Beginners Guide. Part III. Gameplay.

Third and final part of the guide. This time around we will deal with general aspects of gameplay that you will find useful to navigate throguh the entirety of the game, particularly the early game.

Opening moves

- First things first, hire mercs. Like we talked about in the previous part, combat will be our way to riches, specially early on. With the current selection, Ansel and the Peasant, which are found in RedHeaven market, should always be acquired right away. Loren, in Moe's Tavern, can be added if you want a more powerful party later in the game.

- Upgrade your bedroom. This can be done right away or after doing the first quest for the Kymanto Guild, but should be done on the first day since stamina is absolutely essential.

- Travel to Hamilton SQ and start the Kymanto Questline, if you haven't already. Kymanto provides easy quests with great rewards, so complete them as quickly as possible.

- Buy some supplies. You will need some crossbow bolts as well as 30-06 rounds from the Weapon Store, Stims from the General Store, and books. If your intelligence is less than 70, get some academic or science books (science is significantly better), if it's 70 or more, get some BDSM books instead. Weapons and armor aren't that important right now.

- Acquire a slave. More on this on the next section.

Your First Slave

A slave is a useful tool around the house, a way for you to satiate your lust so you don't have to waste your money on whores, and an opportunity to test your slave trainer skills. There are currently three great choices for your first slave:

Juno the Wild:

Juno Rowena can be acquired right away for free and is decently obedient. Her main problem is that she is currently not that good for anything, with her main focus being survival, which is still somewhat underdeveloped. Her quest, though technically complete, has no effect yet because the area that it's associated with (New Eden) is not currently present on the map. This can also be seen as an opportunity to mold her into whatever you want and she can become a decent income earner, as well as bieng relatively easy to train.

Amelia the Milf:

Amelia Stark has to be bought from the market but it's otherwise the easiest to train in the entire game. In fact, already quite submissive from the start, there's barely any obedience training needed at all and it's mostly about teaching her a skill. Which she needs because despite having worked 15 years as a maid, she isn't actually that good at it. She does often get either the perfectionist or workaholic trait or both, making her a great candidate for either Head maid or pantry girl.

Michelle the lost beauty.

Michelle Wolfe is acquired through a quest which involves a fight, but it's nothing you shouldn't be able to handle. Like Juno, she is acquired for free and is decently obedient.

Do note that her quest involves an opportunity to sell her right away for $8000. Tempting as this might be, this isn't recommended. If you're willing to part with her, you can get triple that with a little training, due to her age and beauty, and if not, she can be deveolped into a decent income earner either through academic work, singing, or prostitution.

Upgrading your Home:

Upgrading your home is something you need to start with right away, because the deplorable conditions of your house will negatively affect every interaction with your slaves as well as your reputation.

Your main priority ought to be the bedroom, since the stamina penalty is the most significant, then fix the bathroom, kitchen and livingroom in whichever order you want. After that you can decided wether to move to the garden, which is cheaper, important though not essential and takes less time to upgrade than the rooms proper, or keep upgrading your house for the increase in reputation and happiness.

DO NOT upgrade the house's computer, as it currently has no effect on anything, so it's just a waste of money.

Time (and Stamina) Management:

The game doesn't currently grant more stamina for more sleep. Instead, stamina is granted at a fixed amount each day. What that means is you should be stretching your days as much as possible, ideally ending them at 7:50 am.

Do note, however, that some activities can only be done during certain hours. For example academy courses, home management and slave training can only be done during the day, so you should prioritize these over combat or reading books, which can be done at any point.

The easiest way to recover stamina during the day is to keep at least one slave at home assigned to heal the master. If your stamina is going low, go into your house (or leave and reenter if you wer already there) and she'll heal you, recovering some stamina. It's also possible to take a bath in Crystal Hills or watch the lake at the barrow, but only do so if you're close to the location, otherwise it's not worth it.

Try to move as little as you possibly can to avoid wasting time and stamina. Instead, do as much as you can in the location you're in.

Tip: There's a fast travel option in the lower left part of your screen (the button that looks like a sphere), use it to move around more efficiently.

Mercenary Management

Ansel and the Peasant are by far the cheapest options and, currently, the only real early game mercs, so they should be acquired right away. Ansel even has a couple quests that can bring some profit your way. Don't waste your money improving their gear though, because they're not worth keeping around for long, but do give them rifles, if you find any. After the first few days, feel free to dismiss them or asign them as either guards or scavengers if you really want to keep them.

Loren can be added in for a more powerful party. Somewhat better than the previous two she can actually become a permanent member if you really need the extra firepower, though she's actually rather expensive in the long run because she doesn't provide her own ammo and starts with only leather armor.

After the low tier fights have been dealth with, take a day to travel to Hamah Bay, where you can find the Space Marine (older fans might look for him in the tavern, he no longer appears there), then dedicate a night or two to socialize at the Tavern in Watery Eyes to hear the rumor about the Balck Guard, which you can hire in the Warrior Hall. Having a team with these two will be expensive but they'll carry most fights and you'll be making a ton of money, just be sure that you keep enough money each day to cover their fee.

Slave Management

There are currently three slaves which I consider essential for every game:

Amelia the Milf (Again):

Whether or not you get her as your first slave, you should buy her. She is extremely docile and easy to train, so little time has to be spent on her, she will most certainly have a trait that will make her useful in your household, and her quest has one of the most interesting rewards.

Rebecca the Street Thug:

Rebecca Higgs may be a tough nut to crack but she is an absolute moneymaker. She will make you a fortune fighting as a Gladiatrix, and has not only a huge quest reward but grants a powerful bonus as well (no other slave does).

Aria the Rebel Princess:

Aria Bianchi has to be bought as part of the main quest. She is the best fighter in the game, making her an even bigger gold mine than Rebecca, as long as you enroll her as a Gladiatrix, which you should.

Other than these three, collect whichever one you like based on your personal tastes, though keep in mind not all of them might be equally useful. DON'T just buy several of them at the same time or shortly after one another. Take your time to break one before moving on to the next. You should find them a useful role in your household before bringing in a new girl.

It is always more profitable, not to mention faster to homeschool your slaves. The Academy and Stables take far too long to make a difference. If a slave's skills can't be raised by homeschooling, it's best to just give her another role and just use a different slave.

Tip: While it may be cool, I generally advise to turn off the morning blowjob, because you want to have at least a moderate sexual craving before engaging in bondage, so can actually have sex with the girls during the session, and it doesn't become too long.

Slave training

When it comes to slave training, Bondage is the best tool in your arsenal. This is why I've insisted so much that you put points into bondage and that you raise it quickly. One good Bondage sesson can reduce between 5 to 10 willpower points and raise Corruption by the same amount, although you probably won't see such a strong effect in your first few sessions or if the girl is too strong willed.

Training your slave for anything else (academics, housework, dancing, etc.) should ideally be done once she is well broken, because they tend to learn better when they're naked and harsh discipline is used on them, but with enough willpower, not only can she outright refuse to do this, but it might backfire.

Tip: While defiance may seem like a terrible thing, you actually want to inspire some defiance in an unbroken slave, because this will give you a justification for punishing her, which makes her more open to perverted acts. Just agreeing to be punished will lower her willpower, so you absolutely want to do this.

Tip: If your slave refuses, or just don't reliably take off her clothes for lessons, get her naked in the inventory menu, which is easier to do, then do the lesson.

Increasing your skills

If your intelligence is below 70, read either science or academic books until it reaches that threshold. Once it does, switch to bondage and persuasion books, as well as take 2 courses: Daria's science and Mathematics (in the Academy) and the BDSM course given by Miss Devious (at Devious Tools). Do note that if you're playing as purely good, you don't get much from persuasion books, since they improve mostly Manipulation.

Increasing skills through books should be done AT NIGHT, preferably after midnight, although don't start so late that you can't fit two sessions (roughly 3 hours). It consumes very little stamina while taking several hours, and you need hours during the day to attend courses or train your slaves.

After you've gotten your bondage and persuasion skills to a decent level (70 - 80), it's fine to go back to scientific or academic books or move on to something else entirely. Do remember that science is vastly more important than academics, as it is necesary for crafting and hacking, while academics is only useful for teaching in the Academy.

Increasing physical skills like combat or stamina is fine, once you've gotten those two courses out of the way, but shouldn't be your priority. Phisical training sessions need to be done during the day, and it's generally best to use that time to train slaves, but if you can find the time, by all means.

Crystal Hills

To access Crystal Hills, 1500 influence is required. This isn't too difficult as long as you're eliminating raider gangs and fulfilling quest for the Kymanto Hall. You want to achieve this as soon as possible, since the Arena inside is one of the biggest sources of income, like we've talked about.

To summarize

You want to maximize your time by being as efficient as you can and fitting in as many activities as you can during the day, you'll make more moneyy and grow your character faster.

Your slaves are assets and should always have something productive to do when they're not being trained. Don't waste too much money on them, they should be bringing you money or influence instead.

Bondage is the absolute king of slave training, and should be prioritized as soon as your intelligence reaches 70.