what's the best way to get contentment?

[Pirate Santa]

I had thought contentment came from early sleep (health - dreams) with a low risk of nightmares, but at one point while waiting for other things to grind down and I had no pressing risks I decided to try to generate a contentment just in case cause sometimes things just go wrong... but I generated a despair, then another, then another, and soon I had died of going to bed early.

What's the best way to generate contentment when you need it? (also the despair seems to gather dread before contentment. Or is there no patern to what they grab?)

[vindicar]

If you need Contenment immediately, Dream with Funds. Takes 30 seconds, but a bit risky - rumour says it can generate sickness or despair. I has to mention I didn't have it happen to me in several playthroughs, but I never abused this mechanic.

If you don't start a romance, you will be getting free Contentment every now and then.
Otherwise, painting (work with Imagination or Passion) can sometimes provide it... but not always. Imagination also gives you Funds and Reputation, though - so it might be worth doing anyway.

Despair and Visions alternate between cycles - first it seeks "Shadows" (Dread/Fascination), then "Thoughts" (Contentment/Fleeting Memory).

Also, there are other ways to get rid of Dread. First, if you get Fascination, you can Dream on it with Dread to get rid of both. Next, Dread is an influence with Edge aspect - you can use it in a Rite. For example, if you have sufficent resource, you can summon Hinter, Percussigant or Maid-in-Mirror - this will consume influence regardsless of the outcome. Though Maid is not the best choice here - not only it requires higher level of Lore, it will also decay into Winter influence, which will decay back into Dread.

If you have founded Church of the Bright Edge, you can even use Dread to recruit/promote followers, but that's a rare case.

[Maina]

A Tincture of Opium (Dream with Funds) is the most reliable way. It doesn't generate Dread, but it does have a 10% chance of summoning the Season of Despair if it isn't already present. Not really a big deal, since you'll already be generating Contentment to deal with it. It also has a 10% chance of summoning the Season of Sickness to turn a Health into Illness. Also not a big deal, since it only takes one Funds or Vitality to fix that. Finally, it has a 30% chance of generating Glimmering. No matter what, though, it always has a 100% chance of giving you the Contentment you need. All the other things are just potential additional effects.

[Brassqund]

Work passion (not sure but no risk)
Travel club (not sure but fast)

[Pirate Santa]

Originally posted by vindicar:

If you need Contenment immediately, Dream with Funds. Takes 30 seconds, but a bit risky - rumour says it can generate sickness or despair. I has to mention I didn't have it happen to me in several playthroughs, but I never abused this mechanic.

If you don't start a romance, you will be getting free Contentment every now and then.
Otherwise, painting (work with Imagination or Passion) can sometimes provide it... but not always. Imagination also gives you Funds and Reputation, though - so it might be worth doing anyway.

Despair and Visions alternate between cycles - first it seeks "Shadows" (Dread/Fascination), then "Thoughts" (Contentment/Fleeting Memory).

Also, there are other ways to get rid of Dread. First, if you get Fascination, you can Dream on it with Dread to get rid of both. Next, Dread is an influence with Edge aspect - you can use it in a Rite. For example, if you have sufficent resource, you can summon Hinter, Percussigant or Maid-in-Mirror - this will consume influence regardsless of the outcome. Though Maid is not the best choice here - not only it requires higher level of Lore, it will also decay into Winter influence, which will decay back into Dread.

If you have founded Church of the Bright Edge, you can even use Dread to recruit/promote followers, but that's a rare case.

I was aware of the tincture of opium, but I was so low on funds at the time that all it did was slow down my inevitable death. (I was getting 2 funds every 90 seconds from the glover and glover job)

I've got a much better handle on it my second time. (though I still haven't encountered any summons, got a handle on how influence works yet, or even done any rites, unless dreaming with lore counts as a rite.)

[Pirate Santa]

Originally posted by Maina:

A Tincture of Opium (Dream with Funds) is the most reliable way. It doesn't generate Dread, but it does have a 10% chance of summoning the Season of Despair if it isn't already present. Not really a big deal, since you'll already be generating Contentment to deal with it. It also has a 10% chance of summoning the Season of Sickness to turn a Health into Illness. Also not a big deal, since it only takes one Funds or Vitality to fix that. Finally, it has a 30% chance of generating Glimmering. No matter what, though, it always has a 100% chance of giving you the Contentment you need. All the other things are just potential additional effects.

That's very in depth. I would have used the the opium more but Desmond was pretty poor the whole time.

I've got a good feeling about this time, I've got a good paying doctor's job and I'm not attracting suspicion and dread on the regular... Though I did get a weary detective to come snoop around because he saw one of my paintings, but I HAD to paint the painting, you see my patient Desmond went MAD and I just had to try living life in his shoes for a bit to understand why. So I had to work at glover and glover for a bit and paint city life. It's all part of understanding and caring for the insane, the detective though... the detective... I'll have to do something about that. He wouldn't understand.

How would you suggest dealing with a pesky detective?

[Maina]

My preferred way to deal with a pesky detective is to let them do their job. I just make sure any evidence they find mysteriously disappears, so it never reaches the courts. You'll probably be able to find some individuals to hire or recruit who could help you with that. Those who resonate with the Moth are particularly good at that sort of hoodwinking.

[JungleJollies[]]

Originally posted by Maina:

My preferred way to deal with a pesky detective is to let them do their job...

My sentiments exactly. A weary detective is your best friend: he is mediocre at his job and he keeps more competent agents at bay. With that said, I've recently found myself preferring heart over moth. Granted they're useless when you're painting, but otherwise, I find it fairly easy to time my cards (often keeping one in hand) so that they eat my noteriety before anything can come of it -- never any risk, beyond delay. But again, this trick doesn't work when the board is flooded with mystique -- so even commissions and recruitment can stifle it a bit.

If it comes to evidence, of course I fall back on moth... but I think the utility of heart is often overlooked in favor of its more daring counterpart.

[Maina]

Originally posted by JungleJollies:

I think the utility of heart is often overlooked in favor of its more daring counterpart.

To be honest, I prefer to have every possible solution to every possible problem on the board whenever possible. So I often have a Heart follower working, too. The problem is that Notoriety can come faster than they work (they work so very, very slowly), and the failure rate is pretty high unless you are a Heart cult. Heart is a good supplement, but I find Moth to be the most reliable. I also try to have a murder available in case of emergencies, but I've found talking to them right before their shift starts to distract them is another good last-ditch option.

[JungleJollies[]]

Originally posted by Maina:

...the failure rate is pretty high unless you are a Heart cult. Heart is a good supplement, but I find Moth to be the most reliable.

We're mostly on the same page, but let me share some numbers with you.

The success rates are effectively skill agnostic, meaning:
low skill = 30%, mid skill = 70%, high skill = 90% -- with regards to success rates.
Interestingly, the destroy evidence action that moth followers can take is capped differently:
none = 10%, low = 30%, mid = 70%, and no high bonus with regards to success rates.
Edge kill rates are a little different, capping at 100% (though offset by tenacious/mystic).

This is to say, assuming any non-heart cult, the success rates for heart/moth actions are identical, and in a heart-cult, the success rates are capped at 90%, beating out moth by 20%.

I ended up digging deep into the frangiclave for that guide I was writing.

That said, fully agreed that if the hunter has damning evidence, or potentially tentitive evidence with too much noteriety on the table... then it's time to commit to art for a while or send a murderer.

[Maina]

Yes, the success rates are different. But so are the amount of cards you're dealing with.

70% success rate when you have exactly one card to deal with (such as when you have Evidence) can handle a failure or two, unless the Season of Suspicion is hitting right now and you have Notoriety on the board.

70% success rate when you have two or three or more cards on the table (generally the case when I'd pull out a Heart follower to deal with it rather than let it expire on its own) cannot really afford any failures, because by the time you get to the last one, the Hunter is probably showing up to grab it.

In the end, it's a matter of taste, but that's what I meant by 'more reliable.'

[JungleJollies[]]

Same page, and I don't mean to beat a dead horse. I'm really just trying to write out my own line of reasoning.

It's a triage issue:

If the board isn't clouded with mystique, my first line of defense is the heart disciples; it eats the conversation slot for 90 seconds, but there's no risk of additional notoriety, only opportunity cost for locking down the verb.

If there's evidence, then it's time for the moth disciples. Same opportunity cost, and a 30% chance of notoriety -- this is only a real risk if you're in/near a season of suspicion. Odds of a double failure are 1:11, so this is always a good bet.

Third line of defense, as we both agree -- kill the hunter.
If all else fails, wait it out -- I've never used the favor from authority, but I suppose it's the Hail Mary.