Is it just me, or is this game impossible playing single player? I've played many times in a row and have never won once

I’ve just played it solo with Agnes and won the first scenario. I was lucky in getting the Tattered Robes or something item that allowed me to be ignored by monsters. And a boatload of allies.

Also won solo with Agnes. (She seems pretty powerful because one of her abilities effectively lets her use her strongest stat in place of her weakest stat).

A lot will depend on your encounters and other card draws. Near the end, I was given an Ally that grants an extra action per turn - that's amazing and if I'd have got him at the start I'd have walked it.

Even then it can be a bit swingy. In the late mid game I was all set up for an easy win, I reckoned I was about six turns away from the "best" victory... then some bad Mythos draws over the next three turns absolutely ruined me, Doom everywhere, and in the end I only just scraped through (one Doom token away from losing) to a "yeah, you won, but at what cost?" victory.

Difficult, and somewhat dependent on fortune, but not impossible.

6 hours ago, Turtlefan2082 said:

Is it just me, or is this game impossible playing single player? I've played many times in a row and have never won once

The size of the board is constant, and even if the Mythos cup scales properly with the number of investigators, covering the whole area while soloing is a problem, especially if you have nastier monsters around than hunt you down the whole time. True that you can Evade to regain the action spent on Evading, but this only makes the problem worse because the number of monsters on the board stack. Also, if you're on the other side of the board (because you needed it due to clues) and there's an anomaly open on the other side, it could happen that stuff in between will mess up with your cleaning strategy.

So, in general, the game scales better than other FFG games, but doesn't scale properly at every player count, and soloing it is quite difficult.

Also keep in mind that some stats are more important in the game than other stats (with order: OBS to do the research encounters, LORE to ward, STR for combat) so, some investigators are crappier than others (not sayin' the other stats are not used, but they are used for things of lower importance: not gaining an item through a WILL test is generally less impactful than missing a warding check when you have to close an anomaly). This might not be particularly relevant when you play as a team, but a single investigator with few points in the key value will have a harder time.

2 hours ago, Julia said:

So, in general, the game scales better than other FFG games, but doesn't scale properly at every player count, and soloing it is quite difficult.

Our brief experiences with it say that 3 is about ideal. 2 and 4 are not bad, though you have to be careful which investigators you take at 2. For 1, 5, or 6, I would give a slight handicap in favor of the investigators most of the time.

At least for now. Down the road, as we've become more familiar with the game, that may change.

I never tried more than 4p, so, can't provide feedback at higher numbers, but I agree on the range 2-4 being the best one, with 3 the ideal situation

10 hours ago, Julia said:

The size of the board is constant, and even if the Mythos cup scales properly with the number of investigators, covering the whole area while soloing is a problem, especially if you have nastier monsters around than hunt you down the whole time. True that you can Evade to regain the action spent on Evading, but this only makes the problem worse because the number of monsters on the board stack. Also, if you're on the other side of the board (because you needed it due to clues) and there's an anomaly open on the other side, it could happen that stuff in between will mess up with your cleaning strategy.

So, in general, the game scales better than other FFG games, but doesn't scale properly at every player count, and soloing it is quite difficult.

Also keep in mind that some stats are more important in the game than other stats (with order: OBS to do the research encounters, LORE to ward, STR for combat) so, some investigators are crappier than others (not sayin' the other stats are not used, but they are used for things of lower importance: not gaining an item through a WILL test is generally less impactful than missing a warding check when you have to close an anomaly). This might not be particularly relevant when you play as a team, but a single investigator with few points in the key value will have a harder time.

Julia, I think you nailed the one bit of the game that is bothering me. I'm actually finding the game pretty easy, but we regularly have game nights with 3 players, which seems to be a 'sweet spot' of sorts for 3rd ed.

The issue that is bothering me is that Influence and Willpower do seem so negligible. I've actually thought up a couple of houserules but am somewhat reluctant to use them because I feel like the game has probably been tested enough. My houserules would be to test influence on a gather resources action and to gain dollars equal to 1+ your test result. Since you typically do not get to spend money (with the exception of additional movement) unless you are on the right spaces and draw encounters, this would give influence another purpose without breaking the game. And as for willpower, I almost want to houserule that you need to pass a willpower test in order to focus. Those with low willpower are already at an advantage because their stats are higher in areas that are more useful (fight, lore, observation). This makes willpower users slightly more interesting because they can flex their skills a little easier than the rest of the investigators.

I don't think this is a solution for the solo play, but the influence houserule could help with having the cashflow to get around easier. Otherwise, I suppose you could just use Norman to board-hop to ward essential locations in solo, but you are out of luck with monsters. Just some thoughts I had today. We have beaten 4 games in a row now with no problem. The last game against Yog/Silver Twilight looked like we were going to lose terribly, but then the big bad spawned, and Dexter died, so we just replaced him with McGlenn and destroyed the epic monster in just 2 turns. So despite doing very poorly at first, we still won overall.

The game is fun for sure, but it still feels easy to us. That is not something I hear on these boards much, so I don't know if it's just our experience with these games or the 3 player count or maybe we're just getting lucky?

I wonder if influence and will play a much larger role in upcoming expansions.

FFG usually tends to add things to their Core releases in anticipation of usage in future products.

One additional thought about scaling (not so sure if this is the pertinent thread): if you play 2p, you resolve your investigator turns, and then you move to Mythos to resolve 4 tokens. If you play 6p, you move to Mythos to resolve 12 tokens, i.e. basically the entire Mythos bag. This is bonkers because there's no time window for investigators to react to the Mythos attack: gate burst opening an anomaly with 3 consecutive doom added on the same neighborhood is a +3 doom on the scenario sheet; a gate burst followed by an investigator turn in which you may attempt containing the anomaly could result in the same coming 3 consecutive doom in a no harm done.

The problem here is that

(amount of good done by investigators) =/ (amount of harm entered by the Mythos)

if the 1:1 turn structure is removed.

So, when you solo you can be cornered and beaten out. When you play the horde, you deplete a bag at the end of every turn, and this could create some screw-you situations that you cannot counter, and you lose the game. If you play between 2 and 4 (ideally 3), the amount of Mythos damage could be more easily contained, you have better chances at covering the board (saying better, yesterday I played with Azzie and got an anomaly at the end of round 2 due to initial seeding of extra doom that hit Velma's and with investigators starting in the Train Station and moving max 4 spaces, there's no way to go there in time - that's why I say that this game's not properly designed: it's ok when difficulty is steep, but I like steep difficulty due to a difficult challenge, not due to stuff happening out of reach and messing out with my strategy)

Why play solo with just one investigator, play with at least two. I played with three and it worked pretty well.

That's a fair point, I often multitask investigators; but the problem is that if a real minimum is needed to have an enjoyable game, it should be made evident in the rules (such as per Mansions, it's clearly stated that you must run a minimum of 2 investigators) so that players can know in advance before buying: not everyone's happy to play multiple investigators, and prefer running just one.

I will get my first game going next week. We will be two players. Considering whats been told in this thread so far, what characters do you recommend for a well balanced 2 player game?

1 hour ago, Mats5 said:

I will get my first game going next week. We will be two players. Considering whats been told in this thread so far, what characters do you recommend for a well balanced 2 player game?

Someone who is good at killing monsters (McGlenn, Tommy, Agnes) and someone who is good at researching (observation or free research triggers). Ideally one of them should be at least a bit okay at warding (soo... Dexter, Minh, Norman)

Because of focusing, you are able to do almost anything with any character, but it's going to come down to how many dice you get to roll and your luck.

4 hours ago, Mats5 said:

I will get my first game going next week. We will be two players. Considering whats been told in this thread so far, what characters do you recommend for a well balanced 2 player game?

Truth is, the game shines with 3. With 2p, even in a scenario easy as Azathoth, unless you're accustomed to advanced planning, serious brain burning, the risk of ending in a "splat" is rather high. 3p you can have the monster whacker, the researcher, and the master of lore.

When you focus, remember that moving from 1 die to 2 in terms of scoring at least 1 success is much more impactful than moving from 4 dice to 5 (I could provide the math, if needed be)

Drive by calculations!

Likelihood if not blessed/cursed (or Rex) to get one or more success with

• One die: 33.3%
• Two dice: 55.5%
• Three dice: 70.4%
• Four dice: 80.2%
• Five dice: 86.8%

So going from one to two gives you a 22.2% boost whereas going from four to five only gives you a 6.6% boost.

Aside: If blessed, then you hit even odds (50%) with just one dice; if cursed (or Rex) then you need four dice (51.7%) to beat even odds.

Last note: all of this assumes you roll all these dice at once. Re-rolling a die (due to focus, asset, whatever) is an independent event.

So, just curious in your opinion , (or mathematically/Objectively) does playing Rex pay-off at all? Or is he better off sitting in the box? I'm not mathy enough to figure it out. I did okay with him, but he often struggles to get multiple successes. The Tower helps for sure.

No, Rex is completely useless, period. Problem is that even if The Tower helps, it works only once per round, while usually in a given round you have at least two tests to resolve (at least one test during the action phase, and clearly one test during encounters), so that Rex can gain a benefit from The Tower only on one of these two (three) occasions. It all comes together helps a further bit, but the point is: there's nothing in the rules forbidding you to pass these items around. So, have the guy enter the party, give away his items to beef up to impossible levels the other members of the party (like: first action first round: trade), then have him devoured for a +1 doom (negligible) and have a new guy (with new equipment and stuff) enter the party.

So, well, Rex becomes useful if you consider him as a sort of living bank, giving cool items to kids everywhere and then dying as soon as possible.

So, unless there's somewhere in the rules that forbids players to pass around their starting possessions, then yeah. If there's something in the rules forbidding such a behaviour (I haven't found it yet, but maybe there is hidden somewhere), then he's simply a burden to carry around.

That's what I was thinking too Julia. Thanks. I looked through the rules reference as well to see if I could find anything about not trading starting items and I didn't seen anything there either. Now we just need 'Alter Fate' to let us trade talents, and Rex becomes the prefect sacrifice "For the Greater Good!"

Slight counterpoint to Rex: if you lower expectations to "passing one test a turn and only by one", the he's not so bad, given that he can focus after failing a test. So once he has a skill at +1, he can test that skill, lose the focus to re-roll if he doesn't succeed, and then immediately refocus that one skill he lost. (And if he passes, then he can focus another skill for a potential later re-roll).

So, have him ward some doom. If he gets good clues/items have them pass off to someone else. He can also engage monsters to free up other investigators.

And if he gets the right equipment, then he can go out with a blaze of glory - in my one play he was lucky enough to get some dynamite and that proved useful in the end game.

1 hour ago, ricedwlit said:

Slight counterpoint to Rex: if you lower expectations to "passing one test a turn and only by one", the he's not so bad, given that he can focus after failing a test. So once he has a skill at +1, he can test that skill, lose the focus to re-roll if he doesn't succeed, and then immediately refocus that one skill he lost. (And if he passes, then he can focus another skill for a potential later re-roll).

So, have him ward some doom. If he gets good clues/items have them pass off to someone else. He can also engage monsters to free up other investigators.

And if he gets the right equipment, then he can go out with a blaze of glory - in my one play he was lucky enough to get some dynamite and that proved useful in the end game.

Well dynamite is perfect for Rex because it is testless damage.

On ‎11‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 2:25 AM, Turtlefan2082 said:

Is it just me, or is this game impossible playing single player? I've played many times in a row and have never won once

Which one (and who) are you trying. Not all investigators are made equal, and the suggested scenario, Approach of Azathoth, I have found to be the most difficult. I have had the easiest time with Feast for Umôrdhoth, and both Mcglen & Muldoon are prepared to fight monsters from the start.

In the three player game I played, I took Rex (never played the game before) and yeah he sucked... big time.

In the solo game I played, I took Agnes and she was awesome. Low strength doesn't much matter when she starts with an item that lets her attack using lore instead of strength.

On 11/5/2018 at 3:38 AM, ricedwlit said:

Slight counterpoint to Rex: if you lower expectations to "passing one test a turn and only by one", the he's not so bad, given that he can focus after failing a test. So once he has a skill at +1, he can test that skill, lose the focus to re-roll if he doesn't succeed, and then immediately refocus that one skill he lost. (And if he passes, then he can focus another skill for a potential later re-roll).

So, have him ward some doom. If he gets good clues/items have them pass off to someone else. He can also engage monsters to free up other investigators.

And if he gets the right equipment, then he can go out with a blaze of glory - in my one play he was lucky enough to get some dynamite and that proved useful in the end game.

Richard,

you're certainly correct on this, but in the end, this is not very distant from what other investigators can do, without the curse afflicting them. Passing one test a turn and only one could certainly be an option if you multitask, but when you play with more people and your only character is Rex, well, it's difficult not be wanting to do marvels like other characters. And thus, passing items and be devoured seems more fun than going the other way. Not sayin' he's impossible to play, but that he'll be underperforming when compared to others.