I've replayed this scenario a dozen times now and have never won. One time I was close, with the villian only having one HP at the end. Does anyone have any suggestions for this game: Plague Rat, Ra, Sleuth Wraith, Absolute Zero, and Megalopolis?
With only three heroes they all seem to be infected in five rounds or less. Most of the villain's damage dealing is not scaled to the number of heroes, so the damage received relative to the damage inflicted is high for a 3-hero team. The Plague Rat has so many HP that the heroes cannot inflict enough damage before they are disabled. Abosute Zero is especially frustrating because his setup time is so long that he has taken so much damage before he can start using the Isothermic Transducer that he can only rely on a Cold Snap and/or Impales to do any damage. Absolute Zero is more useful disabled.
I don't know what hands you got for the heroes but a priority for me would be Infrared Eyepiece on Wraith so you can manage what is coming up. Stunning Bolt is also effective to use as only Plague Rats end of turn damage is irreducible. A great card to have in hand after Plague Rat has flipped is Fueled Freeze from AZ.
A general tip I would have in this game is to take Plague Locus as soon as possible. A three hero team just can't take advantage as well of the bonus infected damage. Of his Ongoings Afflicted Frenzy is the one to get rid of when you can.
I just won my first game. I have to be careful not to make bone-headed plays like Imbued Fire with Absolute Zero on the team, or cold-based self-healing for Absolute Zero when Cramped Quarters Combat is in play. I also realise that Drawn to the Flame is often Ra's best attack given the number of villain cards usually in play. A great combo is Fuelled Freeze to destroy three infections or other ongoing cards after Wraith has hit the Plague Rate with a Throat Jab to prevent any response attacks from the elimination of the infections.
Thanks for your comments. I do try to kill the Plague Locus first and Afflicted Frenzies when possible, but I did not use Infrared Eyepiece. This is one of the most challenging random games that I have encountered. Replaying lost games can lead to insights that might take longer to discover if you just move on to the next game.
With Ra against Plague Rat, the best strategy is to turn all hero damage into fire (Imbued Fire) and then use the power in Flesh of The Sun God to make all the heroes immune to fire. That may not play too well with AZ, and will reduce the damage output of Ra, but it will prevent all the self damage done by Infected heroes.
In particular, if you flip Plague Rat, you can use the infected powers to heal and destroy other infections.
I had a pretty hilarious setup where Ra was the only non-incapacitated hero, and had Imbued Fire, Flesh of the Sun God and Flame Barrier out. Each turn went:
Ra: play (whatever), throw Staff of Ra at Plague Rat.
Incap Wraith: Return Staff of Ra to play.
Absolute Zero: Ra uses a power to heal.
He was never damaging himself, despite being infected (and regardless of how many afflicted attacks came out) and was just doing huge amounts of damage through his cards, Staff of Ra and Flame Barrier.