I've tried a combat build, and you never really have enough money to do anything with it. Unless ofc you use the skip combat cheat. If you use that then yeah your way will be faster. Otherwise I can't see ANY way combat would ever be faster with the paltry rewards you get from it combined with the reduced quest rewards. And bare in mind, the above was said assuming you intend to pay off the debt, not if you intend to bum rush the quests to get rid of the debt.
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"I've tried a combat build, and you never really have enough money to do anything with it.
I started refining combat builds to be able to be able to shop from the Exotic trader on w1 d7. A good combat build can clear 4k+ gold in the first six days, easily--and no "skip combat cheat" is required.
"reduced quest rewards. "
My combat builds always have 6 CHA on the MC (4 dates on week 1 is great for stat building), so I also get maximum quest rewards.
"the above was said assuming you intend to pay off the debt, not if you intend to bum rush the quests to get rid of the debt."
1) Getting rid of the debt before the second collection saves a bunch of money.
2) I think combat is a lot more profitable than you think it is.
I'm doing a run with 2 starter orcs and as of the morning of W:2, D:7, I'm sitting on a pile of 1,204 cotton (which can be sold for just over 12k) that I looted out of bandit forts. (I looted a lot more than that, mind, but the 12k worth of cotton should be enough to illustrate that I'm hardly hurting for gold.)
Hmm, its been a while since the last time I tried a combat build so I'll give it another shot. Truth be told the absolute fastest method (for early money) I've hit so far is fishing then immediately going into woodcutting asap, then getting iron and smelting them into steel. I'm interested to see if going combat can be faster. Why Orcs in particular? The unique class? I'm guessing for the earth damage boost on the aoe. As for why I do not get rid of the debt, I like the increased challenge that it provides.
You have the idea.
Orcs get Berserker, which is 20% extra earth and fire damage, +10 physics and +5 speed and unlocks advanced combat skills. Pair that with Earth Shatter and Fire Cleave and a pair of orcs can kill most foes in Bandit Forts (including non-buffed Assassins) before they ever get a chance to counterattack.
(Dragonkin and Valkyries are also OP and can be substituted in with only minor changes to overall gameplay.)
I'm wondering if a hybrid strategy would be best. Start off with two orcs to farm Bandit Forts starting around day 6 and have them powerlevel your other characters, including the prostitutes.
Tried your method, without a healer it simply doesn't work. With a healer its too slow. By W2 D7 on both of my other builds I have about 3x the amount of $ I had in my 2 attempts with all combat classes, including the one with 2 orcs. Not to mention if you count actual real time (not the weeks or days but minutes you spend doing it) combat is just far too slow. That being said if it works for you just have at it. I recommend you try my method too though.
"I recommend you try my method too though."
My first priority with this game is researching a hybrid method--better prostitutes via orc power-leveling.
Anywho, here's how I got 2 orcs and Daisy to clear a Bandit Fort on W:1, D: 5
MC: Orc, Fighter, Curious, 6 PHY 6 CHA
Starting Peon: Fighter, Curious, 6 PHY, 6 SEX, 6 WIT (WIT is mostly for +xp, but also lets the peon double as the party thief)
Dungeon order: Farmed Goblin Dens on days 1 and 2, started farming Bandit Dens on day 3, cleared one Bandit Fort on day 5. Relied heavily on shards and bandages from the shop + one turn spent resting.
And, yes, days 1 and 2 are RNG reliant--but not as much as you might think. Getting life shards from shrines goes a LONG way towards mitigating other RNG effects.
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MC leveling order: Attendant, Archer, Berserker, Rogue, SEX 6 for speed boost
Peon leveling : Thief, Archer, Berserker, Rogue, Watchdog, Sadist, Worker
Daisy leveling: PHY 3, Rogue, Harlot, Succubus, Archer, True Pet
Additional skills: Berserker unlocks Earth Shatter--get that ASAP on the orcs for a huge spike in power. Don't go into Bandit Forts without Fire Cleave ; you'll want that for burning down Ballistae.
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Both orcs have a base speed of 60; I found a Belled Collar that boosted the peon orc to speed 65.
MC and Peon start bandit fights with Earth Shatter. Two earth shatters kill most Bandit Fort foes outright (and sometimes one Earth Shatter clears the entire board). Healing becomes MUCH less of a problem when most of your enemies die before they can react.
Daisy is mostly there to leech xp and to stun the most dangerous remaining foe (if any) with Attract. Archer gives Daisy extra speed and lets her equip Basic Combat weapons; put the highest +hit chance weapon you can find on her.
Test run of hybrid strategy (two orc fighters, remaining NPCs mostly prostitutes) is complete.
In game time is Night of W: 2 D:6.
Gold counter reads "14k". I have 10k worth of just cotton and assorted armors/weapons/etc. worth a few thousand more.
Mansion has 20 rooms, first Master's Bedroom Upgrade, and Forge I completed. Upgrade schedule has Tailor I, Forge II and Farming: Silk in progress.
Guild Points earned so far: Fighters 580, Workers 496, Servants 688, Mages 420.
#1 prostitute is Daisy with a job rating of 272.7. Two other workers have a prostitution rating of just over 100. Total combined prostitute rating is 930.5. I kind of lost track of how much they earn per turn because the gold counter is now reporting my gold to the nearest thousand.
I think I did okay.
If it works out how you wrote it then yes thats good. Its definitely more than the prostitute strat I use, at least in the beginning stages. Less gold than the steel strat though, but seems to keep up with it in upgrades and beat it out in guild points. I suppose the main differences are that I never take recruitable NPCs like daisy, and I don't skip the debt. I'm guessing you swapped the guild quests over to medium or hard for week 2? Otherwise those points are too high.
I've refined the double orc strategy further--it's better to start both as Archer and pick up Fighter later.
Archer makes the starting fights MUCH smoother.
I'm going out on a limb and calling Double Orc Archer as the strongest starting setup in the game. They can take down a Bandit Fort as early as W: 1, D: 3.