Sultan's Game
General Advice
- The game is amenable to save scumming via Alt-F4 after saving (or choosing to Abandon the run, which is time-consuming). RNG resets on reloading, including random events and Sultan Card draws.
- Some time-limited events (marked with the red clock) will respawn after expiring (with a few days' delay) or after you repeat their trigger. Some won't, and annoyingly there doesn't seem to be a built-in way to tell in advance which is which.
- Prioritise getting more followers in the early game to improve your action economy. (This becomes less of an issue once you start unlocking additional starting followers via meta upgrades.) Some easy people to grab early (and where to start their quests) are Lumera bookstore, Jawadprison, Nabhanibrothel, ZakiRiot event, RaedOccupied Houseevent.
- The numbers at the top of the screen are your scores in Renown, Infamy, Influence, Notoriety and Insight. The main function of these is for gating the appearance of various events. Influence and Notoriety are the most important ones in terms of unlocking more events. You generally want to keep Infamy low, as most of the events it spawns are detrimental. The random multiple-choice events that appear every few days are the main way of changing these scores.
- If the Opposition of the character currently speaking in The Grand Game event outweighs the Support of anyone else present, you get a Slander. Getting 3 leads to some difficult challenges from the angry Sultan. The best way to get people to Support you is by passing the check to chat to them when they appear in the Bookshop, so sending someone to the Bookshop regularly (preferably a Noble as they get a bonus to the check) will reduce the pressure on you in the long run.
- Deal with Wife's Resentment promptly - it can lead to some very unpleasant events. It's worth keeping the various items that can break it in reserve, especially if you're planning to break Carnality cards.
Tips for breaking Sultan Cards
General
- You can see which Sultan Cards are left in the deck by speaking to the Magician and asking about Progress. This can help you keep track of which cards are more likely to come your way.
- As far as I can tell, the Sultan Card RNG isn't weighted in any way - the game can and will give you a Gold card as your very first draw, so sometimes you'll just have to suck it up and reroll.
- The best way to survive long-term is to store up events and resources which don't expire so that you can use them when the corresponding card comes around. Even if you're trying to win by breaking all the cards, delaying until close to the execution date gives you more time to build up your followers and resources.
- If a time-limited opportunity to break a high-tier card appears, it can be worth pushing for the next card or rerolling to get it out of the way. However, there are non-time-limited options to break every card of every tier below Gold, though you might have to make some unpleasant sacrifices.
Carnality
- Probably the easiest category to deal with. While it does come up sometimes in events (including as a way of humiliating enemies), you have a lot of options in reserve.
- This is obviously the main purpose of the House of Delights, and the only way to start the quests linked to the sex workers in question. Using Carnality when paying for sex will avoid generating Wife's Resentment. You'll want to start Shama's quest on most runs, as it gives you ways to break multiple Gold cards later.
- Use Carnality in Methinks to get the option to sleep with a Follower. If they don't have Passion, it's non-consensual and the game will punish you for it. By default, the only consensual option is your wife, but you might spark Passion in others through their quests.
- Present Carnality in The Grand Game to proposition the concubine currently attending. The card breaks instantly, but the Sultan will impose a price you need to pay, which will get you executed if you fail. This is the only way to start their storylines, which are all helpful for the Rebellionending.
- Gold card: Zazieis the only option unless you've upgraded your wife via metaprogress. You'll need to be rich...
Extravagance
- Also usually straightforward to deal with. Pretty much any event that requires you to pay money will have the option to break Extravagance, plus quite a few of the events generated via the Bathhouse (which are also used for Conquest).
- Pretty much any event that requires you to pay money will have the option to break Extravagance, plus quite a few of the events generated via the Bathhouse (which are also used for Conquest).
- Using Extravagance in Methinks lets you upgrade your house. This will then generate more money for you when you Manage it. This can only be done once.
- You can use Extravagance in the House of Delights to pay double for the sex worker. Unlike with Carnality you still get Wife's Resentment.
- In addition to the basic renovations, various Treasures such as the telescopecan be added to the house as well via Methinks. These are good ones to keep in reserve.
- Gold card: unless you use it for renovations, you'll need to add specific artifacts from quests starting with ShamaorMahir.
Conquest
- This is stuff related to fights, battles and adventures, as opposed to Bloodshed which is cold-blooded murder. It's fairly easy to stack up a set of suitable events in advance.
- Using the Bathhouse will generate various adventures for you to fight animals, bandits etc. These are all either timeless or can be respawned after expiring. Most only work up to Bronze, but the RhinoandHamar brothersevents take up to Silver.
- Qais requires a Silver Conquest card to progress his quest, one of very few times an event outright requires a Sultan Card rather than it being optional. Fortunately, the event is timeless so it's worth getting his quest going sooner rather than later so you can have it ready.
- Gold card: the only realistic way is via Shama'squest, which also requires high Notoriety.
Bloodshed
- There's plenty of people out there to kill, but getting rid of this without killing people you might want to keep around is trickier. Lots of people's quests require you to kill someone at some point, but these events tend to be timed and therefore hard to plan around.
- Using Bloodshed in Methinks lets you kill a Follower. Obviously a last resort.
- A few Conquest events will put people in the Prison who you can keep around as future Bloodshed targets, up to Bronze.
- A few random events will result in you taking prisoners e.g. the friend who owes you moneywhich can likewise be kept in reserve.
- Using the card in The Grand Game will result in you challenging the noble currently speaking to a duel. Just about everyone who speaks in court has an associated questline, although some are much more substantial than others, so be cautious.
- Nayla'squest practically begs you to use a Silver Bloodshed card to resolve it, and gives you a second opportunity if you don't!
- Gold card: there are two targets by default: Abduland theRoaming Swordsman. Challenging the former in court is very tough; you'll get better opportunities if you do some work for him. Killing him too early will stopNawfal'squest line, and said quest line will eventually give an opportunity to use the Gold card at an appropriate time.
Endings
- Win the game: the most basic, no associated achievement. Just break all the cards.
- Escape: Your wife will unlock the option a few weeks in. You'll need help fromMinal,Mahirand/orSadaniand possiblyLumera.
- Slay the dragon: You'll need to recruitAdilaandJabal.
- Rebellion: You'll need to doNawfaland/orthe Roaming Swordsman'squests, but also just do as many people's quests as possible in order to rank up the associated card.
- There are other endings, but they need metaprogression unlocks.