So far I've been playing for over 40 hrs. and have not finished the game a single time. I'm currently on day 40 and am having difficulties with enemies on the 2nd level. I tried going for a hand to hand, but that seems even more difficult than using a weapon.
I can certainly share some of my experiences. I doubt anything I did was optimal, but it did get me through, as a virgin no less so hey, it works well enough.
My very first attempt ended on level 2, in the room right after the slimes. I've accumulated too many passives, and my daily income was 500 at best, so buying edicts to power through was out of a question. However, I've earned a whole bunch of titles, and I've memorized some stuff like what type of enemies I'm likely to encounter in some of the rooms, which allowed me to play a little smarter. And whaddya know, the very next run was also my first game clear.
Are the side jobs required to keep things in check? No, not at all. I only did like 4 rounds in the bar and honestly, in the end, I would've been better off not building it at all. Base income is crap, and since I was trying to keep Karryn pure I couldn't earn too many tips, and the corruption increase also made me pay more to the nerds, so yeah, that was a poor investment. I think you can make the bar work, since increasing reputation for finishing your shifts does make the income a bit better, but I don't know if it's worth the time spent, especially if you're playing it safe. It probably takes too long to be actually worth it on a pure run, where speed is essential.
I didn't repair the reception at all (I think there's a title allowing you to earn some money from it, but I don't have it yet, and the baseline job doesn't seem very worthwhile), didn't do the toilet side job (obviously), BUT I did end up playing the stripper mini game about 12 times, mostly for the money because I've fucked up my income with bad decisions.
It does, if I'm not mistaken, prevent the floor 3 from rioting after you dance, and it's the least dangerous job; the passives you get from it aren't crippling, and I was earning about 400-500, which was more than my daily income, plus having charm was surprisingly useful in some of the later fights, so I actually quite liked this side job.
Hand to hand seems like it could be very strong, but looks like you really need the titles to make it good. I bet that there's more than the 2 I've gotten so far, and yet my unarmed combat is already boosted by like 20%, from the get-go, for free. I'll definitely give it a try soon, seems like an interesting choice.
I didn't get to tier 3 edicts on my run, far too expensive. Hell, the only tier 2's I was able to buy were defensive stance, willpower energy regain, smash, skewer, cleave, and AGI training, everything else was stuck on 1.
I don't think you can invest too much into training without the research edicts on floor 2 (which I've unlocked too late to make any difference in my run, in fact I think I've made things even more difficult for myself by reducing subsidies even more), which make training a lot cheaper.
You definitely need to pay a lot of attention to income and expense saving edicts. There's only a few you can take without making the game harder later on by causing riots or boosting guard aggression (which is a suicidal strategy).
This post is already getting ridiculously long, so I'll try to sum up my observations:
- AGIlity is great. Being able to go first (or twice in a row in some cases) is a colossal advantage in combat.
- Do not neglect income. You're very limited in what you can safely do in a pure run, so every little bit helps. I know risking low Order is a popular strategy, but that's exactly why I didn't do it - it's risky. I've tried to keep my Order at about 60-70 at all time, which decreased my income but definitely made a lot of battles significantly easier, which is important because one loss can lead to a fail spiral. I was stuck on low income the entire time, but looking back - it wasn't high Order which made it as bad as it was - poor edict choices were definitely the thing that messed me up. I've managed to avoid some of the bad choices I've made on my first run, but since this was also the first time I've gained access to floor 2 and 3 edicts, I've just made different mistakes instead, lol.
- Be very mindful of your fatigue and pleasure. I was able to avoid having Karryn masturbate the first few times my pleasure got too high, by just accepting that I'm going to start the day with 4-5% fatigue, but eventually the malus becomes too punishing to ignore. As long as you only masturbate in the office, it's okay. Fatigue will wreck your combat capabilities, but keeping your Order relatively high also makes fights easier, to a point where I was often able to fight one additional battle per day instead of being forced to rest. The highlight of this would be what I've experienced on floor 2, where I could only clear 1 room per day on lower Order, but with 70 I was able to clear the room right before the boss (which had a LOT of enemies) and clear the boss very easily, despite having 26% fatigue.
- Do make use of accessories, because even cheap, low tier ones offer a nice and useful boost. +10 attributes are very noticeable super early in the game. If you're maxing out STRength, getting the bonus accuracy seems like a must. I've missed a lot of attacks on later floors, and that's with having a lot more DEXterity than I initially wanted.
- Titles are extremely impactful, which is why as long as you've unlocked something - even a lost run isn't a waste of time. As my example - playing a dodge build, suddenly being able to reduce dodge stamina cost by 30% was a game changer. Considering that I've finished some fights with like 100 or less stamina, getting hit just one more time or being unable to dodge would've ended my run right there and then.
- Try to save some of the Order boosting edicts for emergencies (particularly the ones that offer 10-20 boost). They might be tempting to buy when you can spare some cash for them, especially since they often improve your Control as well, but being able to suddenly raise your Order by 20 when 2 or 3 of your floors suddenly riot can make all the difference.
- Also, Control. Fatigue cripples your combat abilities, fighting increases fatigue very quickly, and you also don't gain too much Order from fighting - that's a fairly bad mix, so Control will help you avoid having to take risky battles by allowing you to fight less - you don't want to suddenly build up 100 passives and lose a pure run to unlucky RNG. That being said - refrain from buying those edicts for as long as you can, since they generally tank your income.
- Also, really try to avoid unnecessary fights. As an example - after you clear the first slime room once (to remove the blocker), you can avoid having to ever fight here again if you're just quick enough with your movement. This will allow you to progress a lot more quickly and easily. You might still need to take some additional fights to improve your stats or increase Order, but it's still a useful tool to have just in case. Fight on your own terms.
I'm sure I've forgotten something, but hopefully it'll at least give you an idea on how to approach your playthrough, particularly by avoiding the worst of my own mistakes.
