This game is HARD!

[govro]

I've played this game, like, 10 games... on mild... and I haven't got three stars yet! Once you get a few ingredients going, the emergencies cost more and pile up faster. I usually loose because of too many bad hands in a row. Especially when the engineer doesn't get a repair card... THAT IS THE WORST! I'm still going to try though... because it's incredibly addicting... but really, really HARD. :-)

[zamboni5000]

Once you figure out how to control deck bloat it will all fall into place.

[Pachimari]

the deck bloat is definitely the biggest issue, but the cook is only real effective way of getting rid of cards until you get enough money for everyone to have their own toasters.

I've gone through about 10 on medium and the farthest i've gotten is 2 recipes cooked but died getting to the 2nd planet

[Settoz]

We won my third game on mild so its quite possible.
Well I will try to give you a few tipps.

1. The captain needs to choose wisely at the start, the more expensive cards ARE stronger but having ingredients/ Silk for 3 is very important since they stop you from getting cluttered with leftovers early on. While they may seem weak for not possesing energy in the case of ingr. the money allows you to buy good cards that slim down your deck and therefore increase the quality, worst case you can later destroy them with the cards you aquired.

2. Cook is really there for 3 things 1. cooking ofc. 2. taking junk from other players you start with 2 taste test which is amazing to slim down your deck. 3. If you got a decent deck or the engi/ scientist needs it feel free to give them extra energy cards that 1 or 2 point more research/ repair is very valuable. For example if you give the scientist a silk and he unlocks a good card for you its win / win you both increased your decks quality.

3. Yeah the engi needs tape and wrenches if necessary pass him cards that help him get those. In exchange he can repair from every room that makes up for his reliance a little.

4. Card drawing overall is amazing since the cards own money value is counted and you get more options on top. Powergloves gives you 2 cards, taste test allows you to choose AND destroy 1 card if you want and the remote for just I think 4 allows you to let any player draw as a chef player, if I see the engi has no wrench I will do my damnest 99% the time to try to let him cycle his deck by taste-testing, flambe or using the remote. A Single card can make the difference between 5+ repair amazing turn and nothing.

5. Communicate really if you have a hall pass and can pass on a rather bad "taste of the future" card the 1 value and 1 money might still be a boon to another player despite them clocking their decks. Such a small thing early can especially with the scientist ( +1 unlock + 1 better card to buy) snowball really hard.

[Ysen]

I won on medium on my third attempt. It helps to have played deckbuilding games before.

Settoz's tips are good. There are two other things I will mention:

Firstly, the type of card you want changes as the game goes on. At the start of the game you'll want to grab a fair amount of ingredients because: 1. they're cheap, 2. they let you buy more expensive stuff, and 3. if you get the right type you can cook them later.

Later, you want high power (for repair / research and for dodging negative events), card draw (power fist / remote / either claw / exchangotron) and cards that let you burn all the trash in your deck (burnalyzer / toaster / chef skills).

Also, some job cards become a bit useless towards the end of the game (e.g Ship Upgrade when you're fully upgraded, Foresight when you've done most of the research). Don't be afraid to destroy them when that happens.

Second, movement. Try to dock an unexplored planet each turn to resupply, so you're not stuck with leftovers. Also, you don't have to move as far as possible every turn, and often it's a bad idea to do so - particularly at the start of the game, when you don't have the energy to dodge negative events or the shields to tank them. I like to leave at least one fuel in the tank if possible - that way you can make a jump with "Engage!" without needing to spend energy (e.g if the planet you're at gets invaded and you have a bad draw).

[PyreLight]

I'd say unless it's an extremely important card, like your very last cook or something, ALWAYS destroy a card when you get a chance, reguardless if you think it's useful. The more you can scorch out, the better you are in the long run. [just finished mild, at 2 health/6 shields turn 64.]

The deck sizes at end game was Captain 22, Cook 15 [during some parts of the game, he was able to draw his deck a turn.] Scientist 16, and Engineer 20. with 5 researches on the captain (including ingredient), 5 on chef (no ingredient), 4 on scientist (required ingredient) and 3 on the engineer.)

Usually the best cards to mutate are things that will stick around forever, like wrenches, cooking commands, and engage from what i've seen.

[govro]

Thanks for all the tips! I feel like the biggest thing I wasn't getting is the importance of destroying as many cards as possilble. I will try that out and see if it helps.

[bigstupidgrin]

Just won my first Thai Hot game :). Some other tips (the previous people got most of them)

1. Try to end turns inside your role's home room. That's not a hard and fast rule; but I'm gotten screwed enough times getting stuck outside of the room thanks to broken doors. Becuase of that, Diplomobots are a high priority to me. I try not to travel room-to-room; even letting timers tick down to try and draw a Diplomobot.

2. With the Captain, I prefer to pick up every Unomas Remote for her, as she can distribute draws to other roles that need the help.

3. Get power (Sylk or other cards) into everybody's deck. You don't want to get screwed by the odd BOOOM!!! event, or your shields draining on the Captain's/Cook's turn.

4. Try to travel with at least 2 power in your Captain's hand. Preferably 4 so you can avoid pirates. This is more of a late game thing, as in the beginning it's better to just go one stop at a time.

5. If you have the power in hand and you've scouted a planet to have a bad event (like Breaky Bounce), go ahead and bust through it.

6. Prioritize research for the Scientist: he needs the help and his tree has the most consistantly useful cards. Cook/Captain are next (Flambe is great all game long, and Overdrive is great mid-late game), and the Scientist is pretty meh (Mimicube is good late game, as is Breakthrough).

7. Power Glove is OP, but if you can try to get it to the Engineer.

8. Upgrade shields, then engines. If you have a wrench and an upgrade card, if you have the power upgrade shields first then repair that new point of shields. I like to use Mutate on upgrade when possible so it doesn't need another card to work.