Recruiting Cultists *Permanently Consuming* Mainstats - more clear indicators?

[Keldi]

I just now found out converting cultists to believers permanently consumes your mainstats if you use them in the process, rather than exhausting them. I'm on my 5th game, and this was *really* not clear, and behaves very differently than other activities. (Virtually nothing else consumes mainstats, it seems.)

I kind of get it thematically, but wow, that's a big newbie trap. I can't think of much else in the game which can permanently (and silently) cripple you by mistake.

My main concern is that there's very little tangible feedback showing that you're paying such a huge price. If you screw up with Hunger or Affliction, you get Decrepitude, which is a clear indicator you've permanently lost a stat. But with recruitment, you get no feedback - it just disappears when your follower comes out, and is easily lost in the swarm of cards.

If it turned them into Decrepitude/etc, at least then a new player could say "oh, initiating a dude using my Reason turns it into Forgetfulness (or something), I should start using influences instead". It'd also provide a possible way out of the mistake later in the game via ritual sacrifice/etc.

Or maybe when socketing non-influence things that will be destroyed, play that "card is shattering" animation/sound from the Dream Ways prior to confirmation?

Just to be clear - I don't have a problem with the mechanic itself; I just think it could use some additional clarity/feedback.

[Tower]

I honestly think that must be a bug....Almost nothing deletes mainstats. And the game would warn you if it did something that dire. I don't think it's an intentional design choice.

[InstableMonster]

Yeah boxes that consume normally have a match under them to warn you, either it is missing or it is a bug

[BurningHeron]

I certainly hope this is a bug, and if not, it needs some bracketed text to explain that. I have no Reason cards left because of this.

[Ouroboros]

It's not a bug; stats count as ingredients, and the 'trappings' slot says it consumes ingredients if you click on it. If you put a stat in a slot that calls for an ingredient to be sacrificed in a ritual, it will also be consumed. I do agree there should be more feedback though.

[InstableMonster]

Originally posted by Ouroboros:

It's not a bug; stats count as ingredients, and the 'trappings' slot says it consumes ingredients if you click on it. If you put a stat in a slot that calls for an ingredient to be sacrificed in a ritual, it will also be consumed. I do agree there should be more feedback though.

Yeah it needs the match icon that other boxes have when they consume something

[Ouroboros]

It doesn't actually consume everything you put in it. If you give it an ingredient or influence, it'll consume it, but if you give it a summon or implement, you get to keep it. It should definitely have some kind of icon though.

[Ryusui]

I also can't figure out what the difference is between sacrificing a trapping and not. Both seem to result in the same thing?

[Ouroboros]

Using a trapping isn't that useful for the initial recruitment, but it can make it easier to promote your cultists to higher ranks.

[InstableMonster]

Originally posted by Ouroboros:

It doesn't actually consume everything you put in it. If you give it an ingredient or influence, it'll consume it, but if you give it a summon or implement, you get to keep it. It should definitely have some kind of icon though.

Maybe make it appear if it is an item that will be consumed, I'm guessing putting 2 boxes would make it too easy to upgrade cultist, unless you can only put stuff in one of them but then that would be confusing in itself

[Ouroboros]

Yeah, that'd be helpful. It could possibly be an intentional trap though; after all, cultists who perform cultish rituals without fully reading the lore do tend to go insane. ...even if it is intentional though, there should be some indication that it's happening, even if only after the fact. It's too easy to ignore right now.

[Faey]

Honestly, until the official release and people started mentioning this in the Discussion, I didn't even realize you could use main stats for recruiting/promotion.

[Xenu's Paradox]

Originally posted by Ouroboros:

It doesn't actually consume everything you put in it. If you give it an ingredient or influence, it'll consume it, but if you give it a summon or implement, you get to keep it. It should definitely have some kind of icon though.

They simply need to have two boxes, one with the candle icon and one without, and have it only use one or the other. Much like dreaming on an affliction.

[Ziel]

Originally posted by Xenu's Paradox:

Originally posted by Ouroboros:

It doesn't actually consume everything you put in it. If you give it an ingredient or influence, it'll consume it, but if you give it a summon or implement, you get to keep it. It should definitely have some kind of icon though.

They simply need to have two boxes, one with the candle icon and one without, and have it only use one or the other. Much like dreaming on an affliction.

This. Would solve this issue easily.