Ok, so I'll start writing Johny's walkthrough here. For the 2.2.3 version. I would appreciate suggestions to optimize it since I'm finding out things as I go.
Getting started
0. Go to game config from your living room, enable saving the game every decade and every day. I think it's off by default just cuz the original author messed up with the saving mechanics. And change the complexity of the game to Easy. Honestly, doing Johny on harder than easy requires game knowledge far beyound what I know about it, lol. And I finished it three times in the past five years. It's a cool game even if you remove all the grim, slave-related or sexual content with something else, keeping the mechanics. You probably also wanna disable the broken mind. It's just that the mechanism of it is overcomplicated really. Hard to keep track of it and really hard/expensive/long to influence the stats to avoid it.
1. Johny is complete shit at the beginning, able to only do the simplest things. Therefore, you want to keep to your shack in slums. Don't start from renting a better place. It's too expensive for now.
2. I suggest going and getting a 1-spark-shawarma every day in Serpentine -> Virgin's hip. Until you move out of slums.
3. You can wash at `White Town -> Trade Square -> Salon Elven Leid -> Services for Men -> Aroma Spa ($5)` But it's expensive, so I suggest doing it only when you get filthy, so about once per decade or so.
4. On day first, go get yourself Livery clothing. It's in `W -> Trade Square -> Boutique -> Menswear`. It should cost about $40. It makes it easier to interact with girls. Don't forget to equip it!
5. Now you want to make some money. At least, to get an idea. Go to the slaves market at W -> Trade Square, save using F5. Now you want to find a slave who is:
a) Beauty above Ugly
b) Cheap as dirt. So about 20-30 sparks
c) Not too arogant. In fact, the lower the Pride is, the better. You're looking for Aloof, Open or Unashamed.
d) Nature above Spineless.
e) Make sure the slave doesn't have the broken mind trait.
f) Intellect more than stupid is good to have, but not necessary really for a D-.
That's it for now. Your aim here is to get the slave to D- as fast as possible and then sell it.
6. Note that in the slaves market, there's a button in the top right that allows you to skip to the next girl. (>|) If none of the girls met our standards, don't worry, just F2 to load, skip the first girl since it's not gonna be randomized and assess the rest of them, they're all randomized now. Well, or you can go to your shack and try training your cleaning skills by, well, cleaning it.
7. Good. You have your slave. Perfect. Now, don't save. Go to your shack, use auspex and Magna Magnifica. Assess the slave's aura. Watch for the signs of spoiling. If you notice any points in spoiling, load. You just don't wanna waste your time on spoiled brats.
8. Your slave is not spoiled? Perfect! DON'T use F5 to save. Just save in a different slot. Say, 1. Now go to Serpentile -> Technosphere -> Medical Centre -> Examine Slave. Make sure the slave is not sick. If it's not sick, load from 1 (we're save scamming here to save 5 sparks, but it's not necessary really). If it has a parasite or something like that, just F2 to load and start over from point 5. You don't have to save scam here. I don't bother, but you can.
D-
9. Good. Now you have a good candidate. Remember you've casted Magna Magnifica? This is to talk to the slave. Click "Influence Slave" near the slave's portrait when you're home, then "Explain her position". After it, do Encourage. Encourage won't do much, but it will help you developing your skills. Now, by default, your slave is fed dehydrated food. Change it to Fresh food. It's in the rules. A new slave, if it's not spoiled, should be fed fresh food and sleep on a bedroll. now go to `O -> Patterns of Uncle Bo` and make a Brand Tattoo (10$) Good. Now you're ready to start working with the slave. Save in a New Slave slot and start working.
10. You could also buy a leather collar and leather shackles in `N -> Steel Rose -> BDSM Paraphernalia` if you find that the girls keep dominating you, lol. But it's not that important. Some would also suggest buying a Sundress since it adds to the slave's mood, but I suggest against it since it spoils your slaves in a turn or two if they're not obedient enough and you want none of that. Once they're obedient enough to wear the dress with no penalties, you barely care anymore. I guess if you want to get to a C- or above, you could.
11. Every day, you should `Influence Slave -> Explain her position` at the beginning of the day until you get a message that the slave got her position.
12. After the influencing part, you go "Slave Assignments" in the main menu then either ask her to do gymnastics or tidy up the house. This is all you can do here really, as johny. The slave will refuse. It will earn punishment. You have to punish her every single time the punishment is earned. If you don't do that, she gets spoiled. An easy way to know if a slave is spoiled is by checking if `Influence Slave -> Put in Place` is available. If it's not - the slave is not spoiled. Here are some super common reasons for a slave to get spoiled:
0) a slave can be spoiled from the start.
a) you give her your leftovers.
b) you let her sleep in a better place than on a bedroll
c) you give her pleasant stuff to wear. Like a sundress. Or slippers.
d) you arrange a spa and massage for her. Yes, I know, it's hard to wash her without spoiling her. I suggest washing her only when her resistance is low. Like about 0-2. Therefore, first days (while she's still clean) are important.
e) you reward her more than she deserves. It's very easy to determine. The rewards and punishments are always in an order in each category. So the number that she feels she deserves indicates appropriate punishment or gratification. It's fine to under-reward, but over-rewarding will lead to spoilage. Under-rewarding will lead to slight penalty to mood. But not always.
d) under-punishing or worse, not punishing.
13. Good. Now ask her to do something. Either gymnastics or house cleaning. She'll refuse. She'll earn punishment points. Now! I know auspex costs money, but you have to learn how your punishments influence her resistance. Go and punish your slave. Start from verbal punishments. If verbal doesn't bring the result, even after a few days (auspex shows that resistance doesn't reduce), try higher levels of verbal punishment than she deserves.
14. Verbal has no result? It's fine. Get her mood up by not bothering her a few days, let her energy restore. Also restore your energy. Now ask her to do gymnastics, and as a punishment do something a bit harsh like `Shaming -> Living Canvass` (don't go further) or `Bondage -> Put on Peas`. She will protest against it. Now, there are two ways for them to protest against you. If the slave is weak and not a fighter, you'll just get a pop up saying you gave her a few bruises and then her punishment will go on. Attention! She can't protest more than once/day. Immediately after that, make her earn more punishment and punish her again, but choose a different option. Make sure neither you or her run out of energy. This is a good opportunity to make her wear a collar and shackles if you wanna try it out. Just note that they cause decrease of mood.
15. Now, this should have reduced her resistance by a few points immediately. Now your sole task is to get her back from Depression. Don't bother her, just let her recover. When they're depressed, they can either attack you, try to run or kill themselves. It's fine to have them depressed for a few days, but more than 4-5 days will get you in trouble. Note that if a slave attacks you, even if you win, the slave will earn traces of beatings trait that will render her beauty Ugly. Ugly slaves can't be sold. You now will have to wait for the traces of beatings to reduce to regular bruises state, which is ok to have.
16. If you punish your slave too often too hard, she will get traces of beatings without real fight. You want to avoid that too.
17. If you're doing your stuff correctly, the slave will start complying with your requests. At that point, it's usually a D- slave, so we don't even care to reward her.
18. Your aim here is to get her status to D-. It's easier on Easy training level. Once the status of the slave becomes D- as opposed to F, go to the slaver's guild and sell the slave to the sub-buyer. You'll get 250 sparks which should allow you like five more decades.
19. You don't like this slave? Something doesn't work as smoothly as expected? You're wasting time? The slave keeps trying to kill you? Keeps running away? Don't waste too much time trying to fix it. There are some characteristics in a slave that may make it barely doable. F2. Try again. Not a big deal. It'll get much easier later on.
D+
19. Repeat the process until you get a hand of it and earn some money. Now try get a slave to the D+ rank. To get from D- to D+, you do exactly the same except now she will start complying and earning rewards. Once you can give Erotic rewards, start doing that. You want to give hugs. for anything. A hug will train sensitivity in the slave, but it also trains your allure. Until that's available, just do verbal or stroll on a roof. If you have much more energy than your slave, you can give her one point of energy by giving her a massage, but do it only if she deserves 2 or more gratification, otherwise she'll get spoiled immediately.
20. In one day, try giving a slave different tasks and punish/gratify her in different ways. Diversity matters. Lol.
21. Watch your and your slave's energy levels. The more energy either of you have - the better. Energy is a measure of the potential effectiveness of your days. It becomes important to have slaves with higher Endurance. Your Strength matters too, but at this point you gain yours by mostly just eating well (shawarmas) and ending your turns while having a bit of energy left. Same goes for the slave, but the slave also has gymnastics that contributes to it.
22. Good. After making and selling a few D+ses, you will notice that if a D+ takes a bit longer to train (skill-wise), she can become available as an Assistant. Yes, you will need an assistant. A good assistant will have nice Endurance. It's good to have at least 3 energy for starters.
23. Perfect. Once you have an assistant, you will have at least 500 sparks. Likely more. Good to have about a thousand, but you also can just borrow 500 sparks. It's a good time to borrow. Why borrow? Cuz we're moving out from this hellish shack. We now get a $75/decade dwelling. In `W -> Trade Square -> Real Estate Office`
24. Go to your assistant. Tell her to:
a) buy Flour and grain
b) Buy Mince
c) Act as Accountant
d) Act as Cook (unless you want to train your cooking skills)
e) Supervise Slaves
f) Wash Master
g) Wash Slave
This stuff will greatly help you with saving your energy. You will also be able to use your assistant to train slaves. Use it, but keep in mind that you don't train when your assistant trains, also keep track of her energy. You don't want your assistant to run out of it.
25. Now your aim is to keep selling D+ses and improving your stats while you train them. How do you gain skills that you have none of? By getting more Men's attire. Each costume gives you some benefit. Say, Aketon gives you one level in fighting. You train a few slaves that to level D until you get yours raised to C. Keep doing that.
26. It's better to just get your Houseboy at least to C-. Then wear your Livery to get it to B. Now you can start doing guild tasks. At least to train the servants, heh.
Guild: D-
Next time
