I hate the snow...man. Ithiqua

So, I decided to complete Elder Sign Omens, starting with Yig and moving right. I got them all beat, but now I'm stuck (again) on Ithy. I have never beaten him, and have only gotten to him twice.

I know the doom track is slow, and the idea is to load up on supplies and items at the Museum, letting the doom track get to about 6 while getting 15-20 supplies.

The problem is that I can't seem to live long enough. Any people here who have beat him, can you tell me which characters are best? I've tried two strategies: one using people who excel at certain types of missions (Lore guy, Peril guy, Rita and the microscope gal) and then I've tried people who get double items (Drake, Bob, Monterey, and Jacqueline to change midnight settings)

I'm completely bollocksed.

I've beaten him a few times. My dream team is the guy that can use clue tokens twice, another one that can ignore the order of tasks, the gal that ignores locked glyphs and another one that can get both red and yellow dice by spending any clue/spell/regular item. Very strong abilities all of them and general enough that you will be using them most of the time.

I try to get around thirty supplies (though you can probably get away with 20) and less than half of the doom track. You might get lucky and score some later but you might also lose some.

As for strategies it all depends what kind of events you'll get so all I can give you is some pretty obvious tips.

Try to solve the encounters that screw you on midnight before your turn ends but preferably not with last guy. Often you'll get another one but oops it's already midnight and you didn't even have a chance to do it. Some of them can be ignored for a while.

Where exactly do you fail? Once you've left the museum it gets harder and harder. I don't recall exactly but you have 3-4 stages in the wilderness part and by the last stage there are wolves everywhere so you'll need to have couple of tasks lined up so you can finish the game quickly after last stage triggers. You have two turns at most I reckon. Once you face the boss be prepared to win 3 fights in a row. If you lose even one you want save and unlock the last investigator. You can still finish the game though if you survive.

It's also possible to travel light.

My last win in the arctic came about by leaving with like 14 supplies but the doom track at zero.

Plus, every time I collect a ton of supplies, I get the "your horse just fell in that crevasse" random event, so screw that.

luckyb0y wrote: I've beaten him a few times. My dream team is the guy that can use clue tokens twice, another one that can ignore the order of tasks, the gal that ignores locked glyphs and another one that can get both red and yellow dice by spending any clue/spell/regular item. Very strong abilities all of them and general enough that you will be using them most of the time.

I try to get around thirty supplies (though you can probably get away with 20) and less than half of the doom track. You might get lucky and score some later but you might also lose some.

As for strategies it all depends what kind of events you'll get so all I can give you is some pretty obvious tips.

Try to solve the encounters that screw you on midnight before your turn ends but preferably not with last guy. Often you'll get another one but oops it's already midnight and you didn't even have a chance to do it. Some of them can be ignored for a while.

Where exactly do you fail? Once you've left the museum it gets harder and harder. I don't recall exactly but you have 3-4 stages in the wilderness part and by the last stage there are wolves everywhere so you'll need to have couple of tasks lined up so you can finish the game quickly after last stage triggers. You have two turns at most I reckon. Once you face the boss be prepared to win 3 fights in a row. If you lose even one you want save and unlock the last investigator. You can still finish the game though if you survive.

Stage 2 or 3 and they're all dead.

If you get really bad events you're screwed, regardless. I've never lost all my supplies (heard of it), but I've lost some supplies, had 3 fucking wolves appear, and once the Icy Winds effect for one of the adventures was an insta-devouring of my investigator by Ithaqua.

My new strategy is to abort a game that's not going well in the supply-gathering phase. I don't care if it's cheap, this expansion can be ridiculously hard and unfair.

Edit: HOLY SHIT I JUST BEAT ITHAQUA AND RESCUED ASHLEY!

And I knew, I fucking knew, that if I mentioned not ever losing all of my supplies that it would jinx me on my next playthrough, and so it finally happened. Anyway, my team was Kate (no terror effects or monsters), Joe Diamond (can use each clue twice), Jenny Barnes (discard common item or spell to get red and yellow dice), and Dexter Drake (+1 Spell each time he gets one). Kate was the MVP, especially on adventures where a monster spawns when you complete it (so important in Alaska!), and a particularly nasty adventure Entry Effect where it spawned 2 monsters. Jenny was good, Joe was decent, and Dexter was dead weight for most of the game.

The one thing I did which I've never done before is that, after Dexter used up all his items and failed his adventure, I had Dexter do nothing but spin the lost-and-found wheel until he ended up with some decent items. It made a huge difference. Instead of whittling away his health and sanity by throwing him against adventures against which he'd have no chance, he ended up with a couple of good items and -1 sanity after 3 spins.

So I would say to take Kate and Jenny for sure, and whatever other investigators you like.

So I was tearing through Alaska with hardly any monsters and when I got to 9 elder signs I got the dreaded Lose All Supplies event. My next turn Jenny took -2 health hit but had a max health/sanity item she used and she completed the Blood in the Snow adventure for another Elder Sign and a gateway to another world which was...Yuggoth. 2 Elder Signs! There was a wolf there, but Kate, after taking the obligatory -2 health hit, made short work of the adventure and then it was on to Ithaqua.

The first battle was fairly easy, and my spins of the lost-and-found wheel with Dexter paid off because he was 2nd up and his newly-acquired items, coupled with some fortuitous rolling, were enough to complete the second battle. The third was a bit of a nail-biter, but I had a couple of dice to spare and now I've unlocked Ashley whose power is to (once a day, I think?) convert a terror glyph to any symbol of her choosing. Awesome. Now to tackle Hastur and Nephren-Ka...

Hastur is a great big pussy. One try and he was toast.

I think I've settled on Kate, Jenny, and the Lore and Peril guys. I think the former are the two most underrated adventurers; allowing a 1:3 chance of hitting your nugget is SO powerful. The only problem is that I think the game kind of cheats.

I think it definitely cheats. When I burn 3 clues to reroll 3 dice 3 times and can't get one Lore I start to think the game's Hold-On-There algorithm has kicked in. On the other hand, I had this weird feeling that the game took pity on me during my successful run at Ithaqua because I kept hitting all of my rolls during the final battle. I guess that's just how dice games...roll. *rimshot*

I tackled the Dark Pharaoh tonight and got to the final battle before succumbing. I didn't have any idea how the final battle was structured so I wasn't as well-equipped as I should have been; I just wanted to get there and do some recon. The Allies are fun; the guy who lets you reroll for 2 trophies is great, and the two allies that dole out red and yellow glyphs let you get around locked ones. The daily item restrictions are a pain in the ass, though, and you can really screw yourself if you're not paying attention and you go to an adventure planning on using a unique item when they've been locked out for the day.

Ashley is really useful, the fact that she can convert a Terror to any result once per conjure is powerful but it's balanced by the fact that she has a paltry 3 Health and 3 Sanity. It's also nice that her ability allows her to mitigate Terror effects so she can go after adventures that I'd normally only send Kate to.

How is Dark Pharoah's endgame set up?

It's pretty simple. Once you get to 10 elder signs you confront the resurrected Nephren-Ka. Unless there's a surprise "He's not dead yet!" event after you defeat him that I'm not aware of, you just have to complete 3 tasks in any order: double Lore, double Terror, and double Peril. He has a Terror effect that advances the Doom track, and the penalty for failure is -2 Health/-2 Sanity. That's why I wish I'd geared up more because I think he's going to take several clue tokens and both extra glyphs to take down.

SuperflyTNT wrote: Hastur is a great big pussy.

Other than the yellow-based events, I was sad to see Hastur so easy and Carcosa not be a place you could visit. I've always really liked the King in Yellow as a text-virus idea. I hope a future expansion will focus on traveling the shores of Hali.

I think FFG should make a set of PoD Mythos cards that are specific for each GOO. They could be shuffled in the Mythos deck for a little greater variety, difficulty, and theme.

The way to beat Ithaqua is to take less than 4 investigators. You need the ones with the best skills to come up more often. I can beat him fairly consistently with 2, but I haven't played in long enough that I can't remember which 2. Maybe Gloria. And someone else that adds dice.

You fuckers just cost me $3.99 and the 30 minutes it took me to figure out how to emulate an Android on my PC. Thanks!

I mean that: thanks. Pretty engaging little game. It really has me praying that FFG has a digital version of Arkham Horror waiting in the wings...

Jason Lutes wrote: You fuckers just cost me $3.99 and the 30 minutes it took me to figure out how to emulate an Android on my PC. Thanks!

I mean that: thanks. Pretty engaging little game. It really has me praying that FFG has a digital version of Arkham Horror waiting in the wings...

I agree, and I want you to know that the precise feeling of anticipation is the same as all of us waiting on Thrilling Tales!

ALSO...2 heroes is the key. Really great advice, I got sooooooo close.

Oh, that's right. It was the chick who doesn't take damage from completing tasks. Not having to worry about healing all the damn time is great. So Gloria kills the other worlds and that chick takes on the damaging tasks, and between the two of them you have a pretty good shot at getting a ton of items, which is what you need to beat Ithaqua.

If you hit the random event that destroys the remainder of your supplies three spaces from Ithaqua's cave, you're screwed.

I went with Lola (Chick who gives up 2 trophies to get a green die back) and the chick who is immune to terror and no monsters come out on her turn. I was 1 Elder Sign from the punk ass but I ran out of food, didn't realize it, and ended my turn. Lola was already dead (recently) and that was the last life for her. Man was I pissed. Rookie mistake.