Optimization Tactics

[Sciurrus]

Some other optimization hints, Study at the Venalicium until you can tidy Longshade then switch to judge instructors tastes (It will take some work to get character study high enough to successfully use it) Use Longshade (or if you took Negation as a class you can use its adventure to unlock teach barnyard animals to dance.) to unlock the rest of the libraries and max out cryptology. Doing this will also let you use selective focus on decipher handwriting, and efficiently use The Ministry of Substitution and Transposition. Judge Instructors Tastes will also probably max out you Wit, setting you up to switch over to the sphinx.

[Metis]

Not a bad idea, Judge the Instructor's Taste (Ability) isn't a bad ability at all upon closer inspection, although how are you going to unlock Character Study? It's not one of the skills revealed by School Survival, and the only background option that reveals it is Grifter (unless I missed something).

[Schwarzbart]

Yes without Grifter its a bit of luck game how early you get Character Study that's why I had to struggle a bit in my last 2 games to get all Study done before mid therm

[Sciurrus]

Hmm. If I hadn't gotten it through randoms by the time I needed it I've always used Worldliness 4 to unlock it but looking through I'm not sure what background has been giving me access to Worldliness in the first place.

[Metis]

Worldliness is a Heraldry skill, so probably something nobility related.

[Sciurrus]

Figured it out. I Usually play Aranaz so my first day of class unlocks the full Heraldry set.

[Metis]

Are you sure it unlocks the full set? It should only reveal Honor of Mallen Field.

[Sciurrus]

Ran a few tests. Apparently everyone regardless of college gets worldliness unlocked after the first day of class.

[Metis]

Well huh. What backgrounds did you choose for those tests?

[Sciurrus]

I left all 10 background points unused and tested with aranaz, vernin, and morvidus same result all three times.

[Metis]

Just tested it myself with Godina and while I only got Worldliness revealed, I still got the skill revealed for no clear reason. I'm...not sure if that's a bug or not.

[Legate of Mineta]

Sciurrus and Metis;

 

Hmmm- thanks! I'll pass this along. That doesn't sound correct.

[freespace2dotcom]

Speaking of Mallen Field, Is that really unlocked during the first day as Aranaz? Because in my last playthrough, I didn't get it unlocked until Kaliri through Longshade. (and that was mostly luck)

[Metis]

It should be, as part of being a member of Aranaz College. Who, by the way, get a crazy lion's share of goodies at the start so that might have changed at some point? I'm not sure.

[Schwarzbart]

I personal suspect Wordiness is informed for free at the start as you go to a college with people coming from different countries and the nearby city it self is a melting pot of cultures.

[Metis]

Makes sense, though I can't find any mention of it doing so.

[drake_azathoth]

Figured I'd bring it up here since it's the most appropriate thread.

 

There are two major 'optimization tactics' I've discovered that seem to save a bit of time. I'd be curious as to whether or not people with more experience use them, and if they don't why those tactics might be less popular. Fair warning, some save/reload would be necessary to make use of both, so perhaps that's an issue.

 

The first thing I do is always unlock the 'Drop in on the Professor's Lounge' ability you can pick up by getting 6 favor with Violante de Canapiedra. If I take the page apprentice background, which is a favorite, I can usually do that by the beginning of the second week. It's more random than Grind but I can spam it more easily and it doesn't require as much time investment as chasing up Test-taking skill. I do usually drop a point in for 'Judge the Instructor's Taste' to finish up my studies, it's slower than 'Drop In' but offers some decent skill rewards and by the time I've reached a point of frustration with the random nature of 'Drop In' I usually have enough Character Study to do Judge consistently.

 

I rather think 'Drop In' is still worth considering even if you're going to need to get Violante's approval using the 'Weasel Words' spell from Infiltration, since methods other than 'Drop In' or 'Grind' take twice as long, and having a method of winning professor favor efficiently is a major advantage any way you look at it, and points put in Test-taking are almost wasted once you've maxed study levels.

 

Also- rather than use the Venacilium Library to get enough Filing and Library Knowledge to unlock Longshade, I usually unlock the Imperial Palace Grand Library instead via Explore, which offers a skill step in Library Knowledge, Filing, and a random skill as opposed to the study level plus random research skill step. It's just less frustrating for me as I know I'm going to be getting closer to Longhshade every action and get it quicker.

 

I've noticed Emotions can be very powerful if you keep your stress down but the best stuff requires keeping your stress at near rock-bottom which can be a pain. I've yet to find a really efficient and useful way to shed stress- Caladfon's Balancing of the Humors seems best simply because you can add phemes to it when casting the spell, but it's still an almost-wasted action.

[Metis]

Interesting finds on both counts, though I personally will still stick with the Venalicium as Research is slated to be an important skill in the coming years. Mind you, for my Hedi kid that Imperial grand library is something I'll have to look into as an alternative to the Libraries background, which I planned to get since getting to the Mantle of Stars through Zoe would have taken an eternity and a half and I'd be stuck with Train otherwise. That Grand library is only ED 1 and CoD 4, so that's entirely possible even for a fresh character...