I don't get this game

[53yoGamer]

I am in the first quest with my party. I have killed all guards in the room.
Still the combat does not end, I am forced to play round after round in an empty room.

True, my dungeon quest is not finished yet, there are more combats here, but I cannot go through a door (I see two in the room) by any means either.

Also, do I need to collect the gold loot manually ? I would expect when I killed all monsters in a room, I get all the loot automatically.

[Fringehunter7719]

Gloomhaven is a resource management game digitally adapted from a board game. You have a limited shelf life based on having to play 2 cards per turn, then permanently discard one when you run out of cards in hand. This leads to ever decreasing cycles of playing cards until you are forced to rest & discard to get playable cards back in hand, until you finally run out and the character is lost.

Since an average (10 card) class has about 25 active rounds to get everything done (and less whenever you voluntarily discard to avoid damage or use a powerful ability) looting is part of your resource management, every move or loot action is part of your decision making as to how close you are going to come to failing the scenario.

As for moving to other rooms, mercenaries can move through doors on their turn, but some of the walls that have a door drawn in them represent the entrance you came in to the scenario from or are just scenery. Doors which lead to a faded outline of a room are real, typically scenarios see you having to explore every room and kill every enemy within.

This screenshot shows how unexplored rooms look. Just enter doors to areas that look like this to continue a scenario:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2634552332

[Mag Roader]

Hold Tab to see where the exit door is. There are 3 rooms of enemies in the first scenario of the campaign.

You will sometimes need to choose between spending your limited time looting treasure and advancing.

[Slow Dog]

Originally posted by 50 & still gaming:

I cannot go through a door (I see two in the room) by any means either.
Also, do I need to collect the gold loot manually ? I would expect when I killed all monsters in a room, I get all the loot automatically.

Have you done the tutorial? It covers both looting and going through doors.

[53yoGamer]

aaargh, I did not. I will do it now.

[Chimpz]

tip - avoid wasting your burn habilities at the begining, if not really worth it.

[53yoGamer]

do I get my burnt cards back after a dungeon ?

[Neverstxp]

Originally posted by 50 & still gaming:

do I get my burnt cards back after a dungeon ?

Yes, and all of your items refresh as well

[aadjakar]

Originally posted by 50 & still gaming:

do I get my burnt cards back after a dungeon ?

yes, it's just that the size of your hand affects the total amount of turns that your character will be able to make. Each burned card reduces it drastically. Try to keep them for the final fights - gradually you'll come to feel the balance, when it's worth spending those, and when it's not.

[53yoGamer]

So I played the full Tutorial and started all over (on Normal difficulty).

But even if I play in an (for me) optimal way, I die from exhaustion by the 3rd room of the 1st dungeon. WTF
the issue is, even if I never trade damage to burning cards, due to the mechanism alone
- you are FORCED to pull 2 cards at your beginning of the round, even if you only want to move or loot or rest
- the cards get discarded and in order to re-get them by a short or long rest, you are FORCED to burn a card
- only due to this, my Spellweaver and Tinkerer are exhausted by round 12-14 or so which makes room #3 impossible to win
This is no fun.

[Jo]

Tinkerer has a huge hand, you are doing something wrong. Spellweaver can recover all her burnt cards.

You need to exhaust your hand thoroughly before you rest. Go through all your cards before thinking to "re-get them".

Tinkerer has like 12 cards in hand, should last until round 6. Then you rest and burn 1, you retrieve 11 cards. There another 5 turns, you are at turn 11 with 1 card burn. How do you exhaust at turn 12?

Try playing like that and you'll finish missions with large hand size. When you get a better feel, consider burning 1 card per rest cycle.

[Fringehunter7719]

It does sound like you're missing something. One of the obvious things to check is if you know that you can play a default attack 2 or move 2 without burning a card, even when that card's usual ability would result in it being burned.

Without burning (or restoring) cards Tinkerer can last for 36 rounds plus up to 11 long rest rounds before exhaustion.

[53yoGamer]

for once, I did not take Tinkerer with me before. I had the warrior and spellweaver only. try this combo with the starter dungeon and tell me how you do.
with the Tinkerer it is easier now, but still if I take 3 allies the sheer amount of enemies in the starter dungeon is too much at room 3.

[53yoGamer]

Originally posted by Fringehunter7719:

It does sound like you're missing something. One of the obvious things to check is if you know that you can play a default attack 2 or move 2 without burning a card, even when that card's usual ability would result in it being burned.

thanks, this is a little help, maybe I had to burn one or two cards before without knowing this.

[Fringehunter7719]

Originally posted by 50 & still gaming:

for once, I did not take Tinkerer with me before. I had the warrior and spellweaver only. try this combo with the starter dungeon and tell me how you do.

Do you mean the Brute and Spellweaver, on normal difficulty?

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Originally posted by 50 & still gaming:

So I played the full Tutorial and started all over (on Normal difficulty).
- you are FORCED to pull 2 cards at your beginning of the round, even if you only want to move or loot or rest

You should avoid turns in which you can't do much. Bust doors open early so you can still make use of combat. Position your warriors so that they can still do stuff next turn. It's very much a game about being efficient with everything you do.

To be fair, though, the first mission is notoriously challenging.