I'm sure this has been discussed a hundred times before here but I'll ask anyway. First of all, I'm playing solo with four characters. After a few false starts because of rules mistakes I had a game going that seemed to be going OK until I realized that I had lost because of too many gates appearing. I assumed that the way to win was to build up your characters with clue tokens, items, etc. but that obviously is wrong since gates pop open so fast. Am I right in assuming that you need to send an investigator in a gate basically as soon as it appears since it takes several turns to close it?
newbie question
You need to find a balance in regards to Defeating Monsters, Closeing/Sealing Gates, and Equiping Investigators.
Most people who use 4 Investigators have 1 Investigator go Shopping for everyone, 1 Investigator dedicated to fighting Monsters, 1 Investigator for Closeing/Sealing Gates, and 1 Investigator to fill in for other Investigators as the situation requires. The Investigator on Gate Duty usually is the one to collect the largest number of Clue Tokens.
you say you lost because too many gates opened,
do you mean that you lost to the ancient one who awoke because your open gate limit was reached?
You can't loose simply because the open gate limit is reached, that just wakes up the big bad, then you, (or I), loose after maybe lasting a couple of rounds in a nasty little scrap before being devoured for all time.
The Thing In The Attic said:
you say you lost because too many gates opened,
do you mean that you lost to the ancient one who awoke because your open gate limit was reached?
You can't loose simply because the open gate limit is reached, that just wakes up the big bad, then you, (or I), loose after maybe lasting a couple of rounds in a nasty little scrap before being devoured for all time.
Azathoth would like a word or two with you
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Your immediate goal is to close and seal 6 gates. How the game unfolds from there determines how best to support that. If you need more clues, focus on clue collection. If monsters are in your way, focus on clearing paths. If the mosnters are too tough, focus on shopping for more weapons and spells. If you don't have enough money, focus on getting cash to buy the weapons to clear the monsters to get more clues to seal the gates.
After you get through maybe 2/3 of the Doom track being filled, if it doesn't look like you can win by sealing, then shift your focus to gathering weapons and spells for the final battle.
As mentioned above, a good balance is good so if you have multiple investigators, then assign them roles to help with the above tasks - buying stuff, clearing monster, sealing gates, etc.
The game is very dynamic so needs a fluid plan.