It's been a huge pleasure having everyone's help with that process and I'm looking forward to beating on the poor Downtown quest the same way. We're coming for you, Downtown!

On a personal note, I'm about halfway through my course of treatment for the blood stuff I alluded to on Patreon (and, you know, with the Halloween theming this year). I'm doing a lot better by comparison, but we'll find out early next year if the treatment has stuck or if I'll need to go straight into the next line of treatment.

Still, there are good days now, so I'll be focusing on smaller stuff until then. Depending on the actual number of good days, that potentially means stuff like the first new unearthly item in quite a while, new routes through early quests, and little crafting packages.

Cheers!
Kinak

The player is "immortal" in some ways, like they can't really be killed. No matter how much damage we take or organs removed, we grow back. There are a few specific people like this in the world, the "Freaks" or "einherjars"(?). The Hammer is one:

"The Vigilante would call us Freaks. They say we're immortal. I'm not so sure… but you seem to stay together better than me. Maybe you're the new model year." He opens his mouth like he's about to start laughing, then winces and closes it again. ^ref

The burner combat on the Exec floor that shows up once we recover from being beaten up a couple times calls us "We found the N's einherjar! Light it up!".

Many of the high-up Midgard execs seem to have some sort of regenerative power too. Janet survives our killing her over and over. Most all of the AVP encounters show up repeatedly.

At some point Kinak mentioned that there's something going on with the spider lady or ladies in the Cellar Door. Not sure if it's one person showing up over and over again or multiple people. EDIT: Kinak confirms: "Those do actually represent multiple people. There is some text that may or may not have been uncovered to explain why the spider ladies are like that."

(Then there's the whole "reset" / slags maelstrom thing, which is obviously related somehow, but different from the above regeneration. We start a new "life" but still remember echoes of previous lives, eg. memories of the monocled man. It's not like every time we get killed we need to start over from day 1.)

Anyway, the part that is not clear to me yet is why you can kill the Executive Interrogation AVP but she doesn't get mad at you for doing so. I kill her once and she still greets me like it's the first time we met. Is this:

• a) Her re-birth process is a complete "reset" and she doesn't remember us killing her?
• b) There's a "backup" copy somewhere that doesn't remember the last few hours before being killed? (Just watched Dollhouse recently - in that show people's memories can be backed up to a hard drive and restored, but they will only remember up to when they were last backed up.)
• c) She has mysterious reasons not to acknowledge the fact that we just killed her so as to hide her own immortality.
• d) There are multiple AVPs who kind of look the same and we keep running into different ones? (I get the impression this is how the Executive Procession works on the Call Center - we are not seeing the same AVP multiple times, we are seeing a number of different ones.) I think the Executive Interrogation AVP is the same person you meet over and over, but there's not specific evidence of that.
• e) Metroplexity is a videogame and there are some things that can't always be coded for.

Janet is the only named AVP you can kill repeatedly, and she did acknowledge once about not being dead after you killed her. So she knows that she has been "killed" by you at least.

Hmmm. Just writing all this out to get my thoughts in order.

There are still some tricks and treats around, but the very end of the Downtown Quest was a bit more than I could fit in with Halloween. I expect that to come out in a separate non-Halloween update (or maybe updates, I decided to ask that on Patreon).

There are also some squirrely lingering issues from the updates I had to do before Halloween. The bug hunt is, unfortunately, quite real in this case. Thank you all for your help reporting and troubleshooting those bugs as they came up, especially during the event.

Cheers!
Kinak

Also, are there any plans for more interaction with the craters in the Slags?

Post your questions here. I'll go through the thread and record a podcast answering them. I know it's been a while, or might be your first podcast thread, but please remember to make your questions as succinct as you can (because I'll be reading them for the first time "on air") and try not to crosstalk or answer each other's questions (because I'll just get confused).

Cheers!
Kinak

I'm a gardener for a living, I think a lot about digging… :)

Hypothetically, if someone were to return to one's favourite game after, you know, a while, what should one check out?

Post your questions here, be they about Halloween, Metroplexity, or other stuff. Remember to keep them concise if you can and try not to cross-talk answering each other's questions.

Cheers!
Kinak

Remember to keep your questions to the point and not answer each other's questions in the thread.

Also, I hope everyone is safe out there. Seattle's already a very different place than last week, so we'll see what life brings before the podcast.

Cheers!
Kinak

We have under 3 weeks to the event, what do we think we need to do?

So it'll take a while to see exactly how that shakes out. I think both activities will still be worthwhile, just require a bit more investment, but I'm open to revisiting their difficulty once things have settled.

Oh, and it's totally possible this change hilariously broke something else down the line. So obviously let me know if I blew something up.

Cheers!
Kinak

As always, post your questions here! Try to keep them short so I can read them smoothly and try not to answer each other's questions, because the cross-talk is confusing when I'm on the air.

Cheers!
Kinak

P.S.: Last time, folks asked about the search function in wikidot. I, and several other admins, raised that with wikidot support and they're apparently looking into it. Hassling will continue until search improves.

Kinak's reply:

I think the main thing you would have noticed in there is pretty subtle. There are some other interactions you've gotten close to (some of which are so long undiscovered even I'd forgotten them).

But there definitely should have been some more in there. Added some new stuff to techniques, including a toxic spear one with hunting spear that you definitely would have discovered. The others aren't directly on that list, so I'll leave them unspoken for now.

So I'm sending up the spade-signal. There's new things to find and also some super obscure old ones, apparently.

http://metroplexity.wikidot.com/local--files/greasemonkey-scripts/chatbeeper.user.js

I've found it super useful over the past few days. Edit the first line of the script if you don't want it to beep at you more than ever x minutes. Let me know if any problems.

• glimmering crystal eye
• living hand

General Methodology:
1) Equip cyberware
2) Try appropriate techniques with the cyberware to learn new techniques. These include punch, brutality, dive for cover, evil eye, light of the eye, kidney punch, single shot (these seem to be associated the most with learning new techniques), among many others.
3) Try killing and talking with NPCs who have said cyberware equipped (if any)
4) Other miscellaneous ideas
5) Tear out cyberware, replace with new hotness

Already tested

• integrated cybergun- tried shooting lots of people with 4 points of sight link, tactical neural mesh, arrayed cybereye, tactical goggles and targeting/optical algorithm.
• arrayed cybereye, tactical neural mesh- results
• OmniBody arms, OmniEyes, Omnibody legs, OmniTech ArtSkin , OmniBody heart- results
• analyzing cybereye, muscular cyberarms, corroded dermal plates (generously donated by Mag) , hooked cyberlegs (generously donated by Mag)- results
• powerful cyberarms, cat eyes, powerful cyberlegs, tiger skin : results
• targeting cybereye, targeting cyberarms, solar wings- (generously donated by Cryptodynamic)- results
• glazed cybereyes, chameleon glands , sludge cyberheart, scaled arm: results
• dark wings, The Claw ((thanks to a generous donation by Mag), demon face , shivering cybereye- results
• goat legs, spidery limbs, fixed eyes, head spikes, elbow spikes: results
• Inteternal blade, cybernetic tattoo , tracer eye (thanks to a generous donation by Al)- results
• wired cyberarms, secret cyberheart, wired cyberlegs, angelic wings : results
• trash cyberheart, ghost skin, transparent arms, transparent legs, blackened eyes, visible organs: results 1results 2
• tiger paw, eye of the earth serpent (thanks to a generous donation by Al), rhythmic cyberlegs, gossamer wings, adrenal pump : results
• tiger skin, tiger paw (repeat): results
• body jewels- (thanks to a generous donation by Al), scaled arm : results

Cyberware not included in investigation

Could not obtain

• commemorative cyberarms
• decorative ears

Absolutely can't get

• sealed cyberblade
• unsealed cyberblade

Assuming nothing to find:

Includes non-combat neuralware, crafting intermediates and defective cyberware from the Metroplex U Cybertechnology Lab:

Assuming "solved"

(already is spaded out heavily):

Unofficial, of course: https://discord.gg/qPZMpXy

It'll be particularly handy for the upcoming Christmas snowman-building competition, too. Hint hint.

Q: And for some other long term stuff… Of all the mysteries we've not yet managed to solve since the game started, can you tell us anything about your favorite?

A: There is a, obviously quite a few refereces to Matsuo the Demonslayer. There's a bit more to that than just callbacks to a cool show, and I think people will be very pleased when they find that.

Rather than look into what brought me back, I've got the bug to take yet another crack at some now 10 year old mysteries. Here goes nuthin'.

We know from TV that one of Matsuo's many opponents is "his own dark reflection". So my basic idea is to see if anything cool happens if you fight an appropriately Matsuo-y clone in pvp while all Matsuo-y yourself. Some thoughts on what might matter:

• Having the Channeling Matsuo effect active seems like a must
• Being Etheric would probably help make weird stuff happen
• The techniques you can learn from Channeling Matsuo are Swordplay, Parry, Power Strike, and Leaping Dodge, so that's probably a good deck to be using
• As to equipment, one possibility would be for both fighters to wield the replica sword
• Since it looks like Kinak was working on the pvp revamp that included the Matsuo finale at about the same time as the Ghost Ship stuff, a more elaborate possibility that goes all-out on the "dark reflection" thing would be for the clone to use the black silver blade and maybe also a black silver visor, blackened vest or nightmarish gang jacket, and a shadowy heart while the attacker uses a shining blade shining mask, shining vest or shining gang jacket, and a hidden heart. Going one step even farther would be to actually have the Undead Scourge and Mercy Killer skills, respectively.

I got a Sea Lord's crown ages ago for spading something-or-other that I no longer remember, so I can't help with the very last idea (at least, not anytime soon), but I'd like to try everything up until that if anybody else is up for it.

Ask your questions and you shall receive answers. Possibly spoOOOooky answers. We'll see.

As always, try to keep your questions brief and don't answer other people's questions.

Cheers!
Kinak

Why?
There are a few reasons behind that. One is that people have asked a few times for Patreon as an option so they don't miss unearthly items. Another is that I've been looking for a good way to do quick polls for feedback on where to head next.

And finances aren't bad, but they're not really good either. That's largely on me, but I've fallen several times into a cycle of missing an unearthly item, needing to pick up freelance work to make ends meet, then not having time to do an unearthly item. Enough of a stream from Patreon should get me out of that and prevent it from falling into that cycle again, which would be pretty great.

So I did a lot of financial math and figured out what actual targets look like. So the tier numbers are a bit weird, because I'd rather be transparent about the numbers than have them be round.

Should I Panic?
If you're not interested in being a patron, that's totally cool. You'll still get the content they're helping produce and unearthly items will still show up in Zack's like always. But, if you'd like to chip in, it'll help the game out a lot in the long run and you'll get some cool rewards.

How will I get rewards?
I will get your Patreon email address, so I can get rewards to the right accounts based on that. If your Metroplexity email address doesn't match your Patreon one, send me an in-game message with the Patreon address and I can make sure things are tied together properly.

The unearthly items and avatars should kick in the next month, so Patreon can handle everything on the 1st. So if you sign up for the $10 tier now, the first avatar will show up sometime in October. If I release an item in October, everyone who was a patron on October 1st will get it automatically. And so on.

If people would rather that kick in immediately, that's an option, but I think this serves a bit of a different role from the normal donations. So… I guess let me know if you have strong opinions.

As for stuff like polls, there's already one up to kick things off.

What about?
I'm new to this, so I've probably missed some things. Hit me up with any questions here or over on Patreon.

Cheers!
Kinak

As always, try to keep your questions concise (so I can read them on air) and try not to answer each other's questions (so I don't get confused while I'm doing so).

Cheers!
Kinak

Remember to keep your individual questions short and not try to answer each other's questions.

Cheers!
Kinak

Sorry if the audio quality is weird at all, working off a new rig. If the old one sounded better, I can probably meet halfway.

Cheers!
Kinak

Well, wait no longer! Ask questions! Receive answers! (Actually, this part involves waiting.)

As always, try to keep your questions as succinct as possible and don't answer each other's questions, because I read them live and it's easy to get confused.

Cheers!
Kinak

With this being the first Metroplex Day since titles came out, Kinak has hinted that there may be a title available for something this year. So it's probably a good idea to be as prepared as you can!

Ask about, I dunno, Downtown or stuff. I'm heading to Japan for most of May with Lyz and Puyo, so ask about that! I'm also also going to Seattle not long after that.

So, yeah, lots of stuff going on. Ask questions! They shall receive answers.

Cheers!
Kinak

Reports of my death are seriously exaggerated. Reports on me being barely functional are apparently right on the money, however.

Cheers!
Kinak

Most values are possible to determine with complete certainty; some are only possibly to determine with reasonable certainty (eg. you roll a ??-sided die a hundred times and get the results 1 through 6; you probably have a 6-sided die but might 7-sided die with some very poor luck^†).

Additionally, many variables are only determinable when you have comparable attributes (eg. Integrated Ram Play lets you determine your opponents Strength by comparing your Strength). Also — many random damage calculations become non-random if you can zero-out an attribute; this is quite reasonable to do with Perception and Reflexes, however there are fewer equipment items that reduce Will or Strength*. This becomes increasingly impractical over time as your attributes become larger (reseting helps).

*From equipment, max reduction:

• Perception: -19
• Reflexes: -25
• Strength: -11
• Will: -10

Attributes

Completely determinable:

• Perception: vs Dirty Pool (Complete certainty)
• Reflexes: vs Considered Shot, Wildcat Play (Complete certainty) / Running Away (Reasonable certainty)
• Strength: vs Integrated Ram Play (Complete certainty)
• Will: vs Crystal Strike, Owl's Mask (Complete certainty)

Additionally, if an opponent uses a technique that uses a known attribute, that attribute can be determined with reasonable certainty by collecting a limited damage range.

Power

Determinable if using techniques of known base damage value. Otherwise thresholded if opposed by appropriate type: Melee Power by Clashing Blow/Bullet for Surt; Etheric Power by Bullet for Ginn; Stealth Power by Bullet for Ymir. No known method for determining Ranged Power and Fire Power, and no way to determine powers if not opposed by appropriate type.

Defence

Straightforward to determine by damage ranges; much easier with zero attribute; Melee Defense also determinable directly by Spade Strike or Branded Lash.

NPC Technique Chain number

Distance conditionals can currently directly determine chain 1vs2, 2vs3, 3vs4, 4vs5, 6vs7 and 7vs8. This leaves only 0vs1, 5vs6 and 8vs9. Whispers from the Stars is usable in almost all cases except where opponents have insanely high Etheric Defense. (A Short Distance chain 5 or 6, and 0 or 1 technique; or Long Distance chain 2 or 3 technique would help.)

NPC Technique Attribute type

If an opponent has a unique technique its associated attribute can normally be determined by observed damage ranges with reasonable certainty. If an opponent has two or more attributes of the same value, it is impossible to tell which attribute is used. The Petrifying Roar technique is the only known way to determine if it uses Reflexes because it reduces Power To Techniques Using Reflexes. No known way to determine if an NPC technique is Perception-, Strength- or Will-based (if tied attribute). More techniques that de-buff (or buff) those attribute power types would help.

EDIT: and forgot to add, I'll take this opportunity to suggest again an item that is an "anti-coin of the seasons"; ie. gives Enfeebled 10 to all attributes — would be super handy to keep stats low without having to reset occasionally.

Thanks, Al

As always, try to keep questions concise and don't try to answer other people's questions.

Cheers!
Kinak

If you've spent time on the quad during the protest, you can kill hipsters indiscriminately (I think?), but suddenly after the protest there are long-term consequences for killing the one hipster on the quad, but not, say, killing the hipster in the museum. I think he might be the only "NPC" that doesn't have a unique name or picture — can I suggest something like that? Thanks!

I'd suggest as a compromise, raise the price for individual parts to 200 cred, and have him tell you which part he'll sell you in advance. This way we can get complete set for 500, parts for 200, and if you are looking for a specific part, you can spend extra energy to try him multiple times without having to actually buy. This seems not too powerful since he just gives regular suits, not heavy ones.

Thanks for your consideration!

(Incidentally, the Coupon collector theory says that you would have to currently pay an average 600 cred to collect all the pieces one at a time randomly?)

(Last year was a bit of a catastrophe but as long as things don't get too depressing, we should be fine. Ravens > boars.) Keep an eye out for further updates in upcoming days. PM if you need Eclipse.

Thanks,
Al

The two guards in the vault beat me in 1 or 2 turns, I can't kill either. I'm choosing the Wait for it / Rush forward choice here: http://wiki.metroplexity.com/the-vault

I'm aware of all the other ways I could get around them. I could easily do the sneak option for example. I'm just baffled - am I really this lame of a player? The only other game I play is KoL - and in KoL I can easily just spend a few days leveling up (a week or a month would be massive!) to get past anything in the main quest line.

I just don't get it. Is my current stats super low for this fight, or for 6 months of progress? Just how strong does one have to be to beat those guys? Enlighten me!

To get to the point, I'm broadly, shallowly spading the focused perception, orange juice sample and studious nature effects, all active at the same time and trying as many choice encounters as I can to see if they bring up any weird effects. I have bought a huge stash of the relevant items and estimate I have about 1100 Energy of these effects available to me. That should be enough to cover almost all earthly choice encounters available to the average postrun player (me).

I have also spaded multiple science or learning-related items, mostly documents and books. They are listed below.

And finally, I hope by talking to everyone and learning everything, I trip as many knowledge-related flags as possible. At the end of the spading, when I run out of toadstool oils and study chips, I will go on a round of drunk/berserk spading, where I go back, and try to see if I have unlocked new conversation choices or results through these flags.

There are also tertiary, unrelated goals I will attempt to accomplish at the same time, either intentionally or unintentionally (trying to get new techniques out of combat encounters, finding new drops or spading other effects) that have been and will continue to be documented separately, outside of this forum thread.

I am taking suggestions for usable items and encounters to try out, although I may need help if the encounters or items are very difficult to get ahold of.

PROCEDURE:

• Focused perception is topped off at about 10-30 energy at all times via toadstool oil.
• Orange Juice Sample is used once at the end of every day.
• Study Chip is used about 20 at a time, with Ease to boost duration.

MY RELEVANT SKILLS AND UNLOCKS (accomplished prior to all relevant spading):
-unlocked Arcane Tongue OJ Result
-found mysterious drone signature
-unlocked Serpent Pattern and all relevant protein-based content
-Experienced Observer skill
-Trauma Tech skill
-Quantum Mechanics skill
-Drone Anatomy skill
-Stellar Appreciation skill (therefore, no Art Appreciation
-Finished The Missing Artist, with Body and Spirit skill
-Slags Medical File 10 XP result
-Legion Tract will level-up message (do not have walk with the blind yet)
-NNN hacking "absurd wonderland" post with OJ
-fully understood programmatic satire with OJ unlock, used it to psychoanalyze Quad poet
-Already killed Dr. Johnson, Fae King, Ocean King
-My contact is Dr. Amundsen, but I have unlocked (and finished) all other survivors' quests

ITEMS USED WITH ALL THREE EFFECTS ACTIVE:
Reading items: Eurasian report, survey of modern poetry, Office love letters, sea journal, unsettling plans, ancient notes, , yellowing map, drone testing report, interoffice memo, history of the orbital wars, list of names, Slags medical file, blotted document*, warehouse inventory, petty confessions, Dr mira recording, Slags Lab Recording, southside lab notes x6, Quantum Mechanics (with skill)
Other: mutant cell culture, chloroauric acid
*was hoping that the arcane tongue OJ result would unlock something, alas, no. Also used blotted documents with Survey of Modern poetry equipped, and then again, got normal results.

ENCOUNTERS AND CHOICES DONE WITH ALL THREE EFFECTS ACTIVE:
(sorted by location and whether etheric or not, in rough order of the order I approached them)
(NOTE: only choices that I believe are relevant will be listed. Combat- and item-choices are not always in the scope of this project. It's also safe to say I got all regular combat and noncombat encounters without noticing anything weird.)
Ghost Ship etheric:

• Treasure Chests - Hide and Nap, Open a chest- no result

Lake Metroplex North etheric:

• Murky Border- Explore the border - no result
• Massive Clam - Inspect it, Wait Around- no result
• Meeting the fish people- Chat with him- no result
• Call of the Chasm-Stare into it, Dive in- no result

Mushroom Cavern etheric:

• Fae Follower- Watch Instead, Dance Along- no result
• Fae Acrobatics- Watch Carefully- no result
• Cavern Grove- Harvest Some, Head for the Cave (empty)- no result
• Mushroom Servant- Offer Protein Bar, Strike up Conversation, Begin the Slaughter- no result
• Ancient Shroom- Ask for surrender-> Look for another way, Ask about here- no result

Construction Site etheric: (note: will continue while sober)

• Dig Doug Down- Inspect the Drone- no result
• Wandering Newbie- Talk about Oldtown- no result
• Lot Inspected- Ask about the project, ask for blueprints- no result
• powered-down-drone- Look it over (with drone knowledge)- no result

Misty Offices etheric:

• Approaching Worker- Have a Chat, Share Blotted Documents, Jump Him- no result
• Silent Argument- Break it up (with Parasitic vine and office worker outfit), Share Blotted Documents, Charge In- no result
• Strange Vines- Search the desks, Take a Nap- no result
• Massive Flower- Talk about Midgard, Offer praise - no result

Records Office etheric: (note: will continue while sober)

• Abandoned Cube Farm- Search the Desks (all results), Wander Around- no result
• Water Cooler Rambling- Cut in (office worker outfit), Watch Them, Jump Them- no result
• Group of Office Workers- Just Chat, Watch and Listen (all three results)- no result
• Cubicle Patrol- Just Chat, Ask about the Vault- no result
• Sudden Darkness- Stand your ground (non-evacuation order), Methodically Search, Run towards light- no result
• Records Office Network- View on Turret Monitors, successfully hacked myself into employee IDs database, View on Retained Database- no result

Records Vault etheric:

• Unfazed Records Lady- Offer an Office Flask, just chat (while drunk)- no result
• Soothing Stacks- Do Some Reading, Explore Quietly (4 will XP)- no results
• Sleeping Vault Terminal- fully downloaded Record Storage, Pull up files, Play a Game (both win and lose)- no result
• Hidden Break Room- Check out Files (while empty)- no result
• Floating Skull in the Niche- Stare into it, Talk to it-> Sif, - no result

Tainted Shoreline etheric: (note: will continue while sober)

• Massive Oil Slick- Lake Metroplex-> Stare Down- no result

Midgard Laboratory etheric: (note: will continue while sober)

• Arcane Tongue- Join in- Got OJ result (again), then got normal result again, so no results

Computer Lab etheric (note: will continue while sober)

• computer lab coffee machine- talk about hacking, talk about antennas- no results
• Open Workstation- search for code, search the desk- no results
• Novos Test Server- View Class Files multiple times- no results

Novos News Network hacking hacking, etheric:

• View Post Archive NNN, twice- no result
• Command Posting Interface NNN- no result
• Acquired novos download key from Data Vault- no result

Hall of Paintings etheric:
(note: had museum guidebook equipped for all of these except for binding)

• Bloody Still Life- got flower, vase- no result
• Forsaken Moor- Take a look, Climb In (with rider inside), Climb In (with rider outside and horse skull/rider's sword)- no result
• Recommended Donation- Have Ten, I already paid!- no result
• Grand Staircase- Peek up- no result
• Starry Gaze In The Museum- Study it, Stare it down, Tear yourself away, Bind it- no result

Records Office etheric, while heavily infested:

• Thriving Thorny Vines- Loot (dead body), Inspect the vines(cable)- no result

Midgard Laboratory sober:

• Bored Guard- talk about slags, talk about security, talk about survivors- no result
• Lab workers- Join in (The slags, survivors, eclipse, project huginn, introductions, dr. mira, small talk), Listen in-no result.
• dr mira s team-Ask about s43, Ask about huginn, ask how to disable the field, watch her- no result
• Slags Lab hacking- view public files, view medical files- no result
• Also used recordings of slags lab and dr. mira directly from inventory for XP- no result

Midgard Bioresearch sober:

• Quartet of Doctors- Join in (talk about medicine, talk about slags, bore him)- no result
• Testing Lab- look at resources- no result
• MBR Lab hacking- command on testing lab, view on testing lab and View six times on secured files- no result

Computer Lab sober:

• Neglected Bookshelf- check top shelf (already have all recipes, got Will XP result), check middle shelf (ancient code)- no result
• computer lab coffee machine- talk about software- no results

Damaged buildings

• second floor- ramshackle fortress- talk about huginn- no results
• third floor- wall of crates- Find a way around- no results
• third floor- First and second floor -watch the lake- no results

Midgard Warehouse sober:

• Workers on break- Stop and chat (with midgard cap)- no results
• Warehouse computer hacking- view, then command on public calendar, command on inventory database, view on inventory database- no results
• Stacks of Crates- dig for the prototype, grab a random crate- no results

Buried Lab (post omega order) sober:

• Southside Lab Corpsepile- Examine the bodies, lay them to rest, grab their stuff (with and without air filter)- no result
• Southside lab office- open the desk- no result

Waterfront sober-

• Pile of Crates- look for dolls, wait for an opening- no results
• Fishing Tales- arm wrestle, join the chat, pass the thermos- no results
• Third Eye Smuggling- Steal some crates, make smalltalk- no results

Construction Site- sober-

• Whining Drone- watch it dig- no results
• Lot Inspected- start asking questions- no results
• Better Dressed Than Most- ask if he needs help (with checklist), ask about the architect, ask about the drones- no results
• Authorized Personnel Only- threaten them back (with office worker outfit)- no results
• Wandering Newbie- talk about drones

Tainted Shoreline sober-

• Andrea the Grad Student- follow her, found out anything, please help me, give a blood sample, how's the sample- no results

VIP Room sober-

• Arthur J- lose chess game (for information)- no results

The Happy Hour sober-

• Bartender- I'm buying a round- no results
• Passed Out Man-search him for goodies, prop him up- no results
• DJ- Hello!, just watch- no results
• Happy Art Student- Talk computers, talk eclipse (art, happy hour), talk art, talk poetry (already owned Dave)- no results

Hall of Paintings sober-

• Grand Staircase- Peek up- no results
• Nothing Too Dangerous- Strike up conversation- no results

FINDINGS SO FAR:
-Unwavering Attention (see below)
-many small, incidental discoveries unrelated to main project

Anyway, those questions have been unearthed! And forged into a podcast to split the heavens! Or, at least definitely split the ninety-minute mark.

Cheers!
Kinak

Channel the Deep -> Distant Claw
Crescent Moon Tide -> Hunting Dash

EDIT: and an oddity from Moodlight Blinding / Emotional Grip. I can't say for sure but I expecting a "You use the ghoul's blindness to maneuver" message in the second pass but maybe we don't understand how that works.

A flare of light from your glove momentarily blinds the ghoul.
The ghoul latches onto you and tears a chunk out of you with its teeth, dealing 1 melee damage.

You grab at the ghoul with your gloved hand for 5 stealth damage.
The ghoul digs into you with its claws and finds enough purchase to tear you apart for 1 melee damage.

• The electrical kits and salvaging kits seem to give the same results for salving most robotic opponents after a fight. Is there a difference there? It might be interesting if the electrical kit were more likely to give wires/circuits and salvaging kit more likely to give plastics/metals to make that choice of equipment matter.

• You can Scavenge the broken BigDig on the Oldtown construction site, and sometimes get the circuitry result, and sometimes the plastics result but it seems irrespective of which kit you have equipped. (Which gave me this idea)

• EDIT: Oh, hun, I wonder if having electrical vs. salvaging kits would affect your chance to get drone antenna from helidrones for Davis's quest — that thing has a drop system that no one understands yet.

• EDIT again: and while I'm suggesting things: this might just be sloppy wiki editing but it doesn't look like crashing the shipping drones ever gives even a damaged antenna. Could that be an alternate route for Slags Communication? I have found getting an intact drone antenna really really slow in runs but I obviously don't understand all the mechanisms there.

Ask about GenCon! About the two week concrud! About the unearthly item that might be out by the time I answer! About other stuff!

Ask and ye shall receive vague answers! With less exclamation points than this, because with my luck my throat will still be raspy!

Cheers!
Kinak

I've got recordings of the first two days of the run uploaded to YouTube so far. The remaining days will follow, after a little cleanup work on the videos. Everything should wind up in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLara1DNQreZA8xwenSPj92fec028UiY8

There were a few mistakes and missteps based on not wanting to drag on too long thinking about things or checking the wiki while I was being recorded, but overall I think this went decently.

But (marketing voice) — we can collect data so much faster if everyone logs it!! Anyone willing to install this script in Firefox/Greasemonkey and send me the logs would be greatly appreciated.

Teaser summarized data here: http://pastebin.com/7LhGXZdM — for any action that I've logged at least 6 datapoints.

Cheers!
Kinak

So, if you have some questions, leave them here and I'll podcast some answers :)

Cheers!
Kinak

Crystalline flame

Most of the content in this item requires you to be Etheric, so it will probably not see much use in-run unless you're deliberately going out of your way in pursuit of a conduct or something. You can get the Crystal Strike technique without being Etheric. At chain 2, it could be handy if you're running a Melee deck and have not yet gotten any instances of Brutality. This technique is also handy for spading out opponent Will values, if you're into that sort of thing.

The other techniques this item grants are pretty potent if you are planning to use Etheric techniques. If you happen to have Fae Eyes, Defensive Burn is particularly nice. Fist of the Herald, available to Fae- and fish-aligned alike, is powerful, if a bit Body-Intensive. It's also worth pointing out that the drowning flame is still currently best-in-slot for Etheric Power. Both the drowning flame and the serene crystal give +1 Eclipse Duration. This bonus has been eclipsed by the charmed chain in the seasons since this item was first released, but if you don't have a chain those are currently the only other sources of that bonus from the weapon equipment slot.

Kinak says there is still something interesting we could learn by carefully looking at the messages you get when you [use] a drowning flame or serene crystal. Other than that, this is one of the very few unearthly items in the game that are fully understood.

Spacious cargo pants

Good pants are hard to get in-run, so if you're resetting these pants are attractive just for the +2 Melee Defense. Getting the other benefits from the pants requires you to Check Your Pockets. This involves some trade-offs. For one thing, at chain 4, this technique conflicts with the all-important Dive for Cover, so there's an element of risk and uncertainty involved in using it. Furthermore, you have to be Etheric to get the really powerful rewards from the pants. Still, the gamble is probably worth taking if you are primarily using Ranged combat. The Lucky Shot technique is available even if you are not Etheric. While it's not guaranteed to do more than its low base damage unless you get, well, lucky, it does let you make long chains very early on. The rest of the non-Etheric pocket items aren't especially impressive, although the serviceable bandages are always nice to have.

The Etheric-only items and techniques are another story, even if you have to wait until post-run to get them. The "Bullet for … " techniques do solid damage and, more importantly, allow you to do damage and potentially block attacks with the same technique. They're also nice to have given the dearth of chain 6 Ranged techniques that work well as filler. Bullet for Surt is especially nice, since there are many opponents who use all or mostly Melee techniques. In gang warfare you are more likely to encounter opponents with Stealth- and Etheric-heavy decks that would allow you to use Bullet for Ginn and Bullet for Ymir to good effect. Unfortunately, the "Bullet for … " techniques do not seem to work while underwater.

The knuckle bones are still a bit of a mystery. There is likely something more to the knuckle strands, but we have yet to figure out what.

Book of Common Dreams

The Common Dreams skill this item grants is almost pure powercreep. Once learned, it will be available in every season, even when the book has rotated out of Zack's House of Coins. Using the skill costs only one energy of Etheric and no turns. Unlike the summoning skills, its cost does not increase as you use it more times in a day (and it does not affect the cost of summoning skills no matter how many times you use it). Another difference from the summoning skills is that you cannot control exactly when it fires, so it's a much less precise way of burning off energy of Etheric. Still, while the bonuses this item grants may not be overwhelmingly powerful, in many situations the opportunity cost to getting them is negligible.

In-run, this item is potentially helpful, but with no apparent way to control which dreams/items you get, you can't really plan a strategy around getting any particular item. If you are extremely lucky, you might be able to score a carnivorous beetle, which could help considerably with the Fifth Floor. More commonly, you'll wind up with at least one stat-boosting item, which give hefty boosts for the various points in your run where attributes matter; these can be particularly helpful for passing the Low Road. Again, though, you may not get the item you're seeking. Since in-run you don't generally get Etheric without a fairly specific goal in mind, you may not have a great deal of energy of Etheric to spare for getting dream items. On the other hand, if you are accustomed to using summoning skills several times a day, grabbing a dream item or two might be more a case of "can't hurt, might help".

Post-run, the stat bonuses are not likely to be as important. This is likely true even if the bonuses are doubled, especially since you may well not want to devote your offhand slot to a dream item in order to get the double bonus. If you don't have a Midgard blastshield or one of the limited-time items that provides +4 Fire Defense, the charred wooden souvenir can be a valuable piece of equipment for post-run use. Otherwise, there are also generally more potent alternatives to the dream offhand items as far as defense goes, although the Chance of Etheric Encounters modifier they grant may be a compelling bonus in some cases. One final point for post-run use is that (again, as far as we know) once you have one of each offhand item there is no benefit to having additional ones.

Lens focused on the unknown

If you're using ranged techs, this is a very useful item in-run and doesn't require a very large deck to work with. The lens focused on the distance in particular provides buffs to both ranged power and power to techniques using perception. Other forms can also provide stealth defense or etheric defense, which can be tricky to come by in run. Even post-run, the lens focused on minutiae is at the time of writing the only source of stealth defense in the gadget slot.

The 'exaltations' are still not well understood, but they can provide XP or energy of Fluid Focus, which can allow you to make use of etheric power bonuses that might otherwise not be helpful in a ranged or fire deck making use of perception.

VOTE NOW!

I like the lens of the unknown a lot for use in-run. As usual, the skill-books (Common Dreams) are going to be less useful if you already have them.

Construction Site

• BigDig hacking is still a mystery.

Misty Offices

• Blotted Document - use these with enough languages known? Though two of the languages are unearthly. Survey of Modern Poetry seems like a dead end but who knows? Where could we get more info in these?
• Massive Flower - have not been able to successfully threaten it. Skill for infecting more people??
• Double check the misty offices for juryrigged signal.

Records Office

• Something with the unsettling plans, office love letters, petty confessions?
• Tropical Breeze under special conditions? (Nothing special for tropical shirt+shorts+lei) Shark+myers sampler or salvaging?
• Sudden Darkness - Methodically search, Lightness, Darkness, etc.
• Unlikely but last podcast a vague mention of a skill to be able to use Midgard MG2 without reflexes penalty.
• "Guards swarm over you like flies" - cautious to not destroy files.
  • Come to think of it - any way to burn down the archives altogether?

Records Vault

• Hack Record Storage? Any interesting files once you find Dr. A's?
• Random seed sample - no luck protein analyzing them. Anything else we can do with them? "like a reminder of something you'd forgotten"
• Skull in the Niche - Pry it out? Sledge hammer does not do anything. I have not tried a crowbar since the skills revamp but seems unlikely. Need something more etheric. Try talking to it with other skulls equipped?
• Talking to Mim about stuff?

Lattes!

• Potentially a Sushi Chef-analog for coffee. Test making all the new coffee recipes a number of times for barista latte sommelier skill?

Other skill ideas tying into existing skills:

• NPC quests - no new text from regular quest-giver contacts (I have Squatter King, Dr. Myers, Dr. Thomas, Carlos.) Have not checked in with Hawk, Davis, Arthur J.
• Lost son - I don't think we got any new chemistry with Oldtown ingredients except fair trade grounds (to test with empty injector…mmm, coffee IV)
• Dock Song - long shot, but maybe the vines are a third faction in the ocean/fae eyes choice.

I initially proposed the coffee-related skills as a joke but I honest think that they are most likely. More ideas?

Enjoy the extra podcast on your extra day.

Cheers!
Kinak

So, if you've got some questions, post 'em here and I'll podcast some answers!

As always, try to keep your questions to-the-point and try not to answer other people's questions.

Cheers!
Kinak

Cheers!
Kinak

As always, please keep your questions succinct and don't try to answer each other's questions, because I'll just get lost and miss things.

One question I'd like to answer up front: The Survivors' Contest will end with the release of the next unearthly item, but Puyo's been quite sick and I won't have the art for it for at least a week.

Other than that, fire away :)

Cheers!
Kinak

As an example, I edited the Dazzling Cloud. Thoughts? (Formatting needs a bit of tweaking.) I think this would help make it clear when opponents haven't been explicitly tested.

Anything else to add to that would be useful to know? Most of the rest of the things listed on the Opponents testing page are pretty flag-specific (eg. are you human for Unexpected Grab). Things like testing tome of binding or salving kit are generally already listed separately, and occasionally have additional requirements, although would be good to know if someone has explicitly tested those sometimes.

Charmed Chain might be good to add though I don't know if it's worth adding to all the pages because a) it's specific to that unearthly item and b) Kinak confirmed there's not a "has fangs" flag, so it must be based on some other external factors. (Though, when prompted, the centipedes were added in the spider-type category, so there also seems there is something non-obvious that can be done on the backend to flag these.)

…halp?

Erich (#55)

• Art students (pro-Eclipse/anti-destruction)
• Omegas frat (pro-Eclipse??/pro-drunk)
• Punks (pro-drunk/pro-destruction)
• Security (anti-Eclipse/anti-destruction)
• Donors (aka. the player characters?? ???)

Also, as is tradition, I would like to emphasize to everyone that we should endeavour to have the most… interesting… halloween as possible, which means massive Eclipse overdoses, strange new denizens, portals to other worlds, etc. (And as I've said before, if you want a halloween party where you dress up and drink beer… you can already do that in real life. >.> )

EDIT: which is to say, I am pouring most of my cred into art students, but also support Omegas (who have an interesting number of Midgard folks in their contacts.)

This season of Top Coin is a real toughy. All 4 items are pretty strong products in their own right. That 2 of them have to drop out for being unfortunate enough to be placed in the same group… this is the true Group of Death of the unearthly items.

Prototype Coat

This item has some pretty amazing utility for a 1 coin item. Probably a symptom of it being the first one coin item honestly. It has always been invaluable in-run for easy access to a very strong evasion tech, Cinematic Dodge, that chains well with either melee or ranged decks. The defense it gave was beyond anything you can get anywhere in-run. But, Metroplexity has changed a lot since this item first came out.

Metroplexity has shifted a lot more to out of run activities and away from in-run play. The defenses you can get out of run, though may not be strictly better than the coat, usually come with other appealing side benefits as well and without you having to jump through a hoop to get that defense. Also evasion power has just never been that popular out of run.

Of course there remains one other benefit of the coat that hasn't been mentioned yet. The chance of encounters. Again I would say the shift to out of run activities hurt the coat here. The chance of encounter just never last long enough. Not for the sustained focused activity that normally happens out of run. Out of run you can easily play 80 adventures in a day. You can get, what, 15 energy worth of Mysterious Investigator? And the other coat, the mysterious circuit coat, completely overshadows this coats code finesse niche.

The prototype coat has a long legacy to it. The prototype coat was like the pilot episode to this prototype zack coinshop idea. But maybe that legacy isn't enough to sustain it anymore.

Emerald Gift scrapbook

This item is simply amazing. It gives access to defenses and powers in categories where it can be really hard to find defenses and powers for. Stealth power. Ranged defense. Fire power and defense. It's also got other freebies besides. With this item you'll always have access to an immediate +4 evasion power buff for the odd occasion where you need it. Once in a blue moon. I swear it happens! Also the +2 xp per combat can't hurt. Swirling Maelstrom for… the +2 etheric chance… okay you got me.

If it were only the buffs this item gives it would be a decent unearthly I can see someone looking at that and being like "eh. +2 defense or power I can take it or leave it." It's the technique, though, that really makes this item shine. There are items this unearthly provides as well but I can see someone handwaving those as they could the buffs. But, the technique you can't ignore. The technique of Channel Inspiration.

Channel Inspiration. Amazing technique. Pretty much hands you base 10 power for a move where most other techniques, especially unearthly techniques, make you have to jump through hoops first. I mean you have to be etheric? Whatever. Anyone out of run can easily sustain etheric. And the buffs to power the technique are easy to amass too. This technique man. It's the only Chain 5 technique that does melee damage. Chain 5 etheric techniques are difficult to come by so this makes that task easier. Stealth as well. It's either fuming acid or this.

All of that is great on its own for Channel Inspiration. What breaks this technique into S tier is that its technique type is "None". That is HUGE. That allows it to bypass so many defensive moves that can get in the way of your stealth or etheric damage or what else have you. Type "None" means Jacob's Ladder will fail against it which is a popular move to use against someone stronger than you. It means Erenoth can't negate your etheric damage with Gem Break. This is so huge. Your melee won't get out-clashed by clashing blow. It's fantastic. A fantastic unearthly skill for when you need it.

Holosight Rifle

This unearthly. This unearthly man. Kinak must've looked at the deplorable state of etheric reigning supreme in PvP and designed this specifically to put it into the dirt. My gang tried really hard to find a way to overpower etheric in PvP. We did good work to. What with the Improbable Gun with silver bullet strats and Lethal Resolve. It was this unearthly, however, that finally killed etheric. It's fucking dead. Etheric is no more in PvP. You use etheric in PvP someone sooner or later is gonna whip this item out and put you down hard.

It's so huge that your etheric defense can be applied directly to ranged power. Ranged power is very hard to get through buffs. Etheric defense? Very easy! Combine this with other unearthly items and you can get 50 Ranged Power very simply without even having to touch the actual Ranged Power buffs side of things. So huge.

Enough kreygasming over the awesome power potential of this item. What does it give? Almost feels like Kinak knew how powerful this item really is so he made sure to give it a half life. A lot of it's power comes from solid gunman hologram which can only be acquired through other holograms. Limited time items. Though you can breed them it's about as intensive as breeding golden chocobos from scratch. So…. yeah it feels like this item came with its own built in clock.

I mean let's look at the tangibles. It provides… okay techniques. The Chain 6 ranged technique Holographic Shot is solid. It's difficult to get all around good chain 6 ranged techniques without unearthlies. But otherwise the stuff it gives other than the amazing punching power is forgettable. I mean they don't even put Project Shooter onto the main page of this unearthly item that's how forgettable it is.

So perhaps the death of this item is inevitable. But mayhap that death not be today.

Midgard HGS Prototype

This item seems almost too new to go away so soon? lol. Anyway. Coming right off the Holosight Rifle the obvious synergies between the two is what immediately pop up. The etheric defense from the Flickering Game buff only adds to its firepower. Hologame Tome will also add to that fire power plus whatever else you can fit into the computer with hologame tome. Computers are just so good now. Fit in white noise producer, fractal loop, and unsettling loop and that's already another +6 etheric defense for your gun power. Perhaps it's appropriate that these two unearthlies will have their fates decided together.

Of course this unearthly needs to be judged by its own merits. And it's got at least one major merit. This is the first unearthly in the whole list that gives actual adventures! Oh sure a couple of the others got an enemy if you go out of your way to meet them. But these are adventures! Things that crop up while you're doing your thing. All while under the effects of etheric and Flickering Game. Because of the necessity of having Flickering Game active get the adventures it's easy to mass up on that effect. Which is a big plus for out of run players. The adventures themselves are neat enemies. Don't want to meet that troll with your pants down.

The techniques those enemies then give are pretty neat. A couple were only discovered recently which is pretty cool. Especially since those discoveries I believe were made after Kinak pretty much said this item was well spaded. Could there be more? Anyway, the technique Disappearing Switchblade might even be halfway optimal. And the rest are mostly just fun little techniques to have with maybe an interaction or two left to still be investigated. Petrifying Roar -> Rocksplitter Shot in pvp perhaps?

The final judgement! Obviously this doesn't happen until the next unearthly item but how about a wrap up at the end of all this? Now, the weakest item of the bunch does indeed seem to be the Prototype Coat. It has such a rich history rooted to the very foundation of the Zack House of Coins. Built to serve the players of that time perfectly. It would be sad to finally see it go. But if it does, we'll send it off with a hero's farewell.

Now the Midgard HGS Prototype and the Holosight Rifle so do deserve to go through this roun of Top Coin together. It's hard to see how that can be possible with the Emerald Gift scrapbook as one of the contenders. The scrapbook, for whatever reason, is determined to get in the middle of these two and ruin the perfect union. This round of Top Coin may be to see which one of the hologram unearthlies makes it through with the wretched scrapbook.

I'm part of a handful of friends who formed a cooperative a couple years ago and started working on a paper strategy card game together. We've just release a "Preview Edition" to order online — follow the link above for more info, or skip straight to the product page. The game mechanics and deck are well-tested, it has 6 pieces of professional art, and about 245 more cards with placeholder art.

You play as a petty experimenter with up to six disciplines of alchemy at your disposal, each loosely interpreted from a variety of real world cultures and my own mind. It's a pity "choice-heavy deckbuilding strategy" isn't up Metroplexity players' alley…

Listen. Enjoy. Discuss.

Cheers!
Kinak

So, as always, try to keep your questions succinct so I can read them on the air and don't answer other people's questions in the thread.

Cheers!
Kinak

Let's break down what we know.

Fae - Unable to reproduce normally. Born of being Seen into being. Require those easily influenced to See more fae. Likely something approaching parthenogenesis, where dancing fae then 'split' into more dancers. The 'King' of the Fae seems to have no additional powers beyond the ability to dominate the mind of a human. Encourage serfdom if not straight slavery. No real society? Classical treacherous spirits? Appear to be almost pure energy(?) (Feeds on (?), Fed on by Fish People. Seemingly hunted by hounds, but not effectively)

Fish People - Appear to be in the same evolutionary(?) branch as Writhing Tendrils and Serpents. Born of a single human who turned into Writhing Tendrils. Seem to be capable of reproduction(?) which seems to involve serpent eggs(?). The Ocean King is more powerful than other Fish People, but primarily an etheric user. We still are unsure of what one of his techniques actually does. Seem to actually have something of a martial society, with the guards trained in combat to defeat etheric foes. Seems to have no problem with humans, but also no intent to help. (Feeds on Fae, Fed on by (?). No hounds underwater, no similar divergent evolution/too weak to take down the fish folk?)

Parasitic Plant (Audrey) - Seems to reproduce by implanting seeds into flesh. Very not human friendly. Seems to be sufficiently intelligent to be able to communicate, but has been where it is for a long time. Actively Dislikes Midgard. Related to upcoming content. Very vague, complicated by the lack of ability to question it or its spawn. (Feeds on (?),humans, Fed on by (?). No hounds involved?)

This actually seems like a full circle, the fae feed on the flower, stealing nectar and power, the fish people eat the fae to absorb their energy directly, and the plant feeds on the fish people for flesh and fertilizer. Of course, the plant is much more distant than then other two, so this is only theoretical. (Bonus damage for parasitic plants on the fish folk?)

But the primary point for bringing this up, was to murder the plant.

We can destroy the King of Fae. Not fight, but can just make him cease to matter. (Sea water affects the fae? The urn itself? Why are the urns more important than the runed jar? Why can't they make more of the jars?) Can also kill leader of current serfs/slaves. (What keeps them there? Are they protected by the fae? Forced into submission?)
We can defeat the Lord of the Sea. You need to be able to reach him either by force or by request, but you can kill him. (Why are the numbers of guards not refilled? Are they just that hard to train? Is the equipment no longer reproducable?)
The plant, even with the (currently) unexplored Rush It option, is obviously not going to be easy to remove. It's a weed, and it's an aggressive one at that. Of course, looking at the tools we have available, we have a bigdigger. We can dig up the primary root. Likely a lock-out to each path depending on how we decide to gain access to the facility.

It's looking more and more like we should be able to wipe out all the etheric 'factions' to some extent. But in each case there's no real effects. The fae keep flying, likely because that's all most of them care about. The fish folk don't seem to bat an eye at the king being violently dethroned, and the king himself seems mostly disinterested when you try to kill him. So I'm almost curious to see how Audrey responds to a lethal attempt. No worries, since it expects to regrow? All the faceless workers burst open into a flowering plant-zombies? Cannot actually 'succeed' at killing Audrey until you cut out his root, at which point he becomes an improved foe/art image, like the flickering barrier?

How many more factions can there be? Audrey is the closest to tooth and claw nature, but is an insidious invader. (Side effects later involving plant zombies? Bonuses outside the city walls in 'natural' areas?) The fish folk are obviously tied to water, which makes them unable to help/hurt in many situations, but are the most militarily capable thus far. (Side effects … No support in later game?) The fae have almost no structure, but seem to get away with being mostly impervious, highly stealthy, and highly reflexive. (Side effects, more missing children, 'quests' that have no actual reward or need, but also many more fae triggers possible in later game)

Anyway, just a little brain dump on our current state of etheric leaders. Let's see what happens.

Cheers!
Kinak

So ask about GenCon, what new tools I gained towards getting Oldtown out… or other stuff! There's probably other stuff.

Cheers!
Kinak