Redthorn....really?

[Jovial Chemist]

I think my biggest complaint about this game is that the allied AI is just incredibly stupid. I was just playing a scenario, and per usual the AI guy I was supposed to protect had 99 initiative and his only action was move 3. Well, let me tell you, he moved regardless of any sense of danger. A trap in his way? Crashed through it! A closed door? Let's see what's in the next room!

It was just....stupid. I'm not sure if this a badly-designed rule in the original game or just bad programming, but either way it was awful. I found myself hoping I could use immobilize on him but unfortunately he was flagged as friendly. I guess next time I'll just have to pay much more attention to where he is and physically stack as many of my minis in front of him as I can, but it really should not be that way. Oof.

[MrPyro]

Was it Redthorn? Yeah, he was a sod in the tabletop version as well. Digital implements him in his full boneheaded glory here.

He can't progress if the route to the next door is blocked by enemies, so sometimes rushing forward and pinning enemies into their starting locations (IIRC, the first two rooms of that scenario start blocked by enemies, as long as you can prevent them moving before his turn).

[Jovial Chemist]

Yeah it was Redthorn. What's worse is that when I went back and re-did the scenario I sped by the Golems in the third room (I figured they'd follow me slowly and I could go back and mop them up later) because that's where Redthorn got ahead of me last time. I managed to get my team into the fourth and fifth room ahead of him, and then the idiot turned and ran BACK at the golems.

I literally cannot figure out how his AI is programmed. I thought it was to always move forward towards the last room which was annoying, but at least predictable. But, he threw that out the window when he turned around to try and get punched by golems. Also, I'm sure there's some reason that as a friendly AI he literally ran over a trap to get into a new room, but enemy AI won't walk over traps because...well...they're not stupid I guess? Oof.

[MrPyro]

Running back to the golems I think might be a bug; the rules for this scenario are supposed to be that he's aiming at the shaman in the final room. If the shaman is dead then he should just stop moving.

Traps: he should be obeying the same behaviour as all AI does with traps: avoid them UNLESS the only path to your objective forces you over a trap (and with standard monster AI, it will choose its objective/focus bearing the traps in mind). So he should avoid traps mostly, but at the end of room 3 there's a group of 3 traps that block the door, so he will go though one of them. If you can trigger one of those traps yourself (either by taking the hit, or using some kind of forced movement to put an enemy into one of them) he should then use the gap.

But if you want to read a lot of people complaining about the cardboard version of this scenario:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1741543/scenario-38-impossibly-hard/page/1

[pitiflauticus]

It's one of the most difficult scenarios in the campaign because of Redthorn's unwavering commitment to charge forward no matter what :D It requires some special tactics and adaptation to HIS play style.

Rather than getting frustrated by it, consider it a challenging puzzle to solve. This is a digital boardgame after all, not an RPG. And some scenarios are purposely designed to be tougher. Think out of the box and try different tactics and party compositions! Or return to the scenario later when you have a party that's better suited to tackle this specific puzzle.

If you want some possible hints:

Play with four characters so you can block as much of his path as possible: if you block all possible spaces, he will not move.

You can amplify this blocking effect by bringing characters or items that can summon allies, to occupy even more hexes, and/or bringing a cragheart with the rock slide card (although taking some damage from it may be required).

In the boardgame version, the beast tyrant had a card that could move Redthorn back to the initial spot (exchanging positions with the beast tyrant) which really helps, but not sure if the corresponding card was nerfed in the virtual version.

The music note character's auras affect redthorn, and in particular the healing aura (or the shield aura) are quite good. Not to mention the aura that gives permanent disadvantage to enemies... that one is a game changer.

Characters with cards that can push mobs into traps are great in this scenario.

Last but not least, as with all scenarios, you don't need all characters to "survive". Bring a couple of good bruisers and, contrary to what normally happens, let them tank some hits so Redthorn doesn't get damaged, and if they get exhausted... you can still win. Or alternatively bring a max level Sunkeeper with her awesome 9 level card that makes her absorb and reduce damage taken by allies.

[Jovial Chemist]

I mean I beat the scenario the second time through, even after he tried to turn around and do a suicide-by-golem. I just wasn't sure if that was a bug because I didn't know what his default behavior was supposed to be. It sounds like it was, so I'll head on over to the bug forum and post this too.