So I am very new to this game (7 games under my belt) and have been enjoying the heck it if it even when I lose. On that subject, I have won 4 games this far, and lost 3. All the losses were to la capitan, haven’t beat her yet. Wtf?
I understand killing the ship is a priority, but we just get stomped by her and the crew. I understand she can roll you with a bad shuffle, but all the times? We beat omnitron handily but get murdered by this chick. What’s up?
Try playing against her with a hero or two who can stall her deck.
La Capitan is most dangerous at the start of the game when she’s pulling two cards around, and the longer that you leave her able to do so, the worse she gets, either pulling multiple crew members or stealing a ton of items. Adding some on who can manipulate the deck–Visionary is ideal–or straight-up lock it down (Nightmist or Legacy) would be a great combo.
Try a 4 man team of Visionary, Legacy, Wraith, and Ra. Ra can stay on “clean up” duty while being buffed by Legacy. Visionary can focus on deck manipulation while Wraith fills in the gaps. Add Nightmist if you need a 5th or drop Wraith if you need to go down to 3.
She can be pretty brutal. You'll want at least 1 hard-hitting damage dealer, like Ra or -- even better -- Chrono Trigger. (Whole Gang is great for crew, the hat can play multiple cards, there's reliable AoE, and No Executions is great for the boat.) Some sort of damage mitigation and/or redirection is great, since those crew members are TOUGH. Battle Forged and Final Breath will WRECK whoever has the lowest HP, and if L'Episte shows up mid-game, he can hit for double-digit damage. The Scholar is good for this, and Smoke Bombs go a LONG way too.
At first glance, Unity really struggles, but you can bait them into destroying Bee Bots to destroy her particularly obnoxious ongoings easily, and with smoke bombs you can protect the golems as well, to help her build up.
Wraith, of course, has stun bolts, infrared eyepiece, and decent multi-target damage, plus combat stance, which is great against her multitude of violent cohorts.
you may also want a healer or support character as well, to recover from the frequent board wipes and damage. Argent Adept is a no-brainer (but really, when ISN'T he?).
So maybe try a game with Chrono, Argent, Wraith, and Unity, or maybe switch Chrono or Argent out for the Scholar.
Edited for accidental spoilers.
(Ignore the part about the Sentinels, OP; they haven't been published yet and McBehrer isn't supposed to be talkinga bout them with non-playtesters.)
My advice is to kill the ship first and hope that you don't hit "All Together Now". Possibly wait for at least one of them to go by and then kill the ship while it's in the trash. As for your party, you want either characters who put out LOTS of Ongoings and Equipment which they don't strictly need (Wraith, Omnitron-X, the Argent Adept) or characters who can live almost entirely out of their hand (Tachyon, Ra, Haka); you don't want a mix, because if only a few O/Es are in play, they'll get Plundered.
Our last game was O-X, wraith, chrono ranger, and unity. Sounds like we should have had a decent chance. Also, does the order of the heros matter a ton? We had chrono going last which that player (though only his second game) felt hindered him.
The ship’s worst power honestly seems to be the reshuffle. The extra play is rough, but when we manage to whipe like 4 crew, but not the boat, it reshuffles and she again plays the card to get 3 crew out, its just disheartening.
Again, probably a good chunk is us not playing super well, but we rolled baron blade twice and omnitron once, but we just got a brick wall with this villain.
Thank you everyone for your advice and suggestions. @envisioner- the forbidden info is stricken from my mind.
Envisioner is correct, hitting the ship first is never a bad plan, since it cuts down her extra plays and make her more manageable. It also gets rid of her shuffling her deck each turn, so someone with deck control can do their thing. If you're having a lot of trouble with crew members, Haka with Savage Mana in play tends to help with that.
It's worth noting, that my local group found the jump between Level 1 and Level 2 villains to be the greatest increase in difficulty, at least at first.
Derp that's right. I forget Vengeance isn't out yet, since we're done with playtesting.
But keeping the ship out of the trash is great, since she can pull it back out but not search the deck for it.
Yeah, that's probably a fairly decent group for the fight. I used O-X recently and he was the last survivor, because his Ablative Coating shrugs off most of the damage (melee, projectile and toxic covers almost all of the crew - a few deal energy and ATN does lightning, but it was pretty close to total defense). CR is mostly built to hit single foes, but The Whole Gang was mentioned, and Kill on Sight would also be handy. Unity's bots are fragile and will easily die to Final Breath or Captain's Orders, and they become an active liability if Battle Forged shows up, but otherwise they can be quite strong in this match.
Also, does the order of the heros matter a ton?
In general, definitely. "Enabler" heroes like Legacy and Visionary prefer to go first (an exception exists if Legacy is paired with self-damage heroes like Fanatic or Nightmist), while characters which need extra enabling to be most successful (Absolute Zero, Scholar, Chrono-Ranger etc) are often better last, although nearly every hero has some ability to contribute in either position. Whether it would make a big difference against Cappy in particular I don't know.
We had chrono going last which that player (though only his second game) felt hindered him.
That probably depended on the exact situation. If he's in positon 1, he can do more by playing By Any Means, or he can set up KOS/DOA/TWG bounties on targets which the downstream players will take out for him. But in general, I think he'd rather have upstream players who might be able to hand him damage boosts, or else whittle down targets to just a few HP so that he can polish them off with his plinks. In particular, damage reduction makes CR a sad panda (unless he has The Masadah), so having Fixer upstream of him to use Riveting Crane Style is definitely better than having Fixer in last place with the same card in his hand.
The ship's worst power honestly seems to be the reshuffle. The extra play is rough, but when we manage to whipe like 4 crew, but not the boat, it reshuffles and she again plays the card to get 3 crew out, its just disheartening.
Fair enough. The game has a few "unwritten rules", and the psychological effects of certain $#%@ing cards are one definite example.
Again, probably a good chunk is us not playing super well, but we rolled baron blade twice and omnitron once, but we just got a brick wall with this villain.
Villains are rated at difficulty 1-4, and both of those are 1s (although Omnitron is probably deadlier, unless you have certain particular heroes that nerf him). La Capitan is officially only a 2, but I think she deserves to be more like a 3. If you think Cappy is hard, try going up against Iron Legacy or The Dreamer; Dreamy is a 3, but a "high" one, and IL is the only 4 that exists outside of the currently-oop "Rook City" expansion.
@envisioner- the forbidden info is stricken from my mind.
But not from mine! Mwuhahahah!
Assuming you can KEEP savage mana in play, which is tricky with how much Ongoing destruction she can do (especially in Advanced, where she does it every turn on her front side).
*coughForbiddenWastelandcough*
I feel like Kismet and La Capitan got their difficulty ratings switched around. Or maybe GtG should consult with the playtesters to determine difficulty ratings. Miss Information should be a 4 if you ask me, and there's no way Kismet is harder to beat than La Capitan.
One of the >G team confirmed that Missy is only a 3; I agree she's very tough, but I don't think she's unbeatable or anything, though she does seem to actually get harder against more heroes rather than easier. Kismet being a 3 I can believe, at least on Advanced; have you seen how much damage her Miscreant side can dish out?
Or, just try it with 5 heroes apparently.
In all seriousness, we decided to try her with Unity, Legacy, Tempest, Ra, and Bunker.
She only played the crew from trash card when there were no crew in the trash. (Sorry I don’t know the names of all the cards)
Never got the ship back after it died.
Never got the card to search the deck for crew. Moral of the story, she never played more than 3 cards in a turn and we crushed her. Like noone ending below 20 hp crushed her. It was glorious and anti-climactic at the same time.
On an unrelated note, tried scholar in another game, I’m pretty sure I played that guy totally wrong and he was still amazing.
Yeah, that one never did anything in my last game either. But it plays an extra villain card, so it's hardly harmless - it gets her closer to whatever other horrors lurk within her deck.
On an unrelated note, tried scholar in another game, I'm pretty sure I played that guy totally wrong and he was still amazing.
Scholar is a definite powerhouse. He's basically the Obi-Wan Kenobi of SOTM; he has Additional Powers As The Plot Demands.
well, 4 does not mean unbeatable, but Miss Information is not equivalent in difficulty to Kismet. She's more like The Chairman or The Matriarch.
I thought Kismet's official rating is only a 2. As for Miss Information, she's not as scary as The Ennead or the Dreamer, so she's no more than a 3 IMO.
That’s for all the input everyone. Up to a 6-3 record now. Having someone that van deal damage quickly (like Ra and Tempest) I think is really strong against la capitan. If all your characters need to build up to be super effective, she can easily get ahead of you, then you’re in real trouble.
I don't think she's as tough as those; she compares better to The Dreamer or Citizen Dawn I think - a "high 3". Kismet and Warlord Voss are "low 3s"…they pose a much more significant threat than Plague Rat or Akash'Bhuta (both of which have glaringly huge weaknesses that can be exploited), but they still prove somewhat more manageable. Personally, I would rank the difficulties from about 1 to 7.
1 - Baron Blade (intro villain)
2 - Omnitron, Ambuscade (easy villain which poses a mild threat)
3 - Akash'bhuta, Plague Rat, Gloomweaver (average villain)
4 - Kismet, Voss, La Capitan (challenging villain)
5 - Dreamer, Citizen Dawn, Miss Info (very tough villain)
6 - Matriarch, Chariman (extremely difficult villain)
7 - Iron Legacy (epic villain)
Advanced mode moves almost everyone up one rank on this ladder, but IL remains at 7 - as much damage as he dishes out, it barely matters whether it's irreducible or not. (I can't recall what his flipside's advanced text is, so perhaps there it makes a difference, but frankly it's hard enough getting him there.) A few advanced modes do not raise difficulty because they don't make enough of a difference - Gloomweaver for sure, probably Ambuscade, maybe even Matriarch. Kismet is the one villain I've yet identified where I would call her advanced mode a +2 difficulty; that "+H-2" damage is insane, and extra damage to Jinxed heroes while having the Talisman is just absurd.
It's printed as 2 on the paper sheets, but corrected to 3 in the downloadable file thereof and on the Sidekick app. >G has yet to confirm which one is official, but the Internet version can be updated in real time while the dead-tree cannot, so I'd bet on 3 being correct. It's probably based mostly on her advanced mode.
Difficulty ratings are all based on their non-advanced mode.
She's a tough villain, but there are a few ways to make teh fight an easier one.
I do subscribe to the idea that any villain can be beaten with any combination of heroes, though some definitely make it harder than others. that being said, here are some of the general tips, strategies, and thought processes that I use when fighting her.
Prioritize Her Support Structure
This goes beyond the sip, in some ways, though getting rid of it will certainly make life easier. By herself, she's not that bad. She has a single nasty hit (on her starting side), but her strength lies in her crew.
The main ones to get rid of ASAP are Mable and the Battle-forged. Both enable her to get extra card plays, which will make your life hell. the others will hurt you, but they will strip you of resources, go after the weakest, and enable La Capitan to grow stronger.
The ship is a good thing to get rid of, but if don't prioritize it over everything else. The reason is because La Capitan has a card that can get the ship back from the trash- so if you pour everything you've got into getting rid of it (potentially ignoring crew, ongoings, or setup), theres a chance that her next card will bring it right back at full health. Look for ways to accomplish multiple objectives or ensure some breathing room- like scouting her next few cards to see if its safe to get rid of the ship, or locking her deck, or getting the ship out of the trash. In the long term, if you can get rid of it ASAP, go for it- but be aware that unless you know otherwise it will be back, and at the worst moment.
Its Dangerous to Go Alone (Take This)
Team synergy and tactics are an absolute necessity when fighting her. Always be on the lookout for ways to help other heroes. You're going to be losing ongoings/equipment, so make sure that you have some sacrificial stuff ready (or at least be aware that you may lose what you have).
Any card/power that gives you some breathing room is essential. If you've got a specialist (like Ra or Chrono for damage or the AA for support), it helps to do everything you can to make sure that they can do their thing before getting your own cards down. This is because generalists can adapt ot changing situations (usually) better than the more specialized heroes, but the specialists can usually crank out wondrous things once they are set up. Spend a few turns protecting them, helping them do stuff, or sacrificing your ongoings/equips for them. They'll pay it back in spades once they start setting the world on fire, blasting crew members full of holes, or (in the case of the Argent Adept) letting everyone else go crazy.
If you've got a team of generalists, stay flexible. Try not to obsess over the "perfect build" (something I am still learning how to do), and make the most out of the options you have. There will be frustrating moments...but you also may find new combinations and tactics that you never considered before. An example I learned recently (for Unity) involve using her "Scrap metal" card to take a low-hp bot back into my hand AFTER it does damage. It keeps them from being munched by the Battle-Forged.
On the topic of Hero Order, it definitely matters. Heroes that support others through an external focus (by increasing their damage, letting them draw cards, play cards, etc) tend to do better at the start of the turn order. Heroes that deal high damage tend to do best at the end, where they can perform clean-up duties. In the example of fighting La Capitan, it helps to have the heavy hitters go later in the order because it gives the other team members time to scout out her deck (to see if any dead ships or crew will pop right back out), get rid of her ongoings (since she has one that makes it painful to take out her people), or generally weaken the minions and bring them into killl range.
The projected number of turns required to get the number of projections needed to wake The Dreamer goes up as you have more heroes. Wish I can find my calculations for how I determined that …