Pete true solo run through EotE

This was a run through EotE to test out Pete for True Solo. I was looking to see if I can run a pretty generic/fast Pete deck with the only feature being leaning heavy into ally assets and relying on Calling in Favors to speed up finding / returning them to hand. Turned out to be a dead card in nearly every draw.

Other than the dead card, the deck was really really successful.

The deck starts very very cheap but became cash-hungry when adding more allies and Will to Survive.

Also started out with major benefit from Rabbit's Foot, but by the last few scenarios test failure was rare indeed, due to the plentiful skill cards with the suite of Lucky! and Granny Orne. Will tweak it and use again soon.

Scenario 1: Ice & Death Part 1

We crash land on our first foray by plane, killing Danforth. He was one of the few survivors of the previous expedition and tragically was the first to die on this attempt.

I grab the Spare Parts and make my way to the Broad Snowdrifts when I’m ambushed by a tag-team of enemies! I quickly dispatch the Skittering Nonsense and evade the tougher Glacial Phantasm for a turn and returned for him the following turn.

I managed to obtain 3 more supplies, reveal most of the map, and survive by taking shelter at the Remnants of Lake’s Camp. But when I woke up it turned out that Dr. Mala Sinha wandered off alone into the arctic night. Whether madness or some alien influence I’m not going to leave her to die, so looks like I’m doing part two next.

Scenario 2: Ice & Death part 2

Lucked out right from the start, the first special goal card removed the a frost token from the chaos bag. What an unexpected boon! Before it was all over I removed the final frost token as well. I also revealed one more location and found the sixth asset that’s able to be scavenged. In an ironic twist, I ignored the very first hidden card at my base camp in order to scoop up easier locations. And of course Dr Sinha was that hidden card right where I started!

I managed to do great in spite of never drawing Granny Orne (started in the discard pile) and going on an unprecedented streak of drawing tokens. The Rabbit's Foot was invaluable!

I elected to skip the third part of the scenario, since there’s not much upside to risking it just to scope out the Frigid Cave.

Scenario 3: To the Forbidden Peaks

I was very worried that this wouldn’t scale well for true solo, and I remain concerned that I had to spend nearly 4 turns worth of actions just collecting the supplies. I think any other deck would’ve had a terrible time crunch, but Leo’s extra actions and Duke’s free movement helped. It was a bit of a breeze because of the supply assets solve a lot of problems: Miasmic Crystal replaces a weakness with free card draw, Small Radio gives you a “phone a friend” option for tough tests, and Green Soapstone is free bonus damage.

Things got concerning when the boss kicks all the assets out of your play area, but with some evasion it all works out. Alas the baddie took out James "Cookie" Fredericks, and I was looking forward to having a fighter-type as an option for a partner.

Scenario 4: City of the Elder Things

Gosh there’s a lot going on between scenarios… at least two awkward romantic exchanges, lots of cards to track, etc. I declined to keep two of the six scavenged assets and I had no ideas this would reduce my experience points!

However I’m hopeful, since I added in 2 copies of Will to Survive and even brought along Avery Claypool to help with frost tokens. But it looks like the two -4 modifier tokens in the chaos bag will still make this scenario a challenge.

Agenda 1 was a hassle on account of a Locked Door and a couple monsters, but I got set up and also uncovered 3 locations that I’ll have to double back to and spend keys later. At the interlude we lose Eliyah Ashevak, our third casualty.

Ended the scenario with every key and clue, but not enough actions to spend them all! In the end I raced past an exhausted Terror of the Stars as my final action…

Noticed that the new cards I’m adding with the experience require more resources than I’m generating. I’ll lean on the partner asset Takada for the last couple scenarios to boost my cash level.

Scenario 5: Fatal Mirage

I was asked to opt in to this scenario, which felt quite odd. It’s like the designers used the new release model to encourage players to race through the campaign in 5 scenarios instead of 8. No clue what that’s about!

This is apparently about the low-key drama of each partner in the expedition team getting their own backstory fleshed out. So, what everybody seems to be annoyed with. It’s not all that bad, but truly not a high point of the game.

By this point my deck has gone from dirt-cheap (Leo was the sole expensive card when I started) to kinda pricey (new allies mostly). So I picked Takada for the cash infusion. And right off the bat we pursue her memories, make her resolute, and get teleported back to the start location.

Then we try another living partner (Kensler) and revisit her failed lesbian romance with the team’s doctor. Not shocking.

With another 6 doom to spare we check out Eliyah’s deal, and this grants 2xp, so that’s a bonus. Doom looks like we might squeeze in another one and we opt for Cookie, and are at 13 doom so just quit there. If i try this one again sometime I should figure out how to trigger this scenario earlier, apparently it can be played 3 times! It’s slightly annoying that the campaign tries to feature the drama/life experiences of the partners, but that the stories are difficult to tease out and feel flat.

Scenario 6: Heart of Madness Part I

Bad news on the first agenda: drew two Ancient Evils and a Forgotten Shoggoth early, and kind of kited the blob until I had enough resources for a Will to Survive. Also: Dr Sinha just wandered off through a gate into the arms of an ethereal embrace. Good news: 4 of the first 7 locations that were revealed had seals on them!

By the end I had found all 5 seals, claimed them, and deposited two of them (activated) on the gate before resigning.

Scenario 7: Heart of Madness Part II

Similar to the previous scenario, it revolves around getting to the randomly-placed locations, grabbing sufficient clues, and passing combat tests while defeating a few irksome enemies. It felt less dramatic and more of an annoyance, but at least it scaled well for True Solo. Managed to earn Resolution 1 by pure luck of Kensler surviving and visiting her in every interlude.