AlexMaxback, the game is deliberately riddled with bad mechanics and bad options, to make it similar to real life in crisis – where the most things you can do, the most places you can go to, jobs you can take, the most people you may associate with or help...
Would be either a waste of time, or would repay you with harm and danger. 😉 It's all BY DESIGN. 😈
If you were some homeless refugee girl trying to survive on your own – of course, most jobs would be exploitation, many groups would try to capture you into labor or sex slavery, most sources of money or food would be scarce and dangerous, organizations would be corrupt, people would be not caring and untrustworthy, there would be no places to sleep, maintain hygiene, etc, etc. Instead, there would be constant hunger, depression, and close calls of getting harmed.
What I can recommend you, as a 1'st time player – use game theory.
Make lists of mechanics you can earn coins with, mechanics you can get food with, places you can sleep at, etc...
All are slightly better or worse(use timer IRL to compare their efficiency).
And once you discover the better ones(I don't wanna spoil them) – life would get better, little by little.
You'll finally get a breathing space, and ability to explore. ☺️
Remember, that LonaRPG is a special game, and there's only 1 time you can play it the first time. 🥰
a good tip needs flexibilty or experience.
There are many ways to solve a problem in this game, ones that even the dev didnt intend it to be.
The true joy of the game is when you stop taking Defeat for granted and actually retry.
In rude layman's terms.... gitgud, lol.
Why powerup or become sneaky when you can just.... BUY BOMBS AND KABOOM YOUR ENEMIES?! lol
When I played first time, which was back in 2021 or so – I thought that if I worked hard at Big Momma's tavern, I would have enough to sleep at, have food, and would eventually save up 20 gold coins to escape from the island... 😇
I was a completely different person IRL back then, too...
For example, I wasn't allowing anyone to touch Lona, even when preforming dancing job – I was taking away some clothes to tease, and would put them back on not to arouse the crowd too much... And if I overdid it, I made sure to escape to my room, close the door and go to sleep – so bad guys didn't touched my Lona. 😇
Well, different times I guess... Different eras. 🧐
As you may figured out, it's not easy to progress in the game that way. It's exactly like IRL, being stuck at an exploitative job.
Where you would work for 40 years, and then would be kicked out without 0 regrets, ending up on the street as poor as you've been at 20 y.o. only starting. 😉
So, little by little, I tried to make more coins, here and there. In any possible ways.
First, bending more to the audience during dances, getting carried out...
Which a few tims resulted in Lona actually getting caught and raped. 😘 That's how I first lost virginity in that game.
And that's where things went downhill for me in that game. I was re-installing it every half a year or so, finding and tryng new things.
Lona tried to make money as a dancer who gave her all and then also took the rape with 0 prob, Lona worked as a prostitute in different districts, worked as a beggar, as a burglar, as a thief, as a pickpocket, as a con artist...
Heck, things went so far, at some point I was going to goblin tower(one under church), collecting meat of dead people, smoking it, and selling it in huge quantities to the bank, which actually gave me first good money. Like 1.5 gold coins per 30 minutes. 😉
I also tried to be a "priestess" at the church(who knows, would know 👀), tried to do quests in the guild, tried making money at the arena, tried travelling across map, once even ended up on some sex island filled with pink flowers, which I collected by 100s and then sold for a pretty penny. 😉
Damn, I've even pimped Cocona, who was a girl with a mind of a 5 y.o. and who trusted me 100%. 🥲
So yeah, dude – the sole idea of the game, is finding ways to make money, where it is incredibly hard making even a few coins – to escape from that hell hole. Eventually the ticket price would get to 30 gold coins(inflation), and you have to be able to get there, one way or another...
And like 99% of things you could make in the game, is a waste of time. You can trust me on that. 😉
But still it was good fun going through it all. 😊
The game actually even taught me many lessons IRL. Both in business, and life in general. It even has philosophic value to it. 🤌
(like burning 3 abomination nests, and absolutely 0 souls not giving 2 shits of a fuck – like not even letting me, half dying, starving, and covered in filth into some town, because I didn't had a stupid ID, lmao that was golden 🏆)
Ooh, yeah those kind of jobs kinda suck when it's the only thing you know. That's why I like travelling between towns.
My baseline for SURvival is Rain Forest (Eastern Gate) with Smoked Meat and Dry Meals at 10 SUR via Dark Cauldron. 🍖
Add the Crystal Mine repeat quest, which is a good incentive for Mystery Meat and getting Rations for traveling.
Thief and Steal is hard to get a win streak even with 20 SCU, so I abandoned that altogether. 😱
Inflation = World Difficulty (RNG for Preacher in towns)
Nice, a lot of moolah! 👌
And yeah, putting all my IDs in the bank is my own ignorance.
My constant lesson here is that Lona's Companions are definitively stronger in terms of STAmina and attacks, got a whole lot of money with their skills raiding the nests + Mend Soul Build. 💪
Whereas I need to eat a whole lot, rest a lot, and trying not to die via STAmina exhaustion. 👍