First off, I want to thank Kalloi for the challenge as this is the first release I did more than play around for a few loops vignette hunting, and I've been following/playing this game each month since the release before Temptation was added (whenever that was).
To preface this, I've uploaded my save at the start of Loop 18 although I have no doubts I'll clear that as the choices are easier than Loop 17 for some reason. Maybe their pre-existing breaks will complicate matters but otherwise seems easy enough. 'Trainer Faith' is my custom chosen, which is near identical to SuperSkippy's custom in terms of punisher perks but I really only got use out of the trauma boost. Motivation was never a concern for me, for various reasons.
Of my items, I'd say there were 3 that stood out:
- Thesis: I could be lazy with motivation, as any damage they would take would eventually tick back up in the background.
- Propaganda: Partially to skip-complete T3s moves, in particular Enervate... Although it was funny seeing how high that would tick up on some loops. The other really useful part of this item is the burst trauma gain, which happens during the day so all chosen suddenly take a LOT more damage when it triggers. At least, it felt like they did.
- Lyrics: Although I don't go for Rampancy that often, I don't want to go back to a world without this item. The ability to turn off rampancy solves the primary problem with the distortion, perhaps a little too well honestly. No longer will you need to keep a close eye on circ levels or will the main orgy fail because their HATE ticked up faster in the 'setup' orgy.
As for my run, I don't think my progression is all that exciting. This is the first time I've attempted to play around with forsaken long-term and after a few experiments I got stuck in my ways with using one of the 3 below: After loop 5 I never saw a need to use commanders.
This was my go-to Forsaken for pretty much everything but very specific needs (IE the first days of the loop until all 3 chosen were about and some initial, stubborn and/or lazy orgy days). She cost 3 EE, 3.9% motivation and always gained stamina each deployment unless I was impatient and swatted a flying chosen for a T4 break, so she could be thrown out endlessly. I certainly could have trained her more/better, but juggling all 3 expertises (and keeping the combat style) became too fiddly when she would already do whatever I asked of her.
My other forsaken of note: Chimera is there to stall the early game and Sekhmet is there for orgies. In hindsight, I let Sekhmet become too cheap (she costs 24 EE). She does decent enough damage, but her trauma-increase punisher perk is quite slow and there are times where more effort is required to do her job.
I'll have some other thoughts as I think of them, but one very interesting thing I noticed was when I was testing the 'return-for-revenge' function and let a Negotiated chosen flee: When she returned, she was distorted and able to be negotiated with AND even gave 1G angst to everyone to simulate what would have been required to achieve that. Of course, the disadvantage of pre-existing breaks likely outweighed the advantages but it was interesting to see.
For me personally, I find Undead the easiest chosen type to deal with by far. Their lack of damage mitigation just makes things so much easier, and their moves are controllable for the most part. Perhaps that opinion would change if I didn't have Propaganda, but they still weren't more of an issue than the equivalent Superior moves.
Also, this was my alt choice for Loop 17. I didn't go for it, as I wanted the other item (and then promptly forgot about it for almost all of Loop 17...), but this is the highest I've ever seen Luxuries get.
To preface this, I've uploaded my save at the start of Loop 18 although I have no doubts I'll clear that as the choices are easier than Loop 17 for some reason. Maybe their pre-existing breaks will complicate matters but otherwise seems easy enough. 'Trainer Faith' is my custom chosen, which is near identical to SuperSkippy's custom in terms of punisher perks but I really only got use out of the trauma boost. Motivation was never a concern for me, for various reasons.
Of my items, I'd say there were 3 that stood out:
- Thesis: I could be lazy with motivation, as any damage they would take would eventually tick back up in the background.
- Propaganda: Partially to skip-complete T3s moves, in particular Enervate... Although it was funny seeing how high that would tick up on some loops. The other really useful part of this item is the burst trauma gain, which happens during the day so all chosen suddenly take a LOT more damage when it triggers. At least, it felt like they did.
- Lyrics: Although I don't go for Rampancy that often, I don't want to go back to a world without this item. The ability to turn off rampancy solves the primary problem with the distortion, perhaps a little too well honestly. No longer will you need to keep a close eye on circ levels or will the main orgy fail because their HATE ticked up faster in the 'setup' orgy.
As for my run, I don't think my progression is all that exciting. This is the first time I've attempted to play around with forsaken long-term and after a few experiments I got stuck in my ways with using one of the 3 below: After loop 5 I never saw a need to use commanders.
This was my go-to Forsaken for pretty much everything but very specific needs (IE the first days of the loop until all 3 chosen were about and some initial, stubborn and/or lazy orgy days). She cost 3 EE, 3.9% motivation and always gained stamina each deployment unless I was impatient and swatted a flying chosen for a T4 break, so she could be thrown out endlessly. I certainly could have trained her more/better, but juggling all 3 expertises (and keeping the combat style) became too fiddly when she would already do whatever I asked of her.
My other forsaken of note: Chimera is there to stall the early game and Sekhmet is there for orgies. In hindsight, I let Sekhmet become too cheap (she costs 24 EE). She does decent enough damage, but her trauma-increase punisher perk is quite slow and there are times where more effort is required to do her job.
I'll have some other thoughts as I think of them, but one very interesting thing I noticed was when I was testing the 'return-for-revenge' function and let a Negotiated chosen flee: When she returned, she was distorted and able to be negotiated with AND even gave 1G angst to everyone to simulate what would have been required to achieve that. Of course, the disadvantage of pre-existing breaks likely outweighed the advantages but it was interesting to see.
For me personally, I find Undead the easiest chosen type to deal with by far. Their lack of damage mitigation just makes things so much easier, and their moves are controllable for the most part. Perhaps that opinion would change if I didn't have Propaganda, but they still weren't more of an issue than the equivalent Superior moves.
Also, this was my alt choice for Loop 17. I didn't go for it, as I wanted the other item (and then promptly forgot about it for almost all of Loop 17...), but this is the highest I've ever seen Luxuries get.
