People of the Lantern: Optimised? (Patreon)

I have been recently asked by one of my patrons as to what an "optimal" run/experience of People of the Lantern would be.  Including such items as goals by X year, which expansions to include, innovations to seek and similar.

This isn't something that can be answered with a definitive solution, the semi-random nature of KD:Monster means that there are many curveballs that the game can throw at you, which you will need to adapt to along the way. Also, sometimes opportunities arise which can be taken advantage of and these will shape the direction of your campaign greatly. For example, an early Mask Maker giving you the Death Mask, Antelope Mask or Phoenix Mask can shape things a great deal.

Expansions

Before we go into detail with this, I think it's worth talking about the types of expansions we have in the the game. They fall into a few loose categories. 

Main Quarries

These are the quarries that you intend to hunt most of the time, you can, in truth, add every single quarry to a campaign and you won't suffer as a consquence - you just get options.  However, you will always have some 'main quarries' that you will hunt, at least until you get the items you want from them. They may also be your, farming quarries, default quarries you hunt for resources to use elsewhere.  

The optimal main quarries are:

• White Lion - Early Game only
• Gorm
• Screaming Antelope
• Spidicules
• Dung Beetle Knight
• Sunstalker
• Dragon King (People of the Sun)

The best farming quarries are:

• Screaming Antelope
• Spidicules
• Flower Knight
• Gorm
• White Lion

Some monsters however only need to be hunted for a few specific items before being discarded. In truth, any monster can become these 'splash quarries' but some are more prone to it than others. The reason for this is that they have a few items that are easily gained and very powerful, or they are not worth hunting over and over due to diminishing returns.

The quarries most likely/useful as to be splash encounters are:

• Phoenix
• Lion God
• Dung Beetle Knight
• Dragon King
• Flower Knight

Now, the nemesis monsters are easier to consider, you have additional content ones and replacement content ones. Plus the Lonely Tree - I see no reason to not include the Lonely Tree in every single campaign, so I always do.

The replacement content nemesis monster is the Slenderman; it replaces the King's Man and I feel it's pretty much optimal to include in any campaign where the King's Man would be present because it's a more interesting experience in every single aspect. 

Additional content nemesis monsters are the Manhunter and Lion Knight; they vary a lot between the two, the Manhunter is challenging without being too overpowering, has great items and is always interesting, while the Lion Knight has some great settlement based interactions, but is a terrible showdown experience. So generally I will add the Manhunter, but I think carefully before adding the Lion Knight. 

My simplest answer for what I think the Optimal experience for Lantern on the expansion front is to play with the Green Armor expansions. I find that this set of expansions is very challenging and it also gives you a set of goals to keep you focused along the way. It is, however, unforgiving and you have to deal with the horror that is the Lion Knight.

So my first answer for what expansions to include is:

• Green Armor
• Gorm
• Spidicules (Innovations, Disorders, Fighting Arts only) 
• Flower Knight
• Manhunter
• Lion Knight
• Dung Beetle Knight
• Lonely Tree

However if you do not want to play with Green Armor, I feel that the optimal People of the Lantern expansions are:

• Gorm
• Sunstalker
• Slenderman
• Dung Beetle Knight
• Lion Knight Hybrid Armor cards only

With optional splashes for Manhunter and Lonely Tree.

The reason for my answer is as follows; Slenderman replaces the King's Man and has high synergy with unusual resources from the core monsters (Lion, Antelope, Time Chicken), as do the LK Hybrid Armors - these two monsters reward you for hunting the core trio and they give you a reason to go after those guys multiple times.  The Sunstalker, Gorm and DBK round out the weapon types in the game by giving you more options - Sunstalker helps with bow, axe, sword, spear and dagger progression (cycloid armor makes a shitty weapon type good), Gorm helps with grand, axe, club, shield and dagger progression and the DBK helps with mid to late game Katars + Grand Weapons while also making a great splash monster.

Lonely Tree and Manhunter can be added without much concern because they are extra content - the Manhunter has very high synergy with the Dung Beetle Knight and Sunstalker due to some very cool builds based around the pickaxe/tool belt.

Now we move onto the harder to quantify stuff 

Goals - Crafting and Innovating

The first thing to identify in any campaign is the beats that the nemesis monsters require - nemesis monsters are forced on you, and your choice is either -4 population or to build to be able to beat them. In People of the Lantern the main "checkpoint" monsters are The Butcher and The King's Man/Slenderman.

Quarry monsters on the other hand are optional and they are not so much checkpoints as they are alternative routes. In general terms you want to stick to the LY5 and earlier monsters until you have at least 1 of Dash/Surge and your weapons/survivor base strength is enough that you'll wound against Toughness 10-12 more than 50% of the time.

Additionally, this section is very tough to explain because the game is one of branching paths, your society will unfold in different directions depending on the monsters you hunt, the innovation opportunities you draw, the settlement/hunt events you experience and the gear you craft.  

Gear

The early game for Lantern is very simple gearwise, you are aiming to build to ensure success in the first few fights and beat the Butcher. In essence you seek to build weapons with 2+ strength, gear that provides evasion and bandages/hit location manipulation.  Normally the early game involves farming White Lions until you get what you need (see my Butcher guide for more details on the shopping list to beat the Butcher L1).

Once you are past The Butcher, the next gear gate is the King's Man (Slenderman is more of an innovation gate monster) - essentially your objective at this time is to get to Weapon Crafter level weapons and unlock the Leather Worker for shields + leather armor - this second step requires Ammonia, so innovating starts to become important, whereas before it was strictly optional.

The Manhunter requires the same preparation as the Butcher at this early stage, and the Hand requires the same preparation as the King's Man.

Post The Hand you should be working towards Iron, so Pickaxes become very useful.

Innovations

Oh boy, I've written about this one quite a few times now I think, and essentially there is no right answer. A few trees are far more powerful than others, and some innovations are key to get - however this part of the game branches more than any other, so I can't really go into details - however here are some past articles that I feel help with the concept and experience.

 Innovating - Management of Science in the World of Deck Drafting 

 A Musical Society - The Strongest Innovation Tree? 

 Do NOT Always Be Innovating 

In short however:

• Symposium is great
• Inner Lantern and Paint are essential
• Sculpture is amazing
• Drums, Forbidden Dance and Saga are amazing
• Hovel tree is best picked mid to late game unless you love saviors - Clan of Death is very powerful however and Family + new Partnership are awesome also. Hovel however adds a lot of bloat to the deck with less than exciting innovations.
• Ammonia is essential but can be gotten for free via White Lion or Gorm
• Scrap Smelting is something you want in the mid game so you can get to the Blacksmith.
• Any way of making innovations without innovating is VERY powerful and worth the cost.
• Nightmare Training is very powerful for completing weapon masteries
• Shrine is a huge help early on if you are lacking in armor

Overview

As I've mentioned several times, I find it very difficult to guide a settlement in general terms once you're past the early game, things become too diffuse and specific advice to that nature is very hard. I can however guide settlements already in action if anyone needs that kind of help.

Your settlement pathway in People of the Lantern should generally trend towards the following things:

Better chances of survival via evasion, shields, and stronger armor. With the ultimate goal of Beacon Shields with good armor (Leather, Lantern, Screaming, CE Phoenix, Warlord, Dancer, Rolling).

Blood Paint for 2 survivors.

Hit Location Manipulation - Cats Eye Circlet, Wisdom Potion, Trash Crown, Crest Crown, Blue Charm

Mastery of Spear, Shield, Fist and Tooth and 3-4 offensive weapon types

Getting Leather online by Lantern Year 5-6 and Iron Gear started by Lantern Year 12+

And your overall goal is to be strong enough to wake the Watcher as soon as possible and have the reserves of resources to be able to oxidise a few items - Beacon Shields and Lantern Swords in particular are very powerful  post Watcher.

So my apologies for the vaguer advice when it comes to how to progress through the game, it's just a result of the nature of play in a sandbox game. 

If anyone has any specific questions for certain circumstances I can answer questions however!