Uncanny Incunabulums from rare successes can be sold for Rat-Shillings during The Rat-Season: Skitter-Scatter, Dimmest-Dark or Freeze-and-Fall.
- Buy 3 Bright Brass Skulls
- Buy a Sabre-toothed Skull off him x4
- Build on the Skeleton with Seven Necks
- Affix a Bright Brass Skull to your (Skeleton Type) x3
- Affix a Sabre-toothed Skull to your (Skeleton Type) x4
- Add the Wing of a Young Terror Bird to your (Skeleton Type) x2
- Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Bird
- Sell your Skeleton to a Naive Collector
Exact calculations for the whole grind are very complicated and require a probability tree and a spreadsheet. Excluding unsellable items ( Moonlit/ Wings of a Young Terror Bird) and amortizing travel, EPA ranges from a high of 5.39 EPA with Monstrous Anatomy 15 and Bone Market Fluctuations: Antiquity to 3.98 EPA with Monstrous Anatomy 10 on non-Antiquity weeks.
EPA/ Monstrous Anatomy | MA 15 | MA 14 | MA 13 | MA 12 | MA 11 | MA 10 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bone Market Fluctuations: Antiquity | 5.39 | 5.22 | 5.04 | 4.86 | 4.69 | 4.51 |
Any Other Time | 4.69 | 4.55 | 4.40 | 4.26 | 4.12 | 3.98 |
On Average | 4.93 | 4.77 | 4.61 | 4.46 | 4.31 | 4.15 |
Taking full advantage of Bone Market Fluctuations: raises EPA at the cost of depending on RNG/stretching the profits even more long-term. It should be noted that you can't spend all your actions at such efficiency, since it takes fewer actions to gather materials than to assemble and sell a skeleton and Antiquity week on average occurs 1/3 of the time — as a result, you will need to spend some actions either on different types of activities/stories or accept the On Average EPA.
In case of other grinds/activities, you can also exclude travel actions from the grind by doing its parts while already being in Upper River/specific location for the other purpose. EPA can be improved yet further (though unreliability makes calculating exact increase impossible):
- Favours: The Docks gotten from cards can be used to Watch a parade, with resulting Esteem of the Guild spent on trips to Octagonal Tomb for 2 Human Ribcages per each trip as well other items. Hold onto Night-Whispers until The Rat-Season: Dimmest-Dark, Freeze-and-Fall or Lying-Longing and cash them out through Sell a Night-Whisper for 850 Rat-Shillings.
- While most Favours: Constables sources aren't good enough for A longer conversation with the Commissioner of Police to be better than Brawling for Human Ribcages, visiting the Regretful Soldier on A Visit yields up to 5.6 in items and 1 x Favours: The Docks in addition to 1 x Favours: Constables.
- If you're a member of The Clay Tailor Club, the associated card gives Thirsty Bombazine Scraps as well as Jasmine Leaves which can be sold in bulk with a 30% markup through Sell all your Jasmine Leaves via the contacts of the Gracious Widow.
Licentiate victim skeletons[edit]
A simple grind; no items or skill checks are required at all.
Requirements
- The Licentiate profession
- Bizarre 0 or Dreaded 0.
The cycle
- Supply a skeleton of your own
- Cap this with a victim's skull
- Declare it a humanoid
- Sell to the Theologian or Grandmother for 15 worth of items, resulting in 3.75 EPA.
It's also possible to grind for scrip instead of echoes. At 30 per skeleton, after Tinned Ham Arbitrage this gives 3.81 EPA, not counting AP spent on travel.
Upper River Grinds[edit]
Require access to the Upper River.
Moulin Expeditions[edit]
Take the Bandaged Navigator and Renegade Claw with you, equipping a Kataleptic Toxicology item, up to 3 Shapeling Arts items and as much Persuasive-reducing stuff as possible if you have a Transfixing Squirrel. If you don't have a Transfixing Squirrel, instead equip up to 3 Shapeling Arts items and as much Shadowy stuff as you can. While on the expedition, play the first two A Lesser Find cards you get, use obstacle cards to get out to Distance 8 before digging and heading back. For a list of which obstacle cards to play, and the order of preference for them (as well as a more detailed explanation of the grind more generally) see Moulin Expeditions (Guide).
This gives an EPA of between 4.02 and 4.28 depending on what equipment you have. If combined with writing Exceptional Monographs, which for 9 actions and 75 echoes worth of expedition materials give 119.5 echoes worth of various resources, EPA rises. If you can 100% relevant challenges (require Mithridacy 10/12, Glasswork 10 or Artisan of the Red Science 10 depending on challenge), it gives an EPA of between 4.32 and 4.5. For a more detailed explanation of writing Monographs more generally see Writing a Monograph (Guide).
Alternatively, playing every A Lesser Find you encounter and making up the shortfall in supplies via Convince your team to keep going increases the EPA to between 4.31 and 4.56.
Larcenies with Parabolan Casing[edit]
Requirements
- Shadowy Gains 6
- Shadowy 300
- A Marauder of the Clay Highwayman
- One of
- Glasswork 12
- Kataleptic Toxicology 12 and Acicular Squirrel (WHITSUN)
Recommended
- A Church in the Wild less than 50
The cycle
- In your Parabolan Base-Camp, repeat the following sequence 9 times:
- Find the weakness in an opponent's defences
- Apply your own knowledge (Glasswork) or Allow your Acicular Squirrel to lead you (Kataleptic Toxicology)
- Sneak forward
- Case the place
Each subcycle yields 28 CP Casing..., so repeating 9 times is 252 CP Casing... for 36 actions.
- Enter A hidden camp nestled in the woods of Balmoral.
- Do seven second-tier larcenies.
- The option on the Larceny at Balmoral card (Ambush a courier) is the most profitable, yielding 25.4 when the 2 x Vital Intelligence after Tinned Ham Arbitrage.
- The next best choices are on the Larceny at Jericho Locks card (Seize a jewel smuggler's boat) and the Larceny at the Magistracy card (Break into the offices of Baseborn & Fowlingpiece), both yielding 25 of items.
- Ignore the cards for larcenies in Ealing Gardens ( 24.4) and/or Burrow-Infra-Mump ( 22).
Total payout depends on how often can you draw Larceny at Balmoral. Without Burrow, this happens 1/2 of the time: the average payout is 25.2 per larceny, or 176.4 for 43 actions, a total of 4.10 EPA.
With Burrow, this happens 1/3 of the time: the average payout is 25.13 per larceny, or 175.93 for 43 actions, a total of 4.09 EPA.
Larcenies with Helicon Casing[edit]
Requirements
Recommended
- Watchful 209.
- Espoused to.
- A Pendant of Helicon Amber (FATE).
- A Scholar of the Correspondence 17.
- Renown: Rubbery Men 42.
- At least one out of:
- Rubbery Euphonium and Dangerous 290 (or lower if you have higher Renown).
- Rubbery Campanologist, Rubbery Herald (both HALLOWMAS) and Persuasive 290 (or lower if you have higher Renown).
- Boneless Pianist (FATE)and Persuasive 290 (or lower if you have higher Renown).
The cycle
- Show your Pendant of Helicon Amber at the door
- Enter with Just the right person
- Deploy your Morally and Physically Flexible Rubbery Cat 2 times
- Watch a Rubbery Calligraphist (option in The Sculpture Garden) 2 times
- Forget the biscuits, take the Solacefruit
6 actions for 3 x Intriguing Snippet (0.6 echoes), 2 x Extraordinary Implication (5 echoes), 20 x Solacefruit ( 20 x Hinterland Scrip or 10.16 echoes), 14 CP Casing..., 2 CP Fascinating... and 2 CP Investigating.... Since you can spend 36 CP in one action for ~25.13 echoes (as outlined in Parabolan Larcenies above), 14 CP Casing can be abstracted as additional 0.38 actions/9.774 echoes. Every 104 loops, you Show your Pendant of Helicon Amber at the door, enter with No one!, use one of +3 Fitting in at Helicon House options (Join in with a Rubbery Euphonium, Contribute some extra practitioners, Encourage the Boneless Pianist to join in) and Attract a companion for the rest of the evening, spending 208 CP and three actions for 70.06 echoes - therefore, 2 CP Fascinating can be abstracted as additional 0.028 actions and 0.673 echoes. Since Investigating lacks good cash-outs, 2 CP Investigating can be disregarded.
Total - (6 + 0.38 + 0.028) 6.408 actions for (0.6 + 5 + 10.16 + 9.774 + 0.673) 26.207 echoes. 4.089 EPA. (Discounting actions spent on travel, since Casing... can be stockpiled indefinitely.)
Holding your breath in the Hurlers[edit]
Requires high Dangerous, and access to The Hurlers, the eighth station of the Railway. Relies on Hurlers: Darkness manipulation and holding your breath underwater, plus requires Correspondence Plaques. Generates large amounts of Final Breath for Tinned Ham Arbitrage. (Source)
- Start with Stoking the Stove 1 and 7 Darkness (this is the state immediately after bringing the stove back to the station).
- Add more plaques to the stove 9 times (this drops Darkness to 1 + 0 CP and raises Stoking the Stove to 4 + 0 CP). This costs 9 actions and 63 Correspondence Plaques.
- Perform the following loop 9 times:
- Hold your breath underwater (raises Darkness to 2 + 0 CP). This costs 1 action and gains 22 Breaths. (Holding your breath underwater gives an amount of Final Breath dependent on Darkness)
- Add more plaques to the stove (drops Darkness to 0, raises Stoking the Stove by 1 CP). This costs 1 action and 7 Plaques.
- Hold your breath underwater twice. The first time gets you 23 Final Breaths (0 Darkness), the second gets you 22. This costs 2 actions and gains 45 Final Breaths (it also raises Darkness to 2 + 1 CP)
- Add more plaques to the stove (drops Darkness to 1 + 0 CP, raises Stoking the Stove by 1 CP). This costs 1 action and 7 Plaques.
- Each iteration of the loop costs 5 actions and 14 Plaques, raises Stoking the Stove by 2 CP, and gains 67 Breaths. So, performing 9 iterations costs 45 actions and 126 Plaques, raises Stoking the Stove to 7 + 0 CP and gains 603 Breaths.
- Hold your breath underwater 14 times.
- The first time gives 22 Final Breaths (1 Darkness)
- The second and third give 21 Breaths (2 Darkness)
- The fourth and fifth give 19 Breaths (3 Darkness)
- The sixth and seventh give 16 Breaths (4 Darkness)
- The eighth to tenth give 12 Breaths (5 Darkness)
- The eleventh to fourteenth give 8 Breaths (6 Darkness)
- In total, this costs 14 actions and gains 202 Breaths.
- Add more plaques to the stove. Since you now have Stoking the Stove 7, this sets it to 8. This also gives 2 CP of Scandal (Tracklayers' Displeasure is ignored, since its effects are insignificant). This costs 1 action and 7 Plaques.
- Now you need to hunt the stove down. This is technically card-dependent, but it's a 10x frequency card in a smaller deck so you shouldn't have much trouble. If you succeed all the checks, this costs 4 actions and gets you 5E worth of bats. This returns you to where you started, with 7 Darkness and Stoking the Stove 1.
In total you spend 73 actions and 196 Plaques for 805 Final Breaths (which are worth 408.94E when we convert via Tinned Ham) and 5E.
In order to make this a self-contained grind, the necessary Correspondence Plaques must be obtained from somewhere. The best way to get them is by publishing Salacious newspapers with all of the special options for Journals of Infamy (the Scraps of Incendiary Gossip needed for the social action can be obtained by publishing seditious editions: see Publishing a Newspaper (Guide) for more details) and cross-converting them. Doing this gets you ~6.76 Plaques per action, so obtaining the 196 Plaques necessary costs 28.98 actions (101.98 actions total).
However, this grind involves a number of difficult Dangerous checks. Hold your breath underwater has difficulty 190 (needs 317 Dangerous to 100%), and bringing the stove back requires succeeding a difficulty 280 check 3 times (impossible to 100%), though this can be substituted with a difficulty 310 Shadowy check (not considered here). The final EPA is calculated for two different Dangerous values: 317 (minimum to 100% the Hold your breath underwater check - technically obtainable, but out of reach for most characters) and 288 (maximum obtainable without mood/fate/ambition/profession/destiny/spouse/club items). Menaces must also be taken into account - it is assumed here that all menaces are cleared at 6 CP per action using social actions.
With 317 Dangerous, the difficulty 190 check on Hold your breath underwater never fails, and the difficulty 280 check on Challenge it with your fists succeeds 67% of the time. Since you need three successes, the expected number of failures is 1.478. Each failure incurs 3 CP of Wounds and each success incurs 1 CP, so the expected amount of Wounds incurred is 7.432 CP. You also get 2 CP of Scandal when the stove escapes, so in total the expected number of actions spent clearing menaces is 1.572. The final action cost is therefore 105.03, for 3.94 EPA.
- If you are a Monster-Hunter, you can Spear it with your harpoon instead of trying to pass Dangerous challenge to capture the stove. While this adds 2 actions, it also removes actions spent on failing challenges (-1.478), clearing Wounds (-1.238), and grinding Correspondence Plaques - each spearing gives 2 on average, so per five spearings you get 10 total, removing 1.47 actions. The final action cost is therefore 102.84, for 4.02 EPA.
With 288 Dangerous, the Hold your breath underwater check has a 90% success chance, and the Challenge it with your fists check has a 61% success chance. You need 37 successes when holding your breath, so the expected number of failures is 4.111 (incurring 8.222 CP of Wounds). You need 3 successes when bringing the stove back, so the expected number of failures is 1.918 (incurring 5.754 CP of Wounds from failures, and 3 CP from successes). The expected number of actions spent on menace reduction is 3.163, and the final action cost is 111.17, for 3.72 EPA.
- If you are a Monster-Hunter, you can Spear it with your harpoon instead of trying to pass Dangerous challenge to capture the stove. While this adds 2 actions, it also removes actions spent on failing challenges (-1.478), clearing Wounds (-1.238), and grinding Correspondence Plaques - each spearing gives 2 on average, so per five spearings you get 10 total, removing 1.47 actions. The final action cost is therefore 108.98, for 3.79 EPA.
Evenlode Diving[edit]
Requirements
- Watchful 330
- Mithridacy 10
- Evenlode Diving Bell 6
- Moulin Archaeological Institute 3
- One of
The cycle
- Dive in the Magistracy
- Descend in your Watchful outfit
- Dive deeper five times
- Search the lowest Floors until Nightmares 7
- ASCEND!
- Return to London to clear menaces with social actions
- Return to the Magistracy
- Repeat diving and clearing menaces five times
Starting at Nightmares 0, on average you spend 115 actions per dive, for 27000 x Jade Fragments, 360 x First City Coins and 180 x Trace of the First City. Per 5 dives you spend 575 actions for 135000 x Jade Fragments, 1800 x First City Coins and 900 x Trace of the First City.
- Write monographs about the Fourth City 12 times (travel is amortized)
Per monograph you spend 9 actions, 150 x First City Coins and 75 x Trace of the First City for 1 x Bottle of Greyfields 1882 (0.02 ) and 108.712 (after Tinned Ham Arbitrage). Per 12 monographs you spend 108 actions, clear your First City Coins Traces of the First City for 1304.544 .===
With 5 dives and 12 monographs you spend 683 actions for 2654.544 . yielding 3.866 EPA.
Selling very advanced identities[edit]
Requirements
Recommended
- Watchful 297
- Three outfits with A Player of Chess 13 and one of the BDR stats at 15, one outfit for each of the BDR stats.
- Very high Shadowy
- Shrine to Saint Joshua
The main idea of this grind is making a cover identity with maximum nuance, credentials, witnesses and elaboration and 500 points of backstory. The biggest part of this grind is grinding 20 x Mortification of a Great Power in the Sunken Embassy, so watchful is definitely the most important stat in this grind.
- Begin with going Eastward or Westward in Seeking Documents in the Sunken Embassy
- Seek out spy-holes 16 times.
- Then go out and Send an inordinately enormous stack of documents to Mount Palmerston Repeat these steps until you have 20 x Mortification of a Great Power. You will also accrue some Lump of Lamplighter Beeswax, 1600 to be exact.
- Go to All aboard! and Take the sleeper all the way to Balmoral
- Go into your Cabinet Noir and Begin to construct a cover identity until you have 10 elaboration. Assuming 300 x Shadowy this should take 10.97 actions on average.
- Endow your cover identity with eccentricities 6 times
- Make sure your cover identity has been observed in the right quarters 6 times
- Credential your cover identity 6 times.
- Embed your cover identity in the story of a terrible humiliation 20 times
- Play the card Halfway to Hell and choose to Sell a very advanced identity to Devils or the card The Railway and the Great Game and choose to Sell a very advanced identity to Spies. Selling to devils also loses 4 favours (but does not require them), so the great game option is likely better.
- Make a leap of code-breaking insight 18 times and Interpret your Intercepted Document.
This should take 429.97 actions for an item worth 1560 echoes and 16 echoes in beeswax, so 3.67 EPA.
Deciphering Documents[edit]
After reaching Balmoral and setting up a Cabinet Noir, you can intercept documents and decipher them for various rewards - it's recommended to have at least A Player of Chess 7, Watchful 292 and Shadowy 300, and for maximum efficiency you need to be a Midnighter. The main documents sources are:
- Intercept a piece of post: This has a 60/40 chance of giving a document with either 1 x Vital Intelligence ( 25 x Hinterland Scrip/12.7 ) or Blackmail Material (12.5 ) as a reward. However, since it's currently impossible to 100% the Shadowy challenge, with Shadowy 300 you have a 10% chance of failure, which gives a document with 1 x An Identity Uncovered! and 18 x Scrap of Incendiary Gossip (11.5 in total) as a reward. Therefore, the reward spread is actually 54/36/10 for 12.7/12.5/11.5 respectively, averaging to 12.508 . All these documents require Deciphering... 5.
- Intercept a message: This requires Balmoral: Darkness to 100% the Shadowy challenge and gives a document with 1 x Night-Whisper (62.5 ) as a reward. However, to access this action you first need to Seek admittance and then Sneak down to the Kitchens of Balmoral - this Shadowy challenge isn't currently 100%-able. With Shadowy 300 you have a 15% chance of failure which wastes an action and gives 2 CP Suspicion, meaning that on average you spend 3.15 actions in total and get 0.3 CP Suspicion. This document requires Deciphering... 15.
- Steal a curious document from the Tracklayers' Office: This requires Following up Rumours of Cornelius 3 and gives a document with 1 x Primaeval Hint (62.5 ) as a reward. However, since it's currently impossible to 100% the Shadowy challenge, with Shadowy 300 you have a 10% chance of failure which wastes an action and gives 2 CP Suspicion, meaning that on average you spend 1.1 action and get 0.2 CP Suspicion. This document requires Deciphering... 15.
There are two ways to earn Deciphering..., both more efficient if you're a Midnighter:
- Crack a code: This requires Watchful 292 and A Player of Chess 7 to 100%, and gives 5/6 CP.
- Make a leap of code-breaking insight: This requires Watchful 292 and A Player of Chess 10 to 100%, and gives 7/9 CP (rare success not counted).
For dealing with Suspicion you need to earn Disappearing... through covering your tracks (which is also more efficient if you're a Midnighter), with 5/6 CP per action. As Eliminate a good deal of suspicion action requires 11/10 additional actions to earn Disappearing... 10 and eliminates 33 CP, 1 CP Suspicion can be abstracted as 0.36/0.33 actions. Therefore, EPA of deciphering depends on specific document, your A Player of Chess level and whether you're a Midnighter:
- Intercept a piece of post requires 1 action to start, 3/2 actions to decipher, and 1 action to finish, with a total of 5/4 actions for 12.508 . 2.5026/3.127 EPA.
- Intercept a message requires 3.258/3.249 actions to start, 24/20/18/14 actions to decipher, and 1 action to finish, with a total of 28.258-18.249 actions for 62.5 . 2.211-3.424 EPA.
- Steal a curious document from the Tracklayers' Office requires 1.172/1.166 actions to start, 24/20/18/14 actions to decipher, and 1 action to finish, with a total of 26.172-16.166 actions for 62.5 . 2.388-3.866 EPA.
Marigold Emblems[edit]
After reaching Marigold Station you can take commissions from Gnarled Stationmaster (or, if he's replaced by Cerise Condottiere, from him - mechanically they're identical) for various rewards. For maximum efficiency you need to have Persuasive, Watchful and Dangerous all at 300, Jericho Library 2, and clear menaces using social actions, at 6 CP per action. Steps:
- Accept another commission
- Depending on The Marigold Bearer's Fate, Carve out the emblem, Scour the earth or Coax out the Knight
- Return the Marigold
With 90% chances on all challenges, on average you spend 3.1 actions and gain 0.8 CP Menaces for (again, depending on The Marigold Bearer's Fate) Verse of Counter-Creed, Cave-Aged Code of Honour or Brass Ring. Per 15 emblems on average you spend 46.5 actions and gain 12 CP Menaces for 5 x Verse of Counter-Creed, 5 x Cave-Aged Code of Honour (62.5 ) and 5 x Brass Ring (62.5 ). With two additional actions spent clearing Menaces and five spent cashing out Verses for 150 x Hinterland Scrip (76.2 ), the full cycle is 53.5 actions for 201.2 . 3.76 EPA. (Discounting actions spent on travel, since Verses can be stockpiled indefinitely.)
If you have 334 in one of the stats and therefore have 100% chance on one of the challenges, on average you spend 3.06 actions and gain 0.53 CP Menaces per emblem. Per 600 emblems on average you spend 1836 actions and gain 318 CP Menaces for 200 x Verse of Counter-Creed, 200 x Cave-Aged Code of Honour (2500 ) and 200 x Brass Ring (2500 ). With 53 additional actions spent clearing Menaces and 200 spent cashing out Verses for 6000 x Hinterland Scrip (3048 ), the full cycle is 2089 actions for 8048 . 3.85 EPA.
If you have A Submerged Rector you can draw cards in Upper River and boost EPA somewhat, cashing out Verses partially (since you probably can't draw enough cards for them all) through Noisily subvert the entire process for 36 instead of 30 Scrip per Verse.
Ealing Spa[edit]
Since basic options are included in Simplest Endgame Grinds, this grind describes how to get the absolute most from the spa.
- For attending a treatment you need to be a Spirifier. On average you get 1.875 echoes in Brilliant Souls and Compromising Documents in addition to 50 Souls per action. Spirifiers can exchange 1000 Souls for 3000 Nevercold Brass Slivers and 2 Appalling Secrets in one action, for a total of 30.3 echoes. In 21 actions, ignoring travel (since souls can be stockpiled indefinitely), you get 67.8 echoes - 3.228 EPA.
- For offering a treatment, besides Mutersalt and Kataleptic Toxicology 10, you need to have built the Virginia statue. With 5% chance of rare success, per 40 actions you get 190 Brilliant Souls (95 echoes), two Silent Souls (25 echoes) and two Favours: Hell. Considering the small deck in Upper River, it can be assumed that you will draw the statue card often enough to turn in all favours, spending one action to turn in two favours for 16.25 echoes on average (50/50 split between 12.5 and 20 echoes). 41 actions for 136.25 echoes - 3.32 EPA.
- If you don't have a statue, you can still cash in favours through A soothing sight. 140 actions for 665 Brilliant Souls (332.5 echoes) 7 Silent Souls (87.5 echoes) and 7 Favours: Hell. 2 traveling actions for a Rumour of the Upper River (2.5 echoes). 7 cashing in actions for 2940 Nevercold Brass Slivers (29.4 echoes). 149 actions for 451.9 echoes - 3.03 EPA.
Eversmoulder Trips[edit]
After reaching Jericho Locks and raising A Member of the Gondoliers to 6, you can convert various resources into Esteem of the Guild and spend it on trips to various destinations. Most profitable destination is the Eversmoulder, on average giving 1 x Primaeval Hint (62.5 ), 2.5 x Uncanny Incunabulum (31.25 ) and 18 x Moves in the Great Game (9.144 ) for a total of 102.894 . If you are a Crooked-Cross, not a Lyon Pursuivant of Arms Extraordinary and have unlocked Parabolan War, the following loop is possible:
- Enter the Palatinate alone 24 times
- Debate with the Nostalgic Landlady 6 times
- Charter a barge to the Eversmoulder
- Leave the barge
32 actions for 102.894 . 3.215 EPA.
Alternatively, if you're gaining Esteem through Watch a parade, getting favours at roughly one per action rate from cards in London or Moulin (with Moulin Commemorative Development exactly 22) and traveling to Jericho every time you accumulate 5, you spend 15 actions getting favours, 3 watching parades, 6 traveling (gaining additional 15 from 6 x Rumour of the Upper River and 2 on trip itself. 26 actions for 117.894 - 4.534 EPA.
Helicon House Grinds[edit]
Require access to the Helicon House.
Fate-free Casing...-based grind
- Requirements:
- free entrance
- Train Luxuries at least 4
- A Helicon House Companion that gives 1 x Fitting in at Helicon House
- 1st Phase:
- Enter Helicon House with your Fitting In companion
- Keep a close eye on everyone present twice (gives 8 CP of Casing...)
- Do actions that give 2 fitting in twice. See Helicon House (Guide). Some of these provides Making Waves, Inspired... etc. This is not considered here.
- Forget the biscuits, take the Solacefruit for items worth 31 Scrip
- 2nd Phase:
- Enter Helicon House with your Fitting In companion
- Immediately Lay claim to any left-behind items for 26 Scrip.
- Alternate between the two phases
- Gives a total of 635 Scrip per 106 actions, i.e. 5.99 SPA (plus 0.14 EPA on average, depending on entrance method)
This equals 3.18 EPA when converted through Tinned Ham.
By using Join in with a Rubbery Euphonium 2 or another 3 Fitting in action instead, you reach 6.27 SPA. This equals 3.33 EPA when converted through Tinned Ham.
Fate-free Casing...-based grind (with the Morally and Physically Flexible Rubbery Cat HALLOWMAS)
- Requirements:
- free entrance
- A Helicon House Companion that gives 1 x Fitting in at Helicon House
- Train Luxuries at least 4
- Morally and Physically Flexible Rubbery Cat
- 1st Phase:
- Enter Helicon House
- Keep a close eye on everyone present (gives 5 CP of Casing...)
- Deploy your Morally and Physically Flexible Rubbery Cat (gives 6 CP of Casing... and consumes 3 Hand-picked Peppercaps)
- Do actions that give 2 fitting in twice. See Helicon House (Guide). Some of these provides Making Waves, Inspired... etc. This is not considered here.
- Forget the biscuits, take the Solacefruit for items worth 30 Scrip (a net profit of 27 Scrip, since 3 Peppercaps were consumed by the cat)
- 2nd Phase:
- Enter Helicon House with your Fitting In companion
- Immediately Lay claim to any left-behind items for 26 Scrip
- Gives a total of 680 Scrip per 112 actions, i.e. 6.07 SPA (plus 0.16 EPA on average, depending on entrance method).
This equals 3.24 EPA when converted through Tinned Ham.
By using Join in with a Rubbery Euphonium 2 or another 3 Fitting in action instead, you reach 6.34 SPA. This equals 3.38 EPA when converted through Tinned Ham.
FATE-locked Fitting In-based grind
- Requirements
- FATE A Pendant of Helicon Amber
- Access to one of the actions granting 3 x Fitting in at Helicon House.
- (Optional) A Helicon House Companion which grants Fitting In.
- Rotation
- Use your Pendant to arrive late at the party with 2 Fitting In (3 with applicable Companion).
- Spend 3 actions gaining 9 more Fitting In.
- Forget the biscuits, take the Solacefruit on your way out, gaining 20 Solacefruit and 11-12 Peppercaps.
- Gives a total of 31-32 Scrip for 5 actions, worth 6.20-6.40 SPA.
This reaches 3.25 EPA when converted through Tinned Ham.
Unterzee Grinds[edit]
Require a Ship.
Khaganian Intrigue[edit]
By setting up a Cover Identity and zailing across the zee, you can play a number of Intrigues at Khan's Heart - however, you need to ensure that your Cover Identity and your chosen outfit permits you to 100% the challenges to increase you Intrigue in all hours in the Khanate day cycle. See the guide for details on such outfits. The main intrigues for earning money are:
- Sabotage a power plant: This requires Colour at the Chessboard 1-2, costs 5 x Intercepted Cablegram, takes 77 actions (1 to start, 75 to progress, 1 to finish), and yields 5 x Night-Whisper (312.5 ) + 10 CP Advancing the Liberation of Night:.
- Plant a mirror: This requires Connected: Fingerkings 4, costs 2 x Intercepted Cablegram, takes 15 actions (1 to start, 13 to progress, 1 to finish), and yields 1 x Oneiromantic Revelation (62.5 ) + 1 x Favours: Fingerkings.
- Expand your network: This costs 2 x Intercepted Cablegram, takes 15 actions (1 to start, 13 to progress, 1 to finish), and yields a T6 item - which one depends on a specific agent/ Airs of the Khanate range. Academic, Thief and Diplomat give Searing Enigma, Crackling Device and Bottle of Fourth City Airag: Year of the Tortoise respectively, each worth 62.5 . Dissident gives Stalemate worth 125 125 x Hinterland Scrip (63.5 ). Tailor and Engineer give Much-Needed Gap, and Physician gives Oneiric Pearl, each worth 125 x Assortment of Khaganian Coinage. Since you can buy Crackling Device for 130 coinage, 125 can be abstracted as 60.096 . Aristocrat, Officer and Soldier give Mortification of a Great Power. Currently, it can only be cashed out though Cover Identities, spending to gain 26 x Cover Identity: Backstory with Embed your cover identity in the story of a terrible humiliation option. Simplest way is to just Fence this identity, which gives 1 x Magnificent Diamond per 5 backstory points (essentially 2.5 per 1 point). Since there’s no cap on backstory, the actions/additional rewards for raising Elaboration/fencing can be removed from calculation, and cashout can be abstracted as 1 action/65 per Mortification. Therefore, on average you spend additional 3 actions and gain 626.288 per 10 agents/0.3 actions and 62.6288 per 1 agent. Also, any recruited agent raises Strength of your Khaganian Network by 1.
All of these intrigues cost Intercepted Cablegrams, and there are two ways to get those:
- Intercept a cablegram: This takes 4 actions (1 to start, 2 to progress, 1 to finish) and yields 5 x Intercepted Cablegram + 1 x Vital Intelligence worth 25 Hinterland Scrip (12.7 ).
- Tap a telegraph cable: This requires Strength of your Khaganian Network 10, takes 15 actions (1 to start, 13 to progress, 1 to finish), and yields 50 x Intercepted Cablegram + 1 x Vital Intelligence worth 25 Hinterland Scrip (12.7 ) + either 1 x Queen Mate or 1 x Epaulette Mate, both worth 50 Hinterland Scrip (25.4 ).
Possible combinations include:
- Intercept a cablegram - 4 actions yielding 5 x Intercepted Cablegram + 12.7 . Sabotage a power plant - costs 5 x Intercepted Cablegram, takes 77 actions, and yields 312.5 . In total - 81 actions, yielding 325.2 , which is 4.015 EPA.
- Tap a telegraph cable - 15 actions yielding 50 x Intercepted Cablegram + 38.1 . Sabotage a power plant 10 times - costs 50 x Intercepted Cablegram, takes 770 actions, and yields 3125 . In total - 785 actions, yielding 3163.1 , which is 4.029 EPA.
- Intercept a cablegram twice - 8 actions yielding 10 x Intercepted Cablegram + 25.4 . Plant a mirror 5 times - costs 10 x Intercepted Cablegram, takes 75 actions, and yields 312.5 . In total: 83 actions, yielding 337.9 , which is 4.071 EPA.
- Tap a telegraph cable - 15 actions yielding 50 x Intercepted Cablegram + 38.1 . Plant a mirror 25 times - costs 50 x Intercepted Cablegram, takes 375 actions, and yields 1562.5 . In total: 390 actions, yielding 1600.6 , which is 4.104 EPA.
- Intercept a cablegram twice - 8 actions yielding 10 x Intercepted Cablegram + 25.4 . Expand your network 5 times - costs 10 x Intercepted Cablegram, takes 76.5 actions, and yields 313.144 . In total: 84.5 actions, yielding 338.544 , which is 4.006 EPA.
- Tap a telegraph cable - 15 actions yielding 50 x Intercepted Cablegram + 38.1 . Expand your network 25 times - costs 50 x Intercepted Cablegram, takes 382.5 actions, and yields 1565.72 . In total: 397.5 actions, yielding 1 603.82 , which is 4.034 EPA.
With Strength of your Khaganian Network 20, An opportunity: (Opportunity) becomes available, which takes 1 x Emetic Revelation (12.5 ) and can yield 62.5 worth of items for 12 actions for ideally 4.17 EPA. The upside of this method is that the sequence of Opportunities is deterministic and good cycles exist which only give you sellable items. The downside is that you need Emetic Revelations to do this. If you grind them by using options which yield Khanite currency, convert that into light bulbs and sell these in London, one Revelation will take about 3.66 actions. This will lower the efficiency of that grind to just about 4 EPA.
The Court of the Wakeful Eye[edit]
After completing Associating with Radical Academics storyline, The Court of the Wakeful Eye lets you exchange various Favours and items for Tribute, up to 260. Zailing to the Court takes 6 actions, and returning to London takes 8 if you use Zubmarine or Majestic Pleasure Yacht/7 if you use Swift Zee-Clipper or The Cladery Heart, for a total of 14/13 actions per trip. At the Court, 20 Tribute can be exchanged for 62.5 worth of items in 4 actions, up to 812.5 /52 actions per trip. The most efficient strategies are:
Winsome Dispossessed Orphan grind[edit]
- Buy 10 Winsome Dispossessed Orphans from the Bazaar for 648
- Exhange them for 250 Tribute in 10 actions
- Zail to the Court in 6 actions
- Turn 240 Tribute into 750 worth of items in 48 actions
- Return in 8/7 actions
- Buy another 10 Winsome Dispossessed Orphans from the Bazaar for 648
- exchange them for 250 Tribute in 10 actions
- Zail to the Court in 6 actions
- Turn 260 Tribute into 812.5 worth of items in 52 actions
- Return in 8/7 actions.
144/142 actions for 266.5 - 1.85/1.87 EPA.
Mountain-sherd grind[edit]
- Do the following 7 times (total 161 actions) to get 7 Mountain-sherds:
- Descend
- Assist an Unfinished Man
- Extract confessions from the Calcified Men 20 times (requires Persuasive 209 to 100% the challenge.)
- Send the Unfinished Man to the Khanate
- Exchange those sherds for 245 Tribute in 7 actions
- Zail to the Court in 6 actions
- Turn 240 Tribute into 750 worth of items in 48 actions
- Every fourth trip, turn the leftover tribute into another 62.5 worth of items (average 15.625 , 1 action)
- Return in 8/7 actions
231/230 actions for 762.625 - 3.301/3.315 EPA.
Favour grind (using cards)[edit]
- Using opportunity cards, gain Favours with either the Docks, Bohemians, the Church, Society, or Criminals.
- Every time you have 5 favours of the same faction, exchange them for 20 Tribute. Assuming 1 action/card per Favour, you get 260 Tribute in 78 actions
- Zail to the Court in 6 actions
- Turn 260 Tribute into 812.5 worth of items in 52 actions
- Return in 8/7 actions.
144/143 actions for 812.5 - 5.64/5.68 EPA. Options which give more than 1 Favour per actions and/or give additional profit (e.g. A Visit, More Larks with the Young Stags, fate-locked Restoring souls from A Trade in Souls, The Tower of Eyes if you have Augmented Electrostatic Machine, professional payments, etc.) will increase the EPA further, while faction cards which give menaces might cut into your profits a bit.
The Maze-Garden[edit]
- Located in Polythreme
- Screaming Map recommended, but the tramp steamer also works. Modified Shadowy and Dangerous 200 is an advantage, but at least 2/3 of the EPA can be gained at modified level 100.
- 1 Prisoner's Mask recommended per cycle.
See The Maze-Garden (Guide) for full information on the carousel.
- Variable EPA, but 4.36 is reasonable.
Parabola Grinds[edit]
Require access to the Parabolan Base-Camp.
Forcing Stalemates[edit]
Requirements
- Route: The Chessboard
- Parabolan Dominance exactly 4
Recommended
- The Midnighter profession
- A Player of Chess 16
- The Boatman's Opponent 40
- Chess: Mastery of the Game 100
- Colour at the Chessboard 2-3.
Gathering cycle:
- Remain current Colour
- Recognise an opening because of your professional affiliations
- Open with a familiar move
- Play a move you learned from the Boatman 5 times
- Choose an epaulette mate or Choose a queen mate
9 actions for a Vienna Opening (5 Hinterland Scrip), mate (50 Hinterland Scrip) and 138 Well-Placed Pawns. Per 60 cycles you spend 540 actions for 3300 Hinterland Scrip and 8280 Well-Placed Pawns.
Spending cycle:
- Remain current Colour
- Recognise an opening because of your professional affiliations
- Open with a familiar move
- Sabotage your side
- Play a move you learned from the Boatman 4 times
- Force a Stalemate (+125 scrip, -360 pawns)
9 actions and 360 Well-Placed Pawns for a Vienna Opening (5 Hinterland Scrip) and a Stalemate (125 Hinterland Scrip). Per 23 cycles you spend 207 actions and 8280 Well-Placed Pawns for 2990 scrip.
With 60 gathering and 23 spending cycles you have no leftover pawns, spending 747 actions for 6290 Scrip/3195.32 echoes - 4.277 EPA.
If you are NOT a Midnighter, the value is lessened somewhat at A Player of Chess 13: you lose the Vienna Opening and gain 10 (for a total of 148) Well-Placed Pawns. At 90 cycles (810 actions), get 4500 Hinterland Scrip (in Queen and Epaulette mates) and 13320 Well-Placed Pawns. Spending cycles (37 of them) are 333 actions and 37 Stalemates worth 4625 scrip. 1143 actions for 9125 Scrip/4635.5 echoes yields 4.055 EPA (7.983 SPA). This decreases with less aPoC; 12 aPoC gives 4.026 EPA (7.925 SPA). [NOTE: If you find the loss (or gain) of Advancing the Liberation of Night distasteful, you can use the Endgame 'Betray' action to switch to the opposite side. You can stay on those pieces as long as you want--the AtLoN check won't apply.]
Parabolan War[edit]
This grind is updated; please correct any errors
For maximum efficiency, you need:
- Access to the Yourself campaign, which requires fewer actions between stages
- Dangerous 292
- Persuasive or Shadowy 250,
- Persuasive 167
- Watchful 167
- Parabolan Commander on a level that lets you get at least 6 Campaign Morale at the start. Stage 1 plays slightly differently if your starting morale is higher.
Steps (0-action branches not displayed):
- Yourself
- Move out!
- Host a hunt 7 times, or until Campaign Morale reaches 16
- Rally your army onward / Scout the way ahead 17 times, or until Advance! reaches 24
- Follow your own trail
- Progress the War from London instead
- Inspire artistic support 3 times
- Spy on the movement of cats 9 times, or until Advance! reaches 24
- Return to Parabola
- Continue the hunt for yourself
- Launch a naval assault 6 times
- Sail the Wanting-Way 3 times
- Consult the Oracle of Glaziers
- Enjoy a respite 14 times
- Mount a cavalry charge 2 times
- Follow yourself
- Liberate the dungeons of the Castle 10 times
- Assault the Citadel of Vineyards 3 times
- Siege yourself
- Speak to yourself
- Deny Yourself
- Depart for your Base-Camp
86 actions for an item worth 312.5 echoes, a total of 3.634 EPA.
You can raise this by using the Airs -dependent options in the first stage. Instead of Rally your army onward / Scout the way ahead 14 times, try to get 4 successes on Deploy Counter-Factual Phantasies or Lead your army through forgotten trenches. For a Dangerous/Watchful level of 292 this should raise the EPA to ~3.9, after accounting for Ravages. Spending resources which are easy to acquire for your character will raise EPA to a maximum of about 4, whilst spending hard to get ones will lower it to about 3.8. Since ravages are randomly selected through War's Scars, optimal play is often not possible.
Oneiropomping[edit]
Requires access to Viric Jungle. While this grind only describes two loops and doesn't count rare successes, there are many more possible strategies - it's possible that more profitable loops exist.
First loop requires Persuasive 292 to 100%:
- Inspire the Bohemian Sculptress
- Lend power to the dream
- More! Further!
- Observe and learn
- Lend power to the dream
- Observe and learn
- Inspire her to imagine His Amused Lordship as a historical figure
7 actions for 2 Sworn Statements, 10 Intriguing Snippets and, on average, 105 Sighting of a Parabolan Landmark - 17.5 echoes in total, 2.5 EPA.
Second loop requires The Marvellous and Glasswork 15 to 100%:
- Inspire the Bohemian Sculptress
- Transform dream into prophecy
- More! Further!
- Observe and learn
- Transform dream into prophecy
- Observe and learn
- Transform dream into prophecy
- Observe and learn
- Transform dream into prophecy
- Observe and learn
- Inspire her to imagine His Amused Lordship as a historical figure
11 actions for, on average, 1 Comprehensive Bribe, 15 Intriguing Snippets and 180 Sighting of a Parabolan Landmark - 33.5 echoes in total, 3.045 EPA.
Waswood Shore[edit]
Requires access to The Waswood. Reach towards the shore 2) has an EPA of over 3 when including rare success. Note that Airs can be shuffled at no action cost by leaving and returning to the Waswood, so it is not necessary to take the less profitable option.
Rat Market Grinds[edit]
Revolve around getting the sellable at Rat Market The Rat Market (Area) items most efficiently, mainly through already existing grinds. Basic tips:
- By the nature of Rat Market, any grind requires either operating only during the corresponding The Rat-Season: or stockpiling items to cash out all at once when the corresponding season starts. Take a look at the guide to plan out your grind/s.
- Selling tier 5 items in bulk (5 at a time) is only worth doing if your grind is higher than 3.75 EPA, since you’re saving 4 actions at the cost of losing 15 profit.
- If Phase of the Rat-Moon: is Soft, Direction of the Rat-Wind: is North, you have progressed in Railway to The Hurlers and have Hurlers Commercial Development 2, then the EPA of any Rat Market grind rises for this week - instead of cashing out Rat-Shillings through Rostygold or T2 items, you can buy Fabulous Diamonds and after the market closes trade them all at once (to minimise travel actions) in Hurlers. Each trade by itself is 10 EPA action - 5 from Hinterland Scrip-> Tinned Ham conversion, and 5 from 2 x Stolen Kiss.
Publishing Newspapers (Rat Market)[edit]
You can grind Uncanny Incunabula to sell during The Rat-Season: Skitter-Scatter, Dimmest-Dark or Freeze-and-Fall. Since the exact calculations are relatively complicated, they require a spreadsheet - below is a brief summary:
- Out of 104 copy editions, The finest kind of madness is the most efficient since all gained items can be upconverted into Incunabula - however, it requires you to have built a station at Jericho Locks. Per two newspapers you spend 37 actions to get 236 x Journal of Infamy and 8 x Extraordinary Implication. Accounting for spending Connected: Benthic (assumed to be gained through through buying Flasks of Abominable Salts and directing grants) and additional items (in particular, Storm-Threnodies are assumed to be sold on Rat Market as well) on successes and rare successes (assumed 10% chance with Journals and 5% chance with Implications, for the 54/6/40 and 57/3/40 success/rare success/failure spreads respectively), upconversion of those items and selling them in bulk in addition to newspapers themselves can be abstracted as 48.959 actions for 203.804 - 4.162 EPA.
- With slight editions, you spend 38.73 actions for 296 x Journal of Infamy and 4 x Sulky Bat (0.8 ). Accounting for additional factors as described above, upconversion and selling in bulk in addition to newspapers themselves 52.606 actions for 221.414 - 4.208 EPA.
Mr Chimes' Grand Clearing-Out Unveiled activities (Rat Market)[edit]
Each of the five activities has at least one reward that can be sold or converted into a sellable item.
- The Sunken Embassy with Give an inordinately enormous stack of documents to the Brass Embassy can produce either 1 x Oneiromantic Revelation and 80 x Nevercold Brass Sliver for 18 actions (using Seek out spy-holes, requires Watchful 297 to 100%), or 1 x Oneiromantic Revelation for 26 actions (using Peel fact from falsehood, requires Mithridacy 10 to 100%). Every 5 Revelations you can Compound your revelations into a Parabolan Parable (requires Glasswork 12 to 100%) and then Sell a Parabolan Parable for 4000 Rat-Shillings, spending Revelations and 2 actions for 400 . 92/132 actions for 404/400 - 4.39/3.03 EPA.
- Underclay can produce:
- With Send an Unfinished Man to Mahogany Hall - 1 x Captivating Ballad and 270/120/0 x Shard of Glim for 22/23.4/27 actions, using Commingle fact and falsehood (requires Mithridacy 15 to 100%), Provide a reference (requires Shadowy 147 to 100% and assumes combination with Enter the house (White))/Stage an introduction (requires Shadowy 209 to 100%) and Invent fabricated histories (requires Shadowy 147 to 100%) respectively. Additional action to Sell a Captivating Ballad for 850 Rat-Shillings, turning Ballad into 85 . 22/23.4/27 actions for 87.7/86.2/85 - 3.98/3.68/3.14 EPA.
- With Send the Unfinished Man to teach Third City history - 1 x Storm-Threnody and 260/200/100 x Shard of Glim for 7 actions, combining Extract confessions from the Calcified Men (requires Persuasive 209 to 100%) with Commingle fact and falsehood/Provide a reference or Stage an introduction/Invent fabricated histories. Additional action to Sell a Storm-Threnody for 200 Rat-Shillings, turning Threnody into 20 . 8 actions for 22.6/22/21 - 2.82/2.75/2.62 EPA.
- Spider Symposium with Accept some of the finest linen can produce 1 x Parabola-Linen Scrap and 300 x Silk Scrap for 22 actions (using Posit that language makes reality, requires Persuasive 300 to 100%). Additional action to Sell a Parabola-Linen Scrap for 850 Rat-Shillings, turning Scrap into 85 . 23 actions for 88 - 3.82 EPA.
- L.B. Industries can produce:
- With Accept old coins as a reward - 2 x Fourth-City Echo (each sells for 125 shillings/12.5 and 0 actions) and 210 x Bone Fragments for 10 actions (using Assist with assembly, requires Shadowy 297 to 100%). 10 actions for 27.1 - 2.71 EPA.
- With Accept a reverent thanks for your labour - 1 x Ratty Reliquary and 180 x Bone Fragments for 6 actions (using Assist with assembly, requires Shadowy 297 to 100%). Additional action to Sell a Ratty Reliquary for 200 Rat-Shillings, turning Reliquary into 20 . 7 actions for 21.8 - 3.11 EPA.
- With Ask for a Crackling Device as payment - 1 x Crackling Device and 300 x Bone Fragments for 22 actions (using Assist with assembly, requires Shadowy 297 to 100%). Additional action to Sell a Crackling Device for 850 Rat-Shillings, turning Device into 85 . 23 actions for 88 - 3.82 EPA.
- Old Newgate with Taste honey from an inordinate amount of bees can produce either 1 x Oneiromantic Revelation and 270 x Whispered Hint for 24 actions on average (cycling between best randomizer options, Betray both sides/Hunt a swarm of drones/Commune with the bees, requires Dangerous 209, Monstrous Anatomy 7 and Mithridacy 10 to 100% all three), or 1 x Oneiromantic Revelation for 26 actions (using Set an ambush/Sow carnage, requires Watchful/ Dangerous 147 to 100%). Every 5 Revelations you can Compound your revelations into a Parabolan Parable (requires Glasswork 12 to 100%) and then Sell a Parabolan Parable for 4000 Rat-Shillings, spending Revelations and 2 actions for 400 . 122/132 actions for 404/400 - 3.31/3.03 EPA.
Brawling with Dockers (Rat Market)[edit]
You can grind Ratty Reliquaries to sell during The Rat-Season: Vial-Vane, Take-and-Toil or Wine-Whisper:
- Brawling in group with Accept a share of the crates cleared out of Saint Cyriac's Illuminated College can produce 1 x Baptised Rattus Faber Corpse and 13.5/14.25 in assorted materials for 7/5 actions. Every 5 corpses you can Deliver the bodies to their final end and then Sell a Ratty Reliquary for 200 Rat-Shillings, spending corpses and 2 actions for 20 . 37/27 actions for 87.5/91.25 - 2.36/3.2 EPA (not counting rare successes since their chance is currently unknown).
- Solo brawling with Claim the crates cleared out of Saint Cyriac's Illuminated College can produce 1 x Baptised Rattus Faber Corpse and 18/19.75 in assorted materials for 7 actions. Every 5 corpses you can Deliver the bodies to their final end and then Sell a Ratty Reliquary for 200 Rat-Shillings, spending corpses and 2 actions for 20 . 37 actions for 110/118.75 - 2.97/3.37 EPA (not counting rare successes since their chance is currently unknown).
Assembling Fossilised Apes (Rat Market)[edit]
You can grind Crackling Devices to sell during The Rat-Season: Take-and-Toil, Wine-Whisper or Rise-and-Rake by selling Carved Balls of Stygian Ivory for Assortment of Khaganian Coinage instead of and buying devices for 130 coinage each. Assuming similar selling in bulk to make travel actions negligible, this version (exact calculations can be seen in the same spreadsheet on Rat Market list) spends 15.09 actions for 80.7 per ape which is 5.34 EPA. If your Monstrous Anatomy is lower than 15, failure chance on applying a Fossilised Forelimb can be abstracted as adding 1.x Antiquity instead of 2 per Forelimb - removing 4 Coinage from skeleton reward on average per each missing point. 5.18 EPA at 14, 5.02 EPA at 13, 4.85 EPA at 12, 4.69 EPA at 11, 4.52 EPA at 10. With Bone Market Fluctuations: you get 22 Carved Balls of Stygian Ivory instead of 18, meaning extra 20 Coinage. However, in this version EPA also drops more rapidly with lower Monstrous Anatomy, removing 5 Coinage from skeleton reward per each missing point. 6.14 EPA at 15, 5.95 EPA at 14, 5.75 EPA at 13, 5.54 EPA at 12, 5.34 EPA at 11, 5.14 EPA at 10.
Deciphering Documents (Rat Market)[edit]
You can Night-Whispers to sell during The Rat-Season: Dimmest-Dark, Freeze-and-Fall, Lying-Longing by intercepting and deciphering a message. With one additional action to Sell a Night-Whisper for 850 Rat-Shillings, you spend 29.258-19.249 actions for 85 - 2.905-4.415 EPA.
Evenlode Diving (Rat Market)[edit]
You can grind Uncanny Incunabula to sell during The Rat-Season: Skitter-Scatter, Dimmest-Dark or Freeze-and-Fall. Since the exact calculations are relatively complicated, they require a spreadsheet. In short, the difference from basic diving stars after the diving itself - Jade Fragments are upconverted, not sold, and the resulting Relics of the Third City together with First City Coins are used to publish purely Tragic Monographs (start with Chronicle the history of Gaider's Mourn or Chronicle the history of Port Carnelian and sell to The Militant Curate), while Traces of the First City are used to publish purely Cautionary Monographs (start with Investigate the Fourth City's decline and sell to The Exiled Antiquarian). Accounting for spending Connected: Benthic (assumed to be gained through through buying Flasks of Abominable Salts and directing grants) and additional items on successes and rare successes (assumed 5% chance, for the 57/3/40 success/rare success/failure spread), upconversion of Implications and selling resulting Incunabula in bulk in addition to diving/monographs themselves can be abstracted as 219.045 actions for 860.129 - 3.926 EPA.
Marigold Emblems (Rat Market)[edit]
You can cash out Verses of Counter-Creed through Correct a Verse of Counter-Creed instead of Lend religiously, selling resulting Uncanny Incunabula during The Rat-Season: Skitter-Scatter, Dimmest-Dark or Freeze-and-Fall - correspondingly, you need A Church in the Wild 50 instead of Jericho Library 2.
- With all three stats at 300 bulk selling adds 1 action and 8.8 with total 54.5 actions for 210 - 3.85 EPA.
- With 334 in one stat, bulk selling adds 40 actions and 352 with total 2129 actions for 9400 - 3.94 EPA.
Eversmoulder trips (Rat Market)[edit]
You can sell Uncanny Incunabula during The Rat-Season: Skitter-Scatter, Dimmest-Dark or Freeze-and-Fall. With 2.5 Incunabula per trip on average it adds 0.5 actions and 11.25 echoes to the grind. In Crooked Cross version you spend 32.5 actions for 114.144 - 3.512 EPA. In Docks version you spend 26.5 actions for 129.144 - 4.873 EPA.
Khaganian Intrigue (Rat Market)[edit]
Many intrigues and other activities have rewards that can be sold or converted into a sellable item. You can:
- Grind Corresponding Sounders to sell during The Rat-Season: Freeze-and-Fall, Lying-Longing or Candle-Canker.
- Intercept a cablegram twice - 8 actions yielding 10 x Intercepted Cablegram + 25.4 . Obtain a Corresponding Sounder - costs 10 x Intercepted Cablegram, takes 77 actions, and yields 1 x Corresponding Sounder. Sell a Corresponding Sounder for 4000 Rat-Shillings - costs 1 x Corresponding Sounder, takes 1 action and yields 4000 x Rat-Shilling (400 ). In total: 86 actions, yielding 425.4 , which is 4.946 EPA.
- Tap a telegraph cable - 15 actions yielding 50 x Intercepted Cablegram + 38.1 . Obtain a Corresponding Sounder 5 times - costs 40 x Intercepted Cablegram, takes 385 actions, and yields 5 x Corresponding Sounder. Sell a Corresponding Sounder for 4000 Rat-Shillings 5 times - costs 5 x Corresponding Sounder, takes 5 actions and yields 20000 x Rat-Shilling (2000 ). In total: 405 actions, yielding 2038.1 , which is 5.032 EPA.
- Grind Crackling Devices to sell during The Rat-Season: Take-and-Toil, Wine-Whisper or Rise-and-Rake.
- Intercept a cablegram 4 times - 16 actions yielding 20 x Intercepted Cablegram + 50.8 . Expand your network 10 times - costs 20 x Intercepted Cablegram, takes 150 actions, and on average yields 1 x Searing Enigma (62.5 ), 1 x Crackling Device (85 and 1 additional action to sell), 1 x Bottle of Fourth City Airag: Year of the Tortoise ( 125 x Assortment of Khaganian Coinage), Stalemate ( 125 x Hinterland Scrip/63.5 ), 2 x Much-Needed Gap ( 250 x Assortment of Khaganian Coinage), 1 x Oneiric Pearl ( 125 x Assortment of Khaganian Coinage), 3 x Mortification of a Great Power (195 and 3 additional actions to sell as outlined in basic grind). 500 x Assortment of Khaganian Coinage) can be abstracted as 3.846 Crackling Devices, with 3.846 additional actions to sell them for 326.923 . In total: 173.846 actions, yielding 783.723 , which is 4.508 EPA.
- Tap a telegraph cable twice - 30 actions yielding 100 x Intercepted Cablegram + 76.2 . Expand your network 50 times - costs 100 x Intercepted Cablegram, takes 789.23 actions, and yields 3664.615 (as outlined above). In total: 819.23 actions, yielding 3 740.815 , which is 4.566 EPA.
- Grind Parabolan Parables to sell during The Rat-Season: Kifer-Caitiff, Skitter-Scatter or Dimmest-Dark. Besides the basic intrigue setup, requires Glasswork 12 for maximum efficiency.
- Intercept a cablegram twice - 8 actions yielding 10 x Intercepted Cablegram + 25.4 . Plant a mirror 5 times - costs 10 x Intercepted Cablegram, takes 75 actions, and yields 5 x Oneiromantic Revelation. Compound your revelations into a Parabolan Parable - costs 5 x Oneiromantic Revelation, takes 1 action and yields 1 x Parabolan Parable. Sell a Parabolan Parable for 4000 Rat-Shillings - costs 1 x Parabolan Parable, takes 1 action and yields 4000 x Rat-Shilling (400 ). In total: 85 actions, yielding 425.4 , which is 5.004 EPA.
- Tap a telegraph cable - 15 actions yielding 50 x Intercepted Cablegram + 38.1 . Plant a mirror 25 times - costs 50 x Intercepted Cablegram, takes 375 actions, and yields 25 x Oneiromantic Revelation. Compound your revelations into a Parabolan Parable 5 times - costs 25 x Oneiromantic Revelation, takes 5 actions and yields 5 x Parabolan Parable. Sell a Parabolan Parable for 4000 Rat-Shillings 5 times - costs 5 x Parabolan Parable, takes 5 actions and yields 20000 x Rat-Shilling (2000 ). In total: 400 actions, yielding 2038.1 , which is 5.095 EPA.
- Grind Night-Whispers to sell during The Rat-Season: Dimmest-Dark, Freeze-and-Fall, Lying-Longing.
- Intercept a cablegram - 4 actions yielding 5 x Intercepted Cablegram + 12.7 . Sabotage a power plant - costs 5 x Intercepted Cablegram, takes 77 actions, and yields 5 x Night-Whisper. Sell a Night-Whisper for 850 Rat-Shillings 5 times - costs 5 x Night-Whisper, takes 5 actions and yields 4250 x Rat-Shilling (425 ). In total - 86 actions, yielding 437.7 , which is 5.089 EPA.
- Tap a telegraph cable - 15 actions yielding 50 x Intercepted Cablegram + 38.1 . Sabotage a power plant 10 times - costs 50 x Intercepted Cablegram, takes 770 actions, and yields 50 x Night-Whisper. Sell a Night-Whisper for 850 Rat-Shillings 50 times - costs 50 x Night-Whisper, takes 50 actions and yields 42500 x Rat-Shilling (4250 ). In total - 835 actions, yielding 4288.1 , which is 5.135 EPA.
The Court of the Wakeful Eye (Rat Market)[edit]
You can grind Night-Whispers to sell during The Rat-Season: Dimmest-Dark, Freeze-and-Fall, Lying-Longing:
- Winsome Dispossessed Orphan grind gives you 25 x Night-Whisper for 144/142 actions and 1296 . Additional 25 actions to Sell a Night-Whisper for 850 Rat-Shillings 25 times, turning them into 2125 . 169/167 actions for 829 - 4.905/4.964 EPA
- Mountain-sherd grind gives you 49 x Night-Whisper for 924/920 actions. Additional 49 actions to Sell a Night-Whisper for 850 Rat-Shillings 49 times, turning them into 4165 . 973/969 actions for 4165 - 4.28/4.298 EPA.
- Favour grind gives you 13 x Night-Whisper for 144/143 actions. Additional 13 actions to Sell a Night-Whisper for 850 Rat-Shillings 13 times, turning them into 1105 . 157/156 actions for 1105 7.038/7.083 EPA. Options which give more than 1 Favour per actions and/or give additional profit (e.g. A Visit, More Larks with the Young Stags, fate-locked Restoring souls from A Trade in Souls, The Tower of Eyes if you have Augmented Electrostatic Machine, professional payments, etc.) will increase the EPA further.
Parabolan War (Rat Market)[edit]
You can grind Parabolan Parables to sell during The Rat-Season: Kifer-Caitiff, Skitter-Scatter or Dimmest-Dark. The strategy is largely the same, except that since Yourself campaign doesn’t give Parables, the next best thing is The Cats (for Parable you need to Encourage the Prince to reject the King's offer) - this campaign only adds two extra actions. Adding third to Sell a Parabolan Parable for 4000 Rat-Shillings makes the total 89 actions for 400 - 4.494 EPA.
Oneiropomping (Rat Market)[edit]
With Marvellous loop you can grind Uncanny Incunabula to sell during The Rat-Season: Skitter-Scatter, Dimmest-Dark or Freeze-and-Fall, choosing to Take charge of the Honey-Addled Detective and Extract clues from his thoughts instead of corresponding Sculptress options. You spend 11 actions for, on average, 1 x Uncanny Incunabulum, 9 x Appalling Secret and 180 x Sighting of a Parabolan Landmark. Additional action to Sell an Uncanny Incunabulum for 200 Rat-Shillings, turning Incunabulum into 20 . 12 actions for 39.35 - 3.279 EPA.
Reference[edit]
The most profitable action in the game is A special delivery? although it is very expensive (in terms of actual money). There are more efficient ways to gain Echoes via Fate, see the section on Fate-locked grinds at the top of the page.
These aren't grinds, classically, but are here to show you how many echoes you're earning in various repeatable activities:
- Calling in Favours at the Shuttered Palace, Forgotten Quarter, and Wolfstack Docks gives 4.2 Echoes of items per favour, for an EPA of 2.1.
- If players call in their Society Favours at Court, this is increased. After saving up 6x Society Favours, they may be exchanged in a total of 3 actions (Traveling to the Court and calling in Favours twice) to obtain a profit of 25 E, or 2.8 EPA. Calling in those 6 Favours normally would give 25.2 E for 6 actions, at the regular 2.2 EPA.
- Calling in favours in the Flit to turn in Revolutionaries favours gives 12.6e for a total of four actions (3.15 EPA), 25 scraps + Bundle of Oddities (max value 230) (12.17e in scraps + 1.64e in oddities = 13.81e/4a = 3.46 EPA) for Urchin favours or 12e worth of items for four actions (3 EPA) for Criminal favours. Note that the common sources of Revolutionaries favours give a point of Suspicion, give a point of Suspicion and Scandal on failure or cost 50p in Compromising Documents.
- A furious and incoherent drunken rat gives 1.5 x [modified Shadowy] pence per action in exchange for 6 CP of Someone Is Coming, with a 1% rare success of 230e. With maximum Shadowy (including a Mood, a Profession, and Overcapping), the rat can give up to 4.7e per theft; including the rare success, this option gives a maximum of approximately 7 echoes per attempt on average, or 1.15 echoes per SiC CP. SiC may also be exchanged for A Gift from the Capering Relicker; note that Raw material gives you 22E for 10CP SiC, which is a better deal.
Unfinished Business[edit]
Most Unfinished Business storylets average 1 Echo per action in a specific type of item. Note that this means they are roughly equivalent to a 2 EPA grind that is used to buy the items directly from the Bazaar. Rare successes and ranged successes slightly alter the overall EPA of some Unfinished Business from a high of 1.2525 EPA for A sure bet to a low of 0.95 EPA for The anatomy of a secret and Mischief and brass (.95 EPA)
Cards[edit]
This section only lists cards with greater than 2.5 EPA.
- Drawing The Aftermath of the Great Sink of 1899 twice, and then A Gift from the Capering Relicker (playing the Bone Market branch), gives 26 over 3 card draws (the last of which is guaranteed to occur immediately), which is 8.67 EPA.
- Arbor, of the Roses by grinding massive amounts of Attar and then cashing it all out via Gift your Attar in tribute to the Roseate Queen can get up to 6.02 EPA if done in massive enough batches. More information can be found here.
- Discordant Ripples are 3 sets of highly profitable red-bordered cards, one of which can be added to your deck at a time once you have made sufficient progress at the Hurlers. Since these are red-bordered cards which autofire when clicked on, you do not need an action to play them (click on them when you have no actions left). Their payouts range from 4e to 12.5e, although the most valuable cards also give significant menaces.
- Favours (the Docks, Bohemians, the Church, Society, or Criminals) to Tribute: see Money-Making#Favour_grind_(using_cards) (5.64 EPA) and Money-Making#The Court of the Wakeful Eye (Rat Market) (around 7 EPA)
- A Visit has options which give out two Favours and rewards dependent on relevant base stats. At 200/230 gives 4/4.6e from Repentant Forger (Criminals, Bohemians) or Wry Functionary (Society, Great Game), 3/3.45e from Sardonic Music-Hall Singer (Bohemians, Society), 5/5.6e from Regretful Soldier (Docks, Constables). Note that the Forger and Music-Hall Singer will give you two Favours useable in the above grind.
- The Neath's Mysteries (A strange sort of prank is 4 EPA)
- All fear the Overgoat! (gives 3.65 EPA at maximum base Watchful (scales with base Watchful)
- The High Castle: What Occurs in a Rooftop Shack (3e). Acquaintance: the Repentant Forger 9 is required to 100% the action; failing the check increases your Acquaintance.
- The Lofty Tower: the Potential of Premises at the Bazaar (2e + 4 scraps [3.7e incl. scraps])
Rare Frequency Cards:
- A disgraceful spectacle (12.5e, sell the item to allow the card to appear again)
- A commotion above! (2.9/2.5/2.2e, only in your lodgings)
- The Bonfire of the Decencies (7.5e, but requires high bizarre, 6+ bizarre give greater than 5e)
Grinding (3200) Scraps to trade in with one of the Relickers for a Tier 8 (1562.5e) item is only efficient if an average rate of 3+ Scraps per action is maintained, giving roughly 1.5 EPA. Scraps are generally worth approximately .5e each.
Weekly actions[edit]
These are all actions that you can do once per week. Some depend on Time, the Healer, other on living stories. These are especially great for casual players who do not have the time to spend 1008 actions per week.
As you will only do these schemes once a week, they will take longer to enter your muscle memory than e.g. the newspaper grind. If you spend an hour reading up on bone market recipes while your actions are maxed out, this will not result in an optimal EPA. The low-hanging fruits are labeled easy and are recommended for everyone.
The complex schemes are mostly interesting for people who already spend 900 actions per week, but want to gain the last possible bits of efficiency.
A Professional Reward (easy)[edit]
With a tier one profession, over 8.125EPA. With a tier three profession, 15EPA.
Every four weeks, you can assemble four Professional Perks to get one Trade Secret, which yields 125 for 11 actions, for a total of 11.36EPA.
The Rewards of Ambition (easy)[edit]
This gives 62.5 every four weeks after you have finished your ambition.
Accept a gift from Balmoral's Castellan (easy)[edit]
Requirements
Recommended
- Sufficient Dangerous
- Sufficient Train Defences
- Low Seeing Banditry in the Upper River
All Castellans give you a gift worth 63.5 after Tinned Ham Arbitrage. If you fail the checks for the 2 actions traveling to/from Balmoral, 15.875 EPA. Succeeding those is worth 5, raising EPA to 18 EPA.
Receive the latest 'reports' from your 'agent' (easy)[edit]
Somewhat low yield compared to other weekly actions. Note that challenges in the Snares and the Salt Steppes can have very high requirements.
Requirements
- An Agent of No Consequence, the current end of Khaganian Intrigue (Guide)
- Sufficient stats to 100% challenges in the Snares and the Salt Steppes
- A source of Fistful of Surface Currency or Assortment of Khaganian Coinage.
The Cycle
- Gain 510 x Fistful of Surface Currency or 30 x Assortment of Khaganian Coinage (worth ~15E)
- Travel to the Khanate from London via Trace a route through the Snares (at least 9 actions, approx. 10)
- Pay for cargo in Surface money or Pay for cargo in Khaganian money (3 actions)
- Enter Khan's Heart
- Receive the latest 'reports' from your 'agent'
- Return to London via Trace a route through the Snares (at least 9 actions, approx. 10)
- Deliver the crate to the Widow 3 times
This results in 107.5 for 28 actions, for a total of 3.83 EPA plus whatever you happen to pick up at zee. This assumes you're able to get either Surface Currency or Khaganian Coinage at sell value. This can be done by selling the occasional skeleton to The Trifling Diplomat while passing by.
Board Meeting Dividends (moderate)[edit]
If you have a Pro-Labour Railway Charter, you can use Furnace or Cornelius in lieu of The Vicountess's Persuasive 200 check. However, this will lower the final payout by 10 and lower EPA by 0.52.
Requirements
Recommended
- Charter of the Great Hellbound Railway not 4: Worker Ownership
- Train Luxuries 6
- Board Member: Jovial Contrarian and Portable Fingerking Moot (Replaces One of in Requirements)
The cycle
- Boomerang the Tentacled Entrepreneur
- Invite the Tentacled Entrepreneur to the Board
- Vote the Tentacled Entrepreneur off the Board
- 5 actions to convince your board members and declare victory
- Voting for dividends 2 times
- Vote a dividend to the shareholders
- 5 actions to convince your board members and declare victory
In the absolute worst case scenario (Ealing, no Luxuries, Pro-Labour Charter), this yields 100.08 for 19 actions (after Tinned Ham Arbitrage), a total of 5.26 EPA. Note that using Help from the Board Secretary will allow you to repeat this but lowers efficiency slightly to 5.13 EPA. With the Recommended qualities, this yields 156.08 for 19 actions, for a total of 8.21 EPA.
Board Meeting Charity (complex)[edit]
By repeatedly cycling proposals you can get up to 2-3x Bottle of Fourth City Airag: Year of the Tortoise per Board Meeting. Requirements
- Board Member: Sinning Jenny
- Board Member: the Gracious Widow
- Involved in a Railway Venture 60 (Have build the station at Jericho Locks)
Additionally at the start of the Board Meeting have:
Recommended
The cycle
- Propose special consideration to certain charitable groups
- Propose paying a dividend to the poor of the Hinterlands
- Propose special consideration to certain charitable groups
- Propose paying a dividend to the poor of the Hinterlands
- Propose special consideration to certain charitable groups
- Vote the Gracious Widow off the board
- Close the meeting
- Gain another 10CP Banditry to raise it to 8 (e.g. 5 x Feed information to the gang, net gain 17.5 ).
- When Rising Reports of Banditry autofires, select Ticket sales are going down.
- Invite the Widow to the board.
- If debt remains, get rid of it (via e.g. Raise funds for the railway, -12.5E)
In total, you have six items on the board agenda, each of which should take six actions. Combined with the rest of the actions this should take in total 42.66 actions.
Your net gain will be 196.66 Echos, on average for 4.6EPA.
Board Meeting Assistance to Parabolan War (moderate-complex)[edit]
If you're engaged in a Parabolan War campaign, you can use your weekly board meeting to fully advance one stage in the war. It also causes 8 x Ravages of Parabolan Warfare, but the weekly Time, the Healer is enough to remove those.
The following is slow: advancing one stage of the war per week, for a cash-out only after 5 weeks. So you'll only spend on average 8 actions per week, but those few actions end up being very profitable.
Requirements
- Board Member: The Viscountess of the Viric Jungle
- 3 other Board Members which are OK with Parabolan Warfare (e.g. The Drummer, September, or the Gracious Widow)
The cycle
Assume we start already at the end of one of the stages of the Cats campaign (i.e. Advance! is already 24), with no Ravages:
- Move into Parabola. Costs 100 x Drop of Prisoner's Honey (only 50 for Silverers)
- Progress your campaign to the next stage.
- If you've just completed stage 4 (Along the Smoking Shore), ensure to Encourage the Prince to reject the King's offer.
- If you've just completed stage 5, collect your reward and start a new Cats campaign.
- Return to London (0 actions)
- Assemble a board meeting:
- Propose you deploy your train in the Parabolan War on behalf of Cats
- The Viscountess automatically agrees.
- 4 extra actions to convince the other board members and declare victory.
- Wait for Time, The Healer to remove Ravages of the war.
This involves 5 board meetings (costing just 5 actions each), 5 entries into Parabola (costing 500 x Drops of Honey, which can be bought from the Bazaar for 20 Echoes), and 10 extra actions in Parabola to start a campaign, progress between the stages, and to collect the reward. The reward is a Parabolan Parable, worth 312.5 Echoes. So we have (312.5 - 20) Echoes / 40 Actions = 7.3125 EPA (or 7.5625 for Silverers).
The Rat Market
If you wait for The Rat-Season: Kifer-Caitiff, Skitter-Scatter or Dimmest-Dark, you can Sell a Parabolan Parable for 4000 Rat-Shillings (at the cost of an additional action). This means: (400 - 20 ) Echoes / 41 Actions = 9.268 EPA (or 9.512 for Silverers).
The Waters of the Wellspring (complex)[edit]
This one is really only worth it for Crooked-Crosses.
Requirements
- One of
Recommended
- The Crooked-Cross profession
- Jericho Library 2
- A Submerged Rector
The basic cycle
- Travel to Moulin
- Pay off your Assistants with Hinterland Script if necessary
- Recruit a Miniature Major-General
- Recruit a Bandaged Navigator
- Set off
- Move away from Moulin and deeper into the Waste (5 actions)
- The Wellspring, at Last
- Bathe in the waters
- Collect some Wellspring water
- Cross the Threshold
- Look for the fingerking
- At some point, Sell your Wellspring water to a honey-den 4 times
You should always be able to make it to the Wellspring without incurring menaces. The basic cycle yields 48.20 and 1 x Memory of a Much Lesser Self for 19 actions, for a floor of 2.53EPA. This is much lower yield than other weekly actions, but playing A Lesser Find and Something Nacreous will raise EPA to something around 2.8EPA.
If you keep track of when Viric Fades is going to trigger (by e.g. adding Bathe in the waters to your list of plans and adding a note stating the last time you did it), then you can arrive at the Wellspring shortly before Viric Fades, Collect some Wellspring water, and wait for Viric Fades so you can Bathe in the waters as normal. This allows you to gain an extra four flasks of Wellspring water, gaining 50 at the cost of 5 additional actions, raising the basic cycle to 4.09EPA.
Recommended
- Instead of Bathe in the waters, Dip your Cross in the Waters
Eventually
- Lend inventively to exchange 1 x Revisionist Historical Narrative for
- Noisily subvert the entire process to exchange 1 x Verse of Counter-Creed for
This cycle yields after THA 95.63 for 21 actions, for a floor of 4.55EPA. Again, the true EPA will be slightly higher at around 4.8EPA.
Using up Bone Market Exhaustion (complex)[edit]
See Assembling a Skeleton (Guide), and especially Assembling a Skeleton (Guide)/Recipes#Exhausting Recipes. Your Bone Market Exhaustion drops by four every week, which corresponds to 200E worth of bonus items.
Playing the bone market is rather intricate. Also note that exhaustion can lock you out of profitable non-exhausting use of the bone market for weeks (or years).
The Nadir (complex)[edit]
Requirements
The Nadir can be entered once a week without spending Fate. Players are forcibly ejected from the cave when reaching 10 x Irrigo whereupon it is not possible to return until the next visit from Time, the Healer (unless they wish to pay 50 Fate). Optimal play yields approximately 5.7 EPA — see Cave of the Nadir (Guide)#Analysis for details
Historical[edit]
Some grinds have been nerfed so much are simply become unavailable that they are not mentioned on this page anymore. These grinds are preserved here for historical interest but are no longer relevant for Money-Making.