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Chronoromancer

Version-matched official guide

Chronoromancer Quickstart Guide

Start HereSimplified Chinese availableV0.9.6.0
Guide noticeThis page contains gameplay and story spoilers and may describe mature systems.

This is the short, spoiler-light route for a new player who wants to start making progress without first reading the much larger Early Game Walkthrough. It explains what to do after the prologue, how to choose useful early goals, and how to avoid the most common beginner traps.

Community credit: This guide preserves the beginner-friendly purpose and several route ideas from DanCave's community Quickstart Guide, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Its advice was rewritten, expanded, and corrected against the current game source.

The Five-Minute Version

After the prologue:

  1. Open the Tutorial Quests panel so its 15 goals are initialized and visible.
  2. In your Present Apartment, use Rent Out Apartment. This costs 30 minutes and begins Jessie's tenant storyline.
  3. Use your proficiency's private Apartment action when you need cheap early stat growth.
  4. Visit the University Research Lab from 9 AM to 5 PM to begin Story Beat 1.
  5. Earn some money, but keep a reserve for training, equipment, and gifts.
  6. Buy three inexpensive investments over time for the Smart Investor reward.
  7. Train at the Downtown Dojo three times for the Martial Training tutorial reward.
  8. Before serious dungeon runs, obtain or upgrade a weapon and armor.
  9. Talk to characters you like, but use their walkthrough rather than trying to grind everyone at once.
  10. Claim Tutorial Quest rewards manually when their goals complete.

There is no penalty for moving slowly through the main story. The most efficient early game alternates story, income, stat training, relationships, and tutorial goals.

Choosing a Proficiency

Your starting proficiency determines:

  • Starting stats
  • Two free skills
  • Starting equipment
  • A private Apartment training/work action
  • Access to its proficiency career

It is not a traditional class lock. Every build can train every normal stat and learn most ordinary skills later. Some exclusive skills and supporter-gated content still have their own routes, so “any build can eventually collect absolutely everything” is not literally true.

Strong first-play choices include:

Proficiency Why It Starts Smoothly Early Limitation
Scholar Intelligence 30, Researching, Arcane Knowledge, private Intelligence training Low Strength and Ability
Salesman High Charm, strong vocational stats, Silver Tongue, Networking Very low Ability
Martial Artist Ability 29, Martial Arts, Combat Reflexes, starting melee weapon Low Creativity and modest social stats
Computer Expert Technology 27, Engineering Genius, System Hacking, starting ranged weapon Very low Stamina
Jack of All Trades Balanced stats and access to every proficiency career Proficiency-career pay is normally reduced to 70%

Pick the fantasy you want to play. A smooth start is useful, but no proficiency is required to finish the main story.

What Your Starting Skills Actually Mean

Starting skills are real permanent skills, not “skill points.” They can unlock actions, attacks, information, job bonuses, or relationship multipliers.

Two particularly useful information skills are:

  • Researching: reveals NPC preferred stats. Scholars start with it; other builds can learn it at the University Research Lab with base Intelligence 15, $200, and 180 minutes.
  • Networking: reveals an NPC's favorite skill. Salesmen start with it; other builds can learn it from Glitch later.

Data Mining is another valuable later pickup because it reveals exact relationship-point progress. It is trained at the Universal Knowledge Synthesis Institute with base Technology 20.

Your First Free-Play Session

1. Inspect Your Apartment

Learn where to:

  • Sleep
  • Use your proficiency action
  • Post the basement rental advertisement with Rent Out Apartment
  • Warp between eras
  • Review inventory, equipment, skills, and stats

Warping between the Present, Medieval, and Future eras is available after the prologue and does not cost Energy.

2. Post the Basement Advertisement

Use the one-time Rent Out Apartment action in the Apartment. It costs 30 minutes and sets up Jessie's tenant arc.

Posting it does not force you to continue immediately. It simply prevents you from forgetting an easy early prerequisite.

3. Open Tutorial Quests

Open the glowing Tutorial Quest icon and read the goals. The panel does not automatically spend or claim anything; return to it whenever a quest completes and press its claim button.

Several goals naturally overlap with good early progression:

  • Dr. Akira relationship work
  • Investments
  • Dojo training
  • Medieval combat and exploration
  • Sashina friendship
  • Rose & Thorn acquisition
  • Fishing, caterpillars, equipment, outfits, and maids

4. Begin Story Beat 1

Go to the University Research Lab from 9 AM to 5 PM. Entering during that window begins Atmospheric Research with Sonia.

If it is already too late, work, train, explore, or meet characters and return the next day. Story progression is not a race.

5. Establish an Income Loop

Use jobs that match your best current effective stat. You do not need to force the same beginner job on every proficiency.

Good principles are:

  • Prefer work using one of your highest stats.
  • Use your proficiency's private action when it gives a useful stat or income.
  • Reach effective stat 30 to reveal the matching proficiency career.
  • Keep enough money for training and equipment rather than investing every coin.
  • Collect passive investment income whenever you are already visiting Downtown Offices.

The three cheapest first-level investments are:

Investment Cost Risk
Coffee Shop $50 Low
Delivery Co $60 Medium
Food Truck $70 Medium

Buying those three costs $180 total and completes Smart Investor, whose claimed reward is $300. Buy them when affordable; you do not need all three on Day 1.

A Balanced Early-Day Routine

Use this as a template, not a mandatory schedule.

Morning

  • Trigger daytime Story Beats and plots.
  • Visit shops and teachers with narrow opening hours.
  • Train a build-defining stat.
  • Visit Akira if working on Sample Collection.

Afternoon

  • Work for money.
  • Visit one or two priority relationships.
  • Buy or collect investments while Downtown.
  • Explore another era for tutorial progress.

Evening

  • Visit evening-only characters and locations.
  • Use the Downtown Bar, Night Club, restaurant, or relationship dates.
  • Prepare equipment and supplies for the next dungeon run.

Late Night

  • Check for late Story Beats such as the Back Alley scenes.
  • Return home before an exhausted character ruins the next day's plan.
  • Sleep to restore resources.

Trying to complete five unrelated character routes simultaneously is much slower than choosing two or three current priorities.

Stats and Resources Without the Math Lesson

Core Build Rule

Raise stats because your desired action, career, skill, character, or combat plan uses them. There is no universal “raise everything to 50 first” requirement.

For a generally comfortable first character:

  • Train Stamina for Energy and endurance.
  • Train Strength or Ability for physical combat.
  • Train Mystic for magic combat.
  • Train your proficiency-career stat toward 30.
  • Train the preferred stats of the characters you are actively pursuing.

Base vs. Effective Stats

Temporary buffs and key items can raise effective stats, which helps many jobs and action-visibility checks. Formal skill requirements and some unlocks still inspect the stored base stat.

If a training button appears while buffed but the actual skill refuses to unlock, raise the base stat.

Do Not Ignore Variable Resources

  • Health: damage capacity; reaching zero in dangerous content is bad.
  • Energy: spent by work, training, travel actions, and exploration.
  • Calm: spent by study, difficult choices, and some systems.
  • Satiation: food reserve; keep it healthy before long sessions.
  • Wealth: Present-era money and many universal costs.

Sleep is the simplest full reset. Food, medical actions, consumables, baths, and later facilities provide more flexible restoration.

Relationships: The Efficient Approach

The relationship ladder is:

Stranger → Acknowledged → Known → Acquaintance → Friend → Close Friend → Crush → Romantic → Intimate → In Love

Relationship actions gain additional value from:

  • The character's preferred stats
  • The character's favorite skill
  • Attractiveness rolls
  • Cologne and other bonuses
  • Key items such as the 1 Ring

Beginner Relationship Routine

  1. Pick two or three characters to prioritize.
  2. Learn Researching and Networking when practical.
  3. Check the character's actual schedule and stage gates.
  4. Use daily Talks and stage-appropriate gifts.
  5. Complete H2H conversations and auto-trigger plots as they appear.
  6. Use that character's dedicated walkthrough when progression stops.

Do not assume every absent scene needs more raw relationship points. Many require a time, location, prior H2H, stat, skill, item, or story flag.

Combat and the First Dungeon Runs

The dungeon is optional at first but feeds many other systems with money, materials, Dragon Coins, scenarios, miniboss rewards, and new characters.

Before Entering

Bring:

  • A usable melee or ranged weapon
  • Armor
  • Healthy Energy, Health, Calm, and Satiation
  • A damage plan that matches your stats
  • Enough time to reach a checkpoint safely

Body Builder, Athlete, and Martial Artist start physically prepared. Computer Expert starts with a ranged weapon. Other builds should obtain equipment before pushing deeply.

Basic Attack Choice

  • Quick Attack leans on Ability.
  • Strong Attack leans on Strength.
  • Elemental Blast requires the skill and leans on Mystic.

Build around one dependable attack before trying to collect every combat skill.

Early Progress Goal

Defeat ten Catacombs enemies for the Crypt Clearer Tutorial Quest. Do not confuse the Monastery Catacombs tutorial kills with every enemy in the deeper dungeon; the tutorial specifically tracks kills at the Catacombs location.

Upgrade your weapon to level 3 at Gastoff's Blacksmith for Forged in Fire when its costs become reasonable.

The 15 Tutorial Quests

These are long-term orientation goals, not a single-day checklist.

# Quest Goal Claimed Reward
1 Dr. Akira's Research Complete Sample Collection 3 times $200
2 Smart Investor Own 3 investments $300
3 Martial Training Train at the Downtown Dojo 3 times +2 Stamina
4 Cupid's Arrow Redeem VALENTINES and start Kupie +1 Sylph
5 Caravan Defense Defeat the Medieval Caravan Rest Stop raiders +1 Crystal
6 Demon's Whisper Find Lillian in the Medieval Back Alleys and talk 3 times +1 Crystal
7 Improvised Chef Learn Creative Cooking in Future Fringe +1 Crystal
8 Kindred Spirit Reach Close Friend with Sashina +3 Mystic
9 Crypt Clearer Defeat 10 Catacombs enemies +1 Strength, +1 Ability
10 Brothel Baron Acquire the Rose & Thorn +1 Crystal
11 Bug Collector Discover 10 caterpillar/moth species 5 Comet Moths
12 Angler's Progress Catch 10 different fish species $400
13 Forged in Fire Upgrade melee weapon to level 3 +2 Strength
14 Fashion Forward Upgrade Casual Outfit to level 3 +2 Attractiveness
15 Maid Mentor Train any maid to level 3 Master Mop

After claiming all 15 individual rewards, claim the final +3 Crystals bonus. The Tutorial Quest icon then disappears permanently.

Dojo Clarification

The Dojo's Martial Training action advances Tutorial Quest 3. It does not mean Lilu teaches the permanent Martial Arts skill to every build.

In the current source:

  • Martial Artist starts with Martial Arts.
  • Lilu teaches advanced techniques such as Counterattack, Disarming Technique, Fleet Footed, Exploit Weakness, and Tai-Chi through their actual gates.
  • Muramasa's major progression centers on sense training and the Blademaster path, not handing out generic Martial Arts.

A Practical Progression Order

You can deviate freely, but this route keeps systems feeding one another:

  1. Finish the prologue and open Tutorial Quests.
  2. Post the Apartment listing.
  3. Start Story Beat 1.
  4. Establish one reliable job and three cheap investments.
  5. Train at the Dojo three times.
  6. Start Akira's Sample Collection and one or two relationship routes.
  7. Explore all three eras and learn their main hubs.
  8. Obtain combat equipment and clear ten Catacombs enemies.
  9. Progress the brothel-acquisition quest chain.
  10. Add fishing, caterpillars, forging, outfits, and maids as those systems unlock.
  11. Continue Story Beats when their locations and relationship gates are convenient.

This order builds income, resources, relationships, and combat ability together without requiring a grind wall in any one system.

Common Beginner Mistakes

Spending Every Coin

Keep a reserve. Skills, gifts, equipment, story payments, and facility upgrades often appear before passive investments repay themselves.

Grinding a Character at the Wrong Time

If an NPC or plot is absent, verify location, hour, day, relationship stage, prior plot, and vacation state before grinding more points.

Treating Effective Stats as Permanent

Consumables expire after 24 in-game hours. A buff can help performance without satisfying every base-stat requirement.

Entering Long Story Scenes Before an Appointment

Some Story Beats advance hours or leave you exhausted. Story Beats 9 and 22 are the largest early examples.

Expecting Every Skill from One Teacher

Skills come from proficiencies, fixed training locations, named teachers, story rewards, factions, dungeon encounters, and special purchases. Check the Stats, Skills & Proficiencies Guide instead of assuming a thematically related NPC teaches it.

Trying to Finish Every System Immediately

Fishing, brothel management, factions, caterpillars, mining, the resort, Kupie, and late dungeon progression are each substantial systems. Start them when they support your current goals.

Where to Go Next

  • Early Game Walkthrough: detailed tutorials, Story Beats 1–10, brothel acquisition, early dungeon, and romance routes
  • Main Story — Story Beats: exact trigger route through the current Beat 62
  • Stats, Skills & Proficiencies: exact starting packages, stat formulas, teachers, careers, and specialist paths
  • Locations Guide: where every district and important action lives
  • Wealth Guide: jobs, investments, currencies, and major costs
  • Combat System Guide: exact combat mechanics
  • Character walkthroughs: schedules, relationship gates, gifts, H2Hs, dates, plots, and rewards
Community discoveries

These official guides track the current game. The player-maintained wiki may contain additional strategies and discoveries.

Visit Player Wiki →