Gentlemen, I played around a bit (2.2.3) and come to conclusion what 0 to Hero on extreme is kinda lol, there is one and only gatekeeper - Strength, I downloaded (2.2.6) gonna check that later next week, but I assume the mechanic is still kinda wonky, so here is my feedback. As I presume no amount of "anime" training gonna raise it unless you maintain diet, ok, fair enough, BUT there is something funny about being bullied by lolis who chomp on S+/1 Spark super food and do calisthenics, while you spend all your energy OPENING DAMN CANS of F-/2 spark sewage waters and lying bedridden under life support throwing curses at loli and praying she doesn't find a knife. xD (Note: Drugs Approved)
Now, you might say, "Yo man go taste that juicy pussy, talk of the city" (tavern fiesta), to which I say "Na man I am vegan, real talk." (I am no damn cannibal). ECSPECIALLY Then where is a DAMN grocery! You can literally eat raw buckwheat IRL, not to say veggies and w/e. There is also a restaurant, but you must take slave with you, so you know - lel.
Next I am not saying its impossible without strength, since its "technically" possible to train weak lolis using only verbal communication, but there is some save scumming involved (At least I am not smart enough overwise). And its tedious.
Now my suggestions:
1. Make slaver "natural" health - Unfit. So food doesnt (negatively) affect below it. OR
2. Allow damn cooking in the slums. OR
3. Make some sorta "A+" restaurant. (no (dead) virgin hips pls) OR
4. Allow slaver to do gymnastics.
There is also concern of vast difference between metabolism of slaver and slaves which ruins immersion mainly because gymnastics OP.
I could write all this less cringe but i am insane, so there you have it.
Being attacked at night isn’t a risk unless you let the slave gain despair. If the slave has no gladiatrix skill you don’t have to fight them either, so you are not limited to verbal punishments.
I’m not opposed to allowing some limited cooking in the Slums with a portable stove, just haven’t gotten around to implementing it. As for difference of slaver and slave food, slaver is male, slaves aren’t. If it helps, assume there’s hormones in the slave food or something that cuts down life expectancy. After all, old slaves go to the grinder (paraphrasing Isabella).
I'm in the middle of a 2.2.6.4 zero start (no points spent, all F-) custom extreme difficulty with Uncle Tom on full version (adds impotence challenge). Haven't eaten at tavern once. Strength can be raised in other ways. I haven't used the "spar at colosseum" method at all either. Spent quite a long time Frail / Weak but eventually sold two slaves to Outcasts and got an apartment which solves the canned food problem.
Physical punishments, training slaves personally in dance or martial arts or athletics, and of course vigorous sex (Uncle Tom can resolve his impotence by following hints in diary/objectives) and occasional restaurant reward have been the sources of strength gain, and using kamra/faerie pollen (sparingly to avoid addiction) along with tutors/school and eventually an assistant to help train has been the solution for limited energy. Hint: brothel sells 1$ sex if slave refuses. For the sadistic, there is also the "buy cheap market slave [optionally mindbroken] and use as punching bag / rape bait" strategy. 20$ can buy a lot of strength this way...
If you focus on raising strength (especially if you can have sex more than once a day), you can “anime train” even in the Slums (and there is no further drain at F- so hovering on the D- border is not hard once you reach it, or if you start already Weak or better you can maintain... remember
starting at Frail is a voluntary challenge...), but there are often higher priorities for your energy since you need to solve for income and being F- strength won’t kill you.
Without other skills the slaver is the worst choice for any training activity and his main job is to escort to school to save money vs. hiring tutors. Even some sex training can be done "passively" - for example, gangbangs do not require the slaver to participate (if unable), just escort. Concubine contracts will be particularly tough with low slaver energy and F- sex skills, but some of the required training will raise the slaver's strength and other incidental skills.
Also, very young slaves are easier to dominate. The Butler has a special talent with older women, and the Teacher has a special talent with the young and younger. The Kid and Uncle Tom also have some extra talent with the very young ones. And of course Uncle Tom finds older ones intimidating.
Low nature is highly desirable in early slaves, as compensating for higher nature (to raise taming) is costly in time/sparks. But with 200$ plus a 500$ loan and 60$ guild contract prepayment and 50$ for winning arena battle and 20$ if you manage third place in a race, you have more than enough resources to pay for school/tutors and training items as needed. Just delay taking a loan until the end of a decade where you can’t afford the next day’s bill. Losing 100$ to the moneylender is just one decade of “speed bonus” for a guild contract (assuming the contract level isn't below your guild reputation level), and 500$ can easily save you a decade of training time.
Final point — extreme is by design the most challenging way to play the game. Most of it is the "hardcore" obedience difficulty and associated mechanics (which you can also opt into on easy or normal game difficulty via game settings menu, but are locked into on extreme difficulty), but extreme also adds higher costs of living and a few other challenges (like having to get to C+ reputation with a faction before you can live in their district). It’s meant to be rewarding if you can survive and thrive with the deck stacked against you, which requires a setup where you are only a few mistakes away from disaster and have to use many of the tricks at your disposal (but not all - we want to allow you freedom to roleplay).
Extreme difficulty is a lot more interesting in 2.2.6.4 than 2.2.3. I am having a lot of fun with my play testing run. Lots of close calls where I was not sure if I would pull off my plan in time, and I moved out of the Slums as soon as I could before I had a cushion of savings so really have to be creative / use all available tools to be able to pay the bills and not have to abandon the apartment. Free barn in Outcasts district with an egglayer is helping to lower costs (keeping a fog fiend also helps with feeding costs especially with higher-caloric diets), and an arena/race grand champion is helping also, but still need to train and sell slaves to maintain positive cashflow. Will eventually add a cow. Fattening and slaughtering pigs would also provide income, but I don't like butchering slaves so sacrificing that income is another of my voluntary handicaps. Have yet to train a slave above C+ due to time/slaver energy constraints and competing priorities but expect to be getting there soon as selling C+ with multiple specializations and high charm at auction can be lucrative.
