Posted August 11, 2013
I completed the game, going clean through the audit and retaining my work, while having 400 credits on the last day.
Here are my thoughts and advice for anyone attempting their first run.
1) Take your time to make a convenient list of the main information otherwise hidden in the rulebook. You want at least the issuing cities and the districts of Arstotzka, since that information is relevant most often and is hidden very deep. Make sure your eyes will have to travel a minimum distance from the game area to the list. My solution was to run the game in a window and have a word file open next to it.
2) Prepare your workplace for work every day before you open the gates - have the rulebook open on the basic rules page and the criminals bulletin next to it, once it is available.
3) Every day when you have to work with a new document, take your time to construct a new "eye route". That is, experiment with the layout of documents on your desk and the way to check information in them, which demands the least eye movement. Then restart the day and blaze through.
4) Use the logic of the game to your advantage. In non-scripted encounters there is a maximum of one of each - lacking document, discrepancy in the documents and discrepancy in the interrogation. So if you have already found and resolved one discrepancy in the documents, you can stop looking for others. This saves a lot of time.
5) Don't waste time explaining the discrepancy until you are actually required to do so. Just stamp away.
6) Buy the first three booth upgrades as soon as prompted. They contribute significantly to your speed.
7) Once you get a gun, make your shots quick and make them count.
8) Detain people when prompted. At least after the guard moves to the prison.
9) There are exactly two times in the game when you HAVE to break the rules. If you aim for the 20th ending don't break them elsewhere.
10) I was going through my game alternating food and heat consumption to save money and ended with a 400 credits proficit, while buying everything when prompted. It should be possible to complete the game without limiting yourself at all, but you'd have to exceed my average of 16 applicants per quiet day or abstain from moving to level 5 apartments.
Here are my thoughts and advice for anyone attempting their first run.
1) Take your time to make a convenient list of the main information otherwise hidden in the rulebook. You want at least the issuing cities and the districts of Arstotzka, since that information is relevant most often and is hidden very deep. Make sure your eyes will have to travel a minimum distance from the game area to the list. My solution was to run the game in a window and have a word file open next to it.
2) Prepare your workplace for work every day before you open the gates - have the rulebook open on the basic rules page and the criminals bulletin next to it, once it is available.
3) Every day when you have to work with a new document, take your time to construct a new "eye route". That is, experiment with the layout of documents on your desk and the way to check information in them, which demands the least eye movement. Then restart the day and blaze through.
4) Use the logic of the game to your advantage. In non-scripted encounters there is a maximum of one of each - lacking document, discrepancy in the documents and discrepancy in the interrogation. So if you have already found and resolved one discrepancy in the documents, you can stop looking for others. This saves a lot of time.
5) Don't waste time explaining the discrepancy until you are actually required to do so. Just stamp away.
6) Buy the first three booth upgrades as soon as prompted. They contribute significantly to your speed.
7) Once you get a gun, make your shots quick and make them count.
8) Detain people when prompted. At least after the guard moves to the prison.
9) There are exactly two times in the game when you HAVE to break the rules. If you aim for the 20th ending don't break them elsewhere.
10) I was going through my game alternating food and heat consumption to save money and ended with a 400 credits proficit, while buying everything when prompted. It should be possible to complete the game without limiting yourself at all, but you'd have to exceed my average of 16 applicants per quiet day or abstain from moving to level 5 apartments.
Post edited August 11, 2013 by Murfallo