- You might want to mouse-over the statuses/buffs at the bottom of the combat-window. There's a pretty powerful "Cool"-bonus for fighting at low desires, which is blocked from being frustrated. That's where the difficulty-spike comes from, since you go from a heightened accuracy/evasion/critical evasion to a lowered one.
- Most petting attacks are blocked by clothing, and I'm not quite sure how evading them works. Pleasure-gain is reduced by endurance and petting-resistance stats. A lot of things increase endurace, and a lot of petting lowers resistances. You also gain Sadism which increases pleasure from attacking.
- Riots... I would actually want to know as well. Riots are randomized, and there are multiple ways in the late-game to slow down riots or stop them completely. Getting all the reducing upgrades just reduces the chances, it doesn't prevent them completely. I have had weeks of game-time without any riots, with the right build.
- I still think what you're having problems with are the Problem-edicts. They're in right-side of the "level"-edicts, with the most notable stat-upgrade being giving the Thugs +50% stamina and 30% strength, which reduces damage taken. The solutions reduce these buffs, or give you more income.
- As a general observation, getting a "pure" run in this game, when it comes out, is going to involve some level of trying to clear the way to the ending quickly, with less fighting and less money.
