User:Osberend/Deck Curation and Optimized Money-Making

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This is a work in progress describing how to optimize Echoes per Action (EPA) during late-game grinding. There was a span of a couple years during which I didn't play Fallen London and I have only recently resumed, so progress may be slow and some information will be outdated. If you think something is wrong or incomplete, feel free to let me know. Once this is reasonably complete and accurate, I'll probably turn it into a regular page (as opposed to a subpage of my user page) and/or transfer the succinct version to Money-Making.

Basic Assumptions (for now)[edit]

Some of these will likely change as analysis is made

  • Paramount Presence
  • All base stats 215
  • Notability 15
  • Optimized gear
    • Including Seasonal gear that is available every year
    • Not including (most) fate-locked gear or Seasonal gear that was only available in a particular year
      • But including an Ubergoat, since it can be acquired with the small amount of Fate that can be acquired for free by completing certain storylines
      • Not sure if the Heptagoat can be so acquired (and since it's (effectively) one of the two most expensive items in the game, it would be a little odd to include it in a guide to making the money one needs to acquire it).
    • Not including (for now) a Destiny, Spouse, Club, or specific Ship, since those can't simply be switched in and out (and hence, the optimal choice differs for different stats)
      • But assuming some ship is available if needed
    • Likewise, not including a specific Ambition, or the rewards thereof
    • Not assuming Ownership of A Handsome Townhouse, or whether that Townhouse is being used for a Salon or an Orphanage
    • Assuming a Tier 3 Profession, but not necessarily a specific one
    • Not including Moods
      • An assumption of Licentiate may be made for considering non--card-dependent grinds
  • Both Exceptional Friend status and a lack thereof will be considered in due time, but I'll probably focus on the former before the latter

Optimized Gear (under the above restrictions)[edit]

Note that "(respectively)" can safely be assumed wherever slashes are used to separate equal-bonus items

Persuasive[edit]

Total bonus: 70 Total Persuasive: 285

Watchful[edit]

Minimum late-game Deck[edit]

Universal Cards[edit]

Basic principles (old; have decided to set formalism aside, for the moment)[edit]

(The wording on some of these may need to be tweaked.)

The **baseline value of an action** in echoes is equal to the EPA of the best non--card-dependent grind that a given character can perform. For a fully-optimized character, this is (at least) 3.75 EPA, doing the Money-Making#Regular_Grinds.

The **minimum value of an action** in echoes is equal to the lowest EPA of any action or linked series of actions (e.g., the complete Attending a Party cycle) the character actually takes while (rationally) grinding. This will equal the baseline value of an action *if and only if* the character actually uses a non--card dependent grind. (Thus, the minimum value of an action for a fully-optimized character is *at least* 3.75 EPA). If all of the character's actions are spent on card-dependent actions or linked series of actions, then it will be greater.

The **EPA of a given card** is equal to the EPA of the actions *actually taken* upon drawing that card. If the card is not worth playing, this will be the minimum value of an action; if the card is worth playing, then this will be the EPA of the action or linked series of actions that playing that card is a part of.

The **value of a given card** is zero if the card is not worth playing; if it is worth playing, then its value is the difference between the EPA of that card and the minimum value of an action, multiplied by the (expected) number of actions used in playing that card, *divided* by the number of cards played as part of that linked series of actions (if more than one). (For example, if a particular series of actions involves playing two one-action cards and taking three other actions, then the value of each of those cards is ((EPA of that series of actions) - (minimum value of an action)) * 5 / 2.)

The **average value of a card** is the frequency-weighted average of the value of all cards in the deck, using the above definition. This will always be greater than zero, unless there are no cards worth playing (which is never true in practice, at least in the absence of a non--card-dependent grind with an EPA of at least 12.5).

A card is **worth playing** if and only if its value is greater than zero. (Exception: If the minimum value of an action is greater than the baseline value of an action, this implies that there are one or more cards with value equal to zero when actually played, and that these should be played at least some of the time.)

A card is **worth having in the opportunity deck** if and only if its value is greater than or equal to the *average value* of a card. This means that a card can be worth playing if it is in your opportunity deck, but still be worth excluding from the deck if you have a choice. This is because playing a card costs actions, but drawing a card costs the opportunity to draw a different card.

Complicated Persuasive (integrate later?)[edit]

Persuasive[edit]

Free Fate[edit]

That makes up to 6 available with any ambition, and up to 13(?) with Ambition Nemesis

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