I'm trying my zero-start ironman run. If it's a game-over, I restart. Is this feasible? So far, my strategy is
1. raise my strength from frail to weak via a pub or prostitution
2. raise my strength to unfit by sparring in the arena
3. Get a guild contract slave.
I've tried more than 20 times so far with no success. Even though I've read all the zero-start posts in this thread, I keep failing in one of those steps. I would appreciate if anyone can clarify the followings for me.
It is possible to do a hard mode, zero skill, 200 sparks, no Isabel run, I didn't even need to use the coliseum for extra sparks, all by the intended mechanics and some luck, stuff you should take into consideration: You will have to take a loan for the first slave, never had a 0 start run without this... that I can remember... so your priority is to extend the time you have until you need to take a loan, that's the biggest filter, after surviving this things get easier. Guild contracts... are not good for your current skill set, it's better IMO if you buy the first 2 or 3 slaves in the market, but pay close attention to her stats, bought an arrogant slave? you fucked up, a proud slave? you fucked up, a corpulent slave? you fucked up, you must aim for a cheap low stats slave, a coward open slave but not insane, slender model or bony, those of 20-25 sparks, the other stats? may or may not affect the play style, the very next moment you buy her, look at her current skills in the city, there are 2 things you must look at and here is where the luck comes into play, first, if she has no skills (oof) (common if you buy a loli (if you have the loli patch installed)) it's better if she has some skills developed so you spend less in training the others skills needed for specialization (through school) and this is why you see her skills in the city, to decide if you want to spend in uniforms, second, if her gladiatrix is above F- (oof) she won't fight back if she doesn't know how to fight, even if your strength is F-, no need to grind in the arena to get the brawler or unfit stats quickly, not sure if lolis are less likely to fight back but I always choose a loli as the first slave just in case, I would also recomend looking at anatomy because you could get some extra sparks from it, if she has some perforations for free you could buy some barbells or hoops, you can also see if she has tatoos or not and give her a small one for a exotic boost after branding her.
The training for my fist slave was different in that she didn't had to fight in the arena, just focused on training most of it by school or stuff that she could do by her own (clean house, gymnastics, if she had some singing skills then entertain me>concert), because she didn't know how to fight I could punish her by physical means, she was a loli and by luck she had the guilty complex (5 guilt) so I exploited that by threatening to kill her and beat the shit out of that little whore afterwards, got the D- quick, had to take the loan though, to pay for her make up and clothes before the auction, repaid the same day that took the loan and after that I had 280 sparks remaining, bought another slave (young) and the formal suit, repeated the process, no need for the arena, didn't fight back although I already was on unfit and brawler because the slow grind, this time I wanted her to get to D+, took the loan and ended with her at C+(she was smart and had a lot of sex skills), the auction got me like 1500 sparks and from there you're set to go, the next step should be to get into camira and now you could maybe get guild contracts.
So again, stats matter, since 2.2.1 I really pay close attention to the stats.
