[Lizard]

I found a single Strategy which will beat one NPC (the gnome in the bank) reliably every time on all three of his conversations. Is it lame of me to stand there farming him?

I have Reasonable gloves (1 point of reason) at start, and I use:
Greasing the wheels
Itemized Comparison
Extol Virtues.
(Something) Whisper
Catch Phrase

Begin with Greasing, follow up with Itemized and Whisper. Then generate Flattery as you can and play Whisper and Catch Phrse. He feeds you green, so play Itemized at will.

This strategy even works when you can't play green, because his deck is so crippled w/out green he's almost impossible to lose to.

If the server didn't crash, I'd still be there.

My skill is 82;his is 100, so I get decent skill-ups with him.

[ThreadKiller]

take him, make him yours.

[Melios]

I prefer to do round-robin methods. Like today I went on a roll with the Domestics at the Khal bank, and managed to get several Diplomacy skill points and over 10 Domestic Presence or so. I wasn't the only one either so many civic benefits activated. It helped to have the "Sky's the Limit" card civic active though.

[brusw68]

Nothing lame at all about grinding on one NPC with all his conversations! There is, to be frank, a real limit of how much you can do in diplomacy right now. I don't say that to be disparaging! I see real promise in this sphere and can't wait for it to be fully fleshed out. But the reality is, right now, there is not a lot to do yet.

So really you have two options -- grind on one NPC with all his conversations as you have been doing, or grind on 4 NPCs in one type of conversation. To me it is 6 of one, half dozen of the other.

Two warnings though -- as time progresses, you will see a shift on your little gnome to seeing less frequent skill ups and more frequent Domestic presence increases. That is because skill ups are based on difficulty of opponent (how their skill level compares to yours), while presence increases are based on degree of victory (how many "hits" you have left when the gnome drops to 0). The gaining of skill vs. presence seems to be indirectly related, so getting more of one tends to mean getting less of another. Unless you find a high level NPC that you can easily beat. That is the best of both worlds!

Warning 2: With this strategy you are limiting yourself to crude informations. Starting at level 76 you gained access to parlays with Skill 125 NPC. These will give you significant information drops instead of crude, and your turn ins will be categorically better across the board. If presence isn't an issue for your game playing yet, no worries. But if you are starting to feel the itch to get to quests that requres 50 or 75 presence in a station, then broker or significant information is pretty much required.

[Lizard]

Originally Posted by brusw68

Warning 2: With this strategy you are limiting yourself to crude informations. Starting at level 76 you gained access to parlays with Skill 125 NPC. These will give you significant information drops instead of crude, and your turn ins will be categorically better across the board. If presence isn't an issue for your game playing yet, no worries. But if you are starting to feel the itch to get to quests that requres 50 or 75 presence in a station, then broker or significant information is pretty much required.

Yeah, but the only skill 125 NPCs I've met so far are harder to farm, as a single slip-up in the timers means you've lost pretty badly (they only need 5 turns to win). When my skill starts ramping up a bit more (around 90 or so) I'll got back to them. Even so, I've already got a few pieces of Significant info.

[DuckOfDeath]

Originally Posted by Lizard

I found a single Strategy which will beat one NPC (the gnome in the bank) reliably every time on all three of his conversations. Is it lame of me to stand there farming him?

Can you just keep starting parleys with him without having to wait? I find that I usually have to wait a bit if trying to farm a single NPC. So instead I have a few places where there are two or more NPCs that I can farm. Usually one is a bit higher rank than the other so I get skill ups from one and presence from the other.

[brusw68]

In this case he is not doing 1 type of parlay with the gnome, but ALL parlays. By the them he finishes the third one (if it is the gnome I am thinking of), the first one has reset. Which is why I say it is 6 of one, half dozen of the other. There is no difference as far as skill and presence go if you talk to 4 lvl 100 skilled NPCs doing convince, or one lvl 100 NPC and do convince/gossip/interview/incite. There is a difference in that your net change to civic levers will zero, but if you aren't trying to hit levers, oh well.

I do something similiar in Tanvu. There are two crafters, one 125 skill, one 150 skill. I can defeat both of them, every time, with my deck on their Interview and Gossip. So I switch between them. I do two on the 150, two on the 125, and by the time I'm done, the 150 has recharged her first conversation type. Unless I screw up in the play, I can go for hours without taking a step or a break.

[Lizard]

Originally Posted by DuckOfDeath

Can you just keep starting parleys with him without having to wait? I find that I usually have to wait a bit if trying to farm a single NPC. So instead I have a few places where there are two or more NPCs that I can farm. Usually one is a bit higher rank than the other so I get skill ups from one and presence from the other.

Usually, by the time I've done all three parleys, he's cycled back on the first one. If not, it's a <30 second wait, easier than finding another 100 skill to do.

I've also got a deck which beats the skill 125 on the other side of the bank in one convo, so it's 1-2-3 run over, parely, back, etc.

But it's a bit dull, so I've been checking out other places. I really want to see what I get for 'significan't information. Daddy needs some Domestic prescence!

[milow]

I like to find two high skill NPC that I can beat at 2 parley each (interveiw and convince) and just do 4 parley with them. I usually get back to the start right as it refresh for me.

If I am in a city where I cannt use my 2 favortie parley then I look for 3 NPC and just do interviews. I dont tend to try my weaker parlely when just grinding, unless I am really being a glunten for punishment.

[Parallax]

Originally Posted by Lizard

I found a single Strategy which will beat one NPC (the gnome in the bank) reliably every time on all three of his conversations. Is it lame of me to stand there farming him?

I have Reasonable gloves (1 point of reason) at start, and I use:
Greasing the wheels
Itemized Comparison
Extol Virtues.
(Something) Whisper
Catch Phrase

Thats just about the same hand I've been using over and over for the last couple weeks. Except I use my Raki sweet-talk instead of the inticing whisper.

I sit and parley with the same npc over and over sometimes...but its pretty dull, once you figure out how to win the challenge is effectively over and its just a matter of repeation. I know they plan on adding in some more random elements to make it more interesting; just wish it was here already.

[DuckOfDeath]

Originally Posted by Lizard

Usually, by the time I've done all three parleys, he's cycled back on the first one. If not, it's a <30 second wait, easier than finding another 100 skill to do.

Yeah that is basically all I was asking. I am not one to wait around for even those 30 seconds or so. That is why I mentioned that I try to find spots where there are 2 or more guys I can parley with. A lot of times I find the parley to go by so fast when grinding that the first guy only has 2 parleys reset even after I have done 3 on the second guy.

I've also got a deck which beats the skill 125 on the other side of the bank in one convo, so it's 1-2-3 run over, parely, back, etc.

Also of note is that many of the higher level guys you will not be able to beat all 3 parleys so it is good to find spots where there is more people you can parley with to beat on the one you can. For instance when grinding crafter presence I know there are guys that I can only beat in 1 or 2 parleys but there are about 5 of them in the crafter area so I just cycle that 1 parley with 5 different NPCs instead of 3 parleys with 1 or 2 NPCs. Or you may be able to beat them if you switch cards in your deck but that takes longer than going back and forth between NPCs that are close.

But it's a bit dull, so I've been checking out other places. I really want to see what I get for 'significan't information. Daddy needs some Domestic prescence!

Yes grinding diplomacy is very dull. Once you get a deck working it pretty much is the same thing over and over again. I built my deck such that there is very little variance so there is not much difference in the rolls. There really should be more of a hit and miss chance than just having to wait a couple more rounds in your card cooldowns. Perhaps make it so that the amount of influence is randomized a bit as well.