Actions

Everything you can do in Cultist Simulator is based around cards and actions.

• Actions are the events that happen in the game. Some can be initiated by the player, while many automatically occur as time passes or in response to the player's actions.
• Cards are the resources created by actions and consumed by actions, like tools, knowledge, people, for example. Not all cards are positive. Some, if not many, of them are on the darker side of things, especially since you're a cultist. A prime example of such cards is a Human Corpse, not exactly what you would call positive. These traits of cards are described as aspects in the game.

See Cards § Actions and Cards to see how actions and cards work together.

The following is a list of Actions (also known as Verbs) which can be taken in Cultist Simulator. All Actions initiated by the player require one or more specific card to be placed into it, and the combinations and number of cards used can affect its outcome. Other actions will automatically consume a specific card if it is available, which can lead to positive or negative outcomes.

Permanent Actions

• Permanent Actions
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These Actions will remain on the board after being completed, and can be repeated indefinitely. Most of these Actions are player-initiated.

• Work - Allows the player to do work for a living, fulfill commissions, or perform rituals. Also allows the player to achieve the third level of Temptation.
• Time Passes - Automatically consumes 1 Funds every 60 seconds. Each cycle advances the Season.
• Study - Allows the player to translate books, study books, merge lores, and merge influences. Also necessary for a few starting cases if the player plays as an Aspirant.
• Dream - Allows the player to dream their way through Ways, nullify Dread and Fascination, and heal Ill Health.
• Explore - Allows the player to explore the city, Secret Histories lores, or Locations along with cult members.
• Talk - Allows the player to speak with NPCs, the players Cult, and the player's Cult Location. Through doing so, the player can start cults, promote believers, imprison believers, destroy evidence, kill rivals, and kill adversaries.

Temporary Actions

These actions may periodically appear on the board and disappear after being completed at least once. Most of these Actions are automatic.

Repeatable

These actions appear after satisfying certain conditions. They are repeatable.

• No Health is Left - Started when certain magnets prompt for Health but you have nothing left.

  Automatically consumes 1 Health if available. If you cannot provide one in time, the game will conclude with the "My Body is Dead" ending once the timer expires. Can also take a wounded Cultist and kill it.

• Starvation - Started when failing to provide Funds to Time Passes.

  Automatically consumes 1 Health and produces 1 Hunger.

• The Price of Joy - A possible result from using Funds with Dream.

  After 15 seconds, it becomes Sickness action.

• Exultation - A possible result from working with An Appointment to a Quiet Parish.

  After 30 seconds, yield at least 1 Funds and maybe Mystique or Notoriety.

• The Benefits of Privacy - May appear when using any Headquarters with the Secret aspect.

  Draw a Reputation card, take 180 seconds to destroy it.

Only Once

These actions can only be triggered once per game.

• Choose Founding Principles - Started by talking to an acquaintance while you have no Cult.

  Allows one to form a Cult based on a certain Lore type.

• Season of Rags - Started by talking to Poppy Lascelles and agreeing to her deal.

  After 300 seconds, taking a follower or killing you. Summoned and Hirelings are excluded.

• Belief? - Only in Physician Legacy. I could give in to the dreams. but they will devour my Reason.

  Repeats indefinitely until given 1 Reason. Returns the following results:

  • 1 Passion
  • A Locksmith's Secret
  • A Watchman's Secret
  • Temptation: Enlightenment
  • Unlock Talk

Seasons

One of these actions will be executed every cycle of Time Passing:

• Season of Silence - These are the days of anticipation.
  

  Nothing happens.

• Season of Ambitions: Exotic Cravings? - This is the season that the winds of the Wood reverse direction: a time when appetites and mortals both rise.

  One step toward ascension.

• Season of Ardours: Trysts and Interludes - We are all of us both ape and angel.

  Your beloved comes to meet you (if you have any), failing to properly respond will increase their Resentment. Success gives you Contentment and one of the following memory cards, some of which can be dreamed to get some useful Influences:

  • Fleeting Reminiscence
  • Bittersweet Memory
  • Passionate Memory
  • Pleasant Memory

• Season of Despair: Bleak Thoughts - Night waits for me.

  Automatically consumes up to 3 Dread or Contentment if available. At three Dread, the timer ends the game. This can be warded of with Contentment, as the Dread counter will go down with each Contentment consumed.

  Initially it will not grab Contentment and will simply vanish after the first cycle if there is no Dread for it to grab. Otherwise, after consuming a Dread, it will keep looping until it either consumes enough Dread to end the game or consumes enough Contentment to bring it's counter back down to zero, at which point it will vanish.

• Season of Sickness: Sickness - Malign influences taint the night air.

  Automatically consumes 1 Health and produces An Affliction or kills a wounded follower.

• Season of Suspicion: The Wrong Kind of Attention - Am I being watched?

  If there's any Hunter available they will start searching for clues to build a case against you. If there's no Hunter, a new one may appear.

• Season of Visions: A Trembling in the Air - Such sights.

  Automatically consumes up to three Fascination or Dread or Fleeting Reminiscence if available. At three Fascination, the timer ends the game. This can be warded off with Dread or Fleeting Reminiscence, as the Fascination counter will go down with each card consumed.

  Initially it will not grab Dread or Fleeting Reminiscence and will simply vanish after the first cycle if there is no Fascination for it to grab. Otherwise, after consuming a Fascination, it will keep looping until it either consumes enough Fascination to end the game or consumes enough Dread or Fleeting Reminiscence to bring it's counter back down to zero, at which point it will vanish.

Random

These actions randomly appear when performing related actions. The conditions required are loose, so they can appear from just anywhere and are difficult, but not impossible, to intentionally triggered.

• The Course of the Heart - May appear after any action involving Heart; after 30 seconds, produces Vitality.
• Old Unhappy Far-off Things - May appear after any action involving Moth; after 30 seconds, produces Restlessness.
• A Light in the Skull - May appear after any action involving Lantern; after 30 seconds, produces Erudition.
• The Place Behind Desire - May appear after any action involving Grail; after 30 seconds, produces Glimmering.
• The Dark, the Light - After 30 seconds, produces Glimmering.
• Night Terrors - After 30 seconds, produces Dread.
• New Colours - After 30 seconds, produces Fascination.

Curses

When you fail to dispel a curse on an expedition, a temporary action appears on the board with a 30% chance to trigger every sixty seconds. They disappear once triggered.

• Something's Come Back With Us - Triggered by The Worms in the World
• Dormant Fifth Eye Curse - Triggered by The Fifth Eye Curse
• Dormant Dry Soul Curse - Triggered by Dry Soul Curse
• Dormant Creeping Breath Curse - Triggered by The Creeping Breath Curse

Unused

• A Pleasant Day - Automatically produces 1 Contentment.

In the Exile Legacy

Permanent Actions

• Permanent Actions
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These Actions will remain on the board after being completed, and can be repeated indefinitely. Most of these Actions are player-initiated.

• Employ - Allows the player to run Operations, purchase Connections and Assets, and attack Reckoners.
• Time - Unlike typical gameplay, there are no Seasons; every 60s, this has a chance of producing a Reckoner action.
• Travel - Allows the player to go to new Destinations, begin Capers, and send allies to create False Trails.
• Reconnoitre - Allows the player to discover Opportunities, Distractions, and Shrines in their current city.
• Relinquish - Allows the player to sell or abandon Stolen Years and Assets, destroy Traces and Reckoner Corpses, and heal Wounds
• Communicate - Allows the player to speak with allies and Ligeians, scout new Destinations, send cash ahead to new locations, and act on Temptation: Defiance and Escape.

There is also a chance of temporary actions such as The Course of the Heart being triggered by actions in the Exile legacy.

Reckoner Actions

• Reckoner Actions
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Reckoner Actions may appear every 60s, with the chance of appearance increasing with the number of Traces on the board.

• Reckoner Informants - Will call for an Assassin or Operative if there are Traces on the board; otherwise, may create Traces itself.
• Reckoner Assassin - Attacks the player directly, with the chance to create a Wound.
• Reckoner Operative - Attempts to steal or destroy the player's Assets or Connections.
• Underboss - May attack directly or attempt to steal from the player; takes twice as many wounds to destroy.
• Foe - Attacks the player directly, much more quickly and powerfully than other reckoners.

Prototype

This article contains information featured in the prototype. It may not apply to the final version of the game.

The following is a list of actions which can be taken in the Prototype of Cultist Simulator.

• Assign - Send a follower or other minion to assist an expedition, or deal with a threat.
• Dream - Dreaming finds lore, but may imperil your sanity.
• Explore - Exploration locates resources, but can be unpredictable.
• Renounce - This will usually dispose of a resource, without advantage or fuss.
• Study - Studying a resource will often tell you more about it.
• Talk - Speaking recruits followers, among other things.
• Work - Working earns money and creates resources.