Java Corrupted Saviors [Release 58] [CSDev]

[Nobody032]

Some minor things :

It's says that elite are Angel/Undead chosen but it's a boss fight. Also I think this is intended but both options lead to the boss fight.

Also seems like that sometimes the chosen don't get the different clothing mention at the start of battle when you break t4 Expo.

 

[God of Debauchery]

Okay so, why is it that going from Loop 1 to Loop 2 makes the difficulty feel like it ramps up exponentially without much really changing?

Like, I just started my second loop after handily defeating the first loop, but now I got to day 15 with virtually no progress being made, which is usually my marker to tell me that I am doing something horribly wrong and need to start the whole loop over again.

Here's the saves in case anyone is willing to give me a helping hand.

 

[McHuman]

Okay so, why is it that going from Loop 1 to Loop 2 makes the difficulty feel like it ramps up exponentially without much really changing?

Like, I just started my second loop after handily defeating the first loop, but now I got to day 15 with virtually no progress being made, which is usually my marker to tell me that I am doing something horribly wrong and need to start the whole loop over again.

Here's the saves in case anyone is willing to give me a helping hand.

So just something I see right out of the gate, you're training your Forsaken Shadow for EXPO when you should be training her for ANTI since she has Consuming Harvester for her Harvester position, which gives her a permanent stacking modifier that boosts her TICK damage every time she does a T4 CON Break. Also, your Forsaken are doing 3 damage types instead of 2, if you handily beat the first loop you should've had plenty of time to better train your Forsaken (which you didn't, handily beating the first loop is finishing the loop before Day 50 with Imago Quickening), yet it seems like the only training they've received is from the passive training plan training. Granted this is just an observation and advice for the long term, you cant really fix your Forsaken quick enough for them to be relevant for Loop 2.

Now for the things that would actually help you, what is your battle strategy here? Cause while Rogue is going to be a pain to break, I downloaded your save and started Loop 2 from Day 1 and played up to Day 15 and was able to get all T1 Breaks and T2 MOR Break on Decree, a T2 INN Break on Vanguard, T1 CON and DIG Breaks on Rogue, and have all of them producing 2 EE a day. When I played your save I got all the upgrades done and fielded my first 4-2 Commander (4 Capture Duration and 2 Capture Attempts) on Day 12 where I got all the Decree Breaks, Day 13 I fielded that same commander and got the Vanguard Breaks, Day 14 I did it again and got the Rogue Breaks, leaving me with all those breaks, 6 total daily EE gen, and 15 EE to spend on whatever I want going into Day 15.

In order of priority focus Decree > Vanguard > Rogue, as Decree will be the easiest to break, Vanguard second easiest, while Rogue is going to a pain with her extreme PLEA resistance making bigger surrounds very hard to get on her.

Oh also another really important piece of advice do not use Inevitability, it is a newb trap. Inevitability is worthless in the early Days as you need every EE you can get, losing 1 EE a day will set you back massively, the goal of the early days is to rush 4-2 Commanders as soon as possible and the EE drain Inevitability makes using it slower than not having an item at all. In the save file you posted your latest save is Day 13 where you do not have all the 2 cost upgrades and have Inevitability activated, that Inevitability draining your EE is why you accomplish nothing by Day 15. It's also meh in the middle and late Days as by then pretty much all your Trauma damage is coming from Surround's Circumstance attacks, not you directly attacking. Inevitability is the one starting item that is almost universally worthless, even Inferno Pepper, the second worst starting item, can at least be argued to be at least a little useful as free 1 cost Commanders can slightly speed up getting to 4-2 commanders, and getting a 1 EE refund on 4-2 commanders can slightly speed up getting through upgrades. Remember, on Day 1 you're allowed you swap your starter item with any of the other starter items, so if you get Inevitability do that swap to literally any other item.

tl;dr, the difficulty didn't massively ramp up, you've just been playing poorly and the small amount of trauma resolution in Loop 2 is just enough to stop you from walking through everything unlike Loop 1. Also the Chosen in Loop 2 might just have a more difficult layout of Vulnerabilities than Loop 1, like Rogue being a general pain to break in isolation.

 

[God of Debauchery]

So just something I see right out of the gate, you're training your Forsaken Shadow for EXPO when you should be training her for ANTI since she has Consuming Harvester for her Harvester position, which gives her a permanent stacking modifier that boosts her TICK damage every time she does a T4 CON Break. Also, your Forsaken are doing 3 damage types instead of 2, if you handily beat the first loop you should've had plenty of time to better train your Forsaken (which you didn't, handily beating the first loop is finishing the loop before Day 50 with Imago Quickening), yet it seems like the only training they've received is from the passive training plan training. Granted this is just an observation and advice for the long term, you cant really fix your Forsaken quick enough for them to be relevant for Loop 2.

Now for the things that would actually help you, what is your battle strategy here? Cause while Rogue is going to be a pain to break, I downloaded your save and started Loop 2 from Day 1 and played up to Day 15 and was able to get all T1 Breaks and T2 MOR Break on Decree, a T2 INN Break on Vanguard, T1 CON and DIG Breaks on Rogue, and have all of them producing 2 EE a day. When I played your save I got all the upgrades done and fielded my first 4-2 Commander (4 Capture Duration and 2 Capture Attempts) on Day 12 where I got all the Decree Breaks, Day 13 I fielded that same commander and got the Vanguard Breaks, Day 14 I did it again and got the Rogue Breaks, leaving me with all those breaks, 6 total daily EE gen, and 15 EE to spend on whatever I want going into Day 15.

In order of priority focus Decree > Vanguard > Rogue, as Decree will be the easiest to break, Vanguard second easiest, while Rogue is going to a pain with her extreme PLEA resistance making bigger surrounds very hard to get on her.

Oh also another really important piece of advice do not use Inevitability, it is a newb trap. Inevitability is worthless in the early Days as you need every EE you can get, losing 1 EE a day will set you back massively, the goal of the early days is to rush 4-2 Commanders as soon as possible and the EE drain Inevitability makes using it slower than not having an item at all. In the save file you posted your latest save is Day 13 where you do not have all the 2 cost upgrades and have Inevitability activated, that Inevitability draining your EE is why you accomplish nothing by Day 15. It's also meh in the middle and late Days as by then pretty much all your Trauma damage is coming from Surround's Circumstance attacks, not you directly attacking. Inevitability is the one starting item that is almost universally worthless, even Inferno Pepper, the second worst starting item, can at least be argued to be at least a little useful as free 1 cost Commanders can slightly speed up getting to 4-2 commanders, and getting a 1 EE refund on 4-2 commanders can slightly speed up getting through upgrades. Remember, on Day 1 you're allowed you swap your starter item with any of the other starter items, so if you get Inevitability do that swap to literally any other item.

tl;dr, the difficulty didn't massively ramp up, you've just been playing poorly and the small amount of trauma resolution in Loop 2 is just enough to stop you from walking through everything unlike Loop 1. Also the Chosen in Loop 2 might just have a more difficult layout of Vulnerabilities than Loop 1, like Rogue being a general pain to break in isolation.

So, if I understand correctly, I should pretty much just start the whole run over with a different item and to get good?
Because my understanding here is that I am basically a monkey with a stick playing in some mud, while you're an alien with a ray gun contemplating galactic domination by comparison.
Like, I've been playing this game off and on for a year now and it still seems like the learning wall is not scalable, even after reading all the txt files and asking for advice.

 

[McHuman]

So, if I understand correctly, I should pretty much just start the whole run over with a different item and to get good?
Because my understanding here is that I am basically a monkey with a stick playing in some mud, while you're an alien with a ray gun contemplating galactic domination by comparison.
Like, I've been playing this game off and on for a year now and it still seems like the learning wall is not scalable, even after reading all the txt files and asking for advice.

Nah, you can totally keep playing and just rely on items you get throughout the run, it'll just be harder than restarting and using literally any other item. Honestly, if there is any reason I'd contemplate restarting the run, it's the fact that between the 6 Chosen you have across Loops 1 and 2, only two of them having Punisher Positions that make them worth using as Forsaken, leaving your early Forsaken pretty weak. I will say though that reading the text files is... not really that great for learning the game. You certainly can learn the game through them (I did, it was just a mess and took a long while for me to actually figure things out), but the text files work better if you already understand the game and are just looking for clarification or a reminder on something, and it won't really help you with figuring out strategies for playing.

Anyways, if it will help I've written three guides that might help you:

General early game guide

Basic mechanics/stats/modifier guide

Very basic loop 1 item pick comparison - Though do note this one is kinda meh as I wrote it pretty quickly without putting as much thought into it, as I overvalue Inevitability when the one scenario it's "decent" in can be replaced with just more careful planning, while I wrote off Inferno Pepper without considering the slightly faster 4-2 Commanders compared to no items/Inevitability.

 

[TheFakeOne23]

Until 51 came out and I wanted to recreate some angels from anime, I never really realized how few specific examples I could actually think of... "Angel" seems like a pretty normal trope, but I can barely name a handful.

 

[Omicronzeta]

Something odd happened here...


While it is true the would interfere with pounces' plan, the warning appeared on Smile's announcement....

 

[McHuman]

Something odd happened here...
View attachment 3420658

While it is true the would interfere with pounces' plan, the warning appeared on Smile's announcement....

Yes, because the action you take that would interfere with Pounce's plan is an action against Smile not Pounce. It would be a lot more confusing if that warning was put in Pounce's section of the after-battle info instead.

 

[God of Debauchery]

Nah, you can totally keep playing and just rely on items you get throughout the run, it'll just be harder than restarting and using literally any other item. Honestly, if there is any reason I'd contemplate restarting the run, it's the fact that between the 6 Chosen you have across Loops 1 and 2, only two of them having Punisher Positions that make them worth using as Forsaken, leaving your early Forsaken pretty weak. I will say though that reading the text files is... not really that great for learning the game. You certainly can learn the game through them (I did, it was just a mess and took a long while for me to actually figure things out), but the text files work better if you already understand the game and are just looking for clarification or a reminder on something, and it won't really help you with figuring out strategies for playing.

Anyways, if it will help I've written three guides that might help you:

General early game guide

Basic mechanics/stats/modifier guide

Very basic loop 1 item pick comparison - Though do note this one is kinda meh as I wrote it pretty quickly without putting as much thought into it, as I overvalue Inevitability when the one scenario it's "decent" in can be replaced with just more careful planning, while I wrote off Inferno Pepper without considering the slightly faster 4-2 Commanders compared to no items/Inevitability.

Okay, I just finished going through a new loop 1 run, did way better this time to the point that I have 13 days left before the next city, but currently my only real concern is the forsaken I currently have to work with because I genuinely don't know if any of them are actually good to use as anything, or if I should just sacrifice them all or something.

My initial thought is that Edge makes the best breeder, not sure about hypnotist (probably Prayer based on the next position), and then Stigma as the Harvester with nobody acting as a publicist right now.
Would those be good moves, or am I falling into some sort of trap?
(I also included my saves again just in case).

 

[Sonsuka]

I come back to see the update has that delete save thing i ask. Praise to be. Also CSDEV, have you considered reworking the forsaken traits for Animalistic characters? Since honestly they have the worst traits compared to undead and are way harder to do than undead even if they are the "same tier". Also I notice this patch you are looking into " Forsaken outfit customization, a general system for outfit management and exporting, " and a " and a more flexible system for campaign custom Chosen to be guaranteed to show up together. "

For the first part I just wanted to let you know of a bug that could plague you since I have too much time spent on custom characters. You can't change races currently then click same personality as the screen freezes. As in swap human to angel. You can bypass by just manually input them with direct; however, you then lose all the work you spent on outfits and so forth and that's an oof when outfit might be 5-6 things going through 5-6 tabs each. Changing personality values (0-100 ones) seems to be the main issue as it full resets the outfits and also the names and titles and so forth. Maybe if you can keep personality and you solve the freeze then maybe it would solve the loss of the outfits and title issue.

Second part. Thank you. Really excited to be able to kind of choose which Chosen show up together.

 

[Nobody032]

So just something I see right out of the gate, you're training your Forsaken Shadow for EXPO when you should be training her for ANTI since she has Consuming Harvester for her Harvester position, which gives her a permanent stacking modifier that boosts her TICK damage every time she does a T4 CON Break. Also, your Forsaken are doing 3 damage types instead of 2, if you handily beat the first loop you should've had plenty of time to better train your Forsaken (which you didn't, handily beating the first loop is finishing the loop before Day 50 with Imago Quickening), yet it seems like the only training they've received is from the passive training plan training. Granted this is just an observation and advice for the long term, you cant really fix your Forsaken quick enough for them to be relevant for Loop 2.

Now for the things that would actually help you, what is your battle strategy here? Cause while Rogue is going to be a pain to break, I downloaded your save and started Loop 2 from Day 1 and played up to Day 15 and was able to get all T1 Breaks and T2 MOR Break on Decree, a T2 INN Break on Vanguard, T1 CON and DIG Breaks on Rogue, and have all of them producing 2 EE a day. When I played your save I got all the upgrades done and fielded my first 4-2 Commander (4 Capture Duration and 2 Capture Attempts) on Day 12 where I got all the Decree Breaks, Day 13 I fielded that same commander and got the Vanguard Breaks, Day 14 I did it again and got the Rogue Breaks, leaving me with all those breaks, 6 total daily EE gen, and 15 EE to spend on whatever I want going into Day 15.

In order of priority focus Decree > Vanguard > Rogue, as Decree will be the easiest to break, Vanguard second easiest, while Rogue is going to a pain with her extreme PLEA resistance making bigger surrounds very hard to get on her.

Oh also another really important piece of advice do not use Inevitability, it is a newb trap. Inevitability is worthless in the early Days as you need every EE you can get, losing 1 EE a day will set you back massively, the goal of the early days is to rush 4-2 Commanders as soon as possible and the EE drain Inevitability makes using it slower than not having an item at all. In the save file you posted your latest save is Day 13 where you do not have all the 2 cost upgrades and have Inevitability activated, that Inevitability draining your EE is why you accomplish nothing by Day 15. It's also meh in the middle and late Days as by then pretty much all your Trauma damage is coming from Surround's Circumstance attacks, not you directly attacking. Inevitability is the one starting item that is almost universally worthless, even Inferno Pepper, the second worst starting item, can at least be argued to be at least a little useful as free 1 cost Commanders can slightly speed up getting to 4-2 commanders, and getting a 1 EE refund on 4-2 commanders can slightly speed up getting through upgrades. Remember, on Day 1 you're allowed you swap your starter item with any of the other starter items, so if you get Inevitability do that swap to literally any other item.

tl;dr, the difficulty didn't massively ramp up, you've just been playing poorly and the small amount of trauma resolution in Loop 2 is just enough to stop you from walking through everything unlike Loop 1. Also the Chosen in Loop 2 might just have a more difficult layout of Vulnerabilities than Loop 1, like Rogue being a general pain to break in isolation.

Honestly I maybe biased here since inevitability was the first item I ever got but it definitely can be useful.
1. Can use it to get 7 turn surround on the third chosen after you deploy your first commander while your "Main" chosen is surrounded. Sometimes you can get t2 break here.
2. To make sure that all your chosen generate +5 energy after first t2 breaks.
3. To increase the openings on the first chosen before your last surround.
4. Balancing out trauma to increase damage dealt by removing trauma penalties.
5. Makes triggering an early Rampage easier.

Not saying it's good btw just pointing out some uses.
Right now Newspaper is probably the best item in the game.

 

[Nobody032]

Okay, I just finished going through a new loop 1 run, did way better this time to the point that I have 13 days left before the next city, but currently my only real concern is the forsaken I currently have to work with because I genuinely don't know if any of them are actually good to use as anything, or if I should just sacrifice them all or something.

My initial thought is that Edge makes the best breeder, not sure about hypnotist (probably Prayer based on the next position), and then Stigma as the Harvester with nobody acting as a publicist right now.
Would those be good moves, or am I falling into some sort of trap?
(I also included my saves again just in case).
View attachment 3421939

I am not a forsaken expert but I think Prayer has a really good publicist punisher. It will help you make a good forsaken later on. If you can you should try to get her with negotiation or aversion. You can get upto close to 900% extra victim trauma damage from her.
My most used forsaken is a tempted undead forsaken who deals +860% trauma damage because of this punisher with a inju/expo fighting style and tempt defiler.

 

[SuperSkippy]

Okay, I just finished going through a new loop 1 run, did way better this time to the point that I have 13 days left before the next city, but currently my only real concern is the forsaken I currently have to work with because I genuinely don't know if any of them are actually good to use as anything, or if I should just sacrifice them all or something.

My initial thought is that Edge makes the best breeder, not sure about hypnotist (probably Prayer based on the next position), and then Stigma as the Harvester with nobody acting as a publicist right now.
Would those be good moves, or am I falling into some sort of trap?
(I also included my saves again just in case).
View attachment 3421939

Here's my thinking:

You honestly don't want to set your basic Forsaken species up for long-term growth, as they're going to be replaced by higher-tier species who are just Better At That.

Prayer has a wide variety of positive effects on making new Forsaken better. When I do long runs, an Averted Prayer is a key part of what I do in the beginning. Don't let her Disgrace get any higher. I'd put her in both the Harvester and Publicist positions. She's also good as a Breeder. You bring her in at the end of a loop and her T4 breaks make the next Forsaken you build significantly better in a lot of areas. Don't worry about her damage types other than making sure she deals two categories of damage.

Stigma has some very nice growth abilities. Unfortunately she's a "regular-ass Forsaken" to quote CSdev. I'd set her up for quick damage in a single category (my preferred first damage category is EXPO, but there are good arguments to be made for both INJU and PLEA as good damage categories to build). Get her Disgrace up to 69% (nice) and her cost will be 9EE and she can chew right through a Chosen with high resistance in whatever category you picked. I wouldn't expect to be using her long term because higher-tier species are just so much better overall. Her Breeder bonus is pretty good for making stronger Forsaken, but you're probably going to want at least one that's heavy on damage for your next loop and Stigma's isn't that great. You want an Animalistic or Undead with those same bonuses to be one of your main threats as you go through loops. Long-term she ends up in the breeding pit, in my saves, as soon as I get an Animalistic or Undead with stacked up bonuses to whatever damage type I pick for her.

Edge doesn't have too much going for her, but the fact that she can grow her Stamina some is nice for fighting Devils in lategame. I probably follow the same general path as Stigma, aiming for 69% Disgrace and a single damage type. I'd put her in the Breeder position quite a bit and let her get the breaks on all the Forsaken I'm not planning to keep (letting Prayer break those that are useful for something, basically the higher-tier species). My suggested second damage type is INJU so that she'll replace the stage where you need to constantly send out (in my playthroughs, 44EE) Commanders to build up for a T4 CON break. Try not to get her Obedience too high as you're building her CON Expertise because you'll be sending her out frequently.

Have you gotten a handle on Distortions yet? Being able to give Forsaken a 50% bonus to two damage types is a real game-changer at this level of play.

 

[God of Debauchery]

Here's my thinking:

You honestly don't want to set your basic Forsaken species up for long-term growth, as they're going to be replaced by higher-tier species who are just Better At That.

Prayer has a wide variety of positive effects on making new Forsaken better. When I do long runs, an Averted Prayer is a key part of what I do in the beginning. Don't let her Disgrace get any higher. I'd put her in both the Harvester and Publicist positions. She's also good as a Breeder. You bring her in at the end of a loop and her T4 breaks make the next Forsaken you build significantly better in a lot of areas. Don't worry about her damage types other than making sure she deals two categories of damage.

Stigma has some very nice growth abilities. Unfortunately she's a "regular-ass Forsaken" to quote CSdev. I'd set her up for quick damage in a single category (my preferred first damage category is EXPO, but there are good arguments to be made for both INJU and PLEA as good damage categories to build). Get her Disgrace up to 69% (nice) and her cost will be 9EE and she can chew right through a Chosen with high resistance in whatever category you picked. I wouldn't expect to be using her long term because higher-tier species are just so much better overall. Her Breeder bonus is pretty good for making stronger Forsaken, but you're probably going to want at least one that's heavy on damage for your next loop and Stigma's isn't that great. You want an Animalistic or Undead with those same bonuses to be one of your main threats as you go through loops. Long-term she ends up in the breeding pit, in my saves, as soon as I get an Animalistic or Undead with stacked up bonuses to whatever damage type I pick for her.

Edge doesn't have too much going for her, but the fact that she can grow her Stamina some is nice for fighting Devils in lategame. I probably follow the same general path as Stigma, aiming for 69% Disgrace and a single damage type. I'd put her in the Breeder position quite a bit and let her get the breaks on all the Forsaken I'm not planning to keep (letting Prayer break those that are useful for something, basically the higher-tier species). My suggested second damage type is INJU so that she'll replace the stage where you need to constantly send out (in my playthroughs, 44EE) Commanders to build up for a T4 CON break. Try not to get her Obedience too high as you're building her CON Expertise because you'll be sending her out frequently.

Have you gotten a handle on Distortions yet? Being able to give Forsaken a 50% bonus to two damage types is a real game-changer at this level of play.

I got a distortion off on my last attempted loop, but I tend to only be able to get one distortion off per loop largely due to EE generation needs and just general confusion since you don't find out what the distortion requirements are until after you set a forsaken to a distortion and then you don't know how that will affect the later stages of the loop unless you've got a lot of experience dealing with forsaken and distortions, which I definitely do not have since I've never made it past the second loop.

For Prayer, based on the suggested positions, I should probably set her damage as Inju/Expo rather than focusing on her Hate damage, right?

 

[SuperSkippy]

I got a distortion off on my last attempted loop, but I tend to only be able to get one distortion off per loop largely due to EE generation needs and just general confusion since you don't find out what the distortion requirements are until after you set a forsaken to a distortion and then you don't know how that will affect the later stages of the loop unless you've got a lot of experience dealing with forsaken and distortions, which I definitely do not have since I've never made it past the second loop.

For Prayer, based on the suggested positions, I should probably set her damage as Inju/Expo rather than focusing on her Hate damage, right?

What's her cost, 8EE/70 Disgrace? At that level I usually focus on a single damage type.

As for getting Distortions right, yeah, it's a lot, don't worry too much about it, but here's some first principles:
1) Every Forsaken can be good at one of these:
a) dealing damage, with some kind of self-buff to one or two damage stats. Great! Line that up with a Distortion that breaks one/both of those damage types. If Stigma were an advanced species, she would be great for this--you could set her up for Negotiation to get a buff to her DISG/INJU damage, convert her in the final battle, leave her Disgrace low for a few loops to maximize her self-buff, and eventually lower her cost to something reasonable like 12 or so by pumping Disgrace. Note that no base species Forsaken are good enough to fill this role for long. You want to stack buffs from b)-type Forsaken on these girls.
b) giving other converted Forsaken buffs, like Prayer here. You want to convert these with Aversion or Negotiation to keep their Disgrace low forever. You don't worry about their damage types, they don't exist for you until the Chosen are ready for that T4 break. The more costly they are the better.
c) If they're not type a) or b), they're garbage. Maybe you use them in a temporary capacity until you see a good candidate because your roster is shallow at the beginning and you just want someone that does better INJU damage. Maybe you have them put on Grand Concerts until they're all used up, then throw them in the Pit and they never actually see combat. Maybe you keep them around in case Splendor wants you to set someone free.
2) You need Forsaken that can deal each type of damage, even if they're not very good at it. Eventually Resistance is going to destroy your Commanders' ability to reliably get breaks.

If you look back in this thread, I've made a couple of longplays where I show off my process for fitting Forsaken into their role. I like providing feedback on high-level play. Sadly I don't think I'm going to be able to devote that kind of time to this release, so someone needs to be testing out the Angels.

 

[McHuman]

Okay, I just finished going through a new loop 1 run, did way better this time to the point that I have 13 days left before the next city, but currently my only real concern is the forsaken I currently have to work with because I genuinely don't know if any of them are actually good to use as anything, or if I should just sacrifice them all or something.

My initial thought is that Edge makes the best breeder, not sure about hypnotist (probably Prayer based on the next position), and then Stigma as the Harvester with nobody acting as a publicist right now.
Would those be good moves, or am I falling into some sort of trap?
(I also included my saves again just in case).
View attachment 3421939

Good job with finishing the loop early, though I cant give you any more help with Forsaken than Skippy can, they're way better with Forsaken management then I am.

Honestly I maybe biased here since inevitability was the first item I ever got but it definitely can be useful.
1. Can use it to get 7 turn surround on the third chosen after you deploy your first commander while your "Main" chosen is surrounded. Sometimes you can get t2 break here.
2. To make sure that all your chosen generate +5 energy after first t2 breaks.
3. To increase the openings on the first chosen before your last surround.
4. Balancing out trauma to increase damage dealt by removing trauma penalties.
5. Makes triggering an early Rampage easier.

Not saying it's good btw just pointing out some uses.
Right now Newspaper is probably the best item in the game.

The only issue there is that those benefits either don't matter or can be accomplished even without it.
1. In the early days getting a big surround on all three Chosen doesn't really matter, as unless the second or third Chosen just have very favorable resistances to being easily broken, the odds of getting a T2 Break on anyone but the main Chosen is very low. Outside of the early days you can just add a third capture attempt to the Commander.
2. The fact that you take a few days longer to start getting T2 Breaks compared to other items kinda balances out the benefit of getting 5 EE gen a day or so early.
3. Once you have your T2 Breaks and 5 EE generation getting more surround turns on the last surround doesn't really matter unless you have a Distortion that needs a certain number of surround turns, as by that point you're just waiting to get the upgrades and EE necessary to set up an orgy for T3 Breaks.
4. As long as you're properly managing your surrounds the trauma level difference should only be by 1, which isn't that severe of a penalty.
5. Rampage is already super easy to trigger, triggering it even earlier isn't that beneficial. Hell in some ways it's harmful considering managing a Rampancy Chosen can be quite irritating and can make setting up an orgy difficult.

 

[God of Debauchery]

What's her cost, 8EE/70 Disgrace? At that level I usually focus on a single damage type.

As for getting Distortions right, yeah, it's a lot, don't worry too much about it, but here's some first principles:
1) Every Forsaken can be good at one of these:
a) dealing damage, with some kind of self-buff to one or two damage stats. Great! Line that up with a Distortion that breaks one/both of those damage types. If Stigma were an advanced species, she would be great for this--you could set her up for Negotiation to get a buff to her DISG/INJU damage, convert her in the final battle, leave her Disgrace low for a few loops to maximize her self-buff, and eventually lower her cost to something reasonable like 12 or so by pumping Disgrace. Note that no base species Forsaken are good enough to fill this role for long. You want to stack buffs from b)-type Forsaken on these girls.
b) giving other converted Forsaken buffs, like Prayer here. You want to convert these with Aversion or Negotiation to keep their Disgrace low forever. You don't worry about their damage types, they don't exist for you until the Chosen are ready for that T4 break. The more costly they are the better.
c) If they're not type a) or b), they're garbage. Maybe you use them in a temporary capacity until you see a good candidate because your roster is shallow at the beginning and you just want someone that does better INJU damage. Maybe you have them put on Grand Concerts until they're all used up, then throw them in the Pit and they never actually see combat. Maybe you keep them around in case Splendor wants you to set someone free.
2) You need Forsaken that can deal each type of damage, even if they're not very good at it. Eventually Resistance is going to destroy your Commanders' ability to reliably get breaks.

If you look back in this thread, I've made a couple of longplays where I show off my process for fitting Forsaken into their role. I like providing feedback on high-level play. Sadly I don't think I'm going to be able to devote that kind of time to this release, so someone needs to be testing out the Angels.

Edge is the one at 8EE, Prayer is at 15 currently and is set to three different damage types currently as her default.
So should I still focus her on a single damage type?

 

[SuperSkippy]

Edge is the one at 8EE, Prayer is at 15 currently and is set to three different damage types currently as her default.
So should I still focus her on a single damage type?
View attachment 3423170

Eh, your call. At 61% Disgrace I'd consider her a bit weak for two damage types (but I'm picky) and I'd probably lower her cost somewhat (to 69% Disgrace/9EE) and focus on one damage type. Either will work until you get to stronger species types.

 

[God of Debauchery]

Eh, your call. At 61% Disgrace I'd consider her a bit weak for two damage types (but I'm picky) and I'd probably lower her cost somewhat (to 69% Disgrace/9EE) and focus on one damage type. Either will work until you get to stronger species types.

Okay, so I just got the third chosen from Loop 2 to pop up and these are their current breaks and forsaken abilities.

The only thing I can think (as far as distortion plans) is that Shadow seems like the most powerful one here by far, specifically as a Publicist, but the distortion effects are all confusing af about whether or not they are a good move to go for or not based on the traits gained from special training after being broken.

Like, should I send shadow down the Demon Knight path, or the Eager Partner path since those are the only two distortions that get enhanced EXPO damage?

 

[Nobody032]

Good job with finishing the loop early, though I cant give you any more help with Forsaken than Skippy can, they're way better with Forsaken management then I am.



The only issue there is that those benefits either don't matter or can be accomplished even without it.
1. In the early days getting a big surround on all three Chosen doesn't really matter, as unless the second or third Chosen just have very favorable resistances to being easily broken, the odds of getting a T2 Break on anyone but the main Chosen is very low. Outside of the early days you can just add a third capture attempt to the Commander.
2. The fact that you take a few days longer to start getting T2 Breaks compared to other items kinda balances out the benefit of getting 5 EE gen a day or so early.
3. Once you have your T2 Breaks and 5 EE generation getting more surround turns on the last surround doesn't really matter unless you have a Distortion that needs a certain number of surround turns, as by that point you're just waiting to get the upgrades and EE necessary to set up an orgy for T3 Breaks.
4. As long as you're properly managing your surrounds the trauma level difference should only be by 1, which isn't that severe of a penalty.
5. Rampage is already super easy to trigger, triggering it even earlier isn't that beneficial. Hell in some ways it's harmful considering managing a Rampancy Chosen can be quite irritating and can make setting up an orgy difficult.

Well like I said it has some uses. Not saying it makes it better than other items. I just use it for "old" times sake not because it's actually good. Btw the chance of getting another early t2 break is higher than you would think.

Then again I am not really aware of how progression is with other items. I am curious though, how does progression through a loop usually look like for everyone?