Heartbroken at my first loss

Comfort me please. ‘Twas my fourth full run, trying to beat a lead seal, missed it by literal seconds (had my loyal foxes working to get the last seal unlocked, they had less than 20 seconds when the queen’s impatience ran out.

Things that make me particularly sad because of COURSE I should have looked this up and/or paused and thought about it:

1. despite rolling in wealth, I didn’t pay the Impatience Tax for 2 storms…because my three races were all in the blue and I had several caches I was opening to decrease impatience (I’m dumb and should have seen that once your bar is full, you can’t decrease impatience any more).

2. Pretty sure I had my sacrifice boosts set to end after the storm ended…which mean there was a 15-second window where my 300+ sea marrow wasn’t being used to boost the foxes, and that might also have been the difference….

3. Forbidden glades are not Dangerous glades, and the final seal requires two of the zesty kind — if I had checked more closely, I could have saved at least 1:30 by unlocking the correct kind at the beginning. Instead, I popped 1 of each and then wondered why the counter was still ticking down after finishing both events. (I was thinking of the work order that applies to both types).

I’d say GG, but I’m actually really disappointed in the loss of my perfect record. It feels less like a true “loss” and more of a “tripped at the finish line” problem. Literally unlocked the first two seals by year 4 and then spent 3 more years amassing wealth and trying to get the “all colonists happy” seal instead of just dropping 100 amber and moving on.