Challenge #68: Rule 24(b)

[The BlackVision]

Challenge #68: Rule 24(b)

Author: Blackvision
Development: Liort

Story:

Jan-Piet hummed to himself as he hauled on the rope, causing the Monolith to topple sideways - at a reasonably controlled rate - into the awaiting raft designed for it. Whistling a Sailor's song, he proceeded to tie it into place firmly and was about to cast-off to return to The Albatross triumphant when he heard a sound coming closer and closer.

'Thup-thup-thup-Thup-THUP-THUP-THUP!' Startled, he looked up as he was hit by a blast of air as something came over the cliff above which the Monolith had been perched on.

Jan-Piet stumbled backwards, caught off-guard, and then hastened to secure the raft as the currents of air caused the previously placid water to become choppy, sending the craft rocking. As he finished, he heard a sound behind him and turned to see ropes securely looping over the marvel he'd just freed from the island.

'Oy! What're you doing?! That's mine!' He called out, shaking his fist up at the airship above him as the stone rose out of reach and rushing to grasp the ropes that were threatening to haul away his prize

Over the edge of the railing up above, Jan-Piet spotted Rivaleux's famous form appear. He tossed his fair in the breeze and waved cheerily. 'Excellent work, Jan-Piet: We'll make an excellent Renowned Explorer of you yet! I'm afraid I promised this to the Reichsgräfin of Germany during last month though. Don't worry, I'll make sure we mention how you assisted me with the piece to Pinkerton - (Though of course, he doesn't need to know that it wasn't Cassandra that worked out the inscription or Tommy that worked out how to get it down without damaging it or Amir that scared off the locals - after all, I've got to be fair to everyone involved.)'

'This is the fifth time this year! Pinkerton will hear of this!' shouted Jan-Piet as the Frenchman's airship rose with the prize securely roped in.

'Now, now!' called Rivaleux, 'You should know about Rule 24(b) by now!' Over the side of the airship flew a book that landed firmly in Jan-Piet's face, cutting off his shouts of fury and wild tugging at the Monolith.

By the time the belligerent sailor had recovered - and stopped cursing and shaking his fist at the retreating airship - long enough to even look at the book, his prize was long gone. Glaring at the Renowned Explorers' rulebook, he looked at the page it had fallen open on, eyes virtually burning a hole through it in his rage over his stolen prize.Rule 24(b) - Renowned Explorers must assist one another when encountering one another in the world - whatever the cost. It is always more important that a treasured relic is brought back safely for the world to examine than for one person's petty grievances against their fellows to get in the way of progress!

Jan-Piet snarled and hurled the book out into the sunny ocean nearby, gripping his oar firmly and beginning to row back to the Albatross. Next time, HE would be the one using Rule 24(b) to get a good haul!

Rules:

• Use Jan-Piet as your captain.
  
• Track down other Renowned Explorers and take advantage of Rule 24(b) - Visit Mali, Egypt, Transylvania and finally, Shangri-La (preferably taking advantage of any Renowned Explorers encountered).
  
• You must play on Adventure mode.

Scoring:

• BRONZE: 2500 (1MP*)
  
• SILVER: 5000 (2MP*)
  
• GOLD: 8500 (3MP*)
  
• PLATINUM: 12000 (3MP+**)

* Number of medal points awarded when playing on Classic Difficulty. Easy and Normal give less, according to these rules.
Gold and Platinum medals may only be achieved without losing, though Silver and Bronze are still possible to get with just the Record sheet for that trip (though you must still fulfil all the prequisits for the challenge).
** The platinum medal is extraordinary and can only be achieved on Classic or Impossible difficulty without losing. It doesn't increase Medal Points further than a Gold medal, but we will track how many you have.

How to participate

You can participate with a highscore, a story or both.

The Chairman's Suggestions

(The challenge organisers may be experimenting with a set of recommendations to assist newer explorers at times)
Each week, Pinkerton has some advice for Explorers relating to the challenge - if you want, this advice can offer several good approaches or strategies to approach the challenge with - but they are not the only way to succeed or any given challenge - it is worth trying other approaches too, or using these as a basic idea to build from.
(click here)

Highscores

Play the game according to the challenge rules and in Adventure mode.
Post in this topic a screenshot of your Win Screen*, right after the ceremony or your Leaderboard record.* Also include a text version of your score with the submission to allow for error checking.
Submit by 12:00 noon CET, (26/04/17) (Or 04/26/17 for those using MM/DD/YY)
(click here for your local time equivalent [www.timebie.com])
NOTE: Only one score will be accepted - only one submission for each player please. If you wish to enter a new score, please edit your initial entry and make it clear which score you are submitting, and add the word "EditGreenlight" to the entry so we can see immediately when the result needs updating.
*If you forget to screenshot the Win screen, you can also enter with a screenshot of your Leaderboards: Go to Main Menu > Leaderboards > Local > click the entry that matches your submission game > screenshot those details.

Game Version

416+ or 433+

If currently playing in a beta version (433+), you are strictly under condition of the contract you have signed to be a part of it. Take extreme care not to use any features that may make you liable; or else turn off the beta content before playing a Challenge. Even indicators of such content being used in that submission will be liable for immediate removal of the image from the forum.

This is as much for your own safety to avoid potential breaking of contract as to keep the challenges on a level-playing field.

(Those with download limits, be warned that turning off Beta content may increase your data usage, especially if repeatedly turning on/off)

Story ideas:

How will Jan-Piet extract his vengeance? Who else may he encounter whom he can use Rule 24(b) to increase his loot from? Might he risk an encounter with someone he probably shouldn't? And is anyone else fed up with Rule 24(b) too? Will Chairman Pinkerton ever relinquish the rule, or does he have good reasons for it existing?

For the previous challenge - Challenge #67: Gifts For The Tsar - click here

[The BlackVision]

Here's the week's challenge. I'm also going to post a new trial mechanic for the Challenges which the designers are experimenting with: Pinkerton's Advice. That's available here! and will include several suggested methods to achieve higher scores on this particular challenge. Heavy heavy spoiler alert! If you want to remain in the dark about certain game aspects, treasures, locations, etc, read with caution.

I've spoilered out all the text under each heading so that you can choose how much detail you're happy to see if you wish to.

[The BlackVision]

Bring back Welsh Dragon!

[Reiga]

Originally posted by The BlackVision:

Bring back Welsh Dragon!

Manuel or riot.

[Welsh Dragon]

Originally posted by Liort:

Originally posted by The BlackVision:

Bring back Welsh Dragon!

Manuel or riot.

Bring back Hojo!

All the Best,

Welsh Dragon.

[azuarc]

No Highlands for McRae? Why Transylvania?

[abombzy]

8273 grumble grumble

/me goes back for Gold

[The BlackVision]

Originally posted by azuarc:

No Highlands for McRae? Why Transylvania?

Cause Mcrae isn't an International Renowned Explorer, he's a local, while Cassandra in Egypt is 100% worth using Rule 24(b) on.

Transylvania was chosen because you can encounter other RE:IS explorers there, even if it turns out they don't have Treasure.

[The BlackVision]

Originally posted by azuarc:

6038. This game was determined to ruin me. First Egypt cost me 2 renown in Red Hill and 2 at the Mummy general, then Transylvania surrounded me with nothing but 2's on the map and I couldn't afford to buy supplies, so I did virtually NOTHING. (I also failed to convince Baba Yaga's hut to sit down.) Then my resolve situation forced me to skip every wheel in Shangri-la, and still barely survived.

Not having any kind of consistent game plan didn't really help.

*post and link removed by Blackvision*

I know it may not technically violate the beta agreement, but we can't really use the beta game for the weekly challenges, even so - it's too easy to let something slip that shouldn't be. Even implication of alternative options for the beta, and even though yours doesn't reveal information about it in the link, allowing it would make it too easy for others to post details without meaning to. Feel free to friend me if you want to discuss it in detail.

Please note addition to the rules that wasn't previouly posted:

Game Version

416 or later. Beta game versions not accepted to avoid potential to leak information unwittingly as well as ensure a level playing field in the challenges.

If currently playing in a beta version, you will probably want to change profile before altering your beta settings - and if you have a limited net usage, I'd recommend against switching back and forth too much as the game downloads data each time.

[azuarc]

Fair enough.

[azuarc]

Originally posted by The BlackVision:

Originally posted by azuarc:

No Highlands for McRae? Why Transylvania?

Cause Mcrae isn't an International Renowned Explorer, he's a local, while Cassandra in Egypt is 100% worth using Rule 24(b) on.

Then why is he on the renown list at #6 (until you push him down to #7)?

[The BlackVision]

Because the list is technically, just 'Other Explorers' - Mcrae openly says in his encounter that he's a Scottish Explorer and implies that he doesn't know about the Renowned Explorer's International Society because he reckons a 75/25% split is fair, given that you're 'all international and all' if beaten Deviously.

[BlackFire]

There's a disturbing lack of posted scores. Also a tinge of apocalypse in the air.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=910186616
10021
So, I went with a joke team (quite literally) and decided to focus on gold. Somewhere in the middle of Transylvania it mysteriously switched to status, then back to gold in Shangri. Mali was below average. Egypt - acceptable (Miss C was quite fine with letting me have the mask).

Overall, the run was fine. Could probably be better if I got sneaky doctor's story card earlier than Shangri. And if I got Yellowbeard for his 6 levels of rogue.

[Methellus]

Try as he might, Jan-Piet failed to obtain the 'assistance' of his fellow RE:IS explorers through the use of Rule 24(b). Other than taking sweet vengeance upon Rivaleux, obviously.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=910260800

11780

Yeah, so this one fell short painfully close of Platinum. It really makes you aware of those 'minor' failed Adventure Wheels that you would normally shrug off (failed multiple >75% rolls in Shangri-la that 'only' gave some tokens). Still, it's not like I played flawlessly, so I can't blame the RNG. Better luck play next time I suppose.

Originally posted by BlackFire:

There's a disturbing lack of posted scores. Also a tinge of apocalypse in the air.

I felt last week's challenge also had less participants than the weeks before that. Is there some sort of holiday going on or something? Or are there a lot of people on the Beta branch that don't want to bother switching back to 'Gold'?

[The BlackVision]

Well, personnally, I'm dedicating time and research to other games RE:IS by getting the Beta as tested and perfected as much as I can force provoke assist the devs prior to release, hence the reduced activity on my part. *cracks whips at Monks* ;)

The beta nunbers have also gone up, which may be reducing some activity here as more people get the chance to test and try it out.

Also a lot of holidays are typically a bit quieter for the regulars, I find, even if there's also more new players joining with sales/time to try new games, etc.

[panman.c]

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=910466163

10524! Personal best score ^__^