GUIDE:
HOLY EMPRESS RUN, PRISONER MODE, FRESH new game (no titles or stats being carried over from previous runs)
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Well-Rounded Build
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Initial conditions:
Cost Saving Supervisor
dormant desire -> mouth
extra sensitivity -> anus
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usual equipment for hard fights:
[bracelet] string (up to level 4) / gold (from level 4 onward)
[ring] double
[necklace] ball (up to level 4) / sapphire (from level 4 onward)
[misc] eyeliner set
title: quick thruster (up to level 4) / enchanting beauty
NB: you should adapt the equipment and title to each boss and to your own battle style. Also, change the equipment and title when farming experience, to benefit Agility Growth, agility count and evasion (by dodging enemy strikes, you're farming agility passively). I change this setup a lot of times myself, depending on enemy types and my personal farming goals.
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this guide is for a well-rounded build (I know, I know... it's what the dev tells us NOT to do. whatever). Our main focus will be to train agility through the use of pierce-attacks early on, and invest equally in all skills' trees. It is perfectly possible to beat Prisioner mode, with ALL (I mean: ALL) virginities intact, and a slut level of around 75 (this will result in the Empress Ending and "Holy Empress" title), even on a fresh new game, without any titles carry over. In this run, I also respected all level subjugation time-limits, so there's that self-inflicted added difficulty. however, these "time limits" are not hard limits at all. crossing them over, will simply result in a reversible control penalty (-1 per day after the time limit), which will reverse after you conquer the level - so, there's no permanent damage in abusing these "time limits". A temporary penalty to your control is very, very manageable, and the extra subsidies you can get from it, come really, really handy. however, while doing the run for this guide, I managed to stay within all time limits. So, there's that extra challenge, if you want to pursue it too.
Except for the first two ones, which I consider essential in the early game, I won't tell you exactly when to buy accessories. you should buy them according to your play style. having a lot of accessories, in order to increase charm and being able to equip a combination of different types early on (as well as to get to the "enchanting warden title" in the early mid-game), is good, but in this run, we're short on time and funds, so if you buy more accessories than you need, with the sole purpose of increasing charm, just know that you're heavily compromising the run's pace. All and all, after the early game, it is more important to have the secondary stats bonus from combining different types of accessories than the primary stat bonuses from the accessories themselves. With that being said, usually you want to buy "rope" and "double" first, to make it easier to farm early on, on level 1. after that, it is your call.
acquire the edicts by the order I wrote them in each level. follow the general guideline I provided below, and, then, the specific guidelines for each level.
General Guidelines for Playstyle:
if you're not good at evading enemies outside battle, then have the option "always dash" off (default option in Settings). use a combination of keyboard with a single, precise mouse click to move in between enemies and tight spaces (don't press the left mouse button; simply plan ahead and click exactly where you want your destination to be). also, place karryn diagonally to an enemy you want to avoid (enemies cannot move diagonally), wait until they make a move, and then click where you want to go. in level 3 gym, move toward the benching machines in a straight line, as soon as you enter the gym. then, go through the gym machines like this: imagine a "V" turned 90º to the left (like this ">") and, in the middle of this shape, lies the enemy that always sits in the middle of the gym, in between the machines; avoid him by clicking in between the benches next to him and, only after arriving to that point between benches, then clicking in the upper portion of the gym. then, quickly click in a straight line to your left, in the direction of the showers. in level's 4 basketball court, you simply need to be very patient and let the monsters open a path to you. when the court is open, click in the middle of it and, then, start walking with the keyboard in the direction you want to go, while being close to a wall (upper or lower wall, whatever you choose). place karryn diagonally to enemies that are walking by the exit of the room. as soon as they leave an opening, just click in the direction opposite to that to which they moved, and karryn will dash to the exit. just click one time and let her go.
use items according to context and fight. change them throughout your run, according to enemy types, and according to your objectives in each room (sometimes you'll want to use a "+ stat growth", even to the detriment of other stats, while farming: in fact, you should definitely do this) and, then, change the item back again before a difficult fight. for difficult fights, equip combinations of accessories of different types. the combos do pay off. for farming, you can use combinations of accessories that will give you the stats growth you want.
never use taunt or cock kick and always keep cock desire below 30 (to avoid gaining sadism, as it increases your pleasure and chance of orgasming during battle by doing damage to enemies)
never use flaunt (to avoid gainig masochism, as it increases your pleasure and chance of orgasming during battle by getting damaged by enemies)
never let karryn orgasm. come back to her office and masturbate every time she reaches 40%+ pleasure. never masturbate if she is 75%+ pleasure (as she gains higher masturbation levels, or higher sex techniques, the upper threshold for you to masturbate should decrease. what's important is that karryn doesn't orgasm). also, when masturbating use always the same technique in the same erogenous zone (by default the one with the "dormant desire"). don't add variation to this, as these masturbation session result in passives relative to the stimulated erogenous zone. you want to keep passives as confined to one zone as possible so that you keep it easier to control desires during battle.
always fix clothes when you're about to get stripped (when both boobs are showing). keep cock desire below 30 for as long as possible during the run. do strive to never let any desire reach the 49 threshold for as long as possible in the run. even after these desires meet theses thresholds, keep the same attitude of trying to keep them as low as possible. suppress them one at a time. only use karryn's sex appeal to subdue enemies as a last resort and NEVER let them initiate explicit sexually activities with karryn (by keeping desires below 75 and cock desire below 50). to achieve this in the later game, remember to always suppress her desires below 75, one by one, every time they pass the 49 count threshold. also, always keep cock desire below 49. this is the most important desire to keep low.
as a general rule, when karryn runs out of stamina, always try to get up immediately and use "cautious stance" to slowly build her stamina to a point where she can fight again. when the enemies wave is too powerful be able to be dodged, then, let your enemies get horny and close to ejaculation before getting up. you have to analyze in a per case basis: sometimes you can get immediately back up and fight; sometimes you have to let certain enemies cum before you can stand up; sometimes, yet, you can let some of them get horny (at which point they will use "pet attacks"), and, then, you get up and punish them while they're busy petting karryn. the most important things in these scenarios is to keep karryn's desires low and using "healing thoughts" whenever you get the chance to do it.
battle everyday, because, in this difficulty, karryn earns little experience per fight and you have less time to clear levels before losing control points. as a rule of thumb, only advance to deeper dungeon rooms if karryn is below 45% pleasure and 30% fatigue - these limit will depend on how strong karryn is and how difficult the room's enemies are: the stronger she is or the weaker her enemies are, the higher these limit may be. but never - never ever - get impatient and overextend. simply don't do it. being in "aroused" state is non-ideal but manageable; winning while being "sexually frustrated" is feasible but dangerous, as your stats can spiral down in the middle of a fight and make that fight unwinnable in the stand-up combat. after a few battles being "sexually frustrated" without orgasming, karryn will become "very sexually frustrated". With that debuff, you won't have any chance of winning battles without sex skills.
NEVER OVEREXTEND! Know when NOT TO MOVE FORWARD! Be patient! It is ok to clear the same rooms many times over before advancing to a new one. in fact, this is the only way to do this empress run in prisoner mode, on a fresh new game (without titles or stats being carried over from previous runs), without failing miserably. you have to farm a lot. you have to know where to farm. you have to understand what rooms are dangerous to use as farming rooms, and which ones are suited for it. usually, the third room of each level is the most difficult one (the bar, the gym) - with the exception of level 2, where the most difficult room is the staff lounge. farm around these ones. also, rooms immediately before bosses are easier than these "mid level rooms", however they will give you a lot of experience. farms those rooms.
if possible, use all "days before unrest" before conquering a level. you can go over the "time limit" for clearing a particular level. the only penalty you're going to get is a temporary "control -1" for each day after the "time limit" has gone. this penalty are not permanent: it will clear as soon as you conquer the level, so you can abuse this system without endangering the rest of the run, if you want to. In fact, using this for your advantage (having in mind that there is an increase in subsidies) while managing the "order" you have left, will make this run much more easy, as you'll be able to accrue many funds before moving to other levels. However, I did this run within the time limit of every level, and found no trouble while doing so. So, for added difficulty, if you want to treat these time limits as "hard limits" (which they are not), know that this is perfectible feasible.
your "control" stat (not counting the penalty for going over the "time limit" before conquering a level) should always be greater than -8. the more levels you conquer, the more control you need to have. Just before conquering a level, increase "control" to -5 (not counting the penalty for going over the "time limit to subdue a level"). for "order" management, the logic is the same: the higher the level you're subduing, the higher the "order" you should be at. in level 1, it is perfectly fine to be at order 5 to 8; in level 2, aim at around order 12; at level 3, aim at around order 16 to 20. at level 4, aim at order 22 to 25. the more advanced a player you are, the more comfortable you'll be with low order. however, it's imperative to have a relative high control stat (-6 to -4), so that you don't risk a game over, due to unexpected riots.
never buy edicts that decrease order.
DONT BUY ANYTHING THAT INCREASES INMATES STATS!
kick the guards out of the bar minigame, as soon as you see them! interactions with them during minigames will increase their agression. don't build the strip bar. don't do the receptionist minigame.
when not using pierce-type of attacks, favor slash-types so that you increase dexterity
keep whatever title gives you the most "+ experience gain", except on hard fights (usually the 3rd room in each floor and the boss fights of levels 3, 4 and 5)
when clearing waves, always eliminate rogues first (they're weak to blunt-type attacks. they're resistant against slash-type attacks). then, clear lizards to avoid their group synergy. when you're disarmed, use "focus" to counter-attacks and don't be afraid to use kicks to eliminate low defense enemies (likes rogues and goblins), before trying to pick up the halberd.
always farm mind by spending all your mind points in the last wave of enemies. mind is very important as using "focus" before attacking, is a literal game changer, and pretty much all monstrous-type of enemies (as well as thugs) require this combo in order to be efficiently dispatched. so training it early on, is very important.
keep order low, but control semi-high (from level 3 onward, keep control at around -5; before level 3 control can be at around -7).
after clearing level 2, and provided that you have farmed pierce-type attacks early on, always explore your enemies weaknesses up to the last wave. use the last wave to farm agility (through pierce-type attacks followed by cautious stance combo).
general enemy weaknesses:
lvl 1: use blunt-type attacks on rogues
use blunt-type attacks on goblins
use focus + whatever type of attack on thugs (some specific thugs have specific resistances. this varies depending on the run. you have to experiment and learn)
lvl 2: use focus + skewer or focus + cleave on slimes, then finish them off with a simple "strike" or "thrust"
use blunt-type attacks on nerds
lvl 3: use blunt-type or focus + pierce-type attacks on lizards
use focus + slash-type or focus + blunt-type attacks on orcs
use pierce-type attacks on hobos
lvl 4: use focus + slash-type or focus + blunt-type attacks on yetis
use focus + slash-type attacks on werewolves (werewolves are also vulnerable to pierce-type attacks, as these descrease acting chance for them)
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lvl 1:
target order: 5 to 8
equip newbie title
use a combination of pierce-attack and revitalize whenever possible (I know it is a weird combination but if we want to complete the extra challenge of subjugating levels on-time, we won't have "cautious stance" early on. besides, this is a good way to train the "energy" stat, so you're not wasting anything). when you use another type of attack, be sure to compensate using a pierce-type next. we do this to pursue the "thrusters" titles, and to increase agility, since it then snowballs into automatic dodging in the mid game. it will be easier to farm pierce-type attacks in level 2, when we acquire "cautious stance" and have a little broader time limit to use. for now, just make sure you use "thrust" every-other turn.
also, farm "mind" by spending all your mind points in the last enemy. always spend them all before a room is cleared.
farm weak enemies (groups without thugs) until level 12
then, farm everyone except bar
>> edicts (follow the stated acquisition order):
[bracelet] rope (so you can dispatch early enemies easily)
prison guards for office (reduce expense)
self paid equipment (reduce expense)
cautious stance
heavy duty lock (to avoid her office getting invaded by guards after masturbating)
publish all profile information except desires, resists, sex levels and sensitivities
[ring] double
at the time limit, face the boss (or ignore the time limit and continue to collect subsidies and start building your training skill tree).
get whatever gift the herald brings you. choose one which requires slut lvl to be below something, and preferably one of the last two options.
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lvl 2:
target order: 12 to 15
work at the bar after sleeping, until you get to 11 reputation (41% + income). since there are only two drinks available, you can carry the tray with two "pale ale" and a "glass of water". doing so, will make responding to order much quicker. repress aa desire almost every turn you're not among drinking customers. rest in the "return" position, away from the tables, and stay there as much as possible. kick out any guard as soon as possible, as interacting with them will increase guard aggression. reputation decreases every 4 days without working at the bar. within those 4 days, work whenever it is more convenient. but never work with a high level of fatigue or pleasure. every time you work at the bar the counter of 4 days refreshes.
farm weak enemies from rooms 1 & 2 until you're finishing them off with a single strike. using "cautious stance", you can prolong these battles, and farm both pierce-attacks, energy, and mind for as much as possible.
then, farm enemies from room 7 after sleeping.
then, farm enemies from room 8 after sleeping.
eventually, you'll be able to farm both these rooms, and some more on you way back to office.
continue to farm "mind" by spending all your mind points in the last enemy.
>> edicts (follow the stated acquisition order):
bar
waitress outfit
new drug supplier
cautious stance
expand drink menu
basic guard training
train anti-goblin squads
agility training I
skewer training
repair kitchen
hire cooks
weaken the thugs
halberd strengthen I
halberd defensive specialization
defensive upgrade
dexterity training I
cleave training
mind training
healing thoughts
replace sheets
endurance training I
stamina training I
eyeliner set
standard equipment
self maintenance
add personal comforts
repair workshop
longer workshop shifts
repair visitor center
beads
equip "beads" (substitute the "rope")
fight the boss (during the first three turns you will be very weakened. use cautious stance during first three turns. then, use "focus", "ki", and "skewer", then finish off the monster however you like. the rogue and the nerd are standard enemies)
get whatever gift the herald brings you. choose one which requires slut lvl to be below something. "Critical evasion +15%" goes well with this build. the "resist talk +25%" is also very, very good.
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lvl 3:
target order: 16 to 20
at this point, equip the title "upstart warden" and leave in on. Before difficult fights equip "stunning warden" or "quick thruster", depending on the enemies you're about to face.
farm enemies up to the gym (excluding the gym). farm pierce-attacks (for the "sonic thruster title") in the first room and in the showers.
keep an eye on order and control, and don't forget about the possibility of two level riots.
keep order between 16. don't let karryn be "sexually frustrated", otherwise you might find yourself in trouble if all of a sudden you have to suppress multi-level riots.
keep the titles that boost the "experience gain", but before hard fights, equip the title "enchanting warden" (or other fitting to your fighting style) when you have it.
try to buy and equip the accessories "[Necklace] Sapphire" and "[Bracelet] Gold" (if you're trying to do my build)
>> edicts (follow the stated acquisition order):
threaten the nerds
expand drink menu II
unarmed combat training
buy accessories until you reach 42 charm, so you can equip an extra accessory (of a different type than the others)
endurance training II
energy training I
install camera outside
advanced guard training
train guards against rogues
warden uniform upgrade I
warden uniform upgrade II
halberd strengthen II
(halberd) defensive upgrade II
reinforced equipment
you break you pay
strength training I
slam training I
fight the boss. focus on the boss lizard only. defeat adjacent lizards with "cleave" or "skewer", but never aim directly at them. just ignore other types of enemies. if you cannot beat this boss yet, you can perfectly sacrifice control points by going over to the subjugation time limit. In the meantime, just collect funds and continue to battle in order to increase your stats. the more you do this, the easier level 4 will be later on.
choose one of the last two gifts options (dragon hide or hero's vol III)
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level 4:
target order: 22 to 25
level 4 is the easiest one. there is no room that is difficult to clear. however, it is the most dangerous one to retreat from. there are a lot of enemies around tiny bottleneck passages. to make things more difficult, there are many enemies whose colors blend with the background. so, while advancing in the level, be always VERY mindful that the most difficult way will be the way back. never let karryn get fatigued or too much aroused - or, even worse, sexually frustrated - in level 4, because, more likely than not, she will end up in an unwanted fight while retreating back to office.
once you get the title "punisher", use it during riots to farm "pierce attacks" + "cautious stance"/other energy skill, so that you can get closer to the title "sonic
thruster" (this title will only appear at ward level 36, so you may already have 300+ pierce strikes than other type of strikes, however you should farm pierce strikes in order to increase agility anyway)
when there are riots, you don't need to suppress them right away. you have to manage your subsidies income and the order level. you may clear some rooms, but, if you have high enough order, don't suppress the whole level at once, so you get extra subsidies. order should be at around 25.
NEVER BE SEXUALLY FRUSTRATED. unfortunately, you're going to have to masturbate whenever you have the chance as long as your desire is lower than 50-60% (you have to check by yourself what's the limit where you can masturbate without reahcing orgasm)
after clearing the path to the boss, farm with the enemies in the room just before the boss fight. farm there as much as possible, but be very, very careful with the return way to the office.
>> edicts (follow the stated acquisition order):
flatly reject the orcs
expand drink menu III
gym policy: extended hours
gym trainer outfit
repair bathroom
(accumulate a lot of money from subsidies before buying these next ones)
repair staff lounge
repair office
partially restore bureaucracy
undermine bureaucracy
hire accountant
hire lawyer
find insurance company
repair meeting room
insure meeting room
sell outsourcing services
repair staff room
insure staff lounge
lounge isn't free anymore
fight the boss in the last day of the time limit
get one of the last two gift options that the herald brings you
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level 5:
now it's time to let the guards subdue all riots, so we can accrue money to spend on battle edicts. In the meantime, we're the ones who will be suppressing riots - and lots of them. your job is simply to suppress riots and accrue money so that you become strong enough to fight the final boss. use the "Kitchen and Mess Hall" edicts if you're having problems in keeping order above 20. just keep in mind that these are very expensive, so you want to use them only if you think that, without them, you're going to lose.
edicts:
repair research
insure research
prison audit
upgrade medical equipment
allow research testing
upgrade kitchen equipment
insure workshop
amend prison labor law
upgrade workshop
obscure tax code
dubious tax legalities
use inmates accountants
(now, at this point, we're going to go after the "riot suppression training for guards" edict and its requirements. remember that this edict is the highest "expense" edict in the game (1000 funds per day, once all four levels are subjugated), but that's why we have been focusing on the edicts that cut expenses - which, altogether, will cut 25% general expenses. this way, the "riot suppression training for guards" will have a daily expense of 750 funds. It's still very high, so you have to be prepared to, then, buy all edicts that increase income and further decrease expenses in specific rooms. riots will never occur after "riot suppression training for guards" has been bought, so you won't have to worry about increasing the riot chances when issuing edicts. also, keep in mind that after buying the "riot suppression training for guards", you won't have the opportunity to train karryn through combat any longer, so she will increase her stats only through mini games, consumables or equipment. be sure you have leveled her up nicely. keep in mind that if you increase inmate stats through edicts, the final boss battle will become more difficult, because you still will have to face various inmates during that battle, as well as the bosses themselves)
upgrade guard beds
upgrade to luxury bed
repair kitchen and mess hall (if you haven't already)
better guard meals
military equipment
(save enough money and save 4 edicts points so you can buy these next two edicts together. also, subjugate all levels, before buying these edicts. the "riot suppression training for guards" keeps riots from happening, but you are the one who still will have to subjugate levels that were rioting before the acquisition of this edict. the increased guard aggression resulting from the "expert guard training", will make guards spawn as enemies in rioting levels. that's why you want to suppress all riots before buying the next two edicts)
expert guard training
riot suppression training for guards
(If you were aroused before this point and you didn't masturbate before going to bed, and all riots are suppressed, you need to use the bar mini game or the receptionist mini game to get karryn to a pleasure level of 32% or higher, so that she can masturbate again in the office. You will also need to keep the bar's reputation at 10, in order to keep the income flow. the bar mini game will result in karryn's arousal and higher guard aggression. don't risk masturbate in the office if the invasion chance is higher than 0%. even a chance of 1% will result in an office invasion. the "1%" shown is just the dev's way of surprising you and spoil the whole "empress run". in this difficulty level, anything above 0% is always very, very high. To masturbate safely, buy the "automatic electronic lock" and "install camera inside" edicts).
(from this point on, you just have to make sure your "control" stat is equal or greater than zero, so you won't lose "order". you will also have to make sure your income is equal or greater than zero in order to avoid going bankrupt. In order to do so, you have to transition from a subsidies-base income to an in-house generated income. I like going the following route)
automatic electronic lock
conduct tests on injured inmates
refurbish gym equipment
paid gym membership
tough performance requirements
repair classroom
classroom curriculum: workshop
classes are mandatory
install camera inside
use inmates janitors
use inmates cooks
cancel all insurances (one by one, starting from the most expensive to the least expensive)
repair laundry
sell laundry services
no free laundry
gym policy: shorten hours (this will help you in the final boss fight)
optional strategy if you want to max out income through both in-house generated income and high subsidies: while having low order - preferably below 10 -, buy edicts, such as the ones of the Visitor Center ("charge visitors for visitations", "implement express passes for visitors", "charge inmates for visitations") that will bring your "control" to 0, thus fixating order in a particular number. if that number is low, you'll have high subsidies. after this, you can build your high in-house income, as you would normally do.
optional edicts for profit (if you don't care about corruption, or if you want to stop playing the waitress mini game):
charge visitors for visitations
implement express passes for visitors
charge inmates for visitations
repair store
research: Laundry products contract
guards must pay in store
staff must pay in store
build strip club
share alcohol with strip club
tax condom shipments to strip club
repair reception
admittance policy: strong only (keep in mind that this may make the boss fight more difficult)
(there are titles and items that also increase income)
(after this point, it's up to you to decide whatever you want to do. buy accessories until you reach "charm" level 69, so you can equip a final accessory and gain extra secondary stats bonus before the final battle. buy the specialization edicts and training edicts that you like. I personally go for: "agility specialization", "skewer training technique", "dexterity specialization", "slash training: technique") and then, equip the "sonic thruster". this way I'm able to spam the "skewer" -> "slash" combo ("slash" will now buff the skewer's damage by 50%), so I'm able to rip through waves of enemies like it were nothing. By that point, and after buying the "skewer training III" and "defensive upgrade IV", I'm incredibly strong, even at this high level of difficulty, and the final battle does not present any trouble whatsoever)
