QSP Jack-o-Nine-Tails [v2.3] [ImperatorAugustusTertius / qwertyu12359]

[Crasher92]

Difficulty has been increased in some ways, and reduced in other ways. Master's strength, personality and libido can diminish if the current level is not supported by the lifestyle. A master who lacks skills is more dependent on assistant, school or tutors. To get acclimated to how the game works now, it's a good idea to play through the tutorial and read the lectures carefully. We've also updated the in-game help texts that appear when you click on attributes and added a lot of hover tooltips.

With the latest dev build (2.2.2 + minor energy fix and assistant calories adjustment), I started a normal game with M'lord. Immediately rented Taurus apartment, got Isabella, enabled all assistant rules, took the first offered guild contract (D- pet ponygirl). The slave was Pretty, Weakened, Caring, Reactive, Stupid, Cowardly, Open, Slender. She was also slightly spoiled when acquired.

Enabled diet supplements, and enabled rules no masturbation and deny orgasm. Left the rest of her rules at defaults (bedroll, dehydrated food, moderate portion). Bought her athletic leotard, sneakers, cat ears, fluffy paws, leather collar

Day 1: Used encourage and explain her position, tried to have Isabella give her athletics or pet lessons, she refused. Chastised. Sent her to school for pet training, she came back with 4 merit. Rewarded with perfume. End of the day.

Day 2: Encourage and explain her position, sent to school for pet training. 2 merit, rewarded with sweet treat. Racing day, got pony gear for Isabella and took her to the race. She managed to survive the track and finished last (4th). No prize but she advanced from Not a Pony (F-) to Nag (D-).

Day 3: Encourage and explain her position, sent to school for pet training. 1 merit, rewarded with a rooftop stroll. Switched over to athletic leotard and sneakers and did athletics training. Rewarded with sweet treat.

Day 4-6: Encourage, more athletics training. Rewarded with sweet treats. Had slave do gymnastics alone for final 2 points to level up endurance from Weakened to Healthy.

Day 7: Slave is obedient, just needs more common skills for D- rating. Enabled rules behave humility and behave pet. Slave has reached C- pet skill. Master has 2133$ remaining.

During this time, Isabella went to the arena and won her first battle, rewarded with a wedding dress. The master also visited the brothel a couple of times or had sex with Isabella when his libido demanded, and cooked and cleaned for himself a few times to develop his stewardship / relieve Isabella of the task when she was tired after colosseum events.

His personality and strength are fluctuating at the border between B+ and A+ because the standard of living isn't enough to maintain his personality and Isabella is only a B+ cook so the meals are not enough to maintain his strength, but "encourage" and sex are compensating.

Day 8: Isabella gives pony racing lesson, then master gives pony racing lesson. Slave skill reaches D- and she has 5 merit. Spend time together, restaurant. Revealed Hikikomori trait, she doesn't like being out in public. Master has sex with Isabella.

Day 9: Encourage, master gives pony lesson 3x, slave pony skill is C-, 3 merit. Erotic reward, petting. Master has sex with Isabella.

Day 10: End of decade bill was 370 sparks. Isabella's secretary skill leveled up to B+, which will help her reduce the bill for the next decade. One more pony lesson gets slave to B+ pony skill, completing the guild contract requirements. Turning in the contract immediately pays 560 sparks, leaving the master with 2315$ (he started with 2500$).

M'lord's attributes and skills at this point are the same as they were when the game started, but he's given Isabella a 100$ wedding dress, bought her a full set of pony gear, and started her on the path to bringing in supplemental income as both a pony girl and gladiatrix. Considering that the contract slave is Pretty, continuing to train her for a higher rating would be a good option too.

Maybe the tuning is fine for other starting characters, and i know Johny is supposed to be difficult, but he starts with 200g, not leaving the slums and getting Isabella makes it very hard to do anything to train a slave, but leaving the slums to get her and maybe be able to train a slave somewhat, the serpentine apartment cost 250 ish a decade, with a money loan you got at most 3 decades sell a slave or complete a contract, and 2 weeks later the loan is due.

I'm probably fucking up the training but so far no luck, i had a somewhat trainable one yesterday, but for some reason her obedience dropped and I lost, I'm guessing it was due to spoiling which i didn't understand how that came about, maybe having extra energy when ending day?

Before the house cost changes you had at least 2 decades before running out, and you could also lend money for added time.

 

[qwertyu12359]

sarinee I would prefer blurred edges with solid black for the letterboxing. With black surrounding, it puts focus on the central image and by softing or blurring the edges of the image it doesn't look as much like it's pasted on top.

Thing is, in-game, I tried both ways on countless pictures, and almost always, the gradiant of dominant colors would look less distracting than two pure black vertical bars.

As for blurring the edges, in the first exemple sarinee showed, it blurs the hair of the girl too. It might depend on the monitor, but on mine this detail is very visible and its well calibrated.

Tho it does less harm to the second picture in black and pink. But in general, artists care about the framing, enough than can already denaturates his work. So I wouldn't do that. I let it to the modder's affinity however.

 

[ImperatorAugustusTertius]

i know Johny is supposed to be difficult, but he starts with 200g

Yes, he's one of the most challenging starts. With almost no savings, renting an apartment right away (especially an apartment in a district other than Outcasts) increases the challenge even more, because you don't have access to as much supplemental income at the start. An arena champion can bring in more than 100 sparks per decade, for example, while a pony girl who places in the race can bring in somewhere between 20 and 225. With B+ or higher guild reputation, you can send multiple gladiatrices to the arena. With a barn, you can supplement your income with an egglayer, cow and pig. With a fiend, you can reduce slave food costs. With a good secretary, you can reduce costs of living. With a dungeon, you can get a head start on building obedience in a second slave while training your current one. Etc.

not leaving the slums and getting Isabella makes it very hard to do anything to train a slave, but leaving the slums to get her and maybe be able to train a slave somewhat, the serpentine apartment cost 250 ish a decade, with a money loan you got at most 3 decades sell a slave or complete a contract, and 2 weeks later the loan is due.

You always have the option of renting an apartment to get Isabella and then canceling the rental before the end of the decade billing.

It's best to avoid taking a loan until you need it. For example, the night before end of decade billing, if you see that you don't have enough sparks to pay the bill, you can take a loan. That way you maximize training time before you have to repay it. 200 sparks can last for a while in the Slums, and Outcasts district is less expensive than Serpentine. Just because Johny starts with reputation there doesn't mean you need to move there. You can live in the Slums, train a D+ slave for a resident in the Outcasts, then move in there.

I'm probably fucking up the training but so far no luck, i had a somewhat trainable one yesterday, but for some reason her obedience dropped and I lost, I'm guessing it was due to spoiling which i didn't understand how that came about, maybe having extra energy when ending day?

Have you read the updated tutorial lectures? Extra energy when ending the day doesn't spoil a slave. If you are still unsure, you can upload a save or describe in more detail what you did and why the outcome surprised you.

 

[ImperatorAugustusTertius]

Thing is, in-game, I tried both ways on countless pictures, and almost always, the gradiant of dominant colors would look less distracting than two pure black vertical bars.

I agree that black borders don't look good when the edges of the image are sharp. But when there's a softening or blurring, it's another story. Case-by-case, of course. I didn't like the swirly gradient from sarinee's original version but I also didn't like the sharp separation between the gradient borders and the center image in the version you presented. Black with blur was my suggested compromise, but until I actually see it, I can't be sure that I'd actually like it better than your version.

 

[Crasher92]

Yes, he's one of the most challenging starts. With almost no savings, renting an apartment right away (especially an apartment in a district other than Outcasts) increases the challenge even more, because you don't have access to as much supplemental income at the start. An arena champion can bring in more than 100 sparks per decade, for example, while a pony girl who places in the race can bring in somewhere between 20 and 225. With B+ or higher guild reputation, you can send multiple gladiatrices to the arena. With a barn, you can supplement your income with an egglayer, cow and pig. With a fiend, you can reduce slave food costs. With a good secretary, you can reduce costs of living. With a dungeon, you can get a head start on building obedience in a second slave while training your current one. Etc.


You always have the option of renting an apartment to get Isabella and then canceling the rental before the end of the decade billing.

It's best to avoid taking a loan until you need it. For example, the night before end of decade billing, if you see that you don't have enough sparks to pay the bill, you can take a loan. That way you maximize training time before you have to repay it. 200 sparks can last for a while in the Slums, and Outcasts district is less expensive than Serpentine. Just because Johny starts with reputation there doesn't mean you need to move there. You can live in the Slums, train a D+ slave for a resident in the Outcasts, then move in there.


Have you read the updated tutorial lectures? Extra energy when ending the day doesn't spoil a slave. If you are still unsure, you can upload a save or describe in more detail what you did and why the outcome surprised you.

I'll give these things a try once i get some free hours again.

that save is sadly long gone, but there are other things it could be, i haven't checked the exact values of rewards.

 

[ImperatorAugustusTertius]

i haven't checked the exact values of rewards.

You know that you can hover the mouse pointer over the yellow triangle on the menu icons for rewards and punishments to see what level of merit or guilt they correspond to?

 

[Crasher92]

You know that you can hover the mouse pointer over the yellow triangle on the menu icons for rewards and punishments to see what level of merit or guilt they correspond to?

wait really, i hope that's changed after i last played. xD

 

[sarinee]

...

...

What about this. Gradient color is always better.
But this pic is not simple, red and green are complement colors. and using too many (over 3) colors is not good as well. So it relies on its own high light to keep your eyesight focused on the pic itself.

 

[ImperatorAugustusTertius]

What about this. Gradient color is always better.

Did you try with black?

 

[qwertyu12359]

I agree that black borders don't look good when the edges of the image are sharp. But when there's a softening or blurring, it's another story. Case-by-case, of course. I didn't like the swirly gradient from sarinee's original version but I also didn't like the sharp separation between the gradient borders and the center image in the version you presented. Black with blur was my suggested compromise, but until I actually see it, I can't be sure that I'd actually like it better than your version.

Previews (without text):

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[ImperatorAugustusTertius]

wait really, i hope that's changed after i last played. xD

Back in 1.2.1, they were part of the menu labels. Back in the HF versions (1.7.x), they were in the hover tooltips. So they have always been there, one way or another.

 

[ImperatorAugustusTertius]

Previews (without text)

Between these two, I prefer the colored gradients. The first looks like the image is pasted over a black background because the transition is sharp. I'm still thinking softened edges on black might look good.

 

[sarinee]

Previews (without text):

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I think he is saying this pic.

 

[ImperatorAugustusTertius]

I think he is saying this pic.

This is a good example. It's not black but the sides are a solid color and not a gradient. Maybe the yellow that qwerty used at the top of his gradient would work as a solid border.

 

[qwertyu12359]

Between these two, I prefer the colored gradients. The first looks like the image is pasted over a black background because the transition is sharp. I'm still thinking softened edges on black might look good.

I had already applied a gaussian blur of 2 on the edges. Now it's about 8. It already starts to "eat" on the girl's hair, on the left

I think he is saying this pic.
View attachment 1736240

Well, case by case ^^ It's up to each artistic interpretation

I'd prefer this one with this white from above the picture and black green for the gradient

But anyway

 

[ImperatorAugustusTertius]

I had already applied a gaussian blur of 2 on the edges. Now it's about 8. It already starts to "eat" on the girl's hair, on the left

Maybe split the difference. I like 8 better than 2, but the effect on the hair is not ideal.

 

[sarinee]

I had already applied a gaussian blur of 2 on the edges. Now it's about 8. It already starts to "eat" on the girl's hair, on the left

You are reasonable, when there's quite a bit ingredients along or near the edge, surely blurring it is not a good idea.

 

[qwertyu12359]

Maybe split the difference. I like 8 better than 2, but the effect on the hair is not ideal.

Here is 4:

And it already gives some horrible artifacts:

But blur works neat when the edges of the images is a colored background, with no elements from the subject of the image. I used blur plenty of times on the edges for the pictures that are in the game. As many things, it's a tool, and should be used with reason.

 

[Strec]

It seems there are bug on the F95 forums, the spoiler tag seems to work only from times to times

 

[sarinee]

Like this one, improper to blur the edge.
Or at most blur the forests in background.