Damning evidence of what?

[WoundedRonin]

Just tried the latest build. Before I had been playing a much earlier build. In the old build you could bribe away investigations.

In this one I was surprised because the inspector got "damning evidence". Only trouble was, I hadn't done anything culty yet! No members in the secret society, no rituals done, no nothing.

I was kind of like, "Damning evidence of what? Visiting a bookstore and owning a creepy painting?"

So I got frustrated and decided my guy would just work for Glover and Glover.

[Amestria_Amestria]

For an investigator to show up you have to have Mystique, Notoriety, or a human corpse.
Evidence in turn is produced from Mystique, Notoriety, or human corpses. So, the inspector found evidence of whatever you did that produced Mystique and/or Notoriety.

[Wildmagister]

Originally posted by Amestria_Amestria:

For an investigator to show up you have to have Mystique, Notoriety, or a human corpse.
Evidence in turn is produced from Mystique, Notoriety, or human corpses. So, the inspector found evidence of whatever you did that produced Mystique and/or Notoriety.

To add to the detail, it produces Tentative Evidence the first time it happens. Tentative Evidence becomes Damning Evidence when an investigator combines the TE with another Mystique, Notoriety or corpse card (it might also take a prisoner card, but I haven't tested that). The next time the Investigator works, the Damning Evidence alone is enough to start a trial, where you'll need to sacrifice a follower of some sort (preferably a minion) or you'll lose the game.

Glover and Glover is the best way to make money safely, anyway. Painting is so unreliable and generates Mystique when you manage to sell it, which gets you into trouble. I hope to see a few more job options in the future, if possible.

[SirusTheMadDJ]

Originally posted by WoundedRonin:

I was kind of like, "Damning evidence of what? Visiting a bookstore and owning a creepy painting?"

Remember, it's not the police. Think of the Suppression Bureau like a Inquisition, condemning people even for the suggestion that they might be "heretical". Think the painting action mentions that you're taking what you've seen in your dreams as the inspiration for the pieces, so it's pretty much a red flag to a bull.

I think there are going to be more jobs in the later builds, but for now G&G or the Physician's card are the safer options.

Of course, taking comissions also nets you cash if you have the relevent lore cards too. Try using your Passion or Reason cards on the Explore tile to find someone who'll pick your brain about these matters.

[Percussigant]

Originally posted by Wildmagister:

it might also take a prisoner card, but I haven't tested that

I have, and it doesn't. Prisoners are locked away safely, and while their disappearance (understandably) does create Notoriety, once they're in your unholy clutches, they will not cause you any more trouble, unless they are turned into Corpses, for obvious reasons.

A good thing to know is that you can hold a Notoriety/Mystique/Corpse card as if you were dragging & dropping it somewhere for the duration (30s) of an investigation. The investigation magnet will not pull it in and will not turn it into evidence, but this is only useful if you have only one card of those types. There are only so many of your tracks you can cover.

Later on, once you've founded a cult, there are several possible countermeasures to escape the gaze of the Bureau :

-Followers that are affiliated with the principle of the Heart can make Notoriety/Mystique disappear, preventing hunters from creating or consolidating Evidence in the first place. Failure will not destroy the Notoriety/Mystique, but there is no risk of you losing your follower;

-Moth followers can destroy Tentative Evidence (but not Damning Evidence), resetting the hunter's progress. You might lose your follower;

-Edge followers can murder or capture the hunter (but a new one will always appear if you have Notoriety/Mystique/Corpse(s) when the Season of Suspicions comes); the Evidence will not be affected and the new investigator on your case will pick up where his predecessor left off. You might lose your follower ;

-If the hunter does bring you to court, you can always sacrifice a follower as scapegoat rather than lose the game. All Evidence will be consumed and you will be able to continue with a clean slate, but this will not prevent future interest from the authorities and it is a rather costly option : consider using a Pawn (upgraded Hanger-on) for this.

All actions carried out by followers have a higher chance of success the higher you have raised them in your cult's hierarchy.

Hope that helped, and that I haven't spoiled anything for anyone. The game can be quirky and a bit counterintuitive at first, and I think a few tips can go a long way in not discouraging players who discover the strange (and sometimes punishing) mechanics.

[WoundedRonin]

Thanks all for responses. It was counter intuitive to me that mystique or notoriety by itself would be considered evidence considering you can get it just from talking to someone. I agree that it's very helpful to have a few tips on how the game mechanics work.

[Pharaun]

@Zigrantz Is there any way to dispose a corpse without creating Notoriety, especially early in the game?

[Aquillion]

Originally posted by Zirgantz:

-Moth followers can destroy Tentative Evidence (but not Damning Evidence), resetting the hunter's progress. You might lose your follower;

Moth followers can destroy damning evidence; or, at least, I was able to do so using a summon. It's possible that mere mortals don't have enough Moth. You're better off using summons for that anyway, since they're more expendable.

Glover and Glover is the best way to make money safely, anyway. Painting is so unreliable and generates Mystique when you manage to sell it, which gets you into trouble. I hope to see a few more job options in the future, if possible.

Mystique alone will (usually) not actually produce evidence. The description says there's a slim chance of an Investigator manufacturing evidence even without Notoriety, but I have never seen it happen.

Painting produces much more money than working for Glover and Glover once you've upgraded your imagination far enough and assuming you use Mystique or Notoriety for all the inputs (which increases payoff.) Just be sure that you can dispose of any evidence and you're fine. More importantly, Painting constantly produces Glimmer, which is vital for some research projects later on. Additionally, while you're painting something, the timer on the subject won't go down (just like when using anything), which can be very valuable for preserving moods and other influences until you're ready to use them.

[Herb]

Originally posted by Aquillion:

(...) More importantly, Painting constantly produces Glimmer, which is vital for some research projects later on. Additionally, while you're painting something, the timer on the subject won't go down (just like when using anything), (...)

Unless the subject is Restlessness, which still gets consumed. I guess that's because even as an Inspiration it is still treated the same as when you would add it to Yearning when using only Passion instead of a Painting Skill to paint.