Cultist Simulator

@onyhow: You'll accumulate books and trappings as the will of the RNG dictates, and ideally I'd pick my Cult based on what kind of exalted follower I wanted. In other words, Edge all the time.

@Spooky Mask: Actually, in my experience, in the early and midgame the best way to make money is to paint. When you get fired from the board, it's at a time when you shouldn't need a conventional job (unless you've been intentionally staying clean and just farming money for an hour or so). Late game, you'll have plenty of spare ingredients and sub-tier implements that you can cash out at the auction house.

edited 7th Jun '18 12:45:48 AM by Ramidel

Thing about painting is that while it is great way to make money(especially once you have maxed out imagination skill) it is also risky especially if you have that grim idealist tenacious mystic hunter

(plus you can get to executive board in early game. You just need to find one of hirelings from exploration with 5 in edge or moth and you are set in)

Also as I said, real great secret about painting is ability to pain ritual tools, so using ingredients in any other attempt is waste of the ingredient since if you don't use them to paint tools, you use them in rites as offerings I don't think they actually give you extra money if you use them in regular paintings?

Either way, I admit to not using auction to sell items much because I'm horrible hoarder with table full of cards. That said, if you are able to get funds up to around 100 anyway, you don't really need to bother with money much anymore. There is also that if you want to complete the game, you don't even need to reach peacock door, or higher level exploration locations,(highest exploration locations I got where with 10 and 12 occult histories), while I had reached peacock door, I managed to get uber lucky and obtained 15 forge influence offering from spider door and used that among with my exalted in beast rite to ascend)level 12 innovocation so 10 + 12 +15 = exactly the 37 I needed for victory). Didn't even need to use king of crucible I had sent on exploration mission. So yeaah, you can beat the game way earlier than getting all high level stuff or all rites or books

edited 7th Jun '18 12:54:41 AM by SpookyMask

Don't think so. Not that I usually bother - for me, art is mainly a moneymaker.

As for superhunters...I get rid of them as quickly as possible. If they can't be driven insane by lore, then enough hired goons swarming them will do the trick.

edited 7th Jun '18 12:57:22 AM by Ramidel

Ye, but hunters are more dangerous early game unless you get lucky and hire Professional Muscle(dat 5 edge), so painting a lot early game can be dangerous.

I do have to say that ironically me playing this game until it was midnight and forgetting to eat really fitted theme of losing your sanity due to researching eldritch lore

Anyway, read on steam forums that there is planned to be eventually more legacies and endings and special legacy you can only play after winning the game, so feeling even more sad I played this game to detriment of my health since I have to do forge ending second time whenever that update is released :'D

Well, enough warm bodies will take down any hunter. Myself, I just tend to avoid or conceal notoriety while there's evidence against me. (And yes, I have managed to drag out an investigation into me by using my notoriety for art until the Tentative Evidence zeroed.)

And while I appreciate your commitment to roleplaying, may I recommend a healthy supply of snacks and drinks while you commune with eldritch forces, or at least ordering a pizza (or a pizza boy, if it's a sensation cult)?

edited 7th Jun '18 2:45:05 PM by Ramidel

I learned quickly the Pause button is your best friend and to read e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g.

Any other good ways to get Contentment without needing to snort opium?

Cabaret Club works most of the time. Resting with health can work. Painting can work

:D

edited 7th Jun '18 2:54:13 PM by SpookyMask

Just took down my first hunter and daamn it felt cool.

She had Tenacious and Mystic (though not like I had summons anyway to send after her). So with investigation season coming up and three notorietyon board I just...

Called her in for a chat and told her everything. About the shining lantern from beyond the world. (My cult's primary, level 8 lore.)

She didn't like it. Didn't get her ideals Fascinated. Instead she chose to hide in darkness of her heart. (Gained Grim trait.)

So I told her another story, of the winter's hunger. (Level 8 as well.)

that hit the spot.◊

That said, it feels even much better to capture them alive and use them to summon King of Crucible/whatever is your chosen path's ultimate summon

Well I did sacrifice her - to the Spider Door, but I just got a disappointment history 10 lore.

Also how does the cravings thing work? What does it feed on?

edited 7th Jun '18 3:11:14 PM by Adannor

History 10 lore is actually great unless you did all expeditions you get with level 10 lore and got bored of repeating one :D

Anyway, do you by cravings mean the stuff you feed to your ascension path goal thingy? That depends on which path you are on. On Power path it consumes funds(because you buy stuff to feed your fire) while on Enlightenment and Sensation path I think its prisoners?(first one being consuming their mind, second being consuming them :P)

edited 7th Jun '18 3:18:32 PM by SpookyMask

It's disappointing because I have a stack of level 8s that I farm from the Stag door for free and upgrade easily. So spending a resource for it is lame.

I also have only started doing them and cleared level 2s so far. A long way to go till 10s.

Ahh I see. I haven't actually even picked my Dedication yet.

edited 7th Jun '18 7:32:34 PM by Adannor

WRT Contentment, I usually get it automatically from good days. Since I can avoid getting too much Dread fairly easily, I usually just let it die.

The problematic situation is when you have both Visions and Despair up, because then it's a crapshoot whether Dread will go to the Visions or the Despair.

@Adannor: I rarely have that kind of free time to be upgrading histories right and left once I start adventuring. I have books to translate and study and lores to combine and corrupt. so getting a 5 or 6 Secret History is actually pretty useful for me.

What did you hope to get from the Spider Door if not an advanced SH?

edited 8th Jun '18 3:41:33 PM by Ramidel

I was hoping for a more advanced history But even Peacock door doesn't cough up 14-tier lore, only 12s, on a rare chance, and needs combining.

Yes, upgrading lores is a pretty time-consuming task, especially as it requires stocking up on Glimmer and Erudition. But still, gotta do it in order to get better expeditions.

Also on the topic: kinda amusing to see challenge descriptions in them have a mismatch with the team. "We are battered by waves and drenched in salt water, but we have finally arrived." Except "we" in this case is King Crucible, a twelfth-rank avatar of the Forge who exists solely in ALL CAPS◊ and basically melts everything that dares to stand up to him.

Yeah - he really sounds like he'd be battered at by steam instead.

'nyway, a T5 history for a prisoner is a pretty nice trade. Once you're up to dealing with T5, prisoners are cheap. Also, don't neglect T3 or T4 endless expeditions. They tend to come up with lots of Vendor Trash and spintria, the latter of which can be used to repair mirrors.

So I don't combine Secret Histories unless I have nothing better to do with my study time. I mostly combine to build my cult lore and my desire lore, or if I need an early boost in Forge, Lantern or Winter.

edited 9th Jun '18 3:54:53 PM by Ramidel

Om nom nom. Finally completed a Sensation victory. Next time, Power.

It's not a guaranteed T5 though So its easier to spam a ton of Stag.

Also, I thiink T3 endless exploration is actually better on loot than both T4 and T5 endlesses, so there's also that going for it.

edited 9th Jun '18 11:01:41 PM by Adannor

Got my first "ascension" ending: enlightenment. That was fun.

My first investigator was Connie Lee, and damn was she an annoyance to deal with. One of my cultists got imprisoned due to Damning Evidence, and I didn't have a Favor that I could use to get him out of trial. Still, a hired Professional Muscle managed to capture her after several attempts, and chucking her through the Spider Door felt so satisfying.

Edited by dragonfire5000 on Aug 28th 2019 at 3:24:53 AM

I noticed that you can break the game easily if you take up painting. Go full-on Mad Artist, with 1 Passion and 2 Mystique/Notoriety, and money gon' pour like rain (I got 3-4 gold out of one painting), not to mention all those Glimmerings you can use to upgrade your painting skill.

I started as a cop, ran out of cases, got booted out of the force, took up painting, and if I hadn't sent my loyal minions on a wild goose chase caused by merging a couple too many Secret Histories, I could have kept the entire thing going on a low-key cult side.

Because the real cult stuff is as Guide Dang It! as it gets.

I managed to get an Enlightenment victory without (permanently) killing anyone (thanks to my first inspector being sufficiently incompetent for me never really having a reason to deal with him) other than the unfortunate pawns that had their minds drained to fuel Morrison M.D.'s ascension, and I managed to do it with only level 10 lantern lore, which saved a great deal of time.

...still died from Fascination, again and again. Man going to the end is going to be annoying. I guess the best way is when you hit 2 Fascination you don't use Health or Reason dream and just try to do Way dream wtihout picking any unknown cards unless Fascination is the initial one (or you remember card combinations that you know won't have Fascination as one of the choices).

Also, just learned that you can use follower's own stat to boost the intensity up for their own promotion. That's new.

^^ You can just investigate the evidence without arresting anyone to keep the cop job indefinitely. Tentative Evidence timer got reset if you managed to make Damning Evidence (since you'll get both). Still, it's why I like Physician start: the job doesn't have timer.

edited 11th Jun '18 9:22:24 PM by onyhow

Yes, painting is very good. I'd say it's mandatory to take as a hobby even if your main moneymaker is something else - stream of glimmering is very useful for doing occult research.j Though the cash flow on it is not super-reliable and flood of mystique is something you need to handle with a bit of care.

edited 11th Jun '18 9:38:23 PM by Adannor

^ Best to lay low then...

Also my current game has Hunter who's Mystic AND Tough...man it's going to be nightmare to take her out. Not like I ever managed to summon anything lol. Seems like I never got enough aspect to do those. The rite to restore Decrepitude and convert Passion to Reason seems easier to access for me.

edited 11th Jun '18 10:49:08 PM by onyhow

I had someone like that. I just kept throwing Professional Muscle after Professional Muscle at them until they succeeded. It also helps to summon Raw Prophets to try and destroy any evidence they might create.

Oh yeah, I had Tenacious and Mystic hunter at first too. And as I posted in here I just went ahead, told them everything and drove them mad from it

Also yes, Passion and Reason to each other rites are very easy. Though gathering 15 aspect for solid chance at restoration is still pretty hard.

Summons mostly depend on what rite you have managed to dig up. Took me a looong time to find one that would use Influences rather than consume non-renewable resources. Though hirelings can be used for sacrifices too, if needed.