Hi guys, so I wonder if I really understood how to use this weapon arrived with dunwich.

I think the card allow to spend action to deal +1 damage, without limitations. So you can spend two action and deal +2 without limitations except the actions left ?

The way I read it it allows you to use 1 (and only 1) action to get the +1 damage. If they wanted to give you the option to pump up the damage even further, "...you may spend additional actions, each action spent this way adds +1 damage for this attack" or something similar would be a better way to state it.

1 hour ago, klaymen_sk said:

The way I read it it allows you to use 1 (and only 1) action to get the +1 damage. If they wanted to give you the option to pump up the damage even further, "...you may spend additional actions, each action spent this way adds +1 damage for this attack" or something similar would be a better way to state it.

Correct. It is once only.

If you have 4 actions you can attack twice and use the +1 damage ability both times, otherwise you're only getting 1 extra damage out of it.

Seems really bad two actions for just plus one damage, in out!

Attacking twice would cost 2 actions and it would be uncertain if both attacks would hit. With the Kukri, it is like every time your first attack hits, your second attack is a guaranteed hit.

I actually like these nuanced approaches, just going "this was +1 before, new card is +2, upgraded version will be +3" will make a game imbalanced and dumb real soon.

18 hours ago, Daft Blazer said:

Seems really bad two actions for just plus one damage, in out!

Most other sources of +damage either:

- are limited use (events or ammo spending assets)

- have caveats (have to discard Knife, Baseball Bat breaks if you pull a symbol aside from the ES, Derringer has to succeed by 2, Fire Axe makes you spend all your resources...)

With Kukri, you hit once, spend an extra action, and get +1 damage, period. No ifs ands or buts.

20 hours ago, Samea said:

Attacking twice would cost 2 actions and it would be uncertain if both attacks would hit. With the Kukri, it is like every time your first attack hits, your second attack is a guaranteed hit.

I actually like these nuanced approaches, just going "this was +1 before, new card is +2, upgraded version will be +3" will make a game imbalanced and dumb real soon.

I agree in principle. Kukri's overcosted, though.

47 minutes ago, BD Flory said:

I agree in principle. Kukri's overcosted, though.

No it's not. It's a reusable Neutral +1 damage weapon with no ammo.

It may find some use in my 4 player games.

at the moment I'm chiefly playing 2 player solo, with a fighty investigator, who will have a gun or shotgun etc, or a investigator who will be concentrating on investigating, so probably doesn't need it.

8 hours ago, Gaffa said:

No it's not. It's a reusable Neutral +1 damage weapon with no ammo.

So is knife at half the price.

Both knife & kukri suck. Machete & fire axe for big mobs is were it's at.

31 minutes ago, BD Flory said:

So is knife at half the price.

Knife can do +1 damage only once unless you use Scavenging.

32 minutes ago, Noccus said:

Both knife & kukri suck. Machete & fire axe for big mobs is were it's at.

Not everyone can take those and they are overkill for all the rats, acolytes, gators, whippoorwills, tentacles etc. in the game. Not every enemy is a boss monster and not every enemy is worth having Zoe run acoss half of the map every time to dispatch it.

2 minutes ago, Samea said:

Not everyone can take those and they are overkill for all the rats, acolytes, gators, whippoorwills, tentacles etc. in the game. Not every enemy is a boss monster and not every enemy is worth having Zoe run acoss half of the map every time to dispatch it.

Dude, I'm thinking you're reading way to much in a one liner. I don't feel like biting today, sorry

1 hour ago, Xenu's Paradox said:

Knife can do +1 damage only once unless you use Scavenging.

Eh, misread gaffa's post as +1 to hit.

But the problem with kukri is that the +1 damage that you get negates the main advantage of bonus damage, which is action compression.

So, functionally, it's more like getting a second automatic hit after a hit on the same enemy, each for one point. And it never has the option of doing damage faster than the knife (much less other weapons), just more reliably.

Consider also, for most decks, this functionality is very limited, allowing only one point of bonus damage per turn without bonus actions.

Does it have its uses? Sure. I never said there is no situation where it isn't useful. That would be silly. It's marginal advantage in a deck that has trouble hitting enemies with two hp, because it can guarantee the second damage. Knife has to hit twice, or discard for a higher chance to hit (and compress actions). This goes for decks with very low fight, or the odd high-fight, low hp enemy, like that one enemy in naomi's crew that's a 4/2/2. It may also benefit in high difficulty settings, where everything is less reliable.

If an enemy has 3 hp, though, you'd need to hit 2 out of 2 attacks at +1. Or you could knife at +1 and +2 and still have an action left over, or try to go 3 for 3 if you can't lise the knife. Higher hp counts get much worse. At 4, knife can kill an enemy in 3 actions, and kukri simply can't. And so on.

Which is all to say I might find kukri useful for 1. The slow bonus damage is an okay tradeoff for the riskier action compression flexibility on knife. Maybe even for 2, with a minor secondary ability.

But as is? It looked like crap when it was spoiled, and I've tried it in several decks since because I like trying to make bad cards work.

And, well...it's bad.

36 minutes ago, BD Flory said:

Eh, misread gaffa's post as +1 to hit.

But the problem with kukri is that the +1 damage that you get negates the main advantage of bonus damage, which is action compression.

So, functionally, it's more like getting a second automatic hit after a hit on the same enemy, each for one point. And it never has the option of doing damage faster than the knife (much less other weapons), just more reliably.

Consider also, for most decks, this functionality is very limited, allowing only one point of bonus damage per turn without bonus actions.

Does it have its uses? Sure. I never said there is no situation where it isn't useful. That would be silly. It's marginal advantage in a deck that has trouble hitting enemies with two hp, because it can guarantee the second damage. Knife has to hit twice, or discard for a higher chance to hit (and compress actions). This goes for decks with very low fight, or the odd high-fight, low hp enemy, like that one enemy in naomi's crew that's a 4/2/2. It may also benefit in high difficulty settings, where everything is less reliable.

If an enemy has 3 hp, though, you'd need to hit 2 out of 2 attacks at +1. Or you could knife at +1 and +2 and still have an action left over, or try to go 3 for 3 if you can't lise the knife. Higher hp counts get much worse. At 4, knife can kill an enemy in 3 actions, and kukri simply can't. And so on.

Which is all to say I might find kukri useful for 1. The slow bonus damage is an okay tradeoff for the riskier action compression flexibility on knife. Maybe even for 2, with a minor secondary ability.

But as is? It looked like crap when it was spoiled, and I've tried it in several decks since because I like trying to make bad cards work.

And, well...it's bad.

I can't say I disagree with any particular point, but if you're an Investigator who wants to avoid combat, this might be helpful to deal with those weaker yet unavoidable Enemies, like the Cultists that spawn Doom in Midnight Masks. With a low combat value, you don't have a great chance of doing 2 successful Fight draws, so this lets you succeed at one (or get Lucky!) and still kill them. While this is more expensive than discarding the Knife, which accomplishes the same, this at least is a repeatable effect. It's not strictly better, not strictly worse, than the Knife. Just situational.

Just now, Network57 said:

I can't say I disagree with any particular point, but if you're an Investigator who wants to avoid combat, this might be helpful to deal with those weaker yet unavoidable Enemies, like the Cultists that spawn Doom in Midnight Masks. With a low combat value, you don't have a great chance of doing 2 successful Fight draws, so this lets you succeed at one (or get Lucky!) and still kill them. While this is more expensive than discarding the Knife, which accomplishes the same, this at least is a repeatable effect. It's not strictly better, not strictly worse, than the Knife. Just situational.

Well, the the acolytes only have 1 hp, so knife and kukri are pretty much the same, with knife having the option to discard for a better chance to hit than kukri when you really need that acolyte dead now. So you're paying more resources for fewer options on acolytes.

Useful against wizard of the order, as you can take 2 swings as your first two actions, and if either hits, finish him for an action. Or move and 1 swing with the potential to finish him, with a third action to evade or hit him for 1 if you miss your first attack. Might compare favorably vs trying to hit twice with a knife, or risking a miss on the discard.

But that's kind of an illustrative case. There are 3 acolytes and 1 wizard in that pod. Knife is better on acolytes, kukri on wizard. If you only have room in your deck for one of those cards, which do you include?

Of course, nature of the game is, this could change as we get new encounter sets, or use existing sets in new combinations. Naomi's crew teams up with Bishop's thrall and some ghouls? Bring me my kukri!

Likewise, the math changes on higher difficulties, as even low fight enemies become difficult to hit.

But advantages in a few situations don't make cards good, or even playable. You only have 30 card slots, so maximum utility is important in judging cards.

Just now, BD Flory said:

Well, the the acolytes only have 1 hp, so knife and kukri are pretty much the same, with knife having the option to discard for a better chance to hit than kukri when you really need that acolyte dead now. So you're paying more resources for fewer options on acolytes.

Useful against wizard of the order, as you can take 2 swings as your first two actions, and if either hits, finish him for an action. Or move and 1 swing with the potential to finish him, with a third action to evade or hit him for 1 if you miss your first attack. Might compare favorably vs trying to hit twice with a knife, or risking a miss on the discard.

But that's kind of an illustrative case. There are 3 acolytes and 1 wizard in that pod. Knife is better on acolytes, kukri on wizard. If you only have room in your deck for one of those cards, which do you include?

Of course, nature of the game is, this could change as we get new encounter sets, or use existing sets in new combinations. Naomi's crew teams up with Bishop's thrall and some ghouls? Bring me my kukri!

Likewise, the math changes on higher difficulties, as even low fight enemies become difficult to hit.

But advantages in a few situations don't make cards good, or even playable. You only have 30 card slots, so maximum utility is important in judging cards.

Oh, they only have 1? Nevermind then!

Yeah, I still don't think it's a good card at all. I just think it's just as good as the Knife for base cases - +1 combat. Which one is better for the damage bonus depends on the Investigator, the scenario, etc. Maybe Kukri just has more niche cases where it's better than the Knife does.

1 minute ago, Network57 said:

Maybe Kukri just has more niche cases where it's better than the Knife does.

I don't think it's the case yet, but it may be so once the whole cycle is out.

As far as the game goes, I would rather have it be overcosted and played in a few niche decks than undercosted and played in most decks, so there's that.

3 minutes ago, BD Flory said:

I don't think it's the case yet, but it may be so once the whole cycle is out.

As far as the game goes, I would rather have it be overcosted and played in a few niche decks than undercosted and played in most decks, so there's that.

Agreed.

I personally like cards that are more situational. Including them as a one-of, you can get a huge tempo hit when you pull them off. I don't think the Kukri is one of them, though.

2 minutes ago, Network57 said:

Agreed.

I personally like cards that are more situational. Including them as a one-of, you can get a huge tempo hit when you pull them off. I don't think the Kukri is one of them, though.

I think the overall structure of AH plays against situational cards, though. Having to decide at the beginning of an 8-scenario run whether it'll be worth it is tough, and spending experience to swap it in or out will mean it's got to be a pretty impressive boost. Maybe Adaptable decks can do it, but I find AH to be far less forgiving of dead cards than some others.

Just now, Buhallin said:

I think the overall structure of AH plays against situational cards, though. Having to decide at the beginning of an 8-scenario run whether it'll be worth it is tough, and spending experience to swap it in or out will mean it's got to be a pretty impressive boost. Maybe Adaptable decks can do it, but I find AH to be far less forgiving of dead cards than some others.

I think rogues are also best able to take advantage of kukri by taking 4 actions in a round, so I can imagine a situation where I might want to adapt kukri for a scenario.

We'll also have a better view of the overall campaign once the whole cycle is out, so it'll be easier to judge whether to take it at the start of a new dunwich campaign.

51 minutes ago, Buhallin said:

I think the overall structure of AH plays against situational cards, though. Having to decide at the beginning of an 8-scenario run whether it'll be worth it is tough, and spending experience to swap it in or out will mean it's got to be a pretty impressive boost. Maybe Adaptable decks can do it, but I find AH to be far less forgiving of dead cards than some others.

Thats precisely whats fun about this game. Choices! If you made the deck in a scenario by scenario case for free (like any other card game - or most of them at least) it would be easy but since the deck should be made before that 8-scenario run is the real challenge. Sure it can be frustrating to pick a card that you never use and costed xp´s but then maybe it was a poor choice after all.

43 minutes ago, Kentares said:

Thats precisely whats fun about this game. Choices! If you made the deck in a scenario by scenario case for free (like any other card game - or most of them at least) it would be easy but since the deck should be made before that 8-scenario run is the real challenge. Sure it can be frustrating to pick a card that you never use and costed xp´s but then maybe it was a poor choice after all.

Oh, I agree completely - I wasn't knocking it at all. I was just pointing out that situational cards in this game are very expensive - a card that's useful 1/3 of the time is wasted deck space for 5-6 scenarios, and/or costs XP to get rid of. I think that pushes a lot of deckbuilding towards more broadly useful cards, rather than specific counters, and any card analysis that starts with "It depends..." is already fighting upstream for inclusion.