Ok, this is better than expected, but it's still rough as fuck. Also, does anyone know how to fix / how to scroll on the "give gift" screen - I bought x50 of all the minor buffing items, now I can't actually give any of the specific gifts I need to. So.. if anyone knows, please tell me, otherwise I'm going to have to edit the save manually.
Tips:
1) Use
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to give yourself infinite cash. Just do it: you don't want to be juggling the economy with the in-your-face difficulty cliff that is the game's UI / mechanics.
1a) I'd advise giving yourself at least 20 free stars as well, as I didn't see any mechanic (that is explained, or announces itself) to get more.
1b) You can
ONLY RAISE LOVE STATS ON WOMEN BY USING CONFIDENCE. You can use skills to see scenes, and there are a few scattered skill checks in conversations, but you won't raise their love. So, you spend confidence to raise the bar, and *always* upgrade that skill first. Skills can be raised by various actions. Some actions give a lot more love than others. e.g. Clair blanket peek gives a stupid amount for only 2 stars. Experiment.
1c) Same for camp level - although the game suggests it'll raise itself somehow, but doesn't (?)
2) Inventory issues: as above, don't buy
anything you don't need specifically, (
other than generic upgrade materials (wood, stone) Edit: don't buy these either, they are usable via inventory to boost a current build (not a requirement to actually build anything) and you build stuff in x3 actions if you raise your stats, so forget these totally) otherwise you'll soft-lock yourself out of giving gifts. Sigh.
2a) You can use items in your inventory by pressing ? (top left), then clicking your Avatar, then selecting from the list (which *does* have a scroll bar). And yes, you'll have to repeat this each time, because the Dev hates you. The gwunt decks give random cards, which might totally ruin your original deck, but here's to opening 180+ of them to clear my inventory, siiiigh. You can bug this out by clicking fast when the text appears, and then use multiples without exiting, but no idea if this also skips the buff. Given I had 400+ items to clear, I didn't care at this point. It doesn't work on Gwunt decks, fml.
3) The "
?" button is your friend, as it allows you to upgrade buildings and clear areas. It's the top icon, above your Avatar on the top left of the screen. You can use this to upgrade areas multiple times - but not huts, apparently. I've not worked out how to upgrade the job huts at all so far.
3a) Various unlocks are time tied / upgrade tied, as are new camp staff. You'll get visitors past day 7, and later you'll get another camp next door. So don't worry too much about what upgrade to put in the 1st hut (put art, it's the only skill you'll have a staff use before new ones arrive)
3b) The various NPCs and new areas are also unlocked in the same way - eventually you'll have 4+ areas with multiple zones in each to visit. Just keep upgrading until they unlock.
3c) It is a sandbox, and irritatingly (are you surpised with this dev? I'm not) you cannot see where camp followers are at all. So, yeah: lots of RNG searching. No time-table I could find, either.
4) Gwunt is cheesable, using the same tactics of the original version. Basically, try to get the opposition to burn themselves out winning the first hand and then use all your high cards in the 2nd, saving only 1 or 2 for the last round (by which time the opponent will have zero cards). It worked in the Witcher 3, it works here. This means > 1st round, play as many lowest cards as possible (4-6 of them), then lose. Then 2nd round play 4 or so highest cards, saving only 1 for the last round. It works. Save scumming advised.
~
Will be back with more once RSI from inventory clearing has died down.