Curious Expedition‘s in-game tutorial is excellent guide on how to start playing. But a tutorial can only cover so much, and there’s lots to learn in this challenging roguelike.
Without revealing too much about strategy—which you’ll want the fun of discovering on your own—here are 10 things I wish I knew as a newbie explorer.
1. Three ways to end an expedition
The ideal way to end is by entering a Golden Pyramid. It’s the only way that grants a “Speed Bonus” to your Fame points, calculated based on how quickly you reached the Pyramid compared to your rivals.
The other two ways—hot air balloon and ship—are considered “aborting” an expedition. But they still allow you to continue the game.
The hot air balloon is a last resort. To use it, click on the balloon icon to the left of your inventory. To set up the balloon, you need one other humanoid party member besides yourself. The balloon has space for all five party members but only two inventory slots! For every party member you abandon, you can create one extra slot for inventory in the balloon. Talk about cruel.
Alternatively, you can backtrack to your ship. It might be a long way off, but your ship will transport your whole party and your entire inventory.
2. Fame, Funds, Value
Items in Curious Expedition may have up to three numerical values: Fame, Funds, and Value. Here’s what they mean.
Fame: The number of Fame points you’ll earn by donating this item to the British Museum after completing an expedition.
Funds: The amount of Funds you’ll earn by selling this item after completing an expedition.
Value: The subjective value of this item while bartering during an expedition. Depending on the person you barter with, the value may increase or decrease. For example, Colorful Marbles may be of low value to a missionary but of high value to a native.
3. Items to donate and items to sell
Aim to bring home items worth high Fame (to donate), as well as items worth high Funds (to sell). You need Fame points to win the game. But you also need Funds to buy equipment for each new expedition. Being poorly equipped reduces your odds of making it home.
Funds are also useful for increasing inventory space. Before sailing off on a new expedition, you have the option of “animal improvement.” By paying increments of 50 Funds, you can increase the capacity of party animals to carry inventory. More inventory space lets you bring more treasures home! Conversely, whenever party members die, you lose their inventory slots—and this may force you to discard useful equipment.
4. Moon Stones and Golden Seals: You need ‘em
Here’s something I really wish I’d known. In Expeditions 4, 5, and 6, you won’t be able to enter a Golden Pyramid without one of these keys. Buried pyramids need Golden Seals, while unburied pyramids need Moon Stones.
Golden Seals are locations on the map. Expedition 4 requires you to interact with one seal; Expeditions 5 and 6 require two seals.
Moon Stones are collectable items. They are found in shrines and tombs. You can begin collecting Moon Stones from Expedition 3 onwards. Expedition 4 requires one stone; Expeditions 5 and 6 require two stones.
5. Handy items to have
I’ve found these particularly useful on most expeditions:
Torch – For caves. You don’t wanna break a leg.
Whisky – For bartering or restoring sanity. Valued highly by everyone. Might turn you into an alcoholic, though.
Camp – Rest almost anywhere on the world map. Just remember to pack it up whenever you move on. The only downside of the Camp is that it takes a few extra days to set up and pack up.
Terrain-specific gear – Reduce movement costs in rough terrain: machete (jungle), climbing gear (hill), snowshoes (deep snow), rope (swamp).
6. Keep sane, then carry on
When your sanity is low, specifically below 30 points, random bad events tend to occur. When your sanity is really high, good events may occur.
7. Combat: Easy dice combos
There are a wide variety of valid dice combinations in combat. Here are a few easy combos you’re likely to have access to:
Sword + Eye = Precise Attack, 3 damage
Eye + Eye = Observation, 1 defense
Eye + Mind = Lookout, 2 defense
Spear items can be used in combat to create one-time-use Spear dice. A Spear dice cannot be used alone. It must be paired with another die (either Sword, Eye, or Shield). For example:
Spear + Sword = Spear Attack, 4 damage
Spear + Eye = Spear Throw, 4 damage
Spear + Shield = Spear Defense, 4 damage, 3 defense
If you’re itching to know ALL the dice combos right now, here they are.
8. Promotions make employees happy
Promoting your party members will increase their loyalty and level up their class skill. For example, a Trader with the Haggle skill can get a discount while bartering. The better their Haggle skill, the bigger the discount. Likewise, an Artist can create paintings at certain locations. The better their Artist skill, the higher the Fame/Funds/Value these paintings will be.
To promote a party member, you need sufficient Exploration points. Exploration points are shown in the star icon on the screen’s upper-right corner. Gain these points by revealing new locations (the question marks on maps) and uncovering new regions. Promoting members consumes points.
9. Compasses that don’t point north
At the beginning of an expedition, your pyramid-finding compass will be wildly inaccurate. As you uncover more of the map, the compass may become more accurate. However, the compass will always be swayed by magnetic mountains (those sparkly green mountains), if you’re close enough to one. You can blow up magnetic mountains with Dynamite, though I wouldn’t bother.
10. Missionary as mailman
At Mission houses, you can entrust up to three items (usually high-fame treasures) to be shipped home to London. This is a great way to free up inventory space. To do this, access the Mission storage room and place items in the first three slots. At any time during the expedition, you can retrieve or exchange these items at the Mission. Don’t worry, the missionary won’t steal your stuff!
After several playthroughs, if you find yourself wanting to know more, this Wiki page has plenty of answers. Enjoy your next expedition!