any tips for a newbie?

[Inner Sight]

How do you do, fellow cultists?

I've played two games and I don't feel I got very far. Both times I fell to three dread stacks.

any general cult-life tips?

[Maina]

-Read everything.
-Read EVERYTHING.
-Click on the little icons you see in Verbs and on the info box for more information and READ THEM.
-Click on empty slots to get told what can go there, as well as to highlight what fits there.
-Click on cards to highlight Verbs that can take it right this moment.
-READ EVERY DAMN THING. YES, EVEN THAT. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not.
-Avoid spoilers unless you seriously cannot bear it anymore. Seriously, figuring it out is 90% of the game.
-The game is far less random than it appears. Ask yourself why stuff happens. Ask why you lost, don't just assume you lost to RNG. There is always a "why," even if you don't see it yet.
-I like to keep a notebook by my desk. You can write down where to find cards, recipes you've discovered, etc. There's too much to just remember it all by rote. I still refer to my notebook and I've won more times than I can remember.
-Read. Read. Read. Read. Read.

[Inner Sight]

Mm! It sounds like I'll have to be more attentive then!
I get the feeling this is something I'll play many times and get better at as time goes on. I mean that's kind of the case for a lot of games, but this one more due to growing knowledge than skill.

[vindicar]

Maina there was spot on, I will add just few more tips.
1. Press Space to pause/unpause the game. You have all the time in the world to figure things out.
2. Make up a system for placing your cards. Any system will do as long as you stick to it. Go to Settings-Clarity, set grid size to 1 card to keep them in a neat grid.
3. If you click on Time verb (box), in the bottom right of the popup you will see a tiny icon telling you what comes next.

[Mithos]

oh yeah pause litteraly every turn to check everything out and place correctly etc. then make your move

[Nakos]

Originally posted by Maina:

-Read everything.

Yeah, that.

[Inner Sight]

Doing way better this 3rd run. I've been alive a couple of days now. Raised my reason, passion, and especially health. handling money more reliably.

I'm basically not just throwing things anywhere they'll fit.

[tiffsterr]

Take risks and don't get mad if you fail. Try everything you can and eventually you will learn some amazing tricks.

[KimonoBoxFox]

You may be able to get your minions to do things for you, so that you don't have to get your own hands dirty/tired. Don't forget to try minions out in your various verbs, once you have some! Talking to them about things never hurts, either!

[dande48]

This game is learned through trial-and-error. But what keeps me playing is the lore. So I'll mark some of these tips with the spoiler tag. It doesn't spoil the lore, but can spoil the trial-and error.

-The biggest tip I didn't see posted: Learn the card icons. Click on cards, and hover over the icons in the lower-right corner of the box. They'll give you some pretty key information on how to use them.

-My favorite cult alignment is Forge. Their "cult business" makes you funds, and materials you can use or sell for funds, and produces no notoriety.

-Combat dread by dropping a fund in the "dream" verb, to get contentment.

-Combat notoriety by dropping a "heart" follower into the "talk" verb, and sending them on cult business.

-Combat evidence by Summoning something with moth, and talking to them about the evidence. DON'T use followers, because the success rate caps at 70%, and they're likely to get injured.

-You should always rush to find "STUMM", from the Auction House. You study it with a fund, to rent a projector. This will give you the Sunset rite, which is my most used rite in the game. Troubling influences, like dread or fascination, can easily be removed by it. It doesn't sacrifice anything, but those influences.

-My favorite summons are Voiceless Dead (4 winter, 2 heart, 2 lock. 2 heart can come from contentment or restlessness) & Raw Prophet (6 grail, 2 moth, 2 lock. 2 moth can come from fascination, or fleeting reminiscence). They are great at destroying evidence.

-A neat trick I learned with summons: Summons can summon other summons. If you want to create another summon of the same type, just add lock lore, and you're set.

-Another neat trick with summons: Some rites require a " follower sacrifice". You can use summons for this sacrifice, including major summons. Best yet, even for the major summons, they don't even care. This makes the forge, lantern, and grail victories (not apostle) a piece of cake!

[Инрико Пуччэ]

If you still have problems with restlessness, you can paint with it and it will be gone. If you still got some unwanted dread, you can paint for contentment (appears randomly, but for better paintings there are more chances for contentment), dream with money (there is small risk for an injury because of too much opium) or go to Ecdysis club (risk for fascination or notoriety, but fascination can be dreamed with dread, destroying both).
Also, dread (and fascination too) can be sacrificed to summon spirits with Edge or Moth aspect (although they may rebel and leave their own influences after being sent back or escaping. Their influences may be used as well for summoning or left to decay into something useful). Restlessness is also good for summoning due to having 2 in multiple principles.

[Инрико Пуччэ]

Originally posted by vindicar:

3. If you click on Time verb (box), in the bottom right of the popup you will see a tiny icon telling you what comes next.

Really? Never had an idea that you can predict those annoying seasons this way, for me it always was just a funds-eating orange square that pops other nasty squares which will eat your notoriety and fascination.

[vindicar]

Originally posted by Инрико Пуччэ:

Originally posted by vindicar:

3. If you click on Time verb (box), in the bottom right of the popup you will see a tiny icon telling you what comes next.

Really? Never had an idea that you can predict those annoying seasons this way, for me it always was just a funds-eating orange square that pops other nasty squares which will eat your notoriety and fascination.

I actually made a tiny mod (Forecast) that brings that icon to the front face of the time verb. Just so you don't have to check it every time a season rolls over.

[Kid Harlo]

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